Latest / Two Girls, One TBR / AG Harris: Shadow Daddies & Toxic Dark Romance

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AG Harris: Shadow Daddies & Toxic Dark Romance · Two Girls, One TBR

• 0:05
  Hey book babes, welcome back to 2 Girls 1 TBR, your chaotic book
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  besties. Here to wreck your reading list.
• 0:11
  1 morally Gray man at a time. Hey now, before we bring our
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  fantastic guest on today, we need your help.
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  We're on a mission to get 100 subscribers on YouTube.
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  never miss an episode. And if you also want to see full
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• 1:00
  And if it'll help us continue our fun times.
• 1:05
  And today I'm here with the lovely, lovely Chelsea.
• 1:10
  And you can find me at Chelsea and Chapters on Instagram.
• 1:13
  How are you doing today, ma'am? So CBS, but I'm getting through
• 1:17
  some books on my TBR this month starting off the month strong,
• 1:21
  so that's good. Very nice.
• 1:23
  What are you currently reading, ma'am?
• 1:27
  So I'm currently doing a beta read for Heidi Adams for Blood
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  Moon for book 2. So it's already started off very
• 1:37
  strong. I like it so far.
• 1:39
  I am listening to one of the Blood and Ash books still.
• 1:44
  Jennifer, is this the last one? OK, this is the last one I'm
• 1:48
  going to listen to at this point because so now I have to
• 1:53
  explain. So I listen to like, I don't
• 1:55
  know how many books there are now.
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  I'm lost. But it's now his point.
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  OK. Which is great, but we're
• 2:02
  recapping like from the beginning.
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  Oh, that's. Weird.
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  I actually like his point of view better so I am enjoying it
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  but but I would not have bought it had I known it was just a
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  recap of the first book. So it is a lot of.
• 2:17
  Repeating from From everything you said, it's a lot of
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  repeating. Yeah, so it's and it's a weird
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  like it's a weird like it is a continuation technically into
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  the whatever next part of the series that she does or like the
• 2:30
  interconnected series, but it's still a recap.
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  So it's kind of I'm I'm not happy that I bought it, but
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  whatever, I'm just listening to it when I drive.
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  I finished Fury bound. Now I got to ask you with that
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  now. Now, some people are, you know,
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  they say the dire, dire bound was very good, but a lot of
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  people saying that Fury Brown is like, it's amazing.
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  Would you categorize it as that or are you on the other end of
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  the spectrum saying it's kind? Of so at first I was like, oh
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  that was so good. But the longer I sit with it,
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  the more it felt just kind of kind of chaotic.
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  The like romance wasn't really there for me.
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  It was just very surface level. The magic stuff was cool.
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  Like they did some really cool stuff with the magic and then
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  like a little bit more of the history and getting into that
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  like plot line. So it was kind of like filler E
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  but good in that aspect. I did enjoy that, but the
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  romance part is kind of falling flat for me.
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  Well, that's there were like there were a couple of spicy
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  scenes, but yeah, it just doesn't feel like deep.
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  So, so it's not the kind of yearning kind of spiciness.
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  It's more just like they're just doing it just to do it.
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  Was it kind? Of like, I mean like there's
• 3:43
  like this pool. It's like the whole, it's almost
• 3:46
  like a mate type thing, but I don't know, just for me it's
• 3:50
  like it the more like I said, the more I sit with it, the more
• 3:53
  I'm like, oh, that kind of fell flat.
• 3:54
  Like I'm not, I'm not like as obsessed with them as I am with
• 3:58
  like Zaden and Violet from 4th Wing or recent favorite, you
• 4:02
  know what I mean? Like, it's just not that like
• 4:04
  transcendent love story that you kind of hope for with a series
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  like this. There's one more book in that
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  series, Cry. It's going to be a trilogy.
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  Or is it going to go more beyond that?
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  It's supposed to be just a trilogy, so maybe something They
• 4:17
  open these whole new can of worms.
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  They yeah, they open a whole new can of worms at the end.
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  So it's kind of like, fuck this book better be thick.
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  Well, see, I haven't read Dire Bound.
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  I have it up on my shelf. So now you make me question, Do
• 4:30
  I? Well, I'll.
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  See what I want you to read it. It's it's still very good.
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  I just hope that like the hard part is now waiting for book 3,
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  right? So it's like the longer that I
• 4:39
  have to sit and wait, the more I'm like over analyzing it.
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  Well, maybe I'll wait and re wait, keep dire bound up there,
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  because then and then I'll read all three of them, yes, together
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  and maybe that'll give a better flow to it.
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  That's a good idea. I would say you can wait at this
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  point. I'm waiting on for like, so I
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  mean, I do have patience, obviously.
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  And that one I wish you would read just so you could be
• 5:04
  miserable with me waiting. But it's like, it's kind of like
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  how I feel about Shield of Sparrows where like I tell
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  people you can wait and I'm waiting on book two.
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  I'm not reading book 2 until the 3rd book comes out.
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  Because book. Because Book 2 just came out.
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  What, in April or May? Something like that.
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  And I have it, I have it on my shelf, but I'm not going to read
• 5:21
  it until the third one, so. And the third one probably won't
• 5:24
  come out till next year probably.
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  Next year, I think it's zooming February every next year, but.
• 5:30
  I would wait. I mean, we're already we're
• 5:32
  already into June now see as well.
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  Wait, I see now me, I, I'd like I I like to read all my books
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  all together, unless it's something that I just can't
• 5:44
  handle and I have to read it. But mostly every like the the
• 5:47
  last one. I could say that I just, I wish
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  I would have read it all at the same time because then I had to
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  wait. But it wasn't even that long of
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  a wait. It was the legacy series.
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  Like I read all three of them and then the way the third book
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  ends, I was like, but I only had to wait till November.
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  It's from like June, July last year to November.
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  So it wasn't that long of a time.
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  But I prefer waiting if it's a series like that and continue
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  now of course, ACOTAR, I can't do that.
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  Yeah, see, and it's hard because we get like FOMO over all these
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  like new releases and it's like, I have to read it and I have to
• 6:21
  read the next one. But yeah, I, I'm glad that
• 6:25
  we're, we're talking about it because that's, that's like,
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  like I said, with Shield of Cerro's Dire Bound, like I feel
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  like now getting into book 2, you can wait.
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  Do you think, is there any other books that in your opinion that
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  you have read, that you think that you wish now that you would
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  have waited? Is there any other series that
• 6:40
  you wish you would have done the same exact thing?
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  No, no, those are the only two that come to mind.
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  Maybe that speaks. To the series.
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  Yeah, now it's like 4th Wing. I'm still glad that I am
• 6:53
  miserable. I'm good with it.
• 6:55
  Well, now I have now I have the indie copy the the the latest or
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  I got traditionally released is the Kiss by the Gods by Katie
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  Rogan. And I have it and it's way that
• 7:06
  I have the indie 1. Now I'm assuming it's a it's
• 7:09
  going to be a series. So I have a question because a
• 7:12
  lot of people have read it and a lot of people love it.
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  And then I'm like, should I wait until at least book 2 comes out
• 7:19
  before I start? Do you know how many books I
• 7:21
  have on my bookshelf that I have not read yet?
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  I have like 100 books that are sitting on my shelf, roughly
• 7:27
  maybe 90 of them. Yeah, yeah, I, I'm probably
• 7:31
  going to wait on that one, as bad as I have FOMO over it, but
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  I'm going to wait. I have that and now the the
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  beasts of the briar. I believe it's the bonded by
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  thorns. I have all of them.
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  I really want to start reading them, but now at like, like, you
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  know how I read? I read it a stale pace.
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  It's because of how much stuff I have going on.
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  But the next book comes out in July and then the series wraps
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  up in October. So I don't have that long.
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  But have you seen these books? They are both.
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  They're like all. Pissed.
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  So you said bonded by thorns, right?
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  It's like Elizabeth Helen. Yes, and that's true, Sisters, I
• 8:08
  didn't know. That I got book one through
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  Bookish Box and because I don't have the they're indie covers or
• 8:14
  whatever they are, it's indie, right?
• 8:16
  Well no, they were indie and now they got picked up traditionally
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  and now all but they're all being re released in paperback
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  for the the traditional and they all have sprayed edges.
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  So I want to have my whole set complete.
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  But but before you read that one, there's a prequel.
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  There's a little novella that goes at the beginning.
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  So before you start reading that, you have to read that one
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  first. Well, that's good to know.
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  Yeah, cuz I was kind of figuring I'll just wait and see if
• 8:47
  Bookish box comes out with all the additions, but who knows how
• 8:50
  long that'll take. Yeah, cuz that's I think that'll
• 8:52
  be 7 books. Goodness.
• 8:55
  Yeah, it's a big series. That's a lot.
• 8:57
  OK, now that might that one might wait on my shelf for a
• 9:00
  little bit. What does yours look like?
• 9:02
  Mine, mine has. They're all different girls on
• 9:05
  and it goes by the seasons it looks like.
• 9:07
  And you know how you know how I am with people on the cover on
• 9:11
  books. But this isn't a Fabio vibe.
• 9:14
  Yeah. This is very.
• 9:15
  Very art, right? Yeah, they're very pretty here.
• 9:18
  I'll show you. I have to move my jaw.
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  Watch. I'll knock something over.
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  And. Then here I'll grab mine while
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  you're grabbing your Yeah. I'll grab my ear.
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  See I knew I was too much over. I have a sign sitting on top of
• 9:28
  mine. Let's see if yours looks like
• 9:30
  versus mine. I did my sign over.
• 9:32
  I have signs sitting on top of it and it says it said I would
• 9:36
  agree with you but then we'd both be wrong.
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  That's my sign. I love that.
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  I like to tell my husband. Yours.
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  This is mine. This is the one that just can't
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  the traditional print and see they're see they're all all the
• 9:50
  edges are sprayed and it has the IT has the flop too, yes, but
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  they're thick. Thick Mommy.
• 9:57
  And this isn't even the thick 1, the thickest 1, some of the ones
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  that I've gotten because I've pre-ordered every single one of
• 10:03
  them. So as they've come out and been
• 10:06
  re released since last fall, they've been releasing them.
• 10:09
  And of course, April was a brand new book.
• 10:12
  July is brand new and then October is brand new.
• 10:15
  But OK, well, I'm. Pretty, I really hope.
• 10:18
  Now I almost want to try to reach out to Bookish Box and see
• 10:21
  if they're going to continue the series.
• 10:23
  This is really pretty actually. That is pretty.
• 10:29
  I do hope they continue the series.
• 10:31
  That would be gorgeous on your shelf.
• 10:33
  Yeah, you could even display it. Get the book stands and display.
• 10:38
  It I just this is my first time opening it and then the.
• 10:43
  This is cool. So that's pretty.
• 10:45
  Yeah. It reverses your cover.
• 10:47
  Reverses. And let's see if there's end
• 10:49
  papers. So I haven't looked at that yet.
• 10:50
  She is. There's like a character art.
• 10:52
  They put a sticker in here. I believe no, I could be wrong
• 10:56
  because again, I haven't read them yet, but I believe it's a
• 10:59
  why choose kind of situation in series.
• 11:03
  Yeah, because it's like her and five other guys and stuff, I
• 11:06
  think. If I remember five guys.
• 11:08
  I yes, Five Guys 5. Guys, burgers and fries.
• 11:12
  That is good food too at Five Guys.
• 11:14
  I watched it. I love watching.
• 11:16
  It was a clip on Instagram or whatever, and that guy was
• 11:20
  asking his girlfriend if she wanted Five Guys and she was
• 11:23
  thinking and she was like, and then she thought he meant really
• 11:26
  five guys. And then he was like, it's
• 11:28
  funny. He's like, what did you think I
• 11:29
  was talking about? OK, there's that.
• 11:31
  Thing she's like. There's an interview clip too,
• 11:35
  of a, a couple of actors. They're being interviewed and
• 11:38
  the girls like she asked him a question and she has like an
• 11:41
  Australian accent or something. And she does it.
• 11:43
  She's like, you do like Five Guys.
• 11:45
  And then they all look at, they both look at her and they're
• 11:47
  like, and she's like, you know, like the burger place.
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  And they go, yes, yes, the burger.
• 11:52
  It was so funny. But just there we have both of
• 11:55
  their reactions. They were like, weird.
• 11:57
  Interesting interview go. When we hear those kind of
• 12:00
  things where our minds drift. Yeah, there, there was a lady.
• 12:05
  I was what? Again?
• 12:06
  It's on Instagram. It was, I don't remember if they
• 12:09
  were like comedians or who exactly these people were.
• 12:12
  I don't remember that. But she was talking about her
• 12:15
  horse and her horse's name was Lady Bits and and she was
• 12:21
  talking about the guy had to go and he was and he was feeding
• 12:25
  her Lady Bits and different things.
• 12:26
  And it was just. And she's like, so serious
• 12:29
  because it's her horse. That's funny, that is funny.
• 12:33
  That is very intentional and very funny.
• 12:36
  Cracks me trying to make people blush.
• 12:37
  Wait, and but the guys were like and then they were awkward and
• 12:41
  then they had to talk about her lady bit.
• 12:44
  I'll have to if I find it again, I'll have to send it to you
• 12:46
  because it cracks my heart inside.
• 12:48
  But now I don't have any books coming to me in this month
• 12:53
  pre-ordered, but I do have I have the book.
• 12:57
  It would be book six. Well, if you want to count the
• 13:00
  because it's a half the prequels ahead of it, but I think it's
• 13:03
  book six or seven six. I think it's six.
• 13:07
  We're going to go with six because I think that's the right
• 13:09
  number. Yeah, I have that coming in
• 13:11
  July. I think that's the only book I
• 13:14
  have coming in July, but then I have several in August coming.
• 13:17
  I have Bedeviled in August. I have the Crowns of Diaxia and
• 13:25
  I don't remember the name of it. It's something Darkness and a
• 13:28
  lion. It's something like that and I
• 13:30
  don't remember the name of it. I have that coming, I think.
• 13:34
  I don't know. I have a bunch in September
• 13:36
  coming because September is going to be a wild month.
• 13:38
  I have Helen, sure. I have her new book, sure.
• 13:43
  I have Raven Kennedy's new book coming, The Sweetest Thing,
• 13:47
  because I love her writing. I love her.
• 13:49
  Style too. I haven't pre-ordered that but
• 13:52
  now you're great. Now you're giving me FOMO.
• 13:54
  Now remember, pre ordering is extremely important to authors
• 13:58
  because that will. If a ton of pre-orders go
• 14:01
  through, then that shows that the book will do well, or at
• 14:05
  least there's a tension towards it.
• 14:06
  And then a lot of times their books will get stocked even more
• 14:09
  in other places or in the bookstores will pick them up
• 14:12
  more and all that kind of stuff. I understand.
• 14:15
  My only problem, my only problem is my all my subscriptions.
• 14:20
  And so sometimes when it comes to the pre-orders, I'm like, I'm
• 14:22
  so afraid to do that. And then I'm also getting the,
• 14:26
  you know, because sometimes fairy loot does like right away,
• 14:29
  like the Alex Astor star side fairy loot did that like within
• 14:36
  like a month of that coming out. And so I'm like, I'm too afraid
• 14:41
  to do pre-orders now because I don't, I don't need 1000 copies
• 14:44
  of all these books. Well, yeah, I can understand
• 14:47
  that with you doing that. See, I don't do every do any
• 14:49
  subscriptions. So, so when I order, so my
• 14:52
  pre-orders, they're my you know what I'm wanting now.
• 14:55
  Now I'm still on the fence though, because I have my
• 14:58
  ACOTAR, they're all paperback and the new one, I do have it
• 15:01
  pre-ordered. I have them pre-ordered and they
• 15:03
  are going to come hardback and they're not going to match.
• 15:06
  And then I'm like, does it matter?
• 15:07
  Do they match? Because I have a mix anyways
• 15:11
  with a lot of my books that they're hardback and paperback
• 15:13
  but they all match. Does that make sense?
• 15:16
  Yeah, no, it does make sense. But Acatar, it's all bright
• 15:20
  colors. And then the hardbacks.
• 15:22
  Aren't are Gray unless yeah. Unless what we're seeing is just
• 15:27
  a like a filler pitcher, you know what I mean?
• 15:30
  And it's going to. Well, because it's going to
• 15:33
  match all the other hard covers, because all the other nice
• 15:35
  covers are the Gray with they're the Gray with the colors like on
• 15:40
  the design. But yeah, I don't know.
• 15:43
  But I did discover something though, that I did not know.
• 15:46
  So for anybody who's listening to us that is from Australia,
• 15:49
  this is something I found out. Did you know when the books,
• 15:52
  when the books release there, they get hardback and paperback
• 15:56
  at the same time. They don't have to get a
• 15:58
  hardback and have to wait to get a paperback.
• 16:00
  It's at the same time she informed me of that.
• 16:02
  I said, really? I said, well, that's dumb that
• 16:04
  they do that here. Yeah.
• 16:06
  And then people end. Well, I guess from a marketing
• 16:08
  standpoint, you know, you can get people to buy a book twice,
• 16:11
  but I don't know. But once I had a hardback
• 16:13
  though, I don't think I would buy a paperback though.
• 16:15
  I mean, unless you want them to match and unless you want
• 16:17
  annoying thing like I've had the hardcover sitting in my Barnes
• 16:20
  and Noble cart, but I'm like, I keep telling myself no, I have
• 16:23
  the, I have these like special edition ones.
• 16:26
  I have the paperback. What, what am I doing?
• 16:29
  I do not need. Well with your image that's on
• 16:31
  yours, do you think they can continue that image on so that
• 16:35
  your books will match from a gorilla pics?
• 16:38
  Isn't that where yours came from?
• 16:40
  Yeah, but that's the problem is that the ones that I got are
• 16:44
  involved in their AI scandal. So they ended up like if people
• 16:48
  wanted to, they could turn those in, get them like shaved down
• 16:52
  and get the new non AI scene on them.
• 16:58
  So what are you going to do? Like, but these ones are so
• 17:00
  beautiful. So I didn't do it.
• 17:02
  I don't know. We're going to.
• 17:03
  I'm just going to wait and see. No, I did.
• 17:05
  They'll figure out a way to do non AI continuation for their
• 17:09
  continuation. Change it.
• 17:10
  I don't. Know I did see on their I think
• 17:13
  it was them I was on their site because I just like to look at
• 17:16
  their books because they're just so beautiful.
• 17:18
  But they're doing an Acatar sale.
• 17:19
  I believe it was all this week and they had their Valaris set
• 17:23
  or Valaris and they had they had the one where it's like it's the
• 17:27
  cityscape there, you know, and Valeris and it's like the stars
• 17:30
  in that. But this one was different.
• 17:31
  It was a different set and they had them on sale and they were
• 17:35
  really pretty. And then I'm like, I don't know.
• 17:37
  I don't, I might, I may, I don't know, I might get it.
• 17:41
  The hardbacks. I don't like to read.
• 17:43
  I don't buy multiple copies of a book.
• 17:46
  That's me, you know. But a guitar means something
• 17:50
  different to me, though it's different than all the other
• 17:54
  ones I have. Yeah.
• 17:56
  You know, cuz it's the series that got me back into reading.
• 17:59
  I know that's the. Thing.
• 18:01
  What brought me to this joyful place that I'm in now?
• 18:04
  You know so. That's a that's like a luxury
• 18:07
  thing. Yeah.
• 18:08
  One of those like I yeah, it's like a just very special.
• 18:12
  It has a special place in your heart.
• 18:13
  So it's like if you can get that extra the pretty additions like.
• 18:18
  I know I have to say I do not like the the additions that they
• 18:21
  came out with. Was it last year that were or
• 18:24
  the night court ones that were just black?
• 18:26
  What was that I didn't like? Them.
• 18:29
  I didn't like them. Valeris is the is.
• 18:32
  Do you pronounce it Valaris or do you pronounce it Valeris?
• 18:35
  I say Valaris. Valaris All right.
• 18:37
  Valaris. I mean, it's so beautiful.
• 18:39
  It's the city of Starlight. They could have had.
• 18:43
  They could have foiled stars all over the cover.
• 18:46
  They could have had the mountain, you know, have the
• 18:49
  three peaks and then stars are there's so many things and I
• 18:52
  don't understand why they did. I can see how it might appeal to
• 18:57
  like the newer readers, but those of us who already had the
• 19:00
  colorful ones, it was just kind of like meh for us.
• 19:03
  So maybe those are more for like, you know, the new people
• 19:06
  coming in, they come and see and they go, oh, I like the black
• 19:09
  version better than the colorful version, but it was not for us.
• 19:13
  Now mind you, fan base, that's for sure.
• 19:16
  I like black, I like to wear black.
• 19:18
  My furniture's all black. I like very dark things, but I,
• 19:22
  I like the colorful of the AC guitar books.
• 19:25
  I don't know, because there's, I think out of all the books that
• 19:28
  are on my, my bookshelf, they're the most colorful.
• 19:31
  They kind of stand up. You can see them.
• 19:33
  If you didn't have the bias of knowing the books before that,
• 19:37
  would you have maybe you walk into the Barnes and Noble for
• 19:40
  the first time. You're like, oh, I've been
• 19:41
  hearing about this book and you go.
• 19:43
  There's a black. I would have just bought them.
• 19:45
  I wouldn't have thought anything of it and just bought it.
• 19:47
  Yeah, because I didn't think about anything of it when I
• 19:50
  bought that either, you know? Yeah.
• 19:52
  Maybe the black is supposed to have a more sophisticated feel
• 19:57
  because the color is very cheerful and it's not.
• 20:01
  Because a guitar isn't truly a cheerful series.
• 20:04
  Now it's much more of a black, black on black series, yeah.
• 20:08
  So I don't know, but again, I'm going to have hardbacks, but
• 20:11
  hopefully they're the same height.
• 20:13
  I don't know if they're going to be.
• 20:15
  Do you have any of the hardbacks?
• 20:17
  No, you're the same. Besides your Acrylopics, you're
• 20:20
  in the same boat as I am. Yeah.
• 20:22
  I've got the paperback and I like, I'm trying to decide, do I
• 20:25
  want to buy the hardcover? If I'm going to buy the
• 20:27
  hardcover, I got to sell something.
• 20:28
  Something's got to go. Yeah, now I do have Crescent
• 20:31
  City. Now, I did see the pain that
• 20:33
  other people had with Crescent City.
• 20:35
  That one was taller than the others, but when I got them
• 20:39
  they're all the same height, so they must have corrected that.
• 20:43
  Yeah. Problem that everybody.
• 20:44
  Annoy me. Because I think it was like the
• 20:47
  one, the first one Crescent City, it was like this much
• 20:50
  house. What is it?
• 20:51
  House of House of Earth and blood.
• 20:54
  And I think it was like this much taller than the other ones.
• 20:56
  You don't know why they did that, that whoever made that
• 20:59
  decision was dumped. I'm but now the ones that I
• 21:04
  again, mine are the hardbacks minor paperback.
• 21:07
  They are the same height though as my ACOTAR books you know, so
• 21:12
  the paperback. So I just wonder when I get the
• 21:14
  heart back, will it be bigger? Yeah.
• 21:17
  We shall. See, I did.
• 21:19
  I did Crescent City with Acrylopix too and my throw in a
• 21:22
  glass. So all those are did you?
• 21:24
  Yeah. So I didn't get the traditional.
• 21:27
  So when you so you never bought paperback with a Crescent City
• 21:31
  or OK, so you've had that from the get go.
• 21:34
  Yeah, OK. And then same thing with
• 21:36
  throwing a glass. So I'm glad I did that on that
• 21:38
  end. Well, and everybody has to
• 21:41
  whoever you know, if you have not read a guitar or you have
• 21:44
  not read Crescent City yet, when you plan to to read them before
• 21:49
  a Guitar 6 comes out, make sure 100% read a guitar first, then
• 21:54
  read Crescent City. Don't go into Book 6 without
• 21:57
  reading Crescent City because you're going to miss some very
• 22:00
  big points because I think a lot of that is going to come to play
• 22:05
  in Book 6. Yeah, there's going to crossover
• 22:07
  for sure. Now, I haven't.
• 22:08
  Again, I haven't thrown a glass yet, but I don't see as many
• 22:11
  people saying I should read through a glass before it.
• 22:15
  I mean, I plan to read it. It's not that I don't plan to
• 22:17
  read it, but I don't think I haven't enough time.
• 22:20
  I don't think there's going to be any major crossover quite
• 22:23
  yet. It might be before January
• 22:24
  though, maybe. I don't think I don't think 6 or
• 22:27
  7 is going to because she didn't really make it sound like you
• 22:29
  had to read Throne of Glass. So maybe not.
• 22:32
  So maybe we will not see Aylan. Is it Aylan?
• 22:35
  Yes, yeah. So maybe we won't see her.
• 22:38
  Maybe she will come to play in Book 8.
• 22:40
  Yeah, I don't know. Or did she say that?
• 22:42
  Did Sarah say you need to read everything by then?
• 22:44
  I don't remember. I.
• 22:45
  Don't think she did. I think I don't think she did.
• 22:47
  I think she said with Crescent City.
• 22:49
  But I could be just not remembering right, but I don't
• 22:52
  think. But yet again.
• 22:53
  She told making the comment. Like, you've had plenty of time,
• 22:56
  right? She said that.
• 22:57
  So I just can't remember if thrown a glass was included in
• 23:00
  that. Well if not, I mean I've done
• 23:02
  enough with our chats of Akatar that I have AI have a slight
• 23:06
  understanding of Throne of. Glass.
• 23:08
  Do I know what happened? I've been I've had things that I
• 23:12
  know. So I don't know.
• 23:13
  We'll have to wait and see, but I'm super excited for that.
• 23:16
  Again, that's I think that's my most anticipated book of this
• 23:21
  year, I think is that one. Everybody's.
• 23:24
  It's going to be, I think book talk is good and hopefully
• 23:27
  people in book talk, book Instagram everywhere once people
• 23:30
  read it. Some people read really fast.
• 23:33
  Please don't put stuff out there and spoil it for us slow readers
• 23:37
  that don't read that fast. Help.
• 23:40
  If you're in your opinion, how much of A window from the time
• 23:44
  it releases to when people can start talking about it, how long
• 23:47
  do you think they can go? So here's the thing, I think you
• 23:50
  can start talking about it whenever you want, but don't do
• 23:53
  major spoilers like like I am. So I, I think I've said it
• 23:58
  before, like I'm so pissed. I saw somebody doing major
• 24:02
  Kingdom of Ash, which is the last book of the Throne of Glass
• 24:06
  series, major spoilers like audio spoilers on Instagram.
• 24:11
  And that really bothers me because for people that haven't
• 24:13
  read it yet, you're literally spoiling like the biggest epic
• 24:18
  ending. And that's not OK.
• 24:20
  Like keep that off. You can tell people how much you
• 24:22
  love it and how devastating it was, but do not put those clips
• 24:26
  out or like ruin that. So, or I think it's like you can
• 24:30
  start talking about. Well, I guess if you are going
• 24:33
  to do it, make it that it's like a slide thing or something that
• 24:36
  yeah or. Say very clearly.
• 24:38
  Like spoiler, don't go any further.
• 24:40
  Don't look at this. That's the problem.
• 24:42
  People are not, they're just going right into it and of
• 24:45
  course it's going to hook people because it sounds so good.
• 24:48
  And so it's like, dude, you're ruining it for everybody.
• 24:50
  So but yeah, so I feel like you can get on and start talking
• 24:53
  about, oh, it's so good, it's so great.
• 24:55
  And then like, and then tell people, hey, I want to talk
• 24:58
  about it. Have you gotten to this part yet
• 24:59
  or whatever? What chapter are you on?
• 25:01
  And then go on the side and you can sidebar people.
• 25:04
  But like the spoiling is just it's the same thing with like
• 25:06
  off campus and everybody started posting clips like.
• 25:09
  That's the Hockey 1, isn't it? Yeah, yeah.
• 25:12
  And I'm obsessed with it. And that's like, that's a little
• 25:14
  bit different. I mean, it's a show, whatever,
• 25:16
  you can post clips, it's not going to.
• 25:18
  We all kind of know there's going to be a happily ever after
• 25:20
  or whatever, but it's like this race for the content right when
• 25:25
  something comes out is is it's exhausting I.
• 25:28
  Don't know, I don't see. Now when I talk about a book
• 25:31
  even you know, I know what happened.
• 25:33
  Now of course we do with our AC guitar, but we give warnings.
• 25:35
  That's our bonus series and stuff like.
• 25:37
  That and that's the whole thing. It's for people that have read
• 25:39
  it. We're not telling people that
• 25:40
  haven't read it. Come listen to all the spoilers.
• 25:43
  Well, yeah, I mean, even like when we're talking like
• 25:46
  different books and, you know, that we love and and we're just
• 25:49
  giving a gist of what's going on with it.
• 25:51
  I don't tell people like, hey, this happens.
• 25:54
  Like, you know, like we'll put Crescent City as example.
• 25:58
  I mean, if I talk about Crescent City, I always say it's kind of
• 26:01
  a scooby-doo kind of vibe to it. And there is you start reading
• 26:07
  book 1 and there's something life altering that happens, but
• 26:12
  that doesn't tell anybody anything.
• 26:14
  You don't know what it is. You just know something is going
• 26:16
  to happen. That's all you know.
• 26:18
  But in all books, something is going to happen.
• 26:21
  But you know, that's just laying it out very, you know, different
• 26:25
  than some people. Some people will be like blah,
• 26:26
  blah, blah, blah and tell exactly what happened and then
• 26:29
  you ruin it for people when they're trying to trying to
• 26:33
  enjoy that immersive experience. That's why I don't read the back
• 26:37
  of the blurbs on books and stuff I like.
• 26:42
  I'm the same way. I don't want to know anything
• 26:44
  about the book. I want to go in and just
• 26:46
  completely be surprised by what happens.
• 26:48
  Oh yeah. So yeah.
• 26:49
  I think that's so much more fun because you're you're learning
• 26:53
  every page you're reading and you're learning what's this
• 26:56
  world is. It makes it so I don't know, it
• 27:00
  just makes it more special. That's that's my opinion on my
• 27:04
  soapbox today just before we go, because we're going to go and
• 27:07
  get our special guests for today.
• 27:09
  But we do have our special drink for her for her episode.
• 27:14
  This one is let's see here. It's the cranberry glamour
• 27:18
  cocktail. So you'll be able to find that
• 27:21
  on our on our Instagram under sips.
• 27:24
  So we will be back momentarily with AG Harris.
• 27:28
  OK everyone, it's time to welcome the absolute queen of
• 27:32
  five snakes fantasy world building onto the screen.
• 27:35
  AG Harris, welcome. That's a big.
• 27:39
  Title got to live up to it now. Yeah, hey, I have to tell you I
• 27:44
  have been reading your book, OK? And you have made me cry
• 27:47
  already. I just want you to know you have
• 27:50
  how? Far in are you?
• 27:52
  I'm only a chapter 2 girl and you made me cry at chapter 2.
• 27:56
  I, I love it. It is so good, absolutely good.
• 28:00
  I mean the way because I don't want to say anything to anybody
• 28:03
  because anybody hasn't read it. But the way that you wrote
• 28:06
  Chapter 2 and the events that are happening, I could see it
• 28:11
  all and, and you know how like you can see in your mind and you
• 28:14
  have like that cinematic vibe with it.
• 28:17
  Like to me, I could see like the cameras turning and looking at
• 28:20
  these people. I'm just going to say people.
• 28:22
  And then the moment of what happened, you got me.
• 28:26
  You're very good. You are very good.
• 28:28
  I try to paint a little picture, so I hope that it translates
• 28:32
  from my head to everyone else. Yes, I could see this,
• 28:36
  absolutely. I could see every detail of how
• 28:39
  you were describing it. And just like, you know, like
• 28:41
  how if you're watching it up on the big screen and the, you
• 28:44
  know, you see the one person, you see the other person and how
• 28:47
  like the camera would be going around like this.
• 28:50
  That's how I seen it in my mind. So you are amazing.
• 28:55
  Thank you and the art in this book is so pretty.
• 29:00
  Oh, well, that's my fun part. And I guess maybe I'm writing
• 29:03
  scenes like that because I'm paying sometimes.
• 29:05
  Like I'm thinking of the art that will go with the scene.
• 29:09
  So sometimes I see the scene in my head and then it's harder for
• 29:12
  me to translate it into the art, like the anatomy and everything
• 29:17
  but. Yeah, did you?
• 29:18
  So do you have an artist that you work with or?
• 29:21
  No, I'm do. You do it, she does.
• 29:24
  All of it. I did not know that before
• 29:27
  today, but yeah, I'm going to just sneak peek to the prologue.
• 29:30
  Even just how pretty. That's amazing.
• 29:34
  It's the kind of like, so, you know, I'll write all day and
• 29:37
  then at the end of the night, once I get, you know, our four
• 29:40
  year old to bed, I can finally sit down and the drawing is like
• 29:44
  my like I can relax. I put an audio book on and I
• 29:48
  reset. That's amazing.
• 29:51
  Yeah, so. I love it because everything
• 29:53
  that we're seeing, we're seeing how what you see because you
• 29:57
  create it, then we see actually how what you see the characters
• 30:00
  actually look like, not what our imaginations would create.
• 30:03
  We're seeing truly what as you see the characters and I love
• 30:06
  it. I love watching you on
• 30:08
  Instagram. I think the struggle as an
• 30:11
  artist is because I, I was listening to another podcast you
• 30:14
  guys had and you mentioned how one of the authors said like
• 30:17
  they'll target like an actor or you envision an actor.
• 30:20
  And I realized after listening to that I never do that.
• 30:23
  I just kind of like, like I Frankenstein the character in my
• 30:26
  head. So then I find the hardest part
• 30:29
  is trying to get like that picture out without like the
• 30:33
  visual reference. So now I'm like, should I be
• 30:35
  like targeting more actors so I I can maybe draw it a little
• 30:39
  better? No.
• 30:40
  You just try to do it. It's so beautiful.
• 30:42
  I mean, I would even say like this, it resembles you almost.
• 30:47
  So I don't know if that like which is gorgeous, of course, I.
• 30:51
  Agree with that statement. It does.
• 30:53
  Look like me. Yeah, but I mean, just like the,
• 30:56
  you know, the the curly blonde hair, it is, it's so beautiful.
• 31:00
  But yeah, so it's it's interesting how your mind works,
• 31:03
  so. Get it to translate to everyone
• 31:06
  and I guess it is so happy. Yeah, I wish I could draw it.
• 31:10
  I mean, you are. You are.
• 31:12
  Lord, I know I am not. I have tried drawing and it is
• 31:17
  not my my Forte. I wish that was a talent I had,
• 31:22
  but that is not. But you are.
• 31:24
  I mean you do absolutely beautiful.
• 31:27
  I mean, I mean just like Chelsea said.
• 31:28
  I mean, look how beautiful she is.
• 31:30
  I did like I. Love.
• 31:31
  I mean look how handsome he is. You know what I mean?
• 31:35
  I'm starting to try to think of the second book cover, and now
• 31:38
  I'm like, how do I make something that's outperforming
• 31:41
  him? Because I feel like he had so
• 31:42
  much emotion and now I feel like I'm putting.
• 31:45
  I'm trying not to build pressure on myself.
• 31:47
  When I go to draw it, I'm just going to draw a bunch of
• 31:50
  different things and see what works.
• 31:52
  But I see what's one of my favorite ones.
• 31:54
  Yeah, yeah. I love watching you on Instagram
• 31:57
  because you'll show like when like as you're doing your art
• 32:01
  and stuff like that. And it is so neat to be able to
• 32:05
  see that that part of it, of the process and that is neat.
• 32:09
  Did you draw your map as well? Yes, I did.
• 32:12
  Did a good job. You know I love a good map, I
• 32:15
  have to tell you, I remember. You saying that in maps are this
• 32:18
  made me like appreciate people who really can draw them.
• 32:24
  It is such like besides getting the land masses, then when you
• 32:27
  want to add in like the little mountains and the textures, it
• 32:30
  was very frustrating. Yeah, while I'm seeing videos
• 32:34
  where people will do like when they're doing their map
• 32:36
  building, how they're like throw rice or beans and they'll be
• 32:39
  like, OK, these this where the mountains are going to go.
• 32:42
  And yeah, what was your process? I realize like I had to keep
• 32:47
  like I would take my hand and just start squiggling to kind of
• 32:51
  warm up because when I went to stiff is going rigid.
• 32:55
  So the best thing was just kind of like look away, like if I had
• 32:58
  like, you know, a north or South in my head.
• 33:01
  But since I hadn't released it yet, I had more freedom.
• 33:04
  So I just kind of like squiggled and until I got shapes that I'd
• 33:08
  like to work with. And then, you know, that was the
• 33:10
  stake in the ground that was going to be the land.
• 33:13
  That's awesome. Did it take you from when you
• 33:15
  started creating it to finish? How long did it take you to
• 33:18
  create the actual map? The map, well, I kind of worked
• 33:21
  on it. I mean, maybe in total it took,
• 33:24
  I'm looking at it here on the side, it probably took maybe
• 33:28
  like 3 weeks, but I really drew it over a few months because I
• 33:32
  got like the basic outline when I first started the story.
• 33:35
  And then as I was writing, I would just say this castle's
• 33:38
  here and that. But then when I had to do like
• 33:41
  the actual design and make it fit with the book, that took a
• 33:44
  little more thinking. So.
• 33:47
  But in total, it was probably. That's neat, yeah.
• 33:50
  Because it can't be. I mean, I was going to say when
• 33:52
  it comes to the map, you can't necessarily do too much maybe
• 33:56
  before and you can't do too much after, because you kind of have
• 33:58
  to see where the story takes you, right?
• 34:00
  So and. That's I have the map here
• 34:02
  because as I was writing the second book, things have changed
• 34:06
  quite a bit on the map, but I'm still stuck within like certain
• 34:09
  borders, so I have all my notes on it, right?
• 34:13
  So I was going to have to make sense where they're travelling
• 34:15
  to and from. Yep.
• 34:18
  Now, how long did it take you to write this book from when you
• 34:22
  your first thought of having it versus having it complete in our
• 34:26
  hands? This was a longer one for me.
• 34:29
  It probably took almost a year, like through the editing and
• 34:32
  everything and just kind of reworking it.
• 34:36
  I would say about a year where in the past, like when I first
• 34:39
  started writing, I was able to do at least two to three books a
• 34:43
  year. But for the fantasy, it gave me
• 34:45
  so much freedom to create, like everything down to the plant.
• 34:49
  So that took more time to dream up.
• 34:53
  Yeah, 11. Now go ahead, Chelsea.
• 34:55
  I was going to say, can we, can we kind of go back?
• 34:58
  Because for people that are keying in today to hear more
• 35:01
  about you, will you tell us more about yourself, like what life
• 35:04
  is like right now, what you were like growing up?
• 35:07
  Whatever you're willing to tell all of us, we'd love to hear it.
• 35:10
  Well, right now I've, I pretty much transition full time as an
• 35:14
  author writing. So basically, so before this,
• 35:17
  thank you, I was doing graphic design.
• 35:20
  I worked a corporate job and then I realized I went into free
• 35:23
  freelance when we moved and I hated doing logos and all of
• 35:27
  that. So I was like, I've got to find
• 35:28
  my niche and I started doing book covers.
• 35:30
  So at that time, I was doing book covers and I was painting
• 35:33
  every day. And then I had a health thing
• 35:36
  and I realized I had a big surgery coming up.
• 35:38
  I was not going to be able to paint or lift my arms.
• 35:42
  So I was talking to my sister and she's an author.
• 35:46
  And I told her I was like, I always see these two characters
• 35:48
  in my head, this scene, and she's like, just start writing.
• 35:52
  She's like, you're going to be recovering.
• 35:54
  Like it's the perfect thing. You can sit down and do it.
• 35:57
  And I feel like I can still remember the first time I sat in
• 35:59
  my kitchen counter to start writing.
• 36:01
  Like, you feel really silly. But then it was like, once you
• 36:04
  get over that, I just started writing.
• 36:07
  And it was like, I think like in a month, I started doing notes
• 36:11
  for like over a dozen books. And then I talked to her and
• 36:14
  she's like, listen, sit down and write one book from start to end
• 36:17
  because I didn't really know what I was doing at first.
• 36:19
  I would get stuck like in a plot hole.
• 36:21
  So then I would have this different idea and write it.
• 36:24
  And then I made myself sit down and I wrote my first book, Ashes
• 36:27
  to Ashes. And then I started learning my
• 36:30
  process and it just took off. Like it was more fun for me than
• 36:34
  even graphic design. So I just slowly pushed myself
• 36:38
  into doing this full time. Yeah.
• 36:41
  So I mean like as a kid, were you like into English and
• 36:45
  writing and any of that, or is this yes?
• 36:47
  I always did that like I always did great and creative writing
• 36:52
  and art in school, but I guess I don't know why I never
• 36:55
  considered like writing and that more of like a job.
• 36:59
  Like for me at least, I always had a track where I I went in
• 37:03
  and I was studying anthropology and I wanted to be an
• 37:05
  anthropologist. So I was like, this is this is
• 37:07
  it. And then like most people in
• 37:09
  college, I changed my major and I went into graphic design.
• 37:12
  I had never really like, besides those essays you have to do for
• 37:16
  your exams, I never really like wrote seriously.
• 37:21
  But my sister, I grew up watching her like she would sit
• 37:24
  at our kitchen table and she was writing her books and that's I
• 37:28
  always saw her doing it and maybe somewhere in the back of
• 37:31
  my mind I wanted to do it. Yeah.
• 37:34
  Besides your sister, does writing go in your family?
• 37:37
  Anybody else in your family like to write?
• 37:39
  No. I feel like we got like the
• 37:42
  writing, well like the artsy side comes from my grandma, so
• 37:45
  she taught me how to oil paint. But besides that, like my
• 37:48
  parents are like you guys got the art from from this side of
• 37:51
  the family and that's where this came from.
• 37:55
  Yeah, and it's interesting. I mean, as we're like growing up
• 37:58
  and we're thinking, OK, I need to get a job.
• 38:00
  What is my, you know, like you said in college, what is my
• 38:03
  major going to be? What, how am I setting myself
• 38:05
  up? And I think so many of us don't
• 38:07
  think that we can do like pursue our creative paths, right?
• 38:12
  Like, so we kind of put that off to the side.
• 38:14
  And then there are some of us that are like, no, I know that
• 38:17
  that's what I want to do. So it's always an interesting
• 38:19
  talking to different people. Like you said, it sounded like
• 38:20
  your sister kind of knew that was the pass she wanted to take,
• 38:23
  and then it came a little bit later for you.
• 38:26
  Yes, it's like you, you cling sometimes the things that are
• 38:29
  more stable and that you hear like more often, especially
• 38:33
  nowadays. But then you know, you realize
• 38:36
  you have much more fun doing what your real passion was.
• 38:40
  Yeah. And so behind you is some of
• 38:42
  that your art that you have displayed.
• 38:45
  So you know what in front of me are are my paintings.
• 38:48
  Actually these are more besides my book art.
• 38:51
  It's it's just my bookshelf art. But I have all my paintings in
• 38:55
  front of me. I got in a mode of painting
• 38:57
  really, really big so I could work on like hyper realism.
• 39:01
  So most of my paintings won't fit in my little squares.
• 39:05
  Well, that's see, now like my niece kind of did kind of the
• 39:08
  same kind of thing. She was going to go, I don't
• 39:11
  remember what her initial thing for college was, but then she
• 39:14
  changed majors and she became, she was going to be an art
• 39:18
  teacher. That's what she was going to do.
• 39:21
  And then before she ended up graduating, I believe she ended
• 39:25
  up doing graphic design. That ended up being her thing.
• 39:29
  And then in between, before she became like the graphic artist
• 39:33
  she is, she was a tattoo artist. So she was actually, oh, she's
• 39:37
  done amazing work, but she has all kinds of tattoos.
• 39:40
  She has like on her hand, I think, but she'll probably yell
• 39:43
  at me and tell me I was wrong. But I think she did the tattoo
• 39:46
  on her hand. And it's like the poison apple,
• 39:48
  you know, from Snow White, the poison apple.
• 39:52
  And I mean, she does. But yeah, I know she has
• 39:54
  tattooed on herself. That's amazing.
• 39:57
  Which is pretty cool. I wish I again, I don't think I
• 40:00
  could do that because I don't think I could take the pain and
• 40:02
  do it at the same time. That's true.
• 40:04
  The nervous and the pain. But now, but her thing that
• 40:08
  she's been doing now is, again, she's a graphic artist, but she
• 40:13
  is doing a book cover and illustrating a children's book.
• 40:16
  So it's the first one she's ever did.
• 40:18
  Yes. Maybe she'll move more into our
• 40:20
  lane, Yes. Yeah.
• 40:22
  I keep trying. I'm like, you need to come join
• 40:25
  me in books to Graham and stuff. I told her.
• 40:28
  I said, you do you know she draws so beautifully.
• 40:32
  I can. So she's done murals and stuff
• 40:34
  in Pittsburgh because she used to work for a microbrewery, I
• 40:38
  believe it was. And she did a massive mural on
• 40:41
  the wall there. And I mean, I know she does
• 40:44
  beautiful stuff, but she just, I don't think she can see what I
• 40:47
  see every day when I look at her.
• 40:49
  And I know everyone else would love her.
• 40:51
  Yeah, like, I feel like as artists, we're always the
• 40:54
  hardest on ourselves. And even like, like when my
• 40:56
  sister told me to start posting on, like, Instagram when I first
• 41:00
  made an Instagram, it's like you feel like you feel silly in a
• 41:04
  way. And, you know, social media is
• 41:05
  very vulnerable. And you go through all that and
• 41:08
  then your art, like you always have some emotion attached to
• 41:11
  it. So you have to realize it's not
• 41:12
  like a, a personal attack. It's more like a critique or
• 41:15
  something from a peer. So it's baby steps, Yeah.
• 41:19
  Yeah, it is hard. Like you said, it is vulnerable
• 41:22
  putting ourselves out there and and doing that.
• 41:24
  But look at you. You're doing it.
• 41:27
  It's. Hard now your your books prior
• 41:30
  to because we I mean we like we've been showing we have
• 41:34
  kingdoms of silent sorrows, which is your book 1 and then
• 41:37
  prior to this you did it was romantic suspense.
• 41:40
  Yes, so I will tell my friends dark romance, but I feel like
• 41:45
  when I say that to people, they push me into like a 50 Shades of
• 41:49
  Grey, which is fine. But so I like to say my dark
• 41:51
  romance, it's more like psychological.
• 41:54
  Like I like my characters to have these really thick and kind
• 41:58
  of scarred backgrounds and then I can use that to give reason as
• 42:02
  to why they're acting now. So it's more psychological, but
• 42:05
  I still like to say it's dark because sometimes we touch on
• 42:08
  topics that are, you know, a little more sensitive.
• 42:12
  But I always get nervous when I have to tell people, like I'll
• 42:15
  say I write romance and then they kind of get quiet.
• 42:18
  And then when I say dark romance, I can see like the
• 42:21
  wheels spinning in their head. And for a long time, I, it was
• 42:25
  getting frustrated by like the reactions.
• 42:28
  So I was like, I told my husband, I'm not telling anyone
• 42:31
  that I'm writing because it was getting to be like, like almost
• 42:35
  annoying and like these personal attacks.
• 42:37
  Like you could just see people look at you differently.
• 42:40
  But now I've gotten to a point where it's like, I don't care.
• 42:43
  Like this is what I write. It's what I do all day and it's
• 42:46
  my passion and you're either in the ship or you're swimming to a
• 42:49
  different shore. Yeah.
• 42:51
  And that's where like all this books to grammar book talk kind
• 42:54
  of comes in, right. Because it is so hard sometimes
• 42:57
  to be able to connect with people like in our real lives
• 43:00
  that don't get it or they don't read.
• 43:03
  And so that's where like this community can come in.
• 43:05
  Sometimes they can be awful, but other times this community could
• 43:09
  be great because it's like, these are your people and this
• 43:11
  is your audience. And absolutely.
• 43:13
  Yeah, I totally get that there. There are people that just like,
• 43:16
  oh, you know, you're smart, whatever.
• 43:18
  And it's like, OK, you're so sophisticated.
• 43:22
  I'm so happy for you. It's exactly it.
• 43:25
  But yeah, it's hard to do you and you have your pen name, so
• 43:30
  you're right. OK.
• 43:31
  So you keep that or do you keep that pretty separate?
• 43:34
  Try to keep it separate, but at the same time it's like I have
• 43:37
  to embrace like this is it's what I am and it's what I'm
• 43:41
  doing. But I do try to keep it separate
• 43:43
  in a sense just for privacy. Everyone says make a pending for
• 43:47
  privacy. Yeah.
• 43:48
  But at the same time, like in today's world, like you could
• 43:51
  probably Google like my fingerprint, right?
• 43:54
  So it, you know, the veil is very thin and the pen name is
• 43:58
  much easier than my legal name. So I wanted to give something
• 44:01
  that was easy for readers to to type in and pronounce.
• 44:05
  Yeah. And I think that's so smart.
• 44:07
  I mean, even if we don't feel like we're.
• 44:09
  So even for me, like I I'm not anything special online, but at
• 44:13
  the same time, those are the people that are vulnerable
• 44:16
  online. You know, it's like I won't post
• 44:17
  my kids. I keep them off of it unless
• 44:20
  it's just like my small group that I keep like close friends.
• 44:23
  But yeah, you know, on there, which I'm glad they have that,
• 44:26
  but yeah, it's you never know. Yes, I think it's better to be
• 44:31
  more cautious than, especially as someone who reads like a lot
• 44:34
  of dark romance. Like, I love reading it, but I
• 44:36
  can separate the fiction from reality and I don't want, you
• 44:40
  know, like a masked man coming at the door.
• 44:43
  Yes. Yeah.
• 44:44
  You wanted this. You like to read it.
• 44:46
  So I'm here. I'm showing up, Yes.
• 44:48
  Yeah. The Internet is, it can be a
• 44:51
  very wonderful place, but it can be a very scary place too,
• 44:55
  because there are people that can't separate, you know,
• 44:59
  reality from, you know, what they're doing.
• 45:03
  And you see that like with, you know, like Hollywood stars and
• 45:06
  stuff like that and how people will stalk them and go to their
• 45:09
  house. There was a guy, I, I can't
• 45:11
  remember, he was like 80 some years old.
• 45:13
  He was an actor. I don't know if he was, it was
• 45:15
  like an NY blue and NYC blue or whatever that show was.
• 45:20
  I don't remember the name of it, but they some guy or no, it was
• 45:23
  his stepson stabbed him to death in his yard.
• 45:27
  That just happened the other day.
• 45:28
  Yes, I saw that on the news. I didn't know it was his
• 45:30
  stepson. Yep, it was his stepson and he
• 45:33
  and he is the one that called 911 then and he said some weird
• 45:38
  like out in outer space kind of stuff to them.
• 45:43
  So I think there was some major stuff and I guess neighbors said
• 45:46
  that he had a history of that. But but yeah, he yeah, he did
• 45:51
  that to him in his yard. I mean, I did.
• 45:53
  See that? But now you gave me the full I
• 45:55
  don't have to see it on the news.
• 45:57
  But I mean, that's how people are.
• 45:59
  And you don't want people showing up at your door.
• 46:01
  I know there's the one guy I follow on Instagram.
• 46:04
  He does like funny videos and people keep showing up at his
• 46:07
  house and he does posts and he's like, don't come to my house.
• 46:12
  Yeah, please stop showing up at my house.
• 46:15
  And he said, I know, I know you want to meet me.
• 46:17
  I know you want to see me, but this is my house.
• 46:20
  He's like my family lives here. Please stop.
• 46:23
  Yeah, it's very weird. It's been blurred.
• 46:26
  Yeah, I don't show my kids on the Internet either.
• 46:28
  I mean, I have my my own personal one with my, you know,
• 46:31
  close people and stuff and they will of course see my kids and
• 46:35
  stuff like that. But no, I don't I.
• 46:37
  Think it's safer to think like almost like the worst of what
• 46:41
  could happen versus being too naive even like for in the
• 46:45
  authors, like when you get these opportunities to mail your books
• 46:49
  out. And I, I wasn't thinking like
• 46:51
  that at the start. It's like you have to think,
• 46:53
  well, who are you mailing it to? And if you're mailing it from
• 46:56
  your personal address, you know what I mean, you kind of need to
• 47:00
  start thinking forward. I started thinking it like
• 47:04
  halfway through, but it's like, oh, I'm sending things from the
• 47:07
  personal address. Let's, you know, make this
• 47:09
  appeal box and just protect everything.
• 47:12
  That's so. That is smart.
• 47:14
  That's a good OK, well, so that's a good thing for aspiring
• 47:17
  authors or indie authors. Get yourself APO box.
• 47:20
  Yes, and like a work phone number, you know what I mean?
• 47:24
  Just start from the beginning trying to be more cautious.
• 47:28
  It, I mean, it is sad in the world that we live in that we
• 47:30
  have to do these kind of things. But unfortunately we have to
• 47:34
  make those boundaries. You have to do it.
• 47:38
  Yeah. I have a question for you.
• 47:40
  So now when will book 2 be coming out?
• 47:45
  So I'm in the process of getting a new editor.
• 47:48
  So I'm working with that, but it is ready to go off to the
• 47:52
  editor. But the good news is, so I've
• 47:54
  wrote book 2 and I wrote book three.
• 47:56
  I'm ready to write more in the series.
• 47:59
  So I'm kind of a few guards ahead, which I haven't been
• 48:03
  before, which I like. So hopefully that will once
• 48:07
  everything's finalized, I can make the releases faster.
• 48:11
  Yeah. Do you have an idea of yeah, how
• 48:13
  many books you have planned out? Well, so for Titus, his will
• 48:18
  spill into three books. OK.
• 48:20
  And but then all of the brothers and other characters, I've
• 48:24
  already kind of tried to set it up where they'll each have their
• 48:27
  book, so. I like that.
• 48:30
  So it could be more brand. Yes, interconnected.
• 48:33
  And if you've made it through the prologue, you know that
• 48:36
  that's on the gods, and that's intended to be their own series.
• 48:40
  But everything will interconnect, and that prologue
• 48:44
  slowly keeps unraveling throughout all of Titus's books
• 48:48
  and the brothers. Awesome.
• 48:51
  I absolutely love it. I'm telling you, I always know
• 48:54
  when a book is a good book is when it makes me cry.
• 48:57
  And I'm like, she got me already at chapter 2.
• 49:00
  Yeah. And so I know, so I'm super
• 49:04
  excited. I have to try out some of your
• 49:06
  other books because I do now. I'm not like a contemporary
• 49:10
  romance girly so much, but you said dark romance.
• 49:13
  You had me. Why she's got other There's
• 49:15
  paranormal romance. It looks like you wrote a couple
• 49:18
  with your sister. I did one with my sister, so
• 49:20
  that was in a box set. You actually, it's not available
• 49:23
  now. And I've been telling her I was
• 49:25
  like, we wrote that knowing we wanted to continue the series
• 49:28
  ourselves. Yeah, but life's happened.
• 49:30
  And, you know, she's got more kids now.
• 49:32
  So I think maybe once that her kids are older we can sit down
• 49:36
  and do that. But that was really the first
• 49:39
  fantasy book that I started to Co write with her.
• 49:42
  OK. So I mean, writing fantasy, I
• 49:44
  feel like when authors step their toe into that and you can
• 49:48
  start like creating everything, it's just so much fun.
• 49:51
  So. Yeah.
• 49:52
  Yeah, hopefully we'll get back to that series.
• 49:54
  So how many books have you done overall in your writing career?
• 49:59
  I think it's been 10 now, I think. 10 Count 123.
• 50:05
  Ten. Well, if you include the
• 50:06
  co-author book, 1111. That is pretty awesome.
• 50:10
  That's amazing. You look like you have more than
• 50:13
  that, no? Well, oh, so this series here
• 50:16
  when that first came out, dangerously evolved.
• 50:19
  That was four books, but I've merged it into three books.
• 50:22
  I merged the second and four. I always wanted it to be one
• 50:26
  book, and I had advice and they were like, break it up.
• 50:29
  And after I released it, like it never settled well with me.
• 50:33
  And the best part about being an indie author, I can go back and
• 50:36
  and make it into one and, and the good thing is then fans get
• 50:39
  kind of two books for the price of 1.
• 50:41
  Yeah. Yes.
• 50:44
  And you and I have already bonded over our love for TL
• 50:47
  Swan. I finished her last book and I
• 50:50
  was like, you know, I don't know if a lot of people know this,
• 50:52
  but I feel like so TL Swan has a Facebook group where you, if
• 50:57
  you're an author and you need to ask questions, you can go to
• 51:00
  that group and it is like the safest space.
• 51:03
  Like I can say this happened to me as an indie author.
• 51:06
  Do you recommend something? She's the only like huge author
• 51:10
  that I know of that is giving like, and she will respond to
• 51:13
  questions, but she's giving her personal advice to authors.
• 51:17
  And I just find that it's just so amazing.
• 51:19
  I fell in love with her books way before I was writing.
• 51:23
  But to know like how good of a person she is and she cares
• 51:26
  about, like the writing community, it's like the ride or
• 51:29
  die train. Yeah.
• 51:30
  And the last book, The Sickness, the signals, right.
• 51:34
  Yes. OK, Yeah.
• 51:35
  Yep. So it is amazing, yeah.
• 51:38
  Chelsea got to meet her just recently.
• 51:40
  I thought I've been trying to follow you on Instagram because
• 51:43
  I need to meet her one day. Yeah, when she when I knew she
• 51:47
  was coming to the USI was like, oh, I no matter what, I'm
• 51:50
  flying. So I just had to figure out the
• 51:51
  closest that she was going to be to me.
• 51:53
  And and like you said, she's just so awesome.
• 51:56
  So my brother and my brother and my brother-in-law, he writes,
• 52:00
  he's starting to write his own fantasy book.
• 52:02
  So he used to do like writing in Hollywood.
• 52:04
  So they came with me because I went up to Oregon.
• 52:07
  That's where they're living. And that's where she was at.
• 52:09
  And she was just so down to earth and awesome during like
• 52:13
  the discussion part. And then even for him, she was
• 52:17
  telling him she's like, come join my group, like you said,
• 52:19
  like on the Cygnets, come and talk and we can and we can talk
• 52:23
  it out. And she like genuinely cares.
• 52:26
  Like yes. And that just made me love her
• 52:28
  even more. Yes, which I haven't come across
• 52:31
  that. It's like, you know, once you go
• 52:33
  that big, it's kind of like you're in this closed door off
• 52:37
  to anyone. Yeah.
• 52:38
  And knowing like, like I've posted things, they're asking
• 52:40
  for advice and she's personally replied and I'm like fangirling.
• 52:44
  Yeah. So I definitely have to to meet
• 52:47
  her one day. Yeah.
• 52:48
  And one of the things that she gave advice for, which I am all
• 52:51
  about like the book community and like creating jobs and
• 52:55
  stuff. But she had said she was like,
• 52:57
  you don't need an agent. What you need is like proper
• 53:00
  marketing and things like that because you want to keep like
• 53:03
  your rights for things you know, like and it's and so her like
• 53:08
  giving people that advice I think is huge because you get so
• 53:11
  caught up in an agent wants to sign me and people jump on that
• 53:14
  opportunity and they end up losing their rights, their
• 53:17
  things. Yeah.
• 53:18
  And I watched my sister, like, query for years.
• 53:21
  And then this was before indie publishing was a thing.
• 53:25
  And it finally got when Amazon came out, she bit the bullet and
• 53:28
  she did it. And she became a New York Times
• 53:31
  bestselling author. She writes a very different
• 53:33
  genre than, but it's like, I feel like you can, you can do it
• 53:37
  and make it as an indie author, but it it's more work than I
• 53:41
  ever thought. Like the fun is writing and then
• 53:44
  you realize the whole marketing and everything.
• 53:46
  But it's a learning process. And the best thing is you keep
• 53:49
  all the rights and you can pick and design everything you want.
• 53:53
  Yeah. So I mean, I can definitely see
• 53:56
  the the plus side to like going traditional and all that.
• 53:58
  And at some point, you probably do have to give up some of the
• 54:01
  rights in order for it to get into more people's hands.
• 54:04
  But yeah, you guys have the work cut out for you.
• 54:07
  That's for sure. I feel like the biggest struggle
• 54:10
  it's to keep going and in the author is like the whole
• 54:13
  marketing thing in the social media that is more consuming
• 54:17
  than anything I've ever felt. And like, the pressure of that.
• 54:21
  It's like sometimes, like you would question like, like, is it
• 54:25
  worse still doing this? But I know if I didn't now at
• 54:28
  this point, I would still be writing on the side.
• 54:30
  Yeah. So it's like you kind of have to
• 54:32
  leave that negative video and you will stumble and fall, but
• 54:36
  it's like a slow race and eventually you're going to
• 54:39
  you're going to learn more and keep going.
• 54:41
  It's what I tell myself, at least.
• 54:43
  Yes. I mean, we see that just here
• 54:46
  with just our little podcast and stuff like that.
• 54:49
  I mean, because you have to do a lot of social media or nobody
• 54:52
  would know we existed. Right.
• 54:54
  You know, and you know, I do Instagram, I let TikTok fall by
• 54:59
  the wayside, but I have come back to TikTok.
• 55:04
  But she was getting a lot of weird messages on TikTok, so
• 55:06
  she. So I kind of like, I kind of
• 55:10
  there's some weird men on TikTok.
• 55:12
  I just want you to know just. Telling my husband that like I
• 55:15
  feel like so I've tried to get into TikTok and I have two
• 55:18
  issues. One is I feel like when I if
• 55:21
  I've ever tried to do ads on TikTok, it doesn't do anything
• 55:25
  that I target. Like I will target only women
• 55:28
  and I get all men following me and it's it's weird messages.
• 55:32
  And another thing is TikTok, as I post any art, like I'm drawing
• 55:37
  a nose, they flag my video and take down there like, oh, we
• 55:40
  think this goes against the guidelines.
• 55:42
  I have to appeal it, which takes a few days and it happens like
• 55:45
  90% of the time I post. So I've told all my followers,
• 55:48
  like I'm going to try to be on TikTok for you all, but I'm
• 55:51
  going to post much more often on Instagram because the whole like
• 55:56
  I can't post a picture of me drawing.
• 55:58
  It just drives me insane. I don't.
• 56:00
  Know why? Yeah.
• 56:02
  Again, TikTok is, it's it's weird, yes.
• 56:05
  Like I said, weird people, weird men that like to write you.
• 56:09
  And it's, and I was just like, this is weird.
• 56:11
  And so I kind of quit like at the beginning of the year and I
• 56:14
  wasn't posting anything. But here in the last week or so,
• 56:18
  I I started again and but it's weird too, because we were
• 56:22
  getting like like like 1000 views and all that kind of
• 56:25
  stuff. And now it's, even though I have
• 56:28
  more followers over there, it's not as many.
• 56:30
  I don't understand their algorithm.
• 56:33
  Yeah, over there. Yeah, YouTube's not bad it you
• 56:37
  post over there. Start that more.
• 56:39
  I started YouTube and I post some but I feel like Instagram
• 56:43
  was my first and it's just it's so easy so.
• 56:46
  Yeah, I I prefer Instagram. Yes, yeah.
• 56:50
  But I know there's even more things that we can do.
• 56:54
  But then you go into lives. You've got to weigh like, what
• 56:57
  is? How much can you do?
• 56:59
  Yeah. So you're not making it so
• 57:01
  exhausting. Yeah, that's a lie.
• 57:03
  And you said you have. Do you have multiple children?
• 57:06
  I have one daughter. You have one daughter, OK.
• 57:08
  Yeah. So.
• 57:08
  And that's hard because it does take a lot of your family time
• 57:13
  away and they're seeing you and it's like being on your phone or
• 57:15
  having to be on the computer. And yes, that is that's draining
• 57:19
  too. And I like, I feel like trying
• 57:21
  to keep up on the social media, trying to keep up with all the
• 57:24
  new things coming out. It is I, I'm afraid of one day
• 57:28
  looking back and being like, I was so consumed by all of that
• 57:31
  by trying to make it, yes, you know.
• 57:34
  And I feel like I've questioned that sometimes it's like, you
• 57:37
  know, when she's in school and I'm writing so much and
• 57:39
  sometimes in the evening I start to draw.
• 57:41
  It's like I make sure that that's why now when she goes to
• 57:45
  bed, I will draw because it's like, like, especially when you
• 57:48
  have one kid, it's like, I saw this thing and it's like when
• 57:51
  you have one kid, every first moment is really the last.
• 57:54
  Like it's the last time I'm going to be putting like a baby
• 57:57
  in a crib. So it's like I want to take that
• 57:59
  memory and like, hold on to it and, and cherish it.
• 58:03
  Yeah. It's a lot of pressure being a
• 58:05
  parent and and being creative too, because we've talked about
• 58:09
  this before. Are you kind of ADHD, like when
• 58:13
  you get an idea, like you really want to do it and you get really
• 58:16
  invested and then you kind of move?
• 58:17
  Around or not ADHD, but it's like when I get the idea even
• 58:22
  like so I get some of my best plot twists or care or book
• 58:26
  inspiration. It's like when I would go lay
• 58:28
  down, I'm like I'm taking my 15 minute power net.
• 58:31
  As soon as I lay down and close my eyes, it's like it's start.
• 58:34
  So it's like then I'm not napping.
• 58:36
  I'm writing the notes on the phone or like even with my art,
• 58:39
  like I usually have around at least five different drawings
• 58:43
  going on because I'm working, you know, it just it's like the
• 58:45
  motor divide, like which character do I want to tap into
• 58:49
  today? Yeah.
• 58:50
  Yeah, and I used to try to, I used to be like that, like when
• 58:53
  I first started writing, like, oh, I have this idea.
• 58:56
  Let me just write the intro. And then it's like, we've got to
• 59:00
  like focus on one and make that the reality before we go down
• 59:04
  the rabbit hole. Yeah, I think that's the hard
• 59:06
  part about being a creative person is to tell yourself, OK,
• 59:10
  we got to focus, yes. Yeah.
• 59:12
  No more messing around on the 20 different projects that you have
• 59:14
  going on. Yes, because you don't want to
• 59:17
  stifle that creativity, but at the same time you've got to
• 59:20
  finish your projects. Yeah.
• 59:23
  Yes, yeah, yeah, I noticed I do these kind of things.
• 59:27
  I never realized that I must be that because I I started picking
• 59:31
  up on it. Like I'll start one thing and
• 59:34
  then I'll realize I need to do something else, but I haven't
• 59:36
  finished the thing that I was doing.
• 59:38
  And then I like will have like multiple things going on all in
• 59:41
  one day. And then I get overwhelmed and
• 59:44
  then I have to, it's like almost like I shut down because it's
• 59:48
  too much. Yeah.
• 59:49
  And that's what happens to me. Yeah.
• 59:52
  And and our little Heather that we have, she can attest to that
• 59:55
  kind of thing because she does the same thing.
• 59:57
  She but she's doing her granny hobbies.
• 1:00:00
  That's what she's doing now. I've seen some but that I like
• 1:00:03
  the granny hobbies. Yeah.
• 1:00:06
  I'm tempted to try to do some myself but then I'm like like
• 1:00:10
  let's stick to to this for now. But they do look fun.
• 1:00:14
  Well, I want her to. Or well, she wants to do it, but
• 1:00:17
  I want her to do it too because I just want to see it is she has
• 1:00:20
  glass doors in her office and I want her to do the stained glass
• 1:00:25
  stuff because you can put the design up and then you know,
• 1:00:28
  it's the paints and stuff like that.
• 1:00:30
  That would be interesting. I don't have a glass door so I
• 1:00:34
  can't do it. So she had.
• 1:00:35
  I have to live vicariously through her.
• 1:00:37
  You could get into glass making. You could make a door.
• 1:00:41
  Oh Lord, there's there's that one girl.
• 1:00:44
  It's is it Lehi? Is that what what it is?
• 1:00:47
  And she does stay glass Liz. And then there's another girl
• 1:00:50
  that's out in Washington state and she does it as well.
• 1:00:54
  And I, I'll watch them and I'll see like when they're cutting
• 1:00:58
  their pieces and they put it together.
• 1:00:59
  It is. So beautiful.
• 1:01:02
  I love Sting because it's hot. It's like I want to be able to
• 1:01:05
  touch it and then you can't do that, so I don't know how they
• 1:01:08
  do it. I, I don't know if you have
• 1:01:11
  noticed this, if you ever look at Liz's stuff, have you noticed
• 1:01:14
  that like when she creates like her throne of glass pieces and
• 1:01:17
  things like that. I see Liz when I see the pieces.
• 1:01:21
  I see her in the art. Do you see her in it as well?
• 1:01:24
  Oh. Yeah, she has a very like she
• 1:01:26
  has a very. She's a very.
• 1:01:28
  Distinct. Yeah.
• 1:01:28
  Like, yeah, she's yeah. And she's gorgeous.
• 1:01:32
  Too. Oh yeah, she's gonna have a baby
• 1:01:34
  in August and I'm so excited for her.
• 1:01:36
  Yeah. OK, so I wanted to touch back on
• 1:01:40
  your Frankensteining people together because now I'm curious
• 1:01:44
  when we're when you're talking about how you kind of see the
• 1:01:46
  characters in your head and you don't really pick from
• 1:01:50
  celebrity. So where does your inspiration
• 1:01:53
  come from? For the characters or.
• 1:01:57
  Just in general, like attitudes or, you know, their
• 1:02:00
  personalities, there's. Usually like I'll see like a
• 1:02:03
  scene, so I would guess an attitude in my head and then
• 1:02:07
  once I see that attitude, I can start painting like the back
• 1:02:11
  story. Well, why are why are they
• 1:02:12
  callous or why is it this I, I realized that I'd like to kind
• 1:02:17
  of connect that psychology of like, why is the villain acting
• 1:02:21
  like the villain? It's not just because they are.
• 1:02:23
  I mean, sometimes it is, but I really like to give the back
• 1:02:26
  story of it. So I think, I guess I always
• 1:02:30
  start with the attitude first. Yeah.
• 1:02:35
  Now, would you say that you like find inspiration or does it just
• 1:02:38
  like come to you? I mean, do they just live in
• 1:02:41
  your head and they come and talk to you, or how does that look
• 1:02:43
  for you? Yeah, it lives in my head and
• 1:02:46
  then it just then usually I'll start maybe like like I have
• 1:02:51
  like a rough like think like a little ball of clay and I start
• 1:02:54
  trying to molding like them physically.
• 1:02:57
  And I love like I've been using Pinterest for so long.
• 1:03:00
  So I like making like my Pinterest boards and making kind
• 1:03:04
  of like character, like what would they wear?
• 1:03:07
  What you know, are they into this activity or that kind of
• 1:03:10
  just snowballs? Are your Pinterest boards
• 1:03:12
  private or are they public? They are their favorite.
• 1:03:15
  I think they're all private and it's not even under my pen name.
• 1:03:18
  It's just my own. It's like it goes so far back
• 1:03:21
  from the college days when I had to come up with ideas for
• 1:03:25
  graphics. Is that?
• 1:03:26
  Yeah, I was gonna say that'd be so fun to like stalk you on
• 1:03:29
  Pinterest and see what you're pulling into your certain
• 1:03:32
  boards. I should probably consider doing
• 1:03:34
  that. I started doing it with Spotify
• 1:03:36
  to give like the music inspo in that.
• 1:03:39
  Yeah, but Pinterest is a good idea, OK?
• 1:03:41
  Yes, now found it. For your Spotify list.
• 1:03:44
  Do you, do you give us like playlists or is that just for
• 1:03:48
  you? Oh, you do.
• 1:03:49
  No, I started doing it for each book.
• 1:03:51
  OK, awesome. Yes.
• 1:03:52
  Can I find for this book? Yeah.
• 1:03:54
  You know what? Yes, there's one for this book.
• 1:03:57
  You know what you have? I think I put there was a
• 1:03:59
  Spotify I usually did in all the other books.
• 1:04:02
  Maybe I no, I didn't on this one, but there was a spot.
• 1:04:06
  So that's one thing I did leave out.
• 1:04:08
  But there is a Spotify. Where so is there somewhere that
• 1:04:12
  we can find that? Is it on your website or?
• 1:04:15
  Yes. And it's under, I think, if you
• 1:04:17
  search, like in Spotify author AG Harris.
• 1:04:20
  They should like that, OK? That's cool.
• 1:04:22
  And then you'll see like the playlist for each book.
• 1:04:25
  Awesome, so I saw some of your other books have audio books
• 1:04:29
  out, which is awesome. Yes, thank you.
• 1:04:33
  And how, what is that process like for you?
• 1:04:36
  Are you on ACX? Do you go through?
• 1:04:38
  Is that how you've been doing it?
• 1:04:40
  I did ACX I think in the future, which I had great experience
• 1:04:44
  going through ACX. But what I really want is I
• 1:04:47
  really want the dual narration. Yes.
• 1:04:50
  And so I'm thinking maybe for that I need to start looking
• 1:04:52
  more into companies because it's like when I hear they're like
• 1:04:56
  the like, I really want a male to do the male character.
• 1:04:59
  Yeah. So that's been on the back
• 1:05:01
  burner because I know, you know, that will cost more money.
• 1:05:04
  So I kind of put that on the back burner until I can find the
• 1:05:08
  perfect thing. But of course, it's a dream to
• 1:05:11
  have them eventually all made into audio.
• 1:05:14
  Yeah. I mean as me for as like the
• 1:05:16
  audio narrations that I've been able to do, I haven't gotten to
• 1:05:19
  do it yet yet. And that is like my ultimate
• 1:05:22
  goal, like a dual or duet of some kind, because yes, it just
• 1:05:25
  brings a whole other different dynamic to the.
• 1:05:29
  Book yes and brings it. Yes, absolutely.
• 1:05:31
  Yeah, which I feel like like for Ashes to Ashes, the narrator I
• 1:05:35
  had, she did a really great job giving like distinct changes
• 1:05:39
  when we went, like from male to female.
• 1:05:41
  Yeah, which I really appreciated.
• 1:05:43
  But now it's like, I realize a lot of the books I listen to,
• 1:05:47
  like I love when there is like a male doing the male.
• 1:05:50
  So yeah, we'll slowly start to tiptoe into that.
• 1:05:53
  Yeah, and it's becoming like a in a standard now.
• 1:05:57
  People expect the dual or duet and it's hard because there are
• 1:06:00
  narrators like you said. I haven't gotten to hear it, but
• 1:06:04
  I'm sure she did an amazing job. Like for what she could do, like
• 1:06:07
  her vocal range. Yes.
• 1:06:09
  But it's hard. Like people will even rate books
• 1:06:11
  based on that. They'll be like, oh I wish it
• 1:06:12
  was duet. And it's like, I've seen that.
• 1:06:15
  Yeah, I've even. Seen like when like they nitpick
• 1:06:18
  like the voice or like a tonal change.
• 1:06:20
  And it's like, like she did for Ashes to Ashes.
• 1:06:23
  She did such like she would e-mail me and she's like, I
• 1:06:25
  noticed this character is from this country.
• 1:06:28
  Do you want me to do that voice? It was like something I never
• 1:06:30
  thought of. And I was like, well, can you do
• 1:06:32
  that? Actually, yeah.
• 1:06:33
  Like she went above and beyond. Like those were my first
• 1:06:37
  audiobooks, so I wasn't exactly sure what notes I should send.
• 1:06:41
  And she was just fantastic. So I'm very grateful and lucky
• 1:06:46
  that I had that. And I think the book turned out
• 1:06:49
  great. And I just want to keep
• 1:06:51
  expanding. So yeah.
• 1:06:53
  It's awesome and it looks like she's dead.
• 1:06:55
  Did she do all of your rites of passage books or?
• 1:06:58
  No, we just did the two, which is Titan and Nova's duet.
• 1:07:03
  Got it. OK.
• 1:07:05
  Of the other rites of passage, I do need to tap in and.
• 1:07:08
  OK. Add that to my audio list.
• 1:07:10
  Yeah. Yes.
• 1:07:12
  That's awesome, yeah. Now, so now, this is always,
• 1:07:14
  this is my wheelhouse kind of thing, because I only read spicy
• 1:07:19
  books. I have to say, ma'am, you write
• 1:07:21
  Spice very well, I have to tell you.
• 1:07:25
  It's been like the biggest struggle.
• 1:07:27
  So I feel like when I wrote Ashes to Ashes the my first
• 1:07:30
  book, like I love to read spice, but when you're writing it
• 1:07:33
  yourself and it's your first book, it's like you just feel
• 1:07:37
  insecure about it. So I did what I was confident in
• 1:07:40
  doing but then isn't in the author.
• 1:07:43
  Once I think I had like 3 books out, I was like, you know what,
• 1:07:45
  I really want to bump up the spice a little bit.
• 1:07:49
  So I did go back and I added like kind of bonus spice to
• 1:07:53
  that. But I feel like now it's like 1.
• 1:07:54
  One of the biggest struggles as an author is like trying to
• 1:07:58
  write like enough spice and the spice that I read, but still,
• 1:08:03
  you know, being able to put my fingers on the keyboard to.
• 1:08:06
  Tell you you do good and I was like, I'm like the sweet AG that
• 1:08:11
  I talked to look at her and the spice that she writes and it was
• 1:08:15
  so it was you do very good. You know, we were talking to
• 1:08:21
  Stephanie Storm, this was back in March and she was talking
• 1:08:24
  about spice and she was saying because she was doing a scene
• 1:08:30
  and if it was, I believe it, if I remember correctly, the scene
• 1:08:33
  with it was a threesome. It was something with that.
• 1:08:34
  And she was said she was getting so like not necessarily
• 1:08:38
  embarrassed, but she was like, can I have a glass of wine?
• 1:08:40
  She said before, you know, she's talking.
• 1:08:42
  And then but she said like my editor and the other person that
• 1:08:45
  was with her, she's like, shouldn't they're like we're
• 1:08:46
  professionals, Like none of this phases them.
• 1:08:49
  And she's like and then, but and then she had to do her first
• 1:08:53
  woman on woman scene. And she said she was lucky that
• 1:08:56
  she had, I think it was a beta reader that that actually was a
• 1:09:00
  lesbian. So she was able to get the give
• 1:09:03
  her a little bit more of the mechanics.
• 1:09:05
  Yeah, yeah. And stuff.
• 1:09:07
  But does it, does it make it hard for you to do things like
• 1:09:10
  that or, or now are you very, very comfortable in writing your
• 1:09:14
  spice? Because I can say your spice was
• 1:09:16
  wonderful, what I've experienced so far.
• 1:09:18
  In a sense where it's like, I guess I have to, this is going
• 1:09:22
  to sound like a double. I have to be in the mood, not in
• 1:09:25
  the mood like spicy wise. I have to be like confident
• 1:09:29
  enough to write it. And it's like like I feel like
• 1:09:32
  when my first books came out, one of the feedback was like I
• 1:09:34
  was getting the spice level like a three three chili pepper.
• 1:09:38
  And it was like, well, I want a little more than that, but I
• 1:09:41
  also like I want to make it romantic and like still like
• 1:09:45
  gritty, but like respectful. So it's like, how do I write a
• 1:09:49
  dark romance where it's like gritty but romantic and
• 1:09:52
  respectful? I guess that's always been the
• 1:09:55
  balance. But still, like each book I do,
• 1:09:57
  it's like I'm trying to get more comfortable of being like
• 1:10:01
  writing specific words and I listen to reader feedback like
• 1:10:05
  on TikTok and the other things they don't want, like a nickname
• 1:10:09
  for things like it's like just write the body part.
• 1:10:12
  So I've been trying to do that, but sometimes it's hard.
• 1:10:15
  Well. Let me ask you this now, like
• 1:10:18
  now some authors have issue like with certain words, you know,
• 1:10:23
  like we were just talking to Ellie Sells.
• 1:10:25
  Her episode comes out this coming week and she was talking
• 1:10:29
  about like on for like men. She has no problem calling it
• 1:10:32
  the cock and all things like that.
• 1:10:34
  Is there anything that like you shy away from or is all words
• 1:10:40
  available I. Shy away from?
• 1:10:42
  Yeah, I guess I shy away from some words.
• 1:10:44
  But now that I'm thinking about it, it's not with the male
• 1:10:47
  anatomy, it's usually with the female.
• 1:10:49
  With the female. Yeah, because it's like, I don't
• 1:10:52
  want to make it like, how do I, Like I got to think I want to
• 1:10:56
  make it still like, pretty and like, you know, like how like a
• 1:11:01
  woman would view it, like you'd love this part of your anatomy
• 1:11:04
  and everything. And I feel like some words just
• 1:11:07
  like they slap like this label on it or it's like they belittle
• 1:11:10
  it and it's like, I don't want to do that.
• 1:11:12
  That's kind of what we were talking about.
• 1:11:13
  Like it they almost it almost sounds harsh at times, like when
• 1:11:17
  you're writing it in. And so, yeah, it's a you want
• 1:11:21
  like it's a human in yes, yeah. Well, the way you write it, I
• 1:11:26
  mean, of course it's very good, spicy, but, but it's beautiful
• 1:11:29
  the way you're writing it. If that and that's sense and
• 1:11:32
  that's going to be hard. Like how do you I think it's
• 1:11:35
  pretty amazing how you guys like kind of keep it fresh each time
• 1:11:38
  to like it doesn't feel repetitive over and over.
• 1:11:42
  I think that's. Something that you try to think
• 1:11:43
  about, it's like, I don't want to write like the same love
• 1:11:46
  scene and every book. You want something different.
• 1:11:49
  And I guess when I need to think different, it's like you kind of
• 1:11:52
  have to step in and be like, well, how is this character in
• 1:11:55
  their background, you know, translating that or feeling
• 1:11:58
  emotionally. So that maybe helps me try to
• 1:12:01
  vary it up a bit. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:12:04
  It's not like, it's not like I feel like it's missionary every
• 1:12:06
  single time and the same exact thing.
• 1:12:07
  You know, it's, it's awesome how you can be so descriptive.
• 1:12:14
  Well, you know, you look at the difference between female
• 1:12:17
  authors and male authors a lot of times, at least that from
• 1:12:21
  what I have seen and stuff, male authors a lot of times are much
• 1:12:24
  more, how should I put it? They're more gross, I guess in a
• 1:12:27
  lot of ways. When they're in when it's with
• 1:12:29
  women, you know, they're describing was with women.
• 1:12:31
  It's you know what I mean? It's.
• 1:12:33
  Yes, women. When they're.
• 1:12:35
  I'm writing about. Yes.
• 1:12:37
  And when women write it, it's, it's much more it's, it's
• 1:12:41
  something of beauty. It's it's a form of art, I
• 1:12:43
  guess. Yes, I can agree with that, but.
• 1:12:45
  A lot of times male authors know it's just very crude.
• 1:12:49
  Maybe that's the word. I want to go with how their
• 1:12:52
  descriptions are of things and it's.
• 1:12:55
  Just doing the same. Yeah.
• 1:12:57
  And we want like all the beautiful letters like explain
• 1:13:00
  to us. Yeah, you know, maybe men should
• 1:13:03
  read a lot more books that female authors write, because
• 1:13:07
  then they would understand how to take.
• 1:13:09
  Care of a woman. Yeah, yeah.
• 1:13:12
  You want to know? You want to know what I want?
• 1:13:14
  Just Yes, I'll give you the chapters.
• 1:13:17
  Yep. Yeah, because a lot of men in
• 1:13:19
  this world, they think what they see on the Internet on the on
• 1:13:24
  the lovely porn world, and they don't understand that a lot of
• 1:13:28
  those women, they are there because it is their job.
• 1:13:31
  And you know, and I, you know, and I'm telling you they do a
• 1:13:34
  wonderful job, but how they are and how they're reacting things,
• 1:13:39
  it's it's their job. It's not how we want to be.
• 1:13:42
  Not love and how, yeah, it's different.
• 1:13:46
  And men, the letters men don't understand that, though.
• 1:13:49
  A lot of men, they don't grasp that.
• 1:13:52
  But if they all would read books by female authors, we need to
• 1:13:57
  understand. Merge the video games with an
• 1:13:59
  audio book. Yes.
• 1:14:02
  Yes, can cause something that's. Yeah, well, if you ever played,
• 1:14:06
  there's The Witcher and stuff. There's yeah.
• 1:14:09
  Now I've watched. I haven't watched any more
• 1:14:11
  Chelsea. I haven't watched anymore
• 1:14:14
  because now I'm I'm afraid to go further in the season because
• 1:14:17
  you said that what season 1, The good season and after that it
• 1:14:21
  goes downhill. I think it's the last season.
• 1:14:24
  Yeah, don't like this. Yeah, yeah.
• 1:14:26
  The biggest mistake, like I feel like losing him, it's just like
• 1:14:31
  it finished it. It's done, Yeah.
• 1:14:33
  I don't see how they were able to replace Garrett because
• 1:14:36
  Geralt of Riviera is very specific and then if you play
• 1:14:39
  the video games like on PlayStation or Xbox or whatever,
• 1:14:43
  Geralt gets the ladies on there and he is very smooth.
• 1:14:48
  And Henry? Henry can do the growl.
• 1:14:51
  He can do. He can do it all.
• 1:14:52
  It is the the book growl and just those gritty exhales that
• 1:14:57
  it's like that's what I envision when I'm writing it.
• 1:14:59
  Yes. Oh he's so good.
• 1:15:02
  I love him now. He is now on my list.
• 1:15:04
  I have. Johnny, I've been trying to get
• 1:15:06
  her him on her list for forever and now finally he's on the
• 1:15:09
  list. Yes.
• 1:15:11
  I will take Johnny Depp. I will definitely take Jason
• 1:15:15
  Momoa. That man could just come and
• 1:15:17
  throw me because I like it, because he could throw me
• 1:15:19
  around. Yeah.
• 1:15:20
  Have you seen like if you go and do his meet and greets and
• 1:15:23
  stuff, he'll do pictures and like he'll have like his hand on
• 1:15:26
  you, like your husband or whatever and he'll be pushing
• 1:15:28
  him away and like all the women are hugging him and.
• 1:15:31
  Stuff. Oh my God, I want to meet him.
• 1:15:34
  I just, I just love Jason Momoa. Ever since I've told Chelsea
• 1:15:37
  this before, ever since I watched him.
• 1:15:39
  It was on, it was Jimmy Fallon or Jimmy Kimmel.
• 1:15:43
  It was one of those late night shows he was on and he was in
• 1:15:45
  this silk outfit and he, they were talking about his
• 1:15:49
  traditional Hawaiian undergarments and he's like, oh,
• 1:15:52
  he wears them all the time. And he took off all his stuff
• 1:15:55
  in. You got to see his very firm
• 1:15:58
  backside God. But yeah, I will take him.
• 1:16:00
  I'll take and also Jensen Ackles.
• 1:16:02
  I will take him. Is that how you say his name?
• 1:16:04
  I think so. I'm going to say you're right
• 1:16:06
  because I'm like you, the name, it's coming out different every
• 1:16:09
  time I try to say it. Yeah.
• 1:16:12
  But those are my my top, top men.
• 1:16:14
  So I have 4 now. Chelsea, yeah, those are my
• 1:16:17
  guys. Now we have you.
• 1:16:18
  Added any more to yours? Oh well now since I'm in my off
• 1:16:22
  campus this this Belmont. Watching this.
• 1:16:27
  Belmont Camelli. He is adorable.
• 1:16:30
  OK, what adorable. What streaming service is it on?
• 1:16:33
  Amazon Prime. I have to check that one out.
• 1:16:37
  So he's I mean, he's younger, he's 28, not that much younger.
• 1:16:41
  We we only have a seven-year age age gap, but he is just so
• 1:16:46
  adorable. Like he's going to be replacing
• 1:16:48
  because Henry is he's aging out of a lot of our book boyfriend
• 1:16:52
  roles. Unfortunately, we've missed our
• 1:16:54
  mark for a lot of them. So we're we're having to find
• 1:16:57
  new, you know, new leading men. And I think Belmont, he could be
• 1:17:01
  like the majority. Really.
• 1:17:03
  OK, I'm going to have to look. Yeah, I check it out.
• 1:17:07
  Yes. He is like sister.
• 1:17:09
  Told me to add that she's like, I know you wouldn't romance
• 1:17:12
  books, you need to watch this because it was really good.
• 1:17:14
  So I was like I'll add it to my list.
• 1:17:16
  Yeah, I binge them and then I bought, I bought all the books
• 1:17:20
  because now I have to read them, of course, but.
• 1:17:24
  Do you think it was wise to watch the show before reading,
• 1:17:27
  or do you think if you would have read them and then watch
• 1:17:29
  the show, the show wouldn't have lived up to the books?
• 1:17:31
  Well, that that's typically for me what happens, like if I read
• 1:17:35
  them first, I can be disappointed.
• 1:17:37
  So I'm actually glad I watched it first, because then now I can
• 1:17:40
  just kind of picture them and I'm not going to have the, you
• 1:17:44
  know, like bias. I guess I'll just be like, oh,
• 1:17:46
  they changed that. That's cute.
• 1:17:48
  Yeah. That's a good point of view,
• 1:17:49
  yeah. Because our friend Cassandra
• 1:17:52
  there, I believe she was watching it, but I think she has
• 1:17:56
  the books because then she was asking the question.
• 1:17:58
  She watched like the first episode.
• 1:18:00
  Should she stop watching the show, read the books or watch
• 1:18:05
  the show and then read the books?
• 1:18:06
  Yeah. And I told her, I said if you
• 1:18:08
  watch it, you can't be disappointed.
• 1:18:11
  You know what I mean? Because you don't know.
• 1:18:13
  Yeah. And then you can go back in the
• 1:18:14
  books and be like, it's much better.
• 1:18:17
  Yes, yeah. Are you sorry?
• 1:18:19
  I was going to say, are you reading anything right now?
• 1:18:22
  Are you like, sick in your own writing?
• 1:18:25
  What do you have going on? Well, you know what?
• 1:18:26
  I've had a good streak. Usually.
• 1:18:28
  Like I feel like when I'm heavy in the writing process, it's
• 1:18:31
  hard to read. Anything else I read, I'm going
• 1:18:33
  to have to look at it. Year ago, I read it.
• 1:18:37
  It's Jane and Eve and Tate James.
• 1:18:40
  Trauma bond or forced proximity. OK, and this second one just
• 1:18:43
  came out. It's trauma bonded.
• 1:18:45
  So I read that I've read Siri Brown the heart you kept and I'm
• 1:18:51
  slowly trying to chew down my my TBR.
• 1:18:54
  But for their second book, I was like, oh, let me get the audio
• 1:18:57
  book because I can draw to it. And they had a hiccup.
• 1:19:00
  The audio book was pushed back. So I spread it on my Kindle,
• 1:19:03
  which was nice because I kind of let me like just separate and
• 1:19:07
  relax from all my book stuff. But I usually have like a book
• 1:19:11
  or two and audio book going so. Yeah, you and I are right on the
• 1:19:15
  same page with our our TBRS. I just finished Fury bound.
• 1:19:18
  The heart you kept was one that I've been like I had to read
• 1:19:21
  right when it came out, of course.
• 1:19:23
  Yeah, yeah. And I.
• 1:19:25
  On your TBR. You know, I would you say
• 1:19:28
  counted. I know it's how I don't know.
• 1:19:30
  If I want to count, yeah, it's, I mean, obviously over 100, like
• 1:19:35
  that's an easy ballpark. I have 340 some on mine I.
• 1:19:39
  Was going to say but. It was over 400.
• 1:19:41
  I remember hearing when you said it was over 400 so you're
• 1:19:45
  slowly. Well, I did a purge when we did
• 1:19:49
  our our quarter two episode we went through because Chelsea, we
• 1:19:54
  we all all three of us were together and we were doing a
• 1:19:56
  purge. And I ended up purging like
• 1:19:58
  almost like 7080 some. Oh no, I had to be more than
• 1:20:02
  that. Had to be almost 100 books I
• 1:20:03
  removed, but a lot of them were books like when I first came
• 1:20:07
  back to reading and the beginning of bookstagram and I
• 1:20:10
  didn't know really what I liked and.
• 1:20:13
  What, you know what kind of style I wanted.
• 1:20:16
  And so I I did a perch and now I yeah.
• 1:20:21
  It was just have to keep scrolling to get to the bottom.
• 1:20:23
  Yeah. Because if I keep, if I keep
• 1:20:26
  going and I know it's on my list and I keep going past it and I'm
• 1:20:29
  getting other things, I know I'm never going to read it.
• 1:20:32
  There's a reason why I keep going past it.
• 1:20:35
  And so that's but still 340 is a lot of books, but I count all
• 1:20:40
  the series like like when Heather and I think Chelsea, you
• 1:20:43
  did the same. Do you only put the first book
• 1:20:45
  on your Goodreads or do you do all of them?
• 1:20:47
  I know Heather does. It depends.
• 1:20:49
  I normally do all of them. I do, yeah.
• 1:20:51
  So that's why I'm sitting at that number.
• 1:20:53
  One, now we have to do AG's whole entire backlist.
• 1:20:57
  So, you know, 11 books that we're adding to the TBR.
• 1:21:01
  Back up to 400, Yeah. Now, are you looking forward to
• 1:21:06
  a Qatar 6 coming out? Are you?
• 1:21:08
  Would you consider yourself an A Qatar girl as well?
• 1:21:11
  Absolutely. And you know what's funny, when
• 1:21:13
  I first went to start reading the first book, I read like a
• 1:21:17
  few chapters and I could not get into it.
• 1:21:20
  And then it was like later I was seeing like the fan made
• 1:21:23
  trailers and I was like, let me try it.
• 1:21:25
  And I started with the audio and I just became like, you know,
• 1:21:29
  it's I always feel like it's not the books problem.
• 1:21:32
  That's the DNF. It's like you as the reader,
• 1:21:34
  it's just not the right time. So I just found the right time
• 1:21:37
  and now it's always the right time for ACOTAR.
• 1:21:39
  Yeah. I can't wait for it.
• 1:21:42
  Yeah, it's always the, it's the world building and romanticy is
• 1:21:45
  sometimes hard. So I think that's where it was
• 1:21:47
  hard with ACOTAR. I always tell people like get
• 1:21:50
  past Chapter 5 is what I try to tell people because a lot of
• 1:21:53
  people don't get into it right away.
• 1:21:55
  And I was the same way. I put it down and then I picked
• 1:21:57
  it back up and then I was obsessed of.
• 1:21:59
  Course, yes. And when I was writing mine, I
• 1:22:01
  tried to keep in mind, like I wanted the world willing to be
• 1:22:04
  digestible in the sense where you don't have to like, sit and
• 1:22:07
  ponder. Like I kept thinking like, like,
• 1:22:09
  keep this more like short and sweet.
• 1:22:11
  Keep it going faster. Yes, but you know, like, you
• 1:22:14
  don't want to be too fast. But I feel like that's the thing
• 1:22:16
  with, you know, fantasy and romanticity.
• 1:22:18
  Like you have to kind of like step away as the author and be
• 1:22:21
  like, can the reader like, understand what's happening?
• 1:22:24
  Is it too slow or whatnot? But yeah, I can't wait for for
• 1:22:28
  the next book. Yeah.
• 1:22:29
  And I want like a sideshow. If I want a movie, I want
• 1:22:32
  something like visual. Yeah.
• 1:22:35
  I agree. Oh, that would be such.
• 1:22:37
  That would be good. Now, let me ask you this note
• 1:22:39
  with all of your books and that would you love to see yours up
• 1:22:42
  on the big screen or on like as ATV adoption?
• 1:22:46
  Yeah. Would you feel like but would
• 1:22:48
  you rather have a movie or would you rather have like TV?
• 1:22:52
  I guess it depends on the book, Like, you know, if it, I don't
• 1:22:55
  want it to seem like, you know how some TV shows it's like, oh,
• 1:22:57
  they're milking it. Like I don't want to like take
• 1:23:00
  advantage of like viewers. Like I want to keep everything
• 1:23:04
  to the point with the pretty bow, but.
• 1:23:06
  One also how they have to add, they add like extra scenes that
• 1:23:10
  aren't in the book and so that's always hard to.
• 1:23:13
  A struggle, yeah, but hopefully. I can tell you when I could see
• 1:23:18
  yours as a cinematic. I told you as I was reading, I
• 1:23:21
  could see it as a movie and I could be like.
• 1:23:22
  I think I have to, you know, when I first started writing,
• 1:23:26
  like I feel like a lot of authors, they, they start in
• 1:23:29
  hopes of getting traditionally published.
• 1:23:31
  And that was never something on my radar because I feel like
• 1:23:34
  I've seen in the authors do so much and like the flexibility,
• 1:23:37
  like you have young kids, you're you're still not full time into
• 1:23:40
  something. Like I always just wanted to be
• 1:23:43
  an indie author and like now I am.
• 1:23:44
  And like when you ask about like movie or something bigger like
• 1:23:48
  that would need to branch porn to the traditional world.
• 1:23:52
  And for this book, it was the first time I was like, well,
• 1:23:54
  should I try the traditional route?
• 1:23:56
  Should I try querying and all of that?
• 1:23:58
  But I just see like so many, like you lose, like, I'm fine
• 1:24:03
  with you can't have the whole cake.
• 1:24:04
  You have to give some stuff away.
• 1:24:06
  And I'm fine with that. But it's like the whole process
• 1:24:08
  just seems like like a bat on your your spine.
• 1:24:12
  It is like I just wanted to release it and give it to my
• 1:24:14
  readers, but maybe in the future I need to start looking into
• 1:24:17
  that. But yeah.
• 1:24:19
  I agree with you. You know, I see a lot of the
• 1:24:21
  books, you know, that were indie and that went traditional.
• 1:24:25
  And I think a lot of times when they do, I mean, I understand it
• 1:24:30
  gets it into more people's hands, that kind of thing.
• 1:24:32
  But I feel a lot of times they lose that spark.
• 1:24:36
  Like a lot of times the covers, because they make them change
• 1:24:40
  that and because I think indie covers are some of the most
• 1:24:43
  beautiful covers on books. Traditional they lose that magic
• 1:24:48
  because they're trying to be for the best crowd or whatever.
• 1:24:51
  Yes, yeah. And I felt that when I read like
• 1:24:55
  some of my top books are more indie books because it's like
• 1:24:58
  the traditional one, it's like 1 getting the same like pressed
• 1:25:02
  iron shirt. I know what's going to happen
• 1:25:03
  where it's like you get a little bit or like emotion in, like an
• 1:25:07
  author that doesn't have to live in that strain.
• 1:25:10
  Yeah. Yeah, that's what I like to when
• 1:25:12
  I had asked LJ Andrews how that process was for her going from
• 1:25:16
  Indy to traditional with her ever King series.
• 1:25:18
  And then she said like it wasn't too bad for her because it was
• 1:25:22
  already selling just fine Indy. And so she's like, I didn't have
• 1:25:26
  to change or give up anything. You know, they, they maybe
• 1:25:28
  tweaked the cover a little bit, but I guess that's what what you
• 1:25:32
  want to hope for, right, Is that you're just like.
• 1:25:34
  I think that's probably the the best position because it's like,
• 1:25:37
  it's already out. You know, people love it.
• 1:25:39
  Yes. And you don't have to like,
• 1:25:41
  change it so much. It's like you want you, of
• 1:25:43
  course you want to have like be able to separate yourself and
• 1:25:46
  listen to input and make it better.
• 1:25:48
  But you also want to keep it like the same like plot in the
• 1:25:52
  your voice in your head. Yeah.
• 1:25:53
  Yeah, yeah. Now, when you did, I mean, I
• 1:25:57
  know we were like kind of jumping around, but
• 1:25:59
  geographically, because I like to ask this question sometimes.
• 1:26:02
  Do you have any like places in the world in mind that like I
• 1:26:06
  could drop myself into when I'm reading this?
• 1:26:08
  I know that it's your own world, but do you have any like inspo
• 1:26:13
  that you went off of? They didn't really go off any
• 1:26:17
  like I don't think I went out off inspo, but when I'm seeing
• 1:26:21
  the places in my head, I probably pulled aspects of
• 1:26:24
  places subconsciously. But for the second book, I am
• 1:26:28
  100% pulling aspects. We were just in Japan.
• 1:26:32
  So for that book and I'm writing, it's more into the
• 1:26:35
  phase side. OK.
• 1:26:36
  So I feel like I when I was there and like the temples and
• 1:26:41
  the nature and everything, I was like, this is like walking in
• 1:26:46
  the book that I'm currently writing.
• 1:26:48
  So I am kind of ironing things more towards that and OK, I
• 1:26:52
  think of the things I'm gonna draw for it.
• 1:26:54
  Too. Yeah, and it's cool.
• 1:26:56
  I know you're like creating your own world and that's what
• 1:26:58
  fantasy is, right? It's a complete new place.
• 1:27:01
  But yeah, I do like, like being able to step in that I've been
• 1:27:04
  to. I got to go to Japan with my
• 1:27:05
  sister a couple years ago only for like 4 days.
• 1:27:08
  I would love to go back. But there are so many beautiful
• 1:27:11
  places. And it is cool when you can
• 1:27:13
  like, think of your favorite book and be like, I could just
• 1:27:16
  sit and read that here. And you see, like the mist and
• 1:27:19
  the, you know, whatever else and the trees and the little bowing
• 1:27:23
  deer that come up to you, all the things.
• 1:27:25
  Yeah. Yeah, that will definitely be
• 1:27:28
  sprinkled more and and it was like the perfect inspiration for
• 1:27:31
  like a fail ion. Like it was just like, it's
• 1:27:35
  gonna be good. Yeah, yes.
• 1:27:37
  I loved when you were on your trip and that and I and you were
• 1:27:39
  sharing pictures and stuff and it made me, I felt like I was
• 1:27:42
  living vicariously through you. I was.
• 1:27:44
  Trying to share SO. Beautiful.
• 1:27:47
  Like you say, it's like, like I don't want to be an Instagram
• 1:27:50
  traveler in the sense where I'm going to places just to stand
• 1:27:53
  like in front of the temple and take pictures.
• 1:27:54
  So my husband and I like, we love history.
• 1:27:57
  And I was telling you, he signs us up for tours that are like
• 1:27:59
  history tours, 7 hours long. It's the whole day which I've
• 1:28:03
  come to love. Yeah.
• 1:28:05
  So I was trying to be a little bit more like, let me start
• 1:28:08
  taking more pictures that I can post and share with everyone.
• 1:28:12
  But at the same time, it's like I want to be in that moment and
• 1:28:15
  learning because that's why we're there.
• 1:28:16
  So I tried to balance it. Yeah.
• 1:28:20
  Yes. How did your did your elbow go
• 1:28:22
  after the deer decided to try? Didn't turn into a deer yet.
• 1:28:26
  You know, I was Speaking of Instagram and things.
• 1:28:28
  You always see all the pictures where you're feeding the deer.
• 1:28:31
  Literally, you buy the rice cake.
• 1:28:33
  As soon as you step away from the stand, they are on you.
• 1:28:37
  And it is like, like when you have so many deer.
• 1:28:40
  And I was cornered up against this nice little bamboo fence
• 1:28:44
  and I was like, I'm going to have to fall backwards over it.
• 1:28:46
  Like when they bite, it's like, you know, like, it was
• 1:28:49
  aggressive, like nipping at my clothes and everything.
• 1:28:51
  But when it drew blood, I was like, oh, like, I poured hand
• 1:28:55
  sanitizer. And I'm starting to think the
• 1:28:57
  worst, but so far we're we're still human.
• 1:29:02
  But you have to be cautious when you go there.
• 1:29:04
  Yeah, yes, yeah. They're.
• 1:29:07
  Smart too. They know that you had the the
• 1:29:09
  rice cake. They're like.
• 1:29:11
  Well, my question is how did this stand lady train them?
• 1:29:14
  Because they don't go up to the stand, but it's like they're
• 1:29:17
  watching you like she must have trained them.
• 1:29:19
  Don't come near my stand because you're not getting anything.
• 1:29:22
  But as soon as you walk away, I couldn't even untie the rice
• 1:29:25
  cakes, like fast enough to hand them out.
• 1:29:28
  That's hilarious. So funny.
• 1:29:30
  Yes, but it was a good job. I've heard similar stories about
• 1:29:35
  the pigs in like the Bahamas where you go to the.
• 1:29:37
  I have heard that and I have not ventured into feeding them.
• 1:29:42
  Yeah, that makes that makes it sound like, oh, OK, never mind,
• 1:29:44
  maybe we don't want. To go feed the pigs, Yes, that.
• 1:29:47
  Sounds. Awful.
• 1:29:48
  I'm gonna watch. My distance.
• 1:29:49
  Yeah, well. I remember years ago that I
• 1:29:52
  would have been very little. I was like 989 years old.
• 1:29:55
  And I remember we went on a little trip, but it was just my
• 1:29:59
  mom and dad and I and we went to a petting zoo.
• 1:30:02
  And I remember they were deer that were there and you could
• 1:30:04
  feed them it, but you actually were in with them.
• 1:30:07
  And I remember I was terrified of them.
• 1:30:09
  I remember that. And my dad had to feed them.
• 1:30:11
  And I remember there was a picture and my dad at the time,
• 1:30:13
  because this was the 80s and my dad had a perm for years.
• 1:30:18
  My dad had a perm. Why did men have perms in the
• 1:30:21
  80s? I have question this.
• 1:30:23
  It was just weird and I remember my one uncle went and got a perm
• 1:30:26
  too and I'm like why are you all doing this?
• 1:30:28
  Even as a little kid I thought it was odd but but I remember my
• 1:30:31
  dad was like scared and the deer trying to eat everything from
• 1:30:34
  him. Yeah.
• 1:30:35
  They can be, I mean, like obviously in the back of your
• 1:30:37
  head it's wild animal, but it's like when you're seeing it like
• 1:30:40
  in that town, they're everywhere and people are going up and
• 1:30:44
  petting them. But when you have food, like,
• 1:30:46
  it's more like basic survival, like they're going to come at
• 1:30:48
  you to get it and I'll get it, you know?
• 1:30:51
  Yeah, so they just, they're just all wandering all over the place
• 1:30:55
  that you can just go up and paddle.
• 1:30:56
  Yeah, they're literally all over.
• 1:30:58
  Yeah. It was.
• 1:30:59
  It was nice to see like when I could walk after and I was like,
• 1:31:02
  I'm not attempting to feed them anymore.
• 1:31:04
  Yeah. It's like surreal, Yeah.
• 1:31:07
  Well, what was your favorite thing you think you saw while
• 1:31:10
  you were there or what was the the best you?
• 1:31:12
  Know what you. Were in Japan.
• 1:31:13
  My favorite play, I can't remember the name of it, but
• 1:31:15
  it's basically it was in Kyoto and it's where they would go.
• 1:31:21
  They would make the huge, huge jumps to have their wish
• 1:31:24
  granted. So it was like if they jumped
• 1:31:25
  like the five stories and survived it, your wish could be
• 1:31:29
  granted. But walking that like when
• 1:31:32
  you're walking the trail, like because you go up to the temple
• 1:31:35
  where they jumped and then you kind of go down the hill and
• 1:31:38
  there's another temple. Like I just felt like I was in
• 1:31:41
  like a whole nother world everywhere they are like you
• 1:31:45
  were in like you're in some of the biggest cities, but then
• 1:31:48
  there's this pocket of a temple or forest and it's like when
• 1:31:51
  you're there, you don't don't hear any of the city sounds.
• 1:31:53
  It's like you could just sit down and relax.
• 1:31:56
  And I wish like everyone had like that opportunity and a city
• 1:32:00
  where it's like you go and there's no city sounds and every
• 1:32:03
  like they respect their city. It's like they're not throwing
• 1:32:06
  trash down or anything. It's like I feel like they
• 1:32:09
  respect themselves and the nature and art there.
• 1:32:13
  And it was just nice experience. And then I had a rude awakening
• 1:32:16
  when I come back here and it's like, you step into like the
• 1:32:18
  public bathroom here and it's like, oh, I'm not in Japan
• 1:32:21
  anymore. Do people still still jump off
• 1:32:25
  of that temple or was this like a long time ago thing?
• 1:32:28
  It was. I don't think anyone is jumping
• 1:32:30
  off of it, but I wouldn't quote me.
• 1:32:32
  But it was like during the samurai days, yes.
• 1:32:35
  Interesting. But I wouldn't be shocked if
• 1:32:38
  some foolish tourist is going to try it, yeah.
• 1:32:41
  But yeah, you know, it is really nice they were having not a
• 1:32:46
  tsunami. What is it?
• 1:32:48
  It's the monsoons or whatever they're having or something over
• 1:32:52
  there. Because my one friend that I
• 1:32:54
  went to high school with, she lives over in Japan and I wrote
• 1:32:58
  her, I said, are you OK? Because I, I don't know where it
• 1:33:00
  was happening. And she's like, no, no, she's
• 1:33:02
  like that's the further South of in the southern part of Japan.
• 1:33:06
  She's up further up the north. But she did.
• 1:33:08
  She was in the earthquake though, when they had the
• 1:33:10
  earthquake and the the tsunami came in there just recently.
• 1:33:15
  But she said everything was shaking.
• 1:33:16
  And she sent me a video of a business that was like real
• 1:33:20
  close to where she lived, and everything was shaking.
• 1:33:22
  That's terrifying. I feel like the earth are in
• 1:33:25
  California. Fine, I'm in Florida.
• 1:33:27
  Oh, you're in Florida? Yes.
• 1:33:29
  So I feel like at least hurricanes and that you have
• 1:33:32
  like a warning. But like when we were in Japan,
• 1:33:35
  I was thinking that like, you're up in these huge high rises and
• 1:33:37
  I know they build for it and it's an interesting way how they
• 1:33:40
  do the weights. So the buildings could, but
• 1:33:43
  still like having no warning that you're going to be shaken.
• 1:33:46
  Yeah, I tried not to think about it.
• 1:33:48
  Yeah, but Chelsea, have you been in a in an earthquake?
• 1:33:51
  Oh yeah, yeah. Does it just feel?
• 1:33:53
  Like common. Yeah.
• 1:33:54
  I mean, we haven't, thankfully. I mean, I need to knock on wood.
• 1:33:58
  I haven't been in anything that's been like major.
• 1:34:01
  But yeah, I mean, they're kind of scary for a second.
• 1:34:02
  But we're also so used to them that like, I've never actually
• 1:34:06
  run and stood under a door jam like I'm supposed to, you know,
• 1:34:09
  like we're just kind of, we just kind of ride it out and we're
• 1:34:12
  like, OK, are we done? I could see it's like us in
• 1:34:16
  hurricanes. Yeah.
• 1:34:17
  Yeah, exactly. You.
• 1:34:19
  Know Kentucky gets earthquakes now.
• 1:34:22
  My husband has been M1 this is before I knew him here in the
• 1:34:26
  Louisville area. They had a earthquake.
• 1:34:28
  And he said he was sitting because at the time he lived on
• 1:34:31
  the third story of an apartment building is where he was.
• 1:34:34
  And he said everything was moving.
• 1:34:37
  And he said you could hear the bricks on the outside popping.
• 1:34:41
  He said was the noise. Yeah, around here they get like
• 1:34:44
  4 point O some stuff here in Kentucky.
• 1:34:47
  I have never experienced one, at least not yet.
• 1:34:50
  Yeah. But, but I think it has a lot to
• 1:34:54
  do with The Cave systems and all that kind of stuff that's here
• 1:34:57
  because we have Mammoth Cave. There's 400 miles that they have
• 1:35:01
  mapped and they don't know. They don't know how big it is.
• 1:35:04
  I do want to ask you before I do, do you have any plans?
• 1:35:07
  Like this is already beautiful. I know you've done all the art.
• 1:35:10
  Are there any plans for a hardcover?
• 1:35:12
  I do have a hardcover. You do already.
• 1:35:15
  Of kingdoms I do and it has the bonus under it, yes.
• 1:35:19
  I'm so glad I asked. I did not know that, OK.
• 1:35:23
  Yes, so it's available and soon I'm going to be bringing the
• 1:35:28
  hardcover onto my website so you could get signed copies with
• 1:35:31
  some exclusive art. OK, that's.
• 1:35:33
  What I haven't shown yet. OK, that's.
• 1:35:36
  So I'm actually, I was doing it before I talked to you.
• 1:35:38
  I'm trying to research all the shipping and the boxes and
• 1:35:41
  everything, yeah. So that should be coming
• 1:35:43
  shortly, so. Well, I'm being hard.
• 1:35:46
  I love having my other books. Yeah, I love having my sign.
• 1:35:49
  I like having my special edition, so I will be waiting
• 1:35:52
  for that. Do you have an I saw that you
• 1:35:54
  have a newsletter I can sign up for so I can get updates.
• 1:35:57
  OK. And actually tomorrow we drop,
• 1:36:00
  I'm doing a bonus scene for this book, for Celine's what was
• 1:36:05
  happening through her mind on the wedding day.
• 1:36:07
  So that is dropping tomorrow just for subscribers.
• 1:36:10
  It's the first time I've done bonus content and it was a lot
• 1:36:12
  of fun to step back in and and write.
• 1:36:14
  So I'm going to do more. That's awesome.
• 1:36:16
  OK, I'm literally going to sign up right now.
• 1:36:19
  This has been wonderful. I'm so glad that you've came to
• 1:36:22
  visit us and talk. Thank you for making.
• 1:36:25
  It like so, well, you know, I'm very shy and I'm such an
• 1:36:28
  introvert and I'm trying to like, you know, get out there
• 1:36:31
  because I want to go to book things like as a reader too and
• 1:36:34
  as an authors. You all made it very cozy.
• 1:36:37
  Awesome. Well, you are very sweet and I
• 1:36:39
  enjoy talking to you all the time anyways, you know that.
• 1:36:43
  I I always listen to you all when I'm doing my housework, so
• 1:36:46
  it's nice to be able to sit and listen.
• 1:36:49
  And now tell everybody where they can find you, what your
• 1:36:53
  website is, how to find you on Instagram, all those good things
• 1:36:56
  so they can get your book. Yeah, I'm at Author AG
• 1:37:01
  harris.com. Same handle name on Instagram,
• 1:37:06
  TikTok, Facebook, YouTube. Author AG Harris.
• 1:37:10
  Fantastic. I, I, I again, everybody please
• 1:37:14
  go to her Instagram, watch her do all her beautiful art.
• 1:37:17
  It's so amazing to to watch you actually create these
• 1:37:21
  characters. You know, I was drawing right
• 1:37:23
  before we started to try to be relaxed.
• 1:37:27
  Do you get in? Do you get like a alert when
• 1:37:31
  somebody signs up for your newsletter or no?
• 1:37:33
  You know I don't. Interesting.
• 1:37:35
  Like I was going to say, let's flood your e-mail and get
• 1:37:37
  everybody to sign up. I have myself to check in to
• 1:37:40
  like MailChimp to see. So I'll check it at the end of
• 1:37:43
  the day. I am trying to do more on my
• 1:37:45
  newsletter because you know, with how often the algorithms
• 1:37:48
  are changing and it's like I can post content and some of the
• 1:37:52
  people who have been following me for a few years, they're not
• 1:37:54
  seeing it anymore. So I just feel like is authors,
• 1:37:57
  there's this safety net and for the readers, like when I have
• 1:38:00
  content to post and it's really me, you will see it in the
• 1:38:03
  newsletter. So and I'm going to do more
• 1:38:06
  exclusives and that's how I've always done my giveaways is
• 1:38:09
  through my newsletter. So you never know to win.
• 1:38:12
  Good to know. Yes.
• 1:38:14
  I put you as one of my favorites on Instagram so I see
• 1:38:17
  everything. Yeah, see, that's the thing.
• 1:38:19
  I got it. Can you say for doing that?
• 1:38:21
  Yeah. So you hit like when you're
• 1:38:22
  already following somebody, you hit that follow button like
• 1:38:25
  there's a little arrow and then you can go and put them as your
• 1:38:28
  favorite. Or did not?
• 1:38:29
  No, Yeah, OK, I'm going to do that.
• 1:38:31
  I need to start doing that more too because like you said they
• 1:38:34
  took away the whole like chronological timeline which I
• 1:38:37
  still hate. Bring it back please.
• 1:38:38
  Yep and something will pop up be like 5 days ago and I'm like
• 1:38:42
  what? Yes, I was seeing things from
• 1:38:44
  other authors and it's like, I didn't even see that you had a
• 1:38:47
  book release. What's going on?
• 1:38:48
  And I was like, I got to step out of the algorithm and have
• 1:38:51
  some like formal like negotiations and conversations
• 1:38:55
  with my readers like, hey, this is really what's happening and
• 1:38:59
  and meta is not suppressing it. Yes.
• 1:39:01
  Yes. And you can also go, besides
• 1:39:04
  making someone your favorite, you can also go in under the
• 1:39:07
  little setting part and make sure it's showing you every
• 1:39:10
  post, every reel you can select. It I did.
• 1:39:13
  Not do this because it has it that it won't do it.
• 1:39:16
  And yeah, if it's like people that you really want to see
• 1:39:19
  every single thing from them, go and do that on Instagram.
• 1:39:22
  OK, I'm going to do that when we're done.
• 1:39:25
  Well, thank you. But thank you.
• 1:39:27
  Yeah, but but thank you for hanging out with us today and
• 1:39:31
  sharing all those wonderful updates.
• 1:39:34
  And I hope everybody goes out and gets to experience your
• 1:39:39
  writing and gets to see your beautiful artwork because
• 1:39:43
  believe me, everyone, it is very, very well worth it to have
• 1:39:48
  her part of your world because AG is amazing.
• 1:39:52
  Well, thank you all for helping me get into more of this world
• 1:39:55
  and and feeling good as an artist and author.
• 1:39:58
  So yeah. Well, maybe one day you can be
• 1:40:00
  brave with me and we'll do an Instagram Live together.
• 1:40:03
  Yes, I only did it once and I feel like I experienced like a
• 1:40:06
  real life hot flash when I was doing it nervous.
• 1:40:11
  Well, I get, I get hot flashes, so we could match.
• 1:40:15
  We could just match. She had to have a little sauna
• 1:40:17
  detox. Yeah, but you've ripped off the
• 1:40:19
  Band-Aid now it's going to get easier and easier.
• 1:40:21
  It is getting better. So that's thanks to you all.
• 1:40:23
  So thank you. Thank you so much.
• 1:40:26
  Hey Chelsea, it was good talking with you too also.
• 1:40:29
  You too? Yeah.
• 1:40:31
  So I guess we'll just sign off with everybody.
• 1:40:34
  And I think they have a. Good rest tonight.