Ep. 237: Kristin Beck on How to Shut Up Your Inner Editor

Kristin Beck first learned about World War II from her grandmother, who served as a Canadian army nurse, fell in love with an American soldier in Belgium, and married him shortly after VE Day. Kristin thus grew up hearing stories about the war, and has been captivated by the often unsung roles of women in history ever since. A former teacher, she holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Washington and a Master’s in Teaching from Western Washington University. Kristin lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and children. This is her first novel.

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Transcript:

Rachael Herron: [00:00:00] Welcome to “How do you Write?” I’m your host, Rachael Herron. On this podcast, I talk to authors about how they write, what their process is and how their lives fit together. I’ll keep each episode short so you can get back to writing.

[00:00:16] Well, Hello writers! Welcome to episode #237 of “How do you Write?” I’m Rachael Herron. So thrilled that you’re here with me today, as we are talking to Kristin Beck, who was a delight. And she is talking about that perennial question that we all have on quietening or quieting, depending on whether you are using American or British pronunciation, spelling, quieting that inner editor. We all need to work on doing that. We all have to learn how to do it. It is something that never goes away. So, I know you’re going to enjoy this delightful interview. All right. What is going on around here? As I was preparing to record, I was like, there’s just nothing going on around here, writing wise. I remember coming from a migraine, so this will be quick. That’s why the podcast is late. Yesterday, when I normally would have done it, I just had to cancel everything and go to bed and I felt very grateful to be self-employed that I could do that. Although if I was, if I put you out in any way, I apologize for that. I had to do that to a few people as I, as the migraine knocked me out.

[00:01:24] However, the migraine is also making my brain slow and I forgot that I have a book coming out this week as you listen to this episode. It comes out on Tuesday, May 11th. It is called “Hush Little Baby” and I think it’s my best book yet. It is scary. It is intense. I was just texting with a book seller who loved it and we happen to be friends, so we were texting and he said it was incredibly tense and really stressed them out in a good way. It’s so fun! It’s so fun. And I’m very proud of this book. It has a little tiny bit of sobriety in it, which I am pleased with, but it’s just about a character who happens to be sober. It’s also about a character who happens to be queer. This is definitely not me in this book, but we always put pieces of ourselves in our books. And I’m proud of this book. I hope that you like it. Also, I would like to invite you to something. Yes, you. You, wherever you’re sitting, wherever you’re listening. If you hear this in time, I would love you to come to the virtual launch party. I’m so excited about the launch party because, for all of the books in my career that I have written, my launch parties are in person, and they are in the bay area, and friends come, fans come. It’s fantastic. But it’s the bay area. I am restricted geographically. This time for the first time, we are not restricted geographically. And my launch party, which is on Friday night, Friday, May 14th. If you’re listening to this, 2021, I will be in conversation with Sarah Shepherd of Pretty Little Liars at Murder by the Book, which is just the most wonderful thriller, murder, mystery, crime fiction bookstore in Houston, Texas. And it’s really one of my top two bookstores in the world. And, the other one that I love is, Diesel Books or East Bay Booksellers, and that’s because it happens to be my local bookseller, but otherwise it would be Murder by the Book for sure. And, I’m so pleased to be doing my launch with them. So, if you want to come, I would love it. 

[00:03:44] We’re just going to be chatting about books. We’re going to be talking about writing. We are going to be talking about this particular book and it is at 5:00 PM Pacific time, on Friday, May 14th. And the link that you can go to, to go, to watch for free is murderbooks.com/herron. Murderbooks.com/H E R R O N. All the information is there. I would really love it if you came, plus I’m really nervous that nobody will show up and then Murder by the Book will be unhappy with me. But I hope that doesn’t happen. Also, if you buy your book from them, pre-order it, or order it that day, I will send you a signed book plate, signed, made out to whoever you want, and it’s an awesome book plate Dutton designed it for me and it’s covered with blood spatter. You can actually see it in my Instagram stories or on my TikTok, if you want to go find me there. But it is the best book plate that I’ve ever seen and you want it, even if you get the book in, e-version send me proof of receipt in whatever way you want to Rachael @RachaelHerron.com and I will send you a book plate. So, but I’d really love to have you come, hear me talk to John at Murder Books and Sarah Shepherd, who is an amazing writer, and it’s going to be fun. Friday, May 14th, 7:00 PM Central, 5:00 PM Pacific, 8:00 PM Eastern. You should come, murderbooks.com/herron. 

[00:05:10] All right, that’s my, push for that. Also, this week, I- my Fast Draft Your Memoir came out in German. So, if you’re a German speaker and you’d like to read that, please go do that, that’s available. And that was exciting, also working on Fast Draft Your Memoir workbook questions or I’m doing, a brand-new workbook that goes along with that book, we’re kind of optimizing what we can, I’m doing that with my assistant ed who is wonderful. But the thing that’s really exciting this week is the release of Hush Little Baby. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. If you, oh, if you’re looking at it, at me on the YouTube, if you’re one of the few people who do that, most people do consume this with their ears, not their eyes, but the posters behind me and it’s such a good cover, I love it. So, that is all the news that I have for you today. Let us jump into the interview with Kristin Beck. I know you’re going to enjoy it. I hope that your writing is going well. I hope that you do not have a migraine and that there is no migraine in your future. And I believe in you, I believe in your writing in your book. So please get a little writing done and come find me on the internet and tell me how it went. Okay, my friends. Bye.

[00:06:30] Hey, you’re a writer. Did you know that I send out a free weekly email of writing encouragement? Go sign up for it at www.rachaelherron.com/write  and you’ll also get my Stop Stalling and Write PDF with helpful tips you can use today to get some of your own writing done. Okay, now onto the interview.

Rachael Herron: [00:06:49] All right. Well, I could not be more pleased to welcome to the show today, Kristin Beck. Hi Kristin! 

Kristin Beck: [00:06:53] Hi, thank you so much for having me.

Rachael Herron: [00:06:55] I am delighted to have you, let me give you a little bit of an intro before we get started. Kristin Beck first learned about World War II from her grandmother, who served as a Canadian army nurse, fell in love with an American soldier in Belgium, and married him shortly after VE Day. Kristin thus grew up hearing stories about the war, and has been captivated by the often unsung roles of women in history ever since. A former teacher, she holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Washington and a Master’s in Teaching from Western Washington University. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and children. So welcome to the show! We are talking about writing and its process. Your first novel just came out, right?

Kristin Beck: [00:07:38] No, it’s coming out actually in a few weeks. It’s April 13th is the update. 

Rachael Herron: [00:07:42] So by the time this show goes live, it will be out. Will you tell us the title and just a little bit about your book?

Kristin Beck: [00:07:49] Sure. So, the book is called Courage, My Love, and it is about, two women in the Italian resistance who led very different lives. And, when the German occupation takes over in Rome, they’re both pulled into the resistance and decided that they need to fight back. 

Rachael Herron: [00:08:06] I am in love with all things Italian. So, when I was asked about this, but I’m only about halfway done with the book right now, but I am loving it. And it’s just so fun and beautiful. Where did this idea come to you from, for these women? 

Kristin Beck: [00:08:22] Well, so when I was in my twenties, I lived in Italy two different times.

Rachael Herron: [00:08:27] Where?

Kristin Beck: [00:08:29] Once in Sienna.

Rachael Herron: [00:08:29] Oh, I love Sienna.

Kristin Beck: [00:08:31] And then just outside of Venice as a teacher for a semester. So yeah, so it was, it was pretty dreamy. So, I’ve always loved all things Italian as well. And I was looking, I was actually just sort of looking into women and the resistance in general during the war. Not totally searching for ideas for books, just sort of interested. And I came across a newspaper article of the staffette, which were women couriers during the war in Italy. And I was just sort of, captivated by that. I hadn’t heard much about them. And so, I started reading, and kind of delved in the way historical nerds do. And, after a few weeks of reading about them, I just thought I would really like to write a book about these women

Rachael Herron: [00:09:16] And you did.

Kristin Beck: [00:09:18] And yes, and then I did, and here we are.

Rachael Herron: [00:09:21] And how does this, so this, this is a podcast about process and how we get the work done. How did you fit this into your life and around your life? Where does, where does writing fit? 

Kristin Beck: [00:09:32] So my writing schedule tends to revolve around school schedules, because I, 

Rachael Herron: [00:09:36] How, how old are the kids? 

Kristin Beck: [00:09:38] They are nearly 9 and 11.

Rachael Herron: [00:09:40] Okay.

Kristin Beck: [00:09:41] So, not super young anymore. But I tend to write when they are at school, so I kind of get everyone packed off for the day. And then I sit down and I work for as many hours as I can, which on the good days is until it’s pickup time. And then other days I have other business things to do for writing. 

Rachael Herron: [00:10:02] So what are you doing now? Are you working on the next book? 

Kristin Beck: [00:10:05] I’m actually working on the third book. I, so I had a two-book contract when I sold Courage and wrote that second book last year, during well, it’s still the pandemic, but really during the pandemic and so that one is in editing right now and I am working on number three.

Rachael Herron: [00:10:28] How did you find both of those difficult things? How did you find learning how to write during the pandemic? And also, how did you find book two? Because the book two blues are real for a lot of, they were real for me. Did you run into those?

Kristin Beck: [00:10:42] Actually, so book two, I feel very lucky because I understand where those book two blues would come from and, they didn’t come to me on that book. It’s just a really, I, to me it was a very compelling subject and I felt like the book sort of took off and wrote itself. The hard part was that the pan- I was about halfway through when the pandemic started. So, my schedule, you know, was like, everybody else’s schedule was kind of thrown on its end. And I finished the book with kids doing zoom school and that kind of thing. But it worked out and it’s yeah, I’m, I’m really excited about that book. 

Rachael Herron: [00:11:22] Is that also historical? 

Kristin Beck: [00:11:24] It’s historical fiction. It’s about nurses at well, it’s actually about a Swiss nurse and then a Swiss red cross worker who both worked for the Swiss red cross and they’re in occupied France, and they help, ultimately help kids who are refugees escape, occupied France. 

Rachael Herron: [00:11:42] Oh, how very cool. 

Kristin Beck: [00:11:43] Yes. And it’s based on real women, they were, real characters. So it was, that might be what helps me beat the sophomore blues. The women were just so inspiring and their stories were amazing and it made it feel relatively easy to write as easy as writing can be. 

Rachael Herron: [00:11:59] Which is never as easy as we want it to be ever, except on like a random Tuesday once a year. It’s really easy. But other than that, yeah. What is your biggest challenge when it comes to writing?

Kristin Beck: [00:12:11] So my biggest challenge, historically, it was always about finding time. When I first started writing, like when I first set out to write a novel, my kids were really little, they were like in preschool and toddler age. And so, then time was, just really finite. And I was sort of sneaking in hours to write when they were preschool or I feel like I wrote almost a whole book when they were napping. So that was really challenging. And then that, that changed once they went to school and suddenly, I felt like I had a wealth of time. And I had sold the book at that point. And so, I was able to just work on it. But in this past year, those early struggles of sort of time economy, definitely crops back up with the pandemic. I found myself sort of back to my earlier days of, you know, getting up very early to write or writing after everyone was in bed at night. But I was sort of grateful because I think in the past, I really had to learn how to do that. And I had those skills. I’d sort of been through like time autonomy bootcamp early on. 

Rachael Herron: [00:13:17] Yeah. And you got to pull out those that toolbox and use it again. That’s really, really clever. What is your biggest joy when it comes to writing?

Kristin Beck: [00:13:26] So my biggest joy is definitely those days when, you just sort of drop into the zone and, are in the, you know, the flow, the trance of the story world. And I always set an alarm because I go pick up my kids in the afternoon. So, I set up an alarm just to make sure, you know, I don’t miss that. And I love the days when the alarm goes off and I’m just sort of jolted out of writing and realize that I’ve been lost in the story. That’s, those are the most satisfying days for me. 

Rachael Herron: [00:13:55] That’s one of the hardest things for me about flow is it’s- it always reminds me of sleep. Like you cannot enjoy it when you’re in it. You can only enjoy knowing that you were in it, when you were jolted out of it. Yeah. 

Kristin Beck: [00:14:09] Yeah. That’s true. You don’t even realize that you are in it until suddenly the world sort of wakes you up.

Rachael Herron: [00:14:14] Yeah. Yeah. Darn world. Can you share a craft tip of any sort with us? 

Kristin Beck: [00:14:19] Sure. So it’s kind of related to that greatest joy. And I feel like it’s a fairly common craft tip, but I, it’s the one that to me is the most important. And that is when you’re writing, to try as much as possible to quiet that internal editor or that internal critic, that would like to find mistakes as you’re working or remind you of things you still need to look up, if you’re writing historical fiction in particular. I just feel like my very best writing comes when I’m sort of in that subconscious writing flow. And if I allow that editor, you know, that we all have in our minds to speak up at all, it just jolts me right out of that. And it can be very hard to get back into the story flow. 

Rachael Herron: [00:15:04] How do you personally do that? How do you shut up that, that mean guy? 

Kristin Beck: [00:15:11] I think I just start working. I think that’s just really,

Rachael Herron: [00:15:14] That’s such a good simple, true answer. You just kind of ignore it and you just work.

Kristin Beck: [00:15:19] You start typing and it takes a while, you know, sometimes, and sometimes there are few pages that get discarded along the way, but eventually I feel like the story takes over.

Rachael Herron: [00:15:28] That is smart, yeah.

Kristin Beck: [00:15:30] Also, music, I think too. That’s another one I often will, if I, if I’m just kind of stuck in the everyday world, I’ll put on some music and try to help it sweep me off into somewhere else. 

Rachael Herron: [00:15:42] Do you have playlists for your books or just kind of random?

Kristin Beck: [00:15:48] Kind of random. I feel like, I do feel like I return to certain songs for certain characters, or certain moments in the book. But, generally random. 

Rachael Herron: [00:15:57] Can you write to words or no words? 

Kristin Beck: [00:16:00] Either one.

Rachael Herron: [00:16:01] Wow! I’m also impressed when people can write with words because I, they literally end up just falling out of my fingertips. Like, how did that word get over? Oh, wait, that was in the song. 

Kristin Beck: [00:16:12] It was in the song. Yeah, I do. I do listen to a lot of piano music. I feel like piano music in the background is really kind of perfect. 

Rachael Herron: [00:16:20] I just read that Baroque is apparently something really, really good to stimulate our minds, the tempo of a lot of Baroque pieces and I’m planning on trying it, but I hadn’t remembered it until this very moment. What thing in your life affects your writing in a surprising way?

Kristin Beck: [00:16:36] Well, this is kind of get back, it gets back to the whole-time economy question. I think because when I started writing, it was, I just didn’t have much time to work. I developed habits, and I would often put on Curious George for my kids and sit down and write for the hour that they were watching that. And I also, at that time was going to various classes and workshops on writing and people would talk about writer’s block. And I always felt like at that time of my life, I didn’t have the ability to have writer’s block.

Rachael Herron: [00:17:08] You didn’t have the time for writer’s block.

Kristin Beck: [00:17:10] No time for that. And at the time, I wouldn’t have said that that was benefiting my writing, but I feel like now, especially with this pandemic here, I realized how much that had stood me in good stead because I look back and I feel that, I still have those habits of sitting down and not allowing myself to wait for inspiration or, you know, to go on social media or something like that because, I always feel like my time is finite, although it’s less so now. So, I think that’s a surprising effect of those early years. I wouldn’t have foreseen that, that would be a helpful thing. 

Rachael Herron: [00:17:51] It was a perfect bootcamp for you. I’m reminded of, I learned to drive on this old Suzuki Jeep like thing in the jungles of this island called Sai Pan. And it just was the worst thing. It was a, you know, standard and it was the worst vehicle. And my dad would always say like, if you could drive this, you could drive anything. It’s kind of the same thing. Those tools come back later, we need those things. So that’s really awesome. 

Kristin Beck: [00:18:16] That’s a good analogy. 

Rachael Herron: [00:18:17] What is the best book that you’ve read recently? And why did you love it?

Kristin Beck: [00:18:21] So, this is such a hard question of course for any writer, or any reader. I’ve read so many good ones lately. And my, you know, my to-be read list is so high and there’s so many good ones on there too, I know. But I think the one I’ll talk about is a book that I actually read as an arc. But it’s out now. It came out in January and it is Our Darkest Night by Jennifer Robson. And,

Rachael Herron: [00:18:44] It’s so familiar, but I don’t know anything about it.

Kristin Beck: [00:18:47] Well, it’s another book about Italy during World War II. So, I couldn’t wait to read it because there aren’t that many books about Italy during World War II out there. And I knew, maybe a few months before I was asked to read it that she was working on it, and I was really curious how she was going to tackle a similar subject to my book. And it was just a beautiful book. It’s really heartbreaking and uplifting. And it’s about a Jewish woman who has to go into hiding during the German occupation and her life in hiding. And I just thought it was beautifully done and very different than my book, which was also interesting, you know, in fantasy. So yeah, I would definitely recommend that book to anybody. 

Rachael Herron: [00:19:31] Did you find a relief knowing that it was so different from yours?

Kristin Beck: [00:19:38] I don’t know if I thought about it that way. I was just interested. I, you know, I was curious to see how a different writer would tackle, you know, the same period in the same setting. I don’t think I was too worried about it being similar and I knew going in that it was a different topic than my book.

Rachael Herron: [00:19:57] Did you, or were you reading it for a blurb? 

Kristin Beck: [00:19:59] Yes. 

Rachael Herron: [00:20:00] And have you talked to her about the book? Have you guys communicated at all that way?

Kristin Beck: [00:20:04] A little bit. Around the time. A little bit. Yes. And she read mine. She’s read my book too. So, yeah, so we’re going to have a chance to talk about that actually for my launch event.

Rachael Herron: [00:20:15] Perfect. That’s what I was wondering if they were putting you together in some way. I think that’s awesome. I have gained two of my best, best friends just from blurbing and then from reaching out to each other afterwards and saying, “Hey, that was great” I was just emailing with Holly Robinson, who we blurbed each other, and then it really becomes this community, this friendship, or it can, so I’m glad to hear that. Okay. So, where can we find you online, where do you prefer to be found?

Kristin Beck: [00:20:45] So I’m on Instagram and I have a Facebook page. I’m writing Facebook page. So, it’s KristinBeckAuthor is my handling, both of those. And then I also have a website which is also KristinBeckAuthor.com so, I can be found on any of those places. 

Rachael Herron: [00:21:03] Right before we go, because we still have a little bit of time here, tell me how you are feeling, because this is people love hearing this. How are you feeling about being a debut author and coming out in just a few weeks? How what’s your heart doing? 

Kristin Beck: [00:21:15] Well, it’s definitely a mixture of joy and nerves, right? It’s a big transition. And I think the pandemic plays a role because it wasn’t something that when I imagined coming out with a debut book would be at play. So, everything’s online and in some ways that’s wonderful because we can reach more people and there are more ways to have conversations, with the online platforms. But it is a shift from what I had initially imagined. But yeah, I mostly, I’m very excited. I’m definitely excited and a little nervous. 

Rachael Herron: [00:21:51] What are you going to do the day the book comes out? 

Kristin Beck: [00:21:54] Oh, that’s a good question. 

Rachael Herron: [00:21:56] You have to have some kind of celebration.

Kristin Beck: [00:21:57] Oh, I should have a celebration. I don’t know what I’ll do though. I would love to say that I would go out to lunch or something, but we’re not quite here yet, right? 

Rachael Herron: [00:22:07] I know. I know. But do think about it. Cause that, it’s just such, it is such a special day and it only happens the one time. I remember my debut morning, I woke up and I really just felt like the whole world looked different to me, you know, and the next day was back to normal, but that day was really, really cool. So,

Kristin Beck: [00:22:28] That day you’re officially an author, right? 

Rachael Herron: [00:22:30] Are bookstores open in your area? 

Kristin Beck: [00:22:32] They are. They are open here. 

Rachael Herron: [00:22:35] May I recommend just going to look at your book? 

Kristin Beck: [00:22:38] Oh, that’s a good tip. Yes. 

Rachael Herron: [00:22:40] That’s what I did with a bunch of friends. We had like six or seven bookstores that we were going to go to in order until we found a copy and hopefully, you know, we would, we hoped that we would, find a copy, but I found one at the first place, Books Inc. in Alameda, and it was there. And then we just crossed the street and went to the bar. I don’t remember much after that, but just seeing it on the shelves, I would recommend doing that.

Kristin Beck: [00:23:01] Yes. That sounds like a perfect debut day. 

Rachael Herron: [00:23:03] Well, thank you so much for talking to us, Kristin, and may it fly from the shelves. We wish you all the best with this and your future books. 

Kristin Beck: [00:23:10] Thank you so much. 

Rachael Herron: [00:23:11] Okay. Take care. Bye.

Kristin Beck: [00:23:12] Yes, thanks so much. 

Rachael Herron: [00:23:14] Thanks so much for joining me on this episode of “How do you Write?” You can reach me on Twitter, twitter.com/RachaelHerron, or at my website, www.rachaelherron.com, you can also support me on Patreon and get essays on living your creative life for as little as a buck an essay at www.patreon.com/rachael spelled R, A, C, H, A, E, L and do sign up for my free weekly newsletter of encouragement to writers rachaelherron.com/write/

Now, go to your desk and create your own process and get to writing my friends.