Latest / WriterCon / On the Road to WriterCon with #1 NYT Author Aprilynne Pike

Transcript

On the Road to WriterCon with #1 NYT Author Aprilynne Pike · WriterCon

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This week on the writer Con podcast.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: Well this sounds really weird, but I actually give it
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: to young writers all the time, and that's it. You
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: have to really love writing.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Welcome to writer Con, a gathering place for writers to
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: share their knowledge about writing and the writing world. Your
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: hosts are William Bernhardt, best selling novelist and author of
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: the Red Sneaker books on writing, and Laura Bernhardt, Award
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: winning author of the want Land Files book series.
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: Thank you, Jesse Ulrich. Hey, they're writers. Thanks for joining us.
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: Welcome to August. August is a magical month, or at
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: this rate, at any rate this year. It is because
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: it's the month of writer Con. So we're now going
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: to the official run up. We've got as we record,
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: this is not quite a month. Still, plenty of time
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: to register and participate. And what can I tell you
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: about writer Con We've got It's a labor day weekend
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: August thirty to September two, Oklahoma City. More than seventy presenters,
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: more than ninety sessions on various topics You've got. Here's
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: a list I just made. Unlimited pitching, no additional cost,
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: lunches with big time literary agents. Monday master classes where
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: you can take a deep dive and important subjects contests
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: still open. Nine different categories for unpublished work, manuscript reviews,
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: one on one consultations with the person of your choice,
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: free top flight author photos by one award winning photographer
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: that's Ralph Burnhart. Lunch buffet provided by Black Chateau, and plotter,
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: Advanced planning through our nifty cool Hoova conference phone app.
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: You like that, don't you, Laara and author book sales
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: table and open mic and swag bags and where you
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: can see Jesse in person at karaoke night.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah that was fun.
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: So how could you possibly resist this opportunity? Advance your
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: writing career, make friends for life, and have a lot
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: of fun.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: Also also live taping of the writer Com podcast for
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: people to write you enjoy.
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: That's right. You'll see how the magic happens, or whatever
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: happens happens anyway, You'll see it happen right before your eyes.
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: You might even be able to be a on air
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: participant in that. So I'm glad you brought that up, Jesse.
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: I love Writer Con. To me, it is much more
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: than just a conference. It's like a family of people
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: who are eager to support fellow writers and do and
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: you know we all need all the backup we can get,
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: especially in this writing game, so encourage you register now. Wow,
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: it's writer Con dot Com. Laura, you're coming right?
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: Absolutely? No, I would. I would not miss it. I'm
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: looking forward to it. I can't believe it's almost here,
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: but I'm I'm inutually ready for it.
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: To stay home just because think you'll have the house
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: to yourself for the weekend or no, I.
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: Want to enjoy the Renaissance Waterford Hotel.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: It's beautiful, very nice.
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: We enjoy being there.
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: Cut us a great deal. Okay, So what are you
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: looking forward to most this year at rd Con?
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: To be totally honest, I think I probably look forward
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: the most to seeing friends that I have made over
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: the years. I love it when we get to all
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: come together. Sometimes we only see these familiar faces once
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: a year. However, I've noticed already in the Hoova app
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: that we are being joined this year by some new
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: faces as well, so I'm equally excited to meet them
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: welcome them to the family. If you are worried that
• 4:04
  Speaker 4: you won't know what's going on, or that you'll stick out,
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: or that you won't fit in do not worry about that.
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: Usually Thursday evening I schedule what I call an orientation,
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: But really it's just an opportunity for me to come
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: say hi to anybody that wants to show you around,
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: talk to you, and just so you can get the
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: first time nerves out, and then when you show up
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: Friday morning, you're just ready to go, ready to launch
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: yourself right into the conference and start learning. I'm also
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: really excited about my presentation that I'm giving this year.
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: It'll be a new session for me, and I'm excited
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: for that.
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: Well I haven't heard this yet, so cool, Jesse. What
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: are you looking forward to? Don't say the hot tub?
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: What are you looking for to? Most all?
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: Right, well, not counting the hot tub, I mean honestly,
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: like again, as a non author, but lover of interacting
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: with creative people. I always just love I love people
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: who are trying to like fulfill a dream, work on
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: like a creative passion, and talking with each other about
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: all the different ways we have to convince ourselves to
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: work on the thing we want to work on. And
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: it's just I always learn I somehow always learned take
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: skills that are for writers, and somehow able to use
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: them in my life as a podcast and audiobook producer.
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: So it's nice. I love that. Yeah.
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: And of course the hot tub, so.
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: Right, of course it'll probably be one hundred and ten
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: degrees outside. I'm just saying it doesn't matter. No, what
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: doesn't matter.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: Listen, Hotel, Hotel, I'm talking to you right now. It
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: better be working.
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: What were Okay?
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: Where is the hottub there?
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: I'm not telling anybody. It's it's it's in the gym.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: It's in like the little fitness center part of the
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: first floor. So so I'll bleep that out on the
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: edited version of this episode.
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: But you do have that power, all right. Our interview
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: today is with superstar and number one New York Times
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: bestselling author aprilin Pike. I had the pleasure of working
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: with aprilin lots of years ago at a retreat in Hawaii.
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: As a matter of fact, I can't take credit for anything,
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: though I knew that. I knew the first day that
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: she was destined for success and greatness. Although even I
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: was done when her very first published book, Wings hit
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: the number one NYT spot and then got optioned by
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: Disney and led to a long series of y A Hits.
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: She's one of the keynote speakers at Writercon this year.
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: We will talk to her about her career and her
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: fascinating body of work. But first the news all right,
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: news item number one, fraud at the Hugo Awards again.
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: I mean, is it just me? It seems like this
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: is about the fourth time there's been fraud at the
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: Hugo Awards or something like that, but it's happened again.
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: I don't know. What is it about the popular vote
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: science Fiction Award. I don't get it. There must be
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: a way to make this work anyway. Hundreds of votes,
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: like three hundred and seventy seven votes were cast fraudulently
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: for one finalist in the majority in the prestigious Hugo Awards.
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: That's for the best of science fiction and Fantasy. Nearly
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: ten percent of votes cast redeemed fraudulent. That's like I said,
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: three seventy seven out of thirty eight hundred and thirteen.
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: Many votes were made under what the administrators called obvious
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: fake names. Someone explained that there is quote a run
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: of voters whose second names were identical except that the
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: first letter was changed in alphabetical order, and they also
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: described a quote run of voters whose names were translations
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: of consecutive numbers. I don't know how suspicion would arise
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: when votes are coming in like this, but it's really,
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: you know, cast doubts. And no, I'm not going to
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: say disgrace because I don't I know they're trying. But anyway, Jesse,
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: what's going on here? Why is this award so plagued
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: with the problems?
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: Well, you could think that maybe, like science fiction authors,
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: science fiction fans would be the type of people who
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: would try to find a way to sort of game
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: the system, right, Yeah, you know, but like the fact
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: they did it so poorly is what's so disappointing.
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: It would be simpler to write up it's only three
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: hundred and seventy seven and do it by hand.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there are random name generators on the internet that
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: do a very good job of coming up with thick
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: names that.
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: I don't know. Laura, do you have any advice here
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: or anything you'd like to suggest to the Hugo Award committee?
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: Oh?
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: Well, I applaud them for catching that, taking it seriously
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: and disqualifying all of those votes. But the all I
• 9:23
  Speaker 4: can think is why do people have to do stuff
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: like this. Just quit being don't.
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: Lie, don't I would take all the fun out of winning. Well,
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: so anyway, I'm not trying to be all goodie two shows.
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: I just know I'd rather not have.
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: The award than to know you want it because a
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: bunch of people cheat it. Oh thank you.
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: Okay. News story number two. This has to do with
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: a company called the Venti that wants to reinvent book signings.
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: Book signings, Yes, return with me to yesteryear. Okay, it's
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: an exaggeration. There are still some, but not nearly like
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: there used to be when I was starting out writing
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: in the nineties, and frankly, I thought I was done
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: with book signings. I've spent enough afternoons two hours, you know,
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: sitting at a table drumming my fingers or giving people
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: directions to the bathrooms. It's not my idea of a
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: good time, and I don't think it's good for book
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: sales or book promotion or anything. But perhaps that is
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: why this company called Venti wants to reinvent the form
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: and turn it into something that you know, actually helps writers.
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: They've got a platform. I think it can be on
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: your computer, on your phone, app that streamlines pre orders
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: and direct sales. What they do is get authors to
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: post information about their signings in advance. You know, I'll
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: be there, I'll be signing this what do you want?
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: And so people can pre order it and pick it
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: up at the bookstore or if they can't come, you know,
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: pick up afterwards. I'm going to assume. So basically, at
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: least in theory, I would think really improving the value
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: of book signings for writers by using you know, mechanical devices. Laura,
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: what do you think would you be willing to try VENTI?
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: I've probably got event inside it the VENTI.
• 11:26
  Speaker 4: I'm sorry, Oh yeah, yeah, no worries. They have my attention.
• 11:31
  Speaker 4: I've been seeing quite a few articles talking about direct sales,
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: and frankly, even big players like Ingram have been telling
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: you how to get involved in direct sales, trying to
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: cut up the middleman and I we both feel strongly
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: about alleviating some dependence on certain big players. So being
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: able to take advantage of those direct sales in a
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: way that makes sense for us and doesn't take well
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: months and months to learn yet another software or how
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: to make something work. It sounds like it could be
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: very helpful to me.
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: Well, what you said reminded me. This is sort of
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: a distant memory because I barely do them anymore. But
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: I could see sometimes at signings so that there were
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: people kind of looking around the store and they glanced
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: kind of furtively at me periodically. But only after I
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: left would they come up and get one of the
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: books that I autographed before I left. You know, so,
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: and I don't know what that is, but this app
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: is perfect for them, you.
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: Know, yes, Jesse, they don't really want to interact with you,
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: They just.
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: Want the book or you know, people have ideas that
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: writers are I don't know, a lot weirder than we
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: actually are. But Jesse, from the consumer point, do you
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: see this idea sparking a revival and well tended book signings?
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: I mean, maybe I feel again at this point, do
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: we need another service that we have to follow that
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: we're both you and the person you want to follow
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: has to engage with. Like, if you like an author,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: you're probably following them on whatever. If they're on Instagram
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: or Facebook or whatever, you're probably already following them. So
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: you probably already know when they're doing book signings or
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: when they're going to be close to you or whatever.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: So I don't I don't know if people will use this.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: I like that it exists, and it maybe will help
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: smaller authors as well, you know, who don't have the
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: time or the or the team to keep up with
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: other social media things, so it's possible. I feel like
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: there's something like this in either like in books or
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: in music or whatever, like a new app or service
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: that's trying to find a better way to connect the
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: two people together.
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: Well, I've read an article. One of the articles that
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: I read was talking about out trying to shopify in
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: this manner. But even that article said it's a it's
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: difficult to learn and adapt to books like it's not
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: the easiest thing in the world high learning curve. But
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: it said if you can figure it out and get
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: on there, you can actually make, no potentially make some
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: pretty good sales selling directly like that. So the one
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: that's designed specifically for authors to sell books directly to
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: readers and it's already set up that way might be easier.
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: I'm going to look at it.
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah, all right, well done, you guys. All right, Jesse,
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: why don't we talk to April in Pike? April in
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: Welcome to the pot cast.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: Thank you, I'm happy to be here.
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: Okay, traditional first question, If you could offer writers one
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: piece of advice, what would it be.
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: Well, this sounds really weird, but I actually give it
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: to young writers all the time, and that's that you
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: have to really love writing. You can't just be hoping
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: for writing success. And it seems weird to say, but
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: a lot of a lot of people they see kind
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: of the glitz and glamour of mostly the big writers,
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: not most of the writers, and they're like, I want
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: to do that, and I'm like, you know how you
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: get there by writing a lot, lot, lot a lot
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: of words. And if you if you actually don't love
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: the writing part, it's going to be miserable. Even if
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: you get to fame and fortune or whatever, it's going
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: to be a rough road.
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: That's really good advice, it is.
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: Okay, let's talk about writer con. So you're coming and
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: you are round back? You are? Are you better? You
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: are that Sunday keynote. It's like one of the the
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: premiere's slot and so if nothing else, you are the
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: last person anybody will hear from, at least from electn
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: So have you thought about what you're going to say.
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: I have a lot actually, and I'm not going to
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: spoil too much here, but I've been through a really
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: interesting writer's journey. It's kind of spun and gone all
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: sorts of places, high highs, low lows, and it's going
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: to be a lot about that. And so wherever you
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: are on your journey, and enjoy where it is, where
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: it's going, and where it might never go, both good
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: and bad.
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: That's also fantastic advice. All right, let's talk. So you're
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: doing the keynote, you're also doing some solo sessions. You're
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: pairing on panels, I think on roundtables. You will definitely
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: be signing books. Oh oh, and you're teaching two three
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: hour master classes on Monday. What like a workhorse for
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: writer Con. This is great.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: I'm so actually excited about those because it's fun to speak,
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: it's fun to meet people, it's fun to share little tidbits.
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: But what's really fun, in my opinion, is digging in
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: and being like, here's some of the in the trenches,
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: flinging the dirt everywhere.
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: You know, Well, that's the whole point of those masterclasses.
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: You have more time. They're three hours, so you can
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: kind of take a deep dive in the topic. And
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: one of them, you're talking about openings because I am
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: I may be there because And the other one is
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: something about don't mistake plot for stuff happening or something
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: like that.
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I like that. That's saying from my college fiction
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: professor is don't mistake plot for stuff happens, because you
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: can have all sorts of stuff happening and if you
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: haven't introduced any of the characters and no one's involved.
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: This is why opening a movie with a big explosion
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: is often successful because movies are so visual, but opening
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: a book with a big explosion with people you've never
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: met often like.
• 17:56
  Speaker 4: Oh, I'm so glad you're doing a masterclass on that,
• 18:01
  Speaker 4: because that's something that I sometimes have to very gently
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: say to people, very very new and aspiring writers that
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: just because something is happening, that doesn't mean you're progressing
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: your plot.
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: And on the other side, just because you're having a
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: conversation and your characters are growing doesn't mean you shouldn't
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: also be having stuff happen, you know. So there's it's
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: a fine line enough stuff, not too much stuff.
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: That's good. Okay, Bill, you go to the openings and
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: I'll go.
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: To okay, yeah, yeah, then we can swap notes excellent.
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: So you're going to be working really hard. And this
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: is not something that you have to do, it's something
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: that you choose to do. So why do you choose
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: to attend writers' conferences? What do you get out of it?
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: I think that there is when, like when you do
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: college classes, there's so little time to learn how to
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: write a novel because you're almost always going to be
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: focusing on short stories because you just you can't write
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: a novel and workshop in one semester. It's not going
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: to happen. In fact, I remember taking the development of
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: the novel, and I thought we were going to be
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: like writing novels, and it was about looking at other
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: people's novels and seeing how they were developed, which was useful.
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: But I feel like there are so few classes. If
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: you've got someone who lives, you know, in Wisconsin, in
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: the middle of nowhere, and they've got some online community
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: college classes and that's their only resource, where are they
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: going to learn how to write a novel, you know exactly?
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: Not there? They probably can learn great things there. I'm
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: a huge supporter of community college as an online school
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: and that sort of thing. But where are they going
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: to learn how to write a novel? Where are they
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: going to find out about tips and tricks from people
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: who have written novels. Writers conferences are one of the
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: last real popular bastions for that. I think absolutely.
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: Don't understand correctly. You've also worked, or maybe still work
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: as a marketing and content.
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: I do, so I've been doing that for the last
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: couple of years. So I spent about two years at
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: a startup event management company. It's really funny because actually
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: they're a direct competitor with Hoova, which is what you
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: use for your event. I was like, I know them,
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: I've written about them. And then for the last six months,
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: I've been working with a radiology practice in Minneapolis and
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: I do it's a big it's a really it's a
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: big nationwide practice. So I do marketing writing for them
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: and it's surprisingly fun. I tell people that and they're like, oh,
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: that's what you do now, and I'm like, no, no,
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: it's fun.
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: Hey, that's great.
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so you live in Florida now, right, that's what
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: I read on your website, so it must be true.
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: And I think that's like a continental flip flop from
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: where you started. So how you're liking satellite Beach.
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: I love satellite Beach. I tell people I live in
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: the best square mile of Florida because I live on
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: a barrier island, which is like some people, I didn't
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: know what a barrier island was before I moved to one.
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: But it's about a mile wide and really long. So
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: it's these weird like islands that go down a peninsula.
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: So I live a half a mile from the beach.
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: I ride there on my bike. But I also live
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: in a very like normal middle class town and it
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: feels very small and maybe a little bit retro even.
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: We live just south of an Air Force base and
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: so a lot of of just Air Force members in
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: there and everything, and we run on science. My husband
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: teaches that the tech university across the river. We are
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: just south of Cape Canaveral. I watched the shuttles go
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: up all the time. It's just a really, really lovely
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: place to live. And since it's hurricane season, we got.
• 21:53
  Speaker 4: To ask, yeah, well, here's here's your side.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, other side, other side. Okay, I'm on the east side,
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: and the hurricane right now, Hurricane Debbie I think it's
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: called is on the west side. But because the horn
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: of the cape of Cape Canaveral comes out, it disrupts
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: the swirling weather pattern. And the county where I live
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: in hasn't had anything make landfall bigger than a category
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: two since they came up with the categories.
• 22:21
  Speaker 4: Okay, so maybe a little rain for you.
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, it's raining right now.
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: Oh wow, Okay, perfect place sounds like to me.
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: Oh, I found the perfect place.
• 22:32
  Speaker 4: Nice. So what brought you to books? Why did you
• 22:35
  Speaker 4: want to start writing?
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: Oh? Gosh, that starts. I mean almost since I could read,
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: I mean as soon as I could read, I was
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: devouring books. All of the awards that I got in
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: school were always for reading all the books in the library,
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: reading all the Ramona Quimby books, reading all of these
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: And as soon as I realized that someone wrote these stories,
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: which I think took me till I was about seven
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: before I realized that stories didn't just magically appear on
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: a page, I was like, oh, and then I started
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: telling stories, terrible, terrible stories. But that's what you tell
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: when you're seven, That's what you tell sometimes when you're seventeen,
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: and when you're twenty seven and when you're thirty seven,
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: but terrible stories. But all the time. In fact, I
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: had a nickname. My family massively used to call me
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: the Queen of La La Land because I was always
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: off somewhere thinking of stories, making up stories. And so interestingly,
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: when I started college, I started as a pre med
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: major because that was the path I had been going on.
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: And then I got in body were we are like
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: sister spirits. Yeah, so many things where I'm just nodding
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: because I'm like, yes, yes, Now my nickname wasn't quite
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: that nice, but yeah, ween of La La Land.
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: No.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: So I got into my first science class and realized that,
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: you know, studying was harder than I thought it was,
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: and I didn't feel like doing it, and so I
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: changed my major and got into creative writing. I didn't
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: pick this school for its creative writing program, but just
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: by chance it had one, and I just settled right
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: in there. And so I think that that's when I
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: first thought, well, you know, this is what i'll get
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: my degree in. Maybe it's something i'll do something with.
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: But I didn't really start to think, well, I think
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: maybe I can be an author until I met my
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: first author and actually, that's another reason why I like
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: to do writers' conferences is that I think that something
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: has to enter your sphere of reality. You have to
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: realize that it truly is possible before you feel like
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: you can do it. Weirdly enough, I was living with
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: my mother in law at the time. We were getting
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: ready for my husband to go to law school, and
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: she was like, Oh, you should come to our writing group.
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: We have this woman who is her books getting published
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: in about three months. You should come meet her. Her
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: name is Stephanie Meyer. And so that's how I met
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: Stephanie Meyer, and I found out that she was a
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: lot like me. She had little kids, she was like
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: looking for other things to do because she'd liked to
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: be busy, because oh, I love to be busy. And
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: I was like, well, if if she could write a book,
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: then I can write a book. And I think that
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: was the moment that I really thought I could be
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: an author and everything took off from there.
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: That's so neat, It is fantastic.
• 25:22
  Speaker 4: What does a typical writing day look like for you? Like,
• 25:26
  Speaker 4: what's your process?
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: It has changed as my kids have gotten older. When
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: I had little kids, like preschool was my salvation. You know,
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: I had four hours, and I learned how to do
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: what I call writing concentrate, you know, like orange juice concentrate.
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, so I would, Yeah, I was so. I
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: would drop my dup, whichever kid it was that was
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: youngest off at at preschool, come home, No email, no
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: social media, no research, even research I could do later.
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: It was just writing for four hours and get my
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: anywhere between probably two thousand and three thousand words in.
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: And that was the chunk that I needed to write
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: that day. And I wrote probably ten books doing that,
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: doing just that, those four hour chunks, and then you
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: grab time when you can. But one thing about my
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: writing process is that there's not a process, and that
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: has been incredibly helpful for me. I don't need special music,
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: I don't need headphones, I don't need I certainly don't
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: need a special candle and a special cup of tea.
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: Anytime people start getting into their process and get that far,
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, You got to pull back.
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: So for me, it really is just I think about
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: the story all the time so that when I'm ready
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: to sit down in front of the computer, I at
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: least have an idea where I'm headed. I surprise myself sometimes,
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: and that's one of the joys of writing a book.
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: Even when you're a planner, you surprise yourself. So but
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: I do a lot of marinating and then I sit
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: down and do writing concentrates nice.
• 27:00
  Speaker 4: All right, you mentioned planner. Do you consider yourself to
• 27:04
  Speaker 4: be a planner or a panther? How do you?
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: I can't start a book until I know what's going
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: to happen at the end. I just I don't like
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: to explore. I know people that do and like that's great,
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: but I'm like, I want to know where I'm going.
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: And so what I do with my first draft is
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: I get to know my characters, because I think that
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: you have to dig in and be with them to
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: really get to know them. But I want to already
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: know what they're going to do, what they're going to encounter.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: And that's I'm not really a control freak in very
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: many areas of my life, but that's one of them.
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: I'm like, they're firm hands on the rain of this plot.
• 27:39
  Speaker 4: I have to think that the process you described where
• 27:42
  Speaker 4: you needed to sit down and be able to write
• 27:44
  Speaker 4: very quickly in that short amount of time or grab
• 27:47
  Speaker 4: a few minutes here and there where you could. I
• 27:49
  Speaker 4: have to feel like that really helped support that that
• 27:52
  Speaker 4: you you had that plan in place so that when
• 27:54
  Speaker 4: it was time to sit and write, you could Yes.
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, Well April Lynn, what are you working on now?
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: Or what's coming out next?
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: So the last book, the last book Wealth, it leads
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: into what I'm working on now. The last book that
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: I put out was called Heat, and it is probably
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: the closest to my first novel, Wings in terms of
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: tone and the level of kind of urban fantasy.
• 28:24
  Speaker 3: Anyway, it's about the number one New York Times best
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: selling novel Wings.
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: Yes, that's exactly what we're talking about. I thought maybe
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: i'd go back to that because I had so much
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: fun writing it. But instead of fairies, we do rather
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: sexy dragons in this one. And so that one is out,
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: and what I'm working on is the sequel. And it's
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: kind of fun because I'm at a place in my
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: writing journey where I write books for people, and I
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: don't mean for readers. I mean my friend Calli is like,
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: when is the second book coming out? You need to
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: finish it, And I'm like, Cali, you are Heat's number
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: one fan. I am writing the sequel for you. It
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: is going to get there. So that's what I'm working
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: on now, probably have done.
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: Okay, one more quick question. I know for a fact
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: that you're a singer. Will you join us at Ryder
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: Con for Karaoke Night?
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: Oh, let's see what night is it?
• 29:19
  Speaker 3: Saturday night?
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: Well we'll be there Saturday night. You might have to
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: twist my arm a little, but I do like karaoke.
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: Well I twisted Lara's every.
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: Year every Yeah, okay, that could happen.
• 29:32
  Speaker 3: Even Jesse has taken the floor at Karaoke Night.
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: So very nice.
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: What did I say? Even Jesse? That doesn't sound right.
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: But because he's not here, I can't see his face
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: right now. Anyway, April In, thanks so much for being
• 29:46
  Speaker 3: on the podcast and can't wait to see you in
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: a few weeks at Ryder Con.
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: Right, it's coming up, coming up, cry laugh cry, Yes,
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: I have slightly to meet you though.
• 30:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah, all right, bye bye now see Yeah, just a
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: few parting words of course. You know I'm going to
• 30:16
  Speaker 3: mention Writer Con twenty twenty four, August thirty to September two,
• 30:21
  Speaker 3: Oklahoma City Renaissance, Waterford, The website is ready to take
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: your registration and I hope you'll give it a visit.
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: That's writer con dot com. If you haven't joined the
• 30:35
  Speaker 3: Facebook group for writer Con, you can do that without
• 30:39
  Speaker 3: going anywhere. Just sign on, log onto Facebook and search
• 30:43
  Speaker 3: for writer Con. I think you'll find us. Find us,
• 30:46
  Speaker 3: and you can also go to substack and subscribe to
• 30:49
  Speaker 3: the writer Con E newsletter, which is completely free and
• 30:53
  Speaker 3: one more way to stay in touch and in tune
• 30:57
  Speaker 3: with what's going on in the writing world. Okay, until
• 31:00
  Speaker 3: next time, keep writing and remember you cannot fail if
• 31:06
  Speaker 3: you refuse to quit.