First Cup of Coffee - February 23, 2024

Some big news on the official title of the book that was Oneira and a release date! Also, a thing I bought because of Taylor Swift that has Changed My Life, and more on coping as a creative when people hate you/your work.

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

The article I mention on Kumail Nanjiani is here https://www.avclub.com/kumail-nanjiani-eternals-therapy-trauma-marvel-mcu-1851236508

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

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Transcript

00:00.00
jeffekennedy
Good morning everyone this is Jeffe Kennedy author of epic fantasy romance I'm here with my first cup of coffee. Delicious today is say with me people. It is Friday who. Ah, that'll be 20 third um to 23 24 so many twos um I'll be doing this probably into the 2030 s so maybe we'll all still be here.

00:37.71
jeffekennedy
I mean podcast wise not life in the world wise I am not a doomsayer. Ah yes, so it's been an easy and easy. An izzy week is I think it has been an easy week. Um, it has been a busy week for me. Um. Generally pretty good I haven't been is it well I was I want to say I haven't been enormously productive on the book I have lots of news. But and I'm going to share that news in a moment but um, so that that's made it a good week. But. I've done pretty well this week I have as many words already as I've kind of been doing every week since the beginning of the year which hasn't been phenomenal, but this will make what I get done today unless. Knock on wood. It doesn't happen I get nothing done today. This will be my best writing wake up the year and I am making progress on the first order of the fay realms I have less than 11000 words to go. So I mean. It's not done. We were kind of hoping it might be done but still 10800 words to go um on the done downhill run. We'll see it would be nice wouldn't it. So um.

02:14.49
jeffekennedy
But it has been flowing better I've been feeling better about the book. So so there's that um, exciting news. We finally settled on a title for Oneira a real title working title. No the not working title. The publication title. We've been doing a lot of back and forth this week. My editor Ali popped up and we' put together the announcement it was going to go in this publisher's marketplace tomorrow. Um I'm sorry it was going going in yesterday and be out today. But then there was a last minute. Um. You could only have 500 characters and spaces for the description and so the description of the book that agent Sarah had painstakingly put together and that editor Ali and assistant Editor Dianna had approved. Had to be tightened and so I helped Sarah tighten it she liked what I did and I said you know it turns out that all those years of shortening making tweets fit but comes in handy I'm pretty good at trimming out. Extra words but also choosing shorter words that mean the same thing or come close. So yeah for all those critical readers out there I am getting over this but I may make jokes occasionally who say that I use words that they have to look up and.

03:43.85
jeffekennedy
My writing is too verbose um I am capable of writing shorter if I want to spoiler I don't want to ah there we are so anyway I won't keep you in suspense the title for the book. Ah, that was at Oneira is now called NEVER THE ROSES. What do you think? Never the Roses. It's a good title isn't it I like it. It comes from a line on the book and Editor Ali suggested it. The line is. It was never about the roses. So and it does have a lot of resonance for what the story is about so woop boop boo exciting nevertheless roses there we are um so I had made a note to make sure to tell you that oh. And also we have an official official release state. Um, you can't get preorder anything like that. But it will be out August Fifth 2025 Eight Five 25 which feels like a good month for those of you who know me, you know that? That's my birth month. Um, world con if they are still intact will be in Seattle that August so I might do a world con book launch that would be fun. My friend Kelly Robson suggested that that would be great. Let's.

05:17.31
jeffekennedy
Hope that worldcon is able to keep their shit together or get it and then keep it or I don't know this has been um, a week for me of being glad and ah and also knocking on wood that I'm not president of some of these other organizations. There was a um, kind of a big thing that happened that on the ah Rw a website. There was an advertisement for a local chapter workshop on how to use Ai to write your romance novels.

05:54.81
jeffekennedy
When most of the community agrees that using AI to write your books is unethical, probably poor craft and is really problematic since it's all been scraped ah content. It's all built on content scraped from. Authors without their permission. Yeah, it was a choice I never saw the original I just went looked at the RWA website to see if it's on there I don't know if it was under one of the pull down menus. But they have all this stuff on there saying that they advocate for their members and intellectual property. So who knows I suspect that it slipped under the radar and that they didn't realize. Ah, what was what was going on that it was on there that was always a challenge with RWA um, you know for all the times that I was involved in governing local chapters I never served on the RWA board of directors. But you know with local chapters. It was always very hard for ah RWA to govern what they were doing and likewise local chapters often rebuild at what? RWA asked of them RWA national.

07:27.43
jeffekennedy
So it's been a question. We have talked about it in Sifwa any number of times establishing local chapters and it's still It's still a topic for discussion I had started working on it I really had yeah right before a pandemic happened and then of course we weren't having any kind of. Personal meetings whatsoever. So I don't know um, now that we can do it I think we're stopping conversations about is it a good idea I would like for people to have local meetups but it does become very difficult for the. Ah, core organization to make sure that these satellite chapters are staying within mission staying within something like maybe you shouldn't have a workshop espousing Ai to write your novels.

08:25.50
jeffekennedy
So glad that wasn't me that I didn't have to deal with that. Um there's been other tea this week but I I I don't know if I'll talk about it. Um, the other thing I do want to talk about which is like. Completely nothing to do with writing but does have to do with else which I technically have is ah listed as a thing on this podcast was full confession I bought a thing entirely because of Taylor Swift and not just her music which of course I buy anyway. But um. No I bought this sports bra because Taylor Swift uses it and I don't think I've ever done anything like that in my entire life but I did um in part because it's a posture correcting sports bra and. I had read about that she wore when she was doing her now very famous workout and for those of you who don't know to prepare for this incredible ah eras tour. She ran every day on the treadmill for and sang the entire set list of the show. So she walked for the slow songs ran for the fast songs I saw a funny article where someone who is like a runner attempted to do this and made it like halfway through the set list it's like I don't know how she does it. Ah it probably helps that she's 34, but it um, i.

10:00.26
jeffekennedy
She apparently also wore this posture correctcting sports bra and said how great it was because being a tall woman. She has a tendency to slump and I've I've seen it in her and I have sympathy because I have a tendency to have a little bit of ah of a widow's hump when I was an adolescent I had scoliosis and kyphosis. So. It's an ongoing thing especially as I get older to work against that bending. Um and being a writer doesn't help because I'm crouched over my keyboard like Golllem whispering to it and having terrible posture. So. Bought this sports bra which was very expensive. Probably it's probably in line with like Lulu Lemon expensive but I think Lulu Lemon expensive is expensive but it's called form F O R M E and their website is forme dot science and. People I'm just going to tell you this is the best thing I have ever had on my body It's the best thing it is the most comfortable sports bra I have ever had on my body and it kind of works to if you're on video I'm kind of squirming around. But. Um, it works to roll my shoulder blades down my back and the posture correction is amazing I've only been wearing it for three days and already I can feel a big difference in my upper back. So ah I mean it was like.

11:35.29
jeffekennedy
By the time I had tax and shipping on there. It was almost $200 which I feel like it's a lot of money for a sports bra bra and yet three days later I am contemplating buying another one I'm thinking I don't know I might buy like one a month until I have enough to wear every single day while I'm writing um. I haven't started wearing it while I'm writing yet if you're on videos I'm just like wearing my usual thing my tank tops and stuff but I have been wearing it when I run on the tremill when I lift weights and doing dog walk in the morning and it's I wouldn't say it's making my back sore. But I can feel. It's moving things around and I don't want to overdo but eventually I think I'm just going to wear get like I don't know I mean ideal I do the laundry every other week. Maybe I'd have to step it up and wash them on the every week you know I could have 5 of them or 10 do I want. $3000 worth of these sports bras. The answer is maybe it's it is I just can't even tell you how I guess I am I can tell you just how great this thing is and. Yeah I may just order a second 1 right now I'll put a link to it in the show notes in case you care. Um, all my guy listeners out there and and I know you're there because you send me messages and I love hearing from you. Um, sorry I don't think they make 1 for men but they do have like other things.

13:09.16
jeffekennedy
Ah, but yeah sports bra for the win. Ah, speaking of um I should I wanted to get the name correct. 1 of my listener listeners out. There is Jon Barr hi Jon I don't know if you like to have your middle name in there and it's slightly difficult to pronounce. So I'm going to leave it out for now. But Jon Barr is the chair of the department of theatre and digital filmmaking at Eastern New Mexico University it's and this ah b and MMu which is in portalis and alert listeners will recognize that as the place where I go annually for the Jack Williamson lectureship and Jon Barr sends me occasional thoughtful notes and in fact, he sent 1 really interesting thing that I should share with you all while I'm thinking of it. Um. But he said that they have a podcasting studio there and he invited me while I'm there for the lectureship in April to do first cup of coffee from their podcast studio which I think would be kind of a kick so we'll do it right? Let's do that.

14:26.78
jeffekennedy
So what Jon sent me was a link to an article about Kamail Nanjiani who has done really cool work a writer and actor and I think director to um, did the big sick. Among other things which is a great movie and he starred in a Marvel movie called the Eternals. Um, which got widely widely panned In fact, it has the dubious honor of being the lowest rated. Marvel property to ever grace Rotten tomatoes um which is interesting because it was until ant man and the wasp quantummania snatched away the honor but which I actually kind of liked quantum mania so that tells you where my I almost never. Agree with real theateratre critics I probably don't actually agree with a lot of book critics either. There's so there's a theme there. But anyway ah, Kamail ended up going into therapy because he was so. Affected by the criticism of the movie which turned into personal criticism that felt like criticism of himself as as a performer and as a human being and John had sent this to me after I was talking about. Ah maybe I am on theme here today.

15:56.66
jeffekennedy
Ah, seeing those comments about my writing being too verbose and readers having to look up words and so forth which I clearly have not gotten over so it was really interesting and I appreciated Jon sending this shout out to Jon because it. It was a really good insight into the fact that ah you know we're all human beings and it's very difficult for us to divorce ourselves from our creative works and um, can't imagine what it's like to be in a movie where. There's so little about it. You can control right? You can maybe control your performance but can you even control that because it depends on what other actors are doing and then it changes depending on how how it's cut. You know, like there's always that talk in hollywood of movies being destroyed in the cutting room. So it's it's a really good reminder and there has been discussion this week on social media. Ah Katee Robert who is a wonderful writer who I've known for a long time and has really skyrocketed really hit in monster romance i. Katee was talking about how there is this weird flip in fame where and and I've seen it happen many times I know exactly what she's talking about where you suddenly become so famous that people stop regarding you as a human being and I and I think this is part of that.

17:28.57
jeffekennedy
Ah, and and it's weird because it's not like a gradual thing. There is this pivot where I don't know maybe the psychologists need to get on this but there's something in the human psyche that once a person reaches a certain level of fame. Other people decide that you can say anything you wish about them because they're no longer perceived as being human and maybe it has to do with that same um, mental state that allows people like the nazis or serial killers or what have you to commit atrocities. Where they talk about that they dehumanize their victims right? They stop viewing their victims as human beings or never start right? So it happens with fame and it's it's unfortunate I'm running a little bit out of time but I wanted to share 2 things. First of all. Look at this if you're on video. This is a beautiful hardback fiftieth anniversary edition of The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia McKillip I had preordered it. It arrived in the mail and it has beautiful beautiful illustrations by Stephanie Law I'm showing the one on the cover. It's kind of interesting. It's done by tachyon press and so it has a dust jacket I'm trying to describe and then the interior book is a shiny I forget what we call this, but it's um.

19:01.55
jeffekennedy
You know like a textbook style printing where it's I should look up my words before I try to use them. But anyway it has the wrap around image and it's very very beautiful and I'm really happy to have it and I don't know if I told you all that I got invited by a publicist at Tachyon press. To be on a podcast talking about all things forgotten beast sebelte. So that's exciting. How I don't know when that'll be up and then also I have it's Patricia McKillip week here at first cup of coffee. Let's face it. It's always Patricia McKillip Day um week month here. This is another book that I'm holding up that's called In the Forests of Serre which in all truth I have not read and the lovely Vela Roth is Roth right? Yes roth I don't know why I was. Blanking on that. But um, this is a first edition and she said that she spotted it in a bookstore and she thought of me and she brought it and gave it to me when she was up here visiting for the Beastly Books Panel and I thought oh I should share that with you. So. Um I don't know why I didn't read this one except that it's a 2003 so it was a little bit later and very much looking forward to reading it. So now I have um my wonderful start of collection of Patricia McKillip Hardbacks so um that's it for me this week ah

20:37.50
jeffekennedy
I hope I get lots done today I hope you get lots done today and I will talk to you all on Monday you all take care bye bye.