Hi, everyone. We're glad you're here. This is the Three Lesbians and a Pen podcast. Get ready to have your world rocked. As we dive into the wild and sometimes wacky world of self-publishing. We are three fabulous bestselling authors. I'm your host, Kimberly Todd with my best friends.

K. C. Luck

and Jamey Moody. 

Join us as we discuss the joys of writing, challenges of self-publishing, and anything else that tickles our fancy. 

Hey there. Welcome to Episode 31 of the Three Lesbians and a Pen podcast. I'm Kimberly Todd. I'm here with my fabulous friends, KC Luck and Jamey Moody. Today we're talking about Deciding on Your Next Writing Project. But before we start, KC, how's retirement treating you?

Retirement is treating me great, although I'm not really gonna notice I'm retired until an hour goes by when the workday for everyone else in my area starts. But yeah, they tried to kill me this last week. I don't know about anyone else who's ever left a job or retired, but they suddenly realize you're leaving and they decide to have you document everything you've done over the last five years. So...

Oh my gosh.

Process deck, please. 

Process deck. Yes, please do us some information on all the processes you've been doing. So, it was a rough couple week leading up to it, but now I'm done. And I'm super happy, but I'm working on TikTok videos, though. That's kind of my thing right now, other than writing. So that's how I spent part of last week, when I wasn't working, trying to develop TikTok videos. And lemme tell you, that is a learning curve. 

Yeah, it is, isn't it.

Yeah, so it's been fun, but we'll see how it goes. That was my week. How about yours? 

You know, there's not very many parts of this writing adventure that I don't like ' cause we've talked about different things that we like and don't like before, but I was faced with one this weekend. I hate it when you're in the flow of writing a book and you have to stop and read the book that you're getting ready to release, because I got my book back from the editor and I'd done all the edits, so I had to do that final read through before I send it out to the ARC team.

And so, I had to stop, and of course I was in the flow of writing at the time and I'm like, well, I've gotta say goodbye to you guys for the weekend. But I got through and the book is done. I'll still have corrections to do after I sent it out to the ARC team and I need to decide on a release date and things like that.

But the final read through I decided it wasn't terrible. ' cause you know how sometimes you're doing that too? Yeah. You get the first ten chapters, I was like, oh no, this book is boring. But then it got going. So...

It's 'cause you've read it a hundred times.

I know. I know. But it's okay. So I had to do something. I didn't really like to do. 

Mm-hmm. 

But anyway, so today I hope to get back to writing. Okay. What were you up to, Kimberly?

Well, today I feel like an overstuffed cannoli because I made Bolognese last night, my grandmother's version, but I can't make it for two people. So, I made it for 15 people and... 

Seriously? 

Yes, and my wife and I ate as much as we could, hence the overstuffed cannoli comment. But it came out good. So, I was glad because we also celebrated our 11th year anniversary.

Oh, congrats. 

Yeah. Thank you. So, we were both thrilled about that and still going strong and loving each other so it's really nice. And then the final icing on the cake, and I know some of you are not happy about it, but I lived in Connecticut for a few years, so UConn, yay. The Huskies won!

No, they deserved that. That was a good game. Yeah.

I thought it was great. So that was fun. 

Yeah, it was good. 

And then writing. I'm doing the same thing. I'm still editing and trying to write a book at the same time as editing something else, which is very challenging. I agree with you Jamey.

That's challenging too. You're right. 

Okay, so KC, did we get any texts this week?

We got a couple from our regulars. Cheryl, says she doesn't really have a trick for figuring out the next book to read. She checks to see if one of us has released a book, which we really appreciate. But if that's not the case, then she will go take a look at someone for fallbacks. So that's her plan.

CeeJay says, she has a writing folder called Random Thoughts and "randoms" are filled with all these weird scenes. They come to her at the oddest times and I'm not gonna repeat the list of things that she says 'cause they were a little, well, like she said, odd. So, we're gonna leave it at that. But I appreciate those texts and I hope that more people will start throwing 'em our way. 

Cheryl emailed and mentioned how she picked books and, she said that I think we're her three favorite authors, and I'm not sure she reads many other Sapphic authors. So, we need to give Cheryl a list of sapphic authors, so she can, read other people while we're busy writing. 

Yeah.

We also got an email from Jean and she mentioned that last week one thing that we did not talk about was, to be an author, you really need to be a reader as well. Yeah. She thought maybe everybody thinks that, so that's why we didn't mention it. But she's right. Yeah. We are all readers. Let me ask y'all this. Do y'all read more than one book at one time? Not counting your own, because I was reading my book all weekend, but.

Mm-hmm. Yes.

I got two books going right now because a friend of mine released a little novella last week, so I thought, well, let me look at this. So now I'm in the middle of that one and I was reading another one. So anyway, I just wondered if that happens to y'all.

I usually just read one through and then go to the next one.

Oh, me too. It's just, it's the same way I write. I don't write more than one project at the same time.

Right. But what I do is usually read a fiction and then a nonfiction at the same time. So, I'm not reading competing romances or anything. I don't do that, no.

Right. 

Yeah, that would work.. Mm-hmm.

Okay. Well, Jean said the way she picks a book, and I thought this was kind of interesting, she said, first I look for a book I haven't yet read by an author I know and like.That's probably what I would do if one of my favorite authors has one out, then I would probably go to that first. But she said she reads blurbs, so there you go. That's what's important.

Mm-hmm.

And she said last, she reads a few of the reviews. She doesn't, like the reviews that retell the story, which I get that because they sometimes have spoilers in them, but if the book has a bad review, that doesn't stop her from going ahead and reading it. And she told us to keep up the good work, so we appreciate that, Jean. Did we have anything on Insta?

Yes, we actually have, a new author, Laura or Lara wrote into us and she said that she has a folder that has half started projects, prompts and sketched ideas. And then when she gets ready to, write, she'll go through that and spend about a week poking through them and see what sparks her interest. And as a reader, she has a TBR list that she keeps and she scans through that and looks for titles and blurbs and then decides which one seems like it should be moved to her current reading file, and then she'll basically read that book. 

And then I also have a shout out for Cheryl, because Cheryl, thank you so much. She wrote me and told me to keep on having faith in my bonsai trees that are baby bonsais that I put in my newsletter, and they're like, these dead sticks that my friends are teasing me about. And she said, Kimberly, keep the faith. So, Cheryl, thank you very much for that.

That's funny. Hey, I wanna shout out Jules and I meant to last week, she had emailed that she finished her book and sent it to her editor. 

Yay!

And yeah, I know. And Jules is a new author, so this is the first time she's had to do that. So. She was, excited and at the same time scared to death. So, we know that feeling, Jules, but we're very proud of you. So, way to go. 

Way to go.

Way to go. Way to go.

Congratulations, Jules. 

Okay, so today we are talking about deciding on your next writing project. So, KC, do you wanna start us off?

Sure. So, when I'm trying to figure out my next writing project, ideally it is something that's just burning in the back of my mind that I really wanna write because writing from passion is the best way to write a book. And so, every once in a while, like with the Darkness books, of course, I will be itching to write that book, and that's how I choose to put it above any other idea and knock that one out next. So that's my number one way to go and find the next writing project. How about you?

I don't know. For me it's just so strange. I would say usually what happens is I'm in the middle of writing a book and a new idea will come to me. I am not like other authors that have these folders with ideas in them, or I know I said in the notes here that I have a notebook that I jot ideas down in. But, you know, really, I think that might be untrue because I just usually have an idea, while I'm writing another book. But Kimberly, what happens to you? What do you usually do to know what to write next?

Yeah, I have the same thing. I will be writing a book and I'll be in the flow of words and all of a sudden, I'll just stop and I'll have this idea. And it has nothing to do with the book I'm writing. And it's an idea that I think, oh, that sounds so great. So of course, I write it on a sticky and stick it to my wall.

Of course.

Of course.

And then when it comes time, I don't know, I don't usually have that many. Maybe four or five are on the sticky wall, and I will think about them like, I don't know when I can't sleep at night or whatever, and one of them will rise to the surface for like months, I'll keep thinking about it, at the dentist or whatever, and that's usually the book I will write next unless something changes.

Mm-hmm.

So it's an idea that really grabs you. Yeah. what I was gonna say is I do, think about what's next as far as if it's a standalone or a series. If I'm in the middle of writing a series, which I am now, but I'm on the third book, which I know that's gonna be the end of the series, probably.

Then I know my next book will probably be a standalone. Because I love writing series, but I don't like to go from one series directly into another one. So I know this next book is not gonna start a new series.

Yep. 100% agree with that. I never want to go from one series book to another series book, or start another series unless I've written a standalone book because for a number of reasons. Usually, my standalones are contemporary romance and I write contemporary romances a couple of times a year because that is where the money comes in. And so, to be retired and write full time. I kind of have to write a couple of standalone contemporary romance books every year. So that is also on the list of how do I decide what to write next.

Yeah.

And to throw a wrench in the bucket. I don't decide whether I'm gonna write a series or a standalone. I just... whatever book I feel like writing, I start to write. And with Mafia Girl, for instance, I knew that I just had one idea for the story. So I knew when I started writing it, it was just gonna be, a standalone.

But when I started V.A.M.P., I knew that I wanted to do more because I just had so much story to tell. So I figured that out as I was writing book when I was like, oh my gosh, this is definitely gonna be a series. 

Yeah. I tell you what though, when I wrote, my second chance series, the first one, that book has a little mafia influence in it, and I set out to write that. I thought, you know what? I'm gonna dabble in that little mafia realm. And I did not know that it would end up being a series. And that's the way some of my series I would say, have started is I'll start with a book and then side characters come in and I'll be like, okay, well this one's gonna be a series. But then other times, like my very first series I had decided we were gonna be in a fitness center and we were gonna have three friends, that owned it and were running it. And so, there's your three books. Same way with the Sloan Sisters. I saw that shopping center and I thought, we're gonna have three different businesses and these girls are gonna have so much fun. There's your series.

Yeah, Darkness Series, was never supposed to be a series.

Darkness Falls. That was it. That was the only book I was gonna write. And then everybody, including myself was like, whoa, we need to know what the hell happens next. So that became a series. But my Ruby Bar series was always a series in my head. I always knew it was gonna be centered around a bar. It's gonna be groups of friends who paired off, and that was always gonna be a series. And I'm gonna finish it eventually because it's almost ready to be done. But that is also kind of how I decide on a book, is every year I try to write the next in a series.

Unlike you, Jamey, who does a really good job about writing the series, pretty much back-to-back to back. I like to frustrate the hell out of everybody and just write them whenever, you know, time allows. So, you're gonna get another book in the Darkness series this year. 

Well, I have to say for me I, 'cause I was just about to say, when you were talking about series, you know how when you find a show on TV that you really love and then it takes them two, three years to come out with the next season and you're going… I loved this show, but what the hell happened in it? Right. And you have to rewatch like the last two or three. Well, I don't like to do that,

Sorry.

So, I don't write my series that way.

Yeah, I know, I know. 

Yeah, it's hard, but the Darkness you can kind of keep up with. But that's one thing on my series, I don't want the reader to have to be frustrated, have to go back and reread something before they read the next installment. Mm-hmm. 

Yeah, I have to say I like to binge series too and I did the same thing KC did. I think I wrote one of the V.A.M.P. books per year, so they had to wait. Awe, man. 

That is tough.

But it was nice though a lot of people wrote me and said they were gonna go back and read the other ones again to start when I wrote the final book recently. So yeah, I think I won't wait that long this time.

Yeah. Y'all be nice. Be nice to your readers.

Nope, it's not gonna happen. I just can't write one after the other after the other.

Generally I write a series and then I write a standalone. Except, last year I wrote two standalones in a row and I kind of liked that, but I also, missed writing a series. So, I don't know. Just the way it works I guess. 

Mm-hmm. 

I think also when you write a series, it's easier to do marketing after the first book 'cause you kind of have like a groove and your readers know about the book already. So, the first book helps you to market the other books. 

Oh, for sure. 

It just makes it a lot easier than doing a standalone every time.

For sure. 

I do remember there was a time that I was finishing up with a series and I thought, well, what am I gonna write next? Because I didn't have, an idea that was saying, "Hey, you gotta write it." So, if I don't have an idea in my head, I'll look at tropes and I'll say, Hmm, what do I feel like writing right now? And I think about it for a little bit. 

When I finished up with the Second Chance series, and I was ready to write a standalone. I thought, well, let's see. What haven't I done and what do I like to write? And so, I thought, well, I'll write a second chance and maybe I'll write a small town and then I can throw in an age gap. So I just kept thinking of these tropes. And then finally I thought, well, I'll just use my small town. And went from there. And I ended up writing What Now, which is kind of like my own love story. I wrote a love story for myself. And it ended up being one of my best sellers. And I was able to use things that happened in my small town. So once again, new authors out there, write what you know, write what you're familiar with.

Mm-hmm. So, lemme get this straight. Neither one of you has a list somewhere of all the ideas that you've had that you just kind of set aside. 'cause wow, my list is probably a hundred long. 

Not really. And I'm telling you, something will come up. I'm in the middle of the third book and I don't have an idea for a new book, so we'll see if that holds true. When I finished, my last standalone and I didn't really have a series idea, I thought, okay, and I don't really like to challenge myself because that's scary, but I don't really write enemies to lovers. So I thought, well, I'll try an enemies to lovers, and I'm not really very good at that. So, they turned out being rivals and I get 'em together pretty soon. But that was a great book. I just loved writing it, enjoyed it the whole time.

I just counted my stickies. I have seven right now.

 Oh, that's something. 

Are those your ideas. 

Yeah, but they will become books. They're not like a kind of not so cool idea. They're ones that I feel passionate about. 

Yeah, they're really gonna be a book. 

Yeah. 

My hundred are cool ideas. Whatcha saying? Whatcha trying to say?

You never know. Maybe you wrote chicken feet or something funny down and…

No. I write those in the middle of the night. When you write something in the middle of the night and then you wake up and you go, the best story is gonna be chicken feet. 

Yeah, really. 

What the fuck is chicken feet supposed to be? 

Are there tropes that y'all have never written that you wanna try?

Nope. That's why they're never written. 

That's a great answer. 

And then one other thing I was gonna say is I was talking about that one, story idea that stays in my mind for a few months. Sometimes when I finish a book, I'm like, okay, I'm gonna write that story. And then I sit down and I write maybe 2000 words and I'm like, you know what? All of a sudden, I'm not feeling it. So, then I will go back and look at my wall of seven stickies. I have to really like the idea and find it fun to write, and write whatever I feel excited about.

Gotcha. So, if you were a plotter, you wouldn't have to write those 2000 words to decide if you wanna write the book or not. You could actually plot it out and then decide then, so you would save a little time. 

Have we not talked about this plotting thing? I learned all the stuff I could learn and I have tried and tried and it's just not... 

The blurb is not enough. Nope. Sorry.

Nope, it is for me. I can't do the plotting, but you know, more power to ya.

I'll tell you what else. What about a character? Sometimes I'll have a character in my head or I'll wonder what happened to this person, and this is their job and this is that, you know, and a book will come outta that. 

Yeah, definitely. With my, MMA, Can't Fight Love. I had a fighter in mind, someone who was similar to an actual fighter that always thought this would be a really good book character. So I ended up writing that book. It kind of came to be because of that idea.

Yeah, and sometimes you watch a television series or something. It's not that you wanna recreate the series, but you might get an idea from one of the characters there and say, oh, that'd be neat to make a detective that looks for, I don't know what, but you know... mm-hmm. Something like that. 

Well, that's one thing you do though, KC, you go to different genres. See, I don't I am a contemporary romance gal and that is my lane, and that's where I stay. But since you said there are tropes you haven't tried, you can kind of take care of that by changing genres.

Yeah, exactly. I can cheat a little bit by jumping around and I enjoy that very much. It keeps this very interesting for me. One we haven't mentioned is, picking something based on the time of year. Jamey and I have written books because of Christmas. I've written some short stories 'cause it's Halloween. I wanna write some something scary. And definitely the novellas. And the novels for Christmas. So that also helps you figure out what's next in the pipeline. Well, I better start on this damn Christmas novella, and I know it's July, but I won't, have it done. I better keep going.

Yep. Exactly. 

Yeah, I haven't done that, but I have purposely made sure that I released a couple of the V.A.M.P. books in October.

Yeah. Very smart. Mm-hmm.

I don't mind writing Christmas books, but I felt like I was writing one every year and I kind of needed a break, and took one, and then came back around this year and I released a new one. And I enjoy writing 'em. I know you end up writing them a lot of times in the summer, but, I, enjoy writing those too. It can be fun. 

And one other thing we had noted, is that if a reader requests a book, which KC, you had that and so did I, and I think Jamey, you did too. If a reader requests a book, sometimes you actually will say, oh yeah, okay, I could do that. How many books of Darkness series do you have now, KC?

Six. Yeah. 

That happened to me in a series. Most of my series, are all three books, but one of 'em is four books because people kept asking, well, what happened to these people? Come on. You know, and I'm like, oh, well I told you they're gonna live happily ever after, but they're like, how so? So, I ended up writing that fourth book. I hadn't planned it at all when I introduced those characters.

Mm-hmm. And one other way is you can join a collection of books that are being written like my mystery. So, Mai Tais and Murders, which comes out. Here's a plug, May 1st is a mystery, and I only wrote a mystery because I decided to join the Sapphic Suspense Collection, and that was how I decided to write that one next. But, yeah… there are different ways you can get ideas.

I've written novellas that have been in a collection. And we know how much we like to write novellas... wah...wah..., but the collection was excellent and I loved working with the other authors. So that's something to think about.

Yeah. I've enjoyed it very much. It's a great group. 

So, listeners, let's see. How do you get your next idea? We don't know. It just comes to you. I did listen to an interesting podcast this past week that talked about writing to markets.

Mm-hmm.

And not that we particularly do that, but I thought it was a very interesting comment that said, you've got to write what you enjoy and what you like. So, write the story that you wanna write, but then you make it fit the market and there are ways for that to happen. 

So next week we're gonna be talking about, What's the Biggest Challenge for an Indie Author. KC, do we have a question of the week?

Yeah. Here's one for everyone actually. If you can magically fix one thing for indie authors today, what would it be?

Okay, well that's it for this week. Thanks for listening.

Thanks for listening, everybody. Talk to you next week.

Have a great week. Thanks. Bye. 

Thanks for listening. If you'd like to reach out to us, you can contact us by email at contact@threelesbiansandapen.com with the number three spelled out or on Instagram, Facebook and X at Three Lesbians and a Pen using the number three. And finally on our website, at threelesbiansandapen.com, we look forward to hearing from you, see you next week.