Mystery & Suspense with Connie Berry

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This week on the writer Con podcast. Don't be eager to push your work
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out there too soon. Welcome to
writer KHN, a gathering place for writers
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to share their knowledge about writing and
the writing world. Your hosts are William
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Bernhardt, best selling novelist and author
of The Red Sneaker books on writing,
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and Laura Bernhardt, award winning author
the Wantln Files book series. Thank you,
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Jesse Ulrich, and Hey they're writers. Thanks for joining us. As
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this episode is released. It is
arguably the most important day of the year,
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Father's Day. Maybe I'm prejudiced because
or maybe it should tie with Mother's
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Day. Oh that's so yesterday,
But since I am a daddy to several,
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I think it's the best day.
And I just have to point out
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if that weren't enough for you,
this is also the day that Tony Awards
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are going to air, so be
sure in support Live Theater everyone. Laura,
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I assume you've picked all your major
predictions. And Jesse, as if
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this weren't enough, today is also
I looked this up, Piccard Day.
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It's Pecard Day. How will you
be celebrating Picard Day this year? I
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feel like how I always do,
which is I make a very large sign
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for Picard Day and then uh,
I take a picture of it, I
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put it on Twitter and I tag
Patrick Stewart and then I don't get a
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response. So you know what would
be even better? Yeah, you should
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shave your head tribute to Captain because
I should. I mean, it's not
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that bad. You get used to
it after a while. And here's the
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thing, I get his attention.
That's true, I do. My head
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is not perfectly round, so I'd
be very curious to Yeah, like,
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this feels like there's a bump here. I guess everyone't have this bump.
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But anyway, yeah, you know
what, like maybe one day I'll just
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be like, you know what,
I'm tired of this, taking care of
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this, go for it. Well
yeah, actually staying bald is a out
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as much trouble, but yeah,
it's a thought. I mean, you
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got to do something to really grab
Patrick Stewart's I would do it. So,
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Laura, as I said before,
who are you rooting for for the
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Tonys, Well, the one that
I care about most is Gittinberg because we've
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seen it and it's up for an
award, and I still have my little
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satan that you got for me.
When we were there. I love Satan
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my sweet look, do you remember? Yes, that was so sweet?
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If you know, you know,
I think I would like to see that.
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I mean, I don't know which
you've now seen with two casts?
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Yes, Oh my gosh, well
I really really liked my blanking. Oh
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my gosh, no the other one. No, not that one. Apparently
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I'm banking. I keep just saying
it. No, Oh my gosh,
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You're gonna have to cut this so
much. Why can I think of her?
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Soton Foster? I thought Sutton Foster
did the best Missus Lovetts that I've
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ever seen. I thought she was
amazing, and I love Sutton Foster,
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so I really liked her. I
thought it was more nuanced and I saw
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more motivation behind it, and it
was a good performance. I really enjoyed
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her. Cool. All right,
everyone, Our interview today is with Connie
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Berry, author of a new novel
called a Collection of Lies, which is
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her fifth Kate Hamilton Mysteries, and
we're going to talk to her about this
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book and the series and so much
more. But first the news. I
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think I joked on the last podcast
about how AI and Amazon kept coming up
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in our news stories, and sure, enough last week we had one of
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each. Well, this time we
have one that combines both, because it's
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basically about Amazon's apparently very successful AI
audio book program. We reported at the
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time as about a year ago,
that Amazon announced that they were inviting self
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published authors who were putting their books
making them available in the Kindle Store to
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beta test a new tool, which
turned out to be using artificial intelligence generated
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what they called a virtual voice read
audio books. Well, since that tool
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was launched a few months ago,
people have really embraced it. There are
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over forty thousand books on audible now
marked is having been created with AI with
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this virtual voice program, and nobody
appears to be shaming them all that much.
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The books are selling, There are
posts online saying they're good. There
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are authors who are very glad that
they saved hundreds or thousands of dollars on
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you having to pay for narration.
On the other hand, there are people
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who say, well, this is
going to make it pretty tough for actual
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human narrators who might lose work.
Right, Jesse, I may have asked
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you this before because we've talked about
AI and audiobooks before, and I think
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you listened to audiobooks would you listen
to an AI narrated audiobook? The thing,
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I don't want to judge something before
I've actually listened to one, so
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I don't want to say no,
I'll never listen to an AI generated audiobook.
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I'm just saying as an audiobook editor, I don't see how these are
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good. I just I don't see
where AI is not good at, like
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reading emotion, at dramatic pauses,
at names of places that aren't in America.
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So I just I worry about as
an audiobook editor, this doesn't affect
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me that much. Someone still has
to edit it, so I would still
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get paid theorectly that's how it is
now. But surely eventually the tech would
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get good enough that it really could
stimulate a human. Yeah it's a human
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like Zora on Star Trek Discovery.
Come on, yeah, that's true,
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that's a person. Yeah, but
that's like that's like that's like eleven years
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from now. Uh, you know, I would I would say, like,
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I'm not against this, Like it
sucks, it sucks, you know,
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people being out of work, but
audiobook generation is truly expensive, and
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if this, if this helps authors
make more money off audiobooks, I'm not
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against it, I just without having
to listen to one. I just don't
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feel we're ready for this yet,
for like a three hundred page AI narrated
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book. I just feel like there's
gonna be lots of places where they're going
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to have to fix or tweak.
And also like whose whose voices are these?
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Like I know they're saying they're generated, but those voices are usually still
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someone's actual voice that they've used,
And so is that person getting paid probably
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already has been yeah, it would
be my guess, yeah, or how
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do you feel about it? Would
you be willing to do this? I'm
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going to come in behind that.
We just this past week had Scarlett Johanson
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angry because her voice, or a
very close fecsimile of was being used in
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a project that she did not approve
of. She didn't want her voice being
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used. So kind of what Jesse
was saying, whose voices are these?
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There's probably been some kind of scraping
to create them, which we don't necessarily
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love. And I'm going to agree
with Jesse that I haven't listened to one
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yet, and so it's difficult to
judge completely what I would or wouldn't do
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without actually listening but I will say
that I was tentatively looking into this as
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a possibility for something. I haven't
done it yet, but I did look
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at it. I mean, it's
catching my attention as far as putting someone
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out of work. Here's the thing. I think the people who are using
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this you mentioned this, You alluded
to this, that they were sending invites
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to people who put their book out
there but did not create an audiobook of
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it. There's a reason for that. Ye, so those people, I
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mean, we didn't lose anything.
Of course, if things continue on and
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the tide completely turns, I understand
that, and I would never want to
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put my delightful audiobook narrator out of
work. I'll continue to go to her
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as often as I can, but
on those projects that she says, I
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don't think I'm the right voice for
this. I either have to go develop
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another relationship with someone that I trust
and like, or I could maybe start
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looking into these and for smaller projects, like we've talked about. The money
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maybe just isn't there to support going
another route. And in that case,
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I'm not taking work away from someone
else. I wasn't going to go hire
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another narrator to begin with. When
somebody. When somebody records their own is
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someone saying you're taking work away from
another narrator? What about who has narrated
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some of his own audio books.
I got literally hate bomb when I started
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it by people who said exactly that
you're taking work away from narrators. And
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I said, well, one,
some people like to hear the author read
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their own work, even if they
aren't the best, most professional narrator out
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there. And two, it is
my book, your choice, right,
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Well, same thing. Okay,
I've never heard someone argue let's say someone
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makes their own cover, which I
would never do nor recommend. But let's
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say someone did it, does someone
clap at them saying, well, you've
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taken work away from an actual graphic
artist. I just think we have to.
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I don't know AI right now is
a hot topic, and I get
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it, but I think that this
has a lot of aspects to it.
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But oh my gosh, people can
get very worked up on this over this,
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very very quickly. Yes, we
had a very passionate I've read through
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a very passionate and inflamed discussion on
a Facebook post that was intended to offer
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knowledge and new information to people so
that they knew that this was there and
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happening, and it was completely I
think, first of all, taken in
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the wrong way. Putting something out
there and saying, let's look at this,
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let's talk about it, is not
the same as saying I'm supporting this
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and suggesting everyone do it, and
then to have someone come back and just
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be repeatedly argumentative and negative, almost
to the point of hostility, calling someone
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out and over and over it.
It was too much. But that's social
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media. I mean, that's social
media for you. Okay, let's move
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to something that is much more in
my wheel have which of course would be
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murder, but a literary murderer,
of course, stemming from the three body
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problem of books and television series.
So I'm calling this one the dead body
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problem. Nice. Thanks. This
is a real life mystery that comes from
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the three body problem. But it
was happening long before production even got way
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on the show that some of you
may have seen on Netflix. For that
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matter, some of you, like
Jesse, read all three books in the
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trilogy, which kind of has four
books. But anyway, I'm only halfway
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there or two thirds of the way, depending upon whether you count the fourth
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book. But more importantly, the
murder story. So on March twenty second,
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the day after this adaptation premiered Zoo
Yao. And let me just say
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in advance, I apologize if I
do, and I probably will miss pronounce
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the Asian names. But anyway,
he's a lawyer and former gaming company executive
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was sentenced to death in China for
the murder of his thirty nine year old
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boss who's named Lynn Ki, who
is a billionaire, like I said,
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one of the richest guys in China, and he was poisoned. How did
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this happen? Well, the billionaire's
company had started buying up all the rights
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to these books. We just mentioned
what's called the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy,
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which starts with the three Bodied problem. This guy spent we've estimated,
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they've estimated about one hundred and fifty
million dollars trying to secure every possible copyright
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and license so that he could anything
related to the books, so that he
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could squarely have the rights and tried
to sell them. And he died a
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month later from the poisoning. Shanghai
police received a call from the hospital at
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five pm on December seventeen, twenty
twenty, reporting that he'd been poisoned,
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probably through the tea It's called pooh
Air tea he was known to drink.
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And three days later they detain Zu
Yao in accordance with law and so forth.
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How did they come to be connected? Lynn, the billionaire had hired
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zu who was a lawyer, to
help out with this three body problem universe.
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And although we still don't have as
many details as we'd like, there
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was a lot. Even though there
was a lot of media attention. I
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mean, this was one of the
nation's richest guies being murdered, but a
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magazine called Caxin reported that Zoo was
upset after being demoted. And get this,
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because he was a huge fan of
the American television show Breaking Bad.
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He built an entire lab to test
various poisons that he purchased on the dark
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web, and he eventually used one
to take out his boss, Jesse.
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This is one of our weirder stories. I'm glad that at least this time
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it's not the author being the weirdest. I was gonna say, like,
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is he writing a book about how
to kill your boss? Well, as
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I mentioned, you've read the books, so did you foresee this development coming
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along? No, this story isn't
This story is insane, Like the amount
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of work this guy put into poisoning
somebody, Like, well, what okay,
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separate from the death part, appreciate
the dedication to a craft, all
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right, like right, right?
Aside from that, like what like the
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who poisoned somebody today? Right,
That's what I feel. I feel poisoning
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is very like old school of breaking
bad apparently, is there? Yeah,
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I mean I guess yeah, I
mean yeah, like the show too.
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But I never thought about building my
own lab. Yeah yeah, there's a
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lot of it, a poison lab. Yeah. Yeah, how do you
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how do you report that on your
on your taxes? Right? Writing a
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book? Yeah? Right, yeah, researching poisons for a book? You
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know this this story? Like Michelle
told me about the story, and I
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was and she was, as she
would give me all the details. I
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was like, what why, I'm
confused, Like it's just it's just like
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someone who's just clearly unstable, but
like unstable enough that they could dedicate an
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immense amount of brain power to figuring
out the right way to poison somebody.
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Right, it's well of those those
types of crazy. Yeah, it's the
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story is crazy. It's it's it's
it's crazy. It's weird that's attached to
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a book that isn't about murder.
Well, I guess not about not in
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the main not in the main.
Yeah, characters aren't murdering other characters in
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this the story. There are civilizations
murdering other civilizations. But yeah, it's
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just like I don't It's one of
those things you're like, I don't understand
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why how some people's brains work.
Yeah, now, Laura, you drink
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tea regularly every day? Oh oh
well, should I be concerned? Now?
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Let me just go ahead and get
out. There a poison lab in
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our home. But I am not
a billionaire, so I don't really gets
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very cluttered. But anyway, go
ahead. I'm not a billionaire. I
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don't I don't think that there's any
real rationale for poisoning me. I guess
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maybe this was more of a revenge
plot than anything. Hopefully I haven't infuriated
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anyone to that point. Has Bill
taken out like a million dollar life insurance
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pency for you recently or anything?
Well? Bill, have you? Yeah,
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that's a question. Then you're saying, now that you know, I'm
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just kidding. All right, enough
of this nonsense. Jesse, cue up
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some music. Let's talk to Connie
Berry. Hannie Berry, thank you so
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much for being on the podcast.
Well, thank you, Bill and Lara,
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it's delightful to be here. Well, we have a traditional first question
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on this podcast, so here it
is if you could offer writers one piece
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of advice, what would it be. That is an easy question because I
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actually have offered this advice on more
than one occasion, and it is take
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the time to learn your craft.
I have seen I do a lot of
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reading of published HANDI scripts, and
I do things like Fantasy Agent Project.
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And what I see a lot for
new writers is so many mistakes that are
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so easily fixed, and the reason
they make them is they don't know that
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their mistakes. And so I would
just say, don't be eager to push
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your work out there too soon.
Take the time to take classes. There
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are many wonderful books. How to
Murder your Manuscript is one of my favorites.
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It just is very basic. But
take that time because it's going to
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pay off. I had. I
have a master's degree in English. I've
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studied the English not too I've read, Yeah, I've I've read tons of
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books, and I thought Okay,
I can do this. I know how
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to do this. I didn't.
I didn't know how to do it.
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I didn't know what I didn't know, and it my path to publication was
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longer than it needed to be because
I knew enough to know that it wasn't
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ready. I just didn't know why. I still well, I you know,
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people kept saying, just just put
it out there, just queery,
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and I kept saying, no,
no, it's not ready. So I
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just said, just just tell me
what I'm doing wrong and I'll change it.
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And then I realized it wasn't anyone
else's responsibility to tell me what was
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wrong. I had to do my
due diligence and learn, and once I
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did, then then I was able
to see it. So I that would
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be my number one top piece of
advice for new writers. Well that's a
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good one. That's of course piece
of advice. And I'll say we have
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this in common. When I finished
my first manuscript, I had the exact
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same reaction. It isn't right,
it isn't ready. Something's not something isn't
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right yet, and I didn't know
what to do. So, like you,
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I had to go out and learn
the craft. Oh interesting, yeah.
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Well, of course that's why we
host writer Con, and it's related
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to programs and the retreat. Yeah, purpose of getting not just information about
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craft, although I think that is
most important, but also publishing and marketing
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and all the things you need to
have a grip on in today's constantly changing
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publishing world. Right. Oh,
there's so much to know, there's so
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much to learn, and the learning
curve is very steep, and I'm actually
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surprised that that many, so many
manuscripts are out there because there's so many
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writers who get discouraged and don't follow
through because they're not willing to persevere,
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right right, Well, that is
the most important thing, isn't it.
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Perseverance. Talent and good to have, not that uncommon, but perseverance that
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is uncommon. And I'm with you. I think it's the main thing.
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And you clearly have mastered all of
this. So tell us about your new
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book, A Collection of Lies.
A Collection of Lies is the fifth book
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in the Kate Hamilton mystery series,
and my protagonist is an American antiques stealer,
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not unlike the life that I grew
up in, and she is a
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middle mid forties widow. She but
she's in the UK now, so I
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wanted the whole series to be in
the UK. But I have my American
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protagonist who is slowly learning the ways
of the UK and she is beginning to
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change her language. But she works
with very interesting man called Ivor Tweety and
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his antiquities business called the Cabinet of
Curiosities, and that gets her into all
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kinds of issues with crimes. The
police often now use her as an expert
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because of her expertise in antiques,
antiquities and appraisals. And she is now
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in this book this is I guess
this is a spoiler because it's coming out
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very soon. But she is now
married to her detective inspector husband, who
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is now Detective Chief Inspector Tom Mallory, and he probably shared with her a
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little more than he should, so
we'll see if that gets them into trouble.
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Yeah. Just to make it clear
for listeners who may be listening to
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this the second it's released on June
sixteenth, your book comes on in two
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days, So if you're listening to
this on June eighteenth or available or later,
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it's out now, right. Yeah, Well, actually it comes out
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on the eighteenth of June yep,
exactly. Yes, I was intrigued to
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see that your main character, Kate
is an antiques dealer. You were talking
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about that. What prompted you what
you just said? It was kind of
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based on your own history. Can
you talk to that a little bit more?
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And there? Yeah, and how
you so you're pulling from real life
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experiences to yes, I actor,
I am. And you know, they
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tell people write what you know.
I don't really agree with that always.
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Obviously, crime writers don't have to
be criminals. You know, a lot
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of times we'd write about things that
just fascinate us. So I don't think
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you have to write what you know. But in my case, I actually
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do know the antiques trade because that's
how I grew up. My parents were
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well, my dad was an engineer, but he also was an antique stealer,
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and they had a shop, and
I worked in the shop, and
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I went to the auctions, and
I you know, every vacation we ever
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took was a thinly disguised buying trip. So we spent a little time in
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antique shops. And so that's the
world that I grew up in. And
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I heard a lot of stories about
interesting things because the antiques dealer group is
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a very gossipy group, and there's
always a lot of tittle tattle going on
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behind the scenes. But really deeper
than that, I am really interested in
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history and the past and the effect
the impact of the past upon the present,
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and so I think that the antiques
trade is a really good way to
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be used almost as a metaphor,
because antiques are a little bit like time
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travelers. You know, they are
objects of the past that have survived into
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the present, and they all have
a story. My mom was wonderful at
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finding out all kinds of information about
objects, and she would say, for
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example, well, you know,
I can tell my customers what this object
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is, who owned it, why
they owned it, when they got it,
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when they sold it, because then
they're not just buying an object,
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they're buying a piece of history.
And so it's really the historical angle that
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fascinates me. Looking back into the
past and finding out what why people do
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what they do today based on what
happened in their life and in the lives
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of their family members in the past. That is fascinating. And you mentioned
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that she's now married to the detective
inspector. Is that is that something you
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did for the purpose of the plot. Is there more tooth than that?
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Kind of what was the angle there? I like I like the idea that
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she well, she she's an amateur. She doesn't have she she can't she
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can't question people, she can't arrest
people or charge people, or she has
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no authority, and yet she oftentimes
when crimes are in evolved, there's policing
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going on in the background. So
this gives her a little in there to
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find out kind of more than the
ordinary person would find out about what's going
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on. Nice and this is your
fifth Kate Hamilton mystery, right, yes,
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which is a pretty good run.
How much longer do you think this
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peekstealer can go on as solving murder
mysteries? What are you talking about?
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As far as I'm concerned, she
can go on for a long time,
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as far as I'm concerned, because
she is now she in the current book,
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she and her she would love for
her husband to actually retire from policing
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because of the danger. And he
has an opportunity to go with a private
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investigations firm based in Toronto, and
so on their honeymoon, she talks him
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into taking a little commission just to
see how it is and their Honeymoony and
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Devon, and they are asked to
authenticate a Victorian dress supposedly owned by a
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lace maker that is totally covered in
blood. The lace maker was suspected of
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having committed a murder, been involved
in some kind of a crime, but
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she would never speak of it.
She never did till the day she died,
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and nobody was ever found, either
human or animals. So they had
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to drop the case. But this
dress is going to be the centerpiece of
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a new exhibit called Famous Crimes in
Devon's History. So as they get into
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the authentication of this dress together,
some other things happen. Well, isn't
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that always the way? I mean, it is never, never easy,
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Otherwise there would be no book,
there's no story. Ther materials call you
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a dedicated Anglophile, which I'm going
to guess is why this series is said
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in England. I am, and
I'm not ashamed to admit it. I
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had Scottish grandparents, so I also
grew up who emigrated as adults, and
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they really brought Scotland with them.
They really never left, they just relocated,
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but they brought the country with them, and so I got a chance
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to kind of experience what it would
be like to live in Scotland. And
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for them, everything British was good, Everything Scottish was best. And so
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I had that as a background.
But then during college I went to school
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at Saint Clair's College, Oxford for
a while, and that's where I really
340
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fell in love with the British Isles. And we travel there a lot.
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So we are headed there in October. Again. I'm very excited about that,
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but I just you know, and
then I majored in English literature and
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loved English history, and yeah,
that's just what I love. So if
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you're going to write a book,
you're going to spend a long time in
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that setting with those people. And
I got really good advice when I did
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my master's thesis. My advisor said, She's something that you really love because
347
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of that, because you're going to
spend a lot of time there, and
348
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so writing a book series, I
thought, that's where I want to spend
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time. Virtually in my mind,
I totally get that. I did a
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summer at Queen's College at Oxford.
Oh did you many years ago? Yeah,
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00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:15.119
many years ago exactly experience. Yeah. I also read that your original
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plan was to become an archaeologist.
True, yes, yes, archaeologist right,
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yes, Well, I did my
fifth grade career project on being an
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archaeologist. And my dad, who
the antiques dealer, he was fascinated with
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Egyptology, you know, is coming
out of the discovery of you know,
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Tuton Common's tomb. And then we
went to see the exhibit when it was
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in New York City and he always
wanted to do that and told me the
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story, and he was a wonderful
storyteller. And when he told me the
359
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story of Howard Carter looking in and
Lord Carnarvin says, what can you see?
360
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And he says, wonderful things?
And my father was fascinated with it,
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and it just lit a fire within
me, and I thought, how
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wonderful it would be to do that. But then I realized that most of
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the work is happens in hot climates
and you're digging through and sifting through sand
364
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and dirt, and I thought it's
not all glamor, so I switched,
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Yeah, very cool. Well,
we've seen a lot of those antiquities.
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We went a year and a half
ago, and yeah, we were there
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a while back. Amazing, amazing
that they yeah, that those things have
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survived, and again that just that's
what fires my imagination, things that survive
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from a lost era, and and
you can almost you can touch that era
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a little bit through those objects.
I actually teared up when we were walking
371
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into what was it Ramsey's Too.
It's just incredible to me. You get
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past a certain point and it's the
original paint. I mean, it's the
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way they left it all those thousands
of years ago. I was just awestruck.
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I teared up. It was just
just amazing. Oh, I get
375
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that. You kind of mentioned you
talked about your past of publication a little
376
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bit, said it was longer than
it needed to be because you took your
377
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time. What happened, Brice,
You had that manuscript prepared and ready to
378
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go, so you went back,
you learned the craft, you rewrote it.
379
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What happened, Well, it was
twenty sixteen. I retired from teaching,
380
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and I decided now or ever,
so I thought I would go full
381
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time on this. And I had
been learning things, and I had also
382
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been given some advice by published authors
that were friends of mine and that I
383
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respected. But I was very reluctant
to change my manuscript. But I decided
384
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okay, I'm going to and I
changed that thing in every way you could
385
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possibly imagine. I went from multiple
points of view to single point of view
386
00:33:20.160 --> 00:33:24.039
narrator. I took out characters,
I had to add some in. I
387
00:33:24.079 --> 00:33:30.559
took out whole storylines added I mean, I just thought, I'm going to
388
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start and I will see where it
goes. And the minute that I went
389
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to the first person narrator, one
of the things people had said to me
390
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was we can't really hear Kate's voice, and I was trying to think,
391
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well, how do I do that? I mean, it is her voice,
392
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I've got her dialogue there. But
as soon as I went to the
393
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first person, she actually came alive
for me. Nice and so I did
394
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this massive revision. I finished around
Christmas time in two thousand. I may
395
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be getting my time mixed up.
But around twenty eighteen, possibly in February
396
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of that next year, I went
to a conference in Florida called Sleuthfest,
397
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and I had a chance to pitch
to one of the editors at Crooked Lane
398
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Books that was kind of on my
radar, and we had a chance to
399
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meet, and she said, because
I had actually given her the first chapter
400
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of my second books, i'd started
into the second book, and she said,
401
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oh, I love this. She
said, I love your character,
402
00:34:40.280 --> 00:34:45.480
I love the setting. And I
honestly I think I was speechless. I
403
00:34:45.480 --> 00:34:51.000
think my mouth dropped open. I
just like, am I dreaming? Is
404
00:34:51.039 --> 00:34:54.440
it? You know? And she
says, feeling? But this isn't the
405
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first book, right, And I
said no. She said, well,
406
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you didn't self publish the first one, did you? And I said now,
407
00:35:01.119 --> 00:35:05.119
She said you didn't publish with someone
else, did you? I said
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00:35:05.119 --> 00:35:08.360
no. She said, okay,
send me the whole first book. And
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00:35:08.400 --> 00:35:10.719
I went right up to my hotel
room and send it to her. And
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00:35:10.719 --> 00:35:15.239
then I'm thinking, well, you
know, she's going to come back and
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00:35:15.280 --> 00:35:17.039
say, well, thank you so
much. This is lovely, but it's
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really not quite for us. But
she didn't. She didn't. She just
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00:35:22.400 --> 00:35:24.119
said, but you know, we
love it. My whole team loves it,
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00:35:24.199 --> 00:35:29.199
and we'd like to offer you a
two book contract. And I was
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00:35:29.239 --> 00:35:35.079
in shock, complete shock. But
that's and so so they both came out.
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00:35:35.159 --> 00:35:37.679
Actually, books one and two both
came out in twenty nineteen, which
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00:35:37.719 --> 00:35:47.440
I wouldn't recommend how to work no, because I wish I had lobbied for
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00:35:47.519 --> 00:35:52.679
twenty nineteen in twenty twenty, I
didn't have a book come out in twenty
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00:35:52.760 --> 00:36:00.440
twenty, so a debut novel always
gets more attention. So I think my
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00:36:00.519 --> 00:36:05.119
second book got overshadowed. And then
when you're up for awards and so forth,
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00:36:05.159 --> 00:36:07.840
which I was up for an award
with my first book, a couple
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00:36:07.880 --> 00:36:13.800
of them, I was competing against
myself. So I just thought, you
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00:36:13.840 --> 00:36:15.239
know, if I could go back, I would do it differently. But
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00:36:15.760 --> 00:36:22.440
actually, I'm just delighted that both
books are out. Yeah. Well,
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00:36:22.519 --> 00:36:27.079
and now your fifth book is about
to release as well, so that's fantastic.
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00:36:27.119 --> 00:36:30.320
Here you are five books in to
rip. Yeah yeah. What does
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00:36:30.360 --> 00:36:34.159
your typical writing day look like for
you? Can you talk about your process
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00:36:34.280 --> 00:36:37.400
for us a little bit? Yeah? Well, I could lie and tell
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00:36:37.440 --> 00:36:42.599
you I was really disciplined and then
I get up every day and have breakfast
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00:36:42.639 --> 00:36:45.920
and write until one o'clock, but
that would not be true. I am
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00:36:46.320 --> 00:36:54.679
very undisciplined, and I write when
I feel like it, and oftentimes when
432
00:36:54.679 --> 00:37:02.079
I do write, I write for
longer periods of time. Someday I would
433
00:37:02.119 --> 00:37:06.639
love to be really disciplined, and
maybe I will get there. I don't
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00:37:06.639 --> 00:37:10.079
know, but I do better under
pressure. When I have a deadline,
435
00:37:12.639 --> 00:37:15.280
when I have a lot going on, I get more done than when I
436
00:37:15.320 --> 00:37:22.559
don't. So I'm not a role
model. Well except for the fact that
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00:37:22.599 --> 00:37:27.480
you published five books. Yes,
and honestly, I appreciate I appreciate your
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00:37:27.480 --> 00:37:31.920
honesty because every person is different,
and I think that it's important that our
439
00:37:31.960 --> 00:37:37.519
listeners here that there is more than
one way. I've had people approach me
440
00:37:37.559 --> 00:37:39.079
who think there's only one way and
say, well, I can't be a
441
00:37:39.079 --> 00:37:44.920
writer because I don't want to get
up at five am, I won't work.
442
00:37:44.960 --> 00:37:49.480
Well, then I can't. And
so when someone has told them that's
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00:37:49.519 --> 00:37:51.920
the only way to do it,
You've got to get up at five am,
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00:37:51.960 --> 00:37:53.440
You've got to spend six hours writing, you have to visit, you
445
00:37:53.440 --> 00:37:59.480
have to that. I think it's
very important for people to hear that the
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00:37:59.519 --> 00:38:01.480
best way is the way that works
for you, and you've found the way
447
00:38:01.480 --> 00:38:06.840
that works for you, and I
think that's fantastic. Yeah, well I
448
00:38:07.599 --> 00:38:10.800
agree with that. Hey, one
last question, Connie, if I may,
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00:38:12.480 --> 00:38:15.480
what's going to happen next? What
are you working on? I am
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00:38:15.559 --> 00:38:21.079
working on another K book, so
we'll see how that goes. And I
451
00:38:21.119 --> 00:38:31.360
am also working on a historical and
to finish two books this year. I
452
00:38:31.440 --> 00:38:37.280
probably won't achieve that, but that's
my goal, but at least you set
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00:38:37.320 --> 00:38:42.840
the goal, right. Yeah,
it's something outside of the series. This
454
00:38:42.880 --> 00:38:46.400
would be totally outside of the series
and not a mystery or yes, mystery,
455
00:38:46.920 --> 00:38:50.320
it is a mystery. I don't
want to say too much about it,
456
00:38:51.039 --> 00:38:54.079
but when I get to a certain
point, my agent will start to
457
00:38:54.119 --> 00:38:59.079
pitch it. Well, maybe we
can have you back exit. Yeah,
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00:38:59.440 --> 00:39:01.880
Connie, thanks for being on the
podcast. Thank you so much. It's
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00:39:01.880 --> 00:39:21.880
been fun. Just a few parting
words. We are just a few weeks
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00:39:21.880 --> 00:39:30.360
away as we record an issue.
This from the writer Con retreat. Last
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00:39:30.440 --> 00:39:34.599
year, we did this retreat at
Branson. That was fun, Laura,
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00:39:34.760 --> 00:39:42.239
remember that retreat absolutely. Now we're
getting way more upscale at the luxurious Cane
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00:39:42.239 --> 00:39:45.280
Break resort. But what were your
favorite parts last year? Do you have
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00:39:45.320 --> 00:39:53.599
any you know, favorite stories or
from Branson? Well? I did really
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00:39:53.679 --> 00:39:58.440
like that ice cream place that we
went that had chocolate rocks for me to
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00:39:58.440 --> 00:40:00.920
put on it. But you probably
mean the You probably mean the retreat.
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00:40:01.159 --> 00:40:06.480
I had a great group. I
had a great group at the retreat last
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00:40:06.559 --> 00:40:09.840
year. So when we broke into
our small groups. We had a very
469
00:40:09.840 --> 00:40:17.719
supportive group, really really excited to
work on those novels. I can think
470
00:40:17.960 --> 00:40:28.760
of two who've gone on to see
their work published since then someone else who
471
00:40:29.880 --> 00:40:32.320
won an award with what she was
working on at the retreat, and then
472
00:40:32.360 --> 00:40:37.559
someone else just announced that she has
signed a publishing contract. So that is
473
00:40:38.719 --> 00:40:44.920
not bad. At least half of
my group right there. So one one
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00:40:44.960 --> 00:40:49.960
retreat with us and look at them
go. So that's I think pretty telling
475
00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.360
about what you can expect here.
That one on one attention to your manuscript,
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00:40:55.400 --> 00:41:01.639
feedback from all the people in your
small group, daily instruction, the
477
00:41:01.760 --> 00:41:07.519
chance to talk to people who've probably
been through whatever you're dealing with, and
478
00:41:07.599 --> 00:41:12.840
can answer, probably between the two
of us, just about any question that
479
00:41:12.920 --> 00:41:21.280
you might have. This is a
really intensive, but wonderful experience, and
480
00:41:21.440 --> 00:41:23.960
I'm very excited. As much as
I enjoyed that ice cream and Branson and
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00:41:24.000 --> 00:41:28.920
all the stuff there was to do, I'm really excited that we're going someplace
482
00:41:29.199 --> 00:41:34.440
this year where I feel like we
won't have as many distractions. You may
483
00:41:34.480 --> 00:41:37.440
have to come drag me out of
the spa a time or two. I'm
484
00:41:37.440 --> 00:41:43.159
hoping that there's gonna be daily massage, but there's spas for relaxing. Hey,
485
00:41:43.320 --> 00:41:49.000
I've had ideas for my novels in
the middle of spas in massages before,
486
00:41:49.159 --> 00:41:52.320
because you just get so relaxed in
your mind and kind of let go
487
00:41:52.480 --> 00:41:57.199
of things. Absolutely. I've seen
pictures. There's a pool, there's hiking.
488
00:41:57.239 --> 00:41:59.800
I hope there's a hot tub.
We haven't been there yet, but
489
00:42:00.159 --> 00:42:04.800
I'm hoping that there's going to be
a hot tub. I'm really looking forward
490
00:42:04.800 --> 00:42:09.360
to just taking a deep breath and
the writing stuff. Yeah, yeah,
491
00:42:10.239 --> 00:42:13.800
of course. I'm excited to see
who I get to work with this year,
492
00:42:14.039 --> 00:42:17.360
and it'll be interesting to see who
might get the next publishing deal after
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00:42:17.400 --> 00:42:22.559
a retreat. So if you'd like
more information about that, please go visit
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00:42:22.639 --> 00:42:27.719
the writer Con website writer con dot
com and then click on the tab that
495
00:42:27.800 --> 00:42:31.960
says retreat. Let me also remind
you that my new novel can now be
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00:42:32.239 --> 00:42:37.760
ordered. It's the eighth in the
Daniel Pike series, called Justice for All.
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00:42:37.960 --> 00:42:43.519
This is the cage match between Daniel
and the lead series character from my
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00:42:43.639 --> 00:42:49.360
splits Field books. So they've got
this courtroom cage match as part of the
499
00:42:49.360 --> 00:42:53.760
Bernhardt Shared Universe. We're all the
fun mingle all that's super fun. You
500
00:42:53.840 --> 00:42:58.639
won't You will not see the twist
coming at you. It's a lot of
501
00:42:58.679 --> 00:43:01.039
fun. Thanks, honey, You
see why we get along so well.
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00:43:01.719 --> 00:43:08.639
All right, until next time,
keep writing and remember you cannot fail if
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00:43:08.679 --> 00:43:12.320
you refuse to quit. See you
next time.