First Cup of Coffee – July 1, 2025

Balancing working on a revision while heading into full-blown celebratory release week, having good friends coming to join in, and dealing with related fire drills. Also, a peek at the audiobook of NEVER THE ROSES!

Book Tour for NEVER THE ROSES information here! https://us.macmillan.com/tours/jennifer-k-lambert-never-the-roses/

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Transcript

00:02.99
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.

00:17.88
Jeffe Kennedy
See, that's how you know that this is like the real raw me because it's like so you'll like all those people who have their polished intros. Not here. No, no, no. You'd think I should practice it. I keep saying that and I don't I'm not going to.

00:31.53
Jeffe Kennedy
Hi, today is Tuesday, July 1st, officially halfway through 2020, 25. I put too many 20s in there.

00:42.72
Jeffe Kennedy
um yeah It's later for me than usual. This is actually not my first cup of coffee, but my second. ran out to have breakfast this morning with my delightful friends, uh, Susan Lee and her husband, Cadir, who were passing through Santa Fe.

01:02.68
Jeffe Kennedy
And we had a terrific breakfast sitting outside at Pantry Rio, which I highly recommend if you come through Santa Fe. I think they have really good Mexican food and it's like not the high on the list of the tourist places.

01:18.88
Jeffe Kennedy
Um, David was able to come along. So that was nice. We had a really good breakfast. It was really fun to to see them. I also got to reconnect with Susan over the weekend. We had another breakfast, this time at Cafecito on Sunday.

01:34.48
Jeffe Kennedy
So just um really good, really good to get to spend time with her. And Cadir too, who reads my books. Those of you book nine,

01:47.61
Jeffe Kennedy
book nine in a the Warriors of Magic books. ah You should know that Cadir is also waiting. In fact, he is holding out on reading Strange Familiar until he gets magic reborn. He's one of those people, right?

02:07.32
Jeffe Kennedy
and He got burned. He got burned by Jordan, by Martin. Does not want to start series that he's not sure people will finish.

02:18.26
Jeffe Kennedy
I'm going to finish it, Cadir. I am. It's just not going to come out until October. Some people just, they're too weenie to take suspense. I've said it.

02:29.71
Jeffe Kennedy
I'm putting it out there. um Yeah, so busy weekend. um Got a lot done around the house. oh More fun.

02:42.40
Jeffe Kennedy
landscaping, casita work, et cetera, on Saturday. sunday was socializing day. It was really great. So well refilling. I'm feeling behind things.

02:54.54
Jeffe Kennedy
ah I have now officially fallen behind this revision. I page 297 420 I've been adding more ah now four hundred and twenty because i've been adding This section has just taken a little bit more reworking.

03:12.35
Jeffe Kennedy
So 123 pages to go. Upshot is as it's highly unlikely that it will be done by tomorrow, which it didn't have to be, but it would have been nice.

03:25.42
Jeffe Kennedy
Kelly Robson is arriving tomorrow night, so that will be lovely to see her. but she's also here to do writing retreats so we could still, uh, do tandem work in the mornings and so forth. And I can keep working on this, but I'm going to, um, we're starting into festivities here, which is great.

03:44.88
Jeffe Kennedy
I would have loved to have this revision entirely done before release week started. And, um, yeah, I just don't think it's going to happen.

03:57.24
Jeffe Kennedy
I could even make one more pass. So I'm going to ask editor Ali how she feels about that. If she wants to do her line edits, that's worth what she wants to do next is the next round of line edits or the next round will be a line edits.

04:14.26
Jeffe Kennedy
Um, if she wants me to make one more pass to smooth before that it's there's not big things I know need doing. I just want to check continuity and emotional arc for the characters, make sure that it's working right with the changes, um, which she might catch in line.

04:36.13
Jeffe Kennedy
So I'm going to ask her on that, but that means I'd be like working well on book tour, which technically I can do. I was telling a friend, my schedule, you know, basically flying every day.

04:50.32
Jeffe Kennedy
And he commented that that sounded like a grueling travel schedule. And it doesn't sound that bad to me, but I've also never done it this way. So I'm flying on Wednesday, on Thursday, on Friday, on Monday, and on Wednesday.

05:09.15
Jeffe Kennedy
So it's not every single day, but it's close. um But I used to travel all the time for the day job. I was a real road warrior, but not typically flying that many days in a row, but I also don't mind flying, um, like many people do. And I think that comes from the road warrior thing. I'm pretty adept at getting in and out of airports and I can ride on the plane. I actually like riding on airplanes.

05:41.28
Jeffe Kennedy
So, so yeah, uh, we'll see. Um, next, i mean, Friday is 4th of July. We're probably going to be wanting to go see parades and do things.

05:52.88
Jeffe Kennedy
Uh, Monday, Kelly and I, and probably several other friends. It's sounding like quite the, uh, the party at this point, we're going to 10,000 waves on Monday.

06:05.21
Jeffe Kennedy
And then on Tuesday, it's going to be release day. And we're going to be doing a lot to get set up for the party and so forth. I don't know where my head will be.

06:16.52
Jeffe Kennedy
have My head would well it's going to be I'm partying actually let me take that back. I do know where my head will be. ah Whether I can keep my head in the book is another question.

06:28.00
Jeffe Kennedy
Yeah, yeah we'll see. We'll see.

06:35.60
Jeffe Kennedy
and um Yeah, so sorry I'm starting to think about like all of that. I, yeah, it also would have been nice to have this revision done because I'm starting to get the fire drills, which just seem to be part of ah but of traditional publishing, right? Because self-publishing, it would have been self-imposed.

06:54.61
Jeffe Kennedy
But with traditional publishing, you start getting the fire drills of, for instance, I got an email this morning saying, oh, um such and so is asking for Sorry, cat arrives. Get out of the way, Kelly.

07:08.69
Jeffe Kennedy
There, he got tailed across the screen. Messed up the light.

07:15.42
Jeffe Kennedy
ah He was put out because he did not get to have his first thing this morning excursion because we went out to breakfast. And now his schedule is all off. And he's like me. He gets that from his mom.

07:27.27
Jeffe Kennedy
ah We both do not like to have our routines disrupted. So, or are trains of thought disrupted? What was I saying? Oh, fire drills. Like I got an email this morning saying such and so is wondering if you could have these things to them by tomorrow.

07:45.87
Jeffe Kennedy
These totally new things that we've never asked for before. um And of course the answer is yes. they They do say if you can't, we'll figure something else out. But it's also like, is there reason people couldn't have asked me?

07:58.80
Jeffe Kennedy
weeks ago. But to be fair, to be fair, there's something that I was asked for a while ago that's due July 10th.

08:10.09
Jeffe Kennedy
And I, it keeps sliding down my to-do list. but It's just like a 500 word article thing, but I keep waiting for the perfect day, which is just not going to happen.

08:22.92
Jeffe Kennedy
So now here we are in July. Because when I agreed to it, was like, oh yeah, i can get that done soon, way before that And now you know that's nine days away. So we shall just we'll see.

08:36.68
Jeffe Kennedy
Um, but the revision is still as much of a priority as I can make it except that then these fire drills pop up, right? And I sort of bump the schedule around.

08:47.50
Jeffe Kennedy
I still have a few things to do to get the casita ready, but I'm also realizing that Kelly can help me with those things. And that part of why Kelly is here, a huge reason of why Kelly will be here is to help me.

08:59.66
Jeffe Kennedy
And so I'm trying to be very zen about this, about, I kind of feel like I need a word for this, you know, like Coming to being later in life and realizing that it's okay to ask for help and to accept help.

09:18.10
Jeffe Kennedy
And so this is part of the accepting help phase, right? It's like, oh, I, yeah, I need to learn to... that I don't have to make everything. i wanted everything to be perfect for her. Right. That that's the upshot is I wanted it to be perfect and it's just not going to be, um, and that that's okay. Maybe that's sort of it. It's like that combating perfectionism, uh,

09:47.05
Jeffe Kennedy
I don't know if I was talking about that on here or with someone else, but I think it was on here. You know that perfectionism is what will keep you from doing all kinds of things because you can't ever make everything perfect.

10:00.95
Jeffe Kennedy
And so it's paralyzing, right?

10:06.63
Jeffe Kennedy
You know, if you just figure on you know, you do what you can't, you do your best. I was amused because, uh, some of the gals, hi. in my Patreon group, we're talking about when asked if it was just her or if anyone else chats with me in their heads as they're listening to this podcast.

10:29.15
Jeffe Kennedy
And a couple of people said that they do. And I love that. And I've also had people come up to me at various events saying, you know, that you feel like you are sitting down and having a cup of coffee with me and that we are chatting. And I love,

10:44.87
Jeffe Kennedy
that you're having your end of the conversation too. So a couple of things on my list to talk about ah the audio book for never the roses is also releasing on the eighth I believe actually assume it's it's gotta be the same date. too Oh tangential I'll try to remember to come back to audio book, but I got an Instagram direct message from a gal who runs a bookstore or manages a bookstore and reminded me of when we met, which I love. Thank you. When you remind me of when I've met you.

11:26.90
Jeffe Kennedy
and she said that she had gotten copies of never the roses in and that you know, she's of course not allowed to sell them yet, but that she has them and it was just a really nice message. I love getting to hear those kinds of things from people.

11:46.94
Jeffe Kennedy
Uh, so, audio but um, book also, that that's what they do. That's, you know, they ship them out to bookstores to make sure they have them, but then they have like big letters on there saying, do the, do not dare.

11:59.15
Jeffe Kennedy
Uh, don't you dare open this or you know sell these books before this date. Very often they will open it. And that is how books leak out because occasionally there will be someone who works in a bookstore, a little purloin, copy.

12:12.59
Jeffe Kennedy
and occasionally seldom ahead of the date, possibly after being brought to do so. But yeah, you're really not supposed to do that. So audio your book almost certainly comes out the same day. i got some ah stuff, um, graphics for socials to share.

12:31.32
Jeffe Kennedy
So I'm going to put those up. I'll put them on here since you all are by default listening type people. So I'll give you some samples. I can honestly tell you that the audiobook is great.

12:43.91
Jeffe Kennedy
It's probably one of the very few audiobooks of my books that I love. I thought that the both narrators were great and brought things out of the text that maybe even I didn't know were there. they Especially some of the interior monologue.

13:03.56
Jeffe Kennedy
They really brought that out. It's very funny I was met with my science fiction fantasy book group ah last night which meets over zoom and they were talking about wanting more people.

13:17.18
Jeffe Kennedy
So if you want to join our very small group ah you should it's it's a fun discussion group we read the. um Is it Stephen Baxter? He wrote The Massacre of Mankind. I might not have his name exactly right. Excuse me.

13:35.82
Jeffe Kennedy
um But he used to be president of the H.G. Wells Society. Like, clearly, huge H.G. Wells stan wrote this sequel to The War of the Worlds called The Massacre of Mankind, and we discussed that last night.

13:49.47
Jeffe Kennedy
And was all one person liked it. And the reason that he liked it was he said, um, that he liked that it was just the story. And with none of that interior monologue, that's been in so many of the books we've read lately, which I, I find, I finally had to come back and say, you know, one reason I did not like this book is that there was none of the interior monologue. It was just all, um,

14:16.17
Jeffe Kennedy
I mean, very... called it a diligent sequel. And my friend Jim Sorensen, who leads the group, agreed with that, saying that, yeah, I mean, he really ticks off all the points. He does... He imitates the style of H.G. Wells, and he puts in everything very accurately um according to how H.G. Wells wrote The War of the Worlds. And apparently he's done this with other H.G. Wells books, too.

14:43.96
Jeffe Kennedy
um Who just... Yeah, I guess if that's your gig. But um yeah, the having very little interior reflection on the characters was not my kind of book.

15:02.10
Jeffe Kennedy
ah So anyway, um we were talking about audio books, weren't we? Yeah, bringing out the interior monologue.

15:12.60
Jeffe Kennedy
And then the other thing and this is unrelated. I probably won't be able to do a good segue on it. But um I remember back in the day a long time ago.

15:24.74
Jeffe Kennedy
A long time ago. Wow. 30 years ago more 33 years ago. Anyway my very very first.

15:37.46
Jeffe Kennedy
Now now I'm hung up on the day. It was really like 30 years ago a little over maybe 31. Um, my very very first critique group I got invited to and to join from being in a writing class.

15:52.72
Jeffe Kennedy
It was said a class called essays on self and place and that was why I had started out writing creative nonfiction ah because that was like the first kind of class that I took.

16:04.58
Jeffe Kennedy
And several other people who I viewed as far more accomplished writers invited me to join their critique group and I was just.

16:15.88
Jeffe Kennedy
Over the freaking moon. I was, yeah, it was such an honor. It was so great. um And one of the gals in the group, we'll just call her Katie.

16:27.25
Jeffe Kennedy
Let's say Katie ah had graduated from Iowa writing circle and she was just a luminary, right? she She was all the things.

16:40.61
Jeffe Kennedy
And another gal in the group I'm going to run into trouble with my pseudonyms here. Uh, no, I think I could say who this is because unfortunately she passed away.

16:53.66
Jeffe Kennedy
Um, her name was Karol Griffin. She wrote a wonderful memoir called skin deep that included stuff about Matthew Shepard's murder. Cause that happened in our town.

17:05.48
Jeffe Kennedy
Um, Karol was a tattoo artist and tattooed. She, um, um I really loved her. I really loved her. She died of of liver failure.

17:19.36
Jeffe Kennedy
Hep C and she lived kind of a wildlife too. um So I don't know if the Hep C was from tattooing or from other sources. But yeah, she died much too young and it was a tragedy.

17:34.09
Jeffe Kennedy
But I have a copy of her book. But anyway, Karol had said to me one day, and I feel like I could say this confidently because I don't think Katie would ever hear this. And if you do, Katie, sorry, but you know how Karol was. She was snarky.

17:49.66
Jeffe Kennedy
But Karol was talking about, so Katie gets her book published, her own memoir, which was a beautiful memoir too, which I still have a copy of. And, uh, but she said that Katie was walking around town, holding that book, like she was cradling an infant.

18:07.28
Jeffe Kennedy
And I thought of that the other day because I was carrying my copy, my author copy of Never the Roses. We should take this opportunity to just show it off. Oh, so beautiful.

18:17.61
Jeffe Kennedy
I was carrying it around like it was my baby, but, um, So, you know, no harm, no foul. But Karol had said to me, you know, if Katie can get her but book published, and this was before Karol got hers published, um she said, you you should.

18:34.41
Jeffe Kennedy
She said, you're you're as but good of a writer, if not better, and so you should get a publishing deal and I'm going to help you. and It must have been after she had gotten her publishing deal. Anyway, it doesn't matter. It just made me think of it the other day that, you know,

18:51.11
Jeffe Kennedy
how much you invest in a single book. I talk about that a whole lot, you know, that they are not our babies. And even though this is a special book, Never the Roses is beautiful, beautiful.

19:03.99
Jeffe Kennedy
Um, and it's special to be in many ways and will probably be forever a milestone book for me. It's also one book, one book among many.

19:15.58
Jeffe Kennedy
And as creators, we're not confined to one book, nor should we confine ourselves. to only one. And there will be many readers out there for whom this is not their favorite book. I know that already. I know some of my established readers have, like, I see you. I see you. And it's fine.

19:33.11
Jeffe Kennedy
I saw one who ah often lists my 12 Kingdoms series as one of her all-time favorite series. She occasionally posts about it. Loves, loves, loves it, especially the Talon of the Hawk.

19:46.52
Jeffe Kennedy
And I should four-star this book, right? But, you know, it's different books for different people at different times. And I pointed that out in the SFF book group because um the guy who really liked this book and was the only one, and frankly, several of us referred to it as a slog.

20:06.40
Jeffe Kennedy
And he's like, did you all really not like reading this book? And we're like, yeah, we almost didn't finish. I didn't finish. um I skipped to the end to see what the ending was and then went back and I got up to like 70%.

20:18.91
Jeffe Kennedy
um But I said, you know, what this points up is that the there is a reader for this book. There is a person who thought this was a great book.

20:30.78
Jeffe Kennedy
And, you know, you don't, you're never going to please everybody. And it's really cool to please some people. So on that note, I am going to get to work on ah this other book, ah possibly going to be called Among the Thorns.

20:48.35
Jeffe Kennedy
And we'll just see. Maybe you'll like it better than Never the Roses. Those of you. Yeah. Okay. um I hope hope you all have a great week. And I will talk to you all on Friday.

21:01.53
Jeffe Kennedy
You all take care. of Bye.