First Cup of Coffee with Jeffe Kennedy

I'm raving about the new Christmas RomCom, LoveHard, and then I'm indulging in a spoilery rant about the season finale of Lucifer and why I hated it. Why is the concept of an HEA and a long-term lovi…

Why this has been a crazy week for me, more schedule disruptions, and how I'm not happy if I'm not actually producing words, even though I know that even when I'm not writing, I'm writing. Also: Mikh…

Why I equate "subverting tropes" with someone being an asshole, getting knocked off my pillow and getting back on again, having a book on a List, and a goodbye to Jim Fiscus, longtime SFWA volunteer.…

Why I think competition is falsely lauded in US culture, how it harms creativity, and why I don't like creators being placed into false competition with each other. Also, adventures in audiobook prod…

About SFWA's Grand Master award, the politics of gender and of the MFA/writing workshop mystique, and how those things can be insular. Also general fangirling about Mercedes Lackey and why I love her…

Thoughts on rereading my own books, world bibles, worldbuilding, the advisability of writing sequels and the perils of long series. Also story structure and why I think some books are lacking it, to …

An epiphany I had on why some people might see fights scenes and sex scenes as similar. Also a rant on notifications and why I believe we should assiduously fight them and a bit about the Brittany Mu…

Upon request, a discussion of fight scenes (including battle scenes), why I think they're nothing like sex scenes, how the character transformation is totally different, and how I learned to write th…

News on choosing the SFWA Grandmaster, thoughts on jargon, closed communities, gaming, and being able (and willing) to explain niche knowledge to people who have no context for what you're talking ab…

Imposter syndrome and the balance between giving ourselves due credit for our own hard work, skill, and talents vs. acknowledging the role of serendipity.

You can order DARK WIZARD here (https://jeff…

The vicissitudes of publishing, commercialism, art, knowing what's good, Ursula Le Guin and why some books take off and others don't. Also, a story about my brief stint as a cheerleader and pompon gi…

Exciting news on DARK WIZARD and the Sekrit Project. Also thoughts on intermittent fasting (content warning) not only with food, but with being online. And how the pandemic affect my seasonal rituals…

Understanding rejection of our work and how it can mean different things at different times in our careers, ego checks, how kill fees work, why editing is key, and general rhapsodizing on autumn colo…

I saw yet another class purporting to teach plotting for pantsers - this one to sell you software - and so I'm ranting about how ALL WRITERS PLOT, that your process is fine as is, and that you don't …

I'm pulling together a lot of thoughts on plagiarism, influences, understanding our villains and the trouble with protagonists as avatars, taking ourselves out of the poem, and how there's no magic f…

Author finances and why being transparent about money isn't that easy. Also a bit more on Bard Art Friend, the ways in which we steal stories from each other, appropriation, intention, and owning our…

Understanding how programmed misogyny works in employing story tropes, how to weed those things out of our work, and understanding why we view something like gossip as negative. Also: celebrating!

Cov…

On why we choose the genres we do as newbie writers and how that affects our careers. Also the lone female trope, aka Not Like Other Girls, and how that shows up in various stories and why we need to…

A bit more about Bad Art Friend and the really excellent discussion about it in the New Yorker. Also about kindness, what it means to us, whether it's a weakness or takes a particular strength of cha…

About the story told in the article Bad Art Friend and its implications for how we approach writing and gleaning details from others that we weave into our stories, including blender settings and not…