First Cup of Coffee - April 22, 2024

Owning your process and still being open to learning from what others do to sustain productive creativity and aggressively refill the well. Some data on BookBub Featured Deals and release strategy, too.

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Transcript

00:02.27
jeffekennedy
Um, good morning. Everyone this is Jeffe Kennedy romantasy author of epic fantasy romance I'm here with my first cup of coffee today is Monday April Twenty Second full confession. Ah, this is still my first cup of coffee but not my first sip I've been sitting here drinking coffee trying to plan my life. Do you all feel me you all feel me right? ah. Ah, so much to do before I leave town for afternoon I did get a lot done on Saturday um, got a lot of financial stuff caught up dispersed royalties so that was good late but done. Um, so so that's good that got done. Um, yesterday I spent the day with friends and I got nothing accomplished I shouldn't say that spending time with friends is like pinging my connectedness strength right? It's good for me. Um, it does nothing for the to do list. Ah.

01:14.47
jeffekennedy
So also also I'm having allergies like crazy. You could probably hear it my voice ah did I say I wanted it to be spring I know that I am on record here complaining that it's not spring yet. Well spring arrived like all of a sudden we got warm. Although the wind has still been blowing. And so it was like it meant woof! with the pollen and like I I met my friend Cathy who writes as Katie Lane she writes cowboy romances I met her yesterday morning at the spa and I had a body polish got my skin nice and soft. So. That's nice, but but even the gall gout the spa was you know like giving me the preliminary tour and she said um in the steam room. We have a bottle of eucalyptus spray and that's great for sinuses and I was like oh I got my sinuses needa it she said yes. Everybody is like this we put it in there because everybody is like oh my sinuses springtime in the desert is a real thing. It's like we go from 0 to 60 right? So so yeah I have a lot to do the next couple days. Just. All kinds of things prep to go and um, ah, various things also and I know I mentioned this on Friday you know like having my sister and brother in law come and stay well I have gone.

02:49.63
jeffekennedy
Good puts. Ah, it's great, but it also I feel a certain amount of voterss to get things fixed up for them. so ah yeah so I kind of. Made an executive decision that's funny I call it an executive decision because I am the executive I am the only decision maker around here but I am not going to try to get much written on the book today or tomorrow. Um, ah I may not even try. While I'm at a polyon. We'll see I do have a couple of free mornings. So I could maybe get back into the writing routine I might try to do that. But I fly out very early Wednesday morning and at this point riding on the plane sounds like a lot I'm just gonna play it by your. But anyway I've decided to take writing off the table for the next two days because ah I have several things that I have to get done several several. She says lots. Ah you may have noticed that the cover reveal for reluctant wizard hasn't happened yet today. Ah, those of you watching on video did get to see my little highlight on the phone. One of the things I was supposed to do this weekend or maybe Friday maybe Saturday was to get the bcc the back cover copy written for reluctant wizard.

04:20.19
jeffekennedy
Which I have not yet done and set up the preorder links which I have not yet done and those things have to happen if I'm going to do a cover reveal. So I asked karing assistant to put this off a day and we're in do cover reveal tomorrow. And I'm going to get those things done today I didn't get my blog post written for sf f seven yesterday so I'm going to get that done today and a bunch of other things so many things but I have a schedule I have a plan. That's what I was doing sitting here paging through. Ah. I made a ah schedule for today to follow to try to get some of these things done. Um I've been accused and for the first time it was in graduate school some of you know when I was getting my ph d in neuroscience or attempting to. Ended up with a master's cup bait left. Ah but I had a big blackboard over my or green board I don't know what do we call them anymore. You know what? I'm talking about the thing that you write on what chalk over my desk in the lab and I had drawn a big calendar. With all of my classes and the classes I was teaching and the things I needed to get done and gotten it all organized and this one professor who looking back on it was quite the harasser. But um, he came by and was looking at it and.

05:50.32
jeffekennedy
He said well that looks like displacement activity to me and and you all know as ah as a mentor I am often advising people to be aware of displacement activity displacement activity is a thing particularly if you are doing something like. Um, lots and lots of world building instead of actually writing the book and why is my elbow bruised. Don't you love it when you discover like oh this spot a sore ah complete not saquit are their apologies. So. So yeah. There can be displacement activity. Um, but I think I have a cap who needs and hold on Kellyian did want him and now he's visiting onsc screenen if you were on video. You could see his big tufty ears. As I am taking his collar and harness off of him. He has to wear those to go outside there. We go go step on the keyboard. Yeah, what a good boy you are. Ah yeah, he is a good kidie. Ah, he's my little lion boy. Okay. So um, sorry got completely distracted there. Oh displacement activity distractions not the same displacement activity is when you need to be putting your energy into 1 thing and you decide to instead put it into something else that is not the thing and not productive.

07:22.96
jeffekennedy
There you got a nice shot of Killian's fluffy but but happy Monday happy fluffy butt monday um, so ah I think that reorganizing the to do list I've talked about that a few times. Ah, throughout the last year or 2 a friend of mine told me that she had read like someone who was good at organizational stuff saying that you should never move things down on your to do list that you should try to set up your to do list so that you can get everything done on that day and. Unk m trying to keep this tail out. Ah and that you instead have an ongoing list of things to to draw from like if you have extra time like whoever has extra time now I have cat hair in my face. Ah, and I don't think. That that works for me I tried doing that and instead my my ongoing list began became kind of the abyss of things that I stopped thinking about um, it's sorry this cat has just decided that I think because I was gone all day yesterday. He's decided that I need to be paying attention to him today as one of you faithful listeners said to me once that 1 thing you had learned from my podcast which I kind of love is that sometimes cats happen and here we are with cats happening and paying attention to your cat is.

08:54.60
jeffekennedy
Important right? Yeah, pinging that connectedness button. So it's it's a push pull for me on yesterday. Um that it was a very full day of spending time with people. It was relaxing. It was stimulating. It was good for me to um. Have these connections with people and and I have to remember that that's just as important as getting things off of the to do list but the to do list is eternal in a way. So anyway, I do think that organizing the list is helpful to me. Um, I know it takes time it takes energy to do it if I'm constantly doing it I can see that it's a problem but I think that it um yeah, it helps me to make a schedule. It helps me to prioritize which things have to get done today. Um, and in what order and I plan. My errands so that I'm going on my errands in the most efficient order and kind of know my my time schedule for doing those things. So um, yeah, that's that's where I'm at um and with. That is the plus side of pushing the book off to release day of June Thirtieth is that now I do up lots of time though I need to not squander that time and yeah, um I was thinking I was going to tell you all something.

10:29.27
jeffekennedy
You know after after Spa yesterday ah my friend kat e lane and I had lunch and talked about writing and marketing and all of those things. Um, and so a couple of incidental things she was talking about that she can't get a bit a book bub feature deal to save her life. She keeps trying. Um, but she's been trying with first in series that she has permma free and so you know this is like the deep dive into industry stuff. But um I advised her to to try it with books that have not been previously discounted I think we have a much better chance of getting a book bub. For like a special sale a special discount um or a special going to free. So.

11:23.43
jeffekennedy
So That's one data point She was also talking a bit about an author who spends a lot of time creating merchandising gifts for their readers and we were Discussing. You know there's um, again, this is a time factor Right. You know how much time do you spend on things like marketing versus actually writing and you know that my advice is always to spend that time writing that's the most important piece you know she said that she has some that this author has lots of. Lots of readers who love getting this stuff but how know I I go back and forth on that you know it's like yes people love getting free stuff and it's great to have lots of followers and so that's validating but are people there to read your books.

12:18.66
jeffekennedy
Um, she said something else interesting that she's got a different model for working now a different model than I do ah and you know I'm very big on my mantra figure out what your process is and own it. But it's always interesting to hear what other people are doing. And I mean find out what other people are doing and consider it weigh it? Um, but don't feel like you have to do it because there is of course no one true way right? But she's been spending a lot of time with Grandchildren. Grandchildren and children adult children and so she's when she sees them. She doesn't try to write at all I know she used to and it's just too frustrating. It's really hard when you're around other people and they have what things from you right.

13:17.36
jeffekennedy
Now I hear cats out in the other room but we'll let them be cats can happen on their own sometimes. Ah so yeah, she um, will like not work for two or three weeks at a time and then when she's home. She says she writes all the time she writes nonstop and she writes shorter books than I do her books she said are about 56000 words so one of her books or 1 of my books is 2 of hers. But you know she still had like um, six releases last year so you know she is really good about getting books out regularly. Ah, she also does the thing where she writes a book. Um, you know and she puts it through her copy of it. She has her whole system of editors and so forth and she hangs onto the first book that. Usually the first 2 sometimes the first 3 and releases them together and she thinks that makes a big difference for her. Of course we've all been talking about rapid release for a long time but it's a debate right? You know when that first book is ready to go. You could put it out there and. It's um, it could be earning money but is it better to hang on to it release that book then book 2 possibly book 3 and get bumped up in the algorithm for a longer tail again as always the main takeaway here is that there is no one true path.

14:49.32
jeffekennedy
Right? There is no um, no magic formula. No surefire thing I think you have to find out what works for your audience and she has found that this is what works for her audience for me I've ended up with such. Like least lately long times between releases that it wouldn't make sense to do that. But I do kind of dream of going back to that someday I don't know I go back and forth obviously. But anyway I think that her method. Of um, taking full time off and she says she doesn't try to do anything during that time with family during those 2 to three weeks and part of why she's prioritizing is the ah the grandchildren are as she puts it at the age where they still want to be around her. They still really love being around her and she knows that that will change. In fact, some of the grandkids are old enough that that's already happened so when she is um, doing the family thing she doesn't even try to market. It's 100 % of her attention and and I could see that. You know because I talk about on here a lot. You know that um sustainable productivity which is a combination of work and rest. It's finding that rate at which you can sustainably produce words.

16:17.90
jeffekennedy
Without burning out without crashing but also needing that rest needing that time to aggressively refill the well and for those of you new to that term I've been talking about. Ah.

16:37.17
jeffekennedy
That well refilling is something that we think of that's kind of passive like if you just sort of allow it to happen which I think if you're really working hard to create. Especially if you have a lot of stress in your life if you have a lot of things going on. In your life. A lot of demands then you need to um, it's not enough just to allow the groundwater to seep in and fill the well you need to do this aggressively. You need to go out and fill buckets. And bring them back to the well and fill up the well with it. Um, and you know figuring out what refills your particular well is really important. so um so yeah I'm just going to try to get all these business things done business and family and financial. And all the things. So um I probably will not podcast on Friday you know I always intend to I always threaten to do it from the conference. But I um, and I don't but if you are at a polyon. Please come by and say hello. Would love to meet you tell me you listen to the podcast. Um, and of course I would say come anyway. Even if you don't listen to the podcast but I'm not talking to those people am I so um, so yeah I will for sure talk to you all Next Monday you all take care.

18:12.50
jeffekennedy
Bye bye.