Ep. 166: Nancy Richardson Fischer Share the BEST Tip for Ensuring Scene Flow

Nancy Richardson Fischer is the author of two YA novels, When Elephants Fly, and The Speed of Falling Objects, which published in October 2019. She’s also written multiple sport autobiographies and Star Wars books for LucasFilm. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband Henry and their Vizsla, Boone.

How Do You Write Podcast: Explore the processes of working writers with bestselling author Rachael Herron. Want tips on how to write the book you long to finish? Here you’ll gain insight from other writers on how to get in the chair, tricks to stay in it, and inspiration to get your own words flowing.

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.

Well, Hello writers! Welcome to episode 166 of “How do you Write?” I’m Rachael Herron. Totally thrilled that you’re here. Today, we are talking to the charming Nancy Richardson Fischer, and she is going to share with us literally the best tip for ensuring scene flow. I’d never heard this tip. It’s brand new to me. It got me really excited. I bet it’s going to get you excited. So stay tuned for that fabulous interview with her.

So what’s going on around here? Well last week, there was no interview portion of the show because I was away at a silent meditation retreat. It’s my second. I went to the first one last year and it was wonderful. It was so good that I mourn that I’m not there now. I mourn than that I’m not in silence, eating gorgeous meals that are prepared for me and just waiting when I go to the dining room, it’s just wonderful. It is literally the best. It’s also kind of stressful. I admitted over on the writers well with Jay, I think that podcasts might not go out until next week, so I can admit it to you here first that I did try to sneak in a Kindle. I mean, I did sneak in a Kindle, it’s not like they have security dogs coming for your electronic devices. Thank God I turned in my phone. No problem. But I kept my Kindle and I know that you’re not supposed to have books or reading material, but I thought to myself, I’m reading, Pay Show John, I am reading about meditation’s stuff. And the first night I read and it felt really good to get out of my brain ‘cause I was already in inside myself doing meditation. We’d already had several hours of this and then went back to bed and read. On the next day, they had another time that you could renounce your devices or your books and they made me realize that I was paying a lot of money to be there for a meditation retreat. At which I didn’t want to be paying attention to anything, but what was happening in the present to my body and brain. And reading was keeping me from that. Reading, is always probably in my top three options of things to do, including like all things. So I’m never getting that up, obviously, but at that retreat I needed to, so I went and I turned it in and then I was alone with my brain, and it was painful and fun and really elating and dispiriting and disquieting and fabulous and all of those things.

So I loved it. I’m back. I’m going to do another one next year, maybe for seven days instead of, this was like four and a half days. So back from that, I just finished writing this months’ Patreon, which will go out soon, I guess when this air, when this airs, it’ll probably be out already and it’s really about the beautiful way that you have to corral your thoughts and your desires and your body not to fart at a yoga meditation retreat, because dude, they are feeding you Brussel’s sprouts, squash, beans, apricot, dried prunes, like their food is tremendous, but they’re like, ha-ha! Watch these sons of bitches try not to fart while they’re meditating and doing yoga in a dead silent room filled with a hundred people where the whisperer of a fart sounds like a clacks on. I managed it dear listener, I managed not to fart, in the big room. And although many, many didn’t… and my essay actually uses that as a beautiful metaphor. I had a really good time writing it. So that’s what I was doing today and yesterday.

Coming up, what’s going on? I am headed to Austin on Saturday to the story shop summit to which I was invited, very excited to speak there, and speaking on revision. And I’ve never been to Austin. So, that’s going to be fun back on yet another plane has been a very, very busy travel month. And in other exciting news, I am speaking this year at the career author summit in Nashville, which is going to be wonderful. That’s with my, partner in crime, Jay Thorne and Zach Bohannon, and it’s going to be wonderful. So if you’re interested in it, I think they’re sold out. But they might have a waiting list. They probably do have a waiting list and it’s going to be a good time. It’s in May and there’s some amazing speakers there. Some doing that, I don’t know if it’s official, but I’ll tell you anyway, cause really who is this going to leak out to? I got invited to do mink in Colorado, and whenever an ink is. I, I want to say September, but I can’t actually remember. And that was exciting enough. That was last week. That was like mind-blowingly awesome. I’m going to be speaking with like Beck. Oh, I think it is announced, because Becca had seen it with Becca Sime and, oh my gosh, who’s the other, I’m forgetting, and I’m not going to come up with these names right now. Mark Dawson. Sky Warren. Can’t remember the other person right now. So that was already mind-blowing. And then two days ago I was not feeling well. I think I was fighting a headache. I was lying in bed. It was like six o’clock at night, and we needed to go out and see my dad, who was in town for dinner, and I’m scrolling idly through email, which I was wildly behind in and I got an email. It was like the dream email. Y’all inviting me to be a keynote speaker at romance writers of New Zealand for their national conference this year. I’m going to be a speaker there, they are buying my plane ticket and buying my hotel rooms and they’re bringing me to New Zealand, which is no easy feat. It is so expensive to get there. I am a citizen of both countries, New Zealand and the United States, but I rarely get to back to my other country because it is so dang expensive to get there. And I’m very excited that I’ll be able to use my own New Zealand passport to get in ‘cause I’ve had citizenship. But getting a passport has been this whole pain in the arse. So, that’ll be so fun and I’m just, I’m really, really giddy about it. So my wife Lala will be able to go and we’re just gonna do a little quick vacation trip down. Down there. So I’m very excited. That’ll be right around the time that the paperback of Stolen Things is coming out too, which has an incredible cover and is available for preorder right now. So I don’t know, maybe I’ll be able to do some kind of signing or push for that while I’m there in the bookstore or something. So I’m pretty over the moon. That’s an email. I, I, I literally hurled my body out of the bed and ran to the keyboard to accept before they retracted the offer. Cause I really, really want to do it. And I’m very excited. So I’m really grateful and happy that I’m here and I get to do this, that I get to tell you about it, that your part of my community and that we hang out together in this way. On your car stereo or in your, in your headphones is really intimate. And to you, ASMR whisper, “Thank you.” Okay. That felt weird. I’m never going to do that again. No, no, no. Sorry about that. I find ASMR, which I do not react to very interesting. There might be a book in me about that at some point. 

Anyway, to business items of note, I would love to thank new patreons, Porsche Carrier and Maggie, darling Maggie Anne who upped her pledge to the point where she is a person who can ask me questions for those mini episodes. That’s the $5 level. Thanks to new patreon, Brianna Morgan and Tiffany. Thanks you all. It really means everything to me and it lets me, oh, you may want to cancel your pledge now, it lets me write essays about farting – not farting in meditation, silent retreat. So you all who are new to the Patreon enjoy the essay. 

Now we’re going to jump into the interview with Nancy. Please enjoy it and we will talk soon, my friend. 

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: [00:09:05] While I could not be more pleased today to welcome to the show, Nancy Richardson Fischer. Hello Nancy! 

Nancy Richardson: [00:09:11] Hello! Thank you so much for having me. 

Rachael Herron: [00:09:12] I’m so excited to have you. Let me give you a little bit of a bio here. Nancy Richardson Fischer is the author of two, YA novels, When Elephants Fly, and The Speed of Falling Objects, which by the time this airs, we’ll be out at all vendors. She’s also written multiple sport autobiographies and Star Wars books for LucasFilm. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband Henry and their Vizsla, Boone, which is great name for a dog. Congratulations on the release of The Speed of Falling Objects. I was just reading what it’s about and it’s going right onto my Kindle to be read pile. I’ll have you talk about a little bit about what is about later. 

Nancy Richardson: [00:09:53] Okay. 

Rachael Herron: [00:09:54] But to start us off, it seems like you’ve been writing for a long time and you’ve done a lot of different things, but I would love to know how, now that you’re writing fiction like this, how has your process of all, what is, what is your process look like? 

Nancy Richardson: [00:10:09] Well, before, you know, I was writing someone else’s story. So when I wrote Squatter Scored Out of Bag of fees, there was someone else’s story. When I worked moving brothers’ circus, which was my first job, I was writing the stories of clowns or tight rope blockers or tuck keys artists, when I wrote for the University of California, San Francisco, I was writing great. So there was no creativity really there. So my process is changed because now it’s, it’s my story. It’s all up to me and I can just allow myself to go down the rabbit hole, ask what if, over and over again, hit dead ends, find my way back, and ultimately create a story that just comes from my imagination. 

Rachael Herron: [00:10:57] You might not be able to answer this, but do you think it’s more or less difficult to do it just out of your imagination? 

Nancy Richardson: [00:11:06] It maybe more difficult, but it’s way more compelling. 

Rachael Herron: [00:11:10] Really?

Nancy Richardson: [00:11:11] Yeah. Yeah, definitely. If it’s a great story, It’s up to me. If it’s, you know, not a great story, maybe that was because the athletes that I interviewed wouldn’t tell me anything, 

Rachael Herron: [00:11:22] Good point.

Nancy Richardson: [00:11:24] Or they, or they were so young that they didn’t have a really great story to tell yet. So now, you know, it’s up to me and I love that. 

Rachael Herron: [00:11:34] That’s so awesome. When do you get your writing done? What kind of writer are you? In the morning… 

Nancy Richardson: [00:11:39] In terms of like, what time of day? I’m a morning girl, so. I would usually get up maybe 5-5:30 have a quick breakfast, write for four hours. Then I have a Vizsla and they are in need, a ton of exercise and even though he’s 11 he needs a ton of exercise. If people are thinking about getting a Vizsla, you have to be a Vizsla. You have to be someone who doesn’t want to stop moving, which is me. So then I exercise Boone and my husband, usually we, we all exercise together. Go for a mountain bike ride, or we’d take her dog swimming and then I come back in the active unit and I edit whatever I’ve done. And usually in the evening I’ll send it to my Kindle, and I’ll read it on my Kindle just to see it a different way and then, you know, go to sleep and repeat.

Rachael Herron: [00:12:29] I love sending things to my Kindle, although I don’t usually do it until the book is done, and then I send it to my Kindle I spend a whole day in bed reading it, doing it that way. That’s super fun. And are you a plotter? 

Rachael Herron: [00:13:16] That works really well, although I get bored. I shouldn’t get bored. Are you a plotter or a pantser?

Nancy Richardson: [00:12:49] I am a planner in the sense I know the beginning and the end. I’m a pantser in the middle and I try and create a character who is dimensional enough that that character will then lead me a lot and surprise me along the way. But I don’t plot everything out in the middle. Middles are kind of the hardest to me. Really it’s where you create all of your arts. So, I just kind of go by feel and see where I lead. 

Rachael Herron: [00:13:16] Woah, that’s awesome. What is your biggest challenge when it comes to writing?

Nancy Richardson: [00:13:22] Keeping my butt in the chair. 

Rachael Herron: [00:13:24] Well, you did say that you’re a mover. 

Nancy Richardson: [00:13:27] I’m a mover. I think also it’s kind of lonely. Like I do something like this and I find myself really excited because I’m actually getting to talk to another person. It’s lonely. It’s lonely when you’re writing, it’s lonely when you’re, you know. If people don’t have an agent yet, I can totally relate to how that process is. You know, it’s lonely when your book goes out on sub because your agents with you. But really, you know, it’s you. It’s, it’s, it’s, it’s you going out upset. It’s very personal and it’s lonely as you’re waiting for your pub date because you’re just hoping that somebody noticed this. Cause you know, there’s so many books out there and you stand out. 

Rachael Herron: [00:14:08] Yeah. Yeah. So how are you handling that right now? Because as we talk. Your book release is coming up in about a week. How, how are you feeling emotionally? I’d love to hear that. 

Nancy Richardson: [00:14:17] Actually, you know, so I’ve only published two young adult books and I find each one, I’m a little depressed before it comes out. I don’t know why that is, 

Rachael Herron: [00:14:28] Interesting.

Nancy Richardson: [00:14:29] But I feel a little like down because I’m, how I’m scared that no one’s going to read it or like it or, or something like that. I’m keeping myself super busy doing a lot of, you know, Twitter and Instagram and doing different podcasts, so that’s a good thing. But always right before, seemingly like birthdays or things like that, I’m always glass half empty right before. 

Rachael Herron: [00:14:58] I’m more glass half empty right after, that’s, that’s when I get the, like the book birthday blues or like the letdown. That’s where my emotions start to sink right there 

Nancy Richardson: [00:15:13] And I completely understand that. I think right after I start writing another book or I start editing another book, because…

Rachael Herron: [00:15:20] It’s crucial 

Nancy Richardson: [00:15:21] it’s way I can be saying while I wait to see if people are going to be mean or nice and write reviews or not write reviews. 

Rachael Herron: [00:15:27] It’s absolutely crucial. Yeah. I have finally gotten to the point in my career where I am not reading reviews on Amazon or any or good reads or anything like that. 

Nancy Richardson: [00:15:34] Oh, how did you do that? How did you do it? 

Rachael Herron: [00:15:37] I think it just takes time because I seriously heard an author say this when I was in maybe my first year of writing, and I remember looking at her and thinking, you must be lying. Like that is impossible. You must be lying. And I’m finally there that I just, I just don’t care anymore. I do. I do admit that I care about the star number. Like I’m- I look at the star number and I see how many reviews are there, and I look at the trade reviews, but otherwise I just, I just don’t believe any of them. I think I’m to that point. So. 

Nancy Richardson: [00:16:07] That’s where I want to be right now

Rachael Herron: [00:16:08] That’s good.

Nancy Richardson: [00:16:09] My husband was just saying, you have got to get to the point where your mood is not decided by whether someone didn’t like one of your characters or didn’t agree with the end of your book, but you’re writing and you’re writing a story for yourself because you have something to say, right? So also writing a story for other people because you have something to say and you’re hoping that it’s interpreted in the right way. And there’s no way to reach through the screen and say, “Hey man, you really need to give me three stars.” You don’t understand that. That my main character is a tool that helps my character on her journey. You don’t have to love him or you know. 

Rachael Herron: [00:16:47] Exactly.

Nancy Richardson: [00:16:48] Oh, it’s maddening sometimes. 

Rachael Herron: [00:16:50] Okay. That’s my wish for you then that that will just be like, you don’t care. You don’t care. Good or bad. Okay, so what is your biggest joy when it comes to writing?

Nancy Richardson: [00:17:01] I think when I lose myself in a story, I have this weird thing where when I’m writing and I’m really lost, the keyboard, you know, it’s like it sounds a little. I know that sounds bizarre, but it, I actually, my whole world feels like it’s tilted a little and all of a sudden it’s the end of the day and I’m so excited and I go to bed thinking about it and I wake up thinking about it. I have a new idea and I’m scribbling everywhere. And little post it notes. I mean, you can’t see my office. It’s behind you.

Rachael Herron: [00:17:33] I just looking at the nice white walls, yeah.

Nancy Richardson: [00:17:35] I got post its, and I’ve got whiteboards and I’m just going nuts trying to, you know, remember. 

Rachael Herron: [00:17:42] Wow. I love the, I love that it’s actually a feeling of the keyboard tilting as it tips you into this alternate reality. 

Nancy Richardson: [00:17:50] It really is. Like what do you love the best about it? 

Rachael Herron: [00:17:53] I love exactly that. I love and, but for me being in flow, the fact that you’re in flow, you don’t know it until you’re out of it. It’s like meditation. You don’t know you’re, you’re in the flow of meditation until you’re out of it. So I love the feeling where I’m out of it. I’ve just come out of it and I look up at the clock on my computer and I think it’s probably been five minutes and it’s been 40 minutes. And that feeling of the contraction of time, because I’m hyper aware of time passing, always. I have this alarm clock, clock brain that if I set an alarm in the kitchen for 31 minutes. 30 minutes and 40 seconds, I’ll stand up and start walking towards the kitchen without knowing that 

Nancy Richardson: [00:18:31] That’s awesome!

Rachael Herron: [00:18:32] It’s a preternatural. It’s very strange. My wife just thinks I’m out of my mind, but, so that when I can lose time, when time loses that ticking in the back of my head up, that’s always there, it’s a beautiful feeling.

Nancy Richardson: [00:18:47] My god, it’s a gift. 

Rachael Herron: [00:18:48] Yeah! It’s really cool. Now I want that keyboard tilt. That’s so cool.

Nancy Richardson: [00:18:51] And I want to know what time it is. 

Rachael Herron: [00:18:53] I, if I open my eyes in the middle of the night, I always know within three minutes what time it is, and I always wake up before the alarm. It’s a, I have a clock brain. Yeah. Can you share a craft tip of any sort with us? 

Nancy Richardson: [00:19:08] Sometimes if I feel like a chapter is not coming together, I will take the first sentence of every single paragraph in that chapter and write one paragraph with them and see if it’s cohesive and if it makes no sense at all, I know somewhere I’ve lost my train of thought. Is that weird? 

Rachael Herron: [00:19:26] That is bizarre and so cool. 

Nancy Richardson: [00:19:29] I try it sometime with the chapter. It’s like. It’s kind of fun. And then you say, well, does this actually make sense or doesn’t it? And where did I lose my way? What sentence? And then I go back to that paragraph. 

Rachael Herron: [00:19:41] Because sometimes you write a scene and you look back and you’re like, I don’t even know why did I go in a figure eight right there.

Nancy Richardson: [00:19:45] Exactly. Or I’ll take the last sentence from every chapter in an entire novel and you know, like 400 pages, and I’ll put that all together as a chapter. And I’ll read that and I’ll say, what sentence made me want to keep turning the pages and what didn’t? Like where did I lose my flow? 

Rachael Herron: [00:20:01] I absolutely love that and I am going to try that immediately.

Nancy Richardson: [00:20:08] Cool! I’d be really interested if you send me like a paragraph, what you come up with and where, where you see it in meeting you, 

Rachael Herron: [00:20:18] What do you do with dialogue? Is the dialogue all in there since it’s oftentimes like just one line? 

Nancy Richardson: [00:20:22] Yeah. If it’s, if the first sentence or the last sentence dialogue, then that’s, that’s what I’m stuck with, 

Rachael Herron: [00:20:27] Okay.

Nancy Richardson: [00:20:28] And it should still make sense. 

Rachael Herron: [00:20:36] Right, right, right, right, right. I have never heard anything like this and I love it. I’m going to try it. I’ll let, I’ll let you know how it go. 

Nancy Richardson: [00:20:42] Okay.

Rachael Herron: [00:20:43] All right. What thing in your life affects your writing in a surprising way?

Nancy Richardson: [00:20:53] I think, just being happy in my life affects it the most. I find that it’s not, it’s not surprising that moving into fiction and my writing career, where it is now, which is my happiest place in my writing career happened when I was married and settled down and felt safe and loved and comfortable. And that gave me the space to kind of dig into my own insecurities and fears and obstacles in my life because I use them in everything I write and I use them because I’ve just found that the more you share with people, the more you match with people and when you’re sharing on a really personal level, as much as you’re comfortable with, then your readers get that and understand that and you’re writing something that can affect them in a deeper way. So I would say the happier I am, the more vulnerable I am to be in my life. 

Rachael Herron: [00:21:52] I think that that is so true and I feel the same way. And I wonder what you would tell someone who was struggling in their personal life and trying to get writing done. 

Nancy Richardson: [00:22:04] I would say to share their struggles. Because people you care about you are willing to help you when you are really truthful about who you are and where you are in your life. And when you’re honest about those things I think you become a happier person just because, you’re unburdening yourself.

Rachael Herron: [00:22:25] Have you ever done the morning pages? 

Nancy Richardson: [00:22:27] No. 

Rachael Herron: [00:22:28] It’s, Julia Cameron wrote a book in the 90s called the, The Artist’s Way, and her- one of the things she has everybody do is for 12 weeks you write three pages’ longhand in the morning, first thing, as soon as your eyes open kind of thing. And, and I’ve used them on and off as a tool throughout my life and sometimes on, sometimes off. Right now I’m off. But I realized that when, and you just write to remote stream of conscious, there’s no editing. It’s not actual writing, it’s just how you’re feeling, where you are and telling, you end up telling the truth to yourself and you end up seeing a lot of things that you wouldn’t have seen if you hadn’t been sharing it on the page. So I wonder if that, that could also be done on the page if somebody doesn’t have a person to talk to, or a place to share that. I always, I always noticed that in, when I do morning pages, I ended up changing, ‘cause I get so sick of listening to myself whine about whatever problem it is I’m trying to work through, you know? 

Nancy Richardson: [00:23:24] Right, right. I love that. I’m going to try that. 

Rachael Herron: [00:23:26] It’s, it’s beautiful. You haven’t done the Artist’s Way; you haven’t ever tried the 12 weeks’ program? It’s so cool. It’s kinda, it’s kind of mind blowing. Yeah. And then there’s other things, like a weekly artist date that you take with yourself and, yeah. It’s lovely. It’s lovely. It’s a little intense, but lovely. 

Nancy Richardson: [00:23:42] Yeah, I’ll definitely try it. 

Rachael Herron: [00:23:45] Cool. What’s the best book you’ve read recently and why did you love it? And maybe you wanna tell us about what we were talking about beforehand? 

Nancy Richardson: [00:23:53] Yeah, I’m reading the Institute. I’m a huge Stephen Payne fan. I think his ability to create characters that you really care about is, it blows my mind. You know, a lot of people just think, Oh, he’s a thriller write, no. He, he is a master at crafting characters that we care about late to empathize with. And this novel, the best one he’s done in so long. And not saying a lot because the stand and Salem’s lot and the gunslinger series and Shawshank redemption are, you know, some of my top books ever. So that same, a time for me. And then there are books I go back to like the Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell.  

Rachael Herron: [00:24:43] I love that book so much. It’s one of my very favorites. 

Nancy Richardson: [00:24:48] Because everything you believe in the first book isn’t what’s true in the second book, right?

Rachael Herron: [00:24:53] It’s incredible. 

Nancy Richardson: [00:24:54] That’s so creative. I mean, a Jesuit mission to a foreign planet on an asteroid, and it’s so well written. 

Rachael Herron: [00:25:03] And it’s about the characters. It’s about the characters. Yeah. 

Nancy Richardson: [00:25:06] Yeah. It’s the, And then I, you know, of course I read young adult novels as well. Like I go back to Jennifer Nevins’ All The Right Places, a lot of times because those two characters, Violet and Theo really made me realize how much you could care about these young adult characters that kind of inspired me Jim and Robin Rowe, who wrote a list of cages or two of my big inspirations for writing young adult novels.

Rachael Herron: [00:25:33] Oh, I love that you’re giving me to read. 

Nancy Richardson: [00:25:34] You know, I reread certain books too.

Rachael Herron: [00:25:37] You’re giving me so many books to read and I will read the Institute. It was a, I’m a friend of mine, Mariah, who told me like, I just never thought I liked Stephen King. I just didn’t like him and she told me to read, Dumas Key. And, oh my god. I know. And I’ve read three or four since then. And I basically ran around with that book telling people like, “Did you know? He’s a genius!” and he writes such simple pros. And it’s so deep and direct and, everybody’s like, “Yeah, Rachael, we knew we, we all knew.”

Nancy Richardson: [00:26:08] Yeah. Right. Try to stand the ‘Salem’s Lot. ‘Salem’s Lot is so, so, beautifully done.

Rachael Herron: [00:26:16] Really? Would you start there? or should I, should, I mean I’ve, I’ve read some, but would you do that first or the Institute? 

Nancy Richardson: [00:26:23] I’ll start with ‘Salem’s Lot,

Rachael Herron: [00:26:25] Okay. 

Nancy Richardson: [00:26:26] Then The Stand, then The Institute, and then I can’t remember how many enormous books it’ll take forever. It’s kind of like when you start and you try to gobble it out, 

Rachael Herron: [00:26:39] You’re committed. Yeah, absolutely.

Nancy Richardson: [00:26:40] It’s gonna be a year. And you want to keep going cause you don’t want to forget. 

Rachael Herron: [00:26:46] Exactly. I read them when they came out, like, you know, every, every year or so. So, or no, she was slow. I think I remember three or four years, so I never knew what was going on.

Nancy Richardson: [00:26:55] Have you read all of them? Design or read the last three because I need to go back

Rachael Herron: [00:26:59] I haven’t read the last two or three. Yeah, I just kind of, I kinda gave up. Plenty aside about that. I, I was talking to my wife and she asked me what romance should I read? And I said, you should read Outlander. And so she chose to listen to it on audio and she had this long commute at the time, it was an hour and a half of each direction. And she said she stopped and about halfway in the book, she liked the book a lot, but, but three or four days into one single sex scene, she was like, I cannot do it anymore. Apparently, when you listen to the sex scenes in those books cause they’re so long too. 

Nancy Richardson: [00:27:34] They’re’s so long. But I have to say, of any writers, she writes the best sex scene I ever read in my life.

Rachael Herron: [00:27:39] Absolutely. Absolutely. 

Nancy Richardson: [00:27:41] Who would think you could back read for a probably 10,000 pages of total books?

Rachael Herron: [00:27:45] I know, I know. She’s awesome. Yeah. Okay. Now, speaking of books, tell us about your book that just came out because the premise is divine and I am, I’m a junkie for all things reality show. I just, I hate to admit that, but I am 

Nancy Richardson: [00:28:00] Okay, don’t be embarrassed. I’m with you.

Rachael Herron: [00:28:02] I am not embarrased.

Nancy Richardson: [00:28:03] I am a naked and afraid watcher. 

Rachael Herron: [00:28:05] I’m a real housewives and Vanderpump rules watcher. I think you’ve got it over me.

Nancy Richardson: [00:28:09] I’m raising my hand. You know, I can’t stand it but I think that, I think those Housewives show on an extreme level. What clicky girls’ words you do to each other. And as a reminder to not be the type of friends that those women are to each other.

Rachael Herron: [00:28:29] I seriously watch them for that. And I watch them for story ideas and I watch them for character development, all of that. Also, I watch it cause I’m a looky loo and I want to watch, but it does something good for my brain. So tell us about your book.

Nancy Richardson: [00:28:42] Okay. So this theme of falling object is about danger, Danielle Warren, everyone calls her Danny. She’s 17 years old. She defines herself as defective and inferior based on a childhood accident. Her mom’s bitterness with parents’ divorce, her father’s abandonment, and then out of the blue, the dad, his name is Cougar and he’s a famous TV survivalist. Calls and asked her to join him for her 60th birthday on an episode of his show that’s going to be filmed in the Amazon and is going to beat your guess crisis, the teen movie idol of the moment, and Danny jumps the chance because she wants to prove that she’s worthy of his love. Unfortunately, there plane crashes leaving some people injured, other people dead, and Danny has to face everything that terrifies her, including learning the truth about the father she idolizes and the movie stars she’s fallen for, and she has to discover her unique strengths in order to find the way home.

Rachael Herron: [00:29:40] Dude. Seriously. That’s just, that’s like a one click for me, one that, that is going to be a Saturday afternoon read on the couch, next week as it comes out, because that sounds so great and it sounds so compelling and everything that I want to read. So where can we find you online? 

Nancy Richardson: [00:30:01] You can find me at https://nancyrichardsonfischer.com, which is my website. You can find me at www.instagram.com/nanfischerauthor on Instagram or www.twitter.com/nanfischerauthor on Twitter and it’s Fischer, F. I. S. C. H. E. R., and you can email me at, nancyrichardsonfischerauthor@gmail.com.  

Rachael Herron: [00:30:23] Perfect. Perfect. It has been such a treat and it’ll like to talk to you. I cannot get over that craft tip that you gave us about the first lines and the last lines. If anybody does that and wants to share that in the show notes, in the comments on the show notes that, at www.howdoyouwrite.net,  I would love to see that

Nancy Richardson: [00:30:43] Oh, I would love to see that too. 

Rachael Herron: [00:30:44] And if I get any, if we get any, I will direct you to them, Nancy. So listeners, we will be looking at those because that sounds fascinating. So,

Nancy Richardson: [00:30:52] Thank you so much for chatting with me.

Rachael Herron: [00:30:55] You’re so welcome and have a wonderful night!

Nancy Richardson: [00:30:57] You too! And I’m going to write you as soon as I finished your book, which would be probably next week. 

Rachael Herron: [00:31:02] Okay, well we’ll do that. We’ll exchange, rave reviews cause I know that’s what they’re going to be.

Nancy Richardson: [00:31:07] Awesome. 

Rachael Herron: [00:31:08] Hopefully. Hopefully. All right. Take care of you. Bye.

Nancy Richardson: [00:31:11] Bye. 

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.