Month: February 2022

First Cup of Coffee – February 10, 2022

Jeffe Kennedy / / Blog, Podcast



Transcript

00:00.18
jeffekennedy
Good morning everyone this is Jeffe Kennedy author of fantasy romance and romantic fantasy I’m here with my first cup of coffee.

00:13.68
jeffekennedy
Ah, so good. So much happier having my full latte. Ah, just the best. Just wondering if my husband was going to turn off that timer. Maybe you guys couldn’t hear it so today is Thursday February tenth. I don’t know how it got to be February tenth something to do with the passage of time I imagine. Ah. Ah, this morning though I was trying to think she trying to remember if I was thinking is it today. The eighth or the ninth because I had some yoga classes I bought that expired on like the 8 and I was thinking oh I think either way I’m ssol. It’s too late and. But lo and behold I’m like two days too late. It’s been too late for a while I’m definitely getting punchy with book brain at this point if you haven’t figured that out. Um revision is preceding apace on Grey Magic. Maybe apace is the wrong word. What does apace even mean apace at a pace apace. I just start thinking about Ted Lasso and how they start getting into that. Um, oh I can’t remember what they call it. It’s not cognitive dissonance. It’s um I to look it up semantic satiation I think that’s so cool. So anyway. Um, yesterday I mean it was really good work that I got done yesterday. So I did not come away feeling frustrated. However, on Monday I got to 70 pages on Tuesday I got to 80 pages of revision. Yesterday I got through 32 pages so I am on page one eighty two of 3 27 but yeah, it didn’t feel frustrating because it was something that I I needed to fix and. I think it’s gonna make a big difference. It’s funny because a lot of what I’ve been revising so far up until yesterday had been stuff that I’d written before Christmas which just feels like forever ago to me and then now i’m.

02:48.17
jeffekennedy
Revising the stuff I wo and wrote in that week after Christmas but I came back from Christmas and I had lost my thread in the story and it’s one of the downsides of the of my process is that you know I tried not to go back and edit. You know, always pushing forward. So so 1 thing people ask a whole lot is like how do you keep yourself from endlessly. Ah I’m also out of words I have to tell you this. My brain is no longer generating the words I need um. But how do you keep yourself from just cycling over and over again in the same bit because it will keep people from finishing books. It’s it’s actually one of the major problems problems 1 practices that keeps people from finishing books is they keep retooling what they’ve already written. And sometimes you just have to push forward so my general policy is to push forward is to keep writing more and and I still think it’s good idea I had to sneeze there. Least I figured out the pause button so you don’t have to hear me sneeze. So um, yeah, it’s um, it’s kind of perfectionism if you keep going back and retooling what you’ve already written you keep editing second guessing yourself. It’s It’s a lethal practice. It’s that’s why my initial word that I chose was problem because it usually is problematic. Um, however, there is that point at which you do have to go back and revise and so were I just second guess myself which I try not to do because that’s part of. Trusting in my own process I would say that I wish that when I resumed with the book after Christmas after nearly a week off at Christmas that at that point I should have gone back and revised from the beginning to get my place again. Who knows if it would have worked but it’s not necessarily a terrible thing. So what I discovered as I was revising was and I think I actually hit it on Tuesday that I hit a particular scene where there was a new development something occurred. And I realized as I was going over that scene that nobody had asked the questions that they should have asked that it it was a big gap and you know how you’re reading a book sometimes and you’re and you hit those things and you you wonder because you’re like.

05:40.74
jeffekennedy
How come nobody’s asking this question why this is like the thing that would be at the top of their minds. How come nobody has said anything. It was one of those things. It’s like there’s no way they would have not asked those questions immediately. So I wove in all of that stuff and and. I don’t know slightly spoilery. It has to do with stuff that happened in familiar witch or magic in my novella that’s in um, fire up the frost I wanted to say under our winter sky my brain you guys mush ah fire the frost. So. I knew that because that’s a novella that not everybody who’s been reading this so far the series so far might have read I wanted to there. There were pieces of information and that that I needed to bring into this story so I spent a fair amount of time I think on tuesday. Weaving in those bits and I can tell you where I’m at so far because people always seem to be interested I have overall in this revision I’ve added nearly 2000 words and I have cut 1500 words people always want to know how much I cut for some reason and I’ll tell you why I ended up cutting that much I’m at 89000 words on this book now which unfortunately may mean that I still have 20000 words to go by a week from tomorrow. But we’re not gonna. Overthink it. Ah I may end up working through the weekend. Ah, but there we are so I ended up reading all of this stuff in asking you know having the master these questions setting up all the stakes. It really did need to happen there. Ah, particularly because and I was I was a little bit surprised by this that I hit it yesterday in the chapter that I am currently revising this is correct. Yes, this is correct. It’s at nearly midpoint where they have a conversation about this. And it’s funny because I thought I just left it out entirely I didn’t remember that I had written the scene where they discussed this issue and it’s too bad because it’s a really cute scene between Nick and Gabriel but. It was absolutely the right thing to move it up to put that issue before act 1 climax right? Where all the stakes need to be set. This is a big stake and and it just makes more sense for the story. So ah.

08:29.81
jeffekennedy
My nose is running hang on there I’ve got my handy Kleenex I should put it over here all right? So um, it was funny hitting that scene and being like okay well I did build it to talk about it I didn’t leave it out entirely. But it came me too late, but it was good so that was that was a big chunk I ended up cutting like a 1500 word 1500 words out of that and I but I put it my out text file. That’s how I partly how I keep track of what my net gain is. The project so I should probably specify that when I say I have added 2000 words. That’s a net so that means I’ve actually written like now look at this. It could do let’s just do a little formula in here. So not only have I gone to these pages. Oh but I’ve written like 4000 words over 4000 words this week so oh man it’s not not shabby. So yeah, a net king of 2000. So um, that fortunately gave me room to add in a scene that I had taken out or not done I had it’s it’s a choice that you make it’s do show a scene a particular event in real time or do you have 1 of the characters summarize it for the others. And in my draft I had had the scene take place off the page and Gabriel summarized it for Nick and I thought yesterday especially because I cut that chunk and I’d been thinking all along I really need to have that scene happen in. Real time and it’s one of those things that you know I know I’m always second -guessing other writers and and I think that’s part of how we learn how we decide things but it’s tempting to have. Some things happen off page and be summarized because it feels like you’re picking up the pace and maybe it does pick up the pace. Ah I know that my books tend to have slightly slower pace than many. So. So yeah I mean it’s it’s a choice. And it is something that ah you know like you don’t have to hear the whole conversation and ah books that are really quickly paced will will do that but my personal opinion is that most of the time.

11:15.36
jeffekennedy
when that when I’m reading a book and something occurs off the page most of the time it’s something I I would have wanted to see I wanted to to experience real time. So I will often default to that. Especially if I’m um. Ah, when I’m revising like this and I’m like well I think I had it occur off page because I think I realized that I’ve kind of forgotten to put it in and I thought oh well I don’t really have time but then I I could so I hit this part. Where I could see that I was groping that I was groping for the story and and maybe that was a sign that I should have gone back at that point but there are even like a couple of paragraphs in there that were nothing paragraphs and. Wonder if I could read them to you just in case, you guys are interested because I don’t think that it would be spoilery I haven’t opened the document yet but it was interesting to to come back to it and see. That I was just like not but that I was groping for the storyline. It’s probably the best way to put it and it’s funny because I made myself a note yesterday to talk about this where I said can stop groping and I looked at that this morning and I think I’ve mentioned many times. I’m famous for leaving myself notes that make no sense so can spot groping was actually not a helpful note from past Jeffie but I I did figure it out. So maybe it was hopeful. Ah 2 and some of this stuff in the outtakes. This is a great line like I just saw this one and I I might have to put it back in with a shiver she acknowledged his double meaning silvery column and black as the dark side of the moon that was her wizard I really like that one after. Find a place to put it usually there are multiple opportunities. So true. They had this really great conversation that I’m gonna have to find some place to put it I could try and put it in earlier when they first discussed this issue. But the emotional tenor is all wrong. So I don’t know so let’s see if I can find this bit just oh I didn’t really keep it intact.

14:04.53
jeffekennedy
Yeah, all right nevermind after all that I won’t be able to read it too but it was just a couple of paragraphs of me like going. Okay so what happened that evening and what should have happened was this seat was this thing and instead I was like oh but then they were tired and they went to bed. But I mean it was almost that bad. So anyway, yesterday was finagling all of that and getting it into place and it’s 1 thing about it is is that. I knew that this scene had to happen that this conversation had to happen that Gabriel summarized and I’d even made a note saying that he needs to get this piece of information from the conversation. But um I I moved it up. It also increases the. Emotional tenor of the story because yeah I had a remark I don’t want to spend a lot of time looking up stuff while you guys are sitting there twiddling your thumbs but um.

15:21.91
jeffekennedy
What’s funny. You know like even though I cut sometimes I don’t keep all of the things in there. But anyway Gabriel sort of makes this mental observation that ah he’s not letting it know just. How emotional this amount was for him and it’s like or Jeffie maybe this is the difference between showing and telling sometimes telling is useful for pacing in particular that you can just summarize things and say oh this thing happened but the showing is when you have the. Emotion on the page instead of Gabriel thinking oh wow that was really emotional instead. You have the emotion on the page. So um, yeah, that was all a very long way of of talking about what I’m doing but hopefully that is useful for those of you who. Find that who are who are writing and so forth or thinking about those things and I always appreciate hearing from the rest of you who don’t write but are still interested in how the process works so the upshot is that I have. Hundred and forty five pages to go and about 20000 words to write maybe 15 to 20000 I’m not really sure ah deep cleansing rests. It’s still doable and and I do have some wiggle room at the end there. Yeah, my. My copy editor proof reader wants it by a particular day but she’ll cut me slack if I don’t make it although I need to get it to her by like Midday my time on the eighteenth because she’s in Hawaii so she could start in the morning. And Darynda Jones Ms Darynda is going to spend the night on the eighteenths and then I have a whole bunch of stuff on the nineteenth the during this coming up to be part of a panel. I believe I have a board meeting on the nineteenth which I don’t know what I guessre will like have to twiddle her thumbs while I do that and then um, a meeting out at Melinda Snodgrass’s house. Where we’re gonna learn her how she does her plot breaking which I’m as I mentioned eager to learn and then I fly out Sunday morning to go to Los Angeles for the nebula conference site visit walkthrough. So there. We are then.

18:07.47
jeffekennedy
Um, and clearly this is all that’s on my mind right now. Yeah, it’s always like this you know getting coming down to the wire I’m finishing a book. No matter how much time you have. It’s just um, brain eating consuming. So um, on that note I guess I’ll go devote what remaining brains I have to to working through the rest of this and yeah, few good thoughts for me, you all have a wonderful. Thursday coming down on the short end of the week tomorrow is Friday so um so yeah you all take care and I will talk to you tomorrow bye bye.

First Cup of Coffee – February 8, 2022

Jeffe Kennedy / / Blog, Podcast




Transcript

00:00.31
jeffekennedy
Good morning everyone this is Jeffe Kennedy author of fantasy romance and romantic fantasy I’m here with my first cup of coffee. I did a little bit less half and half today still works today is Tuesday February Eight Twenty Twenty two ah how are you guys. Um, so yeah, I’m ah.

00:41.55
jeffekennedy
I’m ah clicking along here I I got up to do something I paused because I didn’t want to forget to do it. Um. Went out for drinks last night with some fun writer people. Lezli Robyn who is in town editor at galaxy’s edge. Um, um. It ended up being a funny evening but I’ll I’ll tell you ending of the evening I think is funny but she was there and Emily Mah and then Twig and I’m thinking oh Twig Deluje yeah ah Twig is the manager at Beastly Bookstore and then also Jim Sorensen and Jack who writes as some jmbarton he he does the podcast I interviewed him on here anyway. So it was 6 of us. And we had this great table by the fire at Rio Chama which is one of my favorite bars and it was um, terrific conversation. Very fun evening. We sat there a long time like 3 hours I think so so that was that was awesome. It was really fun. And so and I gave Leslie a ride because she is blind she has like ten fifteen percent of her sight and cannot drive so and she’s staying at George R Martin’s house in 1 of his casitas has kind of like oh. Walled compound deal and so when I picked her up she was waiting at the gate for me and had just newly discovered freedom because there’s a um, you know a lot of times way that these gates work on these walled places. For those of you who do not live in a walled compound. Ah there’s a sensor so when you pull up in your car to the sensor it automatically opens the gate but she had discovered that a human being was not big enough to trigger this sensor so she was like. There has to be a way for a person on foot to do this and and she’s she’s funny and we were just cracking up about it because I was like were you like dancing around in front of the sensor trying to look big like a car and she’s like I was who you laugh but I was so anyway she found out the trick which is surprising.

03:18.96
jeffekennedy
And I won’t say it on the podcast. But so she was like no I’m free I can leave the compound whenever I want to so she you know triggered the gate and opened it and came out so then I dropped her off again at like eight thirty or something and it’s cold. It’s been cold here the last. Couple of weeks really the coldest we’ve been all winter and snowy and it’s Santa Fe and so we were a you know dark compliance dark sky city so you know not many streetlights so it’s pretty dark so I take her to the gate and I said um. Do you know how to get back in. Do you have a code and she said no but I’ll just text George and and he’ll let me in so she texts George and George does not reply because he had some other guests come in and she’s like you know he probably has his phone like and it’s just sitting off to the side and I said I know I know. So then she tries George’s assistant but it’s her day off 1 of George’s assistants it’s her day off. So she’s not picking up the phone and so then I call one of our other mutual friends and ask if she knows because I know she’s been to George’s house a number of times and I said do you know the gate code and she said no so i. Call Melinda Snodgrass who’s like George’s best friend I was like do you know the code or you know and she’s like oh are you out with Lezli I said yes I’m trying to take her back but we’re trapped outside and and Melinda’s like I don’t she said every time I’ve gone there. It’s been opened for me like well yeah, good for you. So finally Lezli gets through to 1 of George’s other assistants who gives her the codes. It was just funny quite the quite the shenanigans and then Lezli said um, she said well I I could just walk from here and I’m like don’t be selling I’ll drive. You. The rest of the way. Yeah, which was good I get because it’s like you go off around and behind the big house and then down and you know like there’s a number of little casitas and stuff and she’s like in the very last one I was like okay yeah, definitely dropping you up. So. It was just an entertaining evening I may have had a little too much wine as my mother says I was over served ah but not that much I mean I was I was fine to drive obviously but feeling a little rough. This morning but progress on gray magic is going well I’ve got um I got through 70 pages yesterday. Oh I guess I should say I went back to the beginning and and longtime listeners will recognize this pattern in me i.

06:08.98
jeffekennedy
Mentioned yesterday that I hit about 87 almost eighty 8000 words on the book. Well, that’s after yesterday right? Anyway, I’m at 87 8 28 it’s probably going to be somewhere around 106 to 9000 words. So I’ve still got 20000 words to go? Um, not that I’m concerned so I decided definitely go back to the beginning yesterday now begin my revising. And so and I made it through 70 pages 70 of 322 so and it was pretty solid. Um, you can tilt by my speed that that was um, yeah I didn’t have to do a lot I ended up adding. Let’s just see here. Added 543 words and deleted 52 that’s not too bad. I don’t cut everything I delete. But if I cut like if I remember I put into an outtakes document just so I can kind of keep track of how much I’m deleting so we’ll see I do feel like I’m getting a better. Fix on the arc and remembering things so I would like have my little notes of things that I have to remember to wind up for the end which was good because I was concerned I was forgetting some things and it’s giving me ideas on winding it up. Not that I didn’t have plenty but it’s always good to kind of know what I’m doing. Ah, so other things. Um, so I’ve been reading a lot while I read a lot all the time but I’ve been reading thorn by Intisar Khanani hope I’m saying the name right? And. Grace had told me a long time ago to read it and I bought it a long time ago and you know languished on my kindle as books are wont to do and oh my god you guys. It’s so good. It is just so good. So it’s a goose girl retelling and some of you may know that I did a goose girl retelling Heart’s Blood and so it’s fascinating to me to see the ways that Intisar and I both use the same story elements in similar ways only she’s like.

08:38.27
jeffekennedy
So much cleverer I think she did such a better job now I’m like insanely jealous that she did such a better job than I did ah but of course mine’s a novella so I’m going to cling to that excuse that she did a full novel and so hers is naturally richer and more complex than i. I really love how she solved the problem of and I feel like this is not a spoiler right? because it’s goose girl fairy tale which has been out for a long time was ah at the workshop on Saturday when I was teaching it I was talking about. Meeting romance expectations and I said um yeah, like for example, Romeo and Juliet is not a romance. It’s a tragedy because the lovers die at the end and somebody what spoiler alert is like yeah you know that’s like what’s what’s the rule of if it’s been out for at least 100 years then can spoil the ending so that have to take a moment to be amused by that that spoiler. So anyway, spoiler alert on the goose girl if you are not familiar with the fair tale. It’s one of my favorites. So the princess is traveling with a lady-in waiting to meet her this prince of a foreign kingdom to whom she is betrothed to go and marry him and along the way the lady and waiting forces. The princess to trade places with her and. Masquerades as the princess goes and marries the prince and the real princess is forced to become a gooseg girl and it was something that I struggled with and it’s interesting when you do fairy tale retellings and I was. Touching on this a few weeks ago talking about the difference between like when do you do it or retelling when is it. You know to what degree do you cleave to the source material because it can be well. It can be challenging and I I think to the detriment of the story sometimes. If you cling too closely to the source material and you can’t make it justify itself within the I’m waving my hands in the air if you are not on video but this I’m I’m thinking of the. To me stories are like a globe for some reason I always come back to this idea of a globe. It’s like this big bubble and it’s full of all this stuff and like the shimmering surface I don’t know why that’s my mental image of a book but it but it is for better or worse know what your process is own. It.

11:26.29
jeffekennedy
For me. That’s what it looks like you know if you have read Nora Roberts Born in Fire I’ve I really love Born in Tire. It’s one of my favorites of hers. There’s a scene where Maggie gets drunk and passes out in the meadow as as an irish artist will do. And she’s looking up at the moon and then she creates that globe for ah the guy who is like a Roarke prototype I forget what his name is in the book. Anyway, that’s that’s the story image for me that that globe that she thinks. So if you can’t so so your story has to have this internal integrity. It. It becomes its own thing which is I think partly why I think of it like a bubble because like you know like you blow it like a soap bubble. You you keep breathing air and air into it and it grows bigger and bigger and then eventually it detaches and it goes floating off which is why I talk about like books feel like they take a little piece of me once they detach there’s that little bit of essenceence goes off with it. That’s why I think it’s exhausting when you finally release a book because like that packet of energy that’s inside the globe goes with it anyway, I’m waxing philosophical today at least it’s not self-excoriating. That’s a joke for bonds of magic readers I put in I created a house name. Yesterday that I tickled me immensely some things I put in just because I think they’re funny. You guys will have to see what you think. So um I keep losing my original thread here. So when you’re doing a retelling if you are determined to cleave. To certain story elements for the sake of cleaving to the source material and it doesn’t vibe with the internal integrity of your story then it’s a problem so when I did my goose goal retelling. I struggled with justifying. How did this lady in waiting overpower the princess and force her to change places. What did she have on her. What did she do to her and I had it. Developmental edited at the time and the editor pushed me on it and I I don’t. Don’t think it worked very well I don’t like the way that she pushed me on it I think what Ansar did is is superior far superior and I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me that part of it is magic. It’s like duh. Why didn’t I think of using magic because I’m not as.

14:15.28
jeffekennedy
Smart just into sorrow I don’t know and I haven’t ever met her. But if she listens to this. She’ll probably be amused but she also did I thought it was interesting that we did similar things with the character of the princess and why. And sort of her arc what it takes for her to to sort of overcome this problem and and it’s interesting. A lot of our beats are the same. So but I’m sure that comes from the source material. Anyway, it’s a really good book. Um i’m. I’m I’m really interested to see how she ends it I’m excited to read it. 1 thing I did over the weekend because I had finished a book that I was doing a blurb for and so i. Kind of finished up my reading obligations and so that’s why I was kind of going back through my my tbr the the leaning tower of to be read books and trying to decide. What was I going to read next and I briefly settled on persuasion by Jane Austen because I had not read persuasion ever and full caveat I have read Emma, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility all more than once I have never read I’m looking at my bookshelf now I’ve never read Mansfield Park or Northanger Abbey though I have copies of them on my shelf and I had not read persuasion and I bought it a while back for Kindle I think I don’t have a paper copy of Persuasion and I know I watched one of the I don’t know how many there are but I had watched one of the. Movie versions of it was my friend Margaret and she had said that Persuasion was her favorite and had bought the Kindle book some years ago when I was sort of casting about for something to read and I was looking for something of a particular style and a lot of people it said or someone had. Chimed in I I feel like it was more than one saying oh well if you’ve never read persuasion. You have to so I started reading it and I was so bored and I wasn’t liking it I mean and I kind of want but I was almost gonna post on social media being like is this just me because then I went and looked up. Um, you like to see if people say because I know that people feel like Mansfield Park and Northanger Abey are not her best works but you know persuasion they were sort of waxing and it was like the Jane Austen society or something. So of course they’re going to say nice things but they were saying that it was what that it’s one of her most popular works.

16:59.21
jeffekennedy
Which surprised me, do we think that’s true I mean what would be the empirical evidence for that none but I don’t think it’s and they said oh well and then it’s infused with this perspective of a more mature woman because it was her last book and I mean i. I should resonate with that right? Um, ah so I got through I read to like 20% of Persuasion and I was not having fun for a while I thought well I just need to settle into the pace and the language you know it’s different and like. 20% I was like I do not care about this heroin I don’t care about any of these people I’m really tired of reading about the silliness of the discussions around the children and so forth. So I I bailed so is this just me what am I missing on persuasion. Um. Please let me know or even better. Let me know that’s not just me because it’s like I’m so not getting it and I didn’t love the movie either. Even though my friend was rhapsodizing over it and I was like okay well maybe it’s because I haven’t read the book you know because I do think especially with books like Jane Austen or Henry James some of these books from that era you you get a lot more out of the movie version if you’ve read the book and you have all of that nuance but I did um, discover a lovely quote when I was looking up. Is it just me that I’m not liking persuasion and this was something that her brother had said about her he had said an invincible distrust of her own judgment induced her to withhold her works from the public till time and many perusals had satisfied her. That the charm of recent composition was dissolved and I threw that up on social media. But I love that because there’s the charm of recent composition. There really is something to that that like what you’ve just finished writing. It’s hard to see it clearly and when we talk about like the kill your darlings thing I think a lot of people don’t understand that that’s like only after some time and distance when you can step back and see things that you have put in there. Well like if you make up a house name just to amuse yourself. But that’s a tiny thing I get to keep that because at heart harms nothing. But if your darling is for example, cleaving to an element of the sourcement material because you feel like it’s important or you should then then that’s something to evaluate.

19:46.37
jeffekennedy
Once the charm of recent composition has dissolved. So. That’s why it’s interesting for me to go back and start revising from the beginning because it was interesting to read stuff that I started writing like back in November because it’s taken me a while to write this book and yeah, there is no charm. Recent composition. In fact, there’s like sometimes little recognition. It’s like oh god I put that in there. So I thought that was good insight. So on that note I’m going to get busy, get my shit done as as they say. I hope that you all have wonderful Tuesday I hope that you are getting your own shit done in a way that is pleasing to you and rewarding and I will talk to you all on Thursday you all take care bye bye.

First Cup of Coffee – February 7, 2022

Jeffe Kennedy / / Blog, Podcast




Transcript
00:00.00
jeffekennedy
Good morning everyone this is Jeffe Kennedy author of fantasy romance and romantic fantasy I’m here with my first cup of coffee. Ah, so good. Okay, so alert listeners ah may have heard in the sound of my voice watchers may have noted that I’m back to my morning watte. I started doing it again yesterday. Oh and it’s um, it’s everything. So um, I’m gonna talk a little bit about the. Insulin resistance and intermittent fasting. So if you have trouble with body image stuff or eating disorder stuff tap out for today or closures for a few minutes. So 1 thing that I did over the weekend was I did some research on stevia and whether or not. It really causes an insulin spike and I found um a number of studies on it. There’s a lot of disagreement because there are some studies that say yes, it does and others that say no, it don’t and but I found a double blind study that seemed like it was really well done. Well controlled and they found no impact on blood sugar or insulin from stevia and then I’m still doing the intermittent fasting I’m still doing the sixteen eight I’m getting great effects. So I might i. Um, down about £8 already and which is fantastic and I feel better. A lot of you may know that I start doing this because grace does it grace drven and she’s been having such great effects with clearing brain fog and sleeping better. You guys I’m sleeping so much better. It’s really interesting. Um, yeah so I’m feeling energized feeling good. Um, that’s um and it’s it’s very doable for me. So if you haven’t heard me talk about it before the sixteen eight fasting you basically fast for 16 hours and you eat during an 8 hour window um and and in general you can eat whatever you want I’ve been doing some other things too I’ve been ah I’ve tried to cut out all added sugars from my diet done.

02:41.39
jeffekennedy
I’m having very little added sugar which is amazing because I have a sweet tooth but I don’t miss it when I have a real sweet craving I’ve been doing what 1 doctor suggested and I have some raspberries or blackberries with some whipped cream just actual heavy cream that I’ve whipped up and put a little. Vanilla extract and I find makes it taste fabulous. Excellent sweet dessert adding more fiber to my diet raspberries have great fiber so and things like ah. I made my own refried beans yesterday I should include my recipe because a case anybody cares, you guys may not keep care. You’re not here for the recipes. There’s a bunny on the port portal. That’s why I keep looking at hey bunny. Um, oh yeah, refried beans. So yeah I make my own refried beans because we both love beans refried beans. We live in New Mexico but David can’t do spicy stuff. He can’t do anything that’s too acidic or too spicy and um and. You know, like even the really good organic grief fried beans. Just don’t do that well for us with just never feel good after eating them I think they use weird lards um, so this recipe I’ll just tell you guys and be only for the people who listen? Oh no better. We have the transcript now right. So what I did was um, heated some olive oil do the extra virgin olive oil in a pan and then two fifteen ounce cans of organic pinto beans rinsed and you cook them in the ah heated olive oil and just keep mashing them up as you cook them. De gal whose recipe I found she added tomatoes. But um, none of the belladonnas do well for David so I didn’t add tomatoes instead I added some um cumin I added cumin and salt. And some chopped up cilantro at the end. My mom would not like that if she were here I would not add this cilantro for her and they turned out great and then I made some Jasmine Rice I toasted some sunflower seeds and I sauteed some mushrooms. And mix those all into the brito mix with. We have 1 thing. That’s great about New Mexico is that we have local tortillas and so I have local tortillas that had no added sugar. You.

05:24.55
jeffekennedy
1 thing they do to try to do is cut down on refined carbohydrates. But if you can find like a refined carbohydrate that has a lot of fiber that helps counteractive. So these have good fiber in them and and put some cheese on there some cheese and avocado. They were really good burritos. I mean you all could spice it up if you live with people who can handle spicy stuff. But um I find I don’t miss the spicy stuff I’m happy to to eat stuff fairly bland for for David that’s an easy one for me. You know my mom used to make this wonderful pork green chili and we can buy amazing green chili here and then you put the green chili on top of the tortilla ah top of the burrito. That’s really good too. So anyway. um um I was just really pleased with all that I’m really happy with the results grace said told me that the stuff she had read she and I have read some so slightly different stuff but that it would take about six weeks for the intermittent fasting to really have an effect. On on the insulin resistance and so forth and I’m hitting about five weeks now and I can really tell a difference. So now I am even though I am outside of my window. it’s it’s not it won’t be my eating window until about eleven thirty this morning and it’s still eight fifteen I’m running a little behind. Um, but I decided to go ahead and have my half and half with my coffee and my stevia and see if I can. And and not eat anything else. They say you could have a small amount of half and half and cream this may be more than a small amount but I’m gonna experiment with that because I really love my morning. Latte. So we’ll see what works. And I did you weeks and weeks of and and I want to say uncamp uncontaminated. But that’s not fair, unacceorized coffee. So anyway, um I need a signal. Like an an all clear for when I stopped talking about content morning stuff. Maybe they just tapped out but I I am ah very aware that for some people. It’s very difficult to talk about anything that has to do with governing eating or or weight loss or so forth.

08:10.32
jeffekennedy
So let’s see um, busy weekend I did a workshop on Wednesday afternoon after a bunch of SFWA meetings. Lots of SFWA meetings but they were really good SFWA meetings. They were really productive. You know we have just an amazing board and just. Fantastic people who are members of sofa I mean they just really are wonderful people. We have fantastic volunteers. Yeah, and so the board was um, we had some really thoughtful discussions about a couple of things on the table. Ah, but talking about nebula conference this spring how we want to handle that and people have just such great thoughtful input I’m really grateful grateful for them and then taught the workshop in the afternoon I had 4 people in the shop. With me and then some people came in online and it was they were sort of on this little laptop far away. So I couldn’t really see who was there unless they had like their big name across and their camera off. So I knew a couple of you who were there and when gal said that she said. At the end when I was doing q and a and I’m sorry I didn’t catch your name but she said I have coffee with you every morning and I thought that’s so lovely. It’s it’s one of the maybe unexpected ah consequences ripple effects of doing this podcast because. You know for me I put it here and I send it out and unless some unless people send me comments. You know I don’t really know who’s out there who’s listening or reading the transcript now that we have the transcript and she but you know so then I run into people when I do stuff and they say oh yes. And listen here coffee your podcast and I drink my coffee while you talk and I love that? Um, maybe I’m just in a gratitude mood this morning but I’m I’m grateful for all of you who listen in and and say lovely things to me. So then oh yeah, so where there’s a girl in town who is the editor of Galaxys Edge Leslie Robin and Leslie and her friend Ava who is headed up to Kevin J Anderson’s all stars writing workshop retreat deally. She was in they were both in town and sort of um chips passing in the night ava just happened to be driving through Santa Fe on the way to Denver color springs sorry from Tucson to Colorado Springs and and Leslie was remarkably in town.

10:57.35
jeffekennedy
Got something in my eye there I had to go deal with it. What was a cat hair. What why Why? try to hide the fact how do I get cat hairs in my eyes I don’t know how do cat hairs get everywhere. 1 of the great mysteries of the universe. So um, let’s say I was talking about the weekend. Oh yeah, and so Leslie was really fun. We all went out to dinner afterwards and had a had a great time. And then yesterday I did my I didn’t stay completely unplugged but I stayed largely offline I did take care of a few things on the computer I also cleaned out the closet of doom which looks much better now. It’s. I mean it’s not like I’m not gonna show it to you guys. This is the closet my office because my office is technically a bedroom I guess like did I suppose our houses are big enough where they have rooms that are dedicated offices is that what I’m trying to say and. This one is technically a bedroom. Although it has things like you could see behind me like it has this power strip and stuff. Of course I have my desk set up so I can look out the window which I think I’m I’m weird that way. So it’s like a bedroom closet. You know, like as the clothes rack and at everything but I also have a. Bookshelf in there and a file cabinet and keep my coats in there. There’s a higher shelf but it’s um, full of things like writing books and copies of arcs. You know like I have a lot of my own books. You know like these couple of shelves are all my own books. But. Ah, that one’s like various arcs and copies of things that I’ve kept like 1 copy of a lot of magazines when I used to do a lot of magazine writing and that sort of thing poetry also lives in there for no good reason other than the fact that I don’t access it as frequently as other books. I.Ah rearrrange my office to mostly have the books that I can see while I’m working being the books that inspire me the the ones that I’ve loved so they’re out of order so there which would really upset the librarians among you I’m sure but I used to keep. Like all the books from a single author in one space which is logical but finally I decided it’s my office in my study I had a friend who didn’t like to call her writing space an office she called it her study and I tried it for a while and I always revert to office I I felt like I care. So.

13:45.44
jeffekennedy
I have the books from those authors that I love most within eyesight and within an easy grab reach. So so why am I talking so much about this about the closet of do. It’s just really was an accomplishment. It did take me mostly the afternoon I pulled everything out. And it’s got all my mailing stuff in it. So now. It’s much better organized I did throw a bunch of shit away. 1 thing that was striking about it though is how much of the shit I have from conferences. Both that I’ve received from conferences and then I give away at conferences a whole lot of that stuff is swag is stuff that I would hand out and I guess I could mail it out now. But it’s really funny to look at that stuff and be well I mean. 3 years ears three years out from having you know, almost two and a half years since last time I was at a conference. What was last one I went to was world con in dublin right? 2019 which is amazing to think about because that was a long time ago now right? and before that. When was the last comfort you know a lot of this stuff was for like the the reader conferences and I don’t know it’s a bunch of silly shit. So I threw a lot of things away a lot of it has just started to feel ancient to me now like I had a whole bunch of those. Um. Karina wine tumblers. plastic wine tumblers it’s like okay that’s I’m not keeping I threw away threw away a lot of k karina stuff sorry karina people but it’s like I just don’t have much identity with that press anymore. So that was good. You know how good purging can do so. So yeah, now, everything’s much more accessible I threw away a lot of old phone cases because I guess I was keeping these phone cases with the idea that they would maybe fit some other phone but 1 thing they do is they make sure that like the phones are all different all the time right? So you don’t. Like why am I keeping these old phone cases stuff like that. so so yeah that felt like a ah productive weekend to me where are we at on the book I have two weeks to finish this bloody book and. I don’t want to influence how you guys feel about it I do think it’s good book. It’s just um, taking a lot and I know I say this every single time every single time when I’m finishing a book I’m at 87000 words I only got a thousand words on friday.

16:35.74
jeffekennedy
But at least I got a thousand words I think today I am gonna start going back and revising from the beginning. Um I on Friday I figured out some solutions to some things which is good and I have been mulling at the back of my mind over the weekend. We talk about that a lot you know like. Even when you’re not actually writing you’re still percolating on the book and I know some I’ve figured out some things I just had to think more about Nick and Gabriel and how they would handle this situation. You know I think I talked about this some on Friday but it’s funny how like you can have this conception of how the story will go and you think you could be able to just type it out but the story doesn’t always cooperate that way. It’s like no one doesn’t want to do that. Maybe other writers can do that. But I can’t so so yeah, looking at our progress count spreadsheet 87000 words I think I’ve got about 18000 to go I do know how. This book is gonna end I mean or more or less I mean there are some things I know some things I don’t so so yeah I think I will start back at the beginning so I can get I’m having a little bit of trouble with Gabriel’s character arc at this point. Um, what I want him to do. Is not what he’s doing I should probably just stop fighting that right? Gabriel’s always been an interesting character to me. He’s and I know a lot of you love him. Ah, he’s always kind of taking his own roads. You know Nick takes her own road too for that manner. Is probably why they’re so meant for each other. So anyway, um, the big dramatic thing I want Gabriel to do he is refusing to do yeah so um, we shall see we shall see how it goes and so wish me luck. I do have a really open weekend next weekend and depending on my progress this week I may work through the weekend and just try to get her done. Get her done powder river litter buck if you have been to Wyoming or no wyoming things you will get them and. Oh yeah I don’t have time to talk about anymore I should make myself a note my my aunt sent me an article from the new yorker that was in there in the fall. Maybe people talked about it I usually miss most internet curvefuffles I don’t I curate very heavily I will only things that bring me joy and.

19:26.25
jeffekennedy
But she sent me this article that it was ah it was confusing because it was a review of a book and the book was about how Amazon has changed publishing and then apparently the book had a lot of things wrong in it and the author of the article who was discussing the book. Pointed out some of the things that were wrong in the article but then also had things wrong that they said in the article and I couldn’t tell if they had like pulled that wrongness from the the book from the source material and not fact checked it in which case I’m really surprised that. New yorker didn’t fact, check these things like for example, those some of you will know and I won’t go on too long because I’m about out of time but like they said that Kdp was Amazon’s publishing program where authors get paid by patriots if it’s like well. That’s just factually, not true you that’s there’s you know and I’ll I’ll talk well ah really quickly for those of you who don’t know kdp yes is Amazon’s program where you can go in and self-publish but where you where authors get paid by page reads is kdp select and that’s. Where people can subscribe to Kindle unlimited and read an unlimited number of books for their monthly fee and authors are paid by patriots but under Kdp you also sell books and my aunt had asked me. She said she was curious about my experience with Amazon and i. I don’t do kimda unlimited except for occasional experiments. So I mean it was just not correct and and misleading and and I wonder if it’s deliberately misleading because you know the new yorker tends to be 1 of those um remaining. Outposts of literary snobbitude where they also trotted out the um debt like half of self- publishing authors make less than $500 and I think they just said less than $500 I think that was like full stop so reader listener. I make more than $500 on myselfpublished books. Thank you very much I know you do too some of you who are listening so anyway it was aggravating. Um, if you want me to I’ll put a link to the article. Although I hate to give them clicks but it it was a puzzling article I I wrote back to my aunt and said well that was a. Whiplash over read you guys should read it and tell me what you think? Okay, anyway. I’ve bowed on long enough when I need to be writing so I will um, talk to you all tomorrow you all take care bye bye.

First Cup of Coffee – February 4, 2022

Jeffe Kennedy / / Blog, Podcast




Transcript
00:00.00
jeffekennedy
Good morning everyone this is Jeffe Kennedy author of fantasy romance and romantic fantasy I’m here with my first cup of coffee.

00:12.75
jeffekennedy
Today is say it with me today is Friday um, February fourth I knew that why did I look I knew what it was but look anyway. Um yeah, chill me here. And Santa Fe this morning we were in the negative digits when we woke up, but my our outdoor thermometer is showing ° now but the sun’s shining on it. Everything here is about sunshine people tend to be confused that it’s cold in New Mexico but we are high altitude. Um, my house is at about 6 60 8 hundred feet and we get snow and we have mountains and it’s not all hot desert quite a lot of New Mexico Northern New Mexico is like foot pills and mountains. It’s always surprising to me that people don’t know that. But of course there are people who also think that it’s Mexico so there you have it? Ah so happy that it’s Friday um I ended up not going to the dinner last night I wasn’t feeling great I was feeling a little. Rundown on headache and you know in this new world. It’s like well if I feel not wonderful if I feel ever so slightly sick like my glance felt a little sore and I thought well I don’t want to give covid to george r um, so. I stayed home. Also it was really cold out and I was um, you know I’ve become a wimp I’ve become a deliberate wimp after living in Wyoming for 20 years when we. Forged through all kinds of terrible weather when we dealt with um, you know, drove through white out on black ice. Um everything I mean basically living where we especially where we did in Wyoming but I think it’s true of a lot of Wyoming. You know if you let the winter weather stop you. It’s going to stop you from doing anything at all, you know you go out like two or three months of the year so you know you get really tough about it. But it’s not fun. David and I often talk about the sort of the Wyoming. What’s I want to say aesthetic and that’s the wrong word. Um credo manifesto value.

02:57.93
jeffekennedy
More maybe it’s a more of this um of being tough. You know like you’re very tough and you put up with all of the difficulties of the weather and not having some things not having conveniences and it’s ah it’s a measure of character that you. Put up with all of this stuff and and people kind of compete with each other for like how terrible something is. It’s like oh you know let’s live. They’re like oh I just came up this road with black ice and it was white out and I couldn’t see. I was having to drive by the delineator posts which are the posts along the side of the road. You know that have the little reflectors on them I have driven by the delineator posts more than once because you can’t see the edge of the road or the line on the road. So you’re marking. You know hoping you don’t go off the road in between delineator posts. That’s why they’re there and so oh I had to drive by delineator post to get there and someone else be like oh well that’s nothing I had to go over Togwotee pass and you know blah blah blah blah blah it’s um, it’s a weird kind of competition for who’s overcoming the most. Difficulty. So when we moved to Santa Fe it was just ah, almost an indescribable relief to live somewhere that was not so harsh where the ground. You know, like even if it’s ° here and ° in Laramie Wyoming it’s a totally different ° because the ground stays where we’re here and all of our house plants started growing larger I mean it’s just um, just amazing. But we have snow occasionally. But rarely enough that like when it is really bitter weather which you know last night there was a wind chill advisory out I don’t think they ever give maybe they do maybe they do now but like in Wyoming they didn’t give wind chill advisories because you were just gonna tough it out but you know like here they give a. Ah, windchill advisory and that’s like why go out why leave my house if I don’t have to I don’t want to so funny funny stuff so let’s see um so yesterday yeah I don’t know what was my deal yesterday. Um I did not get my 3000 words reader. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth I got 578 words although I did see somebody else proposing a challenge saying um, who wants to you know, try to get at least 500 words today.

05:40.75
jeffekennedy
And I and it made me feel better because I thought well at least I already got 500 words so I got um it was a very slow first hour of writing 530 words and then the second hour I got 48 words and I admit I did start dorkking around because I just um, either the manuscript is pushing back or I was tired or both. But anyway I hit something of a wall I meant 86000 words I’m guessing this manuscript is gonna be 106000 so um, I’m gonna see what happens today I’m gonna poke at it I am at a penultimate climactic scene. Obviously if I’m at 86000 words I’ve still got that I’m expecting 106000 we can do that math right. About 20000 words to go and I just have to have it done by February eighteenth so my cheerleaders are all like you can do this. You’ve got this I do need some time to revise it. So. So yeah, I’m I’m kind of at my climactic action scene and. Ah I don’t know how they’re gonna do it I don’t know how they’re gonna do the thing they need to do I kind of know what happens after this I’ve got an idea for a number of things that will resolve after this and even Darynda was saying you know it’s too bad. You don’t write out of order. And and I said you know I was even considering that I was feeling stuck enough that I was considering maybe I will skip this scene get to the outcome write the rest of it and then come back and figure out how I get to the outcome. But I think I’d have to rewrite it. I think I’d end up rewriting too much of it because too much changes as I write. Do you know and like the emotional arts changes. That’s that’s 1 reason why I don’t write ahead because it just um, it doesn’t blend later. So. Thinking hard about that and I think I I don’t know it feels like um you know it’s this interesting. It’s probably not interesting to watch me sit here and gaze off into space. But I’ve sort of been um, doing this for about the past. Not quite 24 hours but 22 hours mulling over this There’s something that needs to happen in this scene and and I may be overthinking because I feel like it needs to be more actiony you know, like yesterday.

08:22.37
jeffekennedy
And I’m sorry I didn’t talk to about it till the end of the podcast but I find it very interesting watch I’ve completed the first season of the expanse which adapts about the first half of leviathan wakes. Except to make sure to put my s on the right part I don’t know why I want it to be leviathan’s wake does not mean the same thing maybe Leviathan’s wake should have been like the last book but tying Daniel didn’t ask me and it would have confused everybody. It’s a terrible idea Jacky um. In the wake of the leviathan will be my next book. Dear Leviathan is not asleep. Ah, okay, so so yeah I I guess I’m feeling I’m really noting the ways in which the. Dance series amped up the action and the tension making things much more 1 thing after another and I know some of that is the visual medium because and and people say oh, it’s such an exciting show. And I’m not someone who normally looks for excitement. Um, but oh by the way you know it’s I’m I’m almost certain I’m right about season when ending halfway through Leviathan wakes they did take in some stuff from. Later books in the series like I was reading this in the trivia anyway, um I am Db Trivia is my friend so they took some stuff and characters from the second season and added them in ah to because it was like context that was only revealed in internal monologue. And good for them. They did not resort to the much loathed voiceover I really do not like the voiceover as a of solution I’m not sure anyone does sometimes I suppose it can be done well. But for the most part it’s like and then. I wrote you know ers was thinking this I don’t know it was it was neat to see the visualization of stuff that occurred only in internal monologue like um, Holden’s family and I do like the addition of alma of the ambassador. Um I’m not sure exactly what her. Don’t remember what her title is but it does give that perspective of earth and I think it does help connect people to give them a frame of reference since we are currently earthbound as a species. So.

11:09.39
jeffekennedy
But I’ve I’ve know that where it season one ended was I noted that it was midpoint in the book as I was reading because I thought it was an interesting choice for midpoint. That’s the author brain doesn’t to quite kick off and I almost always notice midpoint of the book I notice. The first 25% is what they’ve put is the climax and what stakes they’ve set by then and then I noticed the midpoint those are the 2 things that no matter how caught up I am I always noticed that part and it’s always interesting to me when neither one is notable I was like oh but. Leviathan wakes midpoint was like okay this is turning point in the story I know that they also worked with Melinda Snodgrass who is really great at 18 react structure and does plot breaks according to it so she’s going to have a little session for us. In a couple of weeks and I’m very interested to learn from her. So yeah I guess I’m I’m thinking because I feel like this needs to be a more action-y scene that I’m making it because I always I don’t know why I always try to make things be Maybe it’s because of who I am as a person you know it’s like I always try to I always do the Taoist approach email the what? ah you know, asking myself. What am I really trying to win here but in fiction. There is a real stake and something that they’re trying to win and I think I know need to I know what needs to happen. It’s just funny. You know you would think that it’s like okay I think it needs to be boom boom boom point five five action action. This is what I need to write and then when I try to write it. It just goes new. Ah, ah you think I could just make myself type the words. But for some reason it just doesn’t work that way I guess maybe because spinning the story is more than typing words. There’s a take home message for you. You guys can that can be my tagline so anyway um yeah so I’m teaching the workshop tomorrow I mentioned that yesterday there is a link to register in the show notes. Um, transcript is working so I’ll do that I noticed that um on my free trial of this pro version of it that there’s like things I can do. There’s like an intro and outro or I could do like dramatic piano.

13:56.30
jeffekennedy
Or drums. Oh It doesn’t let me do it while I’m Recording. Ah or I could do the ballpark the drums not funny I feel like this is not on brand for Me. Could do Traumatic piano.

14:21.46
jeffekennedy
So anyway, maybe who knows if I do the pro version. Maybe I will actually become more pro. The transcript is probably worth it right? $20 month yeah ah but but pop up. So I’m forging on right when I go back and revise I tighten up the tension too. I I tend to add in more conflict and more ticking clocks. So I don’t know if I’ll talk about that in the workshop tomorrow. We’ll be live streamed a couple people will be there live on site but otherwise it will be live streamed I will try to answer questions. It’s kind of funny because I do have a talk planned but then Twigg. The beastly books manager. He’s so funny I could tell you like what he texted me I mean I’m just there for like it’s an hour long talk right? and then have an hour for questions and stuff just in case and um. He says I’d love to hear about your process examples who you read for information for inspiration how you got started etc. These are simply suggestions and I fully trust your expertise on how you want it to flow and it’s like well I can talk about all of that stuff. But it’s actually not the topic of the workshop I could. Spend a long time talking about all of those things. So anyway, um I will try to start out with that frame of talking about how you weave romance into sf f and then if you have questions out there. You can let me know ahead of time I’ll say. If I can incorporate it along with twigs long list of things and yeah, yeah should be fun I have a very busy day tomorrow I have like wall to wall meetings tomorrow culminating in this workshop. So. Will attempt to be full of perqutute. Um and we’ll see how I do I’m moving this book forward. Yeah, all right? So let’s see do I have anything else to report to you guys I think I don’t um. Ah, can’t tell you that things are looking up for Grace and her husband he should be discharged from the hospital today and they have a plan going forward. So the the worst crisis is over at this point cross our fingers.

17:00.27
jeffekennedy
Grace is very hopeful that this will not happen again. I’m hoping that for her too because she needs to get some sleep and retro books not necessarily. You know in that order. So if you listen to this grace darling. We are all thinking of you. You know that because I’ve been talking to her but ah. Other people are as well. So and wishing best Mr Draven so um so yeah I hope you all have a wonderful weekend I hope it is both restful and productive in whatever proportion you need that to be and. I will talk to you all on Monday you all take care bye bye.

First Cup of Coffee – February 3, 2022

Jeffe Kennedy / / Blog, Podcast



Transcript:

00:00.37
jeffekennedy
Good morning everyone this is Jeffe Kennedy author of fantasy romance and romantic fantasy I’m here with my first cup of coffee. Oh and I didn’t even sip from it because I started thinking. Ah, excellent today is Thursday February Third Twenty Twenty Two 2 3 two zero to 2 hope you’ll are working on those manifestations right Um. Love goes out to Grace darling this morning. She posted a Facebook that she’s dealing with medical emergency with Mr Draven and so far things are are okay-ish but sending her good thoughts and sending him. But that’s. I did talk to her last night and this morning. So um, she’s holding up. She’s holding up but she could use support. Um, so here we are. Thank you all for the kind messages about the transcript. I believe that it’s recording the transcript again today I don’t see it doing it I’m gonna pause. Well, it’ll be an experiment. It seemed to me like last time it showed me that it was going to do the transcript but maybe it just doesn’t automatically I may have to toggle the settings. So all in all, it wasn’t too painful. Um I did edit 2 things. First of all, it spelled Jeffe J E F F Y I noticed that the um auto captioning on Instagram does the same fucking thing. It’s not Jeffe with a y like family circus. Jeffe with an e thank you? What was the other thing. Oh it didn’t handle the numbers well because when I said something about it being 2 2 2022 it did like um T O O T O and then I don’t know it it barfed it up. So I had to fix that other than that I didn’t really read it. It exported it allowed me to export to text and I changed the text wrap. Um and for using the formatting and text editor and then I just pasted it into the blog post. So um.

02:33.10
jeffekennedy
So Yeah I know a few people read it and and seemed Happy. So Apparently it was at least Semi-coherent. It doesn’t add as many periods as I think there should be so something about the pacing of my speaking. Does weird things with grammar which is not surprising to me at all because like grammar is just so not my thing which is probably surprising because I I do write very clean I should be specific. Punctuation is not my thing. Um. I Do not have strong opinion opinions about Commas Periods Semicolons colons most of them I do know how to use most of them I choose not to I know some people have like a passionate a love affair with semicolons I don’t understand. How you can have emotions about punctuation Frankly I like to sneeze there That’s God punishing me for not having emotions about punctuation Apparently Commas Commas I Actually do not believe there are real rules about commas people try to make up rules about Commas. I Think that’s why people and love the Oxford Comma because it’s like a Comma rule that they understand It’s my opinion I know that a lot of people don’t agree with me but it’s like all the other Comma rules seem to me optional because it’s always like well except and when and. Some people say you just put a comment in whenever you would have a natural break when speaking and other people say no, that would be wrong. Um, like I said I don’t care I almost never argue commas with copy editors unless it’s a situation where I really want that. Brief break before the next phrase.

04:32.67
jeffekennedy
So um, what else What’s going on. Got my three thousand yesterday it was really nice because I got a thousand before I met up with Duranda we start meeting up again. Um, she’s logging through that book you guys. She’s working away on it. Oh I did successfully um, move the release date for gray magic it is set now for February Twenty Eighth I can’t move it again or Amazon will come to my house and. Take away my cats and paint a big scarlet letter of some sort I was trying to be with either there but I I don’t know what letter it would be. It would be like um shirker or something a scarlet s on my garage. It’s funny because and and I’ve mentioned this but Amazon is the. Only retailer that punishes us for not for moving our release state when we have a preorder and they’re like to main turn or good customer experience. So they’ve backed off on the strictness of it so they let me move the release state for gray magic to February Twenty Eight and I did get the scolding notice saying we let you do it. You pushed it again. Oops you did it again and but we are not going to punish you this time. But if you do it again. You won’t be able to do pre-orders for a year and you’ll lose your pre-orders which is. Point that dund is in and she says um that she does not care because she’s not gonna do any preorders for which I don’t blame her for some people you guys I just looked at this and like it stopped recording again and I have no idea. When it stopped I’m gonna have to like glue my eyes to this countdown I don’t know if there’s I don’t even know what I did this time. It’s weird it’s weird I don’t know why it’s doing this and I I have no idea. Where I was what I was saying um so we’ll just bullet point. The recap here. Ah I wish it was an easy way for me to look back at what I was doing without like having to stop and splice. But I can’t. Um, anyway, you’ll hear me talking about it but storm princess I’ll set that new release date I realize for gray magic I have to still do the description and get the tagline to revven.

07:19.94
jeffekennedy
Because the cover’s still temporary. You know it’s just funny. You know like all of these little things. All of this businessy stuff. It’s been great for me to finish my words earlier in the day because then I have the whole afternoon to do business and that makes a huge difference. Today. However, reader will not be 1 of those days because I overslept I slept till six thirty and so I have not written any words yesterday before I met Duran I think I said this already but I already got a thousand before I talked to her and so then I was done. Um. By like noon which is ideal. Yeah I was done by 1130 and that’s just um, checking make sure the clock is still going. Um, that’s just the best. Oh if I could do that every day I would be very happy. Um. But so it goes not doing rider coffee today because we’re doing rer coffee dinner this evening. Also we got a fair amount of snow and it’s very cold. So everybody’s tucking in this morning. Oh. And then the other thing is is I do have a link now to the workshop that I’ll be teaching on Saturday I’ll be teaching it at beastly books here in Santa Fe but they’re limiting the attendance to 6 in person people. Um. And I think I said this before but because I don’t like talking to an empty screen. It’s the worst I really like to if I’m teaching I have to be able to see pay faces and okay I’m pausing I wonder if my previous pause was when I sneezed and I forgot to unpasuse. Or it didn’t quite unpause. You know how like if you’re in a Zoom meeting and sometimes it like mutes without you realizing it because there’s the keystrokes I didn’t move the keyboard today I should have but we won’t keep pausing I’m getting too free with that pause button. Ah, but anyway the workshop will be streamed online live so it’s going to be at 3 p M mountain time on Saturday February fifth so if you want to um, join the in and watch it live then you can ask questions and stuff. And I am talking about writing cross on romance or crush on yeah romance with you know sff so I will try to I just got that link yesterday late yesterday I was gonna put it in the blog post by I didn get them time so please um, share share with your friends.

10:09.33
jeffekennedy
It’s free and could be a lot of fun. It’s always more fun if there’s more people there. So um, I’m going to make myself 1 more note getting free with that pause button resume fun. I swear I have got I’m not gonna pause this time but I will tell you guys on my to do list I have 1 2 3 4 pause 13 141516 17 eighteen I have 18 items under business. I categorize my to- do list in an an attempt to balance my day I don’t know how well it works. Um I have some things I put timing on I try to keep sifus stuff to 30 minutes to an hour a day um it doesn’t always work out that way I try to do like an hour on finances every day and then I have doing the blog post and pointing. You know when posting it and then I have appointments and and business. And then household I also have a household and then promo which I really need to I always end up like moving I’m supposed to spend 30 minutes on promo every day not counting podcast promo and I haven’t been doing that and I really need to um. Really need to get that a plus marketing figured out on Amazon I have like Tiktok videos to watch on how to do tiktok not participate in pick Tiktok. It’s um, yeah, just sometimes feels like more more than I can get to. However, the good news is is I got. All of the royalties crunched for January paid all the bills yesterday got those funds dispersed. So that’s always a good thing. Get all that stuff sent out but that is 1 thing about my unplugging on Sundays I could tell it’s really good for me. But. It’s like a lot of times on Sundays I was doing all that business catching up and but and I ended up having so many meetings on Saturdays now that I’m not getting all of that business stuff done on Saturdays but you know like last Sunday I didn’t go online at all and i. Went down to tomayall with my friend Katie Laden and we did spa and lunch and it was all very relaxing but it was like there were a lot of things on my to-do list that didn’t get done how how do you how do you handle that you know right.

12:57.87
jeffekennedy
I guess you face the fact that some things on your list aren’t going to get done. Um I sometimes feel like I need a second assistant because Assistant Karine is very busy and so she hasn’t been able to get to everything anybody want to do anyone want to figure out Amazon fucking a plus marketing for me. That would be awesome who would pay you I would pay you anyway, let’s see what else Um, but but bu boom but boom I think I was not paused for very long because there hasn’t been that much elapsed time. Have a sifwa board meeting this afternoon. Um go sif what hasn’t been too bad but I I feel like I’m getting behind on that stuff too. But I don’t know. Got to prioritize the writing of the books right? That’s just just how how it goes. Um, that’s 1 thing that I’m thinking about with this new project Sarah was asking me about timing about it and I was like okay fortunately.

14:16.49
jeffekennedy
Fortunately I think that um if if all goes well it should be lucrative. It should be worth my time so that will be ah hopefully I mean that’s sort of that that will be the go. No go at this point I think is whether or not. They agree to what Sarah suggests we ask for because it will take a fair chunk of my time and if that happens then we will come up with a code name and and I need to talk with Sarah about how open I should be about. Um, um, and with this other gal with how open I should be about what I’m working on because we know I’m a blabber mouth right? I’d like have to talk about what I’m working on.

15:07.60
jeffekennedy
Dinner tonight I mentioned with the writer coffee people. It’s going to be with George R Martin will be there and there’s a gal in town whose name I’ve forgotten but I will know it tomorrow and I will tell you guys about dinner. So that should be fun even though it does mean leaving my house in the cold and snow sacrifices must be made so okay, well I guess I don’t have tons of stuff to say today and I do have tense to do so I think I will hop off. Slightly early apologize for like bloopers again, what is with this week I blame all the twos the twos and threes what do you think I mean well the first one was on January thirty first but clearly something is like. Going backwards or forwards retrograde or andterot grade or dorsal grade. Oh I should mention that um I have been watching the expanse and you know what? and this is a whole huge topic. So maybe I’m not leaving quite yet but it’s been very interesting to see ah a good instruction in storytelling. To see how the screenwriters adapted the book to the series and if you are interested in tightening your stories and amping up tension conflict and action. What I suggest you do is read Leviathan’s wake no I always want to do that leviathan’s wake it’s leviathan wakes by James I say Cory Ty Frank and Daniel Abraham read the book. It’s it’s a it’s a book worth reading. Ah. I could quibble some choices but you know we can always quibble some choices they did a great job writing this book it very interesting to me one of the things I objected to about the book is they went with this kind of noir tone and it takes place in the belt which is like a very blue collar place of that. Asteroid belt around Jupiter and saturn sort of in those outer planets maybe just around saturn and lots of miners and workers and that sort of thing and they call them the belters. So. It’s a really wealth out out world and very interesting that way.

17:46.83
jeffekennedy
But because I think it’s because of the duwar theme There’s like tons of references to prostitution and it’s always female, always female prostitution and I think it’s because like they have this very noirre detective and so they’re like sort of ran with that theme. But very interestingly in the adaptation to the series. Um day they took out a lot of that there are occasional references to sex workers. But it’s handled in a much more I don’t want to say woke. But. It’s handled much better and there’s references to both male and female sex workers and even a moment where which I aim why wouldn’t anybody tell me how adorable Amos is love that actor where he says it’s honest work. It’s good work and it pays better than other work and I thought oh yeah, but my point and I did have 1 all evidence to the contrary is that it’s fascinating to see I think I do think you should read the book first because then it’s really interesting to see. What they did putting it on the screen. 1 thing they did was they condensed characters and I noticed this happens quite a bit I think that happened with a song of ice and fire becoming game of thrones and I think it’s a good lesson for writers. It’s. You know why did you bring in this new character when you could have used this other character and that’s what this existing character especially secondary characters. In fact, almost entirely secondary characters. So it’s fascinating to see how the show did that. Also. It’s really interesting to see the ways in which the show created tension where there was not tension in the books. So like within the initial Crew Holden’s crew is pretty much a happy crew to begin with but the show. Has initial tensions there and I think it’s to keep that conflict and interest going to to make it exciting I’m learning a lot from it because I tend to want things to be happy in my books and I don’t introduce tension between characters as much as. Like these screenwriters do so definitely worth studying that kind of thing besides which it’s a really well done show and fascinating to fascinating to see very enjoyable so all right.

20:27.25
jeffekennedy
On that note I’m really gonna go start getting some my shit done I Hope you all are getting your shit done too and I will talk to you all tomorrow morning you all take care Bye bye.

What I’m Glad I Didn’t Know When I Decided to Become a Writer

Jeffe Kennedy / / Blog

This week at the SFF Seven we’re discussing what we wish we’d known when we decided we wanted to write.

It’s an interesting question, and a fraught one. I first decided that being a writer would be the perfect career for me back in 1993. That’s almost 30 years ago, so it isn’t easy to think back to that younger self. At the time, I was completing a Ph.D. in neurophysiology and confronting the bald truth that I didn’t really want to be a research scientist. I sat myself down, meditated, and asked the question: if I took away all the if’s and’s and but’s, what would be the ideal life.

No one was more surprised than I was to hear that the answer was to be a writer. But I also knew it was a true answer and that, if I wanted to be happy, I had to do whatever it took to make that come true.

So, I cut bait on my Ph.D., got a Masters and a job as an editor/writer to start building my chops. I took night classes from visiting writers. I began writing, something, anything.

What do I wish I’d known then? It’s tempting to say I wish I’d known how long it would take before I truly began earning a living as an author. My conception then of how long it would take was absolutely the largest lacunae of ignorance in my hopeful moonscape. I thought it would be a couple of years, not a couple of decades. I totally thought I’d hit it big. I thought my steady progression of successes, for which I am grateful, make no mistake, would have a steeper upward trendline.

And yet… I’m actually glad the younger me didn’t know how protracted that effort would be, how studded with setbacks and pitfalls. Had I known, would I still have done it?

I don’t know.

Sometimes I think our ignorance at the outset of an ambitious enterprise works in our favor. Ignorance truly can be bliss, especially when it allows hope to flourish, hope that carries us through the difficult times.

Maybe what I really wish I’d known back when I made that decision is that it was the right one. But then, I knew that anyway.

First Cup of Coffee – February 1, 2022

Jeffe Kennedy / / Blog, Podcast




 

Transcript:

00:00.46
jeffekennedy
Good morning everyone this is Jeffe Kennedy author of fantasy romance and romantic fantasy I’m here with my first cup of coffee.

00:14.32
jeffekennedy
Pretty good I’m getting used to it today is Tuesday I was going to say Tuesday seven forty of Tuesday february first we are now officially into the second month of 2022 Tomorrow will be 2/2/2022 but I’m not going to podcast so we have to take note of it today. Um, you know all that fertile soil right? Keep prime in that soil year of the tiger to happy Chinese New Year um yeah what does it mean? What does it all mean it’s like we can’t predict anything anymore. It’s who knows who knows what the year will bring.

01:03.30
jeffekennedy
Um, so let’s see um I am trying something new. Um I am doing the I I record this on Zencastr every once while someone asks me what I use to record this and. Um, it was Leslie Penelope who gave me the recommendation. It’s been a great recommendation. So I use Zencastr to record both the audio and the video and it’s great because when I have guessed which I haven’t done for a while I guess but when I do have guess I can just send them a web link. And interview them and so forth and Megan we should have you on I should interview you you should come on the show sometime and then you could see how Zencaster works too because she was one who asked about it so they have a um I use the free plan because hey. You know I don’t make money on this podcast though you can contribute just I never remember to say these things there are other people who are much better about this than I am yet like they have their whole spiel at the end saying remember to click like remember to subscribe um, donate to the podcast. Send me your money I not that great at it every once’s while someone donates to the podcast. You can find it by. Um there’s like a little heart if you’re listening or I think it’s some like in the show notes on Youtube but anyway. I already pay for the buzz sprout side because that’s what I use to upload to all of the podcast places but Zencastr I’ve been doing the free version and it’s um. I could go up to pro which is like $20 a month which would make my total out lay $38 a month between buzz sprout and Zencastr which I mean it’s not a lot but considering that I don’t really have any direct income that comes from this i. Just try to be aware of that anyway, the pro plan offers a transcript option where I will automatically transcribe the podcast which I know you guys are asking for and yes I want to be accessible I’m hoping that there’s a fourteen day free trial. So we’ll try it out if you look at the podcast or I’m at the transcript I mean let me know what you think I’m going to try not to edit it because that’s where I got bogged down when I tried it before I tried otter ai and it was pretty good. But.

03:49.36
jeffekennedy
Way I talk because I change subjects a lot and I change topics midsentence and I have run on sentences I’m sure this is like 1 big run on sentence if I looked at the transcript. As a writer. It drives me up the fucking wall I just cannot look at this and not edit it. So for like a 20 minute podcast when I tried the transcript before I was spending an hour editing it at least. Which reader this is not time well spent not for me so I’m going to try the free or not free the free trial but the free transcript option and see if it. Works well enough because I figure $20 a month is probably worth it to be accessible min nervous spencer I am looking at you. You do not need accessibility. You just don’t like listening to stuff just putting that out there. But. You would benefit also so we’ll see we’ll see let’s see what else is going on. Um I’m glad you guys were amused by yesterday’s podcast um yeah it was a comedy of errors. It was the bloopprint podcast and I don’t know what the deal was although today I very cleverly with the wisdom of experience moved my keyboard and put it aside so it’s not near my coffee. So at least we eliminate that factor of bloerness see now I’m thinking about this transcript and I’m thinking what is it going to do with words like bloerness. It’s gonna I don’t know make it something german I’m not going to obsess. I’m really not going obsessed about this I may be obsessing a little bit. Ah so anyway, yeah, yesterday was funny I’m glad I could give you a laugh hit if. Inadvertently.

06:24.89
jeffekennedy
So let’s see yesterday I did get my 3000 words it was a slower day. Um, it took me longer longer and slower those 2 things go together. We are on sesame street. Um, true. Oh I can look on this screen Jeff Eighteens so it was a total elapse time of nearly five hours and it took me 3 hours and 15 minutes so about half an hour longer I don’t know why I was feeling. Well clearly discombobulated yesterday that I like couldn’t figure out the podcast recording thing that I’ve done you know guys know how many podcasts I’ve done now I guess I passed like the 500 episode Mark. But what. Could tell you because I actually I’ve done 593 podcasts. Can you believe that so you would think one would think that I would know what I was doing by now. But now although I have changed. Technologies a few times over that this this is 5 years This is my fifth year of doing the podcast. Um I started it in well we can answer this question too. Um.

07:55.75
jeffekennedy
Let’s see is this right is this was I keeping track season 2 here season 1 oh I didn’t really keep track that first season of my episode numbers I’m not sure why I only started keeping track of those. And um season two. So I did 80 episodes in season one and I know I started somewhere around July I could probably look up the actual date. So amazing when I was having lunch with my friend who writes is Katie Lane cowboy romance the other day she was saying very nice things about the podcast and saying that she admires my consistency on this and I’ve mentioned this from time to time. But every time someone gets me to try to upgrade what I’m doing on this podcast I dig in my heels because. This is how I established consistency. She said that she felt like you know consistency is what you really need to do in order to establish a podcast and have it be successful and she asked how my numbers were and I said well they increase all the time which is great. Um, but. You know doing it for 20 minutes 4 days a week with pretty low tech where I don’t edit I don’t revise the transcripts. We are not going to revise the transcripts. You know it keeps it low effort. So. A lot of people who are doing podcasts. You know are really going for that. Let’s monetize this let’s make it hugely successful. Let’s make all kinds of money. Um I already admitted that I make no money on this podcast I bake money. Everyone’s well not just donating. But. It used to be you know like Kensington would do those ad spots but then they stopped. So I guess I feel like not everything in life should be about making money and and I’m touched on this briefly yesterday when I talked about um that not ah. The idea of monetizing creativity I don’t agree with Elizabeth Gilbert that’s whose name I was trying to think of when she says in big magic where she says that you should not that you should keep your day job.

10:30.20
jeffekennedy
Because if you connect money to your creative work then you’ll stifle your creativity and I think that’s pretty nice thing to say if you’re Elizabeth Gilbert and making huge money on. Appearances and so forth I mean it’s really easy to say once you’re making big money on your books and it’s it’s a place of privilege right? I mean you keep your day job because you need to pay your freaking bills. Um, but if you want to make a living as a writer you. You are attaching money to to your creativity. There’s just no way around it right? You’re creating this thing that then is a source of money for a whole lot of people which is cool about it because there are a lot of people who get money from what I’m doing I mean. Jeff Bezos is making money off of me right? not that he needs his percentage of my books but he gets it right? All those people who work for Amazon who work for Google play and bars and noble kobo ah smashw words I’m helping to pay their salaries I pay my. My cover designer I pay my editors I pay my formatter. They’re all making a living off of this thing that I’m making out of nothing. So yes, it’s monetized that said. I do think that there’s something to be said for having things in your life that are not monetized that are simply for the joy of it I remember meeting a poet laureate and I can’t recall his name right now. No surprise. He lived in the midwest and he was an insurance salesman for his entire career and wrote poems like did a thing they wrote 1 poem but a night and he ended up being the us poet laureate and wonderful poems but was interesting to me. He came and talked at. University where I was up in Wyoming he also painted and he said that he he sold his poems. You know he’d gotten to the point in his career I mean by the time you’re a us poet laureate. Hopefully you’re making at least something off of your poems. Um. But his paintings. He said he very deliberately refused to sell his paintings even though he had had offers that galleries had offered to carry his work and so forth. He only gave them away to people because he said he wanted to have a creative outlet that wasn’t monetized and I think that that’s.

13:14.35
jeffekennedy
Important um, now is that why I don’t monetize the podcast. No probably if I could you know make money off of this that that would be nice and I would but I also don’t want to get so into this relentless marketing. And that’s why I haven’t done really well with some of the podcast groups that I’ve been invited to and that kind of thing because they all talk about you know like things like grow your show and you know implement this and what technology you’re using for that and. How do you? You know? How do you advertise and how do you reach this market or that market and you know it’s like something for something I’m putting 20 minutes a day into just so I can sit here and chat with you guys? No I’m not gonna do that. Ah like. 1 of my friends said oh you should buy a ring light I’m like no I’m just not going to buy a ring light I’ll get sit here and look at my face on the laptop and it’ll be fine. Although I do get a facial did I mention I’ve never loved a facial as much as this one and now I want to go like get one every month or every other month. I might do it so vanity vanity all is vanity and chasing after the wind. Um, oh I actually have something actually have something of substance to discuss today. Oh I have 2 things of substance I’m gonna save this since I actually wrote it down. Um I think it’s funny because we watched a movie last night called drunk bus like a bus for drunks drunk bus and it was funny. It was ah it was a good movie and what was really interesting. Is that it had the same ending as the movie that we watched the night before which was called elsewhere and I know that some of this could be because David found drunk bus because he was looking at. We’ve really been using more of the if you like this movie. You might like this one I take their algorithms getting a little bit better so it could be that this was a similarity and I’m going to talk about the endings of these 2 movies. So if you don’t want to hear it you might you know, put your hands over your ears and do the la la la. But it’s not like they’re twist endings or anything. There’s nothing earthshattering about these endings. What I found really interesting was that they resolved the story in the same way for both and it was almost a lack of resolution. So cover yours if you don’t want to hear the ending. But.

15:58.33
jeffekennedy
Both of these movies were about ah a guy a white guy. Um, who is kind of hapless and both reeling from previous relationships with women and elsewhere. It’s his wife died 2 years before and he’s like still grieving. In drunk bus. It’s that his girlfriend left him and both of these are like that’s part of the plot. No spoilers there and so they’re both sort of haplessly finding their way through life and these places where they are one’s in a beautiful place and one’s in a miserable place. But. And the and the movies kind of like about them finding their way out of this morass of both of them are really grieving right? grieving loss and trying to figure out who they are and their friends yell at both of them for like not making decisions and not getting their shit together and the both movies and it. With the guy leaving town leaving and we don’t know where he’s going and neither one of them. Do we know where he’s going. It’s it’s completely unresolved that way but they’re both heading off at least they’re not staying where they were and I found that really interesting. You know like is this? um. I mean I think that they probably both are arguably millennial generation because they had like guys in their thirty s and so maybe that’s a metaphor for the millennial generation about you know, not making a decision but at least we’re gonna go somewhere else I guess. Found it really funny. You guys noticed this trend is this a thing. Maybe it I mean I have an n of two. So I’m not gonna obsess about I’m using the word obsess a lot today. Um, oh so then this is I dropped my sticky. But I remember what it says I saw through nik novelists incorporated I’m a member of that they’d sent out a thing saying that someone was looking to do ph d research on creativity and would we be willing to do an hour long interview to talk about our creative process and you guys know I like to talk about my creative process. So I thought oh okay I’ll do that so you know click on the link to get more information and it’s a study through a university and this gal’s you know, studying creativity. But what they would do is. Audio only you turn off the video but it’s through Zoom and for an hour you talk as you write you talk about your creative choices as you write I’m going to stare into the camera now.

18:52.41
jeffekennedy
I mean I can’t even I’m I’m almost wordless but not for long but what what I can’t imagine trying to talk as I write. Um i’m. When I’m writing I’m there typing away I’m type type type typing I’m I’m streaming the the world and the characters and I just yet like I said I’m sputtering. Um. I almost wrote to this gel and maybe I don’t know. Do you guys think I should because there was an opportunity to like email and ask questions but I want to email her and tell her your study design is really flawed I’m sure that’s what she would want to hear like from former scientist. A former neuroscientist turned. Writer of fantasy romance. But she’s gonna get a very particular kind of creative process by by going at it this way. It’s just um, it’s kind of mind boggling to me so those of you who are listening who are writers. Do you think you. Could do that is that something you could do is actually narrate as you are writing I could see how it might work if you are someone who does like research and world building that you could say okay now. I don’t even I don’t even know how that would work now I need to name this character so I’m going to go to behind the name dot com which is what I do and I’m going to search for this meaning. Ah I just can’t even can’t even but I don’t need to. So and I probably will not email this for ph e d student and give her my opinions on creative process. However I will rant to all of you about it because that’s what you don’t pay me for ah that was a good hook right? Okay, well. I hope you all have a fabulous Tuesday and I will be back to rant it you about creative process on to other things on Thursday so you all have a good week and I will talk to you Thursday bye bye.