Orchid Turns One With Keira N James

Welcome And Orchid Anniversary

SPEAKER_02 0:02

Hey, you are watching and listening to Lex with My Lions, and I am your host, Lex. And today I am going to try my best to stay to stay between the lines. But I have one of my absolute fates here, the Kieran James. I'm going to let her introduce herself and tell us how she started her thriller suspense psychological journey.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

Well, hello again to you. And hello, everybody. I'm Kira N. James. I am a thriller suspense author. I started publishing professionally in 2018, and I have been independently published ever since. I am glad to be here. So Lex, thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_02 0:55

I am glad that you are back. When I say we wait, first of all, we've made a year with ORCID. Yes. It's our anniversary.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

Yes, yes, yes, yes. It is coming up.

SPEAKER_02 1:07

So how are how are we feeling? And then what's different from when it first came out to right now? Like what's changed?

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Well, let me just start by saying, first of all, I'm grateful that we are still talking about this book a year later. Um, especially in this time in the industry where it's like rapid release. So the thing that's different about this time is there's a different type of intention that I'm putting behind the marketing and the branding, not just for myself, but for um ORCID as a book and as a character. Um there are some things that's coming with the anniversary edition, is what I'm calling it, that wasn't part of the last, you know, marketing push for it. So I'm excited. Like, and if anybody's been following me on social media these past couple of weeks, then you've definitely seen um what Orchid is coming with this time around.

SPEAKER_02 2:12

I'm excited. So it's gonna be a book box. Okay. Now, when you say a different kind of intentionality, what were the intentions when you first released it?

SPEAKER_00 2:23

When I first released this book, I just wanted to put out, you know, another good book. And I kind of wanted to showcase um my marketing style and put my degree to use because before then I was just like, okay, I'm gonna write this book and put it out, maybe you know, promote it a little bit or whatever. But with Orchid, I'm like, I really have to start thinking of my books as more than books. I want them to be experiences. I want the marketing and the promoting to be interactive and immersive. So that's what um makes this book different and special. Like, not as opposed, but um in comparison to the other books that I've released in my catalog.

Marketing With Intention And Branding

SPEAKER_02 3:16

Okay, now I heard we put in our degree to use. What kind of degree do we have?

SPEAKER_00 3:21

I'm sorry, can you repeat that? My ear came on.

SPEAKER_02 3:26

It's ours taking turns. I was saying you told you told us that you have a degree. So what's your degree? What's your um degree in?

SPEAKER_00 3:35

What should what should you read? What degree?

SPEAKER_02 3:38

You thought they said you're gonna put your degree in? Oh, my degree, yes, yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 3:42

Um, so I graduated um cum laude from Stray University in 2023 with um a bachelor's in business admin and uh social media marketing.

unknown 3:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:58

Now, do you do editing as well? I do not edit, um, but I do offer other like author services like marketing, branding, um, formatting, graphic design, that type of thing. But an editor, I am not. I'm not that. I'm just a writer. You're just a writer. I'm just a writer. I don't do the editing.

SPEAKER_02 4:26

Now that you say that, I have been seeing you um like from when I first was introduced to you, your marketing has changed. Yeah. Some um since um the first point of contact with you.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

So I'm glad that it's not just me and I'm not just being delusional about it. Like I'm glad other people are seeing it too. So and you're popping up more. I I have to because like I'm an introvert, so I can go days without being on social media and be fine, but my business cannot survive that way. So I've um made it a point to be more active and be more present um on social media, and hopefully the people see it and they like it.

SPEAKER_02 5:18

Do you have anxiety like reaching out and actually interacting with your readers?

SPEAKER_00 5:23

Um, in person, absolutely, but online, not so much because like I can take my time and reply. Um, I don't have to like be quick about it and things like that, but in person, I am just so awkward.

SPEAKER_02 5:46

You sound like me. Oh my god, just so awkward, and then I say random stuff. So let's get to the book.

Building Orchid From Flowers To Art

SPEAKER_02 5:59

Where did orchid, where did this story come from?

SPEAKER_00 6:04

It came from a couple of places. One because orchids are my favorite flowers. Um, that's where the name came from. The concept came from just me having a love for and enjoying writing about artists. And I knew when I started writing this story, which I wrote this story in eight days, by the way. What? Yeah. Yeah. So it went through a couple of it went through a couple of drafts um because of editing, but yeah, I wrote it in eight days. And um I I just love writing about artists, and I knew I didn't want her to be like a traditional or like a typical artist. So I was like, okay, what if I write about a botanical artist? I've always wanted to go to a botanical garden, never went. So it's just a myriad of ideas that kind of came together to form the concept of orchid.

SPEAKER_02 7:10

What was the research involved? Because the flowers, like, she actually went into details and descriptions about each flower. So how did that process, what did that look like?

SPEAKER_00 7:21

So there was definitely some reach uh research that went into it, um, because I had to know how the flowers um and plants interacted with each other and how they interacted with the mediums that she used for her art, you know, the paint, the acrylics, and things like that. And I wanted it to be um authentic and not like I just copy and pasted a Wikipedia um definition or something like that. Also, like growing up, I'm from the country, I'm from Georgia, right? So growing up, like my grandma had a garden in her backyard, in our backyard. Now, granted, she didn't have like bell of donna plants or foxglove or monk's hood or anything like that. But, you know, I've been around a garden or two, and I really just wanted to bring some authenticity to it and not just tell the story and let y'all experience it while you were reading it.

SPEAKER_02 8:21

Since we're talking about grandmothers, was any chance this grandmother was based a little bit off of your grandmother?

SPEAKER_00 8:29

Oh, absolutely. That's her name, or that was her her middle name. Irene was her her middle name. Um, and I honor my grandmother every chance I can with my writing because I just love her so much. Um, she passed a few years ago, and you know, because of military obligations, I ended up missing the funeral. So when I write about her, I kind of pull from like memories and things like that, and how I would have wanted our interactions to be. So Granny Irene was very, she was very real. She was very real now.

SPEAKER_02 9:14

Though, right? With her and Paw Paul.

SPEAKER_00 9:17

No, no, no, some of it was, you know, like embellish and fictionalized for the sake of the story, but no, granny was a sweetheart.

SPEAKER_02 9:29

Yeah, Granny was a sweetheart, but Irene in this book, and it just made me think like Irene, was this the only fatality? Like, do we have any other um people who made poor choices?

SPEAKER_00 9:43

You know, not a lot of like when I've interviewed for um Orchid, not a lot of people asked or talked about that underlying um tension and you know, those underlying issues that Granny Irene was spilling on top of the wisdom that she was giving ORCID. So yeah, um Pawpa was the only known one, the only one, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:15

I said, um, because I know it wasn't like too much of Granny, but it was enough to make me want to know like Granny's background and like how her and grandpa got together. And then you know how when something happens or a woman goes through something traumatic with the spouse and stuff, and then they be kind of the common spokesperson or the one to step in, like to where it did, to kind of step in for other women in the same situations. So I was like, did granny kind of was like the neighborhood savior, or did she know any other women that she had to take care of?

SPEAKER_00 10:50

The I think Granny was intriguing. She was, she was, and I knew that I wanted to um give her depth because I knew going in that she wouldn't, you know. Are we doing spoilers?

SPEAKER_01 11:08

I could put it, I can put a disclaimer up.

SPEAKER_00 11:11

Okay, so I knew that she wasn't going to make it through the entire book, but I still wanted people to connect with her um and get to know her, other than she's just a wise old woman. Um, so I wanted her to be remembered, and I'm glad that we are talking about her.

Granny Irene And The Story’s Heart

SPEAKER_02 11:33

Listen, you you made uh you pulled on our heartstrings because I was not like what?

SPEAKER_00 11:41

And it was so uncalled for, like, it could have been avoided, and I was just like, she's and then you know, if people would have just did their job in a timely fashion, maybe they would still be here, Chelsea and the nerve to run your mouth about it. The lack of remorse is what got her in that greenhouse, I will say. The lack of remorse is what got Chelsea in that greenhouse because oh, I'm just here so I won't get fined. That's your attitude coming in here. And you like you never know who you're talking to. Like, if you don't know this person personally, like don't just go around saying anything because you don't know who these people know, you don't know who they're connected to, who they're related to. And that's where Chelsea effed up.

SPEAKER_02 12:36

And then it was the point that when it was looked into, like there was no fault, like it was brushed under the rug, like she was trying not like the hospital cleared her.

SPEAKER_00 12:47

And then had the nerve to award this help.

SPEAKER_02 12:58

Cool, that's how we're gonna play it. Then I got you. Like, and then that's why that's how you ended up the work, because you went at a hard. I said, How did you how did you come up with that? Because that was gruesome.

SPEAKER_00 13:15

I because first of all, let me preface it by saying I knew that the coyotes were excessive, like I knew the story could have been just fine without it, but that dress just was not enough for what she did, or what she what I say, like what she didn't do.

SPEAKER_02 13:38

So and you took a big part of somebody's life, like you took like it in the best part of you know, so yeah, that dress, it was like that was my my favorite part of the book, making that dress and coming up with that idea. Um, what did it did you just think of that? Because how did you like how did her whole demise come? Like, did you just didn't you say you wrote this in eight days? Or the fact that you thought about this in eight days, like did you get any inspiration from anywhere, or it's just like showed to you?

SPEAKER_00 14:15

Like first of all, I'll say I was having a manic episode when I wrote that book. Like when I like when I'm in mania, I'm hyper-vigilant on one thing typically. Um, like I'm just hyper-focused on it, and orchid was that. So as far as that idea, I knew I didn't want to just crush the plant up in food or drop it in a drink or something that's expected. So I'm like typical murder. Yeah, so how can I use what ORCID is good at, incorporate it with these plants? So that's how I came up with that idea because she's an artist, you know, artists are typically stylish. Um, so she's not just a painter, she's not just a botanist, she doesn't just draw like she uses all forms of art, including, you know, making clothes. So that's the one that stuck out to me um and had the potential to be the most creative.

SPEAKER_02 15:23

She definitely was creative because I said, do you know the thought process that had to go into this for her to from the dress like to plan that out?

SPEAKER_00 15:33

Yeah, but Chelsea asked for it because she's like, Oh, who made your clothes? Can you make me a dress? And that was just that was like the stars aligned for Orchid when she approached her with that. She was like, Yeah, girl, I'll make you one.

SPEAKER_02 15:54

And then the friends, Kiera and was it Zakia? Zakia, where I get Khadija from the Lord. Well, I was for the side, where did I get that from? Her friends. Where do these friends come from? Do they are they characteristics of any of your friends?

SPEAKER_00 16:13

Or yes, uh, Kiera is actually um my mentor. Um, so like the name and parts of like the personality, parts of the personality um is real. And then the kid is a reader of mine, and I kind of pulled from her characteristics and you know, her personality too. So the totality of them and their characters in the book is not all um real. I do have to like embellish and fictionalize some things, you know, for the sake of the story.

SPEAKER_02 16:50

Oh man, I just wondered like, would they be like down for her if they found out wouldn't that be something? Cause at first they were kind of like, you don't find that suspicious that like she got, and I was just like, are y'all her friends or what?

SPEAKER_01 17:08

Because yeah, stop exiling questions, shut up, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:12

Like that is a pretty big coincidence, but ain't nobody else gonna do it. Orky is gonna hold herself down, honey. Like you didn't even like you didn't talk to her or you didn't best just keep his mouth closed. And how you a bad liar?

SPEAKER_01 17:33

How are you?

SPEAKER_00 17:35

How because she's she's an honest girl, like she don't like to lie, she don't like to do bad things, but Orchid gets provoked, whether directly or indirectly, and she handles it how she sees fit, but she doesn't go into it with the intention of harming people. She's justified in my eyes, you know, all of it was.

SPEAKER_03 18:06

She justified care. Innocent. Justified.

SPEAKER_02 18:15

And then I said, I feel like what really got her was that receipt. And I and I said, I wonder what would have happened if she would have just stayed and like she didn't know anything, or is that what pieced it because were there any was there any other evidence? Because I was like, is this what really drew it? That one interaction, that one it was it's crazy because I was like, it was something so small that drew that blew this whole thing up, and I'm just like, is it the what ifs? Like, what if you just went to your afterwards? You went, burn, threw all your stuff away.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

Just a measly old receipt that felt you know what? If that had not been a thing, like had she not dropped a receipt and lifted, we wouldn't have gotten the story that we got. So, and I think that kind of also plays into how um Exodus took that and tracked our ass down because that's all he had.

Exodus And The Cost Of Justice

SPEAKER_02 19:29

Can we talk about Exodus? Can we talk about Exodus? We can talk about him because I have mixed. Because I'm like, okay, on one hand, I understand where he was coming from because he kind of wanted he wanted justice and he was on the side of right, and then on the other hand, I'm like, he oh boy was trash, he was a trash bag, like he was straight trash. Did you not know that? And then for you to be in your position, you didn't know that. Like, did his girlfriend or why did she ever report it? Because you just automatically assume because he could have been she had brothers or cousins or a daddy that could have.

SPEAKER_00 20:14

It was just him, and yeah, you know, you can say that he wanted to get justice for Josh, and I get that, but you see what happened when you try to get justice, you just mind your business.

SPEAKER_02 20:32

That's why I was like, I I understand him wanting to get him because of who he was to him. Yeah, I was like, okay, I I understand it, but at the same time Exodus, he just got caught up and he wasn't prepared for that.

SPEAKER_00 20:49

Like, nobody trains you for that, you know. So he got caught up, and well, Orchid did too, because she did, you know, she did like him and all those type of things.

SPEAKER_02 21:04

But I had high hope. One thing about y'all thriller artists is we don't know what the for there is no formula. There is no, there is no, like, literally, there is no formula, it can go either way, and then it could be a not happy ending, but it's still a happy ending, but it's left unresolved, and like you know how in dark romance there's a conflict, they get together, they talk it out, and then they end up getting back in the end, and then they'd be the end of it. Like, we know the the sequence, the order, but with y'all thrill authors, you never know which way we're going.

SPEAKER_00 21:46

How do y'all know which way y'all going? Sometimes we do, sometimes we don't. Um, because I I typically write my books from the end, so I need to know how the story. Ends before I can start writing the beginning. Um, so I knew that this book wasn't gonna be like a traditional happily ever after in the romance sense, but I always knew that Orchid was gonna get her peace one way or another because that's all she wanted. That is all she wanted. Um, through every chapter, every incident, that's all she wanted was peace. She literally kept preserving her peace. But I was like, at the end of this book, she's gonna have her peace one way or another, and it was it was a lot of work getting there, but she got it.

SPEAKER_02 22:46

The fact that you wrote this from the back forward, yeah. That was gonna be one of my questions. Did you know how it was gonna end before? I was gonna ask, did you do you write alternate endings? But the fact that you wrote it from the ending, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:04

I have to know how the story ends. And granted, like a lot of it changed once it went to editing and stuff like that. So um I had to minimize some scenes, I had to expand some scenes, I had to um make some characters bigger just to support the ending that I wanted, but um, yeah, I definitely had to know how it ended before I could write that first sentence in the beginning.

SPEAKER_03 23:33

Do you have a lot of beta readers?

SPEAKER_01 23:36

Nope.

SPEAKER_00 23:37

I have one, and that is no, one or two, one or two um trusted people that I'll send it to just to kind of see like you feel like I'm going in a good direction, um, or just simply what do you think? Um, I have one pen sister as a beta reader, and then I just have like a reader, so I kind of get feedback from both um perspectives, from a writer's perspective and a reader's perspective. And to me, that's all I need. I don't need a bunch of beta readers or anything like that. And that's you know, not to sound cocky or anything, but I trust my talent and I trust the two people that I send my work to, and that's that's good enough for me.

SPEAKER_02 24:27

The fact that this was eight days with two beta two better readers, yeah. Kind of speechless right now because it was so freaking good, and matter of fact, and then to learn that one of your favorite books was written in eight days with two bad readers.

SPEAKER_00 24:49

Yes, thank you. I worked day and night. I'm talking about forgetting to eat, sleeping for two and three hours just to get back up and write it. Like I did a lot um to write the book, and then I'm like, okay, well, this book is too good to just be a typical release, so I had to build an experience behind it, and I'm proud of what I did, and here we are, you know, almost a year later, still talking about it. So still talking about it.

SPEAKER_02 25:22

Yeah, were there any characters that were really hard to write, or were there any difficult things that you kind of had a hard time getting through?

SPEAKER_00 25:32

Um, yes. Exodus was a little tough for me to write because I I typically don't write from the male perspective a lot. So I didn't want it to sound like oh, this is a a female writer writing a male's character. Like, so that was a little difficult. Um, and of course, like Granny, because I miss her so much. Um, but yeah, those two were the the hardest or the most difficult.

SPEAKER_02 26:12

The most difficult. Oh man. What's one of your favorite memories? Um, just off the top, what's one of your favorite memories that you can think of your grandmother right now?

SPEAKER_00 26:26

Sitting like at the foot of her bed, and just hearing her, you know, telling me how proud she was of me after I left to go to the military because she didn't want me to go. And she raised me, you know, I lived with her and all of these things, and she didn't want me to go. And I just remember coming home um like on leave and just sitting at the foot of her bed and just hearing her, you know, say that she was proud of me for something that she like initially didn't even want me to do. So that's one like one of the last.

SPEAKER_03 27:12

That was one of the last memories, the last good memories that I had of her. Oh man. Yep. And look at Irene living all through your stories.

SPEAKER_00 27:31

Yes, that's my girl, that's my baby.

New Work Love And War

SPEAKER_02 27:34

So are we working on anything now?

SPEAKER_00 27:38

You know, aside from like all of the fanfare with um the anniversary edition of this book, I am still working with my pen sisters on the license to thrill event that's happening next month. Um, so if y'all ain't got y'all tickets, get your tickets. And I'm also working on a um a military thriller. So those are the two top priorities right now.

SPEAKER_03 28:09

A military thriller?

SPEAKER_00 28:12

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 28:15

I have never heard of a military thriller.

SPEAKER_00 28:19

Yes, I have to like I have to pull from my personal experiences to get these stories out. Um, so I write what I know and I write what I good at. I did a lot of years in the military and I want to talk about it. So I know that's right. Uh-huh. Have you actively started writing? Oh, yeah, the books, like it's actually a re-release. Um, it's called Love and War. So, but I took it down because um I'm heavily rewriting it, I'm adding some stuff, I'm subtracting some stuff, and I really wanted to reflect like where I am now as a writer, like my growth as a writer, because it was good, you know, when it first came out a few years ago, but I'm like, okay, I done learned some things now. So let's let's show that. So I went back to that story, and man, I'm so I'm so proud of how well um it's coming along. So it's halfway done, and that was actually supposed to be um a licensed to thrill exclusive, but writer's block hit, and I'm like, okay, well, shit, what am I gonna do now? And that's where the idea for the anniversary edition of Orchid came from. So it was yeah, I don't know what that was about, but I'm glad it worked out that way. Everything happened for a reason. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 29:53

When writer's block hit, how do you work through it? Do you just go to another task or do you have like certain exercises or you know what is that process?

SPEAKER_00 30:06

I don't even know if I can work through it. Um, it's lately I've learned like when it hits, you kind of just gotta ride the wave, you gotta let it do what it's gonna do. You know, I'll try to go back into it and um maybe push myself and like, okay, well, maybe if I write for like 30 minutes, that'll help me do something. It doesn't. So I've just learned to sit it right there, leave it alone, and just go do something else until I'm inspired to write again because when I force myself to do something, like I don't produce good work, um, at least not for my standard. So yeah, I don't know if I can work through writer's block at this point. I just like when it comes to me, it comes to me.

SPEAKER_02 30:58

Just let it run its course. Are there any, I know writing thrillers, especially black thrillers. This is certain stuff black people uh certain stuff black people don't do. Yeah, are there like any stereotypes that you try to stay away from when writing your thrillers? Oh, that's a good thing. Are any tropes or that you try to steer clear of or not where it's so cliche?

SPEAKER_00 31:24

Well, I don't like to like I don't like to minimize struggles, I don't like to minimize traumas, and I know you know there's this thing about oh, I don't want to read about black trauma. Well, there's such thing as, you know, black trauma, but I don't want to like make a mockery of those things, so I'm very careful um about the way that I write about certain things. Um tropes that I stay away from, like I'm not a romance writer. Um, as you can see with Exodus and Orchid, like I'm not a romance writer. So romance, like I'm I tend to stay away from that because that's just not my ministry. Uh but yeah, anything else is pretty much uh fair game except like the dark stuff, like the dark stuff, incest, abuse of children, things like that. Like I I don't do that. Um, but anything else is fair game.

SPEAKER_02 32:43

So we don't know taboo, but I will say the romance you said romance is not your ministry, but the chemistry between Exodus and the market, it was I don't know now.

SPEAKER_00 32:57

Well, that's because I wanted y'all to be like this, so I knew where it was going, but I wanted to give y'all a little bit of false hope.

SPEAKER_02 33:10

So yeah, I thought the chemistry was gonna be enough to I'm so sorry, y'all. I'm sorry. I was like, we lost the loved one, but okay, we're gonna get past this, we're gonna leave it at the blue moon, the blue the that you become.

SPEAKER_00 33:39

I just I just wanted to give y'all some hope. So like that's my take on romance and bodied. You read body that's the most romance y'all gonna get out of me. That's the most romance, and I thought I'm like, I know I don't write romance, but that is some good romance. That was tragic romance here. Romance nonetheless, right? No, no, we so we can we don't expect like no happy ending romance like your actually being very happy at the end of those, like they are very happy at the end of these stories. If that's not a happily ever after, I don't know what is here, please.

SPEAKER_02 34:43

I'm serious, you said you tried to keep a straight face. Do you ever think of expanding on any of those stories from body? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:57

Um what is the name of that story? I know Charlie is the main character, a woman scorned. I would love to expand on that or judgment day. The one with um wait, who were these people? Kyrie and Xander.

SPEAKER_01 35:24

Was that's not the one from the trunk or the car? Wait. Who was in the trunk? I put somebody in a trunk, too. Wait, was that what somebody was coaxed into who trunk? Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00 35:35

I know, yeah. So that's um, I really gotta do a better job at remembering what I write. You write so much. Okay, that was a woman scoring. That was Charlie. They were at the football field, those are the college kids, the Trump thing, right? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:00

Are we and we're calling that a happy ending? Charlie was very happy. But what about the fella? The the little fella.

SPEAKER_00 36:12

The fella is no more, so see what I mean happy nor sad, so he's just content. She was kind of justified. She was justified. Because you don't do that, that's not nice. You don't do that to people.

SPEAKER_02 36:29

So, is that one of the ones you were thinking of expanding on?

SPEAKER_00 36:32

Mm-hmm. Just to give like more um, it wouldn't be a prequel, but what led up to that moment? So, yeah, I think that would that would be fun. But I'm gonna tell you right now, Lex, you're not about to talk me into you're not about to talk me into it because I know how y'all like to get and I'm falling for it.

SPEAKER_02 37:01

It's you was you was flowing, like I felt good though. I felt it coming to you.

SPEAKER_00 37:08

I already wrote it anyway, but I'm not putting it out. Like, that's what's that little mean?

SPEAKER_02 37:16

What's that little mean more please?

SPEAKER_00 37:20

Yeah, like I have um I got enough to like release that as a standalone, but it's just not a priority right now. I'm trying to get y'all to license the thrill. I'm trying to get y'all some love and war, you know.

SPEAKER_02 37:43

See how she does because she don't want to open up a Patreon and let us pay for it.

SPEAKER_00 37:48

I love y'all, I love y'all. I do. But yeah, if you think what you read was bad, girl, I don't know what to tell you about the about what's in the vault.

SPEAKER_02 38:05

Now we got more in the vault.

SPEAKER_00 38:08

Yeah, it's the whole arsenal back there on my laptop. It's so much stuff, it's ridiculous.

SPEAKER_02 38:17

Do we have anything else dropping this year?

SPEAKER_00 38:21

Oh no, y'all got the best of me last year. And I was like, yeah, I think, well, I didn't intentionally, like, it wasn't my intention to take the entire year off. Um, like I said, I was supposed to debut the re-release of Love and War at License to Thrill, but when Writer's Block hit, I'm like, well, if I can't write this book, I ain't gonna be able to write another book. But I need to stay on y'all's mind. So I did the whole anniversary edition, and now I'm just not releasing a new book this year. It's so sad. Bobby back next year, very early next year.

SPEAKER_02 39:04

Is that when we're expecting little more? Mm-hmm. Early part of next year, or like very early.

SPEAKER_00 39:11

Like here's an exclusive, hopefully February, because you know, love.

SPEAKER_02 39:20

Oh, that'll be here in no time and the wait time flying by.

SPEAKER_00 39:24

Yeah, yeah. So that's the goal. I only got the last half of the book to write.

SPEAKER_04 39:35

That's gonna be good.

SPEAKER_03 39:37

That's gonna be good now.

License To Thrill And The Book Box

SPEAKER_03 39:39

License to thrill.

SPEAKER_02 39:41

Yes, like any special editions that's gonna be available, any new covers, sprayed edges.

SPEAKER_00 39:51

So, yes. Um, it's actually like an updated cover, just a slightly different variation of the original cover. It's gonna be um hardcover. Um, the book box that I got with it is like all of the items are completely different from the last one. Very intentional, you know, very immersive. And I built a virtual escape room to give you guys an epilogue for orchid, so yeah, special edition.

SPEAKER_03 40:32

Wait, what? A virtual escape room, uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 40:40

I do this because I love y'all, and I appreciate y'all so I'm like, we appreciate you, honey.

SPEAKER_02 40:50

I can't wait, and it's it's literally next month, yeah. It came so fast, it came so fast.

SPEAKER_00 40:58

I remember when we were six months out, nine months out, thinking that we just got all the time in the world. No, baby, we got a little bit over 30 days, but I'm excited. I'm excited to meet um like the authors and the readers that I haven't met before. Um, I'm excited for y'all to see what we got for y'all. It's gonna be a good time. Now, is this you guys' first event? As a group, yes. As a okay. Um, we were just getting like or seeing a lot of questions surrounding, you know, we need a thriller event. Like, there's all these romance and fantasy events, like we need a thriller event, and we're like, who better than us to put this on, especially for um indie authors and indie thriller authors and black authors and black female authors. So we are niche in almost every sense of the of the word, so that's why it was important for us to highlight people like us. So it'll be all black indie thriller authors there, and we are very proud of that.

SPEAKER_02 42:11

Um so like it's literally history in the making. I'm excited, I'm so excited, and to meet everybody.

SPEAKER_00 42:18

I cannot wait. Um, I just hope that I won't be like too nervous that I kind of fade to the back of the room, but I am excited to meet everybody. It's gonna be a good time.

SPEAKER_02 42:31

Now, are you gonna be able to are you gonna be like in what do they call it? Um in the mode to where you can't, where you're gonna be running around, or are you still gonna be able to get to enjoy?

SPEAKER_00 42:43

No, we're gonna have like a most of us are bringing assistance. Um, we also have like volunteers, so we have like event staff um so that we can be present, you know, for you guys and not having to do so much. And if we do, like it's gonna be beforehand, before you know the the doors open, so that we're not distracted and the readers can have like a seamless experience um at the event.

SPEAKER_02 43:20

I'm so excited, like especially since y'all gonna be able to interact and you won't be so busy with you know.

SPEAKER_00 43:28

Oh yeah, and I like I didn't realize like how much work it takes to put on an event. So I applaud the people who do this year after year on these much larger scales because I'm like, all right, I'm going and done. Like, wait, this is nice, it's gonna be great, but this is a lot, it's so much, it's so much work, but I know that it's also gonna.

SPEAKER_02 44:00

be very rewarding don't give me because what have are have y'all already started talking about the next one no this is just me it's just me is this is a lot of work so much work i can only imagine i can only imagine i just want to write lex i just i just want to write but you you've been called to do so much stuff clearly i receive it lord but you know maybe if it was like if i just had one thing to focus on at a time that would be fine but that's that's not what the lord wanted me to have and i feel like this is just a beginning like this is preparing you for the next big phase that's coming thank you thank you for saying that i received that i do and then you still are working like actively working around because are because we're are we a full-time author yes so this is this is it like i i don't go to work outside my house i have a bedroom that i converted into an office so that's where i do my work for myself that's where i do my work for other authors and things like that so this is it if another author wanted to connect with you how would they get in touch with you um another author I'm assuming would be for author services they could go to my website um thecareandjames.com um I have a list of author services that I offered there um or if not my like my DMs are open like I'm I'm pretty late back when it comes to you know people reaching out to me about work so please come and we're the here look at me I I want to say the Kieran James I was gonna say are we the Kira and James across all yes except um Facebook it's just Kira and James on Facebook but it's anywhere else just the Kira and James that's it are there any other events besides license to thrill that we'll be seeing you at before the end of the year I'm trying to I'm gonna try to get outside a little more in these literary streets so I did sign up for um kinfolk lit and there's this um other event that I got my eyes on the TBR weekend um that's gonna be in North Carolina I want to say oh you're gonna put some miles on it yeah I'm not far from North Carolina a couple of hours from there but um I think Kenfolk is gonna be in Indiana so I'm gonna have to hop on a plane for that because 10 hours is crazy to drive not doing it not doing it so are you just attending or are you going to be a vendor or Arthur like set up an art thing?

SPEAKER_00 47:28

Uh-huh yep so you're about to be out here these streets next year 2020 because I'll be seeing all these events and I'm like oh it would have been nice to be there and then I'm just like well why didn't you sign up then? And that's just the whole back and forth thing. So I was like okay I'm gonna be very you know attentional next year about signing up for more events.

SPEAKER_02 47:54

So also when does the special edition book boxes drop? Are they available now for pre-order or how are we gonna go about getting one? Yes so um the anniversary edition book boxes um are available for pre-order to the public starting today um you can get those on my website um thecareandjames.com um it comes with the of course the collectible book box it's so pretty I can't wait for y'all to see it I'll drop that the picture of that later today um the hardcover with like full color two-page spread interior um it comes like with an acrylic stand in the shape of the greenhouse um it comes with an exclusive orchid t-shirt um coloring book with the images from the story acrylic markers um I feel like I'm missing something tumblr bookmark the virtual escape room it's a lot I can't even name it all but I worked hard to make it really special for you guys and it is available only via pre-order so once the pre-order window closes that's it and when does the when does the how how long is the window so the window is until what is it next month sometime next month um but I'll be sure to post that date as well so you have to make sure that you are following to keep up yes yes yes if you join my Facebook group they get the details first um my Facebook group is the co-conspirators um reading group Kier I thank you for joining us today thank you for having me this was nice it was fun it was I'm gonna have to go in and put that we got mild spoilers but nothing to where they can't enjoy the story yeah they'll still enjoy it we didn't get down too deep into it we didn't we just broke down the little characters really granny and what did we say we was gonna get a little um a little what is I be pushing it I was gonna say what we say we was gonna have a backstory on granny what kind of what kind of little snippet we was going you know what Lake you be trying to talk me into stuff but I know your tricks you know my tricks I know your tricks don't don't put nothing in my head because once that I do get there it gets to spinning and it gets to yapping until I'm just like okay we'll start turning please start turning I have a big thing do we have a Patreon do you have a Patreon I don't even know if I know what that is you know when they have the the authors been going where you can um pay for the story kind of like these read reading app things and you pay for is it like uh exclusive content and videos and stuff oh man I got plenty of stuff I could do for a Patreon yep and some of them are as low as like five dollars or you could pay for the story outright you know what exclusive content and stuff you know you got one I don't well I'll tell you what if you set mine up then wait a minute I'm not gonna play with this lady compromise let me call April let me call God please no honey I he tried to get in trouble let me call April because April gonna whoop you into shape I know it so please don't call her that's what we're gonna call April I love me some April that's my girl my girl I was gonna say what it's Saturday this week went by so dang on fast lord knows it did because yesterday was just Tuesday to me and now we just came out for Labor Day because I was still telling people happy Monday on on that Tuesday because the rest of Labor Day it really it really messed me up because I had to go pick up um some of the things some of the cards to go in the boxes from FedEx my local FedEx I get there all bright eyed and bushy tail and Lord the day gone place is closed because it's Labor Day and I'm like nobody thought to tell me it was Labor Day just changed it I could just see you pulling up just as happy and no I was because I'm like oh my god these are gonna be so pretty in print I cannot wait to get home and laminate them and I get there and my dreams are crushed because it's just like that's real tragic I went back and got them the next day though that was fine so they were open the next day yeah they were open the next day dang you had to wait a whole day I know I don't like that because it was Labor Day I forgot I I don't know how I forgot that but I don't want to try so is there anything else that we need to know we talked about the anniversary box we talked about license to thrill oh you know what how should they prepare is there anything that needs to be done for them to prepare for license to thrill well you know the murder mystery dinner party is Friday the theme is old Hollywood so if you are into dressing up costumes and things of that nature you can come you know dressed as an old Hollywood character I don't have an example for you maybe Harlem Knight um that type of aesthetic um come prepared to have a good time come with an appetite do we know what we're eating because we're gonna feed you because you know I like to eat me too gonna be a boot truck some catering um come prepared and just just come prepared for a room full of thriller authors I don't know how you prepare for that but just do it should they have you know I see at other events where they show the type of rolling bags is there a specification um or a special bag that they should have to prepare if they wanted to stock up on books you know I think for the accomplished and mastermind ticket holders we are actually providing bags oh okay yeah but I mean you're more than welcome to bring your own bag the rolling ones the big hope bag or I think that's what it's called um the rolly ones we don't discriminate just bring enough bring something big enough to house all your books that you want because it's gonna be plenty plenty of authors there plenty of you know tables to choose from so yeah well then there you have it again we thank you for joining us today thank you for having me and we hope you have the most amazing creative day thank you I'm off today I ain't doing no work today you ain't doing no work today I still I um I got work to do today I was supposed to have two more interviews but I have one more interview and then I told somebody that they can come in for a um an actual sponsor so look at me I feel real productive I'm up early off you look yeah today is it's gonna be a great day I can feel it I'm gonna look into you a Patreon because we want these stories she got real quiet yeah we're gonna let her go because she got real quiet when I said I'm gonna make this Patreon so she can give us these stores or it may have been our connection but make sure that you are following Lakes Between the Lines and Kira and James on Facebook TikTok and Instagram and until next time thank you for tuning in