Speaker 1: On theme is a production of iHeartRadio and fair Weather
Speaker 1: Friends Media.
Speaker 2: You are listening, What do we want black stories? How
Speaker 2: do we wanna in all sides of shapes and forms?
Speaker 3: How long do we want to infinite?
Speaker 1: Today we'll be talking about the stories that we like
Speaker 1: to see in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 3: And we'll talk about some of the stories that we'd
Speaker 3: like to create, like our.
Speaker 1: Own little manifesting session. I'm Katie and I'm Eves. In
Speaker 1: today's episode is New Year, New Stories.
Speaker 3: Are you a new Year, New Me?
Speaker 1: I am not a new year, New me person. Nothing
Speaker 1: against the people who are you?
Speaker 2: Know?
Speaker 3: Do you?
Speaker 1: But I don't do that. I usually don't set resolutions either.
Speaker 1: But I like to think that I can be new
Speaker 1: at any point that I want to be. And sometimes
Speaker 1: the world, the universe be calling me to be new
Speaker 1: before the year changes.
Speaker 3: So I gotta do. I gotta do. God say okay, okay,
Speaker 3: universe child, okay, what about you? Am I a new
Speaker 3: year New Me? I do look at the new year
Speaker 3: as like a time like, okay, here's a time that
Speaker 3: I can make some changes and then do I Normally
Speaker 3: that's the question. I like how you said you can
Speaker 3: be new at any time. But I also feel I
Speaker 3: like the camaraderie of everyone trying to be new at
Speaker 3: the same time. You've been in the gym with the
Speaker 3: gym girlies. I do not be in the gym. I'd
Speaker 3: be walking outside though, and everybody and nay Mama be
Speaker 3: walking outside at the beginning of the year and then
Speaker 3: do a little. But I do like the the energy
Speaker 3: of like newness and like thinking ahead to the future
Speaker 3: and all that stuff. People be like be present, be president.
Speaker 3: I don't know how to do that. All I know
Speaker 3: how to do is ruminate and plan present. I don't
Speaker 3: know her, never met her, never been there. We'll work
Speaker 3: on that together. But so thinking about like the new
Speaker 3: year and things we want to see in the future.
Speaker 3: I am thinking about like what stories I want to read, watch,
Speaker 3: listen to, and just like what I'm going to be
Speaker 3: on the lookout for. Okay, So I.
Speaker 1: Feel like I'm in the opposite You say you don't
Speaker 1: know the present when you came to me with this topic,
Speaker 1: that's what I can think about.
Speaker 3: It was like, all I know is the present. I
Speaker 3: don't know what I want.
Speaker 1: I also feel like I'm inundated with so many stories
Speaker 1: and I have so many to choose from. I have
Speaker 1: so many that are on the backlist that I have
Speaker 1: to choose from. I have so many things that I
Speaker 1: have to enjoy that are in willhouses, that are in
Speaker 1: will houses that I've ever touched before. So I'm like,
Speaker 1: look at all of these things. I don't even know
Speaker 1: what to say I want. Yeah, this was shockingly hard
Speaker 1: to me to think about, because it's not truly not
Speaker 1: something that I typically think about. I don't know what
Speaker 1: I want until I'm in that moment, Like we were
Speaker 1: just talking about what we're gonna read next, and I'm
Speaker 1: like looking through my bookshelf, like hmmm, what am I feeling?
Speaker 1: Knowing I have stuff checked out on Libby already and
Speaker 1: I'm just like.
Speaker 3: But what am I feeling right now? What do I
Speaker 3: need in this moment? Yeah? Yeah, So I feel like
Speaker 3: we're very different in that regard. Yeah, And I think
Speaker 3: it doesn't have to be like a new thing. Like
Speaker 3: even you said you have like a backlog of things
Speaker 3: that you know that you've been wanting to read. Does
Speaker 3: anything like stand out to you that you're like, Okay,
Speaker 3: I would have like make sure that that gets off
Speaker 3: the back list in the new year.
Speaker 1: So some of the things that I want to explore
Speaker 1: in the new year are stories that are centered around
Speaker 1: local and regional folklore. And that's because I do like fantasy,
Speaker 1: I like being in imagined worlds. I like world building
Speaker 1: in certain ways, but they that have really rich characters
Speaker 1: in them. And I feel like there's so much that
Speaker 1: I want to learn about the world and the people
Speaker 1: in the world, and so much that I don't know.
Speaker 1: And I think that fiction centered around different cultures folklore
Speaker 1: would be something that would be really enjoyable for me
Speaker 1: to explore. And I also think too, it's like, yes,
Speaker 1: it's me learning more about black people, but also it'll
Speaker 1: be a really good turn around after this past year,
Speaker 1: which has been really really real for me. And I've
Speaker 1: also been focused on nonfiction a lot as well this year,
Speaker 1: and to go in the direction of folklore, it can
Speaker 1: be things that will still teach me lessons. Maybe that'll
Speaker 1: still have me learning things, even if they're not lessons
Speaker 1: that are like moral text or anything like that. They'll
Speaker 1: still have me learning about different cultures and also allow
Speaker 1: me to be in fun and colorful worlds at the
Speaker 1: same time. And I think that would be a nice
Speaker 1: balance and nothing too heady, more hearty.
Speaker 3: When you say folklore, are you kind of talking about
Speaker 3: like kid lit? Because that's what I think when I
Speaker 3: think folklore, I think it could be kid lit. So
Speaker 3: if it was, I would be cool with that.
Speaker 1: Like if there were folk tales or kind of like
Speaker 1: fairy tales, or if they were about like around like
Speaker 1: folkloric creatures like mermaids, I would like that as well.
Speaker 1: But if it has folkloric themes and they're just set
Speaker 1: in worlds that are related to different folklores that may
Speaker 1: be more specific to a certain region or locale, then
Speaker 1: I could see those happening within adult fiction as well.
Speaker 3: Okay, I got to because like folklore, when I think
Speaker 3: of that, I think of like the lessons that they impart.
Speaker 3: Is there a lesson that you've learned that could appear
Speaker 3: in folklore like that you could have gotten for folklore,
Speaker 3: but maybe you just like learned that.
Speaker 1: That's a good question. Is there a lesson? Oh, I've
Speaker 1: learned so many is that I don't even know where
Speaker 1: to start. But the first one that I think of
Speaker 1: is learning to do things the easy way, And I
Speaker 1: feel like that is a consistent story over the course
Speaker 1: of my life where I consistently choose to do things
Speaker 1: the hard way. I'm going into the grocery store and
Speaker 1: not asking anybody where anything is.
Speaker 3: I've learned a.
Speaker 1: Lot of lessons about that over my life, but that
Speaker 1: doesn't mean that I still don't act in ways that
Speaker 1: I know I should act in better. Because I was
Speaker 1: working with a lawyer earlier this year and he wasn't
Speaker 1: communicating with me the way I wanted him to communicate
Speaker 1: with me, so knowing that it would make my life
Speaker 1: harder to be like I don't want to work with
Speaker 1: him anymore because we just started, we had barely even
Speaker 1: started the process that we were going through, I was like, Nope,
Speaker 1: don't want to do it anymore, don't want to deal
Speaker 1: with it. And I was like, I'm going to have
Speaker 1: to like continue the search or I'm going to have
Speaker 1: to do everything on my own. And afterwards I kind
Speaker 1: of felt like I had regrets for doing it that way.
Speaker 1: So I was like, I should have just dealt with
Speaker 1: it so I could take the easy route in this
Speaker 1: thing that I'm working on that's already very hard for me.
Speaker 1: Like the context of all I needed the lawyer was
Speaker 1: already something that was very difficult.
Speaker 3: So not saying that what I did was wrong or
Speaker 3: it was right.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying I think there are a lot of
Speaker 1: moments where I could have taken that advice in many ways,
Speaker 1: and other moments where I did take that lesson to heart,
Speaker 1: because there were also moments this year where I let
Speaker 1: people show up for me and support me in ways
Speaker 1: and like I was just cool with it, you know.
Speaker 1: So I took the easy route, and it's like I
Speaker 1: don't have to do everything myself. Other people care about me.
Speaker 1: They show that they care about me in different ways.
Speaker 1: So I'm going to like allow myself to be open
Speaker 1: to that support. So I think I could really see
Speaker 1: going back to the folk tales. I could really see
Speaker 1: a story centered around folklore that would have some kind
Speaker 1: of lesson around not doing the hard thing, like the
Speaker 1: monkey climbing up the tree to get the bit this
Speaker 1: way instead of like shaking the tree for them to
Speaker 1: come down or whatever.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I feel like that is reading as a kid. Yeah, Okay,
Speaker 3: is there any tales that stand out to you that
Speaker 3: you have already read or that you're looking forward to
Speaker 3: reading specific titles.
Speaker 1: I have a book of folklore on my shelf right
Speaker 1: now that I've been wanting to read that I got
Speaker 1: when I was in South Africa. I can't remember the
Speaker 1: exact title of it. I'll see if I can find
Speaker 1: it to link it in the description.
Speaker 3: Going back to your point of like doing things like
Speaker 3: the easy way and with the lawyer. One thing that
Speaker 3: I think about looking back on my life. I have
Speaker 3: so many regrets, Like I literally regret everything every day.
Speaker 3: But then I was thinking about one of my like
Speaker 3: a major regrets, and I was like, what if I
Speaker 3: did the thing that I said I should have done
Speaker 3: in this instance is like the school I should have
Speaker 3: went to after high school. And I was thinking about it,
Speaker 3: and I'm just like the way that you live your life,
Speaker 3: Like sure there might be like infidite universes where I
Speaker 3: did go to that other stoo that I said I
Speaker 3: should have went to. I was like, hello, shit could
Speaker 3: have went wrong then too. It's like when the choice
Speaker 3: you don't make looks so attractive because you just don't
Speaker 3: know what is on the other side of the choice,
Speaker 3: But you do know what happened when you went to
Speaker 3: the school or didn't drop the lawyer, or did drop
Speaker 3: the lawyer, or you know, broke up or stayed together,
Speaker 3: like you know what happened, So it's hard to make
Speaker 3: the right decision. But then even like, no matter what
Speaker 3: decision you make, I do think it's just as right
Speaker 3: as anything else because like a bunch of other shits
Speaker 3: gonna happen behind every decision.
Speaker 1: It's like always having a shiny object on the other side,
Speaker 1: gleaming and attracting you toward it.
Speaker 3: It's just like mysterious. You're like, oh, like, well, if
Speaker 3: I want I went to the lad school, I would
Speaker 3: have been whatever the fuck. No, you wouldn't, girl, No
Speaker 3: you wouldn't. We'll be right back after this app break.
Speaker 3: One genre I hope to find something that I really
Speaker 3: like is like black written thrillers, because the black thrillers
Speaker 3: I've read, I've had super high hopes for them, but
Speaker 3: they weren't giving what they should have gave for me.
Speaker 3: And I do believe they're out there. I just haven't
Speaker 3: encountered them yet. And it's funny too, because I feel
Speaker 3: like with black thrillers, like they feel like they have
Speaker 3: to like blacken it up, talk more about that, Like
Speaker 3: I feel like the writer has to be talking about hair,
Speaker 3: you know, there has to be some deeper complex meaning
Speaker 3: under yeah at all. Yeah, it has to be like
Speaker 3: racism or you know what I mean. So I haven't
Speaker 3: found a black thiller that I really like, but I
Speaker 3: feel like it's a genre that's, oh, y'all could be
Speaker 3: eating down. So you said it isn't giving what it
Speaker 3: should give. What do you think it should give? It
Speaker 3: should get thrills, it should give pot twists, it should
Speaker 3: give Red Herring. Okay, m hm, it should give Oh.
Speaker 3: I could totally see this into being adapted into a
Speaker 3: movie and being a really great movie. It should give,
Speaker 3: you know, cultural references that aren't so overt. Another thing
Speaker 3: that I'm looking forward to, like really diving more deep
Speaker 3: into are like the foundational text of like black sociology.
Speaker 3: So I told you I was reading Black Bourgeoisie, and
Speaker 3: I feel like there's a lot of text like that
Speaker 3: that I feel like I just like should have already
Speaker 3: read but just haven't. And there are referenced a lot
Speaker 3: in other books that I'm reading, So I'm like, oh,
Speaker 3: I should read what these other authors have read so
Speaker 3: I can like kind of get it, because I do
Speaker 3: think like reading is you build upon the cannon. So
Speaker 3: I'm looking forward to reading those books that you know
Speaker 3: written in the twenties, the thirties, forties, fifties, sixties, and
Speaker 3: learn from that perspective because like, unfortunately a lot of
Speaker 3: these books are still very tiny. Yeah, save shit going
Speaker 3: on in the Year of Our Lord twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1: Is it hard for you to have that understanding as
Speaker 1: you're reading these older books?
Speaker 3: No, it isn't. Like you said, there's nothing new under
Speaker 3: the sun and the problems aren't new. And I do
Speaker 3: think that during those times we had more rigorous thinkers
Speaker 3: because one probably like there wasn't much else to do
Speaker 3: but read, where you don't go play a play, right,
Speaker 3: so there's less distraction. So like, these people are going
Speaker 3: to be reading and like thinking more deeply about things,
Speaker 3: and it shows that like a lot of the solutions
Speaker 3: that we have just ain't it, and they've been tried
Speaker 3: and been disproven for a lot of things. So it
Speaker 3: doesn't make me feel bad. It makes me feel like
Speaker 3: in community with our fore mothers and fathers who've passed
Speaker 3: on but like kind of left these directions. So looking
Speaker 3: forward to that as well. Is there hoping it for
Speaker 3: you though? In reading those books? I think so, I
Speaker 3: mean I'm no like policy person. I'm you know, a
Speaker 3: nigga with a mic. So I'm gonna play my role.
Speaker 3: I'm would tell people about the books, you know, like
Speaker 3: I think there is hope and just understanding, right, Like
Speaker 3: even if I'm reading these books and I understand that
Speaker 3: shit's fucked up, and I kind of intrinsically know that,
Speaker 3: but maybe I don't know all the nuances and how
Speaker 3: it is. And like sometimes I feel like, you know,
Speaker 3: it'd be the like Mama, I don't want to be
Speaker 3: woke no more, Like I'd rather not know about all
Speaker 3: this stuff. But like being ignorant does look fun. There's
Speaker 3: just what wheels like, so like y'all are so dumb
Speaker 3: and looks so happy. It's like they do. But that's
Speaker 3: that's just not what I want from me, Like I
Speaker 3: want to know us up because like I feel like
Speaker 3: the people who do know us up but want to
Speaker 3: manipulate others for their own personal game, They're going to
Speaker 3: use the fact that you are choosing to be ignorant,
Speaker 3: like you're choosing just to like be blissful in your
Speaker 3: ignorance to advance themselves.
Speaker 1: Are you saying that people who have more access to
Speaker 1: information are going to exploit people who don't.
Speaker 3: Is that what you mean? So, for example, like you
Speaker 3: know how jay Z beyond his black capitalism gentrify your
Speaker 3: own hood. That Nigga knows that's fucking stupid. I believe
Speaker 3: he knows that stupid, And I think people go with
Speaker 3: it because like it sounds kind of good, like, oh yeah,
Speaker 3: like we should own businesses, I guess. But then if
Speaker 3: you just like read like one book, you'd kind of
Speaker 3: realize that jay Z is in the business of advancing
Speaker 3: jay Z, Like the representation you get from a black
Speaker 3: billionaire really ain't doing nothing for you at the end
Speaker 3: of the day. But because you feel this kinship of
Speaker 3: seeing a black billionaire as opposed to a white one,
Speaker 3: you let a lot of shit slide that shouldn't slide.
Speaker 1: I feel like thrillers versus reading some of the foundational
Speaker 1: texts of black sociology books are two very different pathways.
Speaker 1: Do you think they'll balance each other out in a way?
Speaker 3: Yeah? I feel like that those are just for the
Speaker 3: fun of it all. You can read those so quickly
Speaker 3: by one day, two days, you know, get it in
Speaker 3: and out. I do think that the foundational text wills
Speaker 3: out sit with them more like I'm taking notes, you know,
Speaker 3: I'm trying to make connections. I'm like that meme of
Speaker 3: the guy with these papers like disconnectxist, you know. So, yeah,
Speaker 3: they're definitely different. But you know, I can say multitudes.
Speaker 3: I'm a multitude. No group talk about it. So what
Speaker 3: are you looking to create in the new year?
Speaker 1: So I mentioned in a past episode that I've been
Speaker 1: reading about black nature writers, and I think that in
Speaker 1: the new Year, I like to write for myself.
Speaker 3: I would like to write more climate fiction. What is
Speaker 3: that or eco fiction or whatever you want to call it.
Speaker 1: That is talks about how the people have been affected
Speaker 1: by climate and climate change, how people are affecting the environment,
Speaker 1: and all of the consequences of those changes, and how
Speaker 1: people respond to them, how the world changes. These things
Speaker 1: have been touched on by a lot of people in
Speaker 1: sci fi realms. So even if it's not specific to
Speaker 1: this world, it might be set in the future, or
Speaker 1: it might be set on a world that is not
Speaker 1: this current world.
Speaker 3: So that shows up in a lot of ways.
Speaker 1: And I'm not really a sci fi writer, but I
Speaker 1: think taking inspiration from climate fiction, even if it might
Speaker 1: not be genre, under that based on the powers that
Speaker 1: be that create these genres to sell books, but in general,
Speaker 1: climate fiction are more so being in the nature writing
Speaker 1: realm is something that I want to move into more.
Speaker 1: I think typically I have a tendency sometimes toward more
Speaker 1: like historical fiction, okay, and I'm just now writing more
Speaker 1: fiction in general, so I think it'll be nice to
Speaker 1: merge those loves of mine.
Speaker 3: So when I hear climate fiction is given dystopian, is
Speaker 3: that what you're thinking of?
Speaker 1: I don't think I tend to go that catastrophic. Okay,
Speaker 1: So I don't know if I would say dystopian for
Speaker 1: what I would like to work on, but it could
Speaker 1: go in that direction. It could be like this is
Speaker 1: what this is what the world is like because we're
Speaker 1: all burning it down right now and we're not changing
Speaker 1: our behaviors in any large skill ways.
Speaker 3: That's the only way I could see it going. You
Speaker 3: talking about the climate hit, what else could you say?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I guess I'm thinking more smaller skill. And I'm
Speaker 1: also not a climate scientist, so like I couldn't even
Speaker 1: see myself like taking on something so as as like
Speaker 1: what would it look like if we went back to
Speaker 1: not using planes ever?
Speaker 3: Again?
Speaker 1: Like I think that's a little bit beyond my reach. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's more like the destruction of a forest in
Speaker 1: the specific.
Speaker 3: Locale it's giving stop cop city. Hey, it definitely is
Speaker 3: what happens when you cut down a forest and let
Speaker 3: cops run the town. What happens? Some bullshit? And when
Speaker 3: you say you write, are starting to write more fiction? Like,
Speaker 3: what's the length of this fiction? Is it flash fiction?
Speaker 3: Like short story and novella novel?
Speaker 1: I really love writing flash fiction, but I think in
Speaker 1: this case, I'm thinking more around like five thousand to
Speaker 1: ten thousand words for these stories. Okay, I think it
Speaker 1: would be more like a long short story on a
Speaker 1: ten thousand words.
Speaker 3: In Okay, cool, more after the break. So, you know,
Speaker 3: I've been traveling all over the country talking to so
Speaker 3: many people about black bookstores and like getting this like
Speaker 3: oral history written down, and so the way my book
Speaker 3: is organized, it's like profiles of these different black bookstores
Speaker 3: from eighteen thirty four to present, which has been really
Speaker 3: fun to write for me because trying to make it
Speaker 3: not repetitive, right, because like everyone does have a really
Speaker 3: unique story and kind of pulling that out because what
Speaker 3: I found is when I talk to different bookstore owners,
Speaker 3: especially the ones who are always talking to press. They
Speaker 3: have their stump speech, right, they have their I got
Speaker 3: it out the mud. I didn't know this was going
Speaker 3: to happen. I love the community, and I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: but what about you know what I mean, like trying
Speaker 3: to like pull something else out. So that's been really
Speaker 3: interesting to do. And it's been like, first time I
Speaker 3: talk to you, this all you're gonna say. So I'm
Speaker 3: gonna call you up again, like, oh hey girl, what
Speaker 3: two up too? Oh yeah? I was just you know,
Speaker 3: and like trying to get them talk again. Then I'm
Speaker 3: gonna go out to your store. I'm a flat a
Speaker 3: la like, oh hey, what's up? Like show me around?
Speaker 3: And so I've liked this work, but it's also very intensive.
Speaker 3: I feel the pressure of having to get like it
Speaker 3: all right, you know, because these are people's stories. Like
Speaker 3: I don't want to like misrepresent anyone. I don't want
Speaker 3: anyone to say like, oh I didn't say that, or
Speaker 3: you know, I ain't mean that. And also too, I
Speaker 3: don't consider myself a journalist, but what I have been
Speaker 3: doing is like reporting. But you know, there's like journalistic ethics, right,
Speaker 3: and so I'm also just a really nice girl. And
Speaker 3: so the girls be telling me all their business and
Speaker 3: I'm like, are you telling me just to put the
Speaker 3: book or are we just chatting right now?
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So being in my nonfiction bag reporting but trying to
Speaker 3: make it interesting has been like a challenge that I
Speaker 3: found really fun. But going into the new year, I
Speaker 3: want to start writing fiction as well, which I've never
Speaker 3: really done, and I'm really apprehensive about it.
Speaker 1: Although we do talk about from time to time when
Speaker 1: you tell me your stories, I'm like, oh.
Speaker 3: God, that'd be a good short story. You gotta make
Speaker 3: it into one. That's what people always say. I don't
Speaker 3: know if y'all guessing me, but so crazy stuff to
Speaker 3: be happened to me, Like this sounds fake. They'll be like,
Speaker 3: this bitch has a lie, probably like I swear it happened.
Speaker 3: So I do want to like start getting into like
Speaker 3: short stories, and I really like short story collections that
Speaker 3: feel like they're like cohesive, like definitely not like chapters
Speaker 3: of a novel, but like the characters are like orbiting
Speaker 3: each other and like it makes sense in a way
Speaker 3: like that you want them to be in a shared universe. Yeah,
Speaker 3: Like I have an idea of writing just like which
Speaker 3: sounds a really depressing, a short story collection all about
Speaker 3: my grandpa's funeral, just from like different people's perspectives, but
Speaker 3: not in a sad way, like in a fun funeral way.
Speaker 3: I would love to see it.
Speaker 1: I've been in some funerals and never been to a
Speaker 1: fun one. You never even know a fun I've never
Speaker 1: been to a fun funeral, have you.
Speaker 3: I wouldn't say my grandpa's funeral was fun, but it
Speaker 3: was kind of fun listening to those stories about him
Speaker 3: because he's like such an old man and you know,
Speaker 3: like all black men are not going to be talking
Speaker 3: like that. Yeah, So like hearing his like cousin tell
Speaker 3: stories about him, like you know when he was a kid,
Speaker 3: Like who thinks about like what you were a kid?
Speaker 3: How did that happen? So that was fun. So kind
Speaker 3: of like delving into that is something I've been like
Speaker 3: saying I'm going to do, but I've been like working
Speaker 3: on this book and it's like, Okay, well, like I'm
Speaker 3: on deadline for something else, Like I can't be like
Speaker 3: talking about my grandpa be and dad again, but I
Speaker 3: can see myself like working on that. But I'm apprehensive
Speaker 3: about it because I've never done any fiction. So it's
Speaker 3: like the world building that's like how do you build
Speaker 3: a world? And it's not like even like how you're saying,
Speaker 3: like fantasy or folklore where it's more imaginative. But I
Speaker 3: still really it does not compute for me, like how
Speaker 3: people do.
Speaker 1: Do you think once you start building your characters more
Speaker 1: that the world will show up around them?
Speaker 3: Well, I say, the characters are like me and my family,
Speaker 3: but you still have to build them on the page though. Yeah,
Speaker 3: knowing them and the world isn't the same as them
Speaker 3: being on the page. See, I didn't know that. Have
Speaker 3: you interviewed your characters?
Speaker 1: Have you tried doing that acting as your character and
Speaker 1: thinking of what they would say in an interview? Or
Speaker 1: I can do it with you acting as me. No,
Speaker 1: So whoever's your characters? So let's say one of your
Speaker 1: characters is your aunt? Okay, in this interview, you pretend
Speaker 1: to be your aunt and answer questions how she would
Speaker 1: answer questions. Okay, And so you would have to be
Speaker 1: the interview in the interviewee, if you were doing it
Speaker 1: on your own, but if you had a partner to
Speaker 1: do it with you, I could ask you questions, and
Speaker 1: I could be like, did how you feel at the
Speaker 1: beginning of the funeral was it different than how you
Speaker 1: felt at the end of the funeral? And then you
Speaker 1: would answer how your aunt would answer for that story
Speaker 1: in your short story collection.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I haven't done any of that.
Speaker 1: You can do it however you want to. I'm not
Speaker 1: the one who creates ther balands. There are so many
Speaker 1: different rules for how different people write. You know, everybody
Speaker 1: will be like I'm an outliner, and I'm not an outliner.
Speaker 1: I do all this before I just go into it.
Speaker 1: I always have the MD planned out. Some people are like,
Speaker 1: I never have the M planted out. I'll let what
Speaker 1: happens happens.
Speaker 3: That's crazy. Yeah. So we're consuming a lot of like
Speaker 3: TikTok and YouTube about like how to write fiction, and
Speaker 3: it is just like everyone has like an opinion and
Speaker 3: they all contradict each other. Yeah, so I think I'll
Speaker 3: just have to like start My thing is I'm too
Speaker 3: I feel like I'm too brief. I feel like when
Speaker 3: I speak, I'm pretty brief, and when i'm right, I'm
Speaker 3: really brief. Because I don't want to like take people's
Speaker 3: time for granted. So I'll be writing a short story
Speaker 3: and it'll be like five hundred.
Speaker 1: Words, like Girl, that's still a short story.
Speaker 3: I like the five hundred word range a lot. Actually,
Speaker 3: for sure. I like class fiction, but I wanted to
Speaker 3: be short story that flash. Yeah, I gotcha. I wrote
Speaker 3: one and I showed it to somebody there. Okay, So
Speaker 3: I had the idea of my grandpa's funeral short stories,
Speaker 3: and then I also want to do short story on scammers.
Speaker 3: I remember you telling me about this one, so the
Speaker 3: gamer one. I had tried to write it Girl. The
Speaker 3: first time I showed it too, was trying to be nice,
Speaker 3: but I could tell it was really bad. It was
Speaker 3: just like like I knew what I wanted to say,
Speaker 3: and I just like rushed getting there.
Speaker 1: That's just called more drafts. Don't be hard on yourself.
Speaker 1: That's definitely not a thing to do in this craft
Speaker 1: that you're working in. You already got to put a
Speaker 1: lot of I know, well, I'm sure you'll find join
Speaker 1: the process, and I hope that I do too. I
Speaker 1: like this, like that we're trying to go in different
Speaker 1: directions in the new year than what we're used to,
Speaker 1: like opening ourselves up, building on things that we've already
Speaker 1: been building on like with you and the sociology books
Speaker 1: and going deeper into that. I think that it's important
Speaker 1: to be in the present and not to be too
Speaker 1: focused on, you know, everything being perfect in the new year.
Speaker 1: Is still really nice to have something to work toward
Speaker 1: and know that, like in any moment, if something calls
Speaker 1: to us more, then we can go that direction.
Speaker 3: Oh for sure, for sure A little loose outline, if
Speaker 3: you will, h So you're outliner, loosely loosely? Are we
Speaker 3: ready for real credits? Yes?
Speaker 1: Today, I want to give credit to early mornings when
Speaker 1: the air is still, the skies are dark, when the
Speaker 1: birds aren't churfing yet, and everything's quiet, that kind of
Speaker 1: sacred time where it's nice to just not try not
Speaker 1: something that it always happens for me, but try to
Speaker 1: not be bogged down about the day, about everything that
Speaker 1: I have to do. When I can take a moment
Speaker 1: to ease into the day and to settle into the day,
Speaker 1: I want to give credit to that precious part of
Speaker 1: the day.
Speaker 3: Varies any of you. I'd like to give credit to
Speaker 3: inter generational friendships. It's funny because I always complain about
Speaker 3: not having any friends and I feel like I've made
Speaker 3: a lot of friends this year, but they're all like
Speaker 3: in their seventies, eighties, and nineties, people that used to
Speaker 3: own black bookstores that I've gotten to know over the
Speaker 3: last two years. So if you're listening, a high Miss
Speaker 3: Daphne Muse, Glenda Lynn Johnson, who makes sure I do
Speaker 3: not call her miss. She does not like that she's
Speaker 3: a New yorka and does not play with me. These
Speaker 3: people aren't people I would typically like run into, you know,
Speaker 3: And I think it's there's so much to learn from
Speaker 3: intergenerational friendships. I think they learn something from me, and
Speaker 3: I definitely learn a lot from them and like being
Speaker 3: in their presence and company. They just lived a lot
Speaker 3: of life and it's fun that they share some of
Speaker 3: their stories with me. I love the I second that too.
Speaker 1: I know I can't choose two world credits, but I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna say that's been in my life this week
Speaker 1: as well.
Speaker 3: So I like that you brought that up. Oh cool,
Speaker 3: And that's all we have for this week. By all.
Speaker 1: Peace on Theme is a production of iHeartRadio and Fairweather
Speaker 1: Friends Media. This episode was written by Eves, Jeffco and
Speaker 1: Katie Mitchell. It was edited and produced by Tari Harrison.
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