First Cup of Coffee - September 17, 2024

My appliance-drama-filled weekend, pet-drama-filled Monday, a happy resolution to previous pet-drama, my great character flaw, and how a robust backlist not only is the best marketing, but continues to provide income in lots of ways.

The Agatha Christie quote I read is: "There was a moment when I changed from an amateur to a professional. I assumed the burden of a profession, which is to write even when you don't want to, don't much like what you're writing, and aren't writing particularly well."

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

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Transcript

00:01.62
jeffekennedy
Good morning, everyone. This is Jeffe Kennedy, author of Epic Fantasy Romance. I'm here with my first cup of coffee.

00:11.93
jeffekennedy
Ha! Nirvana. ah Today is Tuesday, September 17th. A day late. Kind of a dollar short, a $3,000 short ah to be precise. um Let me tell you a story. So I know that last week I had said maybe I would stop doing podcasts on Monday and do it on Tuesday instead because Mondays ended up being disrupted often. And lo, these were prophetic words.

00:45.09
jeffekennedy
ah Yesterday morning um our chocolate lab captain ah He has been acting like he's in pain We woke up to rain. It's really cooled off. We had great rain last night uh but he's been acting like he's got some arthritis and you know but getting by uh and then yesterday morning he was really limping and we started going on dog walk and he couldn't go on dog walk and it is a massive pain on the patootie to get him in the car he's like the only dog i've ever known who doesn't want to get in the car um possibly because of his hips

01:26.52
jeffekennedy
But um I mean, we only we got just a little bit past our driveway, like down our driveway and across the street. And he was so sad and he just couldn't do it. And we'd been talking about, well, what should we do? Should we take him to the bed?

01:40.38
jeffekennedy
So I said, well, since he's out here, let's see if we can get him into the Jeep. Cause we have a ramp for him. And he did, he went up the ramp and he got in the back of the Jeep. And we went to Smith's vet here in Santa Fe where I took the cats for um all the drama earlier this year. I do have an update on that. I actually had that on my list to give you an update on the kitties. So if it isn't one thing, it's another.

02:09.03
jeffekennedy
ah but so So we took him to Smith Vet where you don't get an appointment. We got there a little bit late. Had I planned for this, you know you've the trick is to get there right at 7.30 when they open and then you get in the queue.

02:23.72
jeffekennedy
We got there at like eight. And I thought parking lot was empty. And I thought, oh, well, maybe we lucked out and it's not so bad. No, no, no. um It was just that everybody had been and gone. ah So we were fairly down far in the queue. We had to wait a long time. um When we finally got to see the vet, then she did blood work on him and x-rays. And so we had to wait again. And the upshot is we did not leave there until noon.

02:52.60
jeffekennedy
well So it was a long day of waiting. But the good news is, a thousand dollars later, that his blood work is fine. ah The x-ray showed lots and lots of inflammation along his spine. He was having a hard time turning his head. He would whimper.

03:12.43
jeffekennedy
tried to get him to turn his head ah but he got a shot and he's on some meds and we did dog walk this morning and he's feeling um almost frisky so in fact we were thinking he may have been in more pain than we thought because he was um considerably friskier this morning after a night of meds and so forth so All's well that ends well there the other $2,000 which isn't as bad as it sounds because actually my mother is paying for it But I had drama over the weekend but this time of the large appliance variety and You know, I don't know what it is about Having stuff go wrong with like some of these fundamental appliances that run your life um But it is just

04:04.30
jeffekennedy
ah Unsettling. Upsetting. but Upset my apple cart, people. So I was in the middle of doing laundry, and my dryer has been being weird. Like it was, you like it does the auto dry? It's supposed to do the auto dry, but like with towels, it wouldn't get them all the way dry. That's been going on for a little while, which was probably my first clue. And so full confession, probably one of my major character flaws is that I hate minor maintenance shit. I let things slide. Like my mechanic, some of you know that I have this 1996 Jaguar XJS which does require a certain amount of babying and I was not getting the oil changed often enough

04:50.44
jeffekennedy
And my mechanic, who is not a misogynist and a really great guy, actually said something to my husband saying, um you need to talk to her about this and tell her to bring this car in and get the oil changed ah more frequently. And I was amused by this.

05:07.41
jeffekennedy
Because it's not very often that you have the your husband needs to talk to you about something conversation And I said oh, so he said to gently encourage me to to do this and and David said no He said to tell you you have to do this um So I'm being much better about getting the oil changed in the car, but oh Okay, so Yes, I am I am penny on big bang theory and that I will let the check engine light go on on my car. I don't want to mess with it people. So there are certain things in my life that I expect to just run. And I, like I said, it's a character flaw. It's a failing mea culpa. Uh, so anyway, I was ignoring the fact that the towels weren't drying.

06:00.49
jeffekennedy
And I do the laundry every two weeks. And so two weeks ago, a couple of times it was giving me this HC error. And I'm like, huh, I wonder what that means. But then it would go again. So there I am, Penny, driving my car down the street. So so this time the HC error came on and I was like, oh, and I looked it up in the book to see what it meant. And it's like, oh, maybe the driver's not venting right or it's getting too hot. Blah, blah, blah.

06:30.27
jeffekennedy
And I'm like, uh, well, okay, if i'll I'll just get to this laundry and then, and so I like let it cool off and everything. And then I'll, I'll deal with it. And I was thinking, what was the last time I had that vent cleaned? And I know it was a long time ago. It was probably pre pandemic. It was one time when I was getting the chimney cleaned grudgingly. I think I've had it done once in like 15 years that we've been in this house. I know, I know, I know I'm terrible. I've made the appointment.

06:57.42
jeffekennedy
And they said, well, you know, you should get your dryer. They offered to do the dryer back then. And I said, oh, well, okay, I guess. And they said, you know, you really should do this often. I'm like, okay, proceeds not to do it. Oh, I don't know what this is about me. Oh, well, anyway. Um,

07:19.72
jeffekennedy
So I checked the error book. I let it cool down. I go ahead and try to finish that load. I come back and the dryer is dead and is dead as a doorknob. Are doorknobs really dead? I feel like Eve Dallas. I dreamed last night that I was Eve Dallas. That was kind of a cool dream. oh But yeah, look where where does dead as a doorknob come from? Anyway,

07:45.04
jeffekennedy
um Dryer's Dead asked, a friend of mine, I have a writing mentee who actually is an appliance repairman. but I'm like, what does it mean? He's like, it's, I'm like, am I, well, I'm trying not to use potty words. Am I, am I achy? Am I fracked?

08:06.71
jeffekennedy
And it's possible that it's because of the ventilation backing up. Also, David pointed this out, which you know fortunately he loves me, um you know that we do have a in the desert Southwest a high incidence of things crawling into things and building nests.

08:29.53
jeffekennedy
Anyway, my dryer is kaput, so then I had to do that whole ah cost benefit analysis of do I try to get it fixed, which is like already costs like $175 just to have someone come here from Albuquerque. And then, you know, my friend said it's probably the control panel or the heat sensor, which means they'd have to order the part, which would also be an expensive part. And I'd have to wait and I don't want to wait.

08:59.74
jeffekennedy
And by the time we total up all those costs, it's going to be you know as much as a new dryer. So ah my mother, I think I've told you all on here, we are in the process of building the casita for her to come love live here. My mom loves to do laundry. So um she's like, just just go ahead and replace them, get two new ones.

09:25.16
jeffekennedy
So I bought a new washer and dryer yesterday and um but yeah my mom will pay for it so that's that's really nice and I figure I might as well get really good ones that'll last a long time and You are all my witnesses. I promise to get so ventilation check so the So the addendum to this is that my usual chimney ventilation people can't come until like October 23rd. And I asked the install people who are going to install it tomorrow, which is great. I mean, people, I had to like go buy laundry line and clothes pins and string a line across the portal and dry stuff like an animal.

10:08.91
jeffekennedy
And it was, I realized that these are champagne problems, but it like totally destroyed my weekend and I felt bad about the fact that I let this maintenance slide and all of that. ah But I am going to I asked my stepsister, Hope, who lives not far from my mom in Tucson, if she'd ever had this done. And she said, yeah, they'd had it checked once and it turned out their dryer was venting into the attic, which was like a huge fire hazard. So they were glad they had that checked. But she gave me the name of the place and I'm going to have them check my mom's dryer too. Is everybody doing this but me? Oh, my God.

10:49.84
jeffekennedy
So anyway, the guys who are coming to install it tomorrow, gals, people, one of the contractors on the Casitas is a young woman and with gorgeous long nails. We were admiring each other's nail polish. That was super cool. ah So we were, they're going to install it tomorrow. Did I mention that? And so now I can rewash and dry the towels, which came out like cardboard, right?

11:17.20
jeffekennedy
So um they said that they could check, they replace the tube that goes from the dryer to the wall. And so they can tell me if that's backed up and messed up. And then I don't know, on should I look for a new place? See if someone can come sooner than October 23rd or commit to the October 23rd date. I'm gonna wait and see what the installation people say tomorrow. So that's been my saga.

11:46.64
jeffekennedy
um Let me give you a happy follow-up with the kitties thing for longtime listeners. Those of you um who knew about the whole thing with Killian attacking Jackson and we've been keeping them separated. And the update is, I mean it did take a long time. Maybe I should let me quickly sum up for those of you who don't remember. ah Suddenly our slightly less than two-year-old cat attacked our older cat, our 12-year-old cat, really aggressively pinning him by the neck to the ground. It was very upsetting. Upset my apple cart then too. And it turned out that the breeder had sold him to me unfixed. He was a fully intact cat with and he had come into his testosterone fullness. A friend of mine that said,

12:43.29
jeffekennedy
poor Jackson older cat being attacked by toxic masculinity in his own home and boy you know what it was funny and it is funny but testosterone is like a toxin and so we got Killian neutered and my cat knowledgeable friends have warned me that it could take months for the testosterone to purge and it took months for Killian to stop being aggressive and We've been keeping them separated and separated. And now, da da da, hooray. Kitties are no longer separated. They're, again, co-sharing space. They are friendly and loving. And it's interesting the ways in which Killian is no longer so aggressive, purging that testosterone. So, boy, it's a thing.

13:37.61
jeffekennedy
I don't want to, I've never fallen for the, you know, boys will be boys thing. But you know, it's like, you know, they give us shit for like PMS. It's like, boy, your testosterone surges, gentlemen. I don't know how you do it.

13:54.21
jeffekennedy
um I wanted to share a quote with you. ah The 15th was was Agatha Christie's birthday. And I thought that this was ah someone on one of my lists shared this.

14:08.31
jeffekennedy
There was a moment when I changed from an amateur to a professional. I assumed the burden of a profession, which is to write even when you don't want to, don't much like what you're writing, and aren't writing particularly well." It's a great quote. I'll try to plug that into the show notes. ah But it fits in with what what I always say.

14:33.00
jeffekennedy
um I understand that it can be difficult to to write every day. And full confession, I got no words yesterday. Yesterday was a lost day. It was as some of the gals on my ah mentoring discord say, muggle shit, destroyed my day. I did get ah some businessy things done after we got home. So that was good, but no words.

15:02.45
jeffekennedy
However, I did make it last week. Was my best word count week of the year. Not five times, but definitely was. Now this week won't be and I'm trying to be zen about that because I lost a day. I've also received my first pass pages on Never the Roses. That means the first pass of proofing, they do two rounds of proofing.

15:26.00
jeffekennedy
Uh, so I need to do those. I'm trying to decide how much I want to do. I have that there's two other people reading it, right? And it's already been through a proofreader or maybe this is the proof. Sorry. They've typeset it or, you know, put it all in and with all the designs and everything looks beautiful.

15:48.80
jeffekennedy
but now it's, yeah, being proofread and I get to proofread. And I have one friend who's like, she'll proofread her books so many times. And I don't know, I feel like there's a point of vanishing return. At the same time, I don't think I told you all this, but on Reluctant Wizard, there's a review on Amazon from the UK. Some reader ah put on there,

16:15.88
jeffekennedy
i sure I'm going to tell it to you. Okay. This is what they put on the Amazon review. I love this series for continuing the storyline, incredibly clever and unmatched innovativeness. What I don't really like, and the only reason I took off a star for what would have been a four star review is because I found at least five typos. I paid 450 pounds for this 4.50. I don't know how you'd say that.

16:45.18
jeffekennedy
$4.50, we would say like $4.50 and leave off dollars, but it was pounds. Kind of a bit outrageous to be honest for that Kindle price. So, I mean, I always tell people not to read their reviews and I just happened to read this one because I was waiting for reviews to pop up. There haven't been that many. If you have read it, ah please please do leave a word review. I know it's a pain in the ass. Anyway,

17:14.96
jeffekennedy
So incredibly clever and unmatched innovativeness for my $4.50 ebook apparently only counts for three stars and and absence of typos counts for an entire star.

17:29.68
jeffekennedy
um five typos, and I don't believe that there are five typos in there because my audiobook narrator sends me the errors that she finds, and she's found two, and she finds every damn thing. Nothing like reading it out loud. I read it out loud um and proved it. So, I don't know, typos will happen um worth an entire star. i you know I'm sorry that you felt your four dollars and fifty pence maybe that's what you would say for four pounds fifty pence any UK readers out there please correct me on how you say that um yeah that you were offended by typos so anyway I haven't decided how closely I want to read my first past pages i I don't want to I'm trying to say if I should I don't want to print it out that's a lot of paper um I don't know I'm waffling clearly

18:29.23
jeffekennedy
But I got some cool news this morning, which is that ah a French publisher wants to, they had done audiobook, oh no, sorry, not audiobook, French translation, French translation, duh, Jeffe, of the first three books of Sorcerous Moons. And now they want to do the other three books and do the whole series in print. So that's exciting. And it's kind of a cool lesson on backlist. You know, I've talked about backlist,

18:59.23
jeffekennedy
ah makes a big difference when you're a career author. It's really kind of cool that this series that I wrote back in 2016 now, so it's eight years old, that it continues to, well it still sells, you know, all you lovely readers out there who don't complain about my typos. I do go in and correct periodically and upload a new version, but um um I know, I said I'm letting it go, I'm letting it go. um But yeah, so I'll get money for these for this foreign rights and print sales. And it's just cool that these things continue to to generate income. So when we talk about like the best marketing you can do is write the next book, this is part of the reason why, you know, you get complete series out there and they continue to sell themselves.

19:51.65
jeffekennedy
and bring in more income, which I need since we're building a casita and buying expensive appliances. Yeah, um ah my mom's money, but I also have to make sure that we have enough money to keep her and to keep me later. Financial planning. All right. um On that note, I guess I'd better get to work. ah Hope that you all are having a good week and I will talk to you all on Friday.

20:21.00
jeffekennedy
You all take care. Bye.