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Kelly Yang: Hi everyone, I'm Kelly Yang.
Kate: I'm Kate DiCamillo
Kelly Yang: And you're listening to Story Kind. Kate, it's so good to see you. I want to ask you today
Kate: And you
Kelly Yang: about what your experience has been going on tour. What do you think about going on tour?
Kate: wow. I mean we could do like ten thousand episodes going on.
Kelly Yang: Ha ha.
Kate: there's so many different stories. I I think the first thing that I want to say about it is that I'm an introvert. and so I have learned not to be shy. It is a skill that you can teach yourself. and so I'm always surprised that as an introvert how much I get out of being on tour. And so
Kelly Yang: Yeah.
Kate: it is it's exhausting
Kelly Yang: Mm-hmm.
Kate: it's it's challenging and it is this I have come to see it now as in 62 year old as a great gift to be able to go out there and do it because I have found as introverted as I am that I get so much from interacting with people and meeting the readers and it just it it the the sense of connection is so profound. So yeah, what about you and tour?
Kelly Yang: First of all, I would I mean I feel all of that. I wanna go back to what you said about how you can teach yourself to not be shy. Because that's really interesting. Like how do you do how have you done that?
Kate: Yeah, you know, it's so funny I mean, I was a kid that like my mother would say, run in there and ask so-and-so, you know, in the store
Kelly Yang: Yeah.
Kate: something, and I would think no, I can't do
Kelly Yang: Yeah.
Kate: it. You know, my mother would talk to anybody about anything, and I was just so shy. And Right before college and then on and off during college and then some after college, I worked at Walt Disney World. And you you
Kelly Yang: Mmm, I didn't know that.
Kate: Yeah, and you know, you it was like you had to learn all the skills of talking with people. And that was where I learned how not to be shy, although Right up until like two years ago, I would have still identified myself as quote unquote painfully shy. And then I listened to this book, a nonfiction book called Me Only Better. and in the course of listening to that book, I realized that, you know, we tell ourselves who we are. I'm a shy person. I've been repeating it since, you know, I could talk. And I realize that I'm not a shy person anymore. I can go up and ask anybody anything at any time.
Kelly Yang: Yeah.
Kate: I've learned how to do that. I am an introvert, that's a different thing. I I
Kelly Yang: Well, how would you define that? Like what what makes you interval?
Kate: an introvert, it like it's like I love being around people, but in order to recharge, where I recharge is by being by myself with a notebook and a book.
Kelly Yang: Mm.
Kate: that's that's how and and I need that little space in my day. But I am I'm not shy anymore. I've learned not to be shy. Yeah. It's really, it's like, wow, I I
Kelly Yang: No you're not. You're not. You're not.
Kate: you know, it's it's the
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same as and we can do another podcast about this entirely. Like when I was listening to that book, I realized that I used to be such a huge procrastinator. I don't procrastinate anymore. And and I
Kelly Yang: I know.
Kate: I I learned to do that too, you know? And I
Kelly Yang: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Kate: forgot that I used to be a procrastinator, but boy, I'm not
Kelly Yang: Amazing.
Kate: anymore. Yeah. Okay. So you, you and Tor. Go ahead. Yeah.
Kelly Yang: Me on tour, okay. Well, I mean, the practical things are you gotta eat right, you know, you gotta like try
Kate: Mm-hmm.
Kelly Yang: to get some sleep. there's a whole system because obviously you're traveling and your body is getting worn down, and you know, sometimes these events don't end until very late. So I have a lot of like practical tips. I like to pack lightly and just only have a carry on. Just carry on. Like, who are these people checking in the bags?
Kate: totally just carry on. You never want me down there. You never yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Nope. Nope.
Kelly Yang: Cause you know, if I miss a connection or something, it could be really bad if I check something in. but the other thing is to just really not stress and take the time to be your most authentic self with each reader. You know, you
Kate: Yep. Yep.
Kelly Yang: can't you cannot script it. You cannot plan for everything. You gotta be able to roll with the punches. There are things that the energy from the audience is gonna feed you and then your energy is gonna feed them. so really just being totally present and thinking like, wow, what a what an honor to be able to do this.
Kate: Yeah, and you know that it's the same, oddly, as being up in the writing office early in the morning. It's the same thing. You feel lucky, you feel a little bit afraid, and you feel like you're connecting with something bigger in yourself. And that's the same way it is to go on tour. And it's just like do not look beyond I I think about once when I was like I don't know. I grew up, you know, in Central Florida, it was all freshwater lakes. And you were always getting dumped off a sailboat somewhere in the middle of the lake and everyone was like, ha ha ha, see ya. And like I was swimming from the middle of the lake and I wasted so much energy because I kept on stopping to see if I could touch bottom. And and that that thing, that's the same way it is with tour and that's the same way it is with writing the pages. You don't anticipate, you don't try to figure out where you are. You just you just swim. it each person, each face is a universe in that signing line and it's just like this face, this face, this face. You know what I mean? It's just
Kelly Yang: Yeah.
Kate: like everything is being present with it as it happens and
Kelly Yang: Yeah.
Kate: not trying to see how much further there is to go. Same as when you're writing, you know.
Kelly Yang: Amazing, amazing. Okay, our question today is is there a character you feel you have more to learn from or one whose story you might return to? I'll let you go first.
Kate: Like I learned from every character and I learned from every book. And you know when when a character insists or keeps on speaking to me, and that's usually happened with secondary characters. I will go and tell their story. but I haven't had that happen with a primary character where they've said, come back, come back, come back and tell more. Have you? Well, you've got front desk. Yeah.
Kelly Yang: I did have obviously, I mean, front desk with Jason, and we did end up writing a book from Jason's POV. so there's you know, Chef's Secret is written from Jason's POV. Sometimes people will ask me to continue new from here, which is actually based on my family. And they're always asking me, What's Knox up to? What's Knox up to? it's the story was set during COVID. So it would be hard to kind of continue it because, like, if I write about what happening in my family right now. They're everyone is so much older. in that sense I I do think about the character Knox and what his family and him are up to.
Kate: D but do you think about or is it the readers who are you know, 'cause it's that thing always goes back to that thing we were saying. Yeah. Yeah. I mean,
Kelly Yang: They're like, Why don't you do a sequel? Why don't you do a sequel? Yeah.
Kate: because it's like listening to yourself, you know.
Kelly Yang: Well, it's interesting because Knox is based off of my actual son Tilden. And sometimes it's like I think about what the difference is between the two characters. I see, you know, how Tilden is right now. And I think about and I think about Knox. And I think about where he is in his journey. So I think if there if there's anything that I would return to just as just to because I feel so connected with the character, it would probably be Knox from New from here. Yeah.
Kate: Wow. And is is Tilden good with that?
Kelly Yang: Yeah, he loves it. He loves the book. He's very proud. it's, you know, definitely it's not been easy. He has ADHD and it's been hard. It's a hard journey for both the character and the person. but I like to think that they're both thriving in life.
Kate: Yeah, resilient, right? Which is a
Kelly Yang: Yeah.
Kate: word that we use a lot here.
Kelly Yang: Yeah. But how do you know when it's like time to write a sequel or time to like how do you know when there's more to the story?
Kate: I almost always it's y you know, you know me, Kelly, everything comes back to the notebook. It's that thing of like when I'm adding to that list of story ideas, if if one of those characters is on there and then I it like it knocks, you know, when I'm looking at that and it's like it it it just insists. It's like for me it's always that thing. It is both internal and external. So it's just like, I'm listening to the character and I'm also listening to myself to see if that's what you know, because I get I I I often think about how my whole trajectory could have been different. because if
my agent or my publisher had insisted on a sequel to because of Winn Dixie because that's what so many
Kelly Yang: Mm.
Kate: And nobody ever asked me or the readers asked, but nobody told me to do that. And I'm kind of
Kelly Yang: Well, how would it be different, you think?
Kate: I would have done it. And it would have been that thing that we were talking about
Kelly Yang: Like people pleasing.
Kate: a couple weeks ago, yeah, where I would have been pushing the characters rather than pulling them and
Kelly Yang: Mm-hmm.
Kate: it would have been just fine. but internally it was not what I needed or wanted to do. And fortunately nobody you know, the publisher didn't say it, Candlewick didn't say it, and my agent didn't say it. And so
Kelly Yang: But you but hearing it from the readers, right? And I wanna talk a little bit about this like our tendency to, you know, want to please our readers and please people. Like we're both people pleasers. how do you reconcile with yourself that, you know, you know, how do you know to say, No, I I'm not giving this, I can't do it or I don't want to
Kate: Yeah, you know, it's like we're we're getting close here now, time wise to the anniversary edition of Edward Tulane.
Kelly Yang: Mm.
Kate: that's coming out in October.
Kelly Yang: Another amazing pub.
Kate: Yeah, and so there's a secondary character in there named Bryce who I get so many letters saying tell Bryce's story, tell Bryce's story, tell Bryce's story. And in the back of that anniversary edition, that's what I set out to like see if I could write a short story with Bryce in it. And I couldn't. Hey, hey Frank, thank you very much, Franklin. Yeah, it's the mailman.
Kelly Yang: Mm.
Kate: but but it it just it didn't work and what I write in in the back matter of that book is how it didn't work. and
Kelly Yang: Wow.
Kate: I mean I it it goes back to the thing that we we talked about a couple episodes ago about like knowing when something is working internally in yourself. And it's just like I could read it and see that it wasn't working. So yeah.
Kelly Yang: Okay, that's so amazing. All right, best treat after writing. Fun question. What do you do?
Kate: Well the the treat the treat before writing
Kelly Yang: Your your treat I think I think I know your treat is is reading, but what about like
Kate: Yeah, that's the treat after writing, and the treat before writing is the coffee. what about you? Yeah.
Kelly Yang: you know, I don't drink coffee. I've met like a handful of people who also don't drink coffee. And so I can't, you know, indulge on anything caffeinated, all the caffeinated, all the great lattes. And there's a million different kinds of things that I want to do, but I don't do it. I can't do I really can't even do matcha. but so my best treat after writing is there's a good frozen yogurt place by the beach that if I finish a book I will drive to and I will eat an ice cream cone there. I will also like I have these things that I do after I finish a book. Another one is I go to this restaurant that I'm only allowed to go to after I finish a book.
Kate: And what is it? What kind of food?
Kelly Yang: It's just it's just a it's just a normal restaurant. There's nothing really special about this restaurant, but they have really good butter.
Kate: Butter is everything. I tell you what. Butter's the meaning of life. Well, and coffee, but you can't Yeah, no, that's they have really good butter.
Kelly Yang: Yeah. Isn't that funny? It's so funny. Okay, so for our no a nomination today and you can read it, Kate. Yeah.
Kate: Yeah, I will. it's from Lynnlee Rae Peters. Lynnlee Rae I like your name, Lynnlee Rae Lynnlee
Kelly Yang: I do check.
Kate: Rae Peters would like to thank her first grade teacher, Mrs. Harris, who said to her, when quote, when one page of your life fills up, your story does not end, but it starts a new chapter. It's a great quote. And those words stuck with her. Even if she's reading, even though she says reading is not her best subject, she always thinks of those words and she pushes herself because of Mrs. Harris. It's great. It's the say it applies to writing too, of course, you know. Yeah.
Kelly Yang: Absolutely, absolutely. my God. I love that. And if you would like to send me send us a recommendation, a shout out or nomination of your favorite teacher or librarian, please send it to us along with your writing questions and your fun questions at storykind.org. We can't stop storykind.org. Yay!
Kate: I was gonna say say it, storykind dot org. It's very exciting.
Kelly Yang: We can't wait for you guys to check out our website and to send us all your nominations. And we will see you right back here next week. Bye everyone.
Kate: Yeah. Bye. Bye Kelly. See you next week.
Kelly Yang: Bye