Our First-Draft Summer Pact

Spring break writing wins, a faux lip ring verdict, and the announcement of a big summer challenge: both hosts commit to finishing their first drafts by Labor Day. Krisserin wrote three times this week and Kelton locked her gothic novel's timeline and finally wrote the prologue she didn't know she needed. They also get into Kazuo Ishiguro's “Never Let Me Go” (craft: yes, ending: no), Juliet Marillier's “Daughter of the Forest” series that BookTok surfaced from 1999, the screen-time-as-wealth discourse, and why a playwright's Japanese jail stint made them briefly reconsider their productivity strategies.

Books mentioned:
The Possession of Alba Diaz by Isabel Cañas
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier
Unaccustomed to Grace by Lesley Bannatyne
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

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Instagram: @keltonkin, @keltonwrites
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Krisserin's Substack: krisserin.substack.com

Music by Golden Hour Oasis Studios

Transcript

Kelton 0:00

Hi Chris.

Krisserin 0:00

Hi, Kelton.

Kelton 0:01

How you doing?

Krisserin 0:02

Good. Yeah, it's, um, spring break here in Los

Kelton 0:07

Oh,

Krisserin 0:09

Yeah, so it's actually been a little bit more relaxing this week, but unfortunately for us, California decided to be springy, like truly springy. So it's been cold, and I mean cold. It's been like 60 in the mid sixties and, um, it rained.

Kelton 0:28

oh,

Krisserin 0:29

I know. Imagine that. It's been a, a calm and pleasant week. How has your week been?

Kelton 0:35

we got six inches of snow last night.

Krisserin 0:37

Hey,

Kelton 0:39

Yeah. So that's good for the environment. Everybody's very happy about that. It is, it's cold. Again, it's just like a little, I, I'm, I am happy for the environment, but ha, having been so warm for so long now my body's like, but I was warm. Why aren't we warm anymore?

Speaker 0:59

I'm Krisserin Canary. And I'm Kelton Wright. Follow our quest to publish our first novels from first drafts, to query letters through inevitable rejections

Speaker 2 1:07

and hopefully eventual success

Speaker 1:09

from California to

Speaker 2 1:10

Colorado. This is pen pals.

Kelton 1:12

But we're, we're not talking about the most crucial thing that happened in this past week and a half for me, cran, which is you saw, I wrote in a note on Substack notes about a shipping notification that caught me by surprise.

Krisserin 1:28

Okay.

Kelton 1:28

Do you remember?

Krisserin 1:30

no.

Kelton 1:32

You don't remember either?

Krisserin 1:34

is it your

Kelton 1:34

Yes. It's that I got, I, one day I just got a shipping notification from Etsy that was like, your faux lip ring is on the way. And I had completely forgotten that in the middle of the night with a screaming toddler. I was just like, yeah, I'll get one.

Krisserin 1:49

looks good.

Kelton 1:50

And so now I'm wearing it this morning for you.

Krisserin 1:52

I did notice when I logged on that you were wearing it and it seemed like so natural, like it fits your face so well.

Kelton 2:01

Yeah, well this is what I, I thought might happen. I wanted to get, now that I have like returned to my mental state in that time I was like, I wonder if I could pull off a lip ring. And I thought the easiest way to figure that out would be to just buy a fake one and wear it for a day. And the reality is I can visually pull it off, but the feeling of it rubbing against my teeth,

Krisserin 2:27

take

Kelton 2:29

I know. I just wanted you to see it. I wanted the proof point for our listeners and watchers that I wore it and now I'm gonna save it for special occasions.'cause it is annoying. Yes,

Krisserin 2:42

We're gonna be talking for an hour.

Kelton 2:44

it's so annoying.

Krisserin 2:45

oh man.

Kelton 2:47

gonna have to try something else to like edge myself out into a new identity in my forties. It's not that.

Krisserin 2:54

I mean, you could get another nose piercing.

Kelton 2:56

Yeah. But like,

Krisserin 2:58

You could

Kelton 2:59

I, I don't know.

Krisserin 3:00

that goes across the bridge of your nose and connects to the other side.

Kelton 3:03

actually love those, I love the connection jewelry stuff that's happening.

Krisserin 3:08

Yeah.

Kelton 3:08

I'm mean, it, it's of course, it's like a, it's such a, it's such fantasy genre, jewelry

Krisserin 3:14

Oh,

Kelton 3:15

genre, jewelry. Um, and, uh, yeah. So not a lip ringing. I figured that out.

Krisserin 3:24

you know, people have like the inner part of their, uh, like inside their,

Kelton 3:28

Mm-hmm.

Krisserin 3:28

their front lip pierced and they have the piercing coming in front of their teeth. I always wonder how they stand that

Kelton 3:34

I know. Ooh, you know, I could do, I could do eyebrow.

Krisserin 3:37

You definitely could die. You could

Kelton 3:39

I could pull off eyebrow.

Krisserin 3:41

you

Kelton 3:41

All right. Well. Good thing. There's nowhere to get pierced in this region.

Krisserin 3:46

Oh,

Kelton 3:46

I'll call you when I go to Grand Junction.

Krisserin 3:49

I mean, you could buy one of those piercing guns off of, uh, Amazon if you're feeling really

Kelton 3:55

Oh my God.

Krisserin 3:56

people

Kelton 3:56

No, I definitely, definitely not.

Krisserin 3:58

Get, get a lighter and a safety pin and go a ham on your face. Well, I did remem I mean, when you said something like, really momentous happened, I was like, did I miss some news? But it was just

Kelton 4:11

No,

Krisserin 4:12

because

Kelton 4:13

that's, that's

Krisserin 4:14

didn't happen.

Kelton 4:15

totally, no, no, no momentous things happening over here. At least not in my cognition. You know, they could be happening in the background. Who knows what people are thinking and saying about us somewhere else on the timeline.

Krisserin 4:28

What kind of magic is happening behind the scenes? Just waiting to come into our lives. I, I hope it's out there. I hope our, we've got something brewing in the universe, but, your goal for the last week was to write, I think like two scenes, two

Kelton 4:42

That was right.

Krisserin 4:43

How did it go?

Kelton 4:45

I did it. I did it. I wrote, I didn't realize this novel had a prologue, but it does. I wrote it. I figured out some stuff with the, the narrator and the narration, and that the prologue is gonna establish that role. And then I wrote, a scene with my protagonist and the cabin that she's in, her building a relationship with the cabin. Like any gothic story, the setting is a, a large character in my book. And so in this setting, she is trying to make friends with her cabin. And it was, it was fun. It's a charming scene. It's like early in the book you're kind of getting a feel for the landscape and the character and it was just like, kind of fun to write you in. You introduce two other characters in this scene. So it was a, it was a good starting point and I did a lot of extra work this week on timeline. Since there is time is an element in this story and I knew that I wanted it to end in the nineties, I had to do a lot of like work back of like, okay, so how old is this person? And like, when did this person come into the story and like, when did this happen? And so I got the timeline locked. I felt really good about that'cause I had been hanging over my head as this like thing that did not make sense. And I also did a, a lot more, I had showed you my plot. Excel sheet and I did some, some updating in that.'cause there were just a couple moments where I was just like, what happens here? And like, where has this person earned their trust? So I, I put in a few more scenes in that, so I feel good. I feel like I just have to go to the document like three times a week and just churn out one or two scenes and, and I'll, I will have something that late summer maybe.

Krisserin 6:43

I have a question for you and I

Kelton 6:45

Mm-hmm.

Krisserin 6:46

for us. I was thinking about this, first of all, as a panther, I'm always just finding the story as I'm writing it, and so I'm very curious as someone who is plotting out their novel, in such a detailed fashion, are you then like writing towards goalposts? Like how does that work in terms of when you're sitting down to write a scene? Are you thinking to yourself, this scene needs to get my character here, or is it very clearly like mapped out in your mind? And then how do you then find surprises while you are your story?

Kelton 7:27

I, I don't know is the answer. Obviously I've never done this before, you know, so I am trying something and what it made me think of while you're describing it is like when you're dating and you kind of have like. In your mind, you have a, a list, a loose idea, some values, you're like, this is what I'm going after. And then obviously as you're dating, things change. You meet someone new, something happens unexpectedly. And I expect that to happen as I write this book too. Um, I, I, you know, when I was just pantsing it and just writing scenes before, a lot of those scenes are trash now. They, like, they have no place in the book. They, they don't even inform characters. They were just wrong. And I, I think some of that will happen this time. I think as I'm writing and as I get momentum, characters might pop up or, you know, plot points might change and I just have to go with it. But I know that I needed this guidance for myself to get out there and like have some parameters of like, it's not doing this and it's not doing this. You know, when I think back on my list of like desires for a partner, you know, Ben is, Ben is foundationally exactly that list, but in terms of check marks, very, very different. And I expect the book to do the same. So obviously I'll be letting everybody know what happens when I get to a scene and I'm like, this doesn't make sense. But right now, like when I write the scene, I'm like, okay, this person doesn't know this and will only know this amount by the end of the scene and this person has to experience this by this point in order for this to happen later. And like maybe that architecture falls apart. But I feel good about the foundation.

Krisserin 9:21

I like that. I like that you're like, I've never done this before. Um,

Kelton 9:26

I.

Krisserin 9:28

I don't know. I find it interesting that this is your first, like, novel that you're writing, and surprising, I should say, considering how much you've written in your life, this is the first time you've actually sat down and out a book in this

Kelton 9:44

Yeah.

Krisserin 9:44

novel. Um, so our ch the Challenge if you choose to accept it,

Kelton 9:50

Hmm.

Krisserin 9:50

think that both you and I should aim to have the first drafts our novels, my middle School Love Story and your novel. Keep written Loose, like Shitty Spaghetti

Kelton 10:07

Mm-hmm.

Krisserin 10:08

right the end, at the end of our manuscript by the end of summer Labor Day.

Kelton 10:12

I think that I listen, longtime listeners will recognize this challenge as something we had proposed before and did not do. I think you probably got closer to finishing whatever that challenge was last. Last time than I did, but I, this year am on board. I don't see any reason why I can't do that. I have made sure that my calendar is like light and breezy throughout the summer. This is my goal. I have it mapped out there. I just, you know, knock on all the wood in my house. It's, there's a ton of wood, but I think that that is a feasible goal for me. And, honestly, if I can't achieve that goal, we just have to kick me off the podcast. Okay. I've served my purpose. Someone else needs to come on.

Krisserin 11:03

Oh man. That's never happening. But, okay. I, I just had this, you know, I'm having fun writing the book. I did. Achieve my goal this week. And I think it's in large part to the fact that my kids are on spring break. I realize I spend much time them ready for school, the night before, making sure that they've done their homework, getting them up in the morning, getting them up the door. I spent hours, pick hours picking them up.

Kelton 11:35

Yeah.

Krisserin 11:35

think you would think pickup takes hours. It takes literal hours. And so I have, you know, found that I've gotten a lot of my day back just by them being at home. I mean, unfortunately they're at home and they're on they're fucking devices and just

Kelton 11:51

Hmm.

Krisserin 11:52

screen rotting. But, I was able to, I forced myself to write three times this week because I said that I would, and I literally did it in really random times during the day. On Monday, I sat outside. It was such a beautiful day at, by the pool and in a hammock and hand wrote the beginning of a short story that I had kind of brewing in my head. and then yesterday I worked on the novel. I wrote a whole chapter, from principal's point of view.

Kelton 12:24

Ooh,

Krisserin 12:25

multi POV in this book. So this week I've written, what is that? words? Not too shabby, of the book. And then last night I wrote another couple hundred words and then I transcribed my story into Scrivener so that I had it digitally written. But it just made me think that during the summer, despite some travel that we have, which I think will disrupt my ability to work on the book, I didn't sign the kids up for anything like no summer camp for in Portland. I'm gonna sign them up for summer camp. But I, I think that that will take a lot of the pressure off of needing to be in the car all the time and I can spend more time working on the book. But yeah, the average time that I spent working was, I mean, the time of day that I spent working is very different than when I normally work. It was five o'clock in the afternoon, three, four or five o'clock in the afternoon. Because I said I would write three times last night. I was writing until like 10 30 at night, which my brain was just like fried. But I did it.

Kelton 13:31

Mm-hmm.

Krisserin 13:32

I did it. So,

Kelton 13:33

You did it.

Krisserin 13:34

we have our goal for

Kelton 13:35

We have our goal. We have our goal.

Krisserin 13:38

We have our goal for the summer. Well,

Kelton 13:41

I have to loop back to your girls on their devices.'cause this morning I get to, I do a really, we do a great job with Woods. I think in not letting him have screen time, he gets to watch one YouTube channel. And that is this man named Mathias in this Swedish arctic circle who does public works. And it's not for children. It's like for learning how to lay like a concrete foundation in a marsh bog. You know, it's like, it's vlogging, slow vlogging with giant machines. And just one man who's like, I think I'm gonna go get the gravel truck. We're gonna get some gravel for the excavator and woods is just like the excavator. So like when we need a moment, he gets to watch Mathias in Sweden near the Arctic Circle. But this morning. As we were getting outta bed, we're still co-sleeping and my phone is on the nightstand next to the bed. He got out bed, got the phone and was like, would he carry phone? And I was like, Hmm, whatcha doing with the phone? And he goes, W what's he calling Woods? He calling Nani Woods's, he calling elt. And I was just like, okay. He is like carrying it around. He is like, would he listen to music? And I was like, give it back to me, gimme the phone. And I was like, alright. I think this is a good reason to just keep it in a different room, keep it elevated, like just keep it out of his paws. Um, for the most part, he doesn't get to ever look at it. And like occasionally he gets kind of like, like woodsy wants to look at pictures of woodsy. And I'm just like, no. We have a book printed of photos with him, so when he is ever, he asks for photos. I'm always just like, let's look at the woodsy book. But he is starting to be like, you love your device, do I love your device? And I'm like, no, no, you don't. It's hard, um, when it's like, you know, you're just hanging out and like he's playing with his lima beans and his excavator and I'm like, I just wanna look at some rugs for the kitchen. It's like, no, you don't get to anymore. You just, you gotta sit here, leave your phone on the counter. It's time.

Krisserin 15:57

Yeah, I saw a clip. It was on TikTok. I spent a lot of time on TikTok this week. As you're saying this, I'm like, mm. My screen time is so bad. Um, I think on Monday, boy, I went to San Francisco. I think I was on TikTok for like. I don't wanna say I'm so embarrassed. I think it was from like eight until midnight. I sat in my bed and dim school on TikTok.

Kelton 16:22

I mean, I get it.

Krisserin 16:24

yeah. Um, but I saw a video where it was like an interview about how there are like no screen time is a status symbol for elites who can afford

Kelton 16:38

Mm-hmm.

Krisserin 16:39

use screens to watch their children. How a screen free household was indicative of extreme wealth. And I find that to be annoying. I hate that so much. And it's

Kelton 16:52

Yeah.

Krisserin 16:53

Um, my kids have a lot of screens. I mean, they literally both have TVs in their bedroom, and that is only because we got new TVs. And then we were like, what do we do with, we're not gonna throw them away.

Kelton 17:05

Mm-hmm.

Krisserin 17:05

Whatever. Um, they both have Nintendos, Sabine got a PS five for Christmas.

Kelton 17:13

Amazing.

Krisserin 17:13

one video game

Kelton 17:15

Yeah.

Krisserin 17:16

all the time. Um, and then Ren is on animal crossing. She's like, you know,

Kelton 17:23

Yeah. Girl,

Krisserin 17:24

or whatever.

Kelton 17:25

I had my animal crossing face.

Krisserin 17:26

Yeah, I mean, so they don't, I mean, they don't have social media and

Kelton 17:30

Mm-hmm.

Krisserin 17:31

to God they never will. They don't watch TikTok, the only tiktoks they watch. I like curate a TikTok collection for them and I save them specific videos that I think they should watch and would enjoy. And they range. That's a lot of cat videos

Kelton 17:44

Yeah.

Krisserin 17:44

loves cats. And then, um, for Sabine it's like other, other types of videos. But, um, I don't let them watch YouTube at all. Uh, there's only like a few, like one creator on YouTube that I let them watch. And it's actually great. It's called Kid Time, story Time. And the storyteller like reads books and has puppets and, um, Ren loves it actually. She has a, I had spent$40 for Rens birthday last year. The woman recorded a video, like a personalized video for Ren. Uh, and you can pick the characters you want in the video, like the puppets from her show. And it was really sweet. She, it was like a five minute, it was supposed to be like a minute video. It was, she ended up being like five minutes of her. rent, seeing how proud she was, that she was getting better at reading. It was great. It was

Kelton 18:28

That's amazing.

Krisserin 18:29

It was amazing. I mean, so screens can be good. I definitely feel like, uh, a lot of a mom guilt for them being on them a lot. And then I'm, I'm on them a lot too. Um, but when we go to Portland, we leave the screens behind and then they spend a lot

Kelton 18:43

That's nice.

Krisserin 18:45

building

Kelton 18:45

was thinking,

Krisserin 18:46

backyard.

Kelton 18:48

I was thinking about that wealth element. Um. One of the wellness influencers I suppose, that I sometimes enjoy. She was speaking on her podcast with her, the therapist that, works for her company talking about going off Instagram and she was just saying like how much better she felt and how it, you don't need it and all this stuff. And I was like, bitch, you are a multimillionaire. You have a whole team set up to sell your products. You talk about your many real estate properties and your investments. You're right, you don't need Instagram because you're not selling anything anymore on Instagram. Like the system is set up for you. If you disappeared and didn't sell another thing for the rest of your life, you would be financially set. Yeah. You don't need a public persona in that way. I was just like, this is nonsense advice. And like her co-host is like, oh my god. Totally. While she's like desperately trying to launch a YouTube series. And

Krisserin 19:54

Oh man.

Kelton 19:55

I was like, this is, this is bullshit. You can't say this advice without like con context around it. You know,'cause I like, as much as I wanna like put down screens away from the child, I'm like, well, I still need to kind of capture some content for Instagram and I still need to like film myself outside to like promote the rewilding and I still need to do this and this and this. It's like I'm still selling the Spring Almanac for the Rewilding and I haven't posted about it outside of my newsletter anywhere. And I'm like, what am I doing? I spent all this time on it. It's like I need to sell it. So it's, it's, it's such a,

Krisserin 20:30

say to you? She loves your platform.

Kelton 20:32

yeah. She loves my platform and I was like, fuck, I need to take care of this platform.

Krisserin 20:40

I don't want a platform. I want a book.

Kelton 20:43

I know. I mean, I have been seeing. More, I'm still kind of an Instagram girly over TikTok. I never really, I never got deep enough in the talk. But when I do scroll the reels, I do get a lot of literary content now, and I get a lot of book announcements and a lot of the people I'm seeing their book announcements, they have like 500 to 5,000 followers. You know, they're like normals. And I'm like, so it's not, it's not mandatory. Like, is it nice to have a substack following? Sure. But you, you don't need it if the book is sick.

Krisserin 21:20

I think that's true for fiction. I think for nonfiction

Kelton 21:23

Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Nonfiction. I feel like you do kind of have to be famous.

Krisserin 21:29

Fuck. Um, yeah, it sucks. I hate, I hate this timeline. I hate it here. I wish I did. I mean, I'm not a big Instagram person. I don't really like posting

Kelton 21:39

Mm-hmm.

Krisserin 21:40

I don't like, I hate taking selfies. I hate putting myself in videos. It's very uncomfortable for me. but I love the, uh, you know, anonymous nature of TikTok where I can just consume. Hours and hours of short form video. But I do feel like it's rotting my brain. I, I do, I like, literally when I, I'm working, I'll be in a meeting and I, this happened to me yesterday. I was like, oh God, was I tuning out one of my direct reports? Kept saying like, was talking, but then would like say my name to like, you seen that video where it was like, look over here, look over here. I was like, oh God, what's wrong with me? My focus is just fucked. Yeah, it's, would just love to escape and only be in a place where it's beautiful and can just focus on writing and not have to deal with taking my kids to school. I'd

Kelton 22:39

Yeah, I mean.

Krisserin 22:40

to school and we could just live in the

Kelton 22:42

And we could just live. I do think about the last time that I, that I really had a concerted effort in fiction and made something really cool, was in 2014 at a retreat in Guatemala where they didn't have internet. And it was just like, yeah, I spent seven days in a beautiful location where food was prepared, away from any kind of responsibility. I didn't have kids, I didn't even have a bed, and I just was like writing my little heart out. And I, you know, I think about, when Rachel Hawser told us that to write Lady Tremaine, she took a sabbatical from work, I think it was like seven or eight months. And, you know, she still had a full family responsibility. And I, I believe at the time her husband was recovering. And so it's like, obviously there was a lot on her plate, but to simply not have. I think she also still at her puzzle company. But to not have your day job

Krisserin 23:39

Yeah.

Kelton 23:40

you are trying to write is so freeing and impactful. And like, to your point, to not have to get the kids ready. Like, I mean, I, I am having, we're having a great time right now because Woods does wanna start every day with a dance party. And so we turn on disco every morning and like, just blast it. And Woods, he thinks that dancing is just running and grunting. Um, and so that's really joyful. But I also am like, get out of the house, get out, get him ready, and get him out of the house. I need to start writing and I don't get, like, they left at like nine 15 this morning and it's like. There's no time before their responsibilities begin. And that is really hard. And so part of my writing was on my phone in bed, wall Woods was asleep. I've tried the laptop. It's too bright. Um, and, uh, so I just have to tip tap on my phone, which I hate. I hate writing on my phone.

Krisserin 24:43

You can get those, um, privacy screens for your laptop screen so that only you see the light

Kelton 24:50

That makes sense.

Krisserin 24:51

uhhuh.

Kelton 24:53

Oh shit.

Krisserin 24:54

Uh, I have one, uh, I don't know where I got it from, but I'll ask boy on and I'll send you the link. But yeah,

Kelton 25:00

Okay.

Krisserin 25:00

you put it on your screen and then like everyone else can't see it and only you have to sit directly in front of it to

Kelton 25:07

Okay.

Krisserin 25:08

to see the light come through.

Kelton 25:09

I can do that.

Krisserin 25:11

yeah.'cause I, yeah, I don't, Ima I dunno how you write on your phone people. A lot of

Kelton 25:15

I,

Krisserin 25:15

do. I

Kelton 25:16

I hate it.

Krisserin 25:16

that write on their phones, but

Kelton 25:18

I really struggle with it. Um, it's not like it's writing that I know I have to go back and like really edit.

Krisserin 25:26

Yeah.

Kelton 25:27

but at least some of it's getting done.

Krisserin 25:29

Yeah. I was actually literally telling the story about Rachel's sabbatical to Boyan the other day. I was like, she took, she took time off from work. Boyan.

Kelton 25:40

Are you listening?

Krisserin 25:42

Are you, are you hearing what I'm saying? Every time he gets some sort of like, raise or bonus, I'm like, so can I quit my job now? is like, lady, do you wanna retire or not? Shit. I know. I know. I know, I know. Um,

Kelton 25:59

Yeah.

Krisserin 26:00

I know. Um, I did think about our retreat though. It keeps coming back to me. It keeps coming back to me. I, I was listening to the eighth anniversary episode of Bad On Paper. Our friend Olivia and Becca, which is incredible. Congratulations to them. Eight years of one. Well, Olivia's been on the podcast for four. Becca's been on the podcast for eight. And I was thinking about Olivia's retreat that she did, and then I've been taking some voice lessons. I was like, we're gonna have at least one karaoke night at our retreat. At least one.

Kelton 26:37

I love this.

Krisserin 26:38

It has to happen whether it's show tunes or Disney or or whatever genre of music. So if you're gonna come to our retreat, which by the way, Amanda Boyle did write back and she was like, I would come to a pen pals retreat. So by all of those listening out there, dust off your, your windpipes because we will be singing,

Kelton 26:55

You're just making me think I forgot about this, but the last trust in travel retreat I went on, there's a show and tell at the end of like some of the writing you've done there. And I wrote, a song for a musical and I sang that song for them. I, I have completely forgotten about that.

Krisserin 27:13

I

Kelton 27:13

even know where that song is now, but I was like, I'm gonna write a Disney musical. Then I went home and was like, what?

Krisserin 27:22

Do you know how many of our guests, I've like read their bios to get ready for publishing their episodes and they are self-described Theater kids? I feel like our audience is down. I feel like we're not the

Kelton 27:34

I feel like they're down. I know. I mean, the theater kid in me runs deep.

Krisserin 27:39

Deep, deep, deep, deep. I'm really sad because, at the Hollywood Bowl tomorrow, Ben Platt and Rachel Ziglar are performing the last five years and no one will go with me. No

Kelton 27:49

Aw,

Krisserin 27:50

go with me. I,

Kelton 27:53

that sucks.

Krisserin 27:54

I

Kelton 27:54

I would love to go.

Krisserin 27:56

All right, well come, I'll buy the ticket you get here. I'll buy you to the Hollywood Bowl ticket. I'll

Kelton 28:01

Thanks.

Krisserin 28:02

garden terrorist seats or whatever.

Kelton 28:04

Oh my God. I can't wait until I have weaned this child.

Krisserin 28:10

Yeah. How's that going?

Kelton 28:14

So last night before we went to bed, he was nursing and he was like, booby goes to sleep at night. And I was like, yes, yes. Booby goes to sleep at night. But he had a horrible night last night. Um, and like he was just like crying in pain before I had even like. Even mentioned you're not getting milk. And so the first time I just was like, okay, I'm gonna rock you. I'm gonna carry you around. And he fell back asleep, but then it was just like over and over and over again and he's like getting a molar or had a poop or something like that. And so I was just like, all right, I'm just, we're just gonna nurse tonight.

Krisserin 28:53

Yeah.

Kelton 28:54

Uh,'cause he, the book says, the night weaning book that we're using is very much like they need to understand the concept before you can start doing it. And so he now is clearly starting to understand the concept and he's talking about it on his own. And so then they're like, okay, once they get it, then you pick a night where you're, you stick to your guns and you tell them that, that it's gonna be that night. And I hadn't done that, so I was just like, I don't have to do it tonight. But it feel, it does feel like imminent. He also has, this is interesting to me. He also has decided that he does not like right boob. He'll drink a little from it and he'll go. Don't like this one. And I read a long time ago that like they have different flavors, different consistencies, and he's just like, don't like this one. And I'm like, great. Stop drinking it. We'll lock this one off. You know? I don't care what kind of weird mastitis I get. We can lock it off, bud. Yeah. Just have one dangler. We're having apples and pancakes for breakfast, buddy.

Krisserin 29:57

Ugh. You know, that was what I was gonna say is that at that age, it's so hard because you cannot reason with them.

Kelton 30:05

Mm-hmm.

Krisserin 30:06

with a toddler, really. Like, even if they understand the concept, sometimes they just don't give a shit. They're like,

Kelton 30:13

Yeah. Yeah. And like the one thing that he is good about is, ouchies. So the one time that I did get like he a cut on one of the nipples and was like, can't drink that one. It's healing. It has an ouchie. He'd just be like, oh, ouchie. Oh no. And they would just leave it alone. So I think in the end I'm probably just gonna have to put band-aids over both of'em and be like, ouchies, the ouchies haven't gone away.

Krisserin 30:41

I can't wait to meet this kid. I, hopefully I'll get to meet him in July when I'm in Santa Fe. Bring him

Kelton 30:46

Yeah. Yeah. That'd be great.

Krisserin 30:48

what a sweetheart. Oh. I am reading, did you ever finish the possession of Alba Di, or did you

Kelton 30:55

I did.

Krisserin 30:55

across the room? Okay.

Kelton 30:57

No, I did. And you were right that it does pick up, about like halfway through. And, it, it was good. I liked it.

Krisserin 31:05

Okay. That sounds, it's very convincing, like.

Kelton 31:09

I, I liked it. It was good. You know, I would recommend it. I think, I don't, what I don't recommend is reading it so close to how, when I read Mexican Gothic, because in that way they did real, they felt in the beginning very similar. They, they really diverge. But, I just felt like I was a little bit reading the same book again. And that's not fair to either of those authors because they're really different writing styles. And they're both really fun books. But they, you know, they have their similarities. But I did really enjoy it in the end. I also, I've been doing a lot of reading. I just read, never Let me Go by. KA

Krisserin 31:50

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Kelton 31:51

Oh, really? Amazingly well written. Really, really well crafted, and I hated it with my whole heart.

Krisserin 32:03

Have you read Remains of the, have you read any of his books?

Kelton 32:05

No, it was my first book of his and I mean, it's obviously Top Craft. I read the whole thing in like two days and I hated it. So, congratulations. Congratulations to that man, for being such a good writer. You know, the thing is that, like we've talked about this a bunch. I go to reading for Fun and adventure and Whimsy and Delight,

Krisserin 32:31

Mm-hmm.

Kelton 32:32

that book, that book, it's been out for forever. There's a movie, I just, I don't know why I'm worried about spoilers, but it, it just, it's such a good examination of the human condition and I didn't relate to a single character in the book is sort of where I was left being like, that's it,

Krisserin 32:55

Mm-hmm.

Kelton 32:56

how this ends. Are you shitting me? Um, and so it did, but I wanted to, I wanted to read about, I was looking for books where there is kind of a, not necessarily like a magical system, but a system of rules that is never fully explained and that you, that the reader just kind of has to trust the writer and like, not worry about. The details. Um, and that, that, that was a great book for that.

Krisserin 33:30

I, yeah, I don't, is why I don't read books written by men. I don't know why. I just, uh, I really, and I'm with you. I really struggle to read anything that not just fully immersed in and, and enjoying and takes like, you know, completely transports me, even if it's really well written. Um, there's a lot of books that I just put down. I'm like,

Kelton 33:57

This book did transport me.

Krisserin 33:59

Put me pushing me to wanna finish it. You know, it's

Kelton 34:02

It's just, it's a short book and I was fully transported, but the, like, the best analogy I can give without giving away the whole book as it's like, it's like the characters get on a pirate ship and then at the end of the book when you think there's gonna be some kind of mutiny, they all just agree to walk off the plank. And you're like, that's the end of the book. We've just been at sea on this roaring adventure. For them to just be like, well, I guess it's just time to die now.

Krisserin 34:29

It's like when I finished the, the Road by Cormac McCarthy and I was like, fuck this book. You gotta be shitting me. It was like Silver Linings playbook moment.

Kelton 34:40

Ugh,

Krisserin 34:40

the

Kelton 34:41

good.

Krisserin 34:41

to it. I, I would've thrown it across the room if I had a physical copy of it. But yeah. Um, I finished and then realized there are five more of this series. Uh, daughter of the Wood by. Juliet Marlie

Kelton 34:57

Yes.

Krisserin 34:57

Mar. Have you read it?

Kelton 34:59

No, but I've seen that you post about it.

Krisserin 35:01

Oh my God. It was so hard to get into. It took so much willpower for me to get past, I would say like the first quarter of the

Kelton 35:13

Okay.

Krisserin 35:13

But then I was up till like three o'clock in the, I had my daughter's birthday party on Saturday, which was a hoot. stayed up until almost four o'clock in the morning reading that book afterwards, which saying something, considering the last kid left at like 10, 15. There's six of them, and now I'm on the second book and I'm really enjoying it. And it's, pure fantasy. It's very witchy. I bet Julia Marley is like a. I'm sure she's a witch. Um, a

Kelton 35:39

Yeah.

Krisserin 35:39

praying to the, the cardinal directions and the old gods and, just really enjoying it. And I, I, as I was thinking about it, I'm like, Kelton would love this book, but now I don't know if I actually know Kelton's taste in books a hundred percent. If she didn't like Alva Diaz. I will say, just for listeners, the first book does have sexual violence in it. So if that is not your thing, don't read it or skip through that. It's kind of evident what's gonna happen. You can probably just like skip through that part, but it is a big part of the plot. But I'm just really enjoying being transported and, it made me think about my own writing in, in a way that it was a little bit of a eureka moment for me. I think that so much of what I've focused on, especially when you're in revision mode, craft and plot and who needs to know what, when, et cetera. But a huge portion of this novel, or a, a big theme throughout the novel storytelling and the power of storytelling. And they tell these ancient stories around, you know, in, in the old way around a fire with a group and it reminded me that I am a story. We are storytellers, we are writers. Yes.'cause we are transcribing these stories down. But our, the thing that we like to do is to tell stories. getting back to that has unlocked something in me and in the short story that was working on that kind of was born from. Inspired by an anime that boy was watching that kind of, I, I tend to zone out when he is watching them, but this one kind of caught my attention. And it was a science fiction anime, so that makes sense that I'd be like, oh, what are you watching? Was sitting down and just the story in a way that was more like I was telling it. The character is recounting it. And in the book, Juliet Mar does a really good job of reminding us that we are listening to a story'cause she will stop and say like this, at this point, no one understood the consequences of this event on what was going to happen later

Kelton 37:49

I should read this because this is a little, what I'm trying to do with my narrator. The narrator in my novel is not revealed until the final chapter. And I think, you know, astute readers will have their guesses, but, I like someone who has like that bird's eye view. So I will pick that up. I will read it.'cause I love, I love when they do that.

Krisserin 38:09

You know, that's the funny thing about TikTok, because this book was a book talk recommended. It's a book that I added to my book collection on TikTok just to add to my TBR. And then it finally came, it was published in 1999. It is

Kelton 38:26

Love that

Krisserin 38:27

why there are six of them. I'm like, thank

Kelton 38:30

the

Krisserin 38:30

I, all I want in life. That's all I

Kelton 38:34

Mm-hmm.

Krisserin 38:34

wanna disappear into a multi-book fantasy story. That's all I

Kelton 38:41

You know,

Krisserin 38:42

Transport me

Kelton 38:43

speaking of the, the storytelling, I, I'm, I'm so far in on the story. I tell Woods at night, so I started telling him a fairytale I made up. Like a year ago, to fall asleep too. And I'll be like, are you ready to hear about the boy and the witch? And he's just like, yes, I'm ready., You know, and he's like, not even two yet. And I'm just like telling him this like fairytale. And I, it's one of those stories I've been working on orally for a year now, and I'm like, excited for when I can get to the point that I'm like, I'm ready to write it down. And there's like versions, there's like tone changes that I've like, enjoyed, like wafting through. But telling the story and making it up as I go is it reminds me of like the, one of my very first memories when I decided I wanted to be a writer. Um, it was actually one of like the very few positive memories I have with my brother. We were on the swing set, he was swinging, and he asked me to tell him a story, and I just made one up and just rattled off this long story. And at the end he stopped swinging and he was like, that was a really good story. And I was, I just felt so full of power. I was like, I just made that up. I just made that up. And he liked it. And so I, I think there is something sort of magical and like, you know, especially for like my Capricorn and Virgo tendencies that I can't write it down when I'm telling it to woods and rocking him to sleep. You know, it's like maybe I could like record a voice note, but I'm whispering it like I don't even think that would work. And it's so, it's just like I'm just telling a story, saying there's something magical to that.

Krisserin 40:22

I think there is something magical and that's. Why we write, it's why we want to record these stories, is there, is that there is a power in it. And I just wanna get back to that and not worry so much about all of this other shit. The Instagrams and the querying and the going on submission and the substack and all of that. It's like, fuck all of that. wanna whisper a story in my child's ear at the end of the day. We do that too. will be like, tell me a story. And then I make it up. It's like, is this the story about me? No, it's not about you. It's not about you. There's a little girl named Ren.

Kelton 41:05

I know I'm also like there's a little boy named Woods with a funny little dog,

Krisserin 41:11

yeah, yeah. With a big sister named Sabine. Uh, I

Kelton 41:17

except in this story I'm telling Woods his parents are dead. It's like a real Disney story. I know.

Krisserin 41:26

I was gonna say again on TikTok, I, is this playwright, and I'm not gonna remember his name. He was on a podcast and they were interviewing him because he got arrested in Japan. Have you heard about this guy? He got arrested in Japan and they put him in jail for 23 days and they're, and he's gonna publish it or he probably already has a substack about his experience. And they were, the two co-hosts were like, how was it? And he was like, white people would pay for this. He's like, I read 23 books and I filled six journals.

Kelton 41:59

Oh my God. I'm like, sign me up. Send me over

Krisserin 42:02

Send me to jail in Japan. so we just gotta find a way

Kelton 42:08

to smuggle some weed into Japan.

Krisserin 42:14

I don't know if I'd go that far, but go and

Kelton 42:16

Um, no, I don't wanna like broke down, palace myself overseas. But

Krisserin 42:22

I will

Kelton 42:23

do wanna host a retreat.

Krisserin 42:25

we do need to host a retreat. I filled out, I'm doing the desk tour with Olivia Mentor. It's

Kelton 42:31

So fun.

Krisserin 42:32

this month, and one of the questions she asks is like, what? Explain your ideal writing day. And I was like, if everyone left the house and it was by myself, that's all. That's all it takes

Kelton 42:48

Mm-hmm.

Krisserin 42:49

and not having to care take other people.

Kelton 42:52

Mm-hmm.

Krisserin 42:53

want.

Kelton 42:54

You know what I could use too is, no internet.

Krisserin 42:57

I need the internet for the music.

Kelton 42:59

I need a clean house. I need the house to already be clean and there not to be internet. And for no one to be in the house.

Krisserin 43:07

yeah, no one, no one in the house is a huge one for me. No one in the house, a coffee, food, like just getting something delivered

Kelton 43:15

Mm-hmm.

Krisserin 43:15

Think about cooking anything that would work wonders because very much like you, I have a lot of inspiration when I travel. Like when Boyan and I went on my

Kelton 43:27

Mm-hmm.

Krisserin 43:27

my birthday, I wrote a whole short story one morning the hotel room while he was sleeping

Kelton 43:34

Yeah.

Krisserin 43:34

have to go. We were, it was kind of, it was the first, or, yeah, it was like the first night that we were there and I woke up'cause of the jet lag and I just wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote until boy, I woke up and it was great. I wrote a whole short story.

Kelton 43:48

I would love also to go back to via Sumaya on Lake Aath Islam in Guatemala. One thing I found really amazing about writing there is that it's not very warm. The time of year I was there, I was in December, and so the highs were in like the sixties, maybe low seventies. And so it was just like you didn't have that malaise of being like hot

Krisserin 44:12

Mm-hmm.

Kelton 44:13

and you just had like your tea and your cozy sweaters and you did yoga, and it was like you just, you had to write, your body was like, this is not adventure weather. This is not beach weather. This is just like, get that, get that cup of tea. And I, I, I am craving that.

Krisserin 44:32

Yeah. Big Sir. Go to Big

Kelton 44:36

Yeah, big Sur is a good one. I mean, I, I live, I live in the setting of my novel, which I've been thinking about a lot lately that like, it, you know, the novel is like based on this town loosely. And so trying to like escape the modernity of it. You know, the other day I was like, I should go to the town hall and write.'Cause the town hall is from the 18 hundreds and it's like disgusting and full of mouse poop and has like moldy carpeting and like, you know, it just like has the, but it has the old vibe. It's like the photos are old, the walls are old, the doors are old. And I was like, I should just go in there when the town manager's not there and write and like, escape from the sound of like snowblowers and snowmobiles and cars and just be in there and be like, you are, you are in the past. You are in the past.

Krisserin 45:30

Yeah, I was, I was saying in the dust tour interview that I wish I could just build an a DU in the backyard

Kelton 45:37

Mm-hmm.

Krisserin 45:37

the door.

Kelton 45:39

Mm-hmm.

Krisserin 45:40

and no one could bother me. the

Kelton 45:42

But you, do you have room for like a shed back there?

Krisserin 45:46

we have this little dirt patch behind the den

Kelton 45:52

That's sort of what I'm thinking.

Krisserin 45:53

yeah, it used to have grass. It's kind of Luna's dig pit.

Kelton 45:57

Mm-hmm.

Krisserin 45:58

digger.

Kelton 45:59

Mm-hmm.

Krisserin 45:59

of digging back there. And there is, you know, a lot of back there, that boy and Kara takes for, we have like a whole wall of jasmine that just smells like magic. In the spring it already bloomed and died, which is a bummer. And a fig tree and rose bushes. But the, the dirt patches. Quite the, um, question mark, because part of me is like, we should have, we should put something back there for the kids so they have a place to play. And, we haven't done that. We've been living in this house for over 10 years and we haven't done that. Like a play, like a playhouse of sorts. Or a like raised beds for a garden to grow some vegetables or something, you know?

Kelton 46:40

What about that? Something being like a shed for Chris?

Krisserin 46:43

yeah, I feel like that would take up so much of the land there. I don't

Kelton 46:51

Yeah.

Krisserin 46:52

if that, boy, I would never go for that boy. I would never go for it.

Kelton 46:58

Hmm.

Krisserin 46:59

Hmm. But I did move the hammock over there yesterday and, read a bit. picked up Leslie Bandit's story collection on a Custom to Grace.'cause I was really struggling to get into the mood to write and I was

Kelton 47:14

Mm-hmm.

Krisserin 47:14

And I wrote, I read one of her short stories and then it kind of like unlocked something in me and I sat in that hammock and I wrote, and then I just kind of alternating between reading and not bringing my laptop out there. Which, I will say though, trying to transcribe my chicken scratch cursive was not, I was like, what the fuck, what the fuck is

Kelton 47:33

Like what did I, what is this?

Krisserin 47:37

Maybe someday.

Kelton 47:38

Yeah,

Krisserin 47:39

I

Kelton 47:40

yeah,

Krisserin 47:40

it doesn't feel something about, it feels wrong for me to like, take up that space for myself, even though no one's really using it.

Kelton 47:49

yeah. That's why I was just pushing back on it.'cause it's like the girls have the whole house, the whole pool, their own bedrooms,

Krisserin 47:57

I

Kelton 47:57

know, it's like,

Krisserin 47:58

go outside. And I just wish there was something for them to do outside so that,

Kelton 48:03

but is a play, I mean, Sabine's 12 now. Is she even a Playhouse?

Krisserin 48:08

redwood, I mean,

Kelton 48:09

Ren wood? Yeah.

Krisserin 48:11

still a little fanciful, you know, they had a play date and they were outside like the whole time when, when we're in Portland. And it's just gorgeous in the summer up there. It's not even, it's like low eighties. They will spend hours outside. My mom has this bamboo grove and there's lots of pieces of discarded bamboo all over the place, like building using the bamboo

Kelton 48:33

Yeah, yeah.

Krisserin 48:34

weeding the garden with my mom and

Kelton 48:36

Maybe, you know, Ray's, beds might do it. I just obviously want you to have

Krisserin 48:41

I know.

Kelton 48:42

very protected Chris Aaron space. I'm still waiting for Ben to build the walls to my office, so that it can feel closed off. But I, I think it is so important, you know, it's like he, Ben has a whole wood shop, that it's like. I mean, he basically has most of the downstairs, I don't really like going downstairs. And I'm, I'm like, we gotta build these walls. So I have like a dominion. I have a place that is for mom and that woods grows up seeing that, that's like, that's mom's office and like that's where she does her shit.

Krisserin 49:16

Yeah.

Kelton 49:16

seeing these reels, of parents of a care, sorry. I keep seeing these reels of caregivers at like preschools asking the kids what their parents do. And it's sort of, you know, the comment section like lights up around what some of the kids say because some of the kids are very articulate and understand what their parents do better than others. And some kids are like, mommy makes snacks and dad works. And then the mom is like, I'm a researcher at a cancer institute. And you're like, what happened with the comms here? But. You know, it's very clear, what Ben does to Woods. It's like he goes into the wood shop and there are tools and there's furniture being made. It's very physical and tactile, and I, I watch these little kids answer these questions and so many of the go, my parents work, my parents computer, my parents laptop, and I'm like, I want, I want this child to like understand not only that his mom has like a real job, but that what it is. And I want there to be a space that delineates that for him. And so I just want you to have space to be alone.

Krisserin 50:30

I know, and what's crazy is like I have two working workspaces in the house. We have

Kelton 50:34

Mm-hmm.

Krisserin 50:35

Tami room that's in the bedroom. It's not the most like ergonomic or super comfortable, but it's, it exists. And then the garage space, which is my desk that I've had for over 10 years, written three books on it. Four books on it, something like that. It's very open. It's very much open to whoever wants to come in and out of the garage. And often Ren will come and like, sit with me. I have so many pictures of Ren like right there. And you know, the other day I was working on something and I was like, Ren, and she's got a DHD. So she's also just like, yep. You know, like constantly narrating everything she's doing and I love her to death. But I was like, Ren, I'm trying, I'm trying to work. she just kind of like got her stuff and left and I was. Oh, I'm like such an asshole afterwards. I do fantasize about having my own little space and when I was young, I had a fort in our backyard. That was my space, that was magical to me. So I'll think I'll noodle on that a little bit on how, know, what I could do there. But I can tell you that like if I were to tell Boon, Hey, I wanna build a prefab a DU in the back, he'd be like, hell you do. But I could also just like rent a, a like a little studio or something if I really felt compelled.

Kelton 51:59

still, it's still driving though. I think it's like you need something where you're like, I'm disappearing right now.

Krisserin 52:07

I know, I know.

Kelton 52:08

Um,

Krisserin 52:09

to not have to get in my car to go anywhere.

Kelton 52:11

yeah.

Krisserin 52:13

Well, speaking of getting work done, I guess we should talk about. What we're gonna do this next week.

Kelton 52:22

I have three books checked out from the library right now. I have Aaron Morgan Stearns, the Knight Circus, which I'm. Yeah, I'm a little bit into

Krisserin 52:32

I'm not surprised You

Kelton 52:33

Nope,

Krisserin 52:33

before.

Kelton 52:34

I know, I was surprised too. I'm really enjoying it. But I'm just at the beginning and then sort of hilariously, I was reading Kate Flander's Substack the other day. She sent her latest installment of her reading challenge. She's diving into sci-fi.

Krisserin 52:48

oh, I, I thought you meant the last one where she talked

Kelton 52:50

Oh no, no. She was, uh,

Krisserin 52:52

fiction,

Kelton 52:53

yeah, historical fiction didn't go so great, but she shared her list of sci-fi that she was gonna read and two of the books on her sci-fi list I had already checked out from the library and I was like, whoa. This is, uh, some amazing synchronicity. I feel like I'm in a book club with Kate right now. Um, but I got out the other valley and the Ministry of Time. Um, so I do wanna read two of those books this week. Um, so I'll get through the night circus and then I think I'll dive into the other valley'cause I'm really excited for the Ministry of time and so I think I'm gonna save that one for last.

Krisserin 53:28

Yeah, I've heard a lot of of mixed reviews of the Ministry of Time, so I'd be really interested and I've checked it out multiple times from the library and then like did not read it. So I'm very

Kelton 53:39

Did you try it?

Krisserin 53:41

I think I did, I think I kind of

Kelton 53:42

Okay.

Krisserin 53:43

like, I dunno about this. I'll say the daughter of the woods. It took me, it's like a 700 page book.

Kelton 53:51

Oh, okay.

Krisserin 53:53

that's why she really takes her time getting you

Kelton 53:55

Big time.

Krisserin 53:56

which is why I was like, it was dragging in the beginning, but

Kelton 53:59

Yeah.

Krisserin 54:00

it's just I'm delighting in how long they are.'cause I was like, please gimme more, gimme more pages, gimme more books. Let me luxuriate in this world for as long as possible.

Kelton 54:09

Well, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go two books, two scenes.

Krisserin 54:13

Two

Kelton 54:14

I think that.

Krisserin 54:14

scenes.

Kelton 54:15

That's feasible for me. My parents are coming this weekend. I guess the only like wrench in my system is that my spring break for Woods starts, when this episode comes out and he'll be out of daycare for two full weeks. That's a lot of, that's a lot of juggling, you know, even with having my parents here, you know, so, we're trying to figure out how to get work done. So basically what I'm, what I'm saying is that I'm gonna cram these two books and these two scenes into the next three days.

Krisserin 54:47

Uh, well, that's exciting. I mean, that's what I did is I, after editing the podcast on Sunday, I was like, oh. I said I was gonna write three days, I, I basically was like, I've got Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before I have to tell Kelton on Thursday whether or not I got the writing done. So similar to you, I I, this April and May are gonna be kind of crazy for me, so I'm a little bit nervy about it. But Boyan leaves for Japan Friday, and so for two weeks I will be, I mean, my mom's coming down to visit, but I'm gonna be solo parenting in terms of

Kelton 55:28

Yeah.

Krisserin 55:29

and drop off and all of that. So even more of my day will be taken up with, Caravan children.

Kelton 55:34

Yep.

Krisserin 55:36

But my mom and my mom will be in town, which will be so wonderful. That I'm sure will have an impact on my writing. And then, you know, I'm leaving for two weeks in May. I'm going to New York and Missouri and Utah, so I'm gonna be traveling a lot. So we'll see what happens. But in terms of like the next week, I think that I, I would not have written probably this week if I hadn't told you I was going to have a goal of writing three times. So I'm gonna create the same goal. I'm really enjoying not only writing this middle school love story, which is it's a little slow. It's, it's, I'm wondering if I'm losing a little bit of steam on the idea, but I am really enjoying kinda going back and forth and just being a little bit more loose with what I'm working on. So I started that short story. I went and read a short story that I didn't finish that I had started in Italy. It's, it's very, I mean it's like 5,000 words. I think it's very close to the end. And then I have the one that you read and I would like to finish one of them.

Kelton 56:43

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Krisserin 56:45

I would like to finish one of them. I would love to submit a short story this year

Kelton 56:52

Yeah.

Krisserin 56:52

Somewhere. I think that would be really fun. And so I think that that's gonna be my goal is I'll try and write days and one of those writing sessions. I want to be on a short story. Those are my goals.

Kelton 57:07

Okay. All right. Our goals are set

Krisserin 57:12

Our

Kelton 57:12

and our big, our big goal lest we forget.

Krisserin 57:15

lest we forget.

Kelton 57:17

Um, Chris is gonna write her middle school love story

Krisserin 57:22

Yes, first draft. I'm gonna finish the first draft by Labor Day.

Kelton 57:27

and Kelton is gonna finish the first draft of Amni to keep. Rocking and rolling. Excited.

Krisserin 57:35

I do want to, when we meet again at the end of summer, not only review this, these goals that we set for ourselves, but I would like to do a retrospective on, what did we say at the, the beginning of last, of this season? At the

Kelton 57:50

Don't shit.

Krisserin 57:51

summer.

Kelton 57:52

Don't fucking drag me like that. I don't need that in my life.

Krisserin 57:56

you.

Kelton 57:57

Yeah, but I'm gonna get dragged. I'm gonna get dragged.

Krisserin 58:02

So this is why, the reason I'm bringing it up is this episode that Olivia and Becca did, for about, on paper this anniversary. They went back to the, they both listened to the first episode they ever recorded with one another and looked back on how their lives had changed since

Kelton 58:17

Yeah.

Krisserin 58:17

And I think it's actually a good thing that you and I, when we started this podcast, the beginning of last year,'cause it's been, it's been a little over a year since you and I. doing pen pals so much has changed, we've, even all of the things that we thought we were gonna work on and, and, you know, where we ended up getting to, we've kept going

Kelton 58:47

Yeah.

Krisserin 58:47

and kept writing and kept setting goals for ourselves. Even though it feels like we're feeling around in the dark, we are not giving up. I think that's a positive thing and I

Kelton 58:58

Yes.

Krisserin 58:59

change and we pivot to other projects as long as we keep going. So I don't, don't such a Capricorn, you're gonna drag me. No, I'm, I am saying that, I'm saying that, um, that encourages me.

Kelton 59:17

Good.

Krisserin 59:17

fact that I, I'm just, I just, I don't remember what we said we were gonna do. It

Kelton 59:22

I mean,

Krisserin 59:23

trying to say.

Kelton 59:24

I mean, I know I didn't do what I said I was gonna do, even if I can't remember what that thing was.

Krisserin 59:30

Did I, I dunno if I did so.

Kelton 59:32

I think, yeah, we'll look back. We'll look back and I'll hang my head in shame.

Krisserin 59:38

Stop.

Kelton 59:39

At least now, knowing we're gonna do this episode, I have a more incentive and motivation to keep working

Krisserin 59:45

Yeah. I, I mean, uh, talking to you each week gives me a ly of

Kelton 59:51

this.

Krisserin 59:51

me

Kelton 59:52

This is the fire. This is the fire.

Krisserin 59:54

Yep.

Kelton 59:55

The messages we get are the fire.

Krisserin 59:59

yes, yes, yes. And we get more and more each day and I just. Absolutely light up with joy every time I

Kelton 1:00:05

Same.

Krisserin 1:00:06

In our inbox. So if you want to make our day, please send us an email at official pen pals pod@gmail.com. You can follow us on all of the platforms. You can DM us. We love getting those as well at Pen Pals Pod on Instagram and TikTok and YouTube if you wanna

Kelton 1:00:25

Yeah,

Krisserin 1:00:26

They are there in their totality. On YouTube you can see

Kelton 1:00:30

I'd love to hear where you're getting stumped on your own projects. Let us know if it's like schedule or paning versus outlining or context or anything. Send us your craft questions, um, and maybe we can knock'em around a little.

Krisserin 1:00:44

yeah. And please let us know if you wanna come on a retreat because it is percolating. I've got ideas, got ideas of. What I think we should do, in addition, I opened last week's episode with this request, but if you are a regular listener to Pen pals and you've gotten this far in the episode and you are not a subscriber on your platform of choice, please go and do that because it doesn't cost you anything. You just hit that little bell button or the plus button, or the follow button or whatever it may be on your podcast listening platform of choice. And it really helps with our numbers. So please go do that, and if you're feeling extra generous, you can go and, leave us a review hopefully that review will be five stars if you're so inclined. Like Lauren said last week, no one star reviews on Good reads. Please don't break our hearts. but yeah, you know where to follow us. Kelton Kin on Instagram, Kelton writes on tiktoks sh logs dot sub stack.com. At Chris Erin on TikTok. You know

Kelton 1:01:45

All the places.

Krisserin 1:01:46

the

Kelton 1:01:46

All right. We'll see you in our inboxes and I hope. Your journals and your Google Docs and all the Scrivener files. See you in the meantime.

Krisserin 1:01:57

Happy writing.