Tag: Kingdom of Thirst

First Cup of Coffee – March 31, 2022

Jeffe Kennedy / / Blog, Podcast




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

00:12.69
jeffekennedy
Very good today is Thursday March thirty first and of the first quarter of 2022 I tell you you guys but whip him by is it just me. None of you have told me if it’s just me so um, yeah, 3 beds down on 2022. Let’s see here so we have exciting news today um today is the release day for I have to check it to make sure we get my details correct Fierce Hearts: subtitle a 2022 charity anthology of romantic, fantasy and fantasy romance. Like right on brand right? Ah for Ukraine so this is a fundraiser put together by the gals at romantic fantasy shelf of Miranda Honfleur and Jessica Fry put a huge amount of work into this and all proceeds go to. Um, sure the details are somewhere I know that they’re being very responsible but it’s going to relief efforts for ukrainian refugees and war victims and it does include a story by me. Um. What it is is the preface and first 2 chapters of the storm princess and the Raven King yes it is a special sneak preview of that novel my work in progress. Um, consistent listeners may recall hear me mention a week or two ago that I’d gone back to revise those first couple chapters just to make sure that it um flowed correctly. Um there may be changes. By the end but that’s now I feel fairly locked in this is a big departure for me because you guys know I don’t like to really share stuff before it’s like done done done but um, important cause and. I didn’t really have anything else to give them. You know like they wanted something about 5000 words and reader I do not write things letter only 5000 words which is ironic because I started out writing short and now I don’t so I even considered giving them like.

03:05.60
jeffekennedy
And old thing I was looking back over stuff I just didn’t have anything that would work so that was what they suggested this work in progress. It’s a couple of chapters basically of ah Salena and Rhyian. With each other There’s a lot of that in this book some of you have mentioned I did mention that I have the preorder links up I recommited um, longtime listeners know that I did have a preorder up I pushed it out twice I couldn’t push it again. Um. And I went ahead and canceled the preorder. So now. Thank you all for preordering again. The preorders are stacking up and I so appreciate that from all of you I announced that the other day that the preorder links were up and a couple people commented that I have been. Teasing you with this romance for a very long time and it’s true I’ve enjoyed the teas I have been accused more than once of being a tease but I feel like in the very best possible way. So so yeah, it’s um. I wanted to play with this kind of thing like if somebody does in a so okay, let me back up. It’s too much allow me to sum up. Um, yeah.

04:35.20
jeffekennedy
Ah, and now I’m gonna lose my trainoffs start. Okay because I started on The Princess Bride.

04:45.18
jeffekennedy
Okay, so I’ve always been someone who doesn’t believe in second chance romance which you guys this is actually a second chance romance is and that it’s like my least favorite trope I don’t like it in books I don’t like it real life. Um. I’m a believer that whatever went wrong in the relationship. The first time to blow it up. The first time is gonna happen again unless somebody really truly changes and so that has been the theme of Salena and Rhyian’s relationship that Ryan did something unforgivable because he was being a little shit and it comes from his fears and his personality flaws. But he broke Salena’s heart and we know this from the prequel novella the long night of the crystalline moon. And throughout the ensuing 3 books or the first 3 books of the series of Heirs of Magic they going back and forth fighting a lot and he wants to get back together and Salena does too really, but she’s. Trying to be smart because she knows he that people don’t change and that Ryan hasn’t changed I’m gonna have to fix these names. But. For that transcript. So that’s what I wanted to play with was how do you show a character really changing and and I wanted this to take a long time because I feel like a great flaw. Of many romances, especially like romcoms movies. Ah, they don’t give the characters time to really truly change change takes time it can happen in a moment or it takes a whole lot of time. And usually when it happens at a moment. It’s as it’s as the result of a whole long time of maturing and reflecting and so that’s what I wanted to show was Rhyian getting his shit together as it were. And so it’s been interesting to write this book. Especially since it’s the culminating book in the fantasy arc as well. So I’m having to resolve all of that at the same time It’s an interesting challenge. The reason why all 4 of these books have.

07:29.24
jeffekennedy
What’s the word I’m blinking on the word I want to say prequel and that’s not it but prologue Jesus I mean I just said it a few minutes ago right? The reason that these books have prologues here I’m breaking my own rules again. Maybe this is life as a creative. We’re forever breaking our own rules I normally don’t like proposals proposals. What is my problem this morning like a little bit of prologues I don’t normally like prologues. Because I feel like if it’s backstory then you need to fold it into the story if it’s actually the beginning of the story then it should be chapter. One. The orchid throne has a prologue. Because my editor asked for it I don’t love it. I’ve talked about this a lot on here I know many of you do like them I know a lot of readers. Skip them which is interesting. So the reason that I put a prologue on book one um The Golden Gryphon and the Bear Prince. Was because the way I’d done the prequel novel villa. It’s segue straight into the events of book one and in book one all of a sudden there are a whole bunch of characters and my lovely writer friend Darynda Jones. Freaked the fuck out when she read it and she said there’s way too many characters way too fast and your readers are going to hate you and it’s too confusing. She said I got confused and I had read the prequel novella so it. It was a um, it was a welcome. Freaking but it was also late in the game she is like oh you know what? if you start it like she wanted me to like start it a couple months later or something like that she is struggling with a revision right now where her editor is asking her to change the opening. She’s like I’m not changing my opening so I should remind her of this very thing that she suggested I change my opening I couldn’t it was too late I was like you know sliding under the wire to get this published anyway I thought she was probably right I considered like postponing publication and. You know all of this I was freaking the fuck out but then I talked to a couple other people and and I think including her and we came up with the idea of doing a prologue that would introduce the 2 main characters.

10:18.91
jeffekennedy
Because all of these books that female and male ming characters have been friends or or their cousins since childhood that if they’ve all grown up together. So this is all basically friends to lovers. And Salena and Rhyian are the only 2 that were actually lovers as teenagers and the rest of them were sort of nurturing these ah quiet desires for each other or as in the case of Zeph not so quiet. Desire. Zeph doesn’t do anything quiet like I just love her I’m I’m rereading that book now because I’m rereading a whole series to remind myself of everything and um I just love the way she pursues asther with such wholehearted. Passion and I know that some readers complained about it because they said well he he says no um, you know and and astors the virgin prince and. Astor says no because he feels like he has to like it’s the honorable thing to do. He doesn’t say no because he doesn’t want to he wants it? Um I know he wants it and I thought I made it clear that he wants it. But it’s been pointed out to me by a number of people that if I had gender flipped this. If it had been the female princess who was a virgin and deliberately clinging to her honor. Ah, while the seductive non-royal that she’s secretly passionate for was. Determinedly seducing her that this has been done many times and it would have been fine I had so much fun flipping that trope. Um, but and and some people love it. But not everybody loved it and I think it’s funny. That’s like Zeph. Being unmaidenly in her determined pursuit of Astar which yes Zeph is no maiden. Ah so anyway I’m getting off track here. So what I ended up doing in that prologue was going back to when Zeph and Astar are teenagers. And a little bit of flirtation play to set up that longing and relationship and so that way I got the reader to focus on the pair of them knowing that they are the main characters of this book. So.

12:59.88
jeffekennedy
Um, so yeah, that’s why so since I had done that with book one I’ve done it for all 4 books and each of the prologues follows that same model where it does a glimpse back to their to their youth and sets up their relationship. And with Salena and Rhyian the prologue shows that fateful incident.

13:28.71
jeffekennedy
Yeah, so um so yeah you can read that in the fierce hearts anthology money goes to a great cause please support that link in the show, notes, etc, etc. And my other news is that the podcast interview I did with Kingdom of Thirst is up on well on the kingdom of thirst podcast I’ll put a link to that as well. In fact, I should well all remember to do that. So go ahead and take a listen Abigail did a great job interviewing me. She says that there are echoes that she couldn’t edit out this is entirely my fault because she told me to use headphones or earbuds and I didn’t because I never use it here. And I I guess this room is a little echoey but I mean this is where I sat to do it but her what she uses her equipment. She uses for the podcast I think it’s just so much more sensitive that it really got a lot of echoes and I should have I just used the computer mind click I use this and I should have switched to my phone. And use the earbuts and so that was entirely my bad I don’t have headphones that I plug into this laptop and I should probably just get some for that kind of thing I don’t like wearing them but I do love my it could do my little ad here. These are my Bose sound sport. Earbuds. We gave a pair of these to my brother-in law for Christmas and it was his birthday yesterday and I sent him a happy birthday and then he also said I love those earbuds by the way so these are the best things they’re little wireless earbuds you loop them behind your neck. It has a. Built in mic and I have very small ears very small ear openings and they just fit in perfectly. They come with a couple of different sizes of things. So anyway, I am I need to use those from now on I’m sorry Abigail. I I I do suck I because she would she even like set me this whole tips and tricks ahead of time and and I did read it but I thought oh I don’t need to do the earbud microphone thing because I never do I even said it in that voice. So I suck I’m sorry but it’s a great interview. Abigail’s a fantastic interviewer she it was great conversation and I think you guys will enjoy it a whole bunch. So on that note I’m going to head out I’ve got writer coffee today and I will talk to you all tomorrow. No fooling.

16:24.51
jeffekennedy
You all take care bye-bye.

First Cup of Coffee – March 24, 2022

Jeffe Kennedy / / Blog, Podcast




Transcript
00:00.80
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 happy chair dance. Today is Thursday March Twenty Fourth only a week of March left and which means that the first quarter of 2022 is almost gone. How did this happen. We don’t know it’s a mystery. I always love that line in Shakespeare in love with the I can’t think of the afters name but the date owner where he’s like it’ll work out. People are like how how and he’s like I don’t know it just ah yeah, something like that that was probably bad. Ah. Not a brilliant anecdote. There’s another movie quote from you for you. Ah, so my week is going well the ah 2000 words a day is working remarkably well um, I’m yeah on track so far this week we’ll see what happens yesterday Darynda proposed a slight change to our um. Morning routine. So we’re starting at Eight o’clock this morning well almost eight o’clock I there eight o’clock was the plan and then I as you guys may or may not know I don’t set an alarm I wake up naturally which is like something that I cling to I don’t want to have to set an alarm. Now that I’m a full-time writer. It’s like the one gift I give myself. It’s a a special thing for me that I get to wake up naturally otherwise I tend to be a real bitch of a boss so this morning for whatever reason it It’s very interesting if you do sleep on a natural calendar. You will find that and I’ve been doing this for what almost seven years now wow ah your sleep time or at least my sleep time waxes and wanes from night to night. Some nights are shorter and some are longer and last night was a longer night for whatever reason. Um, because as I recall I think I was in bed by like nine I usually I’d start turning into a pumpkin after about eight o’clock and of course the daylight savings time.

02:34.82
jeffekennedy
Has kind of messed that up. But you know my evenings are very low key and I start winding down early and I’m one of those people who falls asleep really fast. So I was asleep for a few hours and then my elderly cat Isabel beautiful fluffy Isabel. She doesn’t get as much press as Jackson does I’m not quite sure why maybe because Jackson was like the kitten and Jackson’s very charismatic and I think feel like Isabel does get short shrift because sometimes people will say well you know does because because. Visitors you know Jackson is so gregarious and so engaging and charismatic and everyone’s well people will say be like well does isabel do anything almost in those exact words you know like is there anything special about her Isabelle’s also a main coon cat and she is blue smoke. Min ku cap and I’ll put her photo on the show notes here. So and I realize I’m going off off topic but hey that’s the brand here at first cup of coffee. So last night. Isabel Isabel is now 16 and she sleeps a lot and she’s deaf and last night every once’s while she wakes up I don’t know if there are nightmares or I’ve tried to look it up and it’s like ah a kind of dementia in cats. Otherwise she doesn’t seem to have any kinds of dementia but she woke up and she was crying and crying. And she has this very loud meow now that she’s deaf and I was sound asleep. But for some reason that penetrated which very little does I’ve often joked or I don’t joke David says that the great thing that he brings to our relationship is that if the house burns down. During the night that he will carry me out of it and save my life because he thinks I’d sleep through it. So this penetrated and I got up and I didn’t know David wasn’t in bed. He’s often up at night. So I went blially out looking and. He like came out of the kitchen and I said where is she and he said I don’t know and she was back in his office and that was at Eleven Fifty five so I’ve been asleep for a few hours and so I picked her up and brought her in. Bed with me which she just doesn’t come do on her own anymore. She used to sleep with me every night but now she sleeps in his office which is the warmest room in the house and I think that’s why I’m interested to see if this changes as summer comes on but we have um, brick floors with radiant heat.

05:21.90
jeffekennedy
And I have the temperature in his office. David’s just I mean he’s skinny skinnier than I am and and he’s just ah, you know as he gets older. He gets colder so the warmth in his office come guest room is. Up there and Isabelle has this little throw rug that we’ve put down for her and it’s this one corner of the floor that she’s figured out is like where the radiant heat gathers. There’s certain places where the floors definitely warmer than others and the cats have found those in their feline way. So she. Spends a lot of time sleeping on that little rug in his office and but I brought her into bed with me since she seemed disturbed and she slept by my pillow for most of the night so that was nice because I know I woke up once around 4 and she was there and I went back to sleep. And normally if I go back to sleep like that it means another hour and a half and sometimes I’ll calculate it because it’s like far is a little early to get up but usually like another hour and a half and that’s right in line with you know, like scientific studies on sleep cycles that a full cycle is an hour and a half more or less. So but then I woke up at six thirty oops so um yeah we’re supposed to start at 8 it’s seven fifty seven now but we moved at tape 15 at my behest during it was ready because she said she wants to. To start and were earlier which is big because she originally for her meeting me at 9 was a lot for her and I had you guys know I track everything you know I was like well you know I’m usually starting by 9 we could just make it be 9 but for me writing wise the earlier I start the better off I am and I do have graphs to show that I get better work counts if I start earlier. So this works great for me. It’s just a little bit of adjustment. Especially after daylight savings time kicking in but it’ll be interesting to see how that works I’m going to keep doing the two k per day this week and then next week I might see if I can go up to 2.5 um, yeah, we’ll just sort of see I’m going to experiment a little bit I’m going to be curious. We have some travel coming up so that’s going to change things around some we are going to go up to Blackhack Colorado.

08:10.51
jeffekennedy
And meet up with David’s siblings for a couple of nights just a little get together and I’m going to do the It’s a it’s a casino hotel thing and I don’t really like and I’m like. But they do have a spa and I’m going to do I’ve been dying for a body scrub and they do a body scrub and wrap so very excited for that and then at on April Seventh and eighth I will be down in portalis. New Mexico fabulous Portales which is ah where Doronda Jones lives ah and it’s down right near the Texas panhandle but it’s where Jack Williamson famed science fiction writers from. And I’m going to be down there and doing some panels and stuff I believe they will also be streaming looks like some interesting panel topics too. There’s a new guy in charge this year David Sweeten who seems to be I haven’t met him in real life yet. But he seems to be just really on the ball I’m really smart and he thinks I’m a great writer so you know clearly he has excellent taste and discernment. So I’m looking forward to this last year I was on a weird panel that it’s it’s this happened. To me a lot and I think it might be the whole crossover fantasy romance um woman writer with kissing in her books is ity a is it really not fantasy confusion but there are certain conferences. Especially these very little ones where I think what happens is that the organizers don’t really this always sounds bad. They don’t know who I am ah and I think this can happen to any of us you know, like there are certain people that they know what they write. But what happens is is if you are a writer that like quivers doing programming hasn’t actually read if they don’t know much about you then they end up sort of sticking you on panels in weird places like I got put on a panel that. Like a great transgressor on this and I’ve complained about it before is mile highcon up in Denver which I like to go up there because I have family up there. Denver’s my hometown. A lot of people in the area I know.

10:55.37
jeffekennedy
I’d like Mile Hi Con but they always put me on these fucking weird panels like once they put me on a superhero panel. You honest like I don’t really write superheroes or not even really I don’t write superheroes at all and I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say. And so last year with the old organizer on the Jack Williamson lectureship I got put on this panel on what was it was like writing science fiction or something. I wish I could remember the topic but it was really kind of strange I was like I do not know why I’m on this panel and the bad thing is is there are a couple of reasons for writers to do panels 1 is that it’s fun. Um, some of the. Most gratifying times that I’ve had as a writer is being on a panel with other wonderful writers where we end up having these amazing conversations. That’s the pinnacle because then you get a lot out of it being on the panel. So that’s good reason. Um. Reason that we do it is promo is to know, get ourselves out there um have people know who we are the other reason to do it is to be nice to you know, pay it forward contribute to the community. It’s like and I and a lot of writers view it that way. Because they’ll be like I don’t want to be on more than one panel for the conferences and I’m like really then why are you going? What are you doing there. They’re like oh it’s so exhausting. Really you know it’s like you know they’ll be like I’m on three panels cisconfer and. 1 every day and it’s exhausting like oh well, what do you do all day I know I’m bitching I just think about people who have jobs that you know like where they actually have to work really hard i. Well I will always say that being a writer is mentally draining and you really have to balance that creative flow and be smart about how you do it, especially if you’re a full-time writer or not even especially, it’s I think it’s worse if you’re trying to maintain another career and kids and family and all of that too. You know you really have to balance that energy but you know some of these writers I know for a fact have like never had a full-time job and you know there are jobs that you know like if you are working at it all day long. That’s all it’s a lot It’s.

13:37.90
jeffekennedy
Just you know a lot of running around in meetings and dealing with stuff and I will always say that the most the hardest job I ever had was being a cocktail waitress you know, full stop I am so glad that I don’t have to make my living as a cocktail waitress. Because waiting tables sucks you guys it sucks and it’s really hard and I know that people who haven’t done it sit back and be like well she goes a scurry back and forth between the kitchen. It’s like you have no idea absolutely no idea which is why I always tip well unless somebody really. Sponning it in anyway. So I’m sure I had a pointer in there somewhere I got interviewed on um, was it Tuesday afternoon yeah Tuesday afternoon by the kingdom of thirst podcast Abigail a great interviewer. We had so much fun I really enjoyed her podcast I should go ahead and link to it in here. So that. In fact, I’m going to type that in right now so that you guys can check it out but my old air. And a couple of weeks um kingdom of podcasts but she was talking about this podcast about first cup of coffee and just saying how. Relaxing. It is that it’s zen and I love that I love that it’s she said it’s just like having a conversation with your friend over coffee and it’s just like a nice chill thing to do and I love that I think that’s awesome. So. If I can’t think of stuff to stay say I feel like I can always fall back on the fact that that I’m just offering a zen experience here. Actually really, it’s more of a Dallas experience but we’re not going to to quibble lines there. So um, my point and I did have 1 oh that darinda and I are starting earlier. Um and maybe trying to get our 3 hours done by noon which is great and yesterday I was done by like 1130 and I got more stuff done on the to do list. You guys will be delighted to hear it i. Um, trying not to obsess about like getting everything off the list which I think is helpful. You know it’s that um, you’ll like the measureable goals. The ones that you can actually reach so but I got several things done off the list and so that’s great I got.

16:24.41
jeffekennedy
Bright Familiar uploaded, the audiobook. So just waiting for approval on that and then that will be out soon and other just little piddly things. Oh and so this is where I was had kind of started with all of this I did register for. World con in Chicago at the end of August beginning of September – Chicon. So I am planning to attend that and I also went ahead and registered for world fantasy con in November so planning to be at that and I will be at a polycon. In July so I need to get fact, let me make a note tear put this on my list I’ll get carene to put these appearances on the website.

17:20.45
jeffekennedy
So that’ll be good. So it’s like um, yeah for but but that’s the sound of the ah the world gradually sort of like revving up again. We’re kicking into gear. The other thing that happened yesterday is I got to. Email with an amazing writer someone who I particularly fangirl cut to exchange emails. You guys I can’t tell you what it is yet, but it’s very exciting, very exciting news. Not my career related but otherwise related. So. If you are canny. Your little brains will be thinking about what could this be? Ah yeah, so it was um yeah, particular little fan Girll moment there that I got to email with this writer from my myer. Who I admire I almost never use whom I just dislike whom I once had an editor my quiinsington editor had a special note saying this author hates whom don’t use it. So so yeah, it’ll be interesting to see how shaking it up here. A little bit will do and. Feeling good about things. So on that note I’m gonna go and meet up with the fabulous Darynda Jones and I will talk to you all tomorrow you take care bye bye.