First Cup of Coffee - June 17, 2024

Updates on edits on NEVER THE ROSES, the ups and downs of maternity leave, women supporting women, the amazing show UNBELIEVABLE that I want you all to watch, and the enduring pain of asking for endorsement quotes.

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Transcript

00:02.01
jeffekennedy
Good morning, everyone. This is Jeffe Kennedy, author of Epic Fantasy Romance. I'm here with my first cup of coffee.

00:14.13
jeffekennedy
Delightful. um yeah Except I choked on it. Today is Monday, June 17th. Already halfway through June.

00:29.55
jeffekennedy
It's been some hot weather here in Santa Fe. We actually turned on the air conditioning, I think on Friday. We only run it for a few hours in the afternoon. with That's the good thing about living here at high altitude. So it's lovely and cool this morning with an ice breeze, but it's supposed to get up to like 91 today. So we'll run a little AC when it's warm.

00:55.73
jeffekennedy
I had a good weekend. I think I mentioned on Friday that I had tons of things to do and I really did pare down my list extensively. It's feeling much more manageable now. So that's a great thing. I've got a number of meetings today and um plan for this week is I am, um I'll probably do my podcast on Friday morning, but I might do it a little bit late. I'm running late today. um because I am going to go down to Albuquerque and stay a couple of nights ah to be with Darynda Jones while she has her surgery. So um she's having a full mastectomy but she's happy about it because she wants to

01:44.64
jeffekennedy
not deal with this cancer or ever again. So I hope you all will keep her in her thoughts, in your thoughts, her thoughts too, but in your thoughts. I still haven't done her GoFundMe. That's one of the things on my list that I haven't done yet, but I'm getting to it and I may actually get to it today. So that's great, isn't it? um Yeah, it was a low-key weekend. I did a little bit of gardening. I did a little bit of hanging out.

02:15.94
jeffekennedy
on um Friday. So it was kind of funny because I was going back and forth, I mentioned, on my edits on Never the Roses and trying to handle something. And, amusingly enough, um editor Ali popped out of parental leave and with an insight that was incredibly helpful. Are you listening to this podcast, Ali? I was wondering if I like should not be blabbing everything on here. But blabbing is ah absolutely on brand here. Add first cup of coffee. I blab over coffee and post it to the internet. You knew I was a snake when you picked me up, right? I do try to be discreet. It's an interesting balance between discretion and honesty. um I probably told you all a while ago I was in this Facebook group that I was invited to be in with some other authors who've been around for a really long time.

03:14.84
jeffekennedy
And they would talk about business stuff and this kind of thing. And I mentioned on the podcast something business going on with one of them. I did not identify them. I didn't give any identifying details. I just talked about it as a general principle. And um I want to say they kicked me out of the group. They didn't kick me out of the group. But like the leader of the group messaged me and castigated me for saying this stuff on my podcast and how I couldn't repeat anything that was said in this group that it I may not reference it in any way.

03:55.62
jeffekennedy
and i thought you know there's no way that my brain is going to keep track of that. I do not remember who tells me what things sometimes. And also, frankly, I was offended. um it was It was so egregious. And and she even kind of um took me to task saying, you know, like, especially with something that she had going on with this delicate business where I can't remember, she was trying to get her rights back on something, you know,

04:26.63
jeffekennedy
she couldn't have me ah afford to have me out there blabbing things, and I'm like, give me a little credit, lady. Yes, um I guess I'm still annoyed about this. You know, give me some credit to know what to say and what not to say. um And i I suppose I'm backtracking a little bit, aren't I, because I'm just saying how it's difficult to know. But

04:52.17
jeffekennedy
You know, one of the things about the publishing business that has led to a lot of the inequity in the business and that the sheer mystery that shrouds it in some ways is because there is this whole thing where you're not supposed to talk about stuff. um My writer friend C.M. Nascosta was mentioning something the other day about how when she worked in corporate America that there was this whole deal where it was a rule that if they got laid off from a

05:24.75
jeffekennedy
from the job or for the project that they weren't allowed to tell anybody else at the workplace until everybody had been told and they'd been gathered as a group and she was like but they were all friends so they they would tell each other because rules like that are only there to protect the establishment, to protect the higher-ups. and And I don't mean that publishing is bad necessarily in that way, but any time that you have a culture of secrecy where you're not supposed to talk about things,

05:55.85
jeffekennedy
it um it disenfranchises people and that's why I've talked about on here you know like the whole concept of gossip like ah if you're a woman or a female presenting you probably grew up like I did being told that gossip was bad that yeah and being it being illustrated particularly about females as a unpleasant quality right you know like you could think of the cartoons with the women you know like gossiping over the fence and you know it's like how it's a terrible thing now certainly i've had people spread rumors about me and that was extremely unpleasant uh things that were not true and that's but to me that's a different thing spreading rumors is different

06:46.22
jeffekennedy
Gossip is the tool of the oppressed, not to overstate. But you know those housewives that were in the cartoons leaning over the back fence talking to each other, they were and exchanging important information about their lives. And men going around frowning upon women talking to each other is a sign, right? It's a sign that they don't want. that women talking to each other. There's a reason that authoritarian governments try to stop free speech and free press because, and and like you know assembling, right? These are rights that are guaranteed in our constitution because our founders knew that that was how governments oppress people. So anyway, I've kind of gone off on the the deep end a little bit there because this isn't that extreme, but

07:41.60
jeffekennedy
you know being able to talk honestly about various struggles ah when you try to figure things out um and so I don't know if Allie just has a very keen ah sense of intuition or clearly she is like reading emails, which she's not supposed to be. so ah i would If you are listening to this podcast, like i I'm torn back and forth because I did reply in an email saying that

08:17.29
jeffekennedy
that she needs to get back to important work and mostly because I feel like having a baby being at home with a small human is so fraught and so exhausting and there's so much to it that I don't want her to feel any pressure to um be looking at email and to be doing work at the same time. I totally get if participating in work, participating in a project that's important to her, which I know this book is important to her, Sometimes that's the relief you need um so Sometimes you need to you know, make sure that you're still like a person aside from being a milk cow to a tiny tyrant

09:01.74
jeffekennedy
but ah ah You know and this is part of I guess coming on this same thing of women talking to each other ah You know Respecting each other's choices, you know Supporting each other and how ever we want to do things So anyway, the upshot is is that Ally is brilliant. She made a suggestion that totally solves what? um was bothering me and so It was perfect timing. So cheers Ally if you are listening to

09:35.31
jeffekennedy
So um the other thing I want to talk about is we watched this amazing show that actually when I was at Jack Williamson Lectureship somebody had suggested to me and it's always interesting to get show recommendations from writers because the writers have a really keen sense for well obviously for all the things right story and dialogue and um character arc so we watched this show it's on netflix called unbelievable and it's eight episodes and tony colette is in it

10:17.23
jeffekennedy
I can't believe there are Toni Collette projects that I haven't seen yet because she's so frickin' amazing in everything she does. She's amazing in this. She plays a detective. ah But you know who else is really great in it is a gal named Kaitlyn Dever. And I don't know if I'm saying that right, but she's a very young actress. um She is, she was born in 96, bless her heart.

10:47.38
jeffekennedy
She did an incredible job. So the show is about, and I remember reading the article on this, it was about this serial rapist and this, Kaitlin plays this girl who's been in the foster system and she's living at this youth, you know, like for troubled youth place, you know, as they're just launching into adulthood and and she's raped. And it is an intense show. So, you know, sexual assault warnings and all of that.

11:19.35
jeffekennedy
ah and so it's it's really but The word unbelievable is a great title because it works on it several levels. um It's unbelievable the way she was treated by the police um and also she was not believed. And the police got her to recant her testimony and say that she had made up being raped, in part because her most recent foster mother had gone in and said that she was not a reliable person. And I remember reading that in this big article about it. ah And the police actually charged her for making a false report.

12:02.31
jeffekennedy
ah They gave her a citation and she had to go to court. so this And Caitlin does this great job of playing this girl who um has both this inner core of strength because she has survived all this terrible stuff that's gone on, but also she's not going to try to get anybody to believe her because she doesn't have that. she's She just nods and smiles and she does whatever she can to get out of any difficult situation. um And it's great to see her progression through the series from the beginning this traumatized rape victim and this very unique young woman and sort of coming into her own learning how to be able to use her strengths for herself.

12:47.30
jeffekennedy
so So that's how it kicks off. And then it departs to Colorado, which was kind of fun because, and maybe this was part why I'd read some of this, but where Tony Collette and Merritt Weaver played these detectives in two different parts of Colorado, ah Merritt Weaver, her character, and of course this is all based on real stuff, um discovers a link to a rape victim in Tony Collette's county, and they discover that this serial rapist is using the system against them because he knows that the counties don't talk to each other, that they don't compare details on cases.

13:33.83
jeffekennedy
And so as you can, I feel like this is not spoilery because it's set up from the beginning. um Eventually it works around to that this is also the man who raped Marie Adler. And it's um it's another really great show on women working together, um women believing women. It's really well written, really well done and fascinating. It will make you outraged. But um then there's some really great comeuppance at the end. So um yeah, there were a lot of really interesting themes in it. Highly, highly recommend.

14:18.13
jeffekennedy
So um here comes my poor kitten. He's got the cone on his head from having his ear fixed. no You don't get to see him. he He's underneath the camera. um he I took him in Friday morning. I mentioned that. And they did the little minor surgery to fix his ear. There's so much cat drama around here. um And so now he has to have the cone on his head for three weeks. And and he hates it we hates it. But he's doing fine. And the ear is looking much better. He has a little tube in it to drain the fluid out.

14:55.93
jeffekennedy
ah So let's see. Yeah, so i I got a lot done on the edits on Never the Roses on Friday. Been going out and asking people about doing endorsement quotes for the book. We put together a list of people. And I'm going to mention this because I get asked about it sometimes. You know, my very first editor at Kensington thought that those didn't work and didn't think that we needed to do them. And I regret not doing them. I think that could have helped. oh I don't know. maybe Maybe yes, maybe no. Monday morning, quarterbacking, right? ah But I love that.

15:42.05
jeffekennedy
ah that Ramble Tour wants to go out with looking for endorsement quotes we put together a list and one thing I had to do this weekend was um but go through social media of all the people on our list and make sure that I was following everyone. Sarah said um that people frequently check to see if like a person asking for a quote is following them and I was like, ah which I absolutely do too. When people ping me and ask me for stuff, I look to see if they're following me. I also look to see if they've interacted with me, so I i probably have to do that too.

16:20.09
jeffekennedy
The other thing I had to do was go and follow people from the new Jennifer K. Lambert name. So ah Jennifer wasn't following much of anyone, so I kind of got on that. That took a long time to look up all those social media links and follow all those people. but So if you've got a new follow from me, that's why. Please look me up. I need to start building up those social media names. But as far as asking people for the quotes, No, it never gets easier. Nobody likes doing it. Everybody feels dorky doing it. I always tell my friends when I approach them personally, because like Agent Sarah is going to approach some people, Editor Deanna is going to approach some people, and then I'm approaching some people. When I ask my friends, I'm like, as always.

17:09.91
jeffekennedy
totally optional, no hone, no foul, no as a complete sentence, you do not have to do this for me. um And so far everybody's saying yes. Well, one person hasn't replied, but she often doesn't reply to her email. um You know, and it's just, it's hard. We don't like asking people for things, I think. ah You know, and there's those people out in the world who are, you know, like the the loud voices and maybe the more brash and more extroverted people or the people that we regard as being

17:42.79
jeffekennedy
perhaps especially privileged who don't mind asking for things and and we don't like them so that makes it harder right but that's what you have to do you have to to ask and be willing to hear no and totally accept no and this happens where sometimes people say yes and you send them off the manuscript and you never hear from them again and you have to be good with that you have to like not obsess about that and I know some of you out there I know some of you personally are not good about not obsessing about things but that's the way it goes sometimes people start reading it and it's not their thing

18:22.31
jeffekennedy
and they they can't get into it and so they set it aside because they don't want to tell you that and you have to accept that you have to be okay with that because think of all the times that you've read something that was incredibly popular or supposed to be incredibly wonderful and you didn't like it and it's And you know that it's you. It's not that the thing is bad, it's you. So so you just have to be, what to use an old word, copacetic about that, right? You just gotta chill.

18:53.96
jeffekennedy
um

18:56.70
jeffekennedy
it's It's just part of the business. But yeah, when I approach people, I email them or whatever message medium they they prefer and you know say, hey, we're looking for endorsement quotes, we're looking for ones for the galley, or you know by this date, or by this date for the dust jacket. ah One thing about authors is that, hmm, there's a funny noise outside. Killian thought so too. ah

19:29.46
jeffekennedy
it's It's actually good to have, there have been times when I felt like it was really good for me personally to have my endorsement quote on someone else's book because if the book is does well, um you know, your name's there on their cover too and it's like, you know, has the little thing about you and it elevates your profile. Also, it's paying it forward. um I do it when I can, ah but You know, again, it's ah it's a bandwidth thing, right? So, and and we can't always do it. um we Most of us are mood readers. We want to read what we want to read. And, you know, reading something that we're not enjoying always kind of sucks. So anyway, that's that's a little bit of thing about blurbs or endorsement quotes. Endorsement quotes is a better phrase, especially since the self-published authors are using blurb to mean the back cover copy. So there's a little bit of language migration there.

20:26.12
jeffekennedy
All right, on that note, I'm going to get busy with language of my own. Hope you all have a good weekend. I hope you all are having a wonderful week and I will talk to you all 85% sure on Friday. You all take care, okay? Bye-bye.