Tag: politics

2021: A Good Year for Me

Jeffe Kennedy / / Blog

Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is: “It’s Been A Year: Pandemic Year 2, Vaccines, New Political Administration, has it affected your writing? Better? Worse?”

I confess, this has been a good year for me. As James discussed on Monday, it’s been a huge relief to me to have sanity in the White House again. Yeah, there’s a lot of political stuff that’s still not where I’d like it to be, but it’s so much better than it was. I feel like we’re at least working to solve the problems we’re facing rather than digging ourselves deeper.

I’m really happy we got vaccinated early in the year, too. My hubs and I took the opportunity to drive to Amarillo, TX to get ours. (A four-hour drive each way.) We got our second dose by March 8. That was an amazing, once in a lifetime experience (I hope!), knowing that sheer, sweet relief of being vaccinated against COVID-19. It restored a sense of safety and wellbeing that I’d missed for pretty much exactly a year.
Also, I’m one of those who became more productive in my writing during the pandemic, largely because I wasn’t traveling, I think. I talk about this a lot, but having a daily writing habit carried me through even the worst of the anxiety. That habit is the foundation that allows everything else to be stable. I know this can be aggravating to people who can’t write every day for various reasons, but I’m such a huge believer in the magic of ritual and building a habit that carries you through the rough patches. Still, I say this as a writer who spent many, many years not being very productive.
This is way better.
So, though we’re only 84% of the way through the year so far (and yes, I’m counting today, since it’s morning for me), I’m calling it a good year for me. In particular, I’m thrilled by this graph of my income from royalties and book sales. As you can see, 2021 has been my best income-from-writing year ever, and that’s with two months to go. It also doesn’t count income from other sources, like teaching workshops and author coaching.
I’m really proud of myself for the work I put in to make this happen.
How about you all – are things looking up in your neck of the woods?

Social Media, Politics, and the New Etiquette

Jeffe Kennedy / / Blog
Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is “Social Media and politics: Should you speak your mind or keep your tongue?” Come on over for my Brief History of Social Media and my (strong and authentic) opinion.

Worldbuilding and Political Landscapes

Jeffe Kennedy / / Blog

Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is politics and – no, wait! Come back!!

Politics in FICTION, okay???
We’re asking how politics and the political landscape of the world flavor the outcome of stories. This is my particular catnip as the political landscape of my books is always as important – if not more so – than other facets of the worlds I build. I even teach a workshop called “Worldbuilding: Political Systems in Conflict.” Why politics? Because they are about the conflicts that affect an entire society – and societies beyond them, too. As we’ve all learned from the political turmoil of recent years, politics affects the bedrock of our lives, our very rights as sentient beings. Come on over to learn more. 

The Taoist’s Guide to Staying Sane in an Insane World

Jeffe Kennedy / / Blog

This week has seen a landslide of member resignations from RWA members. Former presidents Leslie Kelly and Dee Davis, working with acting executive director Leslie Scantlebury – all people I like and respect as effective leaders – offered a plan to help the current skeleton board restore RWA. They were refused and Leslie posted the news and her member resignation on Twitter. Other amazing authors and leaders like Beverly Jenkins and Kristan Higgins have resigned their memberships, too. RWA has posted severely reduced registration rates for the National Conference in July – an event I once built my calendar around – and all I can envision is a ghostly empty hotel with echoing hallways where thousands of my friends once gathered.

It’s all so difficult and heart-breaking, and it feels like a microcosm of the greater political landscape in the U.S. and the world.

At the same time that I’m grieving these losses, I’m preparing a workshop I’ll be giving (remotely) to the New England Chapter of RWA (NECRWA): The Taoist’s Guide to Staying Sane in the Writing Business. I’ve been making plenty of notes on how to reframe the presentation to include handling the great disappointments RWA national has been handing us.

In fact, I think I should just change the presentation title to “The Taoist’s Guide to Staying Sane in an Insane World.” Really, that’s what it all comes down to. The avalanche of news can rock our boats to the point where we take on water and capsize. But we do have control of that – something I have to continually remind myself. Even though RWA has felt like a framework that has supported me these last dozen years, and though it’s easy for me to conflate the success of my career with the well-being of RWA, I have to remember those things aren’t true.

I take a moment to gaze out the window at the snow-covered landscape, at the mountains in the distance, always there through storms and the rise and fall of the light. Setting up my good camera on the tripod, I get photos of the moon caught in the bare winter branches of a tree against a peach sky.

My boat stabilized and serene, I sail on.