Latest / Arroe Collins Like It's Live / Let The Series Begin Operation Cactus Blossom From Author Stacy Lee

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Let The Series Begin Operation Cactus Blossom From Author Stacy Lee · Arroe Collins Like It's Live

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  Speaker 1: Aero dot Net. It's that one place that you can
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  Speaker 1: find a lot of things. You know, in radio, they
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  Speaker 1: teach us one thought per break. Shouldn't podcasts be the same,
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  Speaker 1: don't just shove everything into one calendar. Here's what we
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  Speaker 1: gotta do. We gotta get you hooked up to all
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  Speaker 1: level sports. It's more than baseball, professional basketball, or hockey.
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  Speaker 1: This is all level of sports only on Aero dot net.
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  Speaker 1: Aarre dot net. Enjoy your exploration, Stacy. I'm so excited
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  Speaker 1: to share a conversation with you because I love the
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  Speaker 1: journey that you're taking. More importantly, I gotta tell you something.
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  Speaker 1: Being a radio guy and a published author, I see
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  Speaker 1: your titles and I love it. I love the creativity
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  Speaker 1: that you put into a book's title because that, to me,
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  Speaker 1: is part of the actual glue that brings people to
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  Speaker 1: those pages. I just love what you're doing.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, thank you so much. I appreciate that a lot.
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  Speaker 1: When does a book title come to you? Because I
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  Speaker 1: know with me, I'll sit there and I'll change it
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  Speaker 1: out about ten to fifteen times. It's almost like Paul
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  Speaker 1: McCartney trying to do the song yesterday. Just keep changing
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  Speaker 1: the title.
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  Speaker 2: It's definitely a process for sure. I agree with you.
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  Speaker 3: I feel like it's definitely one of the most important
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  Speaker 3: parts of the project. I just it's always been something
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  Speaker 3: that's come easy to me, and it's my favorite part.
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  Speaker 2: I have fun with it.
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  Speaker 1: How are you able to bring out these thrillers in
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  Speaker 1: the way it's almost like you're living it and we're
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  Speaker 1: standing there next to you, and it's almost like. There
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  Speaker 1: are many times I will kind of look out the
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  Speaker 1: corner of my eye while I'm reading, going, Okay, this
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  Speaker 1: is a book. Okay, okay, this really isn't happening. But
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  Speaker 1: I mean, that's how real you put your words on
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  Speaker 1: this page.
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  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, thank you so much.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: I just stay true to my.
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  Speaker 3: Stories, and I start with a plan and then I
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  Speaker 3: just let myself go.
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  Speaker 1: Then what do you do with situations where your imagination
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  Speaker 1: wants to create as you go and you know that
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  Speaker 1: it's going to be so far off the original path?
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  Speaker 1: For me, I'll sit there and go, what did you do?
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  Speaker 1: What did you do today?
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  Speaker 2: Dude? I'll do that.
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  Speaker 3: I'll make up characters and then I'll have to go
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  Speaker 3: back and say who was that? Yes, No, I just
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  Speaker 3: one chapter at a time, and when I you know,
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  Speaker 3: I have another full time job also, and I have
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  Speaker 3: teenagers and a lot going on, and I just when
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  Speaker 3: I sit down, I have to sit down with a plan,
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  Speaker 3: and I don't.
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  Speaker 2: Always stick to it.
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  Speaker 3: But that's you know, getting over that initial sitting down
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  Speaker 3: and getting something done, just kind of breaking that threshold
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  Speaker 3: of getting into that creative mindset. I feel like the
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  Speaker 3: more technical I am with my plan, the more creative
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  Speaker 3: I can be in the long run.
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  Speaker 1: So how do you find your time to do that?
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  Speaker 1: Because I've got to be inside this studio no later
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  Speaker 1: than six thirty in the morning, but then throughout the
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  Speaker 1: entire rest of the day, I've got to have writing moments,
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  Speaker 1: even if it's only like three or four minutes at
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  Speaker 1: a time. How do you build that up and how
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  Speaker 1: do you stay true to it?
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  Speaker 2: But definitely accountability.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, So I have the most amazing assistant in the world.
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  Speaker 2: She actually she has her own company.
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  Speaker 3: She calls it admin on the side, so she lives
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  Speaker 3: in Canada and she helps me from there. She'll like,
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  Speaker 3: she set this up for me and she actually puts
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  Speaker 3: times in my calendar for.
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  Speaker 2: Me to write.
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  Speaker 3: Nice and I think, you know, having somebody to say,
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  Speaker 3: where's chapter five helps me a lot.
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  Speaker 1: See, And that's that's what I love about about the
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  Speaker 1: transparency that you share with your readers as well as
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  Speaker 1: people that are going to discover you. And that is
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  Speaker 1: is that we don't understand the full journey of the author.
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  Speaker 1: We all just assumed that it pops out and oh,
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  Speaker 1: here's this brand new book, when in fact it is
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  Speaker 1: not that way.
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  Speaker 2: Correct. Correct. Yes. And this new series, the Prickly Pen Investigation.
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  Speaker 3: Series, it was my first experience with a publisher, so
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  Speaker 3: I when I found my publisher, I had to outline
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  Speaker 3: three books and that was new for me to have
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  Speaker 3: to actually sit down and come up with the plot
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  Speaker 3: for three books in an outline. And luckily I have
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  Speaker 3: the freedom too to change what I want to change.
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  Speaker 3: But it's it's definitely there's definitely a lot of planning
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  Speaker 3: and design that goes into every book.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. I'm a collector of writing instruments, so when I
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  Speaker 1: saw the Prickly Pan Investigations, I giggled like a child
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  Speaker 1: because now I want one of those writing instruments. I
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  Speaker 1: want a Prickly Pan from my collection whatever, whatever it
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  Speaker 1: looks like or back in six months or a year,
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  Speaker 1: take it and I'll say, okay, it's time for me
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  Speaker 1: to write with this writing instrument. It's learned from the soil.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, yes, And that's you know, one of the biggest
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  Speaker 3: compliments anybody can give, in my opinion, is saying just that,
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  Speaker 3: and it's you know, it's just fun.
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  Speaker 2: It is really have to have fun with it.
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  Speaker 1: It's a brain game. Your brain. Make that brain work.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, and lots of coffee.
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  Speaker 1: So bringing Alana into the framework, I mean, we're talking
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  Speaker 1: about a brand new character here. What was that like
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  Speaker 1: for you as you expand this book now? Because I
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  Speaker 1: mean it's like that one of the toughest things are
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  Speaker 1: those new characters, because you don't want it to be
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  Speaker 1: like Jimmy or Janet or somebody else. And it's like,
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  Speaker 1: because I don't want to compare them. I want them
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  Speaker 1: to live on their own.
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  Speaker 2: Exactly.
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  Speaker 3: And I and what I think, what I do, sort
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  Speaker 3: of even by accident, is I write. I write the
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  Speaker 3: stories how I would want to read them. And I
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  Speaker 3: know that feeling of Okay, there's a sequel, and I'm
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  Speaker 3: so excited right to see what's going on with John
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  Speaker 3: and Lena and oh yeah, Solana, I remember her. But
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  Speaker 3: do I really want to invest this emotional energy into
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  Speaker 3: somebody new.
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  Speaker 2: So I feel like her character.
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  Speaker 3: Needs to just be, she needs to encompass, she needs
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  Speaker 3: to capture your heart immediately, and and I feel like
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  Speaker 3: she does. And I really, I really do a lot
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  Speaker 3: of work with my characters. I create bios for them
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  Speaker 3: before I start writing their adventures on the page, because
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  Speaker 3: I need to know who they are, what they've been through,
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  Speaker 3: their their wants, their challenges, and they become real people
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  Speaker 3: to me.
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  Speaker 1: Oh my god, you're doing it so right, because that's
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  Speaker 1: exactly what we do as voiceover actors when it comes
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  Speaker 1: to doing a commercial or even a book. Is that
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  Speaker 1: they the producer will sit down with us and say,
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  Speaker 1: who is she, how old is she, how many kids
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  Speaker 1: does she have, what kind of car does she drive?
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  Speaker 1: What kind of a mood is she in today? If
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  Speaker 1: this is the headline, and so, as that voiceover actor,
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  Speaker 1: I am doing exactly what you're doing. I am envisioning it,
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  Speaker 1: and then when it comes out of me in vocal form,
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  Speaker 1: it's no different than how a word comes out of
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  Speaker 1: you when it comes to a.
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  Speaker 2: Page, exactly. I even I even take it as far.
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  Speaker 3: Sometimes when I was writing Made for Summer, the character
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  Speaker 3: was going through a huge heartbreak, and I was in
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  Speaker 3: the I was in the thick of it, and I
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  Speaker 3: started acting even when I was driving, only listening to
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  Speaker 3: songs that she could relate to, like, I became her.
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  Speaker 2: So it was really important to me that I could
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  Speaker 2: tell her story.
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  Speaker 1: Oh my god, that is so important when he comes
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  Speaker 1: to the music, and I wish more people would talk
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  Speaker 1: about that. And the reason why is because that's exactly
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  Speaker 1: what shapes our path. People will say, so, what kind
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  Speaker 1: of music do you listen to? Erro, And I'll go,
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  Speaker 1: you really don't want to know, because it's not what
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  Speaker 1: you think. It really is not what you think, because
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  Speaker 1: we all have our escapes, is what we do?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, that and your internet browser you I'll say it
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  Speaker 2: to my husband. I'll say to my husband just so.
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  Speaker 3: You know, I'm doing a lot of research on what
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  Speaker 3: it feels like to see it on your spouse.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's fiction.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, Yeah, don't go to my chat GPT.
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  Speaker 3: That is not.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, that's the new one, right.
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  Speaker 1: Chat GPT. There's Grock, There's there's there's Jimini. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: every one of them is me seeking an answer to
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  Speaker 1: an oddball question, because people like odd ball things. And
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  Speaker 1: it's like, Okay, I'll be the one that's going to
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  Speaker 1: step into it.
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  Speaker 2: Then yes, exactly, exactly.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, do not move. There is more with Stacy Lee
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  Speaker 1: right around the corner. The name of a book is
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  Speaker 1: Operation Cactus Blossom. We are back with author Stacy Lee.
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  Speaker 1: How do you keep John and Lena a big secret
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  Speaker 1: as you're expanding this story? Because I'm not one to
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  Speaker 1: keep a Christmas secret. But when people come up to
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  Speaker 1: us and they go, hey, look what you're new one about,
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  Speaker 1: It's like I want to spill my guts, but at
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  Speaker 1: the same time I want to bite my tongue.
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  Speaker 3: I completely agree with you in the Prickly Pen Investigation series.
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  Speaker 3: That's my first experience with writing a sequel where the
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  Speaker 3: story just continues, and I struggle. I struggle because if
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  Speaker 3: you read the back of book two, it gives the
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  Speaker 3: way parts of book one, and I love my favorite
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  Speaker 3: seeing is taking people on that plot twist adventure. And
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  Speaker 3: I almost want to say that the I'm at signings
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  Speaker 3: and events just you.
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  Speaker 2: Know, read this one first and don't get the back
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  Speaker 2: of that one yet. It's hard.
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  Speaker 1: It's really hard, yeah, because people like to jump around
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  Speaker 1: and I am a chapter Jumper and that is probably
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  Speaker 1: like and I don't know if that's because when I
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  Speaker 1: do research for conversations or something, but I am all
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  Speaker 1: over a book, but it's never in chronological order. But
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  Speaker 1: yet I still am fulfilled by an author.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, that's good to know.
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  Speaker 1: And I because I mean when we binge watch TV,
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  Speaker 1: and you know what, I want to blame it on that,
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  Speaker 1: because we never stop or start at the beginning of
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  Speaker 1: a binge watch. It's like, oh, we'll start here and
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  Speaker 1: we'll make our way back when we get there.
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  Speaker 2: Correct.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, I am somebody that needs to binge watch shows
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  Speaker 3: in order.
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  Speaker 2: Oh yes, oh yes, and I can't.
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  Speaker 3: Sometimes I'll fall asleep and then I go to watch
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  Speaker 3: it the next day.
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  Speaker 2: And I don't know where I left off because it looks.
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  Speaker 3: Like I watched all of them, and I have to
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  Speaker 3: find the exact moment I stopped watching it.
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  Speaker 1: Now, you've got a quote in here that I wish
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  Speaker 1: that you would on a poster or somehow market it
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  Speaker 1: because I am just fascinated by this and it's very inspiring.
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  Speaker 1: So when you talk about authors that really brought something
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  Speaker 1: to you, you bring something to me in the way
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  Speaker 1: of saying a thriller that doesn't entertain it connects. I
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  Speaker 1: have never heard that before, and when I saw that
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  Speaker 1: attached to your name, I went, Stacy, this is the stuff,
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  Speaker 1: This is the stuff that takes other authors to a
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  Speaker 1: different level of play.
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  Speaker 2: Wow. Yes, yes, I agree, And it is for me
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  Speaker 2: about that. It's about connection.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, And each of my stories have an underlying theme,
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  Speaker 3: even even if they're about human trafficking and kidnapping, there's
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  Speaker 3: always an underlying theme.
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  Speaker 2: Of family values and just connection and just real life.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, because when you take on a subject you like
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  Speaker 1: that the connection there is, it has, it's here now,
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  Speaker 1: it's talked about it more now because I remember back
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  Speaker 1: in my early days of radio where we talked about
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  Speaker 1: human trafficking be well shoot shoot, and and now I
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  Speaker 1: mean it's like, because we are talking about it, then
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  Speaker 1: you become the educator and or the instigator in the
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  Speaker 1: way of getting that conversation back on the front page.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, yes, and it's it takes courage, it really does.
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  Speaker 3: And actually, when I wrote Operation Super Glue, I think
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  Speaker 3: that it was talked about even less than it is now.
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  Speaker 3: I sort of wrote that without knowing how big. You know,
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  Speaker 3: some things will blow up and be talked about all
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  Speaker 3: the time. So I do. I do feel like I
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  Speaker 3: do it in a way that just sticks to the facts.
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  Speaker 3: And I do, you know, collaborate with a private investigator
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  Speaker 3: and I make sure that oh, yes, he's a friend
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  Speaker 3: that I met when I was searching for a family member,
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  Speaker 3: which is how the plot to Operation super Glue came about.
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  Speaker 3: But I make sure I fact check with him and
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  Speaker 3: I stick to facts. I really keep it very objective.
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  Speaker 1: It's so fascinating the journey. And that's what really is
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  Speaker 1: the glue. When you talk about Operations super Glue and
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  Speaker 1: then you go into Operation Cactus Blossom. I mean, that's
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  Speaker 1: what I love. And the thing is is that I
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  Speaker 1: think it's probably going to be you that's going to
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  Speaker 1: get credit for this in my writing. Is I just
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  Speaker 1: did this huge project on who are the rebels of today?
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  Speaker 1: Because it does get old that we always hear about
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  Speaker 1: what happened in the nineteen sixties, the rebel of the
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  Speaker 1: sixties through different events, but we aren't hearing about the
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  Speaker 1: rebels today. And do you know what they said, it's
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  Speaker 1: the book authors, that's me. And they said that book
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  Speaker 1: authors are invisible. People don't see them as rebels, but
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  Speaker 1: they are rebels because you are doing the research, you
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  Speaker 1: are getting activated with the people that know the answers
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  Speaker 1: and so and I just sat up and I went,
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  Speaker 1: thank God, thank god, people like Stacy is going to
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  Speaker 1: do her homework to make things happen here.
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  Speaker 3: Wow, thank you very much for that. That's really an honor.
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  Speaker 1: So do you feel like a Johnny Depp rebel?
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  Speaker 2: Yes? I do? Now, thank you?
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  Speaker 1: Where can people go to find out more about you, Stacy?
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  Speaker 1: Because I mean, you know you've got this this series
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  Speaker 1: going on now. I want people to do exactly what
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  Speaker 1: you said with your bitch watching, get at the beginning
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  Speaker 1: and move your way through or you know, or do
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  Speaker 1: they have to start at book number one?
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  Speaker 3: I always encourage for the Prickly Pen Investigation series for
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  Speaker 3: readers to start at book one. I do at the
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  Speaker 3: beginning of each book because I'm currently working on the third.
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  Speaker 2: In that series.
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  Speaker 3: I do do a recap, but I feel like, just
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  Speaker 3: just me personally, I feel like you should read them
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  Speaker 3: in order, but everybody's different, yep, yep.
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  Speaker 1: And what location can we find you?
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  Speaker 3: So? My website is stacyleauthor dot com and I spell
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  Speaker 3: it s T A C.
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  Speaker 2: Y L, E. E.
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  Speaker 3: And anywhere you can get books, Amazon, Barnes and Noble,
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  Speaker 3: and then they are all on audio and ebook as well.
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  Speaker 1: I expect to talk with you many more times in
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  Speaker 1: the future. The door is always going to be open
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  Speaker 1: for you, Stacy, because I love your transparency and everything
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  Speaker 1: that you share, and that you are not afraid to
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  Speaker 1: inspire the next generation of writers.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me. It was really
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  Speaker 2: great talking with you.
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  Speaker 1: Will you be brilliant today? Okay, you too?
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  Speaker 2: Thank you so much.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: Thank you