Latest / Reality Writes / Plotting 2026—New Books, Projects, and Intentions

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Plotting 2026—New Books, Projects, and Intentions · Reality Writes

• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, hello, hello.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: We're back.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to a new year and a new episode of Reality Rights.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: I am Other Ellie Alexander, a murder mongeress, um, a book lover, and um I'm super excited to be here with the tech guy.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_03: Hello, hello.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_03: Uh season three.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_03: Whoa.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Is that right?
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, season three.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_03: It's like it's crazy.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_03: I know we went dark a little bit toward the end of last year, but uh yeah, we're back.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_03: We're back.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_03: We're back, baby.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_03: Season three.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_03: Let's go.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_03: 2026 uh is has started.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_03: As it ever, right?
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: As ever.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yes and be.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_03: It's off to uh we're off to the races already.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_03: Um yeah.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_03: I I can't believe it's already mid-January.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_03: Um that is nuts.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: Nah.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, but before we get started, because it is mid-January, we need to talk about the fact that there's something happening on Tuesday.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_03: Tuesday, January 20th.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, this week is a book release.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: This is yay! This is um the first book in the novel detectives, a very novel murder.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's out Tuesday.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: Probably will already be out by the time this podcast airs.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah, yeah.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but for the darlings out there that may not know, uh, this is not it's a new series, but not new characters necessarily.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: This is a spin-off of my secret bookcase mysteries.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: So technically, this is the launch of a new series, but it's the entire cast crew.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: We're back in Redwood Grove.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: We're at the secret bookcase.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: This just posh, lovely, cozy, wonderful, Agatha Christie inspired bookstore.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: And Annie Murray and Fletcher Hughes, who have been long-running characters in the first six books in the secret bookcase mysteries, are back and they are officially opening the novel detectives, detective agency.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: That's a mouthful, inside of the secret bookcase, like you do.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, basically, I'm living my own like bookish Veronica Mars dream.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: They're gonna, they're still gonna be running the bookstore.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: All of the same characters are gonna be there, but then you know, they're gonna solve some bonus murders, crimes, etc.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_03: It's uh I'm excited for it.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_03: Um, Veronica Mars, that oh yeah, you know, maybe if Chris and Bell's listening, um love to have you on the show uh to talk at all things.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_03: Right?
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, that was such a great show.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um that was such a great such a great show.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_03: Uh yeah, that was that was amazing.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_03: But uh, but yeah, it is 2026.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_03: You have a book coming out on Tuesday, and that is just the beginning of what is lining up to be quite the year of writing for LE Alexander.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_03: Actually, it's already been going.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it just like it started right at the beginning of the year, and it, you know, we had a nice little trip down to LA for New Year's.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_03: That was fun.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_03: Um that was great, it was super great.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, if if no one's been to what super wet.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_03: Super wet.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_03: It was wet.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, if you don't I typically don't think of LA and rain, but it does rain in LA and when it rains, it rains.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: It rains.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_03: Um yeah, if no one's been to uh the causum or causum, um whoa man, is that the place to go to watch a sporting event or movie?
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_03: Um for those that don't know, it's it's it's it's similar to I would say like the sphere in Vegas, even though I've never actually been inside the sphere.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_03: I've seen videos of what it looks like inside.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_03: It's like that, except for sporting events.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_03: Cosm goes out and they put cameras in the stadiums and the arenas for the sporting events that they're at.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_03: And so you get this domed experience where it's just like it, they you've got the the whole backdrop is like a fisheye view of the stadium and all the fans and the action and everything.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_03: And then then they on the domed screen, they project actual screens of the broadcast of the game itself from different angles and stuff.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_03: It's just it's amazing.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_03: Um it is like being there because everything is larger, literally larger than life.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um and the best part was they had a DJ who for us we went down to cheer on our Oregon Ducks against Texas Tech.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: It was a great game.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: That one we won't speak of flatter games in the playoffs, right?
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: But um the DJ was doing the fight song and we did shout and there were prize, like it was totally that immersive fan experience.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, no notes.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: I would go back again.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_03: Totally, totally, but that was all fun and we had a great time.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_03: Of course, of course, we went to Disneyland because you know, you're in LA.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, for those of you who don't know, Ellie and I we we kind of love Disneyland.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it's just it's our thing.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_03: So anytime we're there, we and we have the opportunity, we go.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and it's always a great time.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_03: This time was a little less wet than the last time we went, but it was still wet.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_03: Um but um, but you know, you prepare for those things.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_03: But then we got back and you hit the ground running.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_03: So for this episode of Reality Rise, we're gonna talk about 2026 and what that is going to be like a year in the life of Ellie Alexander.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_03: Um, because this year is different than years past.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_03: Um you've had a few busy years over the course of your writing career so far, but I think this is gearing up to be the most, the, the heaviest, the busiest.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, the busiest.
• 5:45
  unknown: Yeah.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: I think the heaviest lifting as far as my writing schedule.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Although I was reflecting back at the beginning of the year because so the first mystery that I wrote, it took me three years because I was learning my way through.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: I was taking all the classes, the workshops, going through a mentorship program, reading all the books on how to write a mystery.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then once my agent sold that series, the Meg Reed series, he quickly sold the Bake Shop series like two months later.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: So since I started writing professionally, series writing, there has not been a year that I've written less than five books.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think, you know, I just trained myself early on, and so I have had a very regimented routine, uh, which is a lot of fun and has so much creativity built into it, but it is a very structured process.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: This year, um, yeah, five is gonna seem like child play.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_03: So uh quick aside, I gotta say, love your earrings.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_03: Um, somebody cool must have got those for you.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_03: They're ma you've yeah, yeah, totally.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_03: For those who don't know, um this is a long-running joke between us.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Ellie has this necklace that was given to her by someone very close to her, and uh she got a compliment on it on a live one time, a live stream we were doing, and she said, Oh, it's so great.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_03: My grandma gave this to me, and I was like, WTF, like I gave that to you.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_03: Like it was I think it was an anniversary gift.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_03: So it was an anniversary resident.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, in fairness, the necklace that my grandmother gave me does look very similar to that one.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_03: That's oh, so you're saying I just copied your grandma?
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_03: Oh boy, this this episode is already off the rails.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I have to apologize to the darlings out there.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_03: It's uh usually much more professional than this, but um okay, so to set things up, I'm gonna do a speed run of the schedule, the the the notes that I have of your schedule.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_03: Now, for the darlings out there, this is gonna be quick.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna go through it as fast as I can.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_03: Probably gonna mess some things up.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_03: What this what I'm about to read does not include all of the what, like page proofs, copy edits, line edits, marketing meetings with the various publishers, everything.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_03: So there's a lot more that goes into this.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_03: But here is a month-by-month breakdown of the the the big key points.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: So okay, and I gotta interject here, Darlings, that you might want to listen really closely because you're gonna learn about some new books that oh no way.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_03: Hey, really?
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, wait, then do you want to read it?
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_03: I get it.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I didn't want to forget to read it.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, go for it.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, okay.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: Because I want to hear it back to myself to be like, am I really doing this?
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, and for those of you watching this episode, you can just watch Ellie's face as I read through this and see if we start out with the smiley, happy, sunshiney look that um, or if we end with that, that that we're starting with.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_03: But okay, here we go.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_03: So 2026 writing schedule.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_03: Um, starting with January, deliver new manuscript of book four in the novel detective series.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_03: The first book in the novel detectives releases on January 20th, which is Tuesday.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_03: We just talked about that.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_03: Deliver a rewrite for Murder Moves In, which is a new bookslash new series.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_03: Deliver edit of yeah, spy well, it's not really spy, but it's good, it's yes, spy thriller.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_03: Um deliver edit of the pumpkin vice cafe.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_03: Um, deliver outline of a book of cozy crime puzzles, start the first draft of a fall to remember, which is a new fall rom com.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_03: February.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_03: Complete the draft of a fall to remember, uh, complete half the manuscript and turn in half the manuscript of the cozy crime puzzles book.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, the whisking hour, book 22 in the bake shop mystery series, releases on February 24th.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_03: You're gonna start the first draft of the 24th book in the uh Bake Shop Mystery series, and you'll be attending Left Coast Crime where you'll be speaking on a panel.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_03: Um March.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_03: A fall to remember manuscript is due.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_03: You need to finish the Bake Shop 24 draft, start the draft of the fifth book in the novel detective series.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_03: April, the fifth book in the novel detective series is due, the cozy crime puzzles full manuscript is due, the 24th Bake Shop mystery manuscript is due.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_03: You start the first draft of the second fall rom-com, the second book in the novel detectives, A Death in the Dark, releases April 21st, and you'll be the keynote speaker of the Northwest Library Association's conference in Portland, Oregon.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, great.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_03: Moving on to May.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I don't know.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_03: The first draft of the second fall rom-com is due, and you need to start the first draft of Bake Shop Mystery series number 25.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_03: Moving on to June, you know, I continue work on that bake shop mystery series number 25.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and then the fifth book in the Color Unsolve series that you're doing, uh that you're partnering with, that the manuscript for that is due.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_03: In July, you'll start working on the sequel to Murder Moves In, the book that we talked about earlier.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and uh the novel detectives number three, A Murder at the Mansion, releases on July 21st.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_03: August, you're gonna continue working on the sequel to Murder Moves In, and Ashland Mystery Festival Planning kicks into Overdrive.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_03: Plus, a fall to remember, uh, the first rom com releases at the end of August.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_03: Um September, the Pumpkin Vice Cafe, the 23rd book in the Bake Shop Mystery Series, releases on September 29th.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_03: The second fall rom com, which uh will also release in September.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_03: Ashley Mystery Festival planning slash prep at this point continues.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_03: And you'll be editing Bake Shop Mystery number 25.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_03: Uh October is going to be the release of Murder at Midnight, the fourth book in the novel detective series.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_03: And then Ashland Mystery Festival.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh that's the whole month, yeah.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, right, because it's the it's planning and prep all the way up until the the moment it starts.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_03: Um November, you're starting the first draft of Lost Coast literary sequel.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_03: That's a that's a big one.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_03: That's a big one.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_03: And then you're sending out murder the sequel to murder moves in to beta readers.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_03: Correct.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and then December, you'll be editing the sequel to Murder Moves In.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_03: And a partridge and a pear tree.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_03: Like, right?
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: No problem.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: No problem.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_03: It seems doable.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_03: It seems doable, but uh yeah, so that's a lot.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_03: That's a lot, that's a lot for anyone.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_03: Um that but you know, and you know, it's uh but you love what you do.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_03: Um but even with that, you're freaking out a little bit.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I mean, I'm I'm freaking out a lot.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: I'm glad I love what I do, but it is gonna be a banger of a year for sure.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I've always been very organized and scheduled, uh, and this is taking that to like the next level for sure.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_03: So talk a little bit about how you um, you know, balance all these projects and deadlines.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_03: And then I know because I know you personally a little bit, um I I know that the last thing you want to ever do is go is prioritize quantity over quality.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_03: So how how do you balance that with a schedule like this?
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_03: Because, like as we said, if we go back before I read through that, this there's a lot of stuff that goes into all of these things that that people may not understand.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_03: Like the darlings out there, every every book release for the weeks or months leading up to it and then the weeks following it, it I mean, you have a ton of time invested in marketing and book talks and book club visits and live streams and all of this stuff, right?
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_03: Recording podcasts.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, okay, well, so I've been trying to think about this for a while.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what is what's the comparison?
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what's the analogy in like, you know, some other medium for series writing, which is what I do and which is what I said, you know, like I I have trained.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: I have serious muscle memory at this point in time because I've already written close to 50 books and I've been doing this for almost two decades now.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: I started my first mystery like 17 years ago.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: So there is that.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think I could be as early on in my career and accomplish what I'm gonna write to take on this year.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: So there is that as a baseline.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: But what I keep coming back to is Broadway.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: Broadway performers, right?
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's such a creative, it's such a fun, it's a vibrant energy, but they are regimented.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: They're showing up every single day, sometimes twice for a matinee, then an evening performance.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: They're doing the same performance.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: They are, you know, like exhausting themselves every night, bringing all that energy to the stage, and they're doing it again and again and again.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: So, yes, it's very creative, but it's so structured um and organized.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's really what series writing has turned into for me.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's that same sort of thing.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like when I am writing, I am definitely in my super happy place.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, all of the other things like can get stressful, but the actual act of working on a book is still to this day is just like, and I want to pour all of that energy onto the page, just like a Broadway dancer is gonna show up and give you their best performance every night.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: So there's that piece.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: With that, I the reason you know that calendar is because I have a desk calendar where things are highlighted.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: I have my online calendar, like I'm I am so organized and I backtrack for every deadline because my hard no is I will never, ever, ever be working on a first draft of a story at the same time, like two first drafts.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, right.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: I am building a story in a world, I have to be all the way in that world.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the caveat is I could be writing, you know, like let's say I'm working on the next bake shop.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: I could write bake shop all morning.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: I could be working, I could be, I'm at tort, I'm back in Ashland, like I'm in that familiar space, I'm working on that book.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: Later in the day, perhaps later in the afternoon, if I have copy edits or page proofs due for a novel detectives book, I could go and spend an hour or two reviewing those, but I'm never gonna be writing a brand new novel detectives and writing a new bake shop at the same time.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's just a hard no for me because I do so much world building and I have to immerse myself in that.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: The only problem is I have this all mapped out.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm already thinking ahead to 2027 in terms of delivery deadlines, but then something will happen like a book will come back and it will need a full rewrite, and that's not built into this schedule.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: So, and that just happened.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_03: That just happened, yeah.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like literally just happened.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I had to sort of like take my calendar, have a moment of panic, um, and then figure out like, okay, how am I gonna piece this together?
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: Where am I gonna move things around?
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so there has to be some flexibility, I feel like, built into it.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_03: Well, and definitely because I mean you're writing for three different publishers, too.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_03: So that that is like they're there are there are competing deadlines.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_03: But so the one thing I will one pro tip for the darlings listening out there, if she described her writing as her super happy place, I'll tell you the one rule is that when Ellie is in her super happy place, you don't disturb the super happy place.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: So no, but I mean the thing is that yes, she's about that.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: But the thing is again, this goes back to the whole thing of like, I have been preaching this forever.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like, this is my full-time job.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna pop into you and interrupt you when you're on a call at work, right?
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's the exact same thing.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_02: And I do think I wish you'd tell my family that.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: I do think for um, you know, maybe new writers, that's an important boundary to set up early on.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because it's really easy to be distracted by other things, to decide that other things, especially working from home, you know, are more important.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like laundry doesn't get done when I'm writing.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_03: Like you're doing laundry, you're grocery shopping, like which I they are as a partnership, even if you weren't writing, I can totally do and do no, no, no, but I'm just saying just want to put it out there, like these are things that I do.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: You have always done.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate you do have a partnership on that front.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm just saying, like, the I'm not taking, I'm not like writing for five minutes and then going and you know, sitting and scrolling on Instagram.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like it is my job.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: This is my full-time job.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: So when I'm in it, I'm working.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, totally.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, and and that like I say it in jest, but I feel and I feel like we talk about this a lot, but I also feel like it's a point that I just want to continue to hammer home with people is that like if you want to make a living writing, you have to make it a full-time job.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_03: Like, you just it's got to be what you do, and you have to be able to separate it from your your life.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_03: You can't, you can't just like, you know, because like uh like anybody out there, any job, you don't just like work a little bit and go binge a show on Netflix or whatever, and then and then get and then try to get back to work.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I mean, you could do that, but you're probably not gonna be long for that job.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um no, and I think to that point too, it's like, yes.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, as you're reading back that list, I am having, you know, like, okay, yeah, that's all gonna happen.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: Some of that has already happened.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I've already delivered three of those books for this month.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I was working longer than I normally like to work.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: I also always try to take weekends off.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I didn't take weekends off.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: I was working the last few weekends because I the way that these ended up lining up, because I had an unexpected rewrite in the middle, I had to do that.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: But um, with any other job, like you, you're juggling multiple deadlines, you're juggling multiple projects.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, it is it's just the reality of what it takes to be a series writer in particular, because with series, you're writing all the time, just like those Broadway performers.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and people's appetite for new content is not getting any weaker.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: So And neither is mine.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like I still have, I mean, one of my biggest challenges is I have more stories that I want to tell.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm not I have no shortage of ideas.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: If I had more time, I I would have like five more books that I want to write right now.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, totally.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_03: Uh well, and I know I know a couple of those that are already actually written and just kind of waiting for like, you know, the the right time.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_03: But um uh the you mentioned that you never work on two first drafts at the same time, and that makes total sense.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_03: Even with that, you're writing a lot of different series and have written a lot of different series.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_03: So, like how like I I every time when we talk about this, I always think of um uh The Man Who Invented Christmas.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_03: That that movie is such a great movie.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and and in it, he he's you know, he's speaking to the characters in in the book, right?
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Charles Dickens.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_03: And he like, does that ever happen to you?
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_03: And if so, like are you when you're working on novel detectives number four is like Annie talking to The jewels on accident, and then you're like, oh no, like worlds are colliding.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_03: And like, does that ever happen?
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: It has never happened.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that's I think because there's so much work that goes into building these worlds and characters that never makes it onto the page.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you see it because on this side of my office, if you looked right now, there are like 27 charts of all of the characters for murder moves in.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so they're also crystal clear and cemented in my mind.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: And their worlds are different, their internal struggles, what they're gonna say.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think the only thing that gets tricky, especially when you've written a lot of mysteries in particular, is coming up with um clever new suspects, um, new ways to describe baking or even like physical attributes.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, I just got um I was working on delivering um the edits for Bake Shop 23, the Pumpkin Vice Cafe, which will come out in September.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: And um, my editor, it's so great because I also have such fantastic collaboration with each of my editors too.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I get so much back from that.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: And we can we can talk more about that in a second.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: But um, she was like, some of like what you're doing with physical movements is like what's happening here?
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's like, oh my gosh, I've written 23 of these bake shop mysteries.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like, should she whisk some other way?
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: Should she hold?
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: And then my editor's like, no, it's fine.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like you can she could just whisk like it does.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like, okay, but like that'll get in my head a little bit more, I think, than anything else.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: Of like, ooh, how many new ways do I describe what a delicious cinnamon latte smells like?
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: Or, you know, does that suspect seem exactly like the suspect that I wrote two books ago?
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: Right, or eight characters?
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_03: Or like 25 books in, like, how many times have people been poisoned?
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_03: How many times have they been shot?
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_03: How many times, you know, like so it's it, yeah, that I can see where that would get to be a challenge.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_03: But that's that's amazing that they don't cross over.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_03: I because I have a hard time.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and I'm just I'm I'm not in the writing aspect of it.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_03: I'm just in the reading and marketing aspect of it.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but I do feel like, and especially for any newer writers out there, um, this would be like something to really latch on to when you're starting your career, is trying to carve out that space where it's like, okay, when I am writing a first draft of a book, I am fully immersed in that world.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I have fake shop playlists.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: We've talked about this before, like maybe bake shop candles and bookish candles now.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, so like I'm just so in that world that there's there's not even a thought of crossing over short of um this year there will be a character crossover coming, but I'm not gonna say anything more about that.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: But that was intentional, that wasn't like oh, I got confused.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_01: No, I forgot about that.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: We we had talked about that, so yeah.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so like for the for the writers out there, then what you've got this, like we ripped through your schedule, and this is like this is hard dates for everyone not watching.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_03: Well, even if those are watching, you can't see them.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_03: You have calendars and you've got this, like this is it is laid out.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_03: There are deadlines, due dates, everything.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_03: What happens when something comes in and blows it all up?
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm not talking about like you talked a little bit about a rewrite, but let's say you get sick.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_03: Um, let's say, you know, like because I think this is going back to the whole like, well, what are other people with full-time jobs do when this stuff happens?
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_03: But I just I I still think that people have a hard time associating writing with uh this being a full-time job and and don't understand that it it a lot of the solutions are very similar.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: No, same thing.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I had to have minor surgery last uh fall, and so like I just wrote, I mean, I took some time to heal, but like instead of being here in my office, I wrote a first draft for a few weeks with my leg propped up in our bedroom.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, you just you you kind of have to pivot and figure it out because I've committed.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: I want to write these stories.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and again, I do think to circle back to like publishing, having partnerships really helps because um the the next phases after I deliver that first draft, which is really like a second draft by the time I send it, usually to my editor, is that I'm getting all kinds of feedback.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'm getting notes in the manuscript and suggestions and ways to strengthen it.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I've also had a brain break from that book because usually I'm not getting a book back for months after I deliver it.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I've gone on and written one or two other projects in the interim there, a first draft of something.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so then I come back to that story with fresh eyes myself, and then all of this really helpful feedback from a professional editor who's able to say, like, oh gosh, you know, like I think there needs to be more tension here.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: How do we put jewels in danger?
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that kind of thing.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so yeah, I'm not doing it alone.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_03: No, it it takes a village.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_03: Um murderous.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_03: Well, you know, it's like it's a murders usually happen in in the village.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_03: So um is there anything that hasn't worked?
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_03: Because you've talked a lot about like what what you do that that does work and everything, but it are there any tips you'd give people to go, and and the caveat here being like, I and I know you preach this like all the time, which is this is what works for you.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_03: Like you're happy to provide help, but everybody's got to find their what works for them, right?
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, but it but that being said, are there things that you've tried that just haven't worked that you would you would recommend people stay away from in terms of keeping the stuff organized?
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, I don't think well we could there are two things.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: One, uh especially the tech guy, we had this conversation a couple weeks ago, and I still haven't had a chance to do it, but like you don't actually want to see my files, they're all over the place.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: It'll be like drop.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, you're talking on your computer, yeah.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_02: No, you don't nightmare.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_02: I've seen it, people.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_02: It is not true.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I know exactly where to find that drop, but there will be like 12 versions of a book, like that kind of thing.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I would say, you know, having some kind of organization system for that as your series grows would be helpful.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_02: Uh yeah, yeah.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the other oh, go ahead.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I was just gonna say, like, when it comes to the files, like for the love of all things published and writing, yeah, never name something, name a book final, final, name a book final one, name a book final two, name a book final, final, final.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_03: Like, which one is the final?
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_03: Which is the last one?
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_00: Final, obviously.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, oh, yeah.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_03: That is not unique to you.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_03: I will just say that.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_03: That is that is a that's been an agency problem forever in my world too, uh, and it drives me nuts.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you would just have a coronary looking at my file system.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: So there's that.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: I that and I do think there's truth to that, but I'm like too far in now that I'm like, that's gonna take a lot of time to fig.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm just gonna keep going with my terrible.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_03: Another quick aside on that, that is something that like that's self-induced stress.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_03: So if you set that up, if you've got that framework and you know, I'm gonna file this here, I'm gonna file that there, and you're done with it.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_03: Then when you need to go back, you're like, yes, I know that it that file is right here, and this is the exact one that I need.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_03: It's gonna save you time and it's gonna save you stress.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I you I agree.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'm saying I I agree.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: Will I do it myself?
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_03: No, you won't.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, but we'll fix that this year, uh, sometime, maybe in like what was like you know, it looked like November might have a few days that we could pencil in.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the other thing is prioritizing like what really does matter, because there's so many other things that I always want to do.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and there is just a not not enough time um from a writing perspective, from like, you know, all the things that I would love to be able to do from a social media perspective, like all the things, right?
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so um one thing, especially in the last four or five years that I've gotten much clearer on is like, okay, I want to write.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_00: At the end of the day, I want to write stories.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: That is my happy place.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, all the other things are things that I love that's attached to that.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: But like, for example, I'm not taking any new coaching clients this year.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um I have coaching clients from last year that I'm gonna continue with, but like I'm close to coaching.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe there'll be a window later this summer or sometime in the fall that opens up.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_00: But like as much as I love that, I have to show up.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: I not have to like uh when I have a coaching client, like I am going to be like fully present and invested in your work.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I just I don't have the space to do that.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: So like that sucks too for me because there are so many things that I want to do.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we want to do more live streams.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: I would love to do more book travel.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I've had to say no to invitations to come to book events places because I'm like, okay, like no, my writing is my priority this year.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna say no to a few, like Left Coast works because it's it's in our city.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_00: Ashland Mystery Fest will be like my other one big thing, but I'm not gonna do a lot of other book travel because I'm gonna be writing.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_03: And and I know you've already turned down a couple of appearance requests for this uh upcoming this year, which I know you hate to do, but um, but you have to at a certain point.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_03: And that was a little bit about what my most recent tech guy Tuesday takeover on over on Patreon was about was just starting the year and like with the in like setting an intention of like not sweating the small stuff, like just concentrating on on a reasonable number of things that you want to be successful at, but understanding that you can do it all.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_03: You just can't, like there's just no way because if you try to do it all, you will fail at everything.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, or I shouldn't say fail, but you will not um meet or exceed your expectations at anything.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_03: Um if you try to do it all.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_03: And I know that sounds like trust me, I know that that that sounds well, yeah.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_03: Of course, tech guy, that's that's obvious.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, every year I set out thinking, okay, here's my list of 158 things that I'm going to become an expert at and really kick ass at.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_03: And it never works out.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, exactly.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_03: This year I'm parrying it back a lot.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_03: So which my goal is to be able to help you with this this calendar that uh that you've got going.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_00: I need all the help.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_00: Bring it on, yeah.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I never want I never want to skimp on a book or a story, like because that is at the end of the day, like I am a writer, I'm a storyteller through and through.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_00: I want to tell these stories.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_00: That fills me up.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: I hope that it brings darlings some moment of joy or escape.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's particularly true given just the environment of the world around us right now.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I feel guilty sometimes, but it's it's easier for me to slip into my fictional worlds and create my happy space.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I do try to remind myself like, ooh, maybe this story is gonna bring someone else a moment of respite.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, which has always been my mantra since I started writing.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I think I'm just trying to lean more heavily into that this year, too.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, no, totally.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_03: Any last words of wisdom for the darlings out there?
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_00: Get ready for um a lot of uh murder and mayhem to come.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm super excited to share all of these with you.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm excited for some new projects that you know the tech guy might have teased that are coming later in the year.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, I'm just excited uh to get into it.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_03: Awesome.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, well, um, I will go ahead and I'll drop all the release dates in the show notes uh for the uh um for the schedule that that we put together.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_03: And let us know in the comments like what does your year look like?
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_03: What what giant things were you trying to tackle?
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_03: Um we'd love to hear from uh the listeners of Darlings out there and and understand like how are you choosing to uh rush into 2026 and uh achieve what you're what you're looking to achieve.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_03: So um, yeah.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_03: Well, with that, uh I'm gonna say until next time.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time.