Books & Bites-Author Judy Lannon @Naukabout

what saraphina and I were in a entrepreneurial book club where Stephanie never read the right book and Steph was terrible at this book I really Su at book club I did not fabulous I'm what I just had a visual just had a visual proud of it hello and welcome we've got our books and bites here at knockabout good morning good Sunday morning to everybody welcome into our show I'm so excited to have Judy lanon in with us today thanks get close to that microphone and let's chat if you can slide up right exactly I'm like got to Jack her microphone up and let's have a conversation so I don't even know how we got connected but I was so glad that we did we started doing books and bites in January so once a month we have a local author on to just talk about what they're doing and then you had a new book that was coming out yes I had it's my second book actually and you know I lost all um all sense of of shame I just like talk talk to anybody call anybody ask anybody if they'll help me promote the book so somebody recommended knock about Brewery yay and then one thing led to another and you and I connected I love it uh talk to me about losing that shame well um even if you have an editor you still have to promote your own books I mean Prince Harry was out spping around isn't that wild so it was a complete shock to me after um the first book nine days was published um so I used to be the kind of person who would be quietly walking into a bookstore and meekly say hi um I just published a book now I'm just out there saying I love that you're talking about this because you're not alone we have a lot of fabulous authors here on the cape and getting yourself into a bookstore getting your book to be seen and finding your audience um you kind of get thrown to the Wolves a little bit with your editors absolutely um they don't do it I guess maybe years ago they used to do that for you but not now um as I said you know there's Prince Harry out slepping around so that's we have to do as authors no matter who we are um I mean look at Ellen hildbrand yeah she is super famous yeah and I happened to see her book signing um uh list and she was like all over Southern Massachusetts and I'm like even at that stage of the game absolutely because she's always in the hustle to to meet her um listeners her readers her people where they are and to get new readers of course so um so I'm just I'm on the ground I'm below the you're not you're out here you're out here doing it and you've got a new book which I'm really excited about it so talk to me about geneveve and this character and and maybe maybe we begin at the beginning what made you want to write books I didn't okay okay all right I've never really aspired to write a book I mean like so what was your first life um I was in um um um Consulting so I've had you know kind of a varied uh employment okay little of this little of that a little of that and so back in um February of 2020 I ran into a person I hadn't seen in about a year okay my mother had passed away the year before pandemic starts yep um but this woman was giving me her condolences and I did my usual you know she was old she had a great life and um she was telling me that no she was dealing with her dad who had early onset Alzheimer's and so I said to her well make sure he's got a will this is what my mom did for us and I gave her all of the um all of the Practical minutia and she just looked terrified yeah so I started to tell her some funny things because funny stuff happens even if you're dying well I like that you're you're talking about that because it is you have to find the humor in the situation because there is funny stuff no matter what no matter what y you know so when I was leaving she yelled back at me you should write a book and like how many times have somebody said that or thought about it or how many times have you said it well it was like I got hit over the head listen sell I can drink on the job I'm at knockabout that's what we do here by the way I've got Knockin Boots this is our ladies Brew thank you very much to the pink boot Society all ladies brewed this beer and I absolutely you must it's very good low ABV so you feel like it's very drinkable it's not extra so here you are you're having this conversation in February of 2020 with this person that you're trying to make who's giving you condolences and you're trying to just crack jokes yeah right because it's awkward yeah it was it was weird it's weird to say oh I'm sorry for your loss whatever any it's an uncomfortable space I wound up um getting my AC together and I published the book in um 2022 and that was nine days that was nine days yeah the one so this is how do I do that well whatever this is um well we'll hold him here oh nine days oh you're a professional here it is so let's talk about nine days you never aspired to be an author here you are writing this book where did nine days come from from the conversation with that woman okay so I decided I I was like what am I gonna write so I started to write about the nine days that I actually spent with my mother at K Cod hospital that's heavy but from there I was like well this is boring and so because you know you're sitting there for nine days Waiting for the End waiting for the end so I made up a family I invented jev's family wow and um there's four kids four adult kids and they're they're all got lots of baggage and um they come home with all of their baggage and their opinions to um decide what to do with jenev even though jenev their mother has already decided she's covered it all she's she's good so that's what the book is about um and in the end it's actually about family you know so there's a lot of funny stuff there's some there's sad stuff yeah they drink a lot to through um can I have a beer please right I know Cliff can we get a pink boots for Judy yes um so so that's so in the end um they come together as a family and Men fences but not 100% well that's normal family stuff I feel like that brings a family death brings families together um for the good or bad part too but um so then fast forward I started doing book clubs and and author speaking events and people were like what the heck was with Genevie what made her tick and um I decided I needed to give her a voice yeah so I did and I wrote that and that just came out in February of this year thanks so much right cheers cheers to the new book thanks so Genevie has her nine days and then you said it's not a sequel or a prequel it's just kind of part of her story it's her story okay um the reason I say it's not a perfect prequel or sequel is because I have I have the geneves family living in a different place okay I just decided I wanted to do that but it's nice because that like peaks of Life yep wherever it is and it is happening so that's kind of neat so you know I kept them in in the general vicinity but um and it's more about Genevie it's not so much about K it's about Genevie who has been described as a pitbull um a pretty very pretty pitbull I love pitbulls by the way so I do I do I love nothing to do with that um she's tough she is tough and she has her life planned out for her at the age of 16 she's living on um beach in uh Newport Rhode Island she's living a great life and Life Starts knocking her down and it continues to knock her down and she she just keeps getting back up I love the story I was reading little excerpts from your book and it just I don't know for my mom went to salv so I spent a lot of time in the Newport area and it just it really it made me laugh cuz it was like a little bit of the Newport mansion Hy toyy asers mixed in with like regular gritty regular life yeah right right right the locals it was a good cross-section of these two it's very Cod even though it was Newport so and I did that intentionally I didn't want to do Cape Cod because I could get run out run out of town yeah right they don't know me in Newport Judy by the way lives in Orleans just in case you wanted to know where on the cave where is she I know you so so that's how it came to be and you know I was blown away by nine days because it just started winning Awards that's incredible I was like what what what um and it won I think the one I'm most proud of is first place in the New York City big book award amazing but it is in the death and dying category well I mean yeah I know but if you're GNA be good at something Judy in death and dying I guess listen it is a fact it is a part of life yes it is whether we like it or not it's coming for all of us so it's something that needs to be addressed and I might think that that is a really nice tool for people to use to just cope with the situation maybe oh I agree and I've met so many people who have read nine days like at different book clubs that I do that say that was my mother or that was what I went through that was my brother or my sister oh she's so my mother it's not even funny I was like I don't everybody's like you know right and but I think what I loved really the most was um there's an author um who read nine days and she did a beautiful review but then she emailed me privately and said thank you for writing this because I don't feel alone anymore how incredible is that to have accolades and just notes of praise and thanks from other authors I know yeah like they're the worst critics it's your people right right right right people in your industry are awful it's like me when I listen to the radio I'm like oh God they're awful my husband's like why do you listen to that if exactly but when they do something nice it's really nice that they reached out and praised you like that's wonderful that um that helped because you know as a as a person with no experience I was kind of like what what am I doing you know did I do this what what have I done right what have I created what have I created what is this so with the making of Genevie it was kind of like the second kid it doesn't get the attention that the first one got like the that's a really good explanation of book to yeah right like this nine days had a had was with a a publisher um you were also pouring out your trauma into that yeah some of it I mean there's you know I there's it's your coping trauma whether it's like real or imagined like this is where you were at this time you need to know what you write yeah you know um and then with the making of Genevie I self-published so genv did not get the attention that nine days got but um it it it won an award within two months that's amazing so somebody's watching you know I think that that's really important for any of our authors any of our artists any of our people that are creators in the space where you feel like you're alone and no one's listening to this and why am I making this but there are people out there right right exactly you know and you know there are people who say well I just write for myself and I don't yeah I love that I don't it's brutal real honesty yeah like like yeah I don't you know I I want these books to sell and I want people to read them and you know I want to just get know better so talk to me about your second child please this brand new baby that we birthed so um she's difficult ult to say the least um and I just I just decided like I said to give her a voice and I just started writing about her and um I just decided to make her as powerful eccentric narcissistic beautiful and also vulnerable yeah she never shows that to the world yeah um jennif is a horrible big bad but we love her we love her and you know I I said to some after they read the stle and I was like do you like her any better and she said no like well you know now watch you like the horrible person there's something about that character yeah because it's real right I mean she didn't beat her kids you know she kind person you're exposing her warts and all and you're it's just out there so you you know there's not this tremendous love for this character but also it's a Fascination maybe yes right I mean she could cut you down you know there's one scene in um nine days where one of her children had mentioned a book that that he had read and it was a very simple I read da da and her response was oh my God you know what is wrong with you that was the worst book I ever read and you're crazy to have liked that mother of the year 100% yes that's amazing now when you approached this book why like why did you feel like it needed the story needed more explanation was it because yeah because you're like okay well I did this and now sales are flat and now I need more to the story was it purely a a financial situation was it like I'm going to make this my job or was it because there's more to tell I got to do this I think number one it was because people were asking me what is up with gener yeah because you can't ever just write one no one's ever happy with that we want more right so that is why I wrote the second book okay um you know people have asked as me to write uh a book about more about the kids from nine days and um that would be really hard for me to tackle I can't I haven't wrapped my head around that yeah but who knows you know it might happen um I've already started a third book which has nothing to do with this family I don't know whether that's a mistake or not but I I don't care well you've left this with a lot of Runway well you know they're a lot of legs yes yes and somebody just finished it and said I don't want to lose this family and I was like well you're like but I do I'm tired of them those damn awesome they exhaust me right right right so um so the third book is is completely different and we'll see um we'll see what people think of it and I I'm not in any rush to get it done as you just said you know is this my job I guess it is I don't work anymore um but um I'm also not the kind of person that gets up at say 7 o'clock in the morning has my coffee and goes into my office and writes for four hours that is not me at all I get ideas in the car and you know they just come to me yeah um and some I remember to write down isn't that the worst where you just like I had it all mapped out everything was done and then you wake up the next day and you're like I don't know what I was yesterday about last night yeah I know that's that's really um I hate that like I had my breakthrough moment it's gone now right um so I've learned to like pick up my phone and yes make notes on it yes and I look at the notes and say who is she yeah what does this say so um so so we'll see um I mean I never thought I'd write I never thought I'd write one book I never thought I'd write two books so now I'm gonna say I've never thought I'll write three books but I might so what about the awards process when you're putting yourself juice submit yourself do you okay you submit so you submit their contests and you pay to to um apply and fortunately there's a website um called Rey R dsy they are a plethora of information for authors and they will tell you what are legitimate contests and what are scams okay like so for example let's just say it cost $100 to enter a contest their attitude is it shouldn't yeah um and what all right but but then what are you going to get for that $100 I think that this is really good to talk about because uh no matter what industry you're in there's always a pay for playay level up your situation and a lot of the times it is just a scam yeah right and a lot of the times you're just finding yourself in this pyramid of other people that take take take from you don't build you up and don't build you up and um so the few that I've entered are legitimate hi Lauren good morning and thanks for joining us um rezy has recommended them so and and then I'll reach out to I've met a lot of author friends and I'll say hey I really want to come to California I was I want to do that book fair see I like this community aspect and you know my friend in La went don't you know it's it's terrible that's nice though to stop you from making poor decisions or dumping your energy and your money yeah I mean yeah it's a write off but boy when I do the the numbers um of what I take in and what I take out I mean I have to buy every one of these books that's what I'm saying You' started your own small business on yourself yes um so I definitely this is why we started books and bites because as you know uh by the way Judy and I connected in a former life somewhere with her daughter and it's just really funny now we're full circle another Stephanie that I've known um it's just really really funny to have this conversation when you're in business for yourself and you really have to sit down and look at the numbers you know our first year second year third year like what is worth what is worth our energy money time commitment exposure exhaustion and it is exhausting I could sit at my computer five days a week all day long promoting promoting 100% without being obnoxious right I wrote an article for um an online women's magazine and it was about that how to balance promoting and not having people crossed to the other side of the I would love for you to drop that article in this chat afterwards if you can because I really think that that is valuable information for people because I know a lot of I work with eforall I graduated from eal but now I'm also a mentor uh my daughter is even pitching e forl for her small little business and she's 17 right it's like it's very incredible and I find it really empowering to see people being where they are and accepting that this is like I'm not driven to do the everyday day-to-day thing right but there is a balance in the self-promotion and your self-care when you are your brand yeah and it's hard it's hard because you know I just want to like Shake people and say buy it read it spread the word and and you can't do that yeah I tried no I did not no but I I really it it made me smile a little bit at your apprehension when I invited you and you're like what's the cost and I was like there's no cost just come right right I I was because basically you pay for everything I know I know and that was why we designed this and thank you very much to Pete and Meg mner owners here of knockabout who are always constantly and they're great beer yeah right I know us lady I was part of this I turned on the water this is this is what I did for this brw hi kids make sure you check out Judy's books over here making geneveve is her new book you just won the firebird award what is that yes that's um best in women's uh fiction for 2024 it's an international award and I came in first that's so incredible cuz you put yourself out there you're like I'm I'm doing this and I like the firebird book Wards because they are um your um entry fee is they're a nonprofit and your entry fee goes to supporting um women and children um of a lower income amazing and they put together um like care packages for them with that money that's amazing yeah so that's you know that's a feel-good one for sure I think that that's also when you're doing your philanthropic moments to choose those spaces yeah exactly um so and there wonderful people to work with um you know I haven't run into anybody that um has not been really um supportive when it comes to entering these contests yeah so you know and I've lost a bunch how are you doing locally how do you find that it's really frustrating right yeah um it is I um I have received a tremendous amount of support from a group called K Cod female friends over 50 oh my gosh they are wonderful this is an amazing group we had our cabin fever party which was a daytime dance party and somebody from that group was like this is it we were raising money for Habitat for Humanity we had a great band and it was like 12 what was it 1 1 to 3 in the afternoon it was like just a fun daytime dance party and this group just decided that this was going to be their party and they came they danced their pants off and they left and everybody had an incredible time yeah they um I just fell into this group I had met somebody who's just moved here she was very shy I knew nothing about the group I've lived here for 50 years right and this these women are are pretty much newcomers um they've most of them have owned homes here and this was their second home and then due to covid they relocated we're here now yeah we're here and um anyways I joined that group to help this friend who had just I said just relocated here here and I just wanted to let her know what they were like and and she never joined and I've like made friends I mean as I said I've been here forever Y and yet I've made some great friends so that group have been nothing but supportive it's wonderful so mainly midc Cape area um and then I kind of morphed into Plymouth female friends and then there's a Massachusetts and then there's a sou Shore and it's all women who um for the most part are great yeah they were the ones who suggested I start reaching out to breweries oh perfect cuz then I was like well what could be better than books and beer exactly bite yeah right some snacks by the way we've got Kegs and Eggs going on over here we've got an Arnold Palmer that they have made for this because I thought I don't know Genevie seemed like an honor Palmer on a girl absolutely she golfed like right it just it made me right right so I was like that is perfect so you can come and um talk to get a book have her sign it for you meet her she's going to be here until 2 o' drink a beer or absolutely right and just hang out with us what do you want to give I don't know any about other authors anybody else with small businesses struggling at this point in time um leave them with something no I like cheesy and corny though don't give up and then the other thing too is a lot of people poo poo social media go on to social social media look around there are some amazing Facebook groups support um I joined one that has has held my hand for for four years um it's a a woman's writing fiction group uh just for women only a lot of award-winning best-selling New York Times list authors and then there's people just starting out and people getting their feet wet and then there's other there's self publishing groups um and if you don't like them get out that's I really it is such the message of 2024 I feel like we're all looking for a supportive space and if you're not in my team then leave like goodbye I shut you off I block you I don't need to absorb your energy I do not but then sometimes I go down the rabbit hole of pain I'm like it's easy to do it's so easy to do so I would not recommend that but yeah I would recommend um a lot of people recommend what uh writing groups I am not really a team player I guess um I wrote in a silo I never even told anybody I was writing except for my husband and then my daughter Stephanie I told her um but but writing groups uh are very supportive do and plus you get to know people so you're not like I was just um in a sadle I mean when I started I didn't even know you were supposed to have an author picture I'd my picture taken with my dogs I like that photo and do you know that that photo sometimes creates conversations where people wouldn't give me the time of day oh that's nice they're like oh what are your dogs and you know then we start talking about the dogs and then that leads to the books well I really don't like stuffy head shots so I mean I do I have them everybody if you're in an industry you have them but when I I just don't use them like that and if I do it's in general mockery of myself so I guess the advice to leave you guys with is don't give up try to join some groups and Just Do Your Own Thing I mean somebody said to me recently you know this sentences has split infinitives or something and I was like that's how I talk you know so just be yourself I guess and and just uh skip over the rules I like that because a lot of people try and tell you what to do and I think people are looking for that formula there's no formula there's no formula there are but I didn't to success yeah there's not formula to success you need to find your own Groove and then be truly that and that's not a teachable moment that is just something you finally have an aha Epiphany within yourself and just do that yes and you know and I just love to talk to people who are just starting not that I'm like you know have a great history here but good morning Don and no I never go home and yes leaving toxic people behind is is uh very important thank you so much for everybody that was checking in with us we do also have another Facebook group which is events on cape.com that is open to anyone about anything there's no pay for play there's no pay wall there's no getting in with the group just put whatever event that you're doing and celebrate it I think it's really important to support each other in whatever our endeavors are the weirder the better I'm always down for uh culturalizing our uh people and finding more ways to support each other so events on cape.com is our website and it's also our Facebook group so that you can join us there where do people find your book they can find it um in local Cape Cod bookstores um and if it's not there they can request it but also Amazon Barnes & Noble um that would be about it and and or they can contact me yeah and Judy Landon official on Instagram Instagram Yes except no other imitations we've got the one and only here until 2 o' we're at knockabout 13 Lake Aban mashby we do have private event going on outside but you can come on inside and try some stuff Robbie's back behind here Meg's back behind here we've got uh Kegs and Eggs and have an Arnold Palmer and celebrate Genevie with us today Judy thank you so much for being on the show much this is great I didn't know I was gonna be doing this well look at you check another box of oh why why did okay we're doing thiso have a great Sunday everybody and I'll talk to you later everybody at King way I'm coming for a grownup dance party a little bit later on this afternoon so we'll talk soon yes yes yes I'm leaving now so you can step in what you guys bye everybody bye thanks what is the show about like is it books books yeah