First Cup of Coffee – April 17, 2026

On story ideas, where they come from, how we make them our own - including a funny story about my lovely friend Lexi Ryan and her upcoming, absolutely delicious adult romantasy: NIGHT TIDE. Also, enough of this self-care sh*t, I need to get to work! (And what getting myself back into the groove looks like.)

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Thank you for listening! You all take care. 

Transcript

00:01.53
Jeffe Kennedy
Good morning, everyone. This is Jeffe Kennedy. Also writing is Jennifer K. Lambert, author of epic fantasy romance. I am here with my first cup of coffee.

00:19.38
Jeffe Kennedy
Today is an adorable little green and gold antique China cup. So pretty.

00:28.86
Jeffe Kennedy
Thank you, nephew, Brett. Today is, say it with me, people, it is Friday. Woo-hoo. April 17th.

00:39.83
Jeffe Kennedy
So, um, past the Ides of April yesterday was my anniversary with my very first boyfriend. Uh, we went out for the Sadie Hawkins dance. Uh, yes, I did invite him on April 16th.

00:57.42
Jeffe Kennedy
Low these many years ago, let's see what year would that have been. That would have been, um

01:04.33
Jeffe Kennedy
1983. So let's see. i I sent him a happy anniversary and he was pleased, but we didn't do yours. So let's see.

01:17.78
Jeffe Kennedy
so forty-three years ago and it's nice that we still talk

01:27.26
Jeffe Kennedy
Um, so, uh, what else? It seems like there's other anniversaries going on in this month, but I can't think of what they are now. I had a funny conversation, with a long-term author friend of mine. Um, I feel like I've been,

01:48.18
Jeffe Kennedy
I don't know, maybe deliberately, not deliberately, ah connecting more with some of my longtime author friends. We've been in this business a long time. Uh, one person that I have reconnected with that I'm happy to reconnect with, and I'd like to give a shout out to is Piper Drake. I have known Piper since, uh, she was writing as PJ Schnyder, I think back in the early Karina days for both of us. Um,

02:18.55
Jeffe Kennedy
What was that early 2010s? oh And I think she's been very open with this on social media. But in case you did not know, she has ah stage four cancer, which sucks mightily and is looking about at about a year left. So she's spending that time writing, which is what I think we would all choose to do. So, but yeah, she's feeling a little bit ah of lack of community. There is this thing. I don't know if you all are aware of it. I've seen it happen. I saw it happen with my dad, my stepdad, Leo. I've seen it happen with, um well, my second stepdad, Dave. I've seen it happen with David that when people get a chronic disease and they are no longer

03:10.42
Jeffe Kennedy
the healthy and vital person, uh, there are people who stopped being friends with them.

03:17.43
Jeffe Kennedy
And it's incredibly painful. Um, stepdad Leo, one of his, like, I don't know, men, right? Straight, cis white men. Um, you know, they were as close as the type of person is, they were tennis buddies.

03:37.85
Jeffe Kennedy
They were at social events together a lot. They spent a great deal of time together and yeah, we're, I don't know, as close as straight, cis, het, white men are. I guess I don't need to have both straight and het in there. Did I mention the straight? Um, and this guy stopped seeing him, just didn't come see him anymore.

04:03.67
Jeffe Kennedy
No time. Like he came and saw him once and then never again.

04:09.18
Jeffe Kennedy
Leo had um PSP, Progressive Super Nuclear Palsy. So anyway, it's, I think, hard for some people to be friends with someone who is dying in front of them, and yet this is part of life.

04:25.66
Jeffe Kennedy
um Death is as much a part of life as anything, right? So I didn't mean to make this be said. But anyway, if you know Piper, ah reach out to her, because I think she's appreciating it.

04:38.90
Jeffe Kennedy
But it was funny in part with Piper because we invited her to one of my author chats so that she could have some fellowship with us. And I had said to her, you know, I've always thought of you as PJ from back in the day. Which do you prefer? And she said that she prefers Piper now. And she said, you've known me for a long time, Jeffe. It's like, yeah. Yeah.

05:03.13
Jeffe Kennedy
So another exchange I had with an author friend this week, I thought that this is funny, um, about this thing about like there being one story brain or maybe one story in the world. Uh, one of my friends is writing, has written an adult fantasy romance and, um, um,

05:25.14
Jeffe Kennedy
Let's see. Can I talk about it? Yeah, I can talk about this. Okay. Yeah. It's Lexi Ryan. Hi, Lexi. If you're listening, she sometimes listens. um She told me that she finds listening to this podcast soothing.

05:40.06
Jeffe Kennedy
Which I love that. I love that. I, I want to be a soothing voice in the world. I don't know why I'm smooth soothing if I when I go on my various rants, but um I'll take it.

05:55.48
Jeffe Kennedy
Um, So at any rate, Lexi has written this adult fantasy romance. She's written some romantic, but this is an adult one called Night Tide. And she sent it to me asking me if I would be willing to give it a blurb. And she is.

06:16.84
Jeffe Kennedy
Lexi is one of the nicest people on the entire planet. I remember when she won the Rita award for one of her contemporary romances. Uh, and she just was crying, crying nonstop. She's clutching her Rita award and crying. And we were at the after party and I said, are you just going to cry all night? And she just nodded and and sobbed. Um, it meant so much to her. I'm really sorry that that award is gone. i know that it was, um, really problematic and,

06:52.02
Jeffe Kennedy
I just wish we could have cleaned it up because, you know, now we don't have a romance award like that. And that was so huge. so You know, there's my Rita over my shoulder. It meant so much to me. it meant so much to Lexi. Anyway, um you know, have your peers acknowledge what you've done is is always an amazing thing.

07:16.82
Jeffe Kennedy
So Lexi sent me Night Tide. She sent me this incredibly humble email because she's an incredibly humble person. um You know, it's like she doesn't know she's a New York Times bestselling author. And she said, I hate to ask, but would you mind, you know, because it's my first adult romantasy. And would you take a look? And this is always a dicey thing because also, you know, I love her. She's my friend. um But, you know, like, what if I hate the book?

07:44.70
Jeffe Kennedy
you know So we always do the, you know, like if you're too busy, no big deal. You know, sometimes people just get busy. um So anyway, I have started reading it. love it.

07:56.41
Jeffe Kennedy
It is so good. It is so good, people. um You will love this book. So i supposed to get her ah ah quote, a blurby thing by the end of April, which will be no problem because I'm almost done reading it.

08:10.78
Jeffe Kennedy
But here's the funny part. And I had sent Lexi an email a couple days ago about this. First of all, reassuring her that I do love it and we'll be sending her a quote.

08:24.09
Jeffe Kennedy
And cause I know how that is when you're kind of on tenterhooks, it's like, do they hate it? It, but Or are they really too busy? um Because both things can be true.

08:37.02
Jeffe Kennedy
So I've mentioned, I think I've talked on, you know, long time listeners will know that ah earlier this year, my editor at Tor asked me to send pitches for new story ideas for my option.

08:54.97
Jeffe Kennedy
For those who don't know, when you sign a book contract, my contract with Tor was for two books. And then they have an option for the next book in the series, for example.

09:09.62
Jeffe Kennedy
And I am lost my train of thought. So would be like for the next book in that world or in that exact genre that they get the option to look at it.

09:24.54
Jeffe Kennedy
um And this can be a more or less formal thing, ah depending on how the book is done. But so Ali Fisher, to my lovely editor, and assistant editor Diana Vega, who is equally delightful, asked me for a pitch for Never the Roses book three, and then a new story idea.

09:48.57
Jeffe Kennedy
So I came up with eight different pitches for things that I would be interested in writing. And I was super excited because um i was excited that they wanted to hear about a new story idea from from me.

10:05.11
Jeffe Kennedy
um And I have a very exciting If I whisper it, I'm not. um It's not inked yet, so I can't announce publicly. But I got very exciting news this week.

10:21.43
Jeffe Kennedy
bu bubo And I will tell you as soon as I can.

10:27.99
Jeffe Kennedy
So anyway, um of these eight story ideas, Allie picked one. I think Deanna was in on the picking. um And we had a call and we discussed both what Never the Roses book three would look like and about this story idea. And they asked me to flesh both out for them a bit more based on our conversation.

10:53.70
Jeffe Kennedy
That's all I can say right now. Anyway. um

11:00.86
Jeffe Kennedy
Sorry. I really don't want to be a tease, but I feel like I can't say it. But the funny and relevant part of this story is that one of the ideas that fortunately they did not pick is has some very um elemental overlap with Lexi's book.

11:27.16
Jeffe Kennedy
um To the point that it's, I was like, oh, I'm glad they didn't pick that story because I would have had to like rethink with having read Night Tide. um it's It's probably not that much overlap, but it was close enough that I sent Lexi my pitch and said, it check this out.

11:50.65
Jeffe Kennedy
And she thought it was funny. But we were talking about this syndrome that, you know, things are, um that we see happen a lot is that oh there's two sides to this. One is there's only so many story ideas, especially given the tropes um and fantasy underpinnings and things that we find interesting about, um romantasy and fantasy romance.

12:21.14
Jeffe Kennedy
ah That there are things i absolutely recognized. um That's not what I want to say. Sorry, I do have book brain. I've been working hard on the book.

12:33.99
Jeffe Kennedy
On Blade's books and the bandit. But Yeah, there's just like certain story elements that are going to turn up, right? You know, and every once while somebody has a fit about it. And I knew that Lexi would not be bothered. So we were talking about the fact that there's like only, you know, that there's certain elements of ideas that are going to go around. But also that if you give two different writers or 27 different writers the exact same story prompt,

13:05.98
Jeffe Kennedy
prompt you're going to get wildly varying stories. So like, even if I had been going ahead with, with my idea, um, it would have gone in a very different direction than hers. And she was telling me that she saw an anthology where somebody wrote the copy, the actual copy, what I'm calling, you know, like my pitch is kind of like the back cover copy. And,

13:31.38
Jeffe Kennedy
that everybody wrote stories from that. Um, and you've got wildly different stories and that's where author voice comes in. Um, you know, it comes from you. You're always going to tell a different kind of story, especially if you're not using generative AI, which can only copy what other people have done.

13:52.28
Jeffe Kennedy
Then you might not get that creative variation.

13:58.49
Jeffe Kennedy
So I find that interesting though, um that we both had kind of a similar basic premise for who the the heroine is, what her origin story is. That was very, very similar there. And it's, it's clearly a great idea. And she's so wonderful. She's like, I hope you get to write this someday. And I was like, Oh, maybe I will. Maybe I won't. But I was, um I'm amused when that happens. And you know,

14:29.27
Jeffe Kennedy
Elizabeth Gilbert, who is, um oh she's kind of gone down like the crazy train, hasn't she? Maybe she's always been a little bit.

14:40.92
Jeffe Kennedy
But things have gotten stranger with her lately. oh She wrote in, i think it was in Big Magic, something like that. It's a book about writing and creativity, which a lot of people love. And I see it recommended. And I know I did a full breakdown of it on the podcast a while back. You could probably find it if you search for it.

15:06.26
Jeffe Kennedy
But um I did not love this book, not like other people do. I thought there was a fair amount of BS in the book. I didn't agree with her on a lot of the things. And one of the things she talks about is this whole idea of like being gifted story ideas from from the heavens or what have you. And that if you don't write it that it'll come to you and it'll linger for a while. And if you don't use it if you don't write it then it'll go find someone else to write it.

15:35.67
Jeffe Kennedy
And she was talking about how she had had this story idea that she kept not getting to. I don't remember for whatever reason. And then Ann Patchett wrote a book that was like this idea. Because she said eventually the idea had stopped bothering her. It went away. she didn't have it anymore. And then she fully believes that it went and found Ann Patchett, who then wrote it.

15:59.90
Jeffe Kennedy
um And that was a State of Wonder was Ann Patchett's book, which is not my favorite Ann Patchett book, but that's neither here nor there.

16:12.47
Jeffe Kennedy
Anyway, I think I really differ from Elizabeth on this in that I think she sees these as like these unique story ideas that are really potent.

16:28.47
Jeffe Kennedy
ah And I do think that stories, I mean, obviously, Never the Roses fell on me from out of the sky and made me write it. And I do think that that happens. But I think the the feeling that these stories are somehow unique and that they if you don't write it, then it goes to someone else and they get the story. Um, I think probably what have, what would have been much more likely is that, um, Elizabeth Gilbert would have written her version of this idea and, and Patchett would have written her version and they would have been incredibly different books because they're very different writers and they're different human beings. Um,

17:11.96
Jeffe Kennedy
I don't think it would have seemed like overlap at all. I think that this kind of overlap happens a lot um because only so many stories out in the world, but also, um yeah, I do think that there are certain things. I think there's a reason Lexi and I were both thinking of this particular foundational premise.

17:38.26
Jeffe Kennedy
And who knows, um it may never come up for me to write it because I'm going to i'm going to write something else. That was not the idea that they picked, which tells you a lot right there.

17:53.24
Jeffe Kennedy
So other than that, I've been um working hard on Blades Books and The Bandit. trying to work hard on it anyway. um i have been having a difficult time getting my attention on this book and I'm having to do things like um use freedom for PC so I don't go online while I'm writing. And i my habits have fallen apart. I was complaining to my therapist, have I mentioned I'm in therapy, ah that it's all this self-care shit. Yeah.

18:26.65
Jeffe Kennedy
Because like I got in this habit of, you know, like lingering in bed in the morning, I wake up early, but I linger in bed and I read. And it was this whole, oh, you know, be kind to yourself and self care. And that's like, but I have to get work done.

18:40.95
Jeffe Kennedy
um But she pointed out very gently, she is delightful. She's like, well, you needed to do those things. That was something that you needed to do for a while there. And now maybe it's time for you to, you know,

18:57.50
Jeffe Kennedy
be a little bit tougher on yourself so you can get the work done that you need to and I think that's right. So, nuff of that self care shit.

19:08.66
Jeffe Kennedy
No, no, I'm still doing it. She was saying that I need to, her big thing is that I need to do things for me that are fun, that make me happy. So I'm working on that.

19:19.83
Jeffe Kennedy
um Speaking of which, Kelly Robson is coming to visit. She'll be here Sunday. So we will have fun. I'll see if she wants to do the podcast with me on Tuesday. And then I will be at Apollycon for Friday. So no podcast on Friday.

19:36.09
Jeffe Kennedy
But maybe maybe a Kelly podcast on Tuesday. So I hope you all have a fantastic weekend. And I will talk to you all on Tuesday.

19:48.36
Jeffe Kennedy
You all take care. Bye-bye.