First Cup of Coffee - July 27, 2020

On conversations and brainstorming with bestie Grace Draven, and reports on what I've been reading lately - including mild complaints on female characters not having enough to do. 

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Good morning everyone. This is Jeffy Kennedy. I'm here with my first cup of coffee. Hmm. Delicious. It's a rainy morning. Literally a rainy morning, as in as it's raining as we speak. And I am going to see if it's too rainy under the grape barber or if I can sit here to do my podcast anyway. Maybe we'll go over to this other chair where the leaves are a bit thicker. But isn't that pretty with the sound of the rain falling on the grape leaves? I think you can hear it. Some atmosphere today. And you'll be happy to know that I cleverly set my cushions up on their sides so they are not too wet. So yeah, it's very light, soft rain right now. Really like one of those perfectly atmospheric rains like you would have on the you know the programs that make you go to sleep or supposed to for meditating or relaxing or whatever. Today is Monday, May 27th. And yeah, we've had rain off and on all weekend. Our burst of monsoon moisture was uh duly predicted and followed through. My mom got some rain in Tucson, although it already moved on and they're drying out again. So now she's back to being envious of our wing, of our rain. Not wing, rain. Um but you will all be relieved to hear that she was able to get her windows washed. Of course, then she started having birds hit her windows almost immediately. So there's always that downside. I think they were all okay though. Just they get surprised by that clean reflection. I think that happens here more than other places because we have so much sky and the light bounces off the windows in such a way it's um we really do get reflections of just sky and more sky. A wonderful thing about the desert southwest is a little hard on the birds if they're not being judicious in their flight patterns. So let's see, um, Friday I did finish my revision of the Promised Queen.

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Woo!

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I didn't quite finish the epilogue scene, but um, I ended up reworking the last two chapters yet again. And this morning I even made notes on a few things I want to tweak. Um, just some things to really button-hole the story, you know, really tuck in those final themes. So um, yeah, by the time I finished my third hour on Friday, I was my Friday tired. I was feeling pretty empty, and I had started to write the scene, the final scene, and so next week when I pick it up again, I'll just start with that final scene and then do my read through and then tweak that final scene. But uh it won't take much. It's really just the um, I feel like this is not spoilery for you guys, but you can cover your ears if you want to. It's the happy ever after scene. Um, it's not spoilery because you guys know it's me. It's not going to be the uh everybody died epilogue a la Romeo and Juliet, which is why it's a tragedy. Every once in a while I end up arguing with someone about Romeo and Juliet, you know, and when they say that it's a love story. And I finally figured out one way to uh sort of shut down, not shut down the argument, but to drive home the point that the play is a tragedy and not a love story, is that the the major dramatic beats in the story turn on on the tragedies. They turn on the violent deaths. And you can see those at the I think you could really plot it out that way or map it out that way. Yes, the love story is the driver, as in the love story creates the tension between the families. No, it doesn't create, it it brings the tension between the families, the existing tension between the families to a head. And they are the victims of it. But you know, in many ways, Romeo and Juliet are not the main forces of the story. You know, it's Mercoscio and Benvolone and the the various um heads of household and so forth. Anyway, we won't get into a whole thing about why Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy and not a romance, because you guys already agree with me. So um oh yeah, so today I am going back to Dark Wizard. I'm pretty excited about that. I think I reported to you on Friday, I know I reported to you on Friday, that Agent Sarah loved the pages. So then it was funny, on Friday, Grace messaged me and she said, Um, I just listened to your podcast. Do you have time to talk? I was like, okay, yeah, because it was Friday afternoon and I was brain dead anyway. So she calls and she wants to know the whole skinny of the conversation with Agent Sarah, and which is nice but slightly unusual. And then finally she works her way around and says, So can I read the dark wizard pages? And she sounds kind of weird about it. And I'm like, why do you sound weird? And she's like, I don't, I just want to read them. And she said, but I understand if it's a no, maybe that's why I sound weird, because I know it's it's asking a lot to ask to read early pages on something like this. And I was like, This is the whole reason you wanted to talk to me. You didn't want to hear about my my uh career and my conversation. She just wanted to get your grubby little mitts on these pages. She was like, Yes. So I sent it to her, and I've sent stuff to Grace before, and she hasn't necessarily read it right away or gotten to it at all. And I don't know how long it was. It wasn't very long, it was like an hour later, maybe. And she messaged me again and she says, Do you have time to talk? I was like, Okay, I was thinking, why did she forget something to tell me? And she'd already read them. And and Grace loved them too. So she liked, she said, Well, I knew that I was going to, but I mean, you guys, I felt like these pages were pretty rough, but so so it's exciting. It's exciting that everybody loves them so much. And then I ended up talking with Grace again on Saturday because I thought of more questions to ask her because she did have some feedback and I'd asked her. I said, Well, if anything occurs to you, because I know there's some big holes still. So then I pinged her on Saturday and we chatted a little bit more and filled in a few of the holes, sort of talked about the world building. That's one of my favorite things to do. I love being able to brainstorm the world building with a a smart writer friend like that. So I'm going to get after these pages today. I imagine today will be a little bit slow because I'm reworking quite a bit. Um Sarah and I talked about because you know, I think I mentioned to you guys that I skipped straight to that. You know, I started to write chapter one and I felt like it was kind of blah blah blah. And then chapter two was feeling like blah blah blah. I mean, chapter two, I like wrote three pages of it and then abandoned it and went straight to chapter three, which is unusual for me. But chapter three commences the um the core of the story, I feel like the um what the core image, core feeling. And both Sarah and Grace agreed that that's like where they're like, oh yeah, that's awesome stuff. That's where the story starts. But I do need a little bit of intro. So I'm going to condense um chapters one and two into one chapter and make chapter three be chapter two. Uh, it certainly won't take much with the current chapter two since it's like three pages long. But there were things in it that Sarah really loved, and it's funny because there was something that I loved in it too, and she picked it out in particular. I thought maybe it was a little much, but she was like, I love that moment. I was like, okay, great. So sorry, this is all very teaser-y, I know, but you guys are used to it, right? You wouldn't be here if you didn't love it. So um, what else? Yeah, so I my head is very full of dark wizard. I got to spend some time this weekend. Um I finished the books I'd been reading. And I don't think I've been talking about that. Uh so I did read all four of Lois McMaster Boujol's Sharing Knife series. It seems like they really wanted to originally call the series the White Green World, but then everybody called it Sharing Knife, and so they finally capitulated. So it depends on which version of the books you look at. But I read all four books, and I've been I need to put up a review on them. I really love them. I mean, obviously, you know, I I went from one to the next. I really loved the uh main couple, Dag and Fawn. I loved everything about their dynamic. The it really is in many ways. I mean, it's absolutely a fantasy. It's an alternate world, um, very traditionally low to no tech fantasy story. You know, and McMaster Bouchold is great at building a world. Um it's a it's a rich and uh detailed world. I wanted to say I started to say meticulously built, and I'm not sure that that's necessarily true, because it's it's one of those um excuse me, it's one of those approaches where the world is um, you just see the glimpses that the characters see, but it's it's all there. I I mean to differentiate that from you know, like some writers who will go in and describe billi bajillions of things about the world. She doesn't do that, you just see the pieces that she sees. And you know, and it's basically a recovering society, and it's um, you know, there are the farmers and the lake walkers, and the lake walkers are the um sort of scattered remains of the previous civilization of sorcerers that brought men to the world, and the farmers are um intuitively named, and they are sort of gradually reclaiming the lab land, the settlements are spreading. So they're sort of in that um neo-agricultural phase. I am not a sociologist or anthropologist, but I'm sure it's they have a term for it, something like that. Spread of agriculture. Only they skipped hunter-gatherer because they're a recovering civilization. So I loved the richness of the world, I loved the characters, uh, I love the themes, the magic is interesting. I liked everything about it, except and and I and I would absolutely five-star it. Um and I loved reading it, so I'm not sure how to disclaimer this. The first book is is the one that's most of the romance. And as I think is very standard for Lois McMaster Boujold, um, she does not delve much into emotions. There is not a lot of focus on how people feel. Or if there is focus on emotions, it has to do with the external conflict. So once Dag and Fawn are together, even though they suffer uh challenges from the fact that they have a cross-cultural marriage that neither side completely approves of, um, they never have actual difficulties between each other, which I feel like is very standard for her. You know, it's like you fall in love and then you get married and everything is is wonderful. And in some ways, I feel like that makes it not romance because I think romance focuses on those um that personal transformation. I don't think that Dag or Fawn really had to change much in or sacrifice anything in order to love each other. And that's fine. It's fine. It's um, you know, not every series has to have that, right? So I'm not sure I would really call it fantasy romance. Maybe fantasy with romantic elements, if that. I mean, basically it's you know, like that there's a marriage in it, and the marriage is the source of their troubles. Uh, but what I minded was is that Fawn is young and she's a farmer, and she knows how to do farmer type things, and so that that tension is always there. Um, and it's not a a personal tension between them, but a cultural tension because the Lake Walkers, you know, are out in patrol and they don't have much of a home. And and and and it's a nice, I I love that cultural tension. But for all four books, Fawn is a homemaker. I mean, she is a good farmer wife, and you know, no matter what they do, she's always doing homemaking type things. You know, she cooks and she does the laundry, and she's always very supportive of Dag, and she is, you know, a lovely person, and she's painted as being very happy in this life. But I I kind of hoped Fawn would get to do something more. And at the end of the fourth book, so in the first book, Fawn does something very unusual for a farmer, and that's sort of what brings them together, her and Dad together. And in the fourth book, Fawn again does something unusual for a farmer that does make a very nice bookend to the series. But I wanted more of that. I wanted Fawn to get to do more stuff, and I know that this is just my beef, but it's surprising to me how many authors, even women authors, um, don't give their female characters interesting stuff to do. You know, it's like, really? You know, she's just gonna be doing the laundry and cooking for everyone. I mean, it's not that those aren't great things to do, but you know, like when everybody else is out having adventures, it just kind of pales. So I had finished reading that. And then I read The Rakeess by Scarlett Peckham. It's a historical romance, and that's kind of a gender flip on historical romance, where the woman is the rake. That's the title. And she uh kind of seduces the not exactly blushing virgin guy, but he is kind of sweet and vulnerable. And she is based on Mary Wallenstein Croft. If if I had a complaint, I would say there was almost too much disclaimering at the beginning. There were too many author's notes and explanations and so forth. But then I saw some reviews on Amazon where people once started saying, This is not a romance and blah, blah, blah. You know, that's like, okay, I know you she had to do that. But I really recommend it. I I loved the Ray Cass. Um I had not read Scarlett Peckham's books before this. I should um caveat and let you all know, or disclaimer, that uh Sarah is also her agent, and that was part of why I had wanted to read this, although I did buy it. I did the sample because people have been talking about it and thought I would read it. Um Scarlett's a wonderful writer. I read she one of those writers who really dragged me in from the first page. Uh, not after all of the author's notes and disclaimers. But yeah, that I would say just start. I don't know if if if I've already disclaimed it for you, right? So just skip all that and just go to the beginning. But it's uh it was a very satisfying story. I enjoyed it a great deal, and I I loved the the heroine Serafina Arden. If I were going to complain about anything, it's that I would have liked the hero Adam to have had a little bit more um substance. But it was really about Serafina, and so that's fine. But that was an excellent read. So then I was kind of casting about for my next read. And you guys know I have my spreadsheets and you know so many things to read. Uh one thing that's on my Kindle that I'm very much looking forward to reading is uh Maria Vale's next book in her Wolf series, and I'll be interviewing her on the podcast later in August. But I wanted to wait uh to read that to a little bit closer to when she's going to be on here. And I had also gotten um a paper copy of Mary Trump's book on Donald, Too Much and Never Enough. So, and I could tell I'm just going to have to read that in small chunks just because it's aggravating. It's just, you know, it's like the pol it just makes me think about the political situation, so I have to do that in pieces. And so then I was casting about reading a few samples of other things, and I well, I'll cut to the chase that what I settled on, because you know, I get a lot of Kindle samples and and then see if I think I'll like it, especially from that big rec thread I did a while back where I asked people for good fantasies with uh excellent romance, well-built worlds. So I started reading Lynn Curlin's Star of the Morning, and I ended up buying that. And I'm like 15% into that, and I'm liking that so far. It's um definitely feeding me in the way I would like, and it's unusual. And I don't know why I never picked that up before. If you had asked me, I would have said that I'd read Lynn Curlant, but I think maybe I haven't. I think maybe, or maybe I haven't for a long time. Maybe I read her when I was younger, and this is a newer book, it's like 2006. So anyway, I'm enjoying that read. But all of this was by way of saying that on yesterday morning I was having coffee on the portal, and I wasn't really feeling reading anything, and I decided to, and I was still thinking about Dark Wizard, because you know, I was still sort of mulling it in my head. So I pulled out a whole bunch of reference books and started chasing down some namings of things and nailing down some details of the magic system, which all of you will know is very unusual for me to do ahead of time. But for some reason I felt like I have the space. Maybe that's part of the being at home and not traveling. I feel like I have the mental bandwidth to take my time and brew that together. And that was really nice for me to be able to do that over the weekend on a day when I'm not writing, because you guys know I believe that only writing counts as writing, and that world building is displacement activity. And I maybe take that too far, I'm going to admit that, and that it was good to spend this time doing some of that world building and research nailing down the details. At a time when my mind was fresh. I also got through a whole bunch of business over the weekend. Um, you know, all of those things that keep sliding down the to-do list that really don't take that long, but then you end up with like 50 of the things that don't take that long. I don't know what that is. We need a name for that. You know, it's something like these um, you know, these trivia things that, you know, like take 10 or 15 minutes to do, you know, like writing uh an email reply or you know, taking care of some kind of business, setting something up, analyzing something, putting the information in, you know, whatever, you know, and so it like takes, let's say, 10 minutes, but then you end up with like 50 of them, and now you're looking at like 500 minutes of, you know, like nearly 10 hours worth of stupid little tasks, and so they keep sliding down and accumulating. It's sort of this accretion of annoying trivia tasks. Uh, I don't know what the deal is with that. So, anyway, I got through a whole lot of those when I shut down yesterday. My email inboxes were at zero. I love that. So I'm starting my week fresh. And I've talked way too long. But you know how nice. It's I think you can hear that the rain has stopped. The grapes are hanging fat and heavy, and the skies are clearing a bit. Just lovely. I hope you have some um peace and beauty where you are. Hope things are going well for you, and that you are finding some benefits from being at home and slowing things down. I'll remind you all that first cup of coffee is part of the Frolic Media Podcast Network, and you will find other podcasts you love at frolic.media slash podcasts. And I will talk to you all tomorrow. Take care. Bye bye.