First Cup of Coffee - October 10, 2019

I'm keeping it short today because it's been a chaotic morning and I'm almost out of minutes for the month! Talking about struggling with this draft, having faith, talking heads - and a vote on dream interpretation!

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Good morning everyone. This is Jeffy Kennedy and I'm here with my first cup of coffee. Hmm. It's actually my third cup of coffee. Which is saying something. And I didn't even go to rider coffee this morning. It's been kind of a topsy turvy morning. Um oh, did I say it's Thursday, October 10th. So yeah, it's been a topsy-turvy morning. I those of you who are longtime listeners who know me well know how much I hate it when my routine gets messed up. And my routine has really gotten messed up by a few um various things going on, you know, just like um people things. So, and also uh my accountant got back to me we have to do uh taxes to get those filed by October 15th. So there was a last-minute flurry for some missing documents, so I had to like move that up and expedite getting those documents to him so that we can get everything done in time. And you guys know how that goes. And then I'm not going to go to Phoenix with Minerva Spencer after all. She is still doing her signing at the poison pen on Saturday. So if you are in the Phoenix area, you should definitely go and see her for that. But I'm going to stay home and work on some things. And Mr. Spencer is going to go with her, I believe. I've been a good podcaster, kitty, this month. Um, let's see. So, what all do I have to tell you? Yeah, I mean, I'm still settling into my writing routine, and it's um or not, or I haven't completely settled into it, and I really need to. I need to um get some good concentrated time to work on the fate of the Tala. So I am relieved not to be going on the road trip for that reason because I um it was feeling disruptive. I definitely have to be gone next weekend to go to Mile High Con. But uh yeah, this was something that could go, and Minerva was good about letting me off the hook for it. Yeah, I think I've really been second guessing myself on the fate of the Tala. And I know that this is something that I often do, that I start fighting the book and start second guessing what I'm doing and worrying about it. And you know, and boy, that editor brain, when you're reading something, when you're writing something, it just gets so much in the way because you just keep, you know, going back and revising and second-guessing, and I need to not do that. In fact, I even had a dream last night. This is funny, I'd forgotten this until this very moment. This is kind of hysterical. One of the things I've been fretting about is that there's a lot of conversations, um, there's a lot of strategy building and um sorting out of things and planning and all of that, and it makes me think of this one guy. Um, and I don't even know why this particular guy's words have stuck with me because he wasn't, um, you know, he was just at some conference, he was an aspiring author. Um, he was really angling to get my agent to represent him, and so he was one of those people who constantly hung around. Oh, do you hear that? Jackson's in my office window crying. He came in right as I was going out. Come on. Sorry about the cat, Franklin. I was sitting on the east side of the house because it's uh really uh cool breeze blowing today. You gonna come out? No. Come here. Now he's playing his game, walking away from me. Come on, let's put you on your hunters. Such a big cat. 14 pounds. Not as huge as they come, but he's all muscle. Okay, I have to put the phone down. Don't disconnect me, Jackson. Otherwise, we would have just had him piteously meowing throughout the whole podcast, which I feel like is not on brand. All right, what was I saying when we were so early interrupted? Um, oh, this guy, this guy. So I ended up talking to him way more than I wanted to because he was one of those um clingers, right? You know, he was like everywhere we went, he was always showing up and sitting with us. You could not get rid of him. Uh, my agent did not represent end up representing him. He made a valiant pitch. But anyway, he had been involved in some sort of um, I don't know what video game or role-playing game or graphic something. I I don't even remember what. I may not have paid much attention at the time. But he was talking about how he had been asked to do something that was like, again, I don't even remember what it was, but I remember that he was very caustic about it, saying that he had been offered this job to do a thing, to write this um, you know, like story or conversations. It was maybe it was for a game where he would write the dialogue between like these five dragon kings or something. That's what I remember it being. And he said, and I told them that there was no way I was going to do a thing where it was all talking heads. And for whatever reason, this stupid guy's voice sticks in my head. And when I have lots of scenes with lots of conversation, I always think about him there's no way I'm going to do something that's all talking heads. So I realized that last night I dreamed that I finished writing the book, and that I had never actually gotten to any of the battle scenes, that I'd forgotten to write any of the actual battle scenes. So is that a warning or a reflection of my anxiety? You be the judge and can vote in the comments. I know what I think it probably is. So I just need to um to trust. I mean, that's always what it comes down to, especially if you are a pantser or mister or write for discovery or whatever you want to call it, is that you just have to trust that the story's gonna play out the way you want to play out, what the way it's going to play out, and sort of take that leap and jump into it. Um yeah, and so it's it's just like typical book angst. Trollatroy. So yeah, a little bit of a cool breeze blowing today. We are supposed to get down to like 23 tonight. So all of the plants will be giving up the ghosts. Well, not all of them, but most. I've got most of them inside. We're gonna bring the rest in this afternoon. David will help me with the heavy ones. We've got a couple in great big heavy pots, and we put them on the little hand cart. What I would have once called a dolly, but David informs me is called a hand cart. And we bring those in. The bougain villa and the uh Joshua tree, the big begonia. So then I'll get them all settled in. Get the taxes settled, that'll be good to get done. It just feels like I'm doing a lot of ordering right now. Setting things in order. That's um probably fair enough. So I don't know. Do I have much else to say? I don't think I do, and I think that I will take advantage of that, because I am already running behind this morning because I've just been dealing with these business-y things. And I need to get some writing done. See if I can move this story forward. I do have a thing I want to take out, which I was waffling on whether to take out, and I think I'm gonna go ahead and take it out because I don't think it's right. I look, see, here I am still talking. But I'm I'm I've been having a hard time just sort of settling into exactly the right trajectory. And I think part of that is because the romance arc is something very different than anything else I've done before. And I think I've always relied on the romance arc as a crutch, maybe, I don't know, to fire the narrative in a particular way. And this one is working in a different direction than normal. And yeah, it makes it um makes it harder. Uh things are really stacked against my heroine, and so it's uh it's been emotional. It's been an emotional book to write. Isn't that funny? Um I guess sometimes it works out that way, huh? I I know that you all commented on my uh, you know, like the big I posted to like Facebook and Twitter about writing the big relationship fight and how wrenching that was. Well, maybe I'm working out some things on writing this book. And and you're all so lovely, and you say things like, you know, that means that it's really good, and it's like I hope that's what it means. You always have this sneaky uh suspicion that it means that it's actually really terrible. But um I suppose that's well, as as I think I've said on here before, but as one of my writer friends has pointed out to me, that if we weren't angsting about that, if we weren't really worried about writing something that was terrible, then that meant that would mean that we weren't working at it. We weren't really wanting it to be the best it can be. And so there's nothing wrong with really wanting it to be good. And I think I just sort of have to wade through these difficult parts. So on that note, I shall wade some more, once more, unto the breeze, and I shall see if I can pull up some handfuls of mucky delight and gladness to go along with it. Um, but I hope you all have a wonderful Thursday. And now I have a full like 22 minutes to talk to you tomorrow. So you all have a great day. Talk to you later. Bye bye.