Book Shop Chats:
Welcome to Book Shop Chats, your go to podcast for indie authors and learning insight into what it takes to write a book (HINT: You can do it too!!)
Join authors as they share their personal journeys, successes, and challenges, providing you with unique insights into the writing process. The discussions explore into various aspects of storytelling, from character development to plot structuring, ensuring you have a well-rounded understanding of the craft.
Whether you're just starting out or have published multiple works, this podcast is your companion in the pursuit of storytelling excellence. Tune in, gather inspiration, and let your passion for writing flourish alongside a community that celebrates the art of the written word.
Book Shop Chats:
Episode FORTY-FIVE: Finding Magic in the Mundane: Kristina W Kelly on Fantasy Poetry and the Dance of Creativity
In this episode, Kristina W Kelly discusses her journey as a writer and the unique inspirations behind her poetry and novels, blending her love for fantasy and sci-fi with personal experiences. She shares valuable insights into creativity, collaboration, and balancing life as a busy parent while pursuing writing.
• Exploring the concept behind Kristina's poetry collection, "Imaginary"
• Discussion on merging creative mediums like poetry and photography
• Insights into the upcoming novel, "Tavern Tale," influenced by role-playing games
• The importance of writing collaboration and confidence building
• Strategies for balancing writing with family life dynamics
• Encouragement for new writers to embrace their unique paths and creativity
About the author:
Kristina W Kelly writes fantasy, sci-fi, and poetry and loves being a geek. Her coauthored novel, Trials of the Innermost, is book one in the epic science fantasy series The Etherea Cycle. Her debut sapphic fantasy romance adventure, Tavern Tale, releases January 7, 2025. She is the author of Imaginari, a sci-fi and fantasy poetry collection paired with her photography. Kristina is a trumpet player but dabbles in other instruments, plays video games, and tends to her flower garden and two children in Indiana. Several of her short stories have received honourable mention, silver honourable mention, and semi-finalist from Writers of the Future. She is amazed by nature and enjoys painting vivid scenes for her readers. She loves going on new adventures in the great wide somewhere (sometimes just by picking up a new book).
Website: www.kristinaseyes.com
Socials: kristinawkelly on most
https://linktr.ee/KristinaKelly
About Victoria:
Hey there, I’m Victoria! As a writer and developmental editor, I specialize in helping busy writers bring their publishing dreams to life without the overwhelm. Editing doesn’t have to feel like pulling teeth—it's the magic that transforms your story from “meh” to masterpiece!
Here’s how I can help:
📖 FREE Manuscript Prep Workbook: Take the stress out of editing with simple steps to organize your revisions.
Grab it HERE
📝 Developmental Editing: Get expert feedback that elevates your manuscript, strengthens your story, and polishes your characters.
✍️ 1:1 monthly support Writer's Haven: Revitalize your creativity, map out your novel, and unleash your authentic voice.
Your story deserves to shine, and I’m here to make it happen. Let’s turn your writing dreams into a reality!
📱 IG: @editsbyvictoria
🌐 Website: https://www.victoriajaneeditorial.com/links
Welcome to Bookshop Chats. I am your host, victoria Hopkins. Bookshop Chats is the perfect podcast for authors, readers and writers alike. In these episodes, we chat with a variety of authors from all kinds of genres and help demystify and show you that writing a book is well, not necessarily easy doable. So grab a coffee and get ready to add a whole bunch more books to your TBR and let's dive in. Oh hey, it's Victoria, your host of Bookshop Chats.
Speaker 1:Before we dive into today's episode, I'm going to share a little bit about what's going on in my world. So currently, my books are open for developmental editing. If that is your jam, if you need a book edited, come reach out to me. Free samples for the first 1,000, 1,500 words, just to make sure that we jive with each other, because that is a very, very important thing. When you are looking for a developmental editor, you want to make sure that you guys jive with each other, because that is a very, very important thing. When you are looking for a developmental editor, you want to make sure that you guys jive, that the feedback is given is going to be what it is that you are indeed looking for, and if you are a busy writer like me, we need all the help we can get when it comes to planning. And if you are maybe a little bit more of a pantster, let me show you the power of having some kind of outline. So this is kind of the premise of the five minute planner that I put together for busy writers. So in there you will find a huge character sketch to really like dive into your characters and also a really simple planner outline that you can map out what you need to write each day. So this is a really great way to help kind of get clear of what direction you need to go, whether it's a scene or whether it's a chapter, and you can even utilize this throughout your whole book. It's really simple to use.
Speaker 1:I put it together with the intention of it being like a five to ten minute kind of thing that you do maybe before you write, just so that you are maximizing the time that you have to write. Especially if you are low on time like me, we need all the help we can get. And finally, I also put together the Writer's Haven is a bite-sized audio training for the busy writer. So I put these little bite-sized audio clips together with the intention of you being able to listen to them on demand, as you need to, and they're really great for helping with things like, maybe, writer's block or you're feeling a little bit stuck on how to manage your busy life and fit writing into it. I've also added some meditations to help really support your inner artist and really just tap back into your creative spirit, and it is all available for you. I'll link it in the show notes if that is something that is your jam. Like I said, it is a super low cost $9 to hop in and the intention is I'll periodically add in a couple audios here and there throughout the year and it's kind of an ever evolving thing. So once you grab it, that's it, it's yours and you get access to any bonus things that I add in.
Speaker 1:Okay, friends? Well, I think it is about time that we dive back into today's episode. So grab a cozy beverage and let's add some more books to your TBR. Welcome back to Bookshop Chats. In today's episode, I am chatting with Christina W Kelly. Welcome to the podcast, thank you. Thanks for having me. I'm so excited to chat with you today and you had a book released like not that long ago, so that's super exciting. So that's super exciting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Back in October, October 23rd, I released my first poetry collection, which is actually a collection of fantasy and sci-fi poetry paired with my photography, and I'm super excited because I didn't find a lot of poetry like that. Of course that exists, but when you go look on a bookstore of poetry you know it's all these human experiences, and I took that same concept but set it in what I love writing, which is the sci-fi and fantasy worlds.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. That's so cool. That's such a unique way of, yeah, looking at like poetry. I feel, like you said, it's not something that I really would think to maybe look for or that would. That would be quite difficult to find out there, and it's super cool that you just, yeah, decided to create it. I love that, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's called Imaginary, which is actually a concept that I kind of came up with, and Imaginary are it's the influences around you. It can also be literally like muses type, where it's the invisible beings that influence your creativity. So a lot of my poetry and photography focuses on the creative aspects, the things that inspire me to create, the things that have influenced me. I even have a poem that's. It's called how to Write a Story and there's a whole bunch of Easter eggs. Of all the books I've read, there's references to Aslan in Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, so like there's a, if you read it, in the reference to the lion. That's what that is. So it really is just trying to embrace creativity a little bit different, push those boundaries and kind of merge the things that I love sci-fi, fantasy, poetry, photography and it all gets smushed together in my collections. That's what Imaginari stands for is those kind of creative nuggets or inspiration, et cetera. I love that.
Speaker 1:I feel like that's such a cool way too of like viewing just like our. Our experience in the world of like that really kind of challenges you to find magic in the most like mundane kind of day-to-day life things, which I feel like is the like that's what we did when we were kids, and when we're adults we kind of we kind of lose that a little bit. I think it's it's almost like tried. It's like it's tried to be stamped out of us. I feel like in a way. So that's such a that's such a beautiful concept I love that, yeah, you hit on it.
Speaker 2:My dedication actually is, of course, to my sons, but also I dedicate it to those who were told to stop dreaming, and so I say may you leap into wonder and find yourself swimming in imagination's prismatic light.
Speaker 2:So I really just want to encourage people to look for exciting little things in the small things, the fairies on your walks out in the forest. And, like I wrote a poem about my wishes for my, my sons and the future, for them to to be themselves and to embrace what they like, and I said it as them kind of dancing in the stars. There's a line of of them using hula hoops and and dancing with like Jupiter and Saturn and and things. So just taking those small, small experiences and trying to find the magic and the sci-fi too. Future, looking forward into the future, I think we can find little things that just look alien on our planet. It's just that awe and wow and that thing looks so, so weird and it just makes us stop and think, or stop and appreciate, and that's that's a lot of what I wanted to do with my collection.
Speaker 1:That's amazing and I feel like that's such a great way to play with creativity, maybe in a way that you typically wouldn't, and like challenge yourself a little bit to create those little stories, right Like. I feel like as a kid that was something that I always did, like making up all of these like random stories, or those games that you made up that had these epic like they. They never made any sort of sense, but they were so much fun and it just we had the best time ever in that moment and I think fostering that just it just makes life more exciting, I feel.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I feel like I tried to do the breadth of human emotions throughout it, but there's everything from very serious topics to that whimsy. I've got poetry that follows strict meter topics to that whimsy I've got poetry that follows strict meter. I have stuff that kind of feels a little silly, with silly rhymes about a centaur meeting the last mermaid, and some of them are very story-like. I love when you can tell kind of a just like a story in a poem but also you can represent, you know how love feels in a poem. So I play with all of those inside of imaginary that's I love it, but it just it makes me so excited.
Speaker 1:I feel like I need to go for a walk and find the fairies now.
Speaker 2:Yes, definitely, and that's what I want to do. I want people to be inspired. It doesn't matter how little or big it is, like, just grab a hold of that creativity and go with it and see if it brings you joy or what it does. So, yeah, definitely, go out and look for those fairies.
Speaker 1:Awesome, and you also have another book that is coming out early next year which I am very, very excited to hear more about. I just kind of got the tiny littlest details in the booking, so I would love to hear more.
Speaker 2:Yes, I'm super excited. It's called Tavern Tale and it does release January 7, from Space Wizard Science Fantasy, which is a small indie publisher. And this one really is close to my heart Because, if you look up my publishing history, the very first book I released I wrote with one of my best friends and a co author, so we did it together and this. So this is my very first story full length novel by myself. So it feels like I'm growing up, I'm leveling up in the world which ties into the inspiration.
Speaker 2:So Tavern Tales inspired by the role playing games that I play. So it's got a lot of elements that if anybody's a fan of, like playing Dungeons and Dragons, it's got those kind of feels. And I play games like Skyrim, dragon Age, final Fantasy, and so all those games that I play really influenced me writing this tale. And I started off with I love doing side quests in video games. So you've got your main story you're supposed to do, but then there's all these little things you can go explore and do and I thought, well, what if I just start my story Like it's a side quest? And that's where I went off.
Speaker 2:So Tavern Tale is it's a short novel, it's slightly over novella length and it's a sapphic fantasy romance, so it's got elements that are cozy. But it's a sapphic fantasy romance, so it's got elements that are cozy, but it's also got a little bit of a higher stakes. It's got little nuggets of the inspirations of video games and tabletop rpgs and it's got a little bit of romance too. So again, I like I like to blend things. So here I am with the fantasy and the romance and trying to influence with the video games I love that I'd love to hear a little bit more about kind of the process of writing.
Speaker 1:Like obviously writing a poetry book versus writing a novel, Like that's got to be a little bit different. So I'd love to hear a little bit more about that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, when it comes to writing stories, I'm more along the lines of what they call an exploratory writer. So I start with an idea, a character, maybe a scene. That's actually like six chapters down the road, but I'm going to get there, and so I just create the worlds and the characters a little bit, and sometimes not at all, and just go it and see where, where it takes me, and then I do a lot of kind of plotting after the fact. So I'll go back through it and make sure the characters have a good arc. Did I make sure to really explain the, the magic system? So, like with Tavern Tale, I knew early on that my character was going to be in a world that had magic from deities. So basically, gods and goddesses bless people with magic, and so if you follow the god of storms, you might be able to control a little bit of cloud movement and create some rain on folks and whatnot. But I didn't know a lot about all of those gods and goddesses. I just went with it and so once I got to the end, I go okay, well, I need some more world building inside of here. Let's go ahead and make sure we talk about how these, how they get their magic and all those things.
Speaker 2:With poetry I think it's very similar for me.
Speaker 2:I will start with same kind of thing a concept, an idea, a feeling, maybe it's an emotion, or maybe I've come up with just one particular line that sounds cool in my head or meaningful and figure out what can I do with that.
Speaker 2:So with my science fiction and fantasy poetry collection I knew the basics that I wanted to focus on those speculative elements, make it fantasy, make it sci-fi, throw in a little bit of science too. And so I just sat and looked at a lot of the poems I'd written in the past and then wrote more with that focus. And so when I approach a poem, I knew on one of them I really wanted it to be about a, the feeling I get about doom and relate it to the emptiness of space, and that was just the concept I started with. So I do very similar with with the stories too. Maybe the story I wanted it to be about people getting magic from gods and goddesses and then and then go from there. So I think I really approach both very similarly and kind of fly by the seat of my pants with whatever is in my head at the moment.
Speaker 1:I love that. Yeah, I definitely echo a lot of that flying, flying by the seat of the pants, because it's just yeah, it's just how the brain works, at least my brain and for me yeah it's really interesting to see how the story is created and how it's kind of.
Speaker 1:Obviously the storytelling process kind of evolves as you get more confident in your ideas and just that whole thing. But yeah, it's definitely a lot of like those scenes, and that's usually what like pulls you into that first idea and then from there you get to create these epic worlds and characters and like how did this even happen?
Speaker 2:yeah, I love that about the, the exploratory writing process, because I could start with a really cool fight scene in my head and then my brain goes well, why are they there? And then back further, well, what, what got them to this particular city? And it's just fun to let my brain sit there and think about it when I already have a particular like scene in mind to try to fit things and what would make this really cool or what would make this make sense.
Speaker 1:I love that. That's I just yeah, hearing other authors and their processes is always so fascinating to me of, like how they they get to where they go. And then, talking to authors that are just so organized, I'm like I don't understand how you do this. And then it was funny because this one lady was like also, I don't understand how you can write in out of order or like it's like chaos.
Speaker 1:I'm like oh, it's just so interesting to see how each writer literally has their own process and no one really is the same. And you can try on all of these different ways, but ultimately you know it's gonna go how it needs to go for you or even for the book. That's the other thing too. Sometimes the book is just demands, this utter chaos. You know like, ow yeah, how does this make sense? But then it all comes together in the end.
Speaker 2:So yeah, yeah, I feel it's a little bit like cooking you can do certain things out of order, you can do things a little bit longer than others, and I think we're all doing the same steps. When we write it's just how long are we spending time on it? What order are we doing it in? How long are we spending time on it? What order are we doing it in?
Speaker 1:But it all comes out with a delicious treat at the end, totally. I love that analogy. That's so true. Speaking of like writing, I'd love to go like back to the beginning and how you kind of came into writing. I always find that really interesting of like where people started way back, way back. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's so long ago that's kind of hard to pinpoint. Ah, here's when I started writing, but I know I have memories all the way back to like elementary school writing stories and I've been a very big reader. I have memories of my parents taking me to the library all the time and checking out books and I just love stories and I love storytelling and I have vivid memories of telling stories to my little stuffies in my room. So I've been telling stories for a very long time, putting them down on paper. I probably got more into it when I was in high school. I was really into poetry at the time and very influenced by Edgar Allan Poe, so I was going through like my gothic moody phases and writing all that poetry down and I started writing some short stories as well and it progressed where I got lots of ideas for books and I would sit there. I used to be kind of a plotter. I would go and I would do all the background, I would do all the world building. I have a story that's got like thousands of years worth of history written down of all these things that did this and then this happened and then these things changed and then this battle happened. But the key thing was I spent so much time developing all that back stuff that I never produced a final product.
Speaker 2:So, flash forward, and I'm probably late 20s and I met what is now my one of my best friends, jonathan Fuller, and at work, and we got to talking and realized we like a lot of the same sci fi stuff we're big into Lord of the Rings, star Wars, star Trek and then, oh, we actually both write and I don't remember which one of us said it first, but we said why don't we just write a book together? So we started writing and then we said why don't we just do this seriously, like let's actually get published? And it wasn't until I was working with him that I realized I could write the stories that I'm reading for other people to literally read as a book. And so it was about 10 years in the making and he and I released our first book in our Etheria cycle called Trials of the Innermost last year 2023. And it's told from six points of view and we took turns writing different characters, but a lot of times we wrote specific characters all the time, which allowed us to go faster, and that kind of gave me the confidence, I think, to just keep going and to keep putting myself out there.
Speaker 2:So, having that that friend who I could do brainstorming with and we could both take the load together, you know. So it's not all a solo venture. When you do it with a, with a co-author, you're both writing, you're both helping each other. When you get stuck you can turn to the other one. Sometimes I'd have writers block and say, hey, do you have an idea? And he would have it and it would just, oh, yeah, this totally makes sense, and I could keep going. Um, so that collaborative work with him, I think, gave me the confidence to continue to produce. So since then I've completed multiple short stories, which I never really did before. Now I've got these two books, you know, the one that just came out and the one that's about to come out. So I'm finishing products and I'm trying to get more out there. So, yeah, I would say the last 10, 15, 15 years it's, it's ramped up quite a bit just by finding that, that good friend and starting to write together.
Speaker 1:That's such a cool approach to writing that, truthfully, I haven't really connected with a lot of authors who have done kind of co-writing, really connected with a lot of authors who have done kind of co-writing and I feel like that's such a such a different thing because, like you, I do work better in that sort of collaborative space. It like sparks things and it just like to have somebody with you in that journey, especially for the first book, I feel like would be such a huge like confidence booster and support system and all of that kind of stuff. Because I feel like often when you're writing your first, like even your first draft, like finishing it, that's the biggest thing that comes out of. It is like proving to yourself that you can do it.
Speaker 2:And then from.
Speaker 1:There yeah, you get to create more and that momentum comes again. It's still like it's still a bit of a slog sometimes.
Speaker 2:Right. Sometimes, right, yeah, I still second guess myself like what am I doing? Am I even any good? But um, yeah, I look back on our time together and like some of the reviews we've gotten from the book, and anytime I feel down and see the good reviews, of course, and like, yeah, that what we're doing makes sense. What we're doing impacts people. They get it so it that that fuels me to keep going.
Speaker 1:That's so true and I think so many people are. Just, they love books and I love now that, like self-publishing or small indie publishing is so readily available for people, because I just feel like it gets so many amazing books out into the world that wouldn't otherwise get out with sort of like the traditional publishing, or I feel like it influences traditional publishing to like okay, like people want these type of books out in the world definitely yeah, and that's the great thing with the the small presses is they can really focus on specific things.
Speaker 2:So, like, uh, trials of the innermost, we're with a small press for that. The tavern tale, it's coming out with a small press. Both of them are um, lgbtq authors and stories, um, so it's, you know, it's really cool because they can focus on something really, really specific and know that they have an audience for that. And with traditional publishing, they're trying to please so many people all at once. How many, you know? How can we get all these people? Is this a book that's going to reach it? And it's so nice to have the self-publishing option, the small, small presses, because there's people who want these books that, yeah, they're not, maybe not getting published by the traditional presses that's, yeah, that's so true, and I think it's just, it's a whole different way of, I guess, owning your creativity and just like really, yeah, just connecting, I like that, like the intimacy of that, I feel like is a really neat thing.
Speaker 1:Obviously, traditional publishing is like amazing and it's, it would be super cool as well, but I feel there's something very daunting about that. I think that whole process of of it just feels very like oh, that's really big, as like a little, a little author I'm like. Oh, I like the cozy vibes of self-publishing. Obviously there's a lot of work that goes into it.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1:But yeah, it's, it's such a, it's such a wild time to see all of these amazing stories get out in the world. And I feel like often, if you have that idea and you're like, oh, I really want to read this book and then you write it, there's someone else out there that's going to want it too. Yeah, exactly, that's awesome. I would love to hear a little bit more about, obviously, like in the beginning you touched a little bit on like having kids and writing and like mom life and writing right, like it's. It's a whole different world when we are juggling so many different things, so I'd love to hear how you kind of fit writing into your life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I have percolating an idea. I want to release a book at some point that's basically the Working Mom's Guide to Writing, and just talk about how I did it. And we hit on it earlier. Like everybody's path is different, everybody's different, but this is my story, this is how I do it. So I have two children that are both under the the age of six. So, if you remember, I released a book a year ago, um. I was actually editing some of the chapters while I was waiting for my contractions to get close enough to be able to deliver my my latest child, um. So so that's kind of how things are. All us at the the stage there.
Speaker 2:So I find the little time that I can, where I can, so you'll find people and it could work for you. It may not, but a lot of people will suggest you know, find a certain time of the day and write, or make sure you write every day. Mine's a little more chaotic. Find the time where it's available and snag it if you can, but I do try to get some protected time my lunch period. Every day I try to write for 30 minutes because that's kind of protected. I'm nibbling and either thinking about writing or writing, and then on the weekend my husband will take the children somewhere for a couple hours, maybe on Saturday or Sunday or both, and get me some more protected time to really focus. And then I just grab bits and pieces where I can. So maybe we'll go to the museum, which is about a 45 minute drive away. My husband happily drives for me so I don't have to drive and so as long as the children are comfortable and in the back seat, I'll pull out my little tablet and write for maybe 15 to 30 minutes on the way there and on the way back. But then that way I can get those ideas out of my brain and focus on family when we're doing family time. I find that I can be a better mom when I can get some of that protected time, get those ideas out, so my brain doesn't feel quite so full of everything when I need to also be focusing on my family and having family time.
Speaker 2:So of course we did the brunt of the work with Trials of the Innermost before I had children, because we started that like 10 years ago and I don't know how we would have done it, but we probably would have found a way to still do it if I had children back then. But we definitely were able to get a lot done in a short period of time. I think we drafted our first draft of the novel within six months and there's no way I can do that now because I have a full time job, I have my children and so, yeah, being able to kick something out that quickly. Just, I have to realize that every path is different and that that's just not for me. I'm not going to be able to kick out books every six months and I find joy in the way I write and what I do, and maybe it's a little bit slower than others, maybe I'm not producing as quickly, but it's working for me and I find that I um, I'm doing better about giving myself grace.
Speaker 2:Like you hear all the time right, every day, you have to write every day, you have to write every day, you have to have these structures. I'm like, no, you don't. Some people it works, but for me, I need to have grace for myself that I have a family and sometimes whatever brings me the most joy in the moment is really what I need to be doing, and that's not feeling guilty about not getting the time to write. So I try to find the time and make the time, but also sometimes it's just a day of family or a couple days of family and that's. That's fine. I shouldn't have to feel guilty that I'm not not writing and not producing. So it's a. It's a hard balance sometimes, but I find that I'm in a good space, I think, right now.
Speaker 1:That's solid advice. I think that's so important. I think often we underestimate how much you can get done in those small pockets of time and how much that adds up over time. I think you know, sometimes I've definitely been guilty of it of like, well, if I don't write a thousand words at each like writing session or whatever it is, it's not worth it. But I mean, 300 words adds up like in a month, like it's. It makes a difference. So it's those little little pieces that the definitely will at the end of it. If you're doing that, you will end up with a book. And it's important, like you said, not to like judge your season of life with others and creativity. Sometimes it it's not an ever flowing tap that sometimes you need to have that break, and that's okay too. Uh, because like yeah, forcing yourself to write, I mean maybe that works for some people but it definitely does not work for me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm a firm believer that you have to experience life in order to be able to write about it. Like that's where my inspiration comes from is being out and about it. I've written poems, I've written scenes just based on like being out walking in the forest with my kids or something. So I think definitely taking time to do stuff gives you that fuel and inspiration to create more stuff. So, yeah, I'll say Tavern Tale.
Speaker 2:I did go pretty easily not easily, but pretty steadily every day and was able to get my first draft done in about three months. But I was so inspired to make this tale so much like how much I love fall, how much I love video games that like it just was really easy. And some books is a little more like pulling teeth sometimes. So thankfully, I was able to every day write about that 15 minute, 30 minute every day and made progress and I stopped counting my word count. I just as long as I got something out, I felt good about it and walked away feeling, feeling good. It was a successful day and it worked out, for that at least. Ooh.
Speaker 1:I love that approach Like just yeah, you just set the timer, just go and then see what. See what comes from that, and sometimes it's so many words and other times it's not many, but it's still it still counts right, like it's still. At least you're getting yourself in that headspace. You're like you're cranking yourself with a story and just yeah, coming up with ideas or whatever. I think that's. Sometimes we underestimate how much writing or how much non-writing things count as writing in a way right.
Speaker 1:Like the creative and just being out in nature. That's such a great, great way to inspire yourself.
Speaker 2:Or driving is always like there's always ideas flowing when we're driving, yeah yeah, it's that, that Eureka principle, where, like, your brain kind of shuts off and gets into the space where it's allowed to have the room to have those aha moments. So you got to give yourself some space to have the aha moments.
Speaker 1:A hundred percent and, especially when we're busy and we have all of the things going on, really like making sure to have that, like that's just as important as sitting down to write. I think of really just having that space to just play and imagine and be creative and, yeah, just sort of tap into that like wonder and magic, and kids are always great at like inspiring you to do that, cause some of the ideas that they come up with are are quite Epic. I'm like what did you? Where did you come up with that?
Speaker 2:Yep exactly.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Well, I would love to hear what would be one piece of advice that you'd have for somebody who is just starting out the writing journey, I would say all the information that is out there.
Speaker 2:Think of them as all these different tools that you can use at any time and, like we've said before in this conversation, there's no right way to write. So definitely use the things that are out there, learn from other people, but kind of think of them as all these little attachments you have on your belt and try something. If it doesn't work, try something else. It's not that you are doing it wrong. There's just a lot of tools out there and you got to figure out what works well for you.
Speaker 1:Right, it's so. It's such a I feel like often it's the most simple thing that we're like, oh duh, like that makes so much sense, like certain things like that, or like you just got to just start writing, like whatever it is like, really, those simple, the simplest things are, yeah, that's what takes. Those first few steps that I feel like are the scariest when it comes to writing a book is like oh, can I do it? This is really daunting, but yeah, I just feel like if there's a story and coming to you, there's probably a reason for it. So, yeah, definitely Awesome. And finally, where can people connect with?
Speaker 1:you and get their hands on your books.
Speaker 2:Yes, so I have a website. It's christinaseyescom. You can sign up for my newsletter. There's links to my books there, but also my books are available pretty much anywhere. Online books are sold, so definitely on Amazon, including my most recent releases and my upcoming release. They're also up for pre-order. Tavern Tale is right now through Amazon, and then I'll have the physical print locations available at my website as well. And you can follow me almost on any social media. I'm all over the place and it's Christina W Kelly on almost every social. I'm pretty active on Instagram, tiktok and threads, but then I poke around on all the other ones too.
Speaker 1:Awesome, amazing. Well, everything will be linked in the show notes so it'll be super easy for people to find you and your books. That was lovely, lovely chatting with you, thanks.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thanks for having me. I had a great time.
