First Cup of Coffee – April 14, 2025

All about Apollycon and how I finished A ROSE IN THE MIRROR on the plane and working in the atrium on site. I had a great time at the event and got to fangirl and hang with some of my longtime author idols.

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Transcript

00:01.82
Jeffe Kennedy
Good morning everyone. This is Jeffe Kennedy, author of Epic Fantasy Romance. I'm here with my first cup of coffee.

00:13.05
Jeffe Kennedy
ah So delicious. Today is Monday, April 14th. And I am back from Apollycon, which was a great experience. I felt like it was better than last year.

00:28.76
Jeffe Kennedy
um Not sure if I can completely say why. um It was better for me. And yeah, had a great time. So um i flew there on Wednesday and my flights were all very smooth.

00:49.24
Jeffe Kennedy
i Did not finish a Rose in the Mirror before I left. on i drove I went down and stayed in airport hotel in Albuquerque on Tuesday night.

01:01.03
Jeffe Kennedy
So I got almost 3,000 words on Tuesday. ah Working on the plane, I got planes up. I got 2,500 more words. So very productive on the plane.

01:16.00
Jeffe Kennedy
But was still not done. So I, um when I got to Apollycon on Wednesday, checked into my room.

01:27.74
Jeffe Kennedy
it was great because Marriott Bonvoy gave us a room upgrade. So we had a room with a balcony overlooking the atrium, which was really nice to have to be able to sit out there.

01:39.63
Jeffe Kennedy
It's this enormous glass atrium. And so it's all enclosed, which is good because it was freaking cold there. I mean, a lot of times it was like 40 degrees and windy and rainy. um but it was beautiful to be inside and look out.

01:54.88
Jeffe Kennedy
So i did a quick change in my room, changed my clothes, went to the author reception. but So I got there late. um It was going 2.30 to 5.30. And yeah,

02:06.67
Jeffe Kennedy
and um

02:09.88
Jeffe Kennedy
yeah I got there at, you know, I landed at like 3.15 and I got to the hotel by four. I think it was at the party by 4.15 or so.

02:21.26
Jeffe Kennedy
Um, and I immediately saw, um, Dina Ray, who was acting as my assistant for the conference. Corrine will want me to specify that it was temporary only, although her badge did say assistant, uh, just saying Corrine, we did send her a picture of, of Dina with the assistant badge just to, just to be evil.

02:47.02
Jeffe Kennedy
Um,

02:49.67
Jeffe Kennedy
All in good fun. All in good fun, Corrine. And Jennifer Estep was there, and I got to meet Lizette Marshall. She was at the party, and Vela Roth.

03:00.96
Jeffe Kennedy
And a few other people came by and hung out and talked with us, and that was fun.

03:07.70
Jeffe Kennedy
i was still not completely up on my physical game, so I had, like, one glass of wine, and it was an open bar. It was very sad. Uh, and then, um, Dina and Jennifer and I went out to dinner.

03:24.11
Jeffe Kennedy
I do think it's a funny thing that, um, you know, I just love free alcohol. And when I can't, when I don't feel like drinking it, I feel like this is probably a messed up thing for me, but, um, that, but I, you know, if I didn't feel good drinking and I didn't, so there was that, um,

03:46.07
Jeffe Kennedy
And I did nibble on the food some, but not a lot of appetite. But then the three of us went out to dinner just in the hotel because the party was very, very loud. And I'd been traveling all day. We all we all had actually, although Dina lives locally, so she just had a drive, but she'd had to get her whole thing together.

04:06.03
Jeffe Kennedy
Anyway, we went to the Hickory Steakhouse and had a very nice, quiet table. And it was exactly the right speed. And Jennifer lives on East Coast time, but she is also an early to bed person.

04:23.62
Jeffe Kennedy
And um yeah, I sat out on the balcony for a little while and watched the lights. They a big light show on the atrium. But then I went to bed. and got up early and took a walk, got my Starbucks,

04:39.86
Jeffe Kennedy
And then I worked on the freaking book. I went down to the atrium and found a tall table so I could at least stand because you all know, I don't like to sit and write very much. I mean, I can do it, but I was very happy being able to stand.

04:53.78
Jeffe Kennedy
And, um, I finished that book on Thursday and let me tell you people, I wrote 3,986 words to finish that book so almost four thousand words on that thursday um And it came out to 113,359 words. And I sent it off to Dianna and Ali. And so that was awesome.

05:21.45
Jeffe Kennedy
And I had told myself that if I finished the book that day, that I could have, um that I could go to the spa and have a body polish because I just love a body polish, you know, get off the lizard skin.

05:36.57
Jeffe Kennedy
And so I finished at, well, let me tell you at exactly what time I finished, if we care. and finished at 2.30. I started at 9.15 and took very short breaks.

05:52.12
Jeffe Kennedy
I did take one longer break. I got to sit in the hotel room on the balcony and have a long conversation with Susan Lee, who I don't always get to talk to. So that was very nice.

06:02.82
Jeffe Kennedy
Sat there and nibbled on leftovers from the night before. ah Still not a lot of appetite. In fact, body warning, that kind of thing.

06:15.81
Jeffe Kennedy
But um I weighed myself this morning. now that I'm back and I gained no weight at all at the conference, which is nice, but also super unusual for me. so um So, yeah, I finished at 2.30 and sent it off. And so then I went up to the spa and they just happened to have an appointment for a body polish. So I was filling out my paperwork and the gal came back and she said, oh, the only person we have here um only does facials, not body work. Do you want a facial?

06:46.06
Jeffe Kennedy
And I was all no, because, okay, little known fact about me. I don't know if anybody cares. I don't like facials. And when I was telling this story to Jennifer Estep,

06:56.68
Jeffe Kennedy
who I obviously roomed with, she's like, how do you not like facials? I love facials. And I'm like, I don't like them. Periodically, I try them and I'm never happy.

07:07.92
Jeffe Kennedy
I think it's because I have princess skin and my skin reacts to the stuff they put in the facials. And um yeah, do not like them, Sam I am. I've actually, i did used to try them periodically. I've stopped.

07:24.42
Jeffe Kennedy
I just don't like them. Do not like them on a house. Do not like them with a mouse. So anyway, i was all, oh, well, bummer. Because I thought it was to work out perfectly.

07:37.65
Jeffe Kennedy
and But no. But then she said she could get me a polish body polish the next morning, Friday morning at 10. And I could get there at like 9.30pm. And the only problem with all of that was that I needed to set up my table.

07:54.57
Jeffe Kennedy
We, the signing started at one on Friday and I needed to be in there and help Dina set up the table. And so we arranged to, we had arranged to set it up very early before that rather than leaving it till after.

08:13.24
Jeffe Kennedy
and we,

08:18.70
Jeffe Kennedy
things happened. Things happened. i'll I'll try to tell this in sequence. So um instead of my body polish, I took a long shower and did my own self buffing and hung out for a little bit, went down and had a drink in the bar because they gave us free wine and I cannot pass up free wine.

08:37.95
Jeffe Kennedy
I tried drinking red wine and now But then I went to the Bramble cocktail party ah for authors. That was at like six at Succotash, which is this little local restaurant. And so they had a table set up in the bar and Janine Frost was there.

08:58.06
Jeffe Kennedy
And let me tell you, I am such a longtime fangirl of Janine Frost. her books one ah were one of the, what was it ever, you know, like One Foot in the Grave, ah was one of the first three books I loaded onto my brand new Kindle back in the day.

09:18.20
Jeffe Kennedy
And I was an early adopter. And her cliffhanger ending prompted me to buy the next book via my Kindle immediately. And that was the first time that I was able to do the immediate gratification.

09:32.89
Jeffe Kennedy
So Janine didn't come to the conference, but she had taken the train up to meet with her editor, Erica Singh, who was at the party and Monique Patterson was there. And so um i got to hang out and have drinks with Janine Frost and we were having a great time And ah Danielle Allen was there. I hadn't met her before. She was lovely.

09:53.94
Jeffe Kennedy
ah i think Juliet Cross had not yet arrived, but Sarah Beth Durst was at the cocktail party.

10:04.41
Jeffe Kennedy
So, you know, like I'm hanging out chatting with Janine and we're, you know, have hors d'oeuvres set out for us. And, you know, it was really nice. It's it's lovely to be feted by your publisher. That way it makes you feel special.

10:18.08
Jeffe Kennedy
And then, J.R. Ward shows up. And I read The Black Dagger Brotherhood um ages ago, also before I was a writer and loved her books.

10:30.97
Jeffe Kennedy
And I've seen J.R. Ward over the years, but never actually chatted with her. And so ah Janine and i were both like equally fangirling over J.R. Ward. youre We were like, I can't believe I'm talking and having dreams with J.R. Ward.

10:47.32
Jeffe Kennedy
And of course, Monique Patterson, like almost immediately spirited J.R. Ward off and took her to like the end of the table. But we did get to have our fangirl moment. There is a photo and I haven't gotten to see it yet.

11:03.87
Jeffe Kennedy
So anyway, that was great. Then I went back to the hotel and the the Faro girls ah had a ah big table and we're having drinks and stuff. And I hung out for a little while, but by then I was tired.

11:17.19
Jeffe Kennedy
And so i went to bed fairly early seeing if Killian's tangled up. He was very happy to see me.

11:28.13
Jeffe Kennedy
I think he's a little tangled up. I'll be right back.

11:32.23
Jeffe Kennedy
We were hung up and we had to come in and get petted. So if you're on video, you will see that he is now up on my desk getting attention. He's ah been very clingy since I returned.

11:46.34
Jeffe Kennedy
my poor baby cat. Yeah. um So then a little self-created snafu for Thursday morning was that some of my friends were going out for breakfast, including Nalini Singh.

12:04.68
Jeffe Kennedy
And Nalini is someone who i have not seen since before the pandemic because she lives in New Zealand. So she hasn't been to the U.S. in a long time.

12:16.42
Jeffe Kennedy
As a general note, they did have no trouble traveling into the country. ah They did consider not coming, but they, she and her mom and sister were all there. So they came to breakfast with us at seven 30. Okay.

12:31.41
Jeffe Kennedy
So, and Jennifer was going to, and I kind of self-invited myself because ah Jennifer had said she was going to go do this. And I said, oh, because Amanda Boucher was organizing it.

12:44.12
Jeffe Kennedy
and ah And Amanda had said, no more people. And I said, well, I don't have to go. And Jennifer said, oh, well, I'd already asked her. and And Amanda said that was fine. So it ended up being a gal I'd never met before, Lish McBride, who And then Nalini and her mom and sister and Jennifer and Amanda and Amanda's friend, Callie.

13:08.32
Jeffe Kennedy
And, um, was that all of us? I'm not going to count. Anyway, it was really nice to talk to Nalini again. Um, and I don't know if I've told the story before. I haven't told it recently, but when I was a brand newbie author, um, okay, you can go.

13:27.67
Jeffe Kennedy
Sorry. he Booted the kitty off the desk. ah And I was in New York City at the RWA conference and I got to go to the Harlequin party for the first time. And the Harlequin parties were amazing. and But and I make my first sale to Carina Press, which was an imprint of Harlequin.

13:46.15
Jeffe Kennedy
So I got to go to the party and it was offsite at the Waldorf Astoria rooftop ballroom. And it was black and white ball. And I'm waiting at the taxi stand. I'm going there late because I was at another party first.

13:59.91
Jeffe Kennedy
for FFP and I like I was one of the organizers so i had to do that so I'm waiting at the taxi stand and this petite woman with a black bob comes up to me and she says are you going to the Harlequin party and I was like how did you guess and ah she said would you like share a taxi and it was Nalini and who was totally famous at this point, bestseller and all of this. And I had read her books.

14:28.29
Jeffe Kennedy
And so, and she was so nice to me. You know, we talked in the cab and she asked about my books. And then at the party, she kept coming around and checking on me and asking if people were being nice to me.

14:39.47
Jeffe Kennedy
So I've had Nalini on the podcast. I interviewed her a long time back. You could probably find that. Now Kitty wants out. So this meant that i went to breakfast at 7.30.

14:52.67
Jeffe Kennedy
Jennifer and I like got up and did makeup and all this. We're like, why, why are we doing this to ourselves? and And I even asked her as we're both, and they have like the his and her sinks. So we're both putting on our makeup.

15:03.40
Jeffe Kennedy
And i said, what time does the thing start tomorrow? Cause I was thinking maybe it was like nine or 10. I could, you know, take a little bit easier. She says eight. No way. And she's like, so yeah, she said you could have slept in, but no.

15:17.50
Jeffe Kennedy
um So we walked over to this place um at a neighboring hotel, which was a lot less busy. And I had a bananas foster French toast, which was incredible, you know, with caramelized and everything.

15:31.48
Jeffe Kennedy
Great conversation, had a lot of fun catching up, was really glad I did. I had to leave first. had to get paid up and leave so that I could go meet Dina. um I got there late. Um, I told her eight 30, I think I got there by 45, spent an hour helping set up the booth. And then I went for my body polish, which was a little more rushed feeling than I wanted, but it was also fantastic. And so glad I did that. Uh, and then went and got changed for the, um, signing for the afternoon.

16:08.78
Jeffe Kennedy
Fortunately, I only had to touch up my hair and makeup, the, practitioner was great and was running around because we were doing these charm bracelets which were great they turned out really well they were super pretty ah I should show you so we sold these charm bracelets and all these different authors had charms so if you're on video you can see A lot of these were mine. I had a whole bunch of different kinds and I'll continue to do that as I do book tour and stuff.

16:39.50
Jeffe Kennedy
Uh, but there were six of us. And so I had to like print out maps of the different tables and, um, but it turned out to be awesome. It was really a fun thing to do. The readers loved it.

16:52.67
Jeffe Kennedy
And, uh, Yeah, oh it was great. ah It meant that I was pretty much running up until the moment that the doors opened.

17:03.33
Jeffe Kennedy
We did that five-hour signing that Friday afternoon from 1 to 6, and then

17:12.87
Jeffe Kennedy
ah you know and then we don't get out of there right at 6, right? And then I had to be at the Bramble reader party at seven, which fortunately only went until about eight 30 or so, but it was great.

17:26.70
Jeffe Kennedy
Uh, people won copies of arcs of never the roses and they were so enthusiastic. So a lot of them came by my table the next day to get those signed.

17:37.09
Jeffe Kennedy
And, um, And then the next day we went from eight to 12 and then two to six on Saturday. ah highlight of that day was in the middle of the day.

17:49.07
Jeffe Kennedy
Again, the Bramble team had lunch for us at that Hickory Steakhouse in the hotel, which was amazing. um Many props to Giselle for setting that up for us because it was so great to just be able to go. My assistant Dina could go with us, met some really fun people.

18:08.44
Jeffe Kennedy
I had an amazing crab cake and steak frites, and it was delicious and so nice to just sit there. And then I went and closed my eyes for like 20 minutes, power nap, got to the afternoon, ah went and got. There's a place that's like not far from the Conference Hotel that's Mason's Famous Lobster Rolls, and I i can't get good lobster rolls here.

18:34.08
Jeffe Kennedy
ah So I went and got my lobster roll takeout and sat in the lobby bar with Dina and answered some questions for her. We had just a nice quiet time together. And ah I noticed Jennifer and I were in bed by 8.54 on Saturday evening. She had a super early flight. She had to get up at like 3.30.

18:55.13
Jeffe Kennedy
I didn't have to get up till about 6, which is still 4 mountain time. But then my travel home was fine and got home and did a bunch of housework, unpacked, put things away.

19:10.43
Jeffe Kennedy
And so now my plan for this week is I'm not going to write. I'm not going to do any writing at all this week. I'm going to give myself our a ah mental rest. i I know you're all happy for me.

19:23.75
Jeffe Kennedy
And I've got a bunch of things I want to try to get done around the house. Clean out the garage to fit the new car in. and want to clean out the closet of doom and get that organized. I might do some painting, maybe do some furniture shopping for the casino. We'll see how that goes and that kind of thing.

19:45.33
Jeffe Kennedy
So that's, and look, here it is at 20 minutes. So um yeah, that was a Apollycon in a nutshell. I hope you all have a great week.

19:57.21
Jeffe Kennedy
I plan to. And I will talk to you all on Friday. Y'all take care. Bye-bye.