Latest / Reality Writes / Ask the Author—Slide into my DMs

Transcript

Ask the Author—Slide into my DMs · Reality Writes

• 0:05
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, hello, and welcome to Reality Rights.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: I am author Ellie Alexander and I'm here with The Tech Guy.
• 0:12
  unknown: Tech.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: Tech.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: And we're outside.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: In January.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh, I don't know, we got it was fun recording in the car, so we thought we'd do it out here today.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: Why not?
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: This is the podcast where we talk about writing, books, all things bookish.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: And uh today we're gonna do an episode called Slide Into My DMs.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Ooh, sounds uh racy.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's not.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: Ah I know.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I know.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: That's for the people uh who write, you know, steamy romance.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, all right.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe one day.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe hey, could be.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: All right, but before we get started, everybody take two seconds, send this podcast to a friend, share it with a family member.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: If you get any enjoyment or benefit out of this podcast, it'd be so great if you would share it with your friends and family and just help us out, help us grow this community and keep the bookish and writing love flowing.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's true.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just thinking, I have quite a few friends who write uh romance.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I should ask them what their DMs are like.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: I wonder if they're different than mine.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: Because mine are like a lot of recipes and like baking content.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: But uh I'd be curious to hear uh I'm gonna I'll I'll follow up on that one, Dark Mexic.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'll get on it.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: Sounds good.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: So I sent the tech guy uh a selection of DMs and uh messages that I've gotten over the last couple weeks that I thought it would just be fun to share.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: And if you have a question for me or the tech guy, you can always slide into my DMs and uh we'll either get back to you or I'll get back to you there, or we'll cover it on a future episode of Reality Rights.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I actually added a couple more that she doesn't know about too.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: So this will be All right, let's get right into it.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: So question number one uh do you have a floor plan for tort?
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh, this one came in a few weeks ago, and I absolutely loved this DM because the reader asking was like, I have binged to the bake shop mysteries, and I'm so obsessed that in my mind I've been trying to map out tort.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: And this is a tiny bit of a spoiler if you haven't followed along on all soon to be 20 books in the series so far.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: So, spoiler alert, they should stop listening for a few seconds to turn.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's not really, it's not gonna change your worlds, uh, but sure.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh at one point, pretty early on in the series, Tort gets a renovation and expands down to the basement.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: And so this reader was like, I'm I've just gotten past that point.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: And so now I'm trying to create a map and a floor plan in my mind of what the bake shop looks like specifically.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I was like, I don't actually have a floor plan, but that's kind of a brilliant idea.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: I have lots of visual images of what I think tort looks like.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: You've seen my office, right?
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I think you could create an actual like architectural style tort.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Well, don't sign me up for that right now.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like I could, yes.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Do I have time to do that right now?
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: But uh but yeah, we could we could do that at some point.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think it would be that would be very difficult.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, Mix itself, the big shot that it tort is is inspired by, it's been through several renovations.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, the basement used to be a different restaurant.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: A different restaurant.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: When we first were visiting Ashland, it was a totally different restaurant.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't even think Mix was upstairs, was it?
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: I can't remember, but I don't think so.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think so either.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what that was, but you're right.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: The very first time, well, maybe not the first time, one of the first times we were there, we went to a uh a restaurant in the basement, and I remember that.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: It was good.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but so tort is an amalgam of Mix, which is a real place in Ashland.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: And if you're ever coming to Ashland, it's definitely needs to be one of your stops.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: But um, it's also kind of a mashup of other spots and places in my mind too.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: And even if you visit Mix, it's not exactly as I picture Tort to be like.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: I picture that Tort has these front window booths and a lot of dining, like small dining tables upstairs, and then the long coffee bar and pastry counter, and then you go downstairs to like a cool seating area and an open concept kitchen, which used to be true in Mix, but they converted that all to their baking operation, so you can't go downstairs anymore.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so we need a floor plan.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: So we need a floor plan.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: So thanks for that suggestion.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: Great.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um all right, let's move right along.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh how did you research how to become a PI for the secret bookcase?
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yes.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: Well, actually, I mean, can I tell them?
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of people might not know, but I actually am a private investigator on the side.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: No, he's not.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: No, you're definitely not.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: I could be.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: You could be, or totally could be, but I'm Darling.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: He's definitely not.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: This is my third job.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: You moonlight at like 10 o'clock at night, you're sneaking out and you got your little spectacles.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I've gotten this question a lot, actually.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: So this came in my DMs, this came in my Patreon, this came up in email.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because if you're following along with a secret bookcase mysteries, Annie Murray, who is our sleuth in that series, has a degree in criminology.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: And she originally intended to pursue this idea of opening her own private detective agency.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: But when her best friend Scarlett is killed days before graduation, that dream kind of dies along with Scarlett.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: And so Annie takes this other path working in the bookstore.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: As the series is growing, that little like nudge is coming back to Annie for doing private investigative work.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: And so um there's gonna be a spinoff series coming out later this year called The Novel Detectives, where Annie, you know, is going to pursue that.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, when it comes to research, everything is the answer.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: I spend a ton of time online.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: I read books, um, a lot of nonfiction.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: I watch copious amounts of like private eye TV shows.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: Although some of the stuff they do on those shows is probably not stuff you want to do in real life.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: It's definitely not stuff you want to do in real life.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: That's more for like, you know, kind of getting the vibes right.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, not for like legit uh that process.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: But I spent a lot of time on the California State site for um private investigators.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: So I know like all of the rules and regulations they have to follow now.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: I know the testing they have to go through.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: I know what they can and cannot do when it comes to a police investigation, for example.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um well then interviewing private investigators, right?
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: A lot goes into it.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: Way more than ever makes it into the books, too, which is so funny because at the end of the day, these are cozy.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: They're light fun reads.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: And not everything you're gonna read in the books is like something that a private investigator would actually do.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: I mean for the for for anyone who got to go to the inaugural mystery fest in Ashland, uh, we had uh Chief Tayomira from the uh Ashland police department was he sat on one of the panels with the authors and he was hilarious because he was just like he was disgusted by the criminology in and the crime scene etiquette in these books.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: Uh not just your books, but like the genre in general.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: So he's like, Yeah, that would never happen.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: Never happen.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I know.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I will say for this series in particular, I think with Annie, I'm a little more conscientious of making sure that I do go back and and look at my notes and my research on that because it is a bit different than like Jules, a pastry chef or Sloan, um, a brewer at the scene of the crime because she truly does have a degree in criminology.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: She now is working her way toward obtaining her private investigation.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's a good point.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: But even she's a little more official than a pastry chef, but you're saying a little bit.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: But I do have um a lot of knowledge taking up space in my head about um PIs, uh particularly in the state of California, because it's all different state by state, too.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're curious, reach out.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'll let you know.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: You want to become a PI?
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: Is that a new course you're gonna launch in 2025?
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: It should be.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: How to how to PI the cozy mystery way?
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: Love it.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there we go.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so you're gonna do um floor plans.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: All of my I need you with this, there's no me.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like that'll be a we effort because otherwise I can see this.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, no, I wanted more booths here.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: No, I want that hub to be like yeah.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh all right.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: Moving on to uh now I'm worried a lot of people are gonna think I'm really a PI.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: Well, maybe you are.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: That's part of the mystique, isn't it, Darling?
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh moving on to question number three.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: Oh no.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: Will there be more Sloan Cross mysteries?
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: This message is in my DMs at least once a week, and I don't even know how many emails I get on a weekly basis, which is so cool.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: I see a lot of those emails.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: You get a lot.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: I get a lot.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: I I get a lot of love on Sloan, um, which I am so, so grateful for.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like it makes my day whenever I see those emails or DMs because I love that you darlings love Sloan as much as I do.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, the short answer is yes, absolutely.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: When we were in Leavenworth uh just a few months ago, we collectively sketched out, uh-huh.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: The tag I was part of it.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we were outside at Icicle and at Blue Wit Brewing and sketched out a whole plot for the next full-length novel, which is what we'll be coming in.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: Where's your sound effect?
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, yeah, I don't have it.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's the weird thing about doing a podcast versus a live is I uh you know and I'll put it in post-production.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll say insert applause here.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: Screaming applause, yeah.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um because I've done a collection of shorts.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: So there were three shorts that kind of were interspersed.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: And so the next thing that I want to do is a full-length novel, and it will pick up where the last short left off.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: That's the plan.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: So I have the sketch, I have the idea.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just writing a lot this year.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: I have a lot of new projects coming out in 2025, some re-releases, which is fun, some new stuff.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, so it's just a matter of how I work that into my publishing schedule.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: But um, it's definitely coming.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: I just don't have a firm date.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: How many books do you have coming out in 2025?
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: A lot.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we were, I was gonna add it up.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's a lot.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: I can't remember double digits.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's double digits.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: It double digits.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: And it's the most that you've ever had.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's the most I will ever have published in one year, uh, with the thanks to my publishing partners at Storm and McMillan and no other thing.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not doing them all on my own.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: But um, yeah, it's gonna be it's gonna be a big year of books.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot coming, so get ready.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: Uh speaking of books that are coming out, yeah.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm gonna throw, I'm gonna call it an audible.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna call this question 3A.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um when will the secret bookcase latest secret bookcase mystery be available in paperback?
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh, that was yeah.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: Because this one drives me bonkers.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I can't even imagine.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: I get this one a lot too.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: This is in my DMs and in emails, true.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the next secret bookcase is a victim at Valentine's Day.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: It c or a Valentine's not day.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: Sorry, a victim at Valentine's.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it comes out on February 10th.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's up for pre-order for audio and ebook right now.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: And the paperback should be up any day now.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because this is with a different publishing house, my UK publisher storm, they just have a different rollout schedule for when things come.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: So the paperback usually goes up about two to three weeks before release.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that that gets back to something we've talked about in a couple of episodes now, which is like as a traditionally published author, you don't have control over things.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's not so for all those darlings out there that are listening, like Ellie cannot tell you when that date is going to happen.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: It just does.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: Just know that it will be available and it's always available.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's always yes, it's always available on release date, but usually it's up two to three weeks earlier.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: And the other tag-along question that I get for this series all the time is when will it be available um in Canada?
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm sorry, Canada, I I want it to be available to you too, but it just the never know.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: Well I know.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: And with tariffs, you'll now be paying uh forty thousand dollars for a copy.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: But um Yeah, uh it should be coming to the Canadian market, but I just don't know when, and I've asked um my publisher, and um I don't have control over that either, so I'm sorry.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: Uh February 10th.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: I said February 10th.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't know.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: I was looking it up because I was like, oh, I can look it up right here because I usually don't have this guy, but yeah, um that's it at the very least, that's when the paperback will be available.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: But I I I would expect it any day now by the time this podcast airs.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's true.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh okay, that's good.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: We got we got that.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: We got that one taken care of.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll roll into question four, which is uh Ellie, I'm taking my mom to Ashland for the first time because of your books.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: Can you give me some suggestions of places to visit?
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh, I get this question quite a bit too.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, this question is the reason that the Ashland Mystery Fest exists, basically, because over the years I've had so many darlings reach out and say, I'm going to Ashland exactly like this, um, because of your books, and I'm gonna see some plays, tell me what else I should see there.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: I need to put together a little like permanent tour of Ashland, like on the blog or something for people.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: I just made a note about that.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_01: Did you really make a link?
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: A series of blog posts with favorite places to visit in Ashland and the surrounding area.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and we could do the same for Leavenworth, um, because I get asked about Leavenworth quite often too.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, obviously, mixes on the list.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: You should definitely see a play at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, have dinner and see a show at the Oregon Cabaret, or just have dessert and see a show at the Oregon Cabaret, get the Dick Hay Pie.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: Especially if they have a special.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: Specials are always worth it.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you should visit the Winchester, maybe have like a cocktail or mocktail before the show at Alchemy.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we love Scout outside.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, Scout.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely, if you can just go to dinner at Scout one night.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: Try to get there a little early so you can grab one of the fire pit tables.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, they go fast, but they go fast.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: Take a walk through Lithia Park.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but if you want the full immersive experience, you could also come to the 2025 now third annual Ashland Mystery Fest.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: And we're gonna be announcing the author lineup in the next few weeks.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but we are ready to go.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's a fully immersive four-day now weekend of mystery fun, all the coziness.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: I'll be there along with probably 13 or 14 other mystery authors.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: And the Oregon Shakespeare Festival is extending their season, so they'll be open during the festival this time for the first time.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: So you can catch a show at that, the Oregon Cabaret.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's a lot to do.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: So much to do.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: A lot to do.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: Come visit.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh moving into question five.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have a playlist for any of your books?
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I know.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: I am surprised um by this question, and then not surprised at the same time.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_01: I do have playlists for each of my books.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: I have carefully curated songs for each character.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: They're very different.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I have been doing a uh relook at my very first mystery series that was published pre-Bake Shop.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: And so I've been listening to that playlist, and it's really funny to go back to like all the songs that I was picking in 2010, 2012.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, of course, there's some OG Taylor on there.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: But you can't listen to those now, right?
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: Aren't you supposed to just listen to the the TV versions?
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, good job.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you are supposed to listen to the TV versions.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's true.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I do have playlists for each of my characters because they're also very different in my head, and it also helps me get into their heads.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: Like Jules has a lot of romantic songs.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, early on when I was listening to them, I'd be done writing and you'd be like, Are you listening to a lot of sets?
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, she'd come out, her eyes are all bloodshot and red, and she's sniffling.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, Oh, we gotta go do something really happy now because you're just like, yeah.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: True.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I am working on a new spy thriller that's coming out next year in 2026.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: So I've had a lot of like Mission Impossible spy music going on.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: If you She does this too when she was submission impossible.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I run like Tom Cruise.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: Every term, yeah.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: You run like Tom Cruise.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: Not even our son, who is a collegiate cross-country and track athlete, runs like Tom Cruise.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um but if you are a newsletter subscriber, every month I share a newsletter.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: That's where all the good stuff happens.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: I share a monthly playlist every month.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um and that's inspired by like based on what you're writing at the time.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's not necessarily for a series.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: It's not necessarily for a series, but it's kind of like the mood for writing monthly.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I pull a few songs from a playlist.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I could share, I guess, my playlist for each of the characters.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: Whoever done that.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_01: I could make them I could make them public, but could another thing for the blog.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: Another another to-do item for the tech guy.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: Flip it down right now.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: We're making it happen.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: I like this time this kind where I'm in front of the camera and I can mess around with uh this is great.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: Moving to the next one uh while I'm taking this note.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um uh number six.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um oh boy, this one.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: Can you give me advice on how to write a cozy mystery?
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: Oh boy.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: And coming.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, I'm not I'm not asking it.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's what it said.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: That was the question.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not me.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's the just yeah.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: I don't mind this question.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's when, like, can I take you out for a coffee and pick your brain and you can tell me everything on involved in writing a mystery that gets me a little bit.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because like, can you teach me everything you know about project and resource management over a coffee?
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: Your career of how to use computers, all that stuff.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's anything.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the answer is yes, of course I can.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I cannot do that for everyone who slides into my DMs because then or email, uh, I would never be able to work on my own writing.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: And there's just so much involved in writing a book, in writing a series, and then publishing and marketing that book.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: And we try to share a lot of that here on this podcast and on my YouTube channel and other places.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then of course, we put together an entire course and I do private coaching.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: So those are the ways that I can help you with that.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: And you get asked this a lot.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: I do, which I love.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: Meekly.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's a lot.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think your crows my crows are visiting my social media, yeah.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: Your pool crows.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: They knew we were podcasting at that, and they're like, we'll do a little flyby.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: Nice.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I really truly like at my core am such a firm believer in the idea that like everyone should write.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: And especially now in the times that we're living in, I think the more that you can create and move that energy and put that out into the world, it's a fantastic thing.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's just a complete capacity issue.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: And it's also just going back to that idea.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like if you're if you're wanting to write professionally, then you have to put in the work to do that.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and and I mean, there are people who ask politely and stuff, but there are a lot of people who don't, which is then, and she won't let me respond to those people.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's not fair, because I could respond to them, but um, but yeah, I think that's the that that is that's the sad part is when people aren't polite or there's like a sense of entitlement, and and then it's like because you know those are the people that aren't gonna put in the work, so that's probably even harder to like respond.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: Or I think, you know, there was a while ago, this has been a year or so, but you know, I I politely said, like, no, I don't have the capacity to like go to coffee with you and teach you how to write a mystery in an hour.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and this particular person got really angry and like pushed back at me and everything.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, would you do that?
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: Would you go into your local bakery and say to the baker, like teach me how to make bread?
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just gonna buy you a coffee or like you'll pay me.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: I yeah, or in any other profession.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_01: So I I don't know.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: I think there's like this idea, and maybe this parallels the thought that writing happens magically that there's not also work involved in it.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um but yes, I want you to write.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: I just cannot teach you how to write in an hour.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: Well and the but the the one thing I would say to people who do ask this question is like follow follow Ellie on social media, look at her YouTube channel, read her blog.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like there's a wealth of information there.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: Join join your your Patreon.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: There's a a ton of ways that you can you can get and and not just you any any closing mystery author that has you know um advice and information available online.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: So that's the beauty of the internet you can find so many resources for free.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: You don't even have to pay for that right right okay uh moving on to number seven um where can I find the recipes from your books?
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah in my books.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's funny how that happens.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: So this one like I'm gonna answer this one at first and and I won't go as in depth as I will because this will be one of my rants for the afterpart so for the patrons out there who are listening this is coming but um but this is like this is I mean just the thought of that every recipe in every book would be online and available freely is just I mean the amount of work to start with yeah but second it's also like that's kind of a bonus for owning the book.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah or reading in the library something like you get this and so it there is like a little bit of it is like an incentive of like this is kind of an exclusive thing.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like you read the book, you get the recipes.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not always going to be the case that every recipe is going to be available online.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um well yeah and then there are like the copyright issues you know there's all sorts of stuff but yeah I saved the legal part for last but yeah no it's uh and just the idea that at the end of the day I write mysteries and so those recipes are are bonus content for me too.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: I enjoy them they definitely help me get in like Jules or Sloane's head.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_01: I I've talked so much about loving the process of being in the kitchen and and that sensory detail that really I hope enhances the reading experience for the darlings.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_01: But um if I were to spend the amount of time that it would take to like document that process visually and like write them all up and put them I mean that would be like that's its own how many recipes are there now by 20 I'm actually working on book 22.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: Book 20 comes out next month.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: Well I mean they all have at least five I would say so that's over a hundred yeah okay so over 120 recipes you know already um and that's just bake shop.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: So that leads us into my bonus question which is or wait I've got two bonus questions.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: This one's got an A and a B.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: So for A, uh why don't the Sloan Krause mysteries have recipes?
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I know I wish they did.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I intended them to when I wrote the yeah when I wrote the series I did the same process um with the last pass of edits that I always take is the recipes and I did all of them I wrote them all up and then because it was releasing in hardcover when they felt like beer was edgier I'm not even kidding like beer was like oh it's a little it's not quite in the vein of a cozy because she runs a brewery and I was like really it's still so cozy.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_01: And half of what she's doing is like baking or cooking with maybe a touch of beer here and there but not even always beer just like Bavarian and Lovenworth inspired recipes.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway so recipes did not make the cut um but once we started publishing the series through Sweet Lemon Press then I went ahead and added recipes.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: So the new stuff all the shorts have recipes um and the new full length will have a recipe set and the Sloan series is one where you like the because food does play a large part in that series as well where you talk about recipes and during you know over the course of the books and you have released some of those on you know they're on your blog and your social media accounts and everything.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: The Berlin bars if you haven't looked that up you find it on the blog you find it on our Instagram account you find it on what Blue Sky anything like YouTube all the things all the things but uh yeah that that one you should look it up.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: If you like chocolate um and I mean who doesn't like chocolate?
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_01: I would say I got more requests for that when um Sloan just talks about them briefly I don't even remember what book that was in to tell you the truth.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: That'd be a good one for all the darlings out there who can who can answer that question.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: When were Berlin bars first introduced in the Sloan Cross Mysteries?
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah I have no idea honestly I don't either it's been a long time it's been a long time.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: But my dad made these Berlin bars all is growing up he usually made them for my sister's birthday.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_01: And so originally when I was first working on the series I knew that I wanted to put that recipe in the books and then it didn't happen but she was still baking them in the kitchen.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_01: And then when he came down for a visit in Ashland we did a whole video oh yeah we got that YouTube Yeah that's definitely on on YouTube.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah so you can go see them in all their glory too.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: They're delicious.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah they really are in fact we should make some of those this weekend okay no problem they are kind of labor intensive but they're worth it and they make a giant pan so they last they should last giant pan well in this period there.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um all right and then uh seven this question seven B would be is there going to be a tort cookbook?
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh you just worked this right totally I did because I know this is one that you get all the time.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_01: I have not had anyone slide into my DMs lately with this question darlings uh but it is often something that I get asked and this is so true.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_01: And the question for that is probably no I would love to at some point but and we've talked about this before it's just the vision that I would have for it the amount of labor involved the cost involved all of the things.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_00: And it's and but you having said that and you've talked about this before but I'm just gonna for any of the darlings out there listening I'm just gonna cut it off right now that that because inevitably somebody will put in the comments whether it's on Spotify or uh Apple Podcasts or YouTube wherever they're wherever people are listening somebody is going to put in the comments you could just do like a a mass market one and then they'll give an example of authors who've done that which is totally fine for them but that's not the vision.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so imagine if you had a vision for something you wanted to create but somebody told you that you could just well you could do that or you could just do this and that and this is something that is completely opposite of your vision you're not gonna be super excited to do that.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not going to be well received either that's the thing.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_01: No it's just no because that that would just be like basically you're printing out just a basic recipe without any photos.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: I mean yeah yeah um plus I would think keeping a mass market open while trying to cook or bake would be difficult.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_01: I know I've had a few recipes that I'm like oh I don't know where that is in my files but I'll just go grab one of the mass markets off the shelf and then when I'm trying to bake with it I am like oh this is kind of a pain.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah I mean maybe when I'm done with the series and I had more time that would be a project to tackle um because I do have a vision and I would love the cookbook to aesthetically feel like you are walking in the toward that's when we oh see to bring it all the way back around that's when we would need a floor plan because you would have to see like you know one of the pastries posed perfectly in the window looking out at the plaza with a like a beautiful handcrafted latte with latte art and all of those things.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah yeah not in the short term.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_01: But maybe one day maybe one day you never know darlings.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: You're not saying never I'm I will never say never of course not okay um number nine can you donate books to our nonprofit oh yeah I get this question quite often um and usually the answer is yes.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um I love to support uh nonprofits and I have done that throughout the course of my career.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_01: Of course I want it to align with things that I care about.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_01: But you know if you're talking about any sort of nonprofit involving literacy, kids, people, animals yeah like there's a lot that's on the table.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_01: Alzheimer's health mindfulness like you name it um I am usually game but it's always good to reach out to me in advance of when you need it.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I try to also come up with other fun things like this is where the tech guy will get involved and toss in extra like stickers and mugs and candles and things to enhance a package if it's like for an auction, let's say um I've been known to do that.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_01: You've been known to do that here and there.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um I have done some character naming giveaways over the years where I've offered up for anyone who wins the auction to name a character in a book and that's always fun.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_01: So there are lots of things that um I can and will do so for sure slide into my DMs for that.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_00: Cool.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_01: There are some things that I just you know would say no to depending on my where my own personal values align.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right totally um and that's your proper hit yeah exactly I last question uh number 10 it's just a bonus one that I I just came up with now but I know people have asked this before is um I are you ever gonna stop writing oh yeah I don't think so I hope not yeah writing is so my happy place I love telling stories I have too many stories to tell at this stage I don't know if you can ever have too many but um I don't always have capacity for the number of ideas that I have waiting in the wings there are like four things waiting in the wings right now that I've like sketched out a full outline for the most part for um as well as manuscripts that have been sitting waiting in the wings so um no I don't think so.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah I can vouch for that yeah because you there are days where you'll say you know I'll ask you about your day and you'll say well it was great but I was writing this all day or editing this all day and I really want to be working on that.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_00: But as you say time and time and time again that if you want writing to be a career you have to treat it like a job because it is a job and that is very job-esque you have something that you want to be doing so you have to do the task at hand first.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_01: So and usually that's when I like have to do copy edits for a book that I've already written or you know some sort of like that phase of like page proofs.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_01: I hate page proofs we could go on forever about page proofs it would they're so important they're the last look but they are just tedious and it's painful to have to read back through at that level and you're just looking for like are the words smooshed together or is the spacing wrong or that kind of thing.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_01: So usually it's like oh I'm working on that but there's this new shiny dangly juicy project over here that I want to get to so totally yeah good answer.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah it's true.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_01: All right thanks that's all that's all we have for this this episode there are more I mean we'll have to do another version of it another episode of this because I know I just pulled um like the most recent two or three weeks of DMs for this episode but like I said if you have other thoughts or questions for us on in to my DMs although do that on like Blue Sky you could comment on any of our like YouTube Spotify too.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah yeah cool.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_00: All right well uh this is the point of the podcast where when I talked at the beginning about sharing with a friend or family and you were like oh yeah yeah I'll wait till the end and then I'll do that this is the time where you do that for us and help us out.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_00: So reality writes with Ellie Alexander and the tech guy.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_01: And the tech guy.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_01: On that note until next time.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time