First Cup of Coffee – May 30, 2025

I'm suggesting creators reframe our expectations for success and the sense of urgency to *make* things happen - instead we can bide our time while we continue to create and let the world come to us.

Buy LoveLitCon tickets here https://lovelit.com/ Be sure to use my author-specific code for a $10 discount! LOVE8368

STRANGE FAMILIAR is live! https://www.jeffekennedy.com/strange-familiar 

You can preorder MAGIC REBORN at https://www.jeffekennedy.com/magic-reborn

RELUCTANT WIZARD is out now and the audiobook is live!! https://www.jeffekennedy.com/reluctant-wizard

The posture-correcting sports bra I love almost more than life itself is here https://forme.therave.co/37FY6Z5MTJAUKQGA

Join my Patreon and Discord for mentoring, coaching, and conversation with me! Find it at https://www.patreon.com/JeffesCloset

You can always buy print copies of my books from my local indie, Beastly Books! https://www.beastlybooks.com/

If you want to support me and the podcast, click on the little heart or follow this link (https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/jeffekennedy).

Sign up for my newsletter here! (https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/r2y4b9)

You can watch this podcast on video via YouTube https://youtu.be/z9WeI_G8YXc

Transcript

00:01.46
Jeffe Kennedy
Good morning everyone. This is Jeffe Kennedy, also writing as Jennifer K. Lambert, author of Epic Fantasy Romance. I'm here with my first cup of coffee.

00:16.04
Jeffe Kennedy
Amazing. Today is, say it with me people, it is Friday! May 30th, so last day of, last working day of May.

00:28.74
Jeffe Kennedy
Um, Welcome, welcome all to the end of May and the onset of summer. We're really kicking into summer here in Santa Fe and it is delightful. I've been seeing posts from people complaining about that they don't understand why summer has such a great reputation and I would venture to say it's because you live in a place where summer isn't so blazingly beautiful as it is here.

00:56.91
Jeffe Kennedy
really in all of the Rocky Mountain West and West Coast. Summer's great here. Sorry that it's not where you live.

01:06.76
Jeffe Kennedy
Not really. Ha ha ha.

01:09.87
Jeffe Kennedy
Um, so I've had a great week still no edit letter. um So I've been working on the secret project. I've now got like 30,000 words on the secret project. It is amazing. And you can all say that you told me so.

01:26.82
Jeffe Kennedy
this only writing 2000 words a day, stopping there so much easier and I'm able to do it every day and I can usually get it done in like an hour and a half hour and 45 minutes worth of work.

01:43.81
Jeffe Kennedy
And yeah, it's, ah it's being a little bit of a revelation. i am not exhausting myself as I have done before. um So it'll be interesting to see what happens when it translates back to writing fiction, writing fantasy, epic fantasy romance, which I also write as Jennifer K. Lambert.

02:12.05
Jeffe Kennedy
I really have to get smoother on that intro. Maybe I should say I'm Jeffe Kennedy, author of epic fantasy romance, also writing as Jennifer K. Lambert.

02:24.24
Jeffe Kennedy
That's is that's a little smoother isn't it? Let me know what you think anyway. Um, where was I 2000 words a day? Oh, I hesitate to say that I think that any genre is easier to write than another because I think there lies an abyss of potential trouble right?

02:46.41
Jeffe Kennedy
Um, yeah, And i I don't think it's true. I don't think it's necessarily true. And certainly it's true that some books write easier than others for no discernible reason whatsoever.

03:02.30
Jeffe Kennedy
Um, but because the secret project is nonfiction, it feels like a much easier, here right? And it kind of reminds me of back in the day when I would alternate writing my epic fantasy romances, uh, with,

03:21.68
Jeffe Kennedy
writing like contemporary erotic romance. And it felt like a palate cleanser. And the contemporary erotic romances wrote much faster for what it's worth. um But that's partly because writing that kind of thing, i don't know, writing sex scenes is easy for me. And um I would love to see if I can translate this writing the nonfiction book speed, ease,

03:56.30
Jeffe Kennedy
flow, all of these words. If I can translate that um when I start writing epic fantasy romance again, did I mention epic fantasy romance?

04:08.10
Jeffe Kennedy
Oh, Um, yeah. So once the edit letter comes in, then I start in on magic reborn, we will find out and I will no doubt blab about it here. Speaking of blabbing, um I got some epically good news, big career milestone, very exciting thing.

04:27.02
Jeffe Kennedy
And I even had it written down to make sure to share it with you all today. And then I got an email, like at the end of the day yesterday saying, um you know, okay, we're going to firm up details.

04:39.49
Jeffe Kennedy
Don't say anything. Don't announce this yet. And I was like, shoot, I was this close to announcing it. Yeah. I told a whole bunch of my friends, but let's look at, say I'm just checking my email really quick. Now nobody's written to say I can announce it yet. Maybe I can announce it by Monday. You'll find out soon enough. I'm sorry to be a tease.

05:00.95
Jeffe Kennedy
um But, I'm really happy. ah yeah, it's just a career milestone. It's something, something that's meaningful to me because it's acknowledging the fantasy side of what I do.

05:18.49
Jeffe Kennedy
And so long time listeners will know that this is something I've wrestled with in my career and that it's, um, You know, like I've actually had people, readers, readers who like my books, who ostensibly like my books, will say, have said to me, that I don't write fantasy because I write romance.

05:42.21
Jeffe Kennedy
And it's this weird dichotomy in their heads that if it's romance, it can't also be fantasy. Whereas, have I mentioned, I write epic fantasy romance.

05:53.13
Jeffe Kennedy
um And so this thing that is not yet, I guess, 100% certain, but I'm still really excited about the invitation, um has to do with the epic fantasy side.

06:09.37
Jeffe Kennedy
And i that means so much to me. you know And more than that, it's a manifestation of something that I have,

06:20.00
Jeffe Kennedy
work towards for a hugely long time, right? That, um, it's no longer possible. So I think I could put it out there. um I, I told one person this ever and swore her to secrecy. It was a mentee and I told her for a reason.

06:36.85
Jeffe Kennedy
Um, and now it's no longer possible, but I kind of wanted the, um, I only not only kind of, I wanted um, um epic fantasy romance.

06:51.28
Jeffe Kennedy
like we We should do a drinking game. How many times can I say that in one ah podcast? The epic fantasy romance version of the EGOT, right? You know, the Emmy Grammy Oscar Tony, right?

07:05.78
Jeffe Kennedy
Um, I wanted for one of my books to win the Rita, the Nebula and the Hugo. This is no longer possible because the Rita no longer exists, not even the replacement version of it.

07:20.17
Jeffe Kennedy
ah And I have one, Rita, gesturing to the golden idol behind me, and that meant a great deal to me. um But what that would have signified, and I didn't want to say it to anyone because i actually didn't want to hear people laugh at me ah for that ambition, right?

07:40.88
Jeffe Kennedy
But what it would signify is that one book could be award-winning in romance and also award-winning in science fiction and fantasy right.

07:52.65
Jeffe Kennedy
Um, because I truly believe that they do not cancel each other out that I do write fantasy just because it has romance and it doesn't mean that I don't write fantasy.

08:05.01
Jeffe Kennedy
So, um, So yeah, this, this thing is very exciting to me and it made me realize, you know, with this book, with never the roses, which I have sitting here on my desk of the arc, um, because I'll let you in all ah in on a little secret.

08:29.30
Jeffe Kennedy
I have an appointment to see a tattoo artist this afternoon. And I'm going to get this rose, I think, put on my forearm with thorns and so forth. I do have two other tattoos from book covers, ah but they are on my back.

08:43.46
Jeffe Kennedy
One's on the back of my neck and one's on my shoulder. And I forget they're there. So I'm going to didn't get one, think, on my forearm where I can see it. That's kind of exciting, isn't it? And...

08:54.91
Jeffe Kennedy
Well, I don't think I could show you. This is an image from a special edition, which has not yet been unveiled. ah But I'm going to have some other images entwined in out like among the thorns.

09:07.85
Jeffe Kennedy
So I will show you all ah today's just a console. So you may not get to see it by Monday, but at some point you'll get to see it. Isn't that exciting? I'm I'm really happy about this. I've been wanting to do this for a long time. Um, also to fix up the ones that I've got that I think are pretty faded and not that great.

09:28.76
Jeffe Kennedy
So anyway, um, with this book, It's, um, it's a watershed moment for me It's a watershed moment career wise. Uh, the reviews are starting to come in their early reviews. So they're very verbally, but there are, they're lovely. And the starred library journal review was lovely. This invitation is lovely.

09:51.62
Jeffe Kennedy
Um, and it just makes me think about how long I have wanted this, how long I've had this idea and this, invitation isn't that what would we have called it if it was like the Rita Nebula Hugo doesn't make a good acronym does it the HoRN if you make the put in a vowel in there maybe there's another um we could have well Locus is an L um HLRN? anyway if I'd been able to if that was still a possibility you know um but

10:31.19
Jeffe Kennedy
these things that people have told me for a very, very long time were not possible. Uh, I've gotten so much advice over the years to write either fantasy or romance and to stop, stop trying to make fetch happen.

10:47.88
Jeffe Kennedy
Uh, and now it's, you know, romantic has blown up and it, it makes me realize how you know like so much of what we do as artists as creators just has to do with timing you know it's when things become popular you know we're we're all familiar with creators who did not become a famous whose work did not become famous until after they had died because it wasn't the right time for it.

11:15.72
Jeffe Kennedy
Um. And so it's an interesting place to be now because I have friends whose books were huge, ah did incredibly well 20 years ago, 30 years ago.

11:33.51
Jeffe Kennedy
And and love their books and read their books and they are now my friends and they are working on getting things to happen in the current climate, the current ecosystem.

11:47.62
Jeffe Kennedy
Of publishing and reading and it can be frustrating because what worked really well for them 20 and 30 years ago isn't working the same way now.

12:00.28
Jeffe Kennedy
Um, and but it's flipped because for me back then, you know, like I couldn't sell a book to save my life. Uh, and now what I write is the thing.

12:15.94
Jeffe Kennedy
Uh, it's found its time. And I think that, I think that there's a really important lesson here. You know, it's why do we create, why do we do this at all? Uh, and how did I write it down in my notes?

12:30.89
Jeffe Kennedy
Um, waiting for your time. Um, you know, it's, Nobody wants to do that. Everybody wants to be successful right now, right away, um you know, or in a year or two.

12:44.53
Jeffe Kennedy
ah Nobody wants to hear from me that, ah you know, that I've been writing for over 30 years now. um Nobody wants to know that it has been this 15 years since my first novel came out that I've written 67 published titles at this point.

13:09.71
Jeffe Kennedy
And now I'm hitting this watershed moment. um It happened for George R.R. Martin that way too. You know, that he, noted not that I'm George R.R. Martin, but you know, Game of Thrones happened or a Song of Ice and Fire first happened you know, after he had already been writing for and publishing for like 20 years.

13:34.13
Jeffe Kennedy
And that's just kind of how it goes. So i think maybe if we don't think of it in terms of waiting, you're not putting one book out there and flogging it to death to try to get it to happen. Stop me trying to make fetch happen.

13:52.67
Jeffe Kennedy
Um, Maybe that's partly why that's such a great joke from Mean Girls because you can't make things like that happen, right? You have to allow them, allow them to happen.

14:10.47
Jeffe Kennedy
I've been listening to the audio book of never the roses and really enjoying it. It's dual narration and both narrators have done a great job of bringing the characters to life. It's a real pleasure when they illuminate the characters for me, ah the way that they, um especially the way they articulate the characters in our thoughts, which I probably don't hear his voices in the same way.

14:34.52
Jeffe Kennedy
And it's, it's been great. And one thing that my protagonist, O'Neera, says to herself often is she's trying to teach herself to to learn to nurture and allow things to grow instead of making them happen.

14:50.97
Jeffe Kennedy
And she was having to mentally correct herself all the time because she thinks about, okay, so when I make this happen, it's like, no, no, no. When I allow it to grow, and the narrator's really good about bringing out that nuance,

15:05.96
Jeffe Kennedy
ah But I feel like this is this is part of Taoism. This is part of, I don't know, living our lives. You know, we feel like we're trying to make things happen. We're waiting for things to happen.

15:20.61
Jeffe Kennedy
But if you are in the flow of things, if you are creating what you want to create, then you just keep doing that. um

15:32.09
Jeffe Kennedy
Try to enjoy it. I mean, we're doing this out of love and joy, right? you know, just keep creating and be aware that at some point it's going to sync up. You know, I think about Martha Wells too, you know, like she wrote fantasy books for years.

15:48.13
Jeffe Kennedy
She wrote murder bot. It was the thing she wanted to write at the time. And, and it hit because it was the right moment for it. ah She wasn't necessarily calculating that, you know, when I have tried to calculate it, I had ah friend a long time ago that we actually started a project called operation mainstream where she and I were both trying to write a main ah book that was like right down the middle of our genres.

16:17.06
Jeffe Kennedy
And and I couldn't do it. I tried and I could not. Uh, I think now people would call it writing to market, which some people are very good at doing and I am not. Um, but That's part, you know, I don't want to part of why I'm not good as I don't want to, but it's not why I'm a writer. I'm a writer because I love to write my stories.

16:42.39
Jeffe Kennedy
Uh, and you know, so this feeling of you're not, I want a different word than the waiting. Like you're biting your time, you know, you're crouched and that you'll, you're, you're there, you're making your things and you're creating your stuff.

17:01.74
Jeffe Kennedy
And you are biding your time until the world comes to you. How's that for an image? And I believe that. I absolutely believe that. um There's some great. I'm reading this book. Which I'm really enjoying. Called Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow.

17:17.06
Jeffe Kennedy
By Gabrielle Zeben. And if I were a book underliner. I would be underlining in this book. The quailer sending out the alarm call. I'm hoping that to.

17:31.72
Jeffe Kennedy
I think everything's okay. ah So, but I actually took photos like with my fingers. I might have to break down and start underlining. This is why I don't read on paper.

17:43.08
Jeffe Kennedy
um But this was um a great quote that's in here. And it's another character says this, but to be good at something is not quite the same as loving it.

17:57.97
Jeffe Kennedy
And I think that's really important that we, Don't always love what we're good at. Um, and sometimes we're not good at what we love, you know, no matter what the success gurus say, you know, do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life and all of that kind of thing. Or you know that if you love something that you'll automatically become great at it and that's not true.

18:22.58
Jeffe Kennedy
Another great great quote in here was, it's worth noting that greatness for Sam and Sadie meant different things. To oversimplify for Sam, greatness meant popular for Sadie art.

18:37.51
Jeffe Kennedy
And I think that those are are key points. And I talk about those things a lot on here. Um, I should just break down and start underlining. I don't because with paper books, well, first of all, I feel like they're sacrosanct, right? I don't like to mess up paper books, but also most of them I do catch and release, right? But I think I'm going to keep this book. I really do. Um, I think that's a keeper.

19:08.46
Jeffe Kennedy
I also have to make a correction. Um, when I said before about the native American author, a couple of podcasts back saying that there were only three native American authors publishing. And I was annoyed by that.

19:24.36
Jeffe Kennedy
And I incorrectly ascribed that to Danzie Senna, uh, who is mixed race, but I don't think native American. And I was just in a different session.

19:35.45
Jeffe Kennedy
I came in late. It wasn't who I thought it was. Uh, I apologize for that. It was actually Ramona Emerson who said that. Uh, so I wanted to ascribe correctly. Apologies to Danzie who never said any such thing.

19:52.58
Jeffe Kennedy
um Yeah, so I think um I'm going to get to work for the day. We'll see what next week brings. And I will talk to you all on Monday. You all have a great weekend.

20:04.92
Jeffe Kennedy
Take care. Bye.