First Cup of Coffee – September 2, 2024

The role of luck/serendipity in publishing success, how it’s not who you know, but how you can know people. Also, the problems at NaNoWriMo, and why I believe being a writer and the process of writing is more important than having generated a book.

First Cup of Coffee with Jeffe Kennedy

First Cup of Coffee - September 2, 2024

September 02, 2024

Jeffe Kennedy

The role of luck/serendipity in publishing success, how it's not who you know, but how you can know people. Also, the problems at NaNoWriMo, and why I believe being a writer and the process of writing is more important than having generated a book.

RELUCTANT WIZARD is out now!! https://www.jeffekennedy.com/reluctant-wizard

You can preorder STRANGE FAMILIAR at https://www.jeffekennedy.com/strange-familiar

The posture-correcting sports bra I love almost more than life itself is here https://forme.therave.co/37FY6Z5MTJAUKQGA

You can buy tickets for Wild & Windy in Phoenix (February 2025) here https://www.wildandwindybookevent.com/phoenix-authors

Join my Patreon and Discord for mentoring, coaching, and conversation with me! Find it at https://www.patreon.com/JeffesCloset

You can always buy print copies of my books from my local indie, Beastly Books! https://www.beastlybooks.com/

If you want to support me and the podcast, click on the little heart or follow this link (https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/jeffekennedy).

Sign up for my newsletter here! (https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/r2y4b9)

You can watch this podcast on video via YouTube https://youtu.be/2ihCgX-civs

Support the show

Contact Jeffe!

Find me on Threads
Visit my website https://jeffekennedy.com
Follow me on Amazon or BookBub
Sign up for my Newsletter!
Find me on Instagram and TikTok!

Thanks for listening!



First Cup of Coffee – March 18, 2024

Saying goodbye to Stepdad Dave, my third father, and musings on life and death and choosing happiness. (An explanation of where I’ve been all this time.)

First Cup of Coffee with Jeffe Kennedy

First Cup of Coffee - March 18, 2024

March 18, 2024

Jeffe Kennedy

Saying goodbye to Stepdad Dave, my third father, and musings on life and death and choosing happiness. (An explanation of where I've been all this time.)

Megan Mulry's business - Mulry Studio - is here https://www.mulrystudio.com/

The sports bra I rave about is here https://forme.therave.co/37FY6Z5MTJAUKQGA

You can buy tickets for Wild & Windy in Phoenix (February 2025) here https://www.wildandwindybookevent.com/phoenix-authors

Join my Patreon and Discord for mentoring, coaching, and conversation with me! Find it at https://www.patreon.com/JeffesCloset

You can always buy print copies of my books from my local indie, Beastly Books! https://www.beastlybooks.com/

If you want to support me and the podcast, click on the little heart or follow this link (https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/jeffekennedy).

Sign up for my newsletter here! (https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/r2y4b9)

You can watch this podcast on video via YouTube https://youtu.be/9rF4-YywWAc

Support the show

Contact Jeffe!

Find me on Threads
Visit my website https://jeffekennedy.com
Follow me on Amazon or BookBub
Sign up for my Newsletter!
Find me on Instagram and TikTok!

Thanks for listening!



First Cup of Coffee – December 1, 2023

Authors behaving badly to other authors – signs to watch for, recognizing serendipity, plus a great cautionary tale. Also different revision processes and a fun December reader event: FaRoAdvent!

First Cup of Coffee with Jeffe Kennedy

First Cup of Coffee - December 1, 2023

December 01, 2023

Jeffe Kennedy

Authors behaving badly to other authors - signs to watch for, recognizing serendipity, plus a great cautionary tale. Also different revision processes and a fun December reader event: FaRoAdvent!

Sign up for FaRoAdvent here! https://farofeb.com/faroadvent/

Join my Patreon and Discord for mentoring, coaching, and conversation with me! Find it at https://www.patreon.com/JeffesCloset

You can always buy print copies of my books from my local indie, Beastly Books! https://www.beastlybooks.com/

If you want to support me and the podcast, click on the little heart or follow this link (https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/jeffekennedy).

Sign up for my newsletter here! (https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/r2y4b9)

You can watch this podcast on YouTube here https://youtu.be/oFKI9i6uWPY

Support the show

Contact Jeffe!

Find me on Threads
Visit my website https://jeffekennedy.com
Follow me on Amazon or BookBub
Sign up for my Newsletter!
Find me on Instagram and TikTok!

Thanks for listening!



First Cup of Coffee – November 20, 2023

Balancing the desire to strive for more and better against the need to recognize how far we’ve already come and having gratitude for what we’ve achieved. Also, the role of serendipity in any creative career.

First Cup of Coffee with Jeffe Kennedy

First Cup of Coffee - November 20, 2023

November 20, 2023

Jeffe Kennedy

Balancing the desire to strive for more and better against the need to recognize how far we've already come and having gratitude for what we've achieved. Also, the role of serendipity in any creative career.

Join my Patreon and Discord for mentoring, coaching, and conversation with me! Find it at https://www.patreon.com/JeffesCloset

You can always buy print copies of my books from my local indie, Beastly Books! https://www.beastlybooks.com/

If you want to support me and the podcast, click on the little heart or follow this link (https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/jeffekennedy).

Sign up for my newsletter here! (https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/r2y4b9)

You can watch this podcast on YouTube here https://youtu.be/d7jmY0dhWj0

Support the show

Contact Jeffe!

Find me on Threads
Visit my website https://jeffekennedy.com
Follow me on Amazon or BookBub
Sign up for my Newsletter!
Find me on Instagram and TikTok!

Thanks for listening!



Serendipity and Success – Acknowledging the Reality

A lil reminder that my FALLING UNDER trilogy is now re-released and on Kindle Unlimited! These books are NOT fantasy, but are contemporary erotic romance. If that’s the kind of thing you like, then you may like these!

Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is hard work vs. luck as applies to authorial success.

One of my least favorite pieces of advice from successful authors is when they declare something along the lines of “Just write a good book!” This happens a lot with debut authors, happily reveling in the out-of-the-gate success of their first effort. I say this because authors who’ve had lots of trunked books or only midlist success almost never say this.

Why?

Because they know that writing a good book isn’t enough.

Yes, writing a good book is key. Improving our craft as authors is critically important. That’s where the hard work comes in. At least, one kind of hard work, the foundational kind. If the books aren’t written and revised and polished to the best of our ability, there’s nothing to sell.

On the other hand… luck is a huge factor in publishing. It just IS. That’s why I roll my eyes at any successful author who fails to acknowledge the role of serendipity in their rise to (relative) fame and glory. As human beings – especially ones with egos sufficient to withstand the slings and arrows of creative life, which is rife with downs as well as ups – we like to credit ourselves with being awesome. Are we fortunate or are we just that good?

We’d all like to think we’re just that good.

The thing is, lots of creators are really good. And lots of good books go nowhere. Acknowledging the role of serendipity in success not only keeps us humble – remember that ego is the enemy! – but also should reassure us when things don’t go our way. Authors careers, as previously noted, are rife with ups and downs. We can’t control the luck. What we CAN do is work hard and put ourselves out there so the luck can find us.

Best of luck to you all!

 

 

First Cup of Coffee – October 28, 2021

First Cup of Coffee with Jeffe Kennedy

First Cup of Coffee - October 28, 2021

October 28, 2021

Jeffe Kennedy

Imposter syndrome and the balance between giving ourselves due credit for our own hard work, skill, and talents vs. acknowledging the role of serendipity.

You can order DARK WIZARD here (https://jeffekennedy.com/dark-wizard) and preorder FIRE OF THE FROST here (https://jeffekennedy.com/fire-of-the-frost).

If you want to support me and the podcast, click on the little heart or follow this link (https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/jeffekennedy).

You can watch this podcast on YouTube here (https://youtu.be/mUmp-LH5F_g).

First Cup of Coffee is part of the Frolic Podcast Network. You can find more outstanding podcasts to subscribe to at Frolic.media/podcasts!

Support the show

Contact Jeffe!

Find me on Threads
Visit my website https://jeffekennedy.com
Follow me on Amazon or BookBub
Sign up for my Newsletter!
Find me on Instagram and TikTok!

Thanks for listening!



First Cup of Coffee – April 13, 2021

First Cup of Coffee with Jeffe Kennedy

First Cup of Coffee - April 13, 2021

April 13, 2021

Jeffe Kennedy

How building a writing habit will do the work for you in getting back into writing after time off. Also a bit more on how doing something I didn't want to do, but that was the right thing, played into serendipity for me.

You can watch the You Tube video of the podcast here (https://youtu.be/XiMgdseqYHA).

First Cup of Coffee is part of the Frolic Podcast Network. You can find more outstanding podcasts to subscribe to at Frolic.media/podcasts!



Support the show

Contact Jeffe!

Find me on Threads
Visit my website https://jeffekennedy.com
Follow me on Amazon or BookBub
Sign up for my Newsletter!
Find me on Instagram and TikTok!

Thanks for listening!


First Cup of Coffee – November 23, 2020

First Cup of Coffee with Jeffe Kennedy

First Cup of Coffee - November 23, 2020

November 23, 2020

Jeffe Kennedy

Recognizing the role of serendipity in our successes and giving gratitude for that, along with thoughts on phenoms and what we really deserve.

The blog post I mention is here (https://blog.jeffekennedy.com/2020/11/22/the-simplest-and-most-profound-expression-of-gratitude/).

First Cup of Coffee is part of the Frolic Podcast Network. You can find more outstanding podcasts to subscribe to at Frolic.media/podcasts!

Support the show

Contact Jeffe!

Find me on Threads
Visit my website https://jeffekennedy.com
Follow me on Amazon or BookBub
Sign up for my Newsletter!
Find me on Instagram and TikTok!

Thanks for listening!

On Further Serendipitous Hijinks

3_23 moon cropWe had fierce dust storms in New Mexico yesterday, which at least makes for amazing sky colors. Here’s the nearly full moon setting at sunrise – still one of my favorite sights. 

So, yesterday I had an interesting moment. Kind of a continuation of this run of serendipity despite sad events. It’s really been a strange few weeks, with many highs and lows.

At this point we’re packing up to make the long road trip for R’s funeral. He was David’s brother, who died much too young from cancer. We’re hoping to drill through a few windows in the winter storms twixt here and there to gather with our extended family on David’s side. One of those people is our daughter, whose birthday was on Monday. A happy note is that we’ll be able to give her birthday presents in person, a rare event these days.

Yesterday, David and I went into town to shop for her gifts. We found the Perfect Thing after several stops. Once we had that, I made an impulsive excursion to buy a vital accessory. I went to my favorite place to buy that accessory – can’t tell you where in case a certain birthday girl reads this – which, like Saturday’s excursion, involved hijinks through different parking lots.

I was standing at the counter, buying my stuff, when out of the sitting area came… guess who? Yeah – Neil Gaiman. He smiled at the counter gal helping me, nodded at us both, saying thank you and good evening. 

I managed not to have a fangirl meltdown. But it was close.

And no, I didn’t introduce myself. I chickened out. And besides, that would be *really* stretching my Meet Your Heroes luck!

Still, can you all believe it? My timing is just… I don’t know what to make of it.

Never mind that the counter gal friend of mine tipped me that Neil comes in most days. I may have found my new favorite hangout.

Oh, and Harlan is again up for your voting pleasure in the Ultimate Hero smackdown. You can vote all day, as many times as you feel moved to do so, today – March 23, 2016 – until midnight US Eastern Daylight Time. tumblr_o43ln6XpAO1un3364o3_500

Cheers, everyone!

Promo Pushes – The Good, The Bad and The Serendipitous

Santa RosaWe continued our tour of New Mexico – and David’s ongoing quest for a good fishing spot – with a visit to Santa Rosa on Sunday. I, naturally, make an ideal fishing companion since all you have to do is park me in a chair and let me read. No fish were caught, but I did finish reading a book and started another.

I call it a win. 🙂

Today I’m over at Word Whores (yeah, the schedule got messed up), talking about my most successful planned and serendipitous promo pushes. I’m also at Books and Tales, where I talk about Graham Joyce, his recent passing and how much I liked him – both as a person and an author.

On a happier note, I’m also at Paranormal Romantics, following a reader suggestion and analyzing the number and variety of descriptors that Rogue uses for Gwynn in the Covenant of Thorns books. Like this one:CoT 1Also – very fun! – there’s a Goodreads giveaway going on for The Tears of the Rose! This book, the second in my Twelve Kingdoms trilogy, comes out November 25, but you can get it early via this giveaway!