00:01.91
jeffekennedy
Good morning, everyone. This is Jeffe Kennedy, author of Epic Fantasy Romance. I'm here with kind of my first cup of coffee. ah
00:15.32
jeffekennedy
I'll explain. Today is, say it with me, it is Friday. June 14th. And yeah. Here I am doing podcasts a little bit later in the day. I had to take one of the cats into the vet early for a procedure and so i I tried to go yesterday and things happened. I guess I might as well tell the whole story because ah like it's one thing after another with the cats, right?
00:51.93
jeffekennedy
Cats will happen, as one of you pointed out to me. was It's like a message of my podcast, which I find really amusing. um
01:01.78
jeffekennedy
that Yeah, I suppose that is like a a Zen karmic thing is that cats will happen. ah So poor Killian, who got neutered a few weeks ago, um developed a swelling on his ear. And I'd never had a cat and had this before. It was like a clear blister and I thought it was like a mosquito bite or from a cactus spine. Well, it turns out it's what's called an ear hematoma. in cats. I googled it and then took him into the vet for verification and it does kind of heal on its own but it like gets inside the cartilage of the ear and if it heals on its own they end up with end up with like a crumpled up cauliflower ear like boxers get.
01:47.12
jeffekennedy
um And I didn't feel like I could let him do that. It wasn't terribly sensitive, but he didn't like it. It was making his ear fall in half. And um I thought that it would, you know like the clear fluid, it would just drain, but it apparently doesn't drain on its own. And it'd start to darken and all of this. So anyway, I had tried to take him in yesterday morning, and this new vet, Smith Vet, here in Santa Fe, who I really do like, and I left them a really nice review and everything, they don't do appointments, which is great because like if I try to call one of the vets we've gone to before, they're like, oh, two weeks for an appointment. So Smith Vet, you don't need an appointment, but you do have to wait. You just go in and you get in the queue.
02:33.91
jeffekennedy
So yesterday morning they opened at 7 30 and I'm an early riser as you all know So I thought well yesterday morning I would go in and I was supposed to meet Jim Sorensen for writer coffee at 9 and I thought well I'll go in and get this done and be done in plenty of time so I get there and It was my fault reader but I um did not get there by 7.30. I got there at like 7.45 and I thought it would be fine, but no. um It turns out that there's a monitor that you could check. Now I'm an old pro. I know all the things.
03:12.51
jeffekennedy
but um after i've been waiting for a while i texted jim and said could we make it nine thirty and he said sure and then i'm watching talk talk talk talk time tick by and i we still haven't been called in and so i finally go up to ask the gal it's been over an hour and i go and go ah ask the receptionist gal who was not great she i don't know if she was new or shy or what But um today's receptionist was a thousand times better. So it was like, okay, well, that that was her and not me. um But when I go desk yesterday's receptionist, if she thinks it's gonna be a lot longer, she points to the monitor, which shows where I am in the queue. And there were, she said, well, there's several people still ahead of you. And there were like six canines ahead of me.
04:02.04
jeffekennedy
And they'd all been waiting, those people had been waiting like 78 minutes and I'd been waiting 67 minutes. And so I bailed. I took Killian home because, you know, this had been going on for about 10 days anyway. So brought him home, went and met Jim for coffee and did it again today. Today I got there a little after 7.30. There was already one person ahead of me, but, um, you know, he got seen, the vet looked at him, they ended up keeping him there to put like little tubes to drain his ear. Poor guy. I was like, what is with me and vet expenses? Because earlier this week we had Jackson's teeth cleaned and a few extracted and that was $1,700. And so now Killian gets to have his second surgery of his young life ah within a month. And they'll put little tubes in there that'll
04:56.18
jeffekennedy
keep draining it because apparently if they just drain the fluid the vet said it only is like a 15% chance that it won't refill um or it's only yeah i guess that's the same thing 15% chance that it works he says he's tried it and it just doesn't work very often. And so we recommend that they put in this little tube so it'll continuously drain. So I ended up leaving him there. They're going to do the procedure today. Maybe yesterday they were so barraged. I heard them like on the office intercom talking about triage. I heard triage a couple of times. And I think it's never a good time when people use the word triage. ah So maybe they wouldn't have been able to keep him yesterday and do it.
05:38.45
jeffekennedy
So they're going to do the procedure to today. It's the same vet who did his neutering did a great job. So I'm happy about that. And I walked out of there at eight fifteen. and So it was like my brilliant plan of yesterday could have worked. um But alas, so if you're on video, you will see that I have my little thermos with I love this thermos. It's got a little hummingbird on it. You all know how I love hummingbirds and a cone flower. ah Different hummingbird on the back. I filled it up with my usual coffee because yesterday I went in thinking it was going to be fast and then I would be having coffee and brunch at nine and I did not take my water. I did not take my coffee. So I was sitting there for like over an hour wondering why I felt so crappy and then realized I've had no caffeine and I'm dehydrated and it sucked. It just sucked. So today I took my thermos of coffee with me and I'm still drinking it.
06:40.76
jeffekennedy
but it's nice and hot. This thing keeps it really nicely warm. So yeah, so there's the saga of my life, none of which is writing related, but you all know that we have varying topics here at First Cup of Coffee. um I did get some edits back on Never the Roses and there was a slight bit of confusion so I don't know if confusion is the right word but I do want to share with you all because I you try to be honest and everything so like this is the thing you know and people will complain about traditional publishing and dealing with editing but frankly editing is one of the things you
07:24.79
jeffekennedy
are paying I want to say paying for. It's one of the things you sign up for. It's one of the reasons you give them a portion of your royalties is to have a good editing team working with you. But it is an ongoing challenge as a creator. This never goes away. I have people ask me about this all the time, you know, like, how do you know which critiques to accept and which to reject? And Sometimes you don't, you know, sometimes you just have to keep working on it and using your best judgment. So what had happened was at the beginning of the week, we got an email that um editor Ali did have her baby. So she's out on parental leave now. So congratulations, Ali. That's just so wonderful. Everybody's healthy. So that's great. But
08:18.47
jeffekennedy
on my favorite subject, me, and my work, Ali did not get me the line edits that she had hoped to before the baby arrived, which is what I was afraid was gonna happen. And I mean, this just happens. This is, you know, editors are people, just like writers are people, and that's the way it goes, right? So, um but so Deanna said that the assistant editor said that she would send me edits, and When we had had the call last month, and I told you all about this call, the editorial call, um Allie had said that she had gone over the developmental edits, the my revisions to her developmental edits, and that it looked great. And she just had would have some very light line edits. And I'd asked about my D&A.
09:08.03
jeffekennedy
not DNA, which is what the transcript's going to try to make it, D&A, which is delivery and acceptance. So when you get a traditional publishing deal, they split it up and they give you a chunk when you sign, and then if it's a multi-book deal, like mine's a two-book deal, they break that out into a chunk um for the for the remaining books. So like for each book, when I ah turn them in, I get, ah well, it's it's the delivery and acceptance. When I turn in the book and have done the revisions and they accept what I've done, then I get another chunk of money and I get another chunk on publication.
09:53.05
jeffekennedy
So I had asked about, yeah, I mean, it was it's a delay and that's the thing. It's frustrating that it's such a long delay. Ali wasn't feeling good with being pregnant, right? Which happens. And you know i and had not been able to go over my edits, had not been able to do the line edits. So even though I turned in my revision right before Christmas, it has been until now, right? And so when we were on the call, I asked about the D&A money and Ali had said, let me get you these line edits. They'll be really light. Once we get those in, then I'll you know put in for that next payment. I said, great.
10:38.47
jeffekennedy
only now this is what's happened, right? ah So, but you know, it's like, okay, you know, Dianna's going to do it. Dianna's the assistant and we'll get that done. So Dianna sent me edits on Wednesday. Yeah, Wednesday. And said, um and actually sent me ah an edit letter with some additional developmental edits, which I was not expecting because I thought we were done. And Dianna said, once I do those, ah which she felt like were very minor, and we'd already stopped started talking about endorsement quotes, sending out you know like the list of people, because she felt like it's in good enough shape that we could start getting endorsement quotes or blurbs on the ah for the galleys. So I mean, it's not like there's a lot to do. But Dianna had said, well, that um
11:35.00
jeffekennedy
you know, here were some some notes, an edit letter, and a few inline comments, and that then she would do a more intensive line edit. And reader, I freaked out a little bit. I freaked out. ah I was worried about there being these, an intensive line edit, and oh, and she said it, and so that we could get it done by September. And I was like, I don't want to wait. I don't want to wait until September for my D&A money. So, Agent Sarah, this is why having an agent is great. Every once in a while people will ask me and they're like, why bother having an agent when you can just have a lawyer go through your contracts? Well, and a good agent is your advocate and you're and a diplomatic advocate.
12:26.46
jeffekennedy
And Sarah i discussed with me and emailed Dianna and sort of explained the situation. and the great the And she suggested, could Dianna do her line edits along with the copy edits? So that's the great news. Dianna said yes. And so I'm just making these changes on this manuscript. um they Part of what I'm wrestling though is i I don't agree with all of Deanna's edits. And this is part of of life too as a creator. um And I discussed with a couple of people, primarily with Kelly Robson.
13:10.69
jeffekennedy
um who you know is of course a great friend and also has good insight because there's something in there that Dianna suggested that I change that feels like um because it might make readers uncomfortable and so I don't want to change it because I feel like it's there for a reason and I went back and checked I did a compare doc of the manuscript that Ali read and my revision of it that Dianna read and there were, Ali did not call out what Dianna called out. There wasn't any change in there if that makes sense. So i it's it's a question because we do live in an era of um
14:05.87
jeffekennedy
you know, traditional publishers are being careful. They don't want to have controversial things on the books. At the same time, this is something that needs to be in there. So ah Kelly and I discussed in Kelly's life, don't change it. So I'm going to look at it and see if there's anything I can do to, I don't know,
14:32.78
jeffekennedy
address it in any way. I was almost going to use the word soften, but I don't want to soften it either. ah So it's it can be a difficult thing because like all things, it's a spectrum, right? So, you know, like at the far end, there is the no, it's my work and I will not change a thing, not even a single comma. um And then there's all the way to the other end where, you know, you become like the ah that the straw that broke the camel's back, the Aesop's fable, ah where you know like you're trying to please everybody, ah and then you water it down and destroy it. ah To be perfectly clear, that's not what Deanna is asking me to do. ah
15:21.51
jeffekennedy
but Again, it's on the spectrum somewhere, right? Where I have to decide on what things is it worthwhile for me to dig in my heels? And on what things should I compromise because of like changing values? because I don't want to become like, ah oh, I won't even call out names, but certain older authors who are like, by gosh, this how I wrote things in my day and I'm not gonna change. oh I wanna be current. I wanna be sensitive to today's readers, but also stick to those things that I feel like are important and valuable. It's ah it's a fine line to walk. It's a it's a dance.
16:06.90
jeffekennedy
so So that's what I'm dealing with, but I got through all of Dianna's in-document comments yesterday. There were lots of nice things in there, so that was good. um There is this thing, though, that I know that people talk a whole lot these days about, like, the compliment sandwich. which is where if you need to give someone some bad news or critique, you give them a compliment, give the critique and then the compliment. um and And I confess to being my cranky Gen X self on this kind of thing where it's like, do we really need to sandwich every piece of critique between compliments? but So I very much appreciate hearing
16:59.48
jeffekennedy
of what works and what's great. And it's important. In fact, I was having a conversation at Nebula Conference about this, about critique groups, that it's important to tell people what worked about the story because occasionally because otherwise they'll go in and change it. If you don't say it's good, they'll they'll think that it's not and they'll change it. one girl was telling a story about like getting critique on a story and and she ended up saying to her group well is this even salvageable and they were like oh of course it is it's great it's just these things but like they neglected to tell her that so there's obviously very important place for what I talk about is the language of praise being able to find ways to talk about what works well but um when there's a lot of
17:53.56
jeffekennedy
ah you know it It needs to be sincere. I think that's the thing that I find interesting about the language of praise. um And and i'm I'm wanting to backtrack now on the use of the word sincere because I not don't mean that all praise or compliments is insincere. But if it's not grounded in something specific, it can come across sounding as flattery, right? And I had an editor once who would just, I mean, I would refer to it as blowing sunshine up my skirt. She would always tell me, oh, but your writing is just so beautiful. But it,
18:35.83
jeffekennedy
It felt like she was managing me that way because, well, now I've told this story before, she she made changes to my book and sent it on to production, telling me that, oh, I've done such an amazing job and my writing was so beautiful, which, thank you, but I'm also not perfect, ah that she had just sent it straight on to production for copy edits and and what could be done. um And she had actually accepted her own, I've got my friend in production to send it to me because the editor would, she's like, oh, it's and it's already gone. um So I got one of the editors that I knew in production to send it to me and did a compare doc. If you don't know how to do a compare doc, it's really invaluable in these cases.
19:26.66
jeffekennedy
ah And I looked to see what she had changed, and she had changed things in my manuscript, in my book, and accepted her own changes, ah or never did track changes to to begin with, ah which is just so, so unethical. It's so awful. Had I been doing this podcast then, you would have seen me foaming out the mouth. I could not believe it. And what was weird was she changed things wrong. And I know I've ranted about this before, but you get it again. like I had a typo, right? A typo where I said her hand done with stung with splinters, only I spelled it S-T-U-N, stung with splinters, and instead stung with a G. And this editor changed it to stunned, S-T-U-N-N-E-D, stunned with splinters. So that was my social media status for a while, was stunned with splinters.
20:26.46
jeffekennedy
ah So I went in and and I rejected some of her changes. They were stupid changes. and But then they were very minimal. So why not send them back to me? It was just crazy. So there's my rant about editing. This one is going to be alls well that ends well. you know dana paying a lot of attention to detail. She's got a number of great important things. So so yeah, I'm going to get that out. And I'm happy to be turning that back in. And the next phase will be some line and copy edits. And I'll be able to turn my attention to Reluctant Wizard. So that's like one of the things that's been hanging out there is going to be off my virtual desk.
21:13.17
jeffekennedy
So um with that said, I'm going to get to work. I hope you all have a fabulous Friday. Hope you have a great weekend. And I will talk to you all on Monday. You all take care. Bye bye.
