Show Notes:
Today is part two of two where we are talking to Kate Prada about her novels. After today you will have heard about starting with creative writing, coining the term Diet spice, branding yourself as a mess, being encouraged by your writer friends, starting a discord to make writing friends, and having it blow up, being approachable for other authors, writing your friends into your novels, and starting conversations with your wild days.
Get Wraith and Get Shadow
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Chaotic baby author. Apparently I write romance but that was a surprise to me. If i knew what the rules were maybe I’d follow them. Author of Black Rose, Wraith, and Shadow (all romantic suspense)
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Transcript:
Speaker A: Welcome to Freya’s.
Speaker B: Fairy tales.
Speaker B: We believe fairy tales are both stories we enjoyed as children and something that we can achieve ourselves.
Speaker B: Each week, we will talk to authors about their favorite fairy tales when they were kids and their adventure to holding their very own fairy tale in their hands.
Speaker B: At the end of each episode, we will finish off with a fairy tale or short story read as close to the original author’s version as possible.
Speaker B: I am your host.
Speaker B: Freya victoria I’m an audiobook narrator that loves reading fairy tales, novels and bringing stories to life through narration.
Speaker B: I’m also fascinated by talking to authors and learning about their why and how for creating their stories.
Speaker B: We have included all of the links for today’s author and our show in the show notes.
Speaker A: Be sure to check out our website.
Speaker B: And sign up for our newsletter for the latest on the podcast.
Speaker B: Today is part two of Two where we are talking to Kate Prada about her novels.
Speaker A: After today, you will have heard about.
Speaker B: Starting with creative writing, coining the term Diet Spice, branding yourself as a mess, being encouraged by your writer friends and starting a discord to make writing friends and having it blow up being approachable for other authors, writing your friends into your novels and starting conversations with your wild days.
Speaker B: Shadow the Wraith Series Book Two there have been many identities before, but Louisa fits like a poorly cut garment, except after leaving everything to seek her vengeance, it’s the only one Wraith has lost.
Speaker A: Without those who once supported her.
Speaker B: Her head is clouding and she’s losing her grip.
Speaker B: One wrong move could blow her cover, or worse, get her new partner killed.
Speaker B: If she fails, it will all be for nothing.
Speaker B: If she succeeds, she’ll have not only ended a criminal’s reign of terror, but finally slayed all that haunts her.
Speaker A: But would it be worth what she.
Speaker B: Lost along the way?
Speaker B: Even though Colt has been busy growing his own organization, he’s never stopped searching for Emily.
Speaker B: It doesn’t matter that ties were cut and Leeds went dead.
Speaker B: He’ll never give up the hunt for her.
Speaker B: Can he protect her from all that’s hurting her if he does?
Speaker B: With Race determined to track down the monster from her past, would Colt search lead to a reunion or a shadow of someone he once knew?
Speaker A: So you are finishing up your third book.
Speaker A: I am?
Speaker A: Because you had said in book one, people wanted, like, alternate storylines.
Speaker A: Is that what these no, it can’t be what these other books are because.
Speaker B: You wrote One and Two at the same time.
Speaker C: Well, One and Two are completely separate of each other.
Speaker C: However, the third book, I should start off by saying I’m a huge fan of Tarantino.
Speaker A: Okay.
Speaker C: I love the whole connected universe thing about how the main character in Pulp Fiction is like the brother of the guy and Kill Bill.
Speaker C: You know what I mean?
Speaker C: So I love all that kind of stuff.
Speaker C: So there is a little bit of a universe connection in the third book, which one of my beta readers read and absolutely was like, oh my God, yes.
Speaker C: That’s the reaction I wanted.
Speaker C: So there’s that.
Speaker C: However, I had never planned for Black Rose.
Speaker C: Again, I was just trying to cope with insomnia, right?
Speaker C: And people read it, and there was a character, and again, he had his own POV in Black Rose because way I wrote it, again, thinking I was writing women’s fiction, not romance, was more of like this girl’s journey to break away and kind of restart overbuild her life from the ground up.
Speaker C: And so it was how different relationships broke apart or formed in her life.
Speaker C: So it’s the main male character, but then there’s this other character that ends up being a really good friend and everything.
Speaker C: And he comes in clutch a few times, and everyone’s like, we need Lachlan’s story.
Speaker C: I’m like, God d*** it.
Speaker C: Okay.
Speaker C: But then again, hey, I’ve been hanging out with spicy authors on TikTok, and they’re like, we want Lachlan’s story, but we want Loughlin’s story.
Speaker C: And I’m like, oh, no.
Speaker A: So you dropped too many hints that now you have to suffer the consequences.
Speaker A: Write the consequences.
Speaker C: Yeah, right.
Speaker C: I’ve got about five or so chapters done of Lachlan’s story.
Speaker C: And I introduced a new character because my best friend, who I’ve known since I was a teenager, he one of those, like, no idea what’s going on.
Speaker C: You wrote a book, like, immediately runs out, buys it.
Speaker C: I need you to sign this.
Speaker C: And I did, and he starts flipping through it one day.
Speaker C: He goes, so what character is based after me?
Speaker C: And I’m like, oh, no, I can put you in a book.
Speaker C: And he’s like, yeah, you need to.
Speaker C: So I introduced this character.
Speaker C: But here’s the thing, is, like, this guy, he’s like the best friend ever.
Speaker C: I was the best ma’am in his wedding.
Speaker C: That’s how tight we are.
Speaker C: Funniest guy you’ve ever met.
Speaker C: He has a very distinctive look to him too.
Speaker C: Like, he’s five foot four.
Speaker C: He’s Sicilian, from Jersey, like, just dark hair, swarthy.
Speaker C: He’s a golf pro.
Speaker C: So he’s all very professional and clean cut.
Speaker C: But then he’s like, just loaded down with tattoos, and you can find him at a metal show every week.
Speaker C: So a very distinct character in and of itself.
Speaker C: And I was like, all right, I’m going to put you in a book.
Speaker C: However, if people demand that you get your own book, I will not make it spicy.
Speaker C: And he’s like, come on, you’re like.
Speaker A: I can’t with you.
Speaker C: But he’s only showed up in one or two chapters already.
Speaker C: And I’m like, he’s going to have to get his own book because he’s funny.
Speaker C: And it’s one of those.
Speaker C: And again, I don’t write anything on purpose.
Speaker C: But you see a lot of people sometimes like, well, why does all the men in romance novels have to be big and muscly and tan.
Speaker C: I want, like, a dad bought or I want this.
Speaker C: I’m like how’s a five foot four swarthy, like little how’s that sound for a main male character?
Speaker A: Right?
Speaker C: Yeah, he’s the best.
Speaker C: He’s so funny and he’s going to be a lot of fun to write.
Speaker A: So we talked about some of the bad advice that you got in groups.
Speaker A: What is the worst advice you got in a Facebook group and the best advice that you’ve gotten anywhere?
Speaker A: I guess worst advice anywhere would work, too.
Speaker A: What’s the worst advice that you definitely know not to follow now?
Speaker A: And the best advice?
Speaker C: Well, I think the worst advice I got was the whole thing about how the rules are for romance.
Speaker C: Like how it has to follow certain beats, certain things have to happen certain times.
Speaker C: It has to be this, it has to be that.
Speaker C: I get on TikTok and people are like, shut up, just give me a happy ending.
Speaker C: Okay?
Speaker A: Honestly, if you follow all those rules, then every book is going to be basically the same.
Speaker A: And there’s only so many times you can read.
Speaker A: For example, I talked about going to church and all that.
Speaker A: So the books that people would buy me growing up were all like, authors that write Amish storylines, and it’s the exact same storyline every single time.
Speaker A: Just change out the characters.
Speaker A: How many times can you read the exact same storyline?
Speaker A: It might change.
Speaker A: It may not be amish.
Speaker A: It might be what’s the other one that’s not quite as whatever.
Speaker C: I don’t know, amish.
Speaker A: There’s an author that writes the lesser version of Amish.
Speaker A: Okay.
Speaker A: And I’m like, it’s the same thing, though.
Speaker A: Like, the same exact storyline.
Speaker A: There’s like, multiple authors that all do it.
Speaker A: And I’m just like, I can’t.
Speaker A: In fact, I have, like, three series that I have not read that have been on my bookshelf for years because I’m like, I read so many, I’m like, I just can’t anymore.
Speaker C: I know what’s going to happen.
Speaker A: Exactly.
Speaker A: They’re going to get together at the end.
Speaker A: It’s going to follow the exact same recipe to get the book done.
Speaker C: Yeah, we were on the live this morning, and we were talking about the man chest covers, and I was like, no, I am still like, my trust is just gone.
Speaker C: Because there was one, I got it off hoopla about a year ago, and it was a Viking romance and it was a Manchester cover.
Speaker C: And I’m like, okay, yeah, I get into this.
Speaker C: And I got to the whole book waiting for come on.
Speaker C: And again, I will read spicy books.
Speaker C: I write fade to black, but I’ll read anything but manage my expectations.
Speaker C: I got to the whole book just, like, waiting for some big change.
Speaker C: The spiciest thing in there was he combed her hair, and it was like instant trust issues.
Speaker C: I talked about that on the live this morning, and someone’s like, what was it?
Speaker C: Like, Viking Amish?
Speaker A: But were they naked?
Speaker C: No, I think there was a thigh grab at one point.
Speaker A: Yeah.
Speaker A: I mean, mine starts off with him pressing her against well, not like, that’s not the beginning of the book, but, like, first Spice is, like, him pressing her against the wall.
Speaker C: And it’s like.
Speaker A: Here I am more than brushing hair, combed her hair.
Speaker C: I’m like, who wrote this?
Speaker C: Charles Boyle?
Speaker A: So worst advice we’ve got.
Speaker A: What’s the best advice that you’ve gotten?
Speaker C: Honestly, the one that I follow the most is to listen to your manuscript.
Speaker C: Just listen to it if you have to read it out loud or put it through a program, because you’ll read it so many times until you’re cross eyed.
Speaker C: But hearing it, it just kind of like you catch things, and it might not even be like, oh, Comma needs to go here.
Speaker C: You might catch things as they read out loud.
Speaker C: You’re like, that sentence doesn’t make a lick of sense.
Speaker C: Like, to hear it, but you write it out, and it’s like, that’s fine.
Speaker A: Yeah, well, quite honestly, I actually just finished an audiobook on Tuesday, and the author sent me updates and was like, hey, I actually don’t like this sentence.
Speaker A: Can we please change it to this?
Speaker A: I don’t know if she listened to it text to speech like you do, but yeah, sometimes it does take the hearing it and like, no, that sounds very weird.
Speaker A: And sometimes I will auto correct things.
Speaker A: I’m like, Why is two in that sentence twice?
Speaker A: It doesn’t need to be there twice.
Speaker A: Yeah, so take it out.
Speaker A: I’m like, this sentence doesn’t make sense.
Speaker A: And I’ll be, like, sitting here staring at my screen, like, what is the sentence trying to say?
Speaker A: Let’s figure this out.
Speaker C: Yeah, especially I’m a little nervous with Shadow, which is the book coming out?
Speaker C: It’s race book two.
Speaker C: I got to make my readers happy because I gave them a cliffhanger, so I got to make them happy again.
Speaker C: But I was in such a panic to get it released last fall or whatever that I sent the first round of beta readers the rough draft.
Speaker A: Oh, no.
Speaker C: And you want to talk about emotional damage, because it wasn’t ready.
Speaker C: I thought it was like, it’s written.
Speaker C: I just have to edit it.
Speaker C: But I was going through so much with it was a big move, and right in the middle of it all, we all got sick.
Speaker C: And then we’d get from Delaware to my in laws in the Southwest, and we immediately got sick again.
Speaker C: So it was just like the trip from Friggin.
Speaker C: It was awful.
Speaker C: And my beta readers are like, well, what can we do to help?
Speaker C: Just give us the rough draft.
Speaker C: And, like, we’ll help you polish it up.
Speaker C: And I’m like because it’s not just, like, cleaning it up for me.
Speaker C: It’s like, I’ll add more like, I’ll build up the story, I’ll build up this scene, or I’ll move this out.
Speaker C: So I sent it and it was just like there was, like, sentences that were, like, half completed, and they’re like, I’m not sure what you’re trying to say here.
Speaker A: And I’m like, I don’t know what.
Speaker C: I was trying to say.
Speaker C: So I learned my lesson on that time, and I will never, unless you’re super tight knit inner circle and you’re kind of helping me build the story.
Speaker C: I’ll let you in on the rough draft, but I’m not sending the rough draft to be critiqued in that capacity ever.
Speaker A: Yeah, I was going through my husband’s manuscript at one point, and I got to a part and I’m like, okay, he was doing it in Google Docs.
Speaker A: I was reading it on my account on Google Docs and I highlighted an entire section and was like, you need to explain this more because it may make sense in your head, but I have no idea what you’re talking about.
Speaker A: And you want people to understand what you’re talking about.
Speaker C: Yes.
Speaker A: Not over explain it, but it needs to be explained somehow.
Speaker B: Unless you’re intending to leave a giant.
Speaker A: Plot hole of which mostly I mean, some people do that for reasons for the series to continue.
Speaker A: But then, yeah, sometimes it’s like no, you need to actually like it has to be complete thoughts, things you learn.
Speaker A: So you’re working on book three, which should hopefully be out in the next couple of weeks.
Speaker C: Yes.
Speaker A: Then you’ve got the next book you’re working on, which you’re hoping to publish.
Speaker C: I want to get Lachlan’s story out, hopefully mid summer, and I want to get book three of the final book of the well, I guess the original three books of the Race series done by the end of the year.
Speaker A: Okay.
Speaker C: I’m sure I’ve already had demands for other characters from Shadow and Race, so I’m sure there’s going to be spin offs and other stuff.
Speaker C: And I do want to do a couple of novellas, a couple of short stories just to try to I see the powerhouses like Golden Angel, and even April is just so good about sitting down and writing, and she was cranking them out.
Speaker C: I have a lot of squirrels that I chase, so there’ll be two, three weeks where I don’t even look at my laptop.
Speaker C: And I’m like, I need to have some better writing habits, especially now that this whole writing thing has gone from just a way to cope with Insomnia to I’ve published several books and readers want more, but I’m trying to also have a little self awareness.
Speaker C: Don’t sit here and be like, I’m going to put out six books this year.
Speaker C: Let’s try to get the two that I want to get done.
Speaker C: But trust me, there’s a whole to be written list that’s longer than my arm.
Speaker A: That was one of my New Year’s resolutions, was to go in because last year I started my book in January of last year, and then I stopped writing it like June.
Speaker A: Like, I didn’t touch it after June.
Speaker A: And so this year, one of my goals was to I’m like, even if it’s ten minutes a day, you’re going to spend ten minutes now it might be just ten minutes reviewing or, like you said, bulking the story out.
Speaker A: Because I realized when I was writing last year, I did a whole lot of there’s only dialogue chunks of time.
Speaker A: So I’m like, we need a little internal them thinking about there’s, like a whole scene of essay and the mom talking about this stuff that happens to her, and it’s like she basically just word vomited this entire scenario.
Speaker A: And I’m like, no, there needs to be, like, her pausing and sniffling or crying or there needs to be pauses in there, not just I set it out so fast just to get it out there.
Speaker A: That’s not real life.
Speaker C: Yeah.
Speaker C: I do a lot of the dialogue and then I’ll go back to a scene and add in the actions and stuff.
Speaker C: And again, I should not have sent out my rough draft because it was like, a lot of dialogue.
Speaker C: People are like, what is happening in this scene?
Speaker C: I’m like, I don’t know.
Speaker A: I don’t know.
Speaker C: I’ll figure it out.
Speaker A: So where do you are you still using the beta readers from the Facebook group, or have you found a new group of beta readers?
Speaker C: Yes, so the beta readers from the Facebook group, we do one chapter, like a one chapter a week swap where we all read each other’s chapters because I know it’s kind of far off.
Speaker C: I’ve been sending them what I have from Lachlan’s story, and then the beta readers that I use now I’ve either found on TikTok or through the discord.
Speaker A: Okay.
Speaker C: So we have a whole channel just for beta and arc readers and stuff.
Speaker C: And it’s just because we’re a little not strict, but we kind of keep our eye on everybody who’s in there.
Speaker C: I’m comfortable with whoever wants to volunteer to read my stuff.
Speaker C: Yeah.
Speaker A: If someone’s sketchy in there, you guys boot them out, I imagine.
Speaker A: Yeah, I try to pop in often enough so I don’t get booted for inactivity.
Speaker C: Yeah, I think we have something set that if you’re not active within 30 days, it removes you.
Speaker C: And there’s been a few people like, hey, I wasn’t here.
Speaker C: I don’t know what happened.
Speaker C: And it’s like, sorry.
Speaker C: Welcome back.
Speaker C: Please.
Speaker A: I try to get in there at least once a week, once every couple of weeks, and I usually have no idea what’s going on because it flows so fast.
Speaker A: But comment on whatever’s going on.
Speaker A: If I come in first thing, it’s usually you saying, Good morning.
Speaker C: Yeah.
Speaker C: Or we’ll do, like, if everybody’s been kind of quiet, or like, this fall, I heard it everywhere.
Speaker C: I heard it on TikTok.
Speaker C: I heard it in real life, just the whole seasonal change really hit everybody hard and so every now and then you pop into the discord and someone’s like dance party and it’s just everybody sending dancing gifts for like 20 minutes and it’s just ridiculous.
Speaker C: But it’s kind of a morale booster.
Speaker C: We are a writer.
Speaker A: I saw the New Year’s one.
Speaker A: You did one on New Year’s?
Speaker A: Yeah.
Speaker C: So we try to do stuff like that.
Speaker C: So even if you’re not even in there to share writing advice, if you just need a morale booster, every now and then you just pop in and like oh, it’s been a rough one and we’ll try to cheer you up or we’ll have a dance party.
Speaker A: You’ve also got a lot of I see a lot of like, hey, I just posted this video on TikTok, can you guys go interact with it?
Speaker A: And then everybody will be like oh actually I just saw one yesterday where they were like I don’t have you on TikTok.
Speaker A: What’s your name?
Speaker C: Yeah, I have a directory, like a Google sheet and it’s pinned in a few places but I try to remember to remind people about it.
Speaker C: So if you wanted to share social media or if you have an author website, it’s just someone’s name their genre and like all their links.
Speaker A: I am noted myself at some point.
Speaker C: Yeah, I am trying to do like a separate sheet on that just so it’s just one thing that people can go to.
Speaker C: But someone was like, well, I just want a list of everybody’s books, make sure I’ve either got them all or if I need something to read, I can go down the list again, I have too many squirrels and to do lists that just kind of grow a mind of their own.
Speaker C: But I am trying to coordinate a list of everybody’s books eventually.
Speaker C: I do just want something as basic as a WordPress to have.
Speaker C: If anybody wants their book length public somewhere.
Speaker C: And then like a calendar of events, like if someone’s releasing a book on this day or if someone’s doing a book signing this day, and then we would just like on a day it’s a release.
Speaker C: We would just be like, hey, this book is live.
Speaker C: Congratulations.
Speaker C: Very simple, very basic.
Speaker C: But I would like, yeah, I could.
Speaker A: Build that in like 2 hours.
Speaker C: Yeah, again, it’s just like my website.
Speaker A: I’m like it could be very basic, in fact, for podcasts, where I upload the podcast to that, they then send it out everywhere.
Speaker A: Has like a very basic where it’s just like, here’s your podcast, here’s a little bit about the podcast, here’s a little bit about the host.
Speaker A: And then like a giant list of just all the episodes and that’s like, all that’s on that website.
Speaker A: And I’m like so the daily fiction podcast I have each season is a different book.
Speaker A: So right now, I’m doing Anne of Anne’s House of Dreams.
Speaker C: Okay.
Speaker A: And so on that one, I’m like, I want each book to have its own page where you can go and if you just want to listen through it’s, got, like a player at the bottom where you can just listen through the chapters of that book.
Speaker A: I’ve got things about the authors because I have another podcast where I talk about the authors that wrote the books.
Speaker A: And so you can go and you can see the author page and listen to the episodes about that author or whatever.
Speaker A: I’m like, let’s overcomplicate things.
Speaker A: Like this week I added T shirts, so I had to figure out how to add the T shirts and stuff.
Speaker A: Building things is not usually difficult for me unless I overcomplicate.
Speaker A: How do you make it sort by book name?
Speaker A: I don’t know.
Speaker A: Let’s figure that out.
Speaker C: Yeah, that’d be super cool.
Speaker C: I got to sit down and just actually do it.
Speaker C: That’s my whole thing is like, I have all these ideas, all these crazy things, all these books I want to write.
Speaker C: I got a wild hair the other day that I’m like, I need merch.
Speaker C: Like, I keep building up the whole diet spice thing and like the diet spice hashtag.
Speaker C: And I’ve seen other authors, other fade to black authors.
Speaker C: Now I’ve started to use that hashtag and started to talk about it.
Speaker C: And I’m like, I need diet spice merch.
Speaker A: Yeah.
Speaker A: Stickers and stuff.
Speaker A: Yeah.
Speaker C: So I got on a wild hair last night.
Speaker C: Next thing, I’m on canva for two and a half hours, like, making all this stuff.
Speaker C: And I’m like, crap, now I need a red bubble.
Speaker A: Now I need yeah.
Speaker A: So I just added T shirts for one of the podcasts.
Speaker A: And so I’m like, I want to do because it’s all these classic novels which are all public domain, I’m like, I want to be able to do shirts with quotes from each book that I do.
Speaker A: So, like, each season a new shirt would come out.
Speaker A: But I’m like, man, it would be really cool if I had room in my house, which I don’t, to actually stock my shirt so I could add things like stickers and stuff in there with it.
Speaker A: I’m like that’s future me problem when I have space.
Speaker A: Because right now, if I wanted to get rid of all my books, I’d have space.
Speaker A: But no, I hear you through my.
Speaker C: Other accounts and my other social medias and stuff.
Speaker C: I have an Etsy shop that I haven’t even set up since we’ve moved just because it’s been too crazy.
Speaker C: But you could see that’s just the aprons that I have.
Speaker C: I have wooden signs.
Speaker C: I have all sorts of stuff, but I’m like, I can’t even sell the stuff that I already have made right now.
Speaker A: We went with basic.
Speaker A: I’m using a print on demand company to make the T shirts for me so that it’s a little more like, I pay more for the shirt to get made that way, but I don’t have to ship it or deal with returns or deal with payment processing or any of that.
Speaker A: They handle all of that for me, which I am definitely a fan of because I could ship in all of that stuff.
Speaker A: But I’m like, when would I have.
Speaker B: Time in my day?
Speaker B: Not that this is happening right now.
Speaker A: But if all of a sudden I had say, like 100 people a day ordering shirts, that takes time.
Speaker A: I’m going to have to figure it out when I start doing signed author copies and stuff like that.
Speaker A: At some point in the future when I actually publish my book, I know.
Speaker C: I see these authors.
Speaker C: PS.
Speaker C: Nail just posted one where she was going to the post office and she had to get like a buggy and it was like, God bless you having to pack all that.
Speaker C: And rat.
Speaker C: She’s amazing.
Speaker C: She does so much.
Speaker A: I did ebay stuff for a while, so I’m familiar with having them come pick it up at my house so that I don’t have to go.
Speaker A: Yeah, so the postage with that, I was selling stuff on like, ebay, so I used their postage thing.
Speaker C: But I tried that when I was living in Delaware.
Speaker C: It was right when the lockdown all started and I had a ton of scrap fabric and my aunt was a quilter and she gave me all her scrap fabric and there was the mask shortage.
Speaker C: So I started sewing masks and I was living on a military base, and my neighbors caught wind like, hey, my sister’s an ICU nurse in Miami and they’re out of masks.
Speaker C: They can wear the cloth one over one and swap out the cloth ones and get that was back when things were really tense.
Speaker C: And so I was starting to just do a packs of masks and I would schedule ups to come pick them up.
Speaker C: But my mailman left a note in my box.
Speaker C: He was mad.
Speaker C: He was like, you should be bringing these.
Speaker C: I’m like, what’s the option on your website?
Speaker A: Yeah, no, my mail lady is very nice.
Speaker A: I actually had one day, I had a package that I was waiting on and it said delivered, but it was like, not at my house.
Speaker A: So I called up to the post office and was like, hey, where’s my package at?
Speaker A: And they’re like, oh, we’re going to call your mail carrier and see what’s going on or whatever.
Speaker A: And she clocked out, brings it to my door and is like, I’m so sorry.
Speaker A: It got stuck in a corner of the car, which she didn’t realize until she was done for the day.
Speaker A: So she’s like, you’re on my way home.
Speaker A: So I just brought it by.
Speaker A: I’m like, thank you.
Speaker C: That’s awesome.
Speaker A: Now I also have the crazy people that substitute when she’s off.
Speaker A: And occasionally I’ll get someone else’s mail so they’re not all, but my normal lady is amazing.
Speaker A: I also sewed a bunch of masks at the beginning of I had a friend who works in transplant care, and she needed masks for her patients.
Speaker A: And so my mom gave me a bunch of fabric that she didn’t have room for, and I made like, I don’t know, 100 and something masks and just, like, sent them to her.
Speaker A: I think I had her pay, like, shipping or something, but took an entire weekend and just made all these masks.
Speaker C: Oh, my God, I made so many masks, sending them everywhere.
Speaker C: We had a friend who is a pediatric nurse at the Children’s Hospital outside of Fresno.
Speaker C: I was sending them to New England and Florida, and at one point, my husband’s unit needed them.
Speaker C: And so he comes home one day with a pile of old work shirts, and he’s like, Everybody donated shirts.
Speaker C: We need masks that match uniforms.
Speaker C: I’m like, okay.
Speaker C: And so I used, like, a soft gray T shirt to line them and stuff, but they gave me a challenge coin for it.
Speaker C: I’m like, all right, sweet.
Speaker C: My husband’s like, I didn’t get a challenge coin.
Speaker A: Mine because you couldn’t find elastic anywhere at the time I was doing this.
Speaker A: So I actually used ponytails, like, ponytail holders and sewed them into the edges of them, which were kind of I had some that were, like, shiny.
Speaker A: They were my daughters that I stole, but they were, like, shiny and metallic.
Speaker B: And those ones would kind of scratch.
Speaker A: Your ear a little bit, but if you were, like, wearing it for 20 minutes in the grocery store or whatever, it was not bad.
Speaker A: But yeah, it was the things.
Speaker A: And then I eventually upgraded to using a fabric tie instead of the ponytail.
Speaker C: Yeah, I had to do the tie things too, because you couldn’t find elastic anywhere.
Speaker C: And then I started using ribbons.
Speaker C: So you just tie it behind your head, and the nurses were like, no, it’s fine, because they just tie it on.
Speaker C: They just leave it.
Speaker C: But it saved their ears.
Speaker C: But once the nurses all had them and family members, can you get them?
Speaker C: And then they’d be like, well, the ties are kind of hard and there’s no elastic anywhere.
Speaker C: Doing the best they can, guys.
Speaker C: But I eventually started making the headbands with the buttons.
Speaker C: I had all those military uniforms, and the buttons are pretty big, and I’m like, well, let’s just start using the button.
Speaker A: Yeah, I didn’t do I saw the patterns for those.
Speaker A: I didn’t ever do.
Speaker A: I had some friends and family that paid me to make masks for them too, because I had so much leftover fabric.
Speaker A: I’m like, what on earth do I do?
Speaker A: This was before narrating days before I did that, because now I’m like, oh, it’s a Saturday.
Speaker A: I’m like, okay.
Speaker A: I have a couple of podcast episodes to listen through.
Speaker A: I have a couple.
Speaker A: Of first narrate.
Speaker A: Now my weekends are like the cleaning up to get ready for the next week oh, yeah.
Speaker B: And ideally have time to write.
Speaker C: Yeah, I didn’t write for a bit there, just with everything this fall and this winter just being so stressful and.
Speaker A: Crazy, but now that I moves are so hard.
Speaker C: This one, I think just because with all of us kept getting sick and everything, we were living in a hotel for a week, so all that kind of stuff, because the house wasn’t ready, it was just hard to get back into the swing of things.
Speaker C: And I didn’t even read a book for six months.
Speaker C: But just the last several weeks or so, I’m like, I can feel like the momentum is listing to build again.
Speaker C: And I wasn’t even excited to publish this latest book.
Speaker C: And now I’m like, oh, God, I can’t wait for it to be out.
Speaker C: I’m so excited now to get shadow out there.
Speaker C: Then everybody’s going to want my cliffhanger.
Speaker A: Yeah, well, then everyone’s going to want the next one.
Speaker A: With your building, your platform is the hot mess.
Speaker A: Do your readers understand the deadline changing stuff?
Speaker A: I imagine everyone has demanding people that want it now, but for the most part, pretty understanding.
Speaker C: Yeah, everybody’s been great.
Speaker C: And I was even seeing in a group text the other day, and I’m like I think because I’m so transparent about like, hey, I am not the most organized person.
Speaker C: I got a million balls in the air and I’m trying my best.
Speaker C: And so when I did, I don’t plan on missing more deadlines in the future.
Speaker C: I plan to try to put a little bit more thought into them.
Speaker C: But also things happen.
Speaker C: And I think because I have been so open and honest and I’m not trying to put up just like, everything’s fine for Shauna.
Speaker C: People are like, just get it to us when you get it.
Speaker C: Nobody’s mad at you.
Speaker C: And again, the whole mess thing, it makes me kind of relatable, I think.
Speaker C: And I have I’ve had a few people who have reached out and they’re like, just thank you for being you.
Speaker C: That’s kind of like, okay, yeah, we can all be messes together, guys.
Speaker A: Yeah.
Speaker C: I don’t ever claim anything’s perfect.
Speaker A: Yeah, well, that’s good.
Speaker A: Like I said, nobody wants to read the perfect person in their book.
Speaker A: I don’t think anyone wants to follow the author that’s like, everything’s fine, I’m perfect, it’s all great.
Speaker A: And I hit all of my deadlines all of the time.
Speaker A: And my books are always perfectly written with no mistakes ever.
Speaker C: Yeah.
Speaker C: I think people really appreciate this day, especially these days when someone’s like, hey, I tried, but a lot is going on right now.
Speaker C: And it just kind of humanizes you a little bit.
Speaker C: If someone is really strict and really organized and really detailed, and they do slam their goals and they get those deadlines and they exceed expectations.
Speaker C: I’m in such awe.
Speaker C: And I love it if I’m ever able to be friends with a person like that because I feel like I can learn something from them, but there are other people out there like, everything’s fine.
Speaker C: I’m perfect like this.
Speaker C: Okay?
Speaker A: If I was left to my own memory to remember all the things that I have to do, nothing would ever get done.
Speaker A: My reminders list on my phone is insanely long, like all the books because I put on there like, I need to read this book by this date to get the first 15, which is a secondary reminder.
Speaker A: 1st 15 needs to be done by this date so that I can get the book finished, which is another reminder, but get the book finished by this date.
Speaker A: So for every book that I narrate, that’s three reminders already.
Speaker A: And then I have all the podcast episodes to make sure.
Speaker A: Like the podcast episodes I don’t ever have a break of, oh crap, I forgot to upload a week worth of stuff.
Speaker A: I try to stay ahead, but then I also have reminders for newsletter.
Speaker A: But me last night, it’s Thursday night, I was supposed to schedule my newsletter for the next morning for Friday morning.
Speaker A: And instead of the schedule button, I hit the send button.
Speaker A: So I’m like, everybody got it early this week.
Speaker C: Sometimes it’s fun or sometimes the oops are a good surprise or a learning experience.
Speaker C: I do a lot of story times on TikTok of just my hooligan days.
Speaker C: And everyone’s like, you’re such a good storyteller.
Speaker C: And it’s like I had no impulse control.
Speaker C: I keep trying to think, why am I such a good I don’t think anything is extraordinary about my shenanigans.
Speaker C: I told a story time this week about my cousin and I were doing a joint walk of shame and her car died in the middle of the coffee shop parking lot.
Speaker C: It was her starter went bad.
Speaker C: And so here I am, like in my cute little snip before, like underneath it, like banging on it with a hammer.
Speaker C: And everyone’s like, that’s such a great story.
Speaker C: And I’m like, but it was us just being a mess and just rolling on it.
Speaker A: My life was relatively boring and tame.
Speaker A: My sister was the wild child.
Speaker A: And so occasionally I will pull out her stories.
Speaker A: I do not pass them off as my own.
Speaker A: I very much say like this thing.
Speaker A: And usually with her there, but there’s some stories I’m sure she’s like, man, I just really wish that had never happened.
Speaker C: The way I see it is like it was 20 years ago and if it’s kind of funny, someone’s probably going.
Speaker A: To have had a similar experience or something even crazier.
Speaker A: Maybe.
Speaker C: It’S a good way to get a conversation going or it’s a good laugh or it’s a good learning experience.
Speaker C: And I think that’s just kind of how I look at everything.
Speaker C: It’s like they could be a totally mundane experience, but if you can find one thing to laugh about it or one thing to learn from it yeah, so it’s like every time I make a mistake, it’s just like, well, that’s.
Speaker A: Content my logical brain is like, well, it could have been worse.
Speaker A: This could have happened.
Speaker A: Instead, did anybody end up in the hospital?
Speaker C: Nah, you’re good.
Speaker A: Yeah.
Speaker A: Oh, my gosh.
Speaker A: Speaking of hospital, our house has a decent sized kitchen, but almost no storage space.
Speaker A: We’ve lived here for eight years and have always talked about adding more storage space.
Speaker B: So finally, this month, eight years of.
Speaker A: Living here, I’m like, I’m going to buy the cabinet that’s going to fit in that one corner.
Speaker A: We’ve talked about adding a cabinet.
Speaker A: So I buy this thing.
Speaker A: It’s basically like an island on wheels, okay?
Speaker A: So it’s like it fits perfectly.
Speaker A: I measured tape measure and everything.
Speaker A: I measured the spot to get the shelf that was going to fit perfectly.
Speaker A: It’s got a nice wood top on it.
Speaker A: It’s got cabinets and drawers on it.
Speaker A: It’s got shelving on it so we could fit all the appliances that don’t fit in the very tiny cabinets we have.
Speaker A: So I’m building this cabinet and it’s like, I don’t know.
Speaker A: I had finished narrating for the day.
Speaker A: So it’s like 03:00.
Speaker A: My husband gets off at like five.
Speaker A: And so I’m building, me and my daughter, she’s handing me the pieces.
Speaker A: To build this cabinet, I need this size screw or that size screw.
Speaker A: And at one point, my screwdriver slipped and it almost hit my leg.
Speaker A: And I’m like, oh, that’s going to suck.
Speaker A: I was holding, like, something in my lap, trying to screw it while it was in my lap.
Speaker A: So I’m like, all right, we’re going to set the things on the floor to screw so I don’t gouge my leg.
Speaker A: And about the time my husband gets home, I was holding a screw, screwing it with a screwdriver, thank God, a flathead.
Speaker A: And it slipped and it went into my finger quite far.
Speaker A: And then it would not stop bleeding.
Speaker A: No, we’re trying this is at the .1 of the biggest things we have left to move is actual top, to put the top on this cabinet.
Speaker A: And so I have my daughter, who’s eight, help me position this thing.
Speaker A: So I’m holding a paper towel on my finger, holding the bulk of the weight of this wooden countertop in my hands and having her guide it into place.
Speaker A: And then my husband gets home and I’m like, you’re going to have to finish this because I need to stop bleeding everywhere.
Speaker A: He’s like, do you need stitches?
Speaker A: I’m like, Nah, it’ll be fine.
Speaker A: It did stop bleeding on its own.
Speaker A: So I’m like, if it stops on its own, you don’t need stitches.
Speaker A: It’s fine.
Speaker A: Yeah.
Speaker A: Now, the hot mess story that they all like to tell.
Speaker A: When I was stupid and 19, I was like, I’m going to try to lose weight.
Speaker A: And I love ice cream, so I’m like, we’re going to make a healthier ice cream.
Speaker A: So I would buy bananas, and I would freeze the bananas, and then I would take the bananas out of the freezer and cut off the peel that I froze the banana with.
Speaker A: And so one day, cutting towards my hand, oh, no.
Speaker A: I slipped and cut into my finger while I was on the phone with my mom.
Speaker A: And so I’m oh, no.
Speaker A: And my mom, of course, is like, what happened?
Speaker A: I cut my finger open.
Speaker A: And they all love to tell the story of the dumb dumb that didn’t peel the bananas before putting them into the freezer.
Speaker A: So for that, I did need stitches.
Speaker A: My sister, who had literally just dropped me off before I was making this banana ice cream, had to my mom had to get off the phone with me, call her to come get me to take me to the hospital.
Speaker C: Oh, no.
Speaker A: I’m like, bleeding down my kitchen sink.
Speaker A: Oh, no.
Speaker A: Things happen.
Speaker C: Yeah, I do that too.
Speaker C: I freeze my bananas all the time, but I never peel them.
Speaker C: Every time I go to scrape the peel off, I’m like, I need to peel these before I never learn.
Speaker C: Been doing it for years.
Speaker A: When you end up in the hospital, you learn.
Speaker C: I would say so.
Speaker A: But now they all tell the story of the, like, time that I didn’t I’d been doing it for months at that point and hadn’t injured myself prior.
Speaker A: But yeah, after that, it was cut them and then do it or peel it and then freeze it and then cut them up, slice it up when it was done.
Speaker A: Stupid things we do in our younger years.
Speaker A: Hope you grow out of but we all still do stupid things sometimes.
Speaker C: No, I haven’t grown out of it.
Speaker C: I think it kind of like, makes it so I guess I’m a boy mom, as you’ve heard.
Speaker C: And I think I’ve just been able to roll with things a little bit better because it’s like, all right, because it’s just chaos in my house.
Speaker A: Yeah, it happens.
Speaker A: My daughter’s very logical thinker like me, and we’ll try to explain to her why things have to be done the way that we’re telling her to do them and stuff.
Speaker A: She sometimes thinks about things, and other times you’re like, Why?
Speaker A: I want to say thank you so much for joining me today.
Speaker A: Good luck with your website building and getting your book finalized, and I will.
Speaker B: See you around TikTok.
Speaker C: Sounds good.
Speaker A: Bye.
Speaker C: Bye.
Speaker B: As Kate got older, she still liked the brother’s Grim.
Speaker B: The Brother’s Grim jacob and Wilhelm were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore.
Speaker B: They are among the best known storytellers of folktales popularizing stories such as cinderella, the Frog Prince, hansel and Gretel Little Red Riding Hood.
Speaker B: Rapunzel, rumple Stiltskin, sleeping Beauty and Snow White.
Speaker B: Their first collection of folk tales, Children’s and Household Tales, began publication in 1812.
Speaker B: The rise of romanticism in 19th century Europe revived interest in traditional folk stories, which to the Brothers Grimm represented a pure form of national literature and culture.
Speaker B: With the goal of researching a scholarly treatise on folktales, they established a methodology for collecting and recording folk stories that became the basis for folklore studies.
Speaker B: Between 1812 and 1857, their first collection was revised and republished many times, growing from 86 stories to more than 200.
Speaker B: In addition to writing and modifying folktales, their brothers wrote collections of well respected Germanic and Scandinavian mythologies, and in 1838, they began writing a definitive German dictionary, which they were unable to finish during their lifetimes.
Speaker B: The popularity of the Grimm’s collected folktales has endured well.
Speaker B: The tales are available in more than 100 translations and have been adapted by renowned filmmakers with films such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.
Speaker B: In the mid 20th century, the tales were used as propaganda by N*** Germany.
Speaker B: Later in the 20th century, psychologists such as Bruno Bettelheim reaffirmed the value of the work in spite of the cruelty and violence in original versions of some of the tales, which were eventually sanitized by the Grimms themselves.
Speaker B: Today we’ll be reading Rumpelstiltskin by the Brothers Grimm.
Speaker B: Don’t forget we’re reading Lemour de Arthur, the story of King Arthur and of his noble Knights of the Roundtable on our Patreon.
Speaker B: You can find the link in the show notes.
Speaker B: Rumpel, Stiltskin.
Speaker B: By the side of a wood in a country a long way off ran a fine stream of water, and upon the stream there stood a mill.
Speaker B: The miller’s house was close by, and the miller, you must know, had a very beautiful daughter.
Speaker B: She was, moreover, very shrewd and clever.
Speaker B: And the miller was so proud of her that he one day told the king of the land, who used to come and hunt in the wood, that his daughter could spin gold out of straw.
Speaker B: Now, this king was very fond of money, and when he heard the millers boast, his greediness was raised, and he sent for the girl to be brought before him.
Speaker B: Then he led her to a chamber in his palace, where there was a great heap of straw and gave her a spinning wheel and said, all this must be spun into gold before mourning as you love your life.
Speaker B: It was in vain that the poor maiden said that it was only a silly boast of her father, for that she could do no such thing as spin straw into gold.
Speaker B: The chamber door was locked, and she was left alone.
Speaker B: She sat down in one corner of the room and began to bewail her hard fate, when all of a sudden the door opened, and a droll looking little man hobbled in and said, good morrow to you, my good lass.
Speaker B: What are you weeping for alas, said she, I must spin this straw into gold and I know not how well will you give me?
Speaker B: Said the hobgoblin, to do it for you?
Speaker B: My necklace, replied the maiden.
Speaker B: He took her at her word and sat himself down to the wheel and whistled and sang, round about, round about, lo and behold, reel away, reel away, straw into gold.
Speaker B: And roundabout the wheel went merrily, the work was quickly done, and the straw was all spun into gold.
Speaker B: When the king came and saw this, he was greatly astonished and pleased.
Speaker B: But his heart grew still more greedy of gain, and he shot up the poor miller’s daughter again with a fresh task.
Speaker B: Then she knew not what to do and sat once more down to weep.
Speaker B: But the dwarf soon opened the door and said, will you give me to do your task?
Speaker B: The ring on my finger, said she.
Speaker B: So her little friend took the ring and began to work at the wheel again, and whistled and sang round about roundabout, lo and behold, reel away, reel away, straw into gold.
Speaker B: Till long before morning all was done again.
Speaker B: The king was greatly delighted to see all this glittering treasure, but still he had not enough.
Speaker B: So he took the miller’s daughter to a yet larger heap and said, all this must be spun tonight, and if it is, you shall be my queen.
Speaker B: As soon as she was alone, that dwarf came in and said, will you give me to spend gold for you?
Speaker B: This third time I have nothing left, said she.
Speaker B: Then say you will give me, said the little man, the first little child that you may have when you are queen.
Speaker B: That may never be, thought the miller’s daughter.
Speaker B: And as she knew no other way to get her task done, she said she would do what he asked.
Speaker B: Round went the wheel again to the old song, and the mannequin once more spun the heap into gold.
Speaker B: The king came in the morning, and finding all he wanted, was forced to keep his word.
Speaker B: So he married the miller’s daughter and she really became queen.
Speaker B: At the birth of her first little child, she was very glad and forgot the dwarf and what she had said.
Speaker B: But one day he came into her room where she was sitting playing with her baby and put her in mind of it.
Speaker B: Then she grieved sorely at her misfortune and said she would give him all the wealth of the kingdom if he would let her off, but in vain.
Speaker B: Till at last her tears softened him.
Speaker B: And he said, I will give you three days grace.
Speaker B: And if during that time you tell me my name, you shall keep your child, now the queen lay awake all night thinking of all the odd names that she had ever heard, and she sent messengers all over the land to find out new ones.
Speaker B: The next day the little man came, and she began with Timothy, Ichabod, Benjamin, Jeremiah and all the names she could remember.
Speaker B: But to all and each of them, he said, madam, that is not my name.
Speaker B: The second day, she began with all the comical names she could hear of bandy, Legs, Hunchback, Crookshanks and so on.
Speaker B: But the little gentleman still said to every one of them madam, that is not my name.
Speaker B: The third day, one of the messengers came back and said I’ve traveled two days without hearing of any other names but yesterday, as I was climbing a high hill among the trees of the forest where the fox and the hare bid each other good night, I saw little hut, and before the hut burnt, a fire.
Speaker B: And round about the fire, a funny little dwarf was dancing upon one leg and singing merrily the feast I’ll make today I’ll brew tomorrow bake merrily I’ll dance and sing for next day will stranger bring little does my lady dream.
Speaker B: Rumple Stiltskin is my name.
Speaker B: When the queen heard this, she jumped for joy.
Speaker B: And as soon as her little friend came, she sat down upon her throne and called all her court round to enjoy the fun.
Speaker B: And the nurse stood by her side with the baby in her arms as if it was quite ready to be given up.
Speaker B: Then the little man began to chuckle at the thought of having the poor child to take home with him to his hut in the woods.
Speaker B: And he cried out, now, lady, what is my name?
Speaker B: Is it John?
Speaker B: Asked she.
Speaker B: No, madam.
Speaker B: Is it Tom?
Speaker B: No, madam.
Speaker B: Is it Jimmy?
Speaker B: It is not.
Speaker B: Can your name be Rumble Stiltskin?
Speaker B: Said the lady slyly.
Speaker B: Some witch told you that.
Speaker B: Some witch told you that, cried the little man, and dashed his right foot in a rage so deep into the floor that he was forced to lay hold of it with both hands to pull it out.
Speaker B: Then he made the best of his way off while the nurse laughed and the baby crowed.
Speaker B: And all the court jeered at him for having had so much trouble for nothing and said, we wish you a very good morning and a merry feast.
Speaker B: Mr.
Speaker B: Rumple still skin.
Speaker B: Thank you for joining Freya’s fairy tales.
Speaker B: Be sure to come back next week for Desiree’s journey to holding her own fairy tale in her hands and to hear one of her favorite fairy tales.
