May 12, 2025 • 46 mins
Ever wonder what it really takes to craft bestselling fantasy romance novels?
In the interview with Abigail Owen she pulls back the curtain on her creative process in this intimate conversation that takes us from her earliest writing memories to the upcoming release of her highly-anticipated sequel, The Things Gods Break.
Her approach to Greek mythology in The Games Gods Play series demonstrates her willingness to break traditional molds. Instead of retelling the familiar Hades-Persephone myth, Owen crafted an entirely new love story for the god of the underworld. This creative freedom extends to her world-building, where she incorporates "little brushstrokes" from mythology, like positioning Lethe, goddess of oblivion, as the perfect bartender in a god's establishment.
Fans eagerly awaiting the September release of The Things Gods Break will appreciate Owen's teases about adventures in Tartarus, new trials, and yes—another cliffhanger ending. The physical book promises to be as breathtaking as its predecessor, with special artwork that left even Owen speechless.
Ready to dive deeper into mythology, romance, and the creative process? Follow Abigail at abigailowen.com or on Instagram and TikTok.
Cover Art by: Fabienne and Jordan
Contact email: thebookishhourpod@gmail.com
Intro/Outro music: Season Two: Ramaramaray by Aiyo via Epidemic Sound Season One: Sweet Psycho via TikTok’s Offical Sound Studio on Capcut
Follow Us:
Podcast: @thebookishhourpod
Fabienne: @oxonheart
Jordan: @sipsoffiction
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jordan (00:09):
Welcome to the bookish hour with just your.
She's a New York Times, usaToday and in their international
bestselling author you.
You might know her from theGames Gods Play, a TikTok
sensation.
Her highly anticipated sequel,the Things Gods Break, is set to
(00:31):
release this September and Idon't know about you, but I
can't wait to get my hands on it.
Please welcome to the podcast,Abigail Owen.
Thank you so much for lettingme interview you.
Wow, I can't talk.
Interview you.
Abigail (00:46):
Thank you for having me on.
I'm so excited we got to meetin February at Romantician.
I just had so much fun chattingwith you, so I'm excited to get
to chat with you some more.
Jordan (00:55):
I know I'm so excited.
I'm so excited.
Okay, so we'll just dive righton in.
Well, I do like to start offevery episode with that good,
that's happened to you.
Is there anything you want toshare?
Abigail (01:08):
Oh, actually I had something really good happen
yesterday.
They sent me the artwork forthe insides of the things God's
break, so like the foiling andthe end papers and the new map,
and I didn't think that theycould top the Games.
Gods Play the artwork in that,and damn if they didn't.
I mean, like it's, I wow, I wasjust blown away.
(01:32):
So I can't wait to be able toshare that with people soon.
Jordan (01:35):
Oh my gosh, I am so excited for that like book,
because I am obsessed with myGames Gods Play.
I have it like on my shelfright here, yep, because I'm
just obsessed with my games godsplay.
I have it like on my shelfright here, yep, um, because I'm
just obsessed with that artwork, like I.
I'm pretty sure I I told you atRomantic Con I couldn't, I
couldn't read from this because,like that, yeah, that's a trove
(01:58):
shelfy and we read the yeahebook or audiobook or yeah
something that?
yeah, exactly, I had to read thee-book because I'm like I can't
, I can't, but I wanted to.
It's really all my big shelftrophies, though it's like we
understand, we can't, you can't,you just can't mess up.
Don't mess up the book.
No, no.
(02:18):
But I was planning on readingfrom this and then I opened it
and I was like I can't read fromthis, I can't do that.
Abigail (02:25):
Oh no, no, we might mess up that we don't mess up
the pretty, no, no we do not.
I'm going to say.
My good week, though, isdefinitely interviewing you.
Jordan (02:37):
So, like this, right here, I'm literally so excited.
Okay, so we'll dive right on in.
So this the questions arebroken up into three parts, so I
have writing, author readingand then personal.
So the first one for writing anauthor is when and how did you
know that you wanted to be anauthor?
Did you always want to be anauthor, or at some point did you
(03:00):
want to do something else?
Abigail (03:03):
Yeah, that's so I would say, like most authors, I got
the bug for writing very young,the bug for story, and my, my
parents were very big readers,so they read to us from you know
, the get go basically.
And then I can remember winninga writing award.
That wasn't even for like ashort story or anything, I think
it was like an essay in likethird grade.
(03:23):
I was like eight years old andactually I got second place.
I didn't even get first but Iwas like, oh, you know, maybe
this is something I'm good atand I think sometimes the
passions we fall into are theones where we feel like we have
a natural ability for it and itgives us like this extra boost
of confidence to kind of goforth in that space, if that
makes any sense.
And so I wrote short storiesand little you know fun things
(03:50):
all through all up until highschool when Mean Girls convinced
me that I was weird and, youknow, odd for loving the books
that I read and for writing.
And so I gave it up for a whilefor quite a while actually and
then picked it back up in my 20sand and at that time I read sci
fi, fantasy, very separate fromromance and I started probably
(04:14):
it was like 30 or 40contemporary romances that never
got finished and I would get tolike page 100.
And just not, I'd be like Idon't know, I don't know where I
go next.
And then Twilight came out andand that book, I think, inspired
a whole generation of readers,but it also inspired a whole
generation of writers and for methe biggest aha from that book
(04:38):
was oh, you can combine thefantasy elements with the
romance.
Like I'd never seen that and andso that was just such an aha
that I sat down and wrote myfirst Romanticy in like six
weeks and it was not long, likeit wasn't long and it wasn't all
that good, but it like.
But I finished the book finally.
(04:58):
And it's kind of like running amarathon, like once you've
figured out you can, then itgets a little easier to do it
again.
And so, yeah, from there Ifound my own editor and
self-published that first bookand then eventually, like that
led down a whole pathway to mycareer.
But Twilight's definitely, Ithink, what really kicked that
off for me.
And what's funny is that therewas an entire world of
(05:21):
paranormal romance, adultparanormal romance, not even
just in the YA space thatalready existed, that I had
never seen because it was notcommercially shelved, and so I
just find that super interesting.
Jordan (05:35):
I don't know.
Abigail (05:35):
From a.
Why was this not more visiblefor women?
Jordan (05:40):
Yeah, yeah, I like I remember I was like I used to
read like romance, like in myteens, but it wasn't totally.
Abigail (06:00):
I don't want to accept.
Jordan (06:01):
It is not the right word , but it wasn't like accepted in
bookstores like they.
It was in the corner, smalllittle thing in the corner, in
the back kind of thing.
Yep, in the back kind of thing,yep, like one bookshelf.
And I was always I'm not sayingjudged, I was like 19,.
But they were like are you oldenough to be reading this?
Abigail (06:12):
And I'm like yes, I am, but mind you, you could go
online and get it.
Well, and what I always foundinteresting about that with
bookstores is, you know, I wouldask about it like, why don't
you have more of a selection foryour romance section?
And they would say, well,romance doesn't sell, which is
fascinating to me becauseromance makes up 50% or more of
(06:32):
the book market.
So, yes, it does sell, it justdoesn't sell in your store and
maybe you need to look at whythat is.
And I especially find thatfascinating now that we have
starting with the ripped bodicein LA, that kind of showed how
to do it.
But I want to say they're up tosomething like 60 romance
(06:55):
bookstores, indie bookstores,nationwide at this point, like
they're showing up in citieskind of across America and
thriving and it's like, yeah,because romance sells yeah,
because romance sells.
Jordan (07:07):
That's like.
The one thing that I think isreally cool about TikTok is I
think they really it really blewup romance to this level.
That I think because, likecomplete, to be completely
honest, like before TikTok andbefore the quarantine, I read
romance but I was kind ofashamed of it so, so I never
talked about it.
It was everything was on myKindle so no one could see it,
(07:28):
and it wasn't until, like this,it like real, like TikTok made
it happen and made it big thatI'm like, oh, I don't need to be
like ashamed for this.
Abigail (07:38):
There were so many other women out there that were
reading it too, and it'sdefinitely.
It's.
One of the things I love bestabout BookTok is the is the
ability to connect with thecommunity.
Jordan (07:48):
Oh, it's like, yes, it's .
Oh, the book community.
It's just amazing.
Yes, it is, I love it, me too.
Okay, so what have you found tobe the most rewarding slash?
Abigail (08:04):
challenging in being an author Ooh, okay, let's see.
There's so many rewardingelements to it for me and I
think, of course, that comesfrom it being just such a
passion and I'm incredibly luckythat I get to do this thing
that is a dream as a full-timejob.
Like I was talking with somefellow authors this past weeks
that I've been doing a lot oftraveling and a lot of seeing
(08:25):
like author friends, and we wereall just kind of amazing over
the fact that we frequently feellike we're kind of getting away
with something because we'regetting to do this such a fun
job as as like what we do likeit's just which is incredible,
and and we all worked really,really, really, really hard to
get there I think that was notthe surprising part.
(08:47):
I think I knew going into itthat it wasn't going to just be
like bam, here's a career that'sactually going to support
anything.
So I would say that actuallyall the hard work that I had to
put into it is part of what Iappreciate the most about it,
(09:07):
believe it or not, I think it'sbeen an incredible journey that
I kind of get to look back overand be like look at where I grew
here and look at who I got tomeet here and look at how this
influenced me as a person orinfluenced my life in different
ways, and so I've loved everysingle step of the way, know,
influenced my life in differentways, and so I've loved, like,
(09:27):
every single step of the way.
And I would say probably themost challenging aspect actually
is marketing element to it,because when I first got started
, social media was still kind ofin its infancy and was
definitely the way that indieauthors especially really you
know they've got the hustleright and so that's really where
they they're like oh, this ishow we reach readers, because we
don't have the big marketingbudgets from a publisher, so
(09:49):
we've got to reach them otherways and they use social media,
which is fantastic.
But it also means thatpublishers now have also started
to lean into that, where it'slike oh, all authors, indie or
not, have to really hustle withsocial media and that's not
necessarily the wheelhouse foreverybody.
Like, we're introverted peoplewho want to be in our at least I
(10:11):
am.
I'm an introverted person whowants to just sit around in my
PJs and not put on makeup andnot have to figure out what you
know content is going to reallyappeal to readers and how do I
reach them and what do I need tobe advertising?
And and I'm very lucky in that Ihave a graphics arts background
that helps with social media.
I have an MBA that helps withthe marketing side of trying to
(10:34):
figure out things you know.
So, like, I've got these skillsets that help.
But um, the, the, the socialmedia part of it, so I'll give
you an example.
And the social media part of it, so I'll give you an example.
I try to write 2,000 words aday.
2,000 words takes me somewherein the neighborhood of two,
three hours max to write therest of my day.
Jordan (10:57):
The rest of my day is social media.
Oh, my goodness.
Okay that's and so that was abig surprise and challenge as to
like the more you social media,the more you grow oh yeah, I
have like I have heard likepeople say, like authors whether
it's like authors on socialmedia or somewhere else they say
(11:19):
that the actual writing of thebook takes the least amount of
time.
Everything else is either likeadmin stuff, marketing.
Abigail (11:28):
Yeah, that's the other piece of it.
Jordan (11:29):
Literally everything else is what takes the most.
Abigail (11:33):
That's true, that's true.
And I think I knew that alittle bit going into, I didn't
know to the extent of which yourtime would be taken up with the
business or your money, byemploying people who are experts
in those areas to help you withthose areas in the business.
It's, it's very much a.
It's a business.
You're an LLC, I'm an LLC, Ihave to run a whole business.
Jordan (11:52):
Yeah, oh, most things.
Abigail (11:55):
I love it allows me to like wear different hats and use
my brain in different ways, solike, if the writing's not
coming, okay, okay I'll go, I'llgo work on a Tik TOK or I'll go
mess around with my you know,bank account or whatever I'm
going to do with the financials,like answer all the gazillion
emails.
But, um, there are itdefinitely like.
(12:19):
That surprised me that it's notjust, oh, I get to like I can
write even more books.
Jordan (12:21):
No, not, really Not really you got to do social
media first marketing first,then write more books and then
maybe write another book?
Yeah, exactly what advice doyou have for aspiring authors?
Abigail (12:36):
Oh, so much advice for aspiring authors.
I would say this is a how do Iput this?
I don't want to like like,bring you on a downer.
It's a hard grind of a jobberat Canby because it's you're
putting this creative thing thatyou've really, really worked
hard on out there in the worldand you do face a lot of
(12:56):
rejection and a lot of criticismthrough reviews and that kind
of thing.
And my biggest piece of adviceis to hold on to what you love
the most about what you do andkeep going and keep going, keep
going, keep going.
My observation is that thepeople who can hold on the
longest tend to have you know,do tend to have the longest
(13:17):
careers and find success in theways that they want to find
success, because there's so manydifferent forms of success, and
find success in the ways thatthey want to find success, cause
there's so many different formsof success.
And so figure out what you loveabout it and hold onto that
really hard.
And it's definitely a piece ofadvice Spend money on editors,
good editors and good book coverdesigners.
Jordan (13:38):
Most important.
Well, and then that kind ofleads me into the next question
how do you process slash dealwith negative book reviews into
the next question how do youprocess slash deal with negative
book reviews?
Abigail (13:52):
So I have gotten pretty good, and I don't know if this
is just because I've gottenolder or because I've been doing
this as long as I have.
I've kind of developed likethey fall into a couple
different buckets.
For me, one bucket is that Ican tell that this is just not
the book for them.
It's either not the genre forthem, or my approach is not the,
or like my voice is not thevoice that you know is going to
connect with them, which is fineTo me.
That's not a negative againstme, that's just we're not a fit,
(14:14):
which is great.
The nice thing about the bookworld is that there's books for
everybody and there's, you know.
So the readers who are a goodfit for me will find me, and the
ones who aren't, no, no worries, go find out, go find the books
that you really love.
And so those tend to tend tojust like roll right off my back
.
Then I get the ones that I cantell are criticisms for the sake
(14:39):
of the reviewer, if that makessense, and those come in a
couple different flavors.
Either it can be something likethey don't like sex in books
and therefore they're going tobe negative about any book that
has sex in it or you know, oranything along those lines, like
they don't like whatever Greekgods and they don't want Greek
gods in any books, or you know,they are just tend to be kind of
(15:05):
critical in general, and so tome it's like, oh well, if
they're critical kind of acrossall books, then I'm, you know,
fair game, and that's, that'scool, you know it's it's.
They kind of fall in thosespaces, and and so also those
are, believe it or not, fairlyeasy for me to let go, because
again, I'm, I'm not the book forthem, then right, like they're
the author for them.
And then the third group arecriticisms, where my writer
(15:30):
brain goes yeah, I see it.
Or oh, that's actually a goodobservation, I haven't noticed
that about my writing.
Or okay, yeah, that's somethingI didn't think about.
Or even sometimes, oh dang,they found the thing that I was
already worried about, like.
Or even sometimes, oh dang,they found the thing that I was
already worried about, like,yeah, they noticed.
Good job on you, reader.
And those are the ones thattend to stick with me, not in a
(15:51):
negative way, but more in a howcan I become a better writer way
, and I'll give you a veryspecific example.
Early in my career, I want tosay it was my like third or
fourth book that I released.
One of the reviews was she'llbe a good writer when she
figures out world building.
And I went, oh, world building.
(16:13):
Like I thought I did prettygood on world building and like
what do you want?
Like the color of the couch,like what's the?
You know what do you mean?
And but that one stuck with mebecause I was like, okay, world
building, how can I get betterat this?
And then I started takingworkshops on world building and
paying more attention to those,or paying attention to other
books that got lauded for theirworld building, and going to
(16:34):
read those and seeing you knowwhat are they doing.
And what that led to was melearning to love world building
almost more than everything elsethat I do when I write.
And now that is what I getreviews for great world building
almost more than everythingelse that I do when I write.
And now that is what I getreviews for great world building
.
And so that that led to growthfor me.
So I look for the I wouldn'tsay negative reviews, but for
(16:57):
the constructive reviews whereI'm like I can use that and make
myself a better writer.
Jordan (17:02):
Oh see, that's, that's a good way to look at it, because
I know I mean, there's are.
There are the reviews that arejust the what.
The ones that bother me are theones that are like oh, there's
like sex in this book, so I'mgoing to give it a bad review,
but it's like, yeah, well, youshouldn't have read that book.
Abigail (17:18):
Like, you knew what you were getting into well, and
I've got trigger warnings at thebeginning of my book, like you
do you do.
I'm sorry, you know I was herefor that Like let's go, or
sometimes they'll make me laugh,Like there was a gentleman who
apparently had gotten a hold ofevery romance book that his wife
owned and was going online andposting reviews about.
My wife has unrealisticexpectations of me now that she
(17:41):
reads these books and putting iton every book that she had.
Yeah.
Jordan (17:56):
And I just thought that was holy.
Oh, clearly someone, someone'smaybe the problem is not her,
but I'm just saying.
I'm just saying, um, okay, sowhat is your writing process?
Like I did, I, I did, oh, wow,I can't talk.
I was at your Greek mythologypanel at Romantic Con, so I
actually know the answer.
Abigail (18:09):
I was fangirling so hard up there with oh my gosh, I
was fangirling so hard and thatwas such an interesting, really
cool panel.
I liked that we had differenttypes of mythologies that we all
got to talk about and ourdifferent approaches to
researching them and enjoyingthem and then kind of taking our
own take for each of them.
That was really cool.
What was the question?
(18:29):
What was the original question?
Because I was fingering.
Jordan (18:33):
What's your writing process like?
Abigail (18:35):
Yes, yes, yes, writing process.
So I'm a very consistent writer.
I like to get so many words aday.
Usually my goal is about 2000words a day.
If I go above that, awesome,but if I don't, then I really
kind of kick myself.
I am somewhere between a plotterand a pantser.
(18:56):
I started out as a pantser myvery first book I wrote.
I wrote the scenes that I couldsee the most clearly and I
figured out a plot later andthat was not maybe the best.
I don't recommend that I couldsee the most clearly and I
figured out a plot later andthat was not maybe the best.
I don't recommend that way atall.
But through the years I havebecome much more of a plotter.
What I tend to plot before Iwrite the book are just the main
(19:17):
beats.
So I write how they're going tomeet, the meet cute, the
inciting incident.
I hit the 25% mark, the 50%,the 75%, the.
You know what's going to turnus into, like the black moment,
and then you know the, theclimax from there and then the
resolution.
So I've got like those momentsin my head, but there's a lot of
gap between those to like letthe pantser in me kind of fill
(19:41):
in with the fun stuff.
But I also have this massivespreadsheet that is every
plotting technique I've everseen all blended together into
one giant spreadsheet, andanytime I run across a new
technique that I've never seen,it goes in the spreadsheet
immediately.
And so what I do is I don'tfill that out, I use it as a
(20:03):
brain teaser so that, like ifI'm stuck in my writing or I'm
like, oh, I'm not quite surewhere to go next or what kind of
scene I need next, I'll checkmy spreadsheet and be like, oh,
yeah, yeah, yeah.
So it's like it'll.
It just gives me like littleclues, like you need a best
friend moment right now, or youhaven't had a breather, or it's
time for another.
You know whatever.
So another, you know whatever.
And so it gives me all sorts offodder for my brain to be like
(20:36):
oh, here's what's next.
Jordan (20:36):
Oh see, that's, that's kind of cool.
Okay, so did you know that youalways wanted to write a book
with Greek mythology in it?
Did it ever?
Did you ever find itchallenging during the writing
process, or was it easier, sinceyou had somewhere to draw
inspiration from, like differentmyths?
This is kind of going for thegames gods play, yeah.
Abigail (20:52):
I knew Greek mythology really well before I got started
.
I would not say that I was anykind of like a scholarly expert,
but for whatever reason, thosestories and those myths have
always fascinated me and so Iabsorbed them like a sponge and
I already had a good majority ofthem in my head.
I already knew, like the majorplayers in the you know, in the
(21:13):
gods, and a lot of the minorones.
I already knew, like the fatesand the muses and the you know
all of them the satyrs, that,like you name it, most of the
creatures, and so that helped alot in that I already had a lot
of that in my head and I didstill do quite a bit of research
just to make sure that.
Because, like, I have foundthat some things that are in my
(21:33):
head have changed since Ilearned them.
They've found out more, they'vediscovered more sources.
So, for instance, when I was inI was probably in elementary
school and they were doing aGreek gods unit they used to
teach that Apollo was the onewho drove the chariot of the sun
across the skies, and now it'sHelios, and so, like, it changes
(21:55):
a little bit as they figure out.
Oh no, this wasn't exactlyworshipped that way.
That was at this time, butbefore that it was this.
You know, that kind of thing,it moves around.
So I did, you know, do a lot ofresearch to check things like
that and or to see what I couldbreak, because I did, I did
change things.
I mean think it's prettyobvious to readers once you I
mean the second you get startedthat Hades isn't with Persephone
(22:17):
in this story and and that wason purpose.
And so I try to kind of givelike wink, wink, nudge nudge to
the readers who I know are GreekGod fans when I am breaking the
rules, where, you know, lyrawill say something to Hades like
oh, we've always been taughtthis, and he's like, yeah,
humans always get it wrong.
Like that's my wink nudge tothe readers who already know the
(22:38):
Greek Gods and love them.
Jordan (22:42):
But, like, yeah, I'm going a little off script here,
and that's what I I thought wasso cool, because, to to be
honest, I thought it was goingto be like a hades and
persephone, like myth, and Ijust didn't know how you were
gonna spin it yet.
Abigail (22:55):
but then, seeing those, I was like oh, I'm here for it,
yeah and I'm like, I'm here forit.
It yeah.
So that made that a lot of fun.
And then I really enjoyed, alsoin my research, um adding in I
call them the brush strokes.
It's the little tiny detailsthat just I think feel like
round out um any given scene.
(23:17):
So, um, the example I like touse with this is that, like in
Dionysus's bar in Olympusthere's's a barkeep and I was
like, oh, who would be a goodbarkeep at a bar?
And so I looked up more minorgods to see if there was anybody
that had like a particularlyinteresting power.
That would be, you know, coolas a barkeep.
And I came up with Lethe, who'sthe goddess of oblivion.
She's technically, she's thegoddess of the river of oblivion
(23:40):
in the underworld.
But I was like oblivion, that'sperfect in the underworld, but
I was like Oblivion, that'sperfect Serving alcohol, like
clearly, yeah, that's perfect.
So, just those littlebrushstrokes and discovering
some of the more minorcharacters in Greek mythology.
Jordan (23:54):
that was really fun.
Oh yeah, that's I.
Actually I didn't know that one, but I think that's really cool
, like, just like the littleyeah, just hear a little extra.
Yeah, yeah, a littlebrushstroke.
How did you come up with theidea for the Crucible series?
I love the games that gods playis about Hades, but not the
normal Hades and Persephone myth.
(24:16):
And then this is at one point,did you want it to like?
Was it going to be the Hadesand Persephone, or did you
always want it to not be theHades?
Abigail (24:24):
Persephone.
I always wanted not the HadesPersephone myth, for a couple
different reasons.
I actually love that story.
It's one of my favorite mythsin the Greek mythology.
Lexicon or not lexicon, I guessthat's the wrong word but
they're the legends.
Part of it is that there's beena lot of Hades and Persephone
(24:45):
retellings, particularly inRomantici recently, and they've
all done such a fantastic joband each taken their own really
unique kind of take on it and itwas like oh, I don't know that
I can go any like.
Am I going to come up withanything that's any more unique
than those?
The other part is thattechnically, he's her uncle.
(25:06):
Hades is Persephone's uncle inthe bloodlines.
She's the daughter of Demeter.
Demeter's his sister.
That's her, that's his niecethat's true, that is true, which
is true with a lot of the Greekgods like almost all the Greek
gods are married to theirbrothers and sisters, same with
the titans.
Like you just kind of kind ofcan't get around that piece of
it and I was just like, and theother retellings in the fantasy,
(25:29):
the romanticist space, have alldone a fantastic job of kind of
giving that a different twist,so that that's not exactly true
for their characters, and I waslike I don't even feel like
coming up with a twist, I'm justgiving him a whole new love
story.
I mean, I was here for it, I'mstill here for it.
(25:50):
I just think about doing that.
Is it opened me up to, I think,being able to explore Hades in
a completely different way?
Jordan (25:56):
Oh, I mean, we do get like a different side yeah.
Abigail (26:01):
Yeah, so I think that helped a lot and gave me kind of
a little more freedom in termsof where I was going with the
storyline, because, yeah,there's definitely no trials,
you know, in in the HadesPersephone myth, really, unless
you count the whole eating ofthe pomegranates nah, this, this
(26:21):
one, this one, though.
Jordan (26:23):
Um so, the things god's break is set to release in this
later this year in september,which I'm so excited for.
Can you give us any hints forthis book?
Abigail (26:34):
I can't give too many hints because um so much of what
I would say I think would bespoilers, and I can tell you and
hopefully I'm not spoiling itfor anybody that it's going to
be a lot of tartarus.
And if you, if you haven't readthe end of games, cosplay what
I feel like.
Jordan (26:52):
That's not, it's not totally a spoiler, because if
you, you don't know yet, andthen like you even, just because
if you just say that, like you,you don't know, like no one
knows so it's a lot of.
Abigail (27:04):
It's a lot of tartarus, and which I had.
What was really cool abouttartarus is that there's not as
much recorded mythology abouttartarus or about the titans
really, um, they're much less.
They were really just kind ofbasic backstory more than
anything for the gods in themythology, and so there's some
(27:25):
things about them, but for themost part it's just kind of like
this is it like?
Here you go, here's a few.
And so it gave me the abilityto be like oh go go, free
imagination, let's like, let'sroll with this, and so that was
really fun.
I can also tell you that thereis going to be another trials
(27:47):
like element in the book, and sonot not exactly the same as the
first book.
It's got its own reasons andown unique little spin.
But I had a lot of fun withthat because I had so much fun
putting those together in bookone.
So I was like how do I do thisagain?
And so there's that element toit.
(28:09):
And oh, and I will tell youthat because it's a book two,
it's a trilogy.
We're not going to get thehappy, happy, happy until the
end of book three, which means,yes, I am leaving everybody on
another cliffhanger.
Jordan (28:24):
I like kind of.
I kind of like the cliffhangers.
Thank you, it's like as much asyou're like, oh, that
cliffhanger.
I like, love a cliffhanger.
Abigail (28:35):
Oh, I love a cliffhanger.
It's like what gets you to thenext book, except I'm like I
finished that and then I waslike, oh, I need to wait, but
it's like, that's like, that'slike that's what's so great
about it, although, I'll behonest, I'm one of those readers
that, like, I'll collect all ofthe books in the series, but I
don't start them until theseries is done, because I cannot
(28:56):
wait for it.
Like, I just can't do it, andso I make myself wait for the
whole series to be done, eventhough I've got them all.
They're all on my shelves,they're ready to go.
I just got to get the last book.
Yeah, I'm one of those, so,yeah, so it's ironic, probably,
that I'm like, hey, readers waitfor it.
Jordan (29:12):
Here's the cliffhanger, but I'm waiting.
Okay, so now we're into thereading section.
What is your favorite book andor series, a book you would
recommend to anyone and everyone?
Abigail (29:28):
Oh gosh, that's a good question because there's so many
and it changes with time, justwith what I've read most
recently.
This is a good question, Iwould say.
So I'm going to dip back intomy bag of like my early
paranormal romance.
(29:49):
After Twilight I am definedmore books like that, but that
were adult and the first personI ran across and who was self
published at the time it wasSuzanne Wright, who was
self-published at the time.
It was Suzanne Wright, who is aBritish author and she had a
vampire series.
The first book is called here BeSexist Vampires, which I
(30:10):
thought was a hilarious titleand she's fantastic.
I love her voice so much and Ilove how every character is.
Just she has such good, strongheroines and the guys are still,
you know, your usual kind ofalpha hole, but like it works
because the heroine's so feisty,like she, she's really great
(30:31):
and so she's.
She really got me hooked on thekind of adult paranormal
romance space.
So I would always recommendsuzanne wright, um, and then
I'll give you like, my mostrecent favorite read and was not
in the romantic space, believeit not, but it was Lights Out,
which I know has huge and blownup recently that's this right
(30:51):
now.
That's my book of the year atthe moment.
Jordan (30:54):
That is on my TV.
Abigail (30:56):
I do really want to read it, I just it's so good and
I highly recommend reading itwhile listening to the audio,
because he's phenomenal.
Jordan (31:05):
I heard the audio is like really good.
One of my friends is reading itand she's upset while listening
to it and she's obsessed.
Abigail (31:12):
The personality, because the personality is
already on the page, but thepersonality that he draws out of
it, out of this character thatcould have.
She did a phenomenal job makingthis character.
That could have been like.
She walks a fine line with thischaracter where he's both a
very morally gray character andyet a total golden retriever and
(31:34):
it's just chef's kiss yeah.
Jordan (31:38):
Oh, I gotta move that up on my TBR.
Oh yeah, what is one line ofwriting, poetry or quote that
lives in your head?
Abigail (31:48):
rent-free that's a good question too.
I have a whole bunch of linesof poetry and it usually the
thing the quotes that always hitme are like in the moment when
I have and it's usually randomlines of like random lines from
movies, random lines from books,random lines from a song, and
then people look at me like I'mbananas because they're like,
what are you quoting?
(32:08):
At me, and actually I can tellyou the quote that I get the
most looks for Not as much.
Now I'm starting to find otherpeople know this quote finally,
and it's from the movie ClueI'll get to poetry in a second.
It's from the movie Clue andit's when Mrs White is like in a
second.
It's from the movie Clue andit's when Mrs White is like
flames on the side of my faceburning breathless, heaving
(32:29):
breaths, like that's one of thebest quotes.
I don't know why I love it somuch, but I do.
And usually people look at melike I'm, yeah, losing it.
Let me think.
Best poetry quotes Um, oh, I'ma huge fan of Robert Frost.
I love the.
(32:49):
You know two roads to birds ina wood and I took the one less
traveled by.
I think that's a fantasticquote.
That's always just been areally good quote for life.
I'm also a big fan ofShakespeare.
Um, I think because of themovie sense and sensibility, I
have that entire sonnetmemorized that Marianne quotes
that is the you know, let, notthe impediment of true minds,
(33:10):
something about the impedimentof true minds, but it's like
love is not love that alterswhen an alteration finds or
bends with the remover to remove.
It's an ever-fixed mark.
Yeah, that I think it's likeleans into tempests or bends
with tempests.
It's a fantastic sonnet.
Jordan (33:27):
I now need to look that up, oh yeah, okay, so this
question is kind of similar tothe other one in a way, but what
book had the most significantimpact on your life, and why?
Abigail (33:44):
There have been a few through the years and for
various different reasons.
I would say probably one of thefirst books that had a big
impact on me was Little Women.
It's the first book I ever like, and I read it when I was like
maybe 10.
And and I I had found it inthis random house that we were
(34:08):
vacationing in and then went andgot another copy because I
couldn't put it down.
Like I didn't do anything thatvacation other than read that
book.
And that's the first book thatconsumed me that way.
And and what I've loved aboutthat?
Because I've gone back and readit about every decade since and
I I connect with a differentcharacter every time I read it,
because I'm at a different placein my life and I haven't read
(34:30):
it yet in this particular decadeand I suspect that when I do,
I'll connect most with Marmee,the mother, because now I'm in
that space, you know so, likewith teenagers who are about to
go off into the world, teenagerswho are about to go off into
the world, and so that'sdefinitely one of the books that
just has always been kind ofdear to my heart.
(34:50):
I would say the next one isgoing to be Star Wars, the
Timothy Zahn series of Star Wars, because that's really, I was
already a big fantasy sci-figeek, but mostly in the
television and movie space.
Like I was already huge StarWars fan, I was already a huge
Star Trek fan.
Both I go both ways, sorry,guys.
(35:11):
Like, yeah, I don't choosebecause I love them both.
And so you know, and I wasreally into like Quantum Leap
and like anything that had likea cool kind of twist to it, and
so I discovered the Timothy Zahnbooks in high school and just
devoured them and that's whatgot me started into reading the
(35:31):
sci-fi and fantasy books.
That really then eventuallyshaped my career.
And then, of course, twilight,just because of the impact it
had on me, realizing that Icould combine the romance and
the and the fantasy into oneamazing genre.
Jordan (35:45):
Yeah, One amazing book, well, series books.
If you could have a literarydinner party with three authors,
living or dead, who would youinvite and why?
Abigail (36:00):
Oh, good question.
Um, hmm, um, that's a reallygood question.
So I would probably say, well,I would say probably Louise and
my Alcott, just because I'd wantto know, like, how much did
that book change her life?
And I know that there wereaspects of it that the
publishers made her change, andyou know what did she really
(36:21):
feel about that?
And you know that kind of thing.
So there's that would be upthere.
I would say probably StephenKinghen king.
I find his interviewsfascinating.
I like how he just is so openwith his process and how he
writes and the ideas he comes upwith, and and so I think he
(36:42):
would just be really interestingto to really, you know, like
get to pick a brain.
You know what I mean.
Like, oh, just okay, let melike sit at the feet of genius,
um, kind of moment, and thatwould definitely be up there.
Um, and I'm trying to, I'mlooking at the books on my
shelves like, oh, what, whowould?
(37:02):
I would really love to love tochat with um if, if he was alive
, probably JRR Tolkien, becauseLord of the Rings is like that's
my, that's my, that's my highmark.
Jordan (37:16):
Oh, I like that.
That's like my favoritequestion to ask, like everybody,
because the answers are alwaysdifferent and the whys are
always different.
So it's like such a good, it'slike a solid question.
Abigail (37:27):
There's so many different ones.
Well, and like I like, evenjust in my genre, I'm very lucky
at this point that I've beendoing this as long as I have and
and also that I'm hitting apoint where I'm getting to
travel so much and get to meetother authors and so, like I
already have a lot of authors,but it means that I've met a lot
of my like idol authors whereI've got to pick their brains a
(37:50):
little bit and chat with them,author to author, about you know
, about their experiences, whichis just really really cool and
I try not to like.
I'm like, be cool, be cool, becool in my head the whole time.
Jordan (38:03):
I think it's like so cool that these like book
conventions are like becomingreally big and there's like so
many of them for differentgenres within romance.
I know there's other bookconventions, but we're just
talking romance here.
But I think it's so coolbecause it's like I never would
have been able to meet off likeI never would have been able to
(38:24):
meet you, but I was able to likeat this like conference, and I
think that's so cool.
And I think it's cool too that,like you, you can meet other
authors.
I'm not an author, I'm just I'mjust a reader over here, but I
think it's cool that it can.
You can meet like these, likepeople that you can like idolize
, and I think it's like really,it's really cool it's, it's.
Abigail (38:48):
It's such a surreal kind of space to be in, where
you're just like I'm okay, letme, you know, like bring it
together and like ask a goodquestion, like yeah, but it's,
it's one of those kind ofawesome privileges that comes
with what I do, so and I love it, and I also love and you know,
also, having been in this aslong as I am I love talking to
(39:08):
new authors who are up andcoming and you know, what are
they interested in, or what dothey see being like the cool
parts of the industry or, andyou know, and I'm always very
happy to offer any advice ifthey ask for it like just
because that's a it's very mucha rising tide lifts all boats
and I'm happy to pass pass itdown, like so no, just getting
(39:29):
to talk with anybody who lovesbooks.
Basically, I would do anything.
Jordan (39:33):
Yep, and there's no gatekeeping in this community,
which I love.
I love.
Okay, so we're now in the finalsection, personal, which is the
last two questions, sadly, butthe first one is looking back on
your life, what is one valuablelesson you learned, and it
(39:54):
could be like in writing or likebeing an author.
Abigail (39:58):
So I'm going to go back to the mean girls and the
reason I stopped writing foryears, and that is don't listen
to the mean girls and you know,don't let somebody else ever
take away your joy in somethingor tell you that you shouldn't
love the thing that you love,whether they're mean girls or
somebody close to you or just atotal stranger on a train.
(40:18):
Like, don't ever let anybodytake it away from you.
Jordan (40:23):
I like that.
I like that one a lot.
Ok, so what is one future goalthat you would like to achieve,
either long term or short term,in like writing, bookish or
personal?
Abigail (40:36):
Oh gosh, oh gosh.
I constantly have I call it mybook bucket list in my career.
I would say a more short termgoal really actually has to do
(41:02):
with family.
And I would say a more shortterm goal really actually has to
do with family.
My kids are getting old enoughthat they're starting to
graduate high school and they'regoing off to college and like
we're in that space in life andso for okay, I did the best I
could and like here you go, fly,hopefully, and so that's
definitely like a major shortterm goal at the moment and that
(41:24):
that's just.
It's one of those I can'tbelieve it's already here, kind
of moments like I seriouslycan't believe it's already here,
kind of moments Like Iseriously can't believe it's
already here.
So that's a personal goal.
I would say in the career space.
I constantly have bucket listthings in the career space.
But Games God's Play haschecked off so many of them that
(41:48):
I'm just kind of like oh, oh,okay, like do I retire now at
the top, like this is as good asI'm going to get?
So like yeah, let's you know.
No, I don't think I could.
I don't think I could.
Plus, it's not really the top.
I feel like and while thisindustry is very cyclical and
I'm sure that I will have, youknow, a downswing, and you know
(42:10):
that could happen even tomorrowI have been doing this long
enough that I just know that Ilove doing it, no matter what's
going on in terms of, you know,success or visibility or
anything like that.
I just enjoy writing thestories very much so, and then
getting to talk with the readers, who do find those stories and
enjoy them, and so I think,really, my goal is just to
(42:31):
continue doing that coming upwith fun stories and being able
to put them out there, and thenlet the career do what it's
going to do.
Jordan (42:39):
Oh, I like that.
Yeah, Because I know I did seeyour post from earlier today
that said that you're puttingdown a new series idea and I was
like yay, yes, I am, yeah, anddifferent, very different from
anything I've done before, soI'm excited about it.
Yeah, I'm excited about it.
I'm excited for the next liketwo books in this series.
(43:01):
I'm excited for that series.
Oh my gosh, you've got so manylike things down the pipeline.
Abigail (43:07):
Oh, yeah, well, and that's one of my favorite things
about like I just have.
I have a.
I had asked, actually justrecently asked on TikTok, like
what do you do, authors, youhave like a boneyard or
graveyard of book ideas.
And one of the other authorswas like oh, I call it my hope
chest.
And I was like, oh, I love thatBecause it's like I hope I get
to write these some days.
It's my hope chest of ideas andso, yeah, they and they just
(43:29):
keep coming.
I keep filling up that hopechest, oh.
Jordan (43:33):
I like that.
Abigail (43:34):
Yeah, me too, I was like that's a really great way
to put it.
Jordan (43:37):
That is a really good way.
Okay, so that's all thequestions I had for you.
I wanted to give you the floor,so I didn't know if you wanted
to like promote anything likeupcoming releases cough, cough,
cough games, gods play 2 comingout in september.
Um tiktok handle uh in uhinstagram handle website.
(43:58):
So the floor is yours, gotcha.
Abigail (44:01):
So, yes, my next release is, uh, the things gods
break, which is ggp2.
Um, it is coming out september16th.
You can pre-order now.
It does have the gorgeoussprayed edges and will have this
, let me tell you right now.
I just saw it yesterdayincredible end paper artwork and
foiling and map a new map.
So I'm super excited about it,super excited about it.
(44:24):
We're in edits at the momentand have, I think we finished
two rounds of edits.
I think we've got maybe twomore rounds of edits and then
it'll go through all the cleanupedits.
So I'm really happy with thatprocess so far.
And then following me.
So the best place to start ismy website, which is
(44:44):
abigailowencom.
From there you can find me onall the different socials.
I'm most active on Instagramand I'm trying to get more
active on TikTok.
I'm figuring out how the heckto make skits, because I don't
act, but I'm so you can tell I'mso uncomfortable with it, but
maybe that makes it funnier, Idon't know.
I do also have a privateFacebook group for fans called
(45:08):
Abby's Awesome Nerds that youcan get to from my website.
Facebook group for fans calledAbby's awesome nerds that you
can get to from my website andof course, my website also has,
like all the events I'm going tobe at, upcoming and um all the
books, including internationaleditions.
Jordan (45:19):
So I'm so excited.
Thank you so much for coming onthe podcast.
Yes, of course, I'm so happy tobe here.
I'm so excited I got tointerview you so like.
Thank you so much.
Abigail (45:33):
Oh well, thank you so much for having me and, like I
said, like I just enjoyedchatting with you so much so I
was very excited to come chatwith you more.
Jordan (45:41):
Thank you so much for listening.
I hope you enjoyed this episode.
Please feel free to rate andreview us on Spotify and Apple
Podcasts or wherever you listen,and if there's any interviews
or conversations you would likeme to have with someone specific
, please reach out either emailor through our Instagram,
(46:03):
available in the show notes andhappy reading.
Welcome to the bookish hour with just your.
She's a New York Times, usaToday and in their international
bestselling author you.
You might know her from theGames Gods Play, a TikTok
sensation.
Her highly anticipated sequel,the Things Gods Break, is set to
(00:31):
release this September and Idon't know about you, but I
can't wait to get my hands on it.
Please welcome to the podcast,Abigail Owen.
Thank you so much for lettingme interview you.
Wow, I can't talk.
Interview you.
Abigail (00:46):
Thank you for having me on.
I'm so excited we got to meetin February at Romantician.
I just had so much fun chattingwith you, so I'm excited to get
to chat with you some more.
Jordan (00:55):
I know I'm so excited.
I'm so excited.
Okay, so we'll just dive righton in.
Well, I do like to start offevery episode with that good,
that's happened to you.
Is there anything you want toshare?
Abigail (01:08):
Oh, actually I had something really good happen
yesterday.
They sent me the artwork forthe insides of the things God's
break, so like the foiling andthe end papers and the new map,
and I didn't think that theycould top the Games.
Gods Play the artwork in that,and damn if they didn't.
I mean, like it's, I wow, I wasjust blown away.
(01:32):
So I can't wait to be able toshare that with people soon.
Jordan (01:35):
Oh my gosh, I am so excited for that like book,
because I am obsessed with myGames Gods Play.
I have it like on my shelfright here, yep, because I'm
just obsessed with my games godsplay.
I have it like on my shelfright here, yep, um, because I'm
just obsessed with that artwork, like I.
I'm pretty sure I I told you atRomantic Con I couldn't, I
couldn't read from this because,like that, yeah, that's a trove
(01:58):
shelfy and we read the yeahebook or audiobook or yeah
something that?
yeah, exactly, I had to read thee-book because I'm like I can't
, I can't, but I wanted to.
It's really all my big shelftrophies, though it's like we
understand, we can't, you can't,you just can't mess up.
Don't mess up the book.
No, no.
(02:18):
But I was planning on readingfrom this and then I opened it
and I was like I can't read fromthis, I can't do that.
Abigail (02:25):
Oh no, no, we might mess up that we don't mess up
the pretty, no, no we do not.
I'm going to say.
My good week, though, isdefinitely interviewing you.
Jordan (02:37):
So, like this, right here, I'm literally so excited.
Okay, so we'll dive right on in.
So this the questions arebroken up into three parts, so I
have writing, author readingand then personal.
So the first one for writing anauthor is when and how did you
know that you wanted to be anauthor?
Did you always want to be anauthor, or at some point did you
(03:00):
want to do something else?
Abigail (03:03):
Yeah, that's so I would say, like most authors, I got
the bug for writing very young,the bug for story, and my, my
parents were very big readers,so they read to us from you know
, the get go basically.
And then I can remember winninga writing award.
That wasn't even for like ashort story or anything, I think
it was like an essay in likethird grade.
(03:23):
I was like eight years old andactually I got second place.
I didn't even get first but Iwas like, oh, you know, maybe
this is something I'm good atand I think sometimes the
passions we fall into are theones where we feel like we have
a natural ability for it and itgives us like this extra boost
of confidence to kind of goforth in that space, if that
makes any sense.
And so I wrote short storiesand little you know fun things
(03:50):
all through all up until highschool when Mean Girls convinced
me that I was weird and, youknow, odd for loving the books
that I read and for writing.
And so I gave it up for a whilefor quite a while actually and
then picked it back up in my 20sand and at that time I read sci
fi, fantasy, very separate fromromance and I started probably
(04:14):
it was like 30 or 40contemporary romances that never
got finished and I would get tolike page 100.
And just not, I'd be like Idon't know, I don't know where I
go next.
And then Twilight came out andand that book, I think, inspired
a whole generation of readers,but it also inspired a whole
generation of writers and for methe biggest aha from that book
(04:38):
was oh, you can combine thefantasy elements with the
romance.
Like I'd never seen that and andso that was just such an aha
that I sat down and wrote myfirst Romanticy in like six
weeks and it was not long, likeit wasn't long and it wasn't all
that good, but it like.
But I finished the book finally.
(04:58):
And it's kind of like running amarathon, like once you've
figured out you can, then itgets a little easier to do it
again.
And so, yeah, from there Ifound my own editor and
self-published that first bookand then eventually, like that
led down a whole pathway to mycareer.
But Twilight's definitely, Ithink, what really kicked that
off for me.
And what's funny is that therewas an entire world of
(05:21):
paranormal romance, adultparanormal romance, not even
just in the YA space thatalready existed, that I had
never seen because it was notcommercially shelved, and so I
just find that super interesting.
Jordan (05:35):
I don't know.
Abigail (05:35):
From a.
Why was this not more visiblefor women?
Jordan (05:40):
Yeah, yeah, I like I remember I was like I used to
read like romance, like in myteens, but it wasn't totally.
Abigail (06:00):
I don't want to accept.
Jordan (06:01):
It is not the right word , but it wasn't like accepted in
bookstores like they.
It was in the corner, smalllittle thing in the corner, in
the back kind of thing.
Yep, in the back kind of thing,yep, like one bookshelf.
And I was always I'm not sayingjudged, I was like 19,.
But they were like are you oldenough to be reading this?
Abigail (06:12):
And I'm like yes, I am, but mind you, you could go
online and get it.
Well, and what I always foundinteresting about that with
bookstores is, you know, I wouldask about it like, why don't
you have more of a selection foryour romance section?
And they would say, well,romance doesn't sell, which is
fascinating to me becauseromance makes up 50% or more of
(06:32):
the book market.
So, yes, it does sell, it justdoesn't sell in your store and
maybe you need to look at whythat is.
And I especially find thatfascinating now that we have
starting with the ripped bodicein LA, that kind of showed how
to do it.
But I want to say they're up tosomething like 60 romance
(06:55):
bookstores, indie bookstores,nationwide at this point, like
they're showing up in citieskind of across America and
thriving and it's like, yeah,because romance sells yeah,
because romance sells.
Jordan (07:07):
That's like.
The one thing that I think isreally cool about TikTok is I
think they really it really blewup romance to this level.
That I think because, likecomplete, to be completely
honest, like before TikTok andbefore the quarantine, I read
romance but I was kind ofashamed of it so, so I never
talked about it.
It was everything was on myKindle so no one could see it,
(07:28):
and it wasn't until, like this,it like real, like TikTok made
it happen and made it big thatI'm like, oh, I don't need to be
like ashamed for this.
Abigail (07:38):
There were so many other women out there that were
reading it too, and it'sdefinitely.
It's.
One of the things I love bestabout BookTok is the is the
ability to connect with thecommunity.
Jordan (07:48):
Oh, it's like, yes, it's .
Oh, the book community.
It's just amazing.
Yes, it is, I love it, me too.
Okay, so what have you found tobe the most rewarding slash?
Abigail (08:04):
challenging in being an author Ooh, okay, let's see.
There's so many rewardingelements to it for me and I
think, of course, that comesfrom it being just such a
passion and I'm incredibly luckythat I get to do this thing
that is a dream as a full-timejob.
Like I was talking with somefellow authors this past weeks
that I've been doing a lot oftraveling and a lot of seeing
(08:25):
like author friends, and we wereall just kind of amazing over
the fact that we frequently feellike we're kind of getting away
with something because we'regetting to do this such a fun
job as as like what we do likeit's just which is incredible,
and and we all worked really,really, really, really hard to
get there I think that was notthe surprising part.
(08:47):
I think I knew going into itthat it wasn't going to just be
like bam, here's a career that'sactually going to support
anything.
So I would say that actuallyall the hard work that I had to
put into it is part of what Iappreciate the most about it,
(09:07):
believe it or not, I think it'sbeen an incredible journey that
I kind of get to look back overand be like look at where I grew
here and look at who I got tomeet here and look at how this
influenced me as a person orinfluenced my life in different
ways, and so I've loved everysingle step of the way, know,
influenced my life in differentways, and so I've loved, like,
(09:27):
every single step of the way.
And I would say probably themost challenging aspect actually
is marketing element to it,because when I first got started
, social media was still kind ofin its infancy and was
definitely the way that indieauthors especially really you
know they've got the hustleright and so that's really where
they they're like oh, this ishow we reach readers, because we
don't have the big marketingbudgets from a publisher, so
(09:49):
we've got to reach them otherways and they use social media,
which is fantastic.
But it also means thatpublishers now have also started
to lean into that, where it'slike oh, all authors, indie or
not, have to really hustle withsocial media and that's not
necessarily the wheelhouse foreverybody.
Like, we're introverted peoplewho want to be in our at least I
(10:11):
am.
I'm an introverted person whowants to just sit around in my
PJs and not put on makeup andnot have to figure out what you
know content is going to reallyappeal to readers and how do I
reach them and what do I need tobe advertising?
And and I'm very lucky in that Ihave a graphics arts background
that helps with social media.
I have an MBA that helps withthe marketing side of trying to
(10:34):
figure out things you know.
So, like, I've got these skillsets that help.
But um, the, the, the socialmedia part of it, so I'll give
you an example.
And the social media part of it, so I'll give you an example.
I try to write 2,000 words aday.
2,000 words takes me somewherein the neighborhood of two,
three hours max to write therest of my day.
Jordan (10:57):
The rest of my day is social media.
Oh, my goodness.
Okay that's and so that was abig surprise and challenge as to
like the more you social media,the more you grow oh yeah, I
have like I have heard likepeople say, like authors whether
it's like authors on socialmedia or somewhere else they say
(11:19):
that the actual writing of thebook takes the least amount of
time.
Everything else is either likeadmin stuff, marketing.
Abigail (11:28):
Yeah, that's the other piece of it.
Jordan (11:29):
Literally everything else is what takes the most.
Abigail (11:33):
That's true, that's true.
And I think I knew that alittle bit going into, I didn't
know to the extent of which yourtime would be taken up with the
business or your money, byemploying people who are experts
in those areas to help you withthose areas in the business.
It's, it's very much a.
It's a business.
You're an LLC, I'm an LLC, Ihave to run a whole business.
Jordan (11:52):
Yeah, oh, most things.
Abigail (11:55):
I love it allows me to like wear different hats and use
my brain in different ways, solike, if the writing's not
coming, okay, okay I'll go, I'llgo work on a Tik TOK or I'll go
mess around with my you know,bank account or whatever I'm
going to do with the financials,like answer all the gazillion
emails.
But, um, there are itdefinitely like.
(12:19):
That surprised me that it's notjust, oh, I get to like I can
write even more books.
Jordan (12:21):
No, not, really Not really you got to do social
media first marketing first,then write more books and then
maybe write another book?
Yeah, exactly what advice doyou have for aspiring authors?
Abigail (12:36):
Oh, so much advice for aspiring authors.
I would say this is a how do Iput this?
I don't want to like like,bring you on a downer.
It's a hard grind of a jobberat Canby because it's you're
putting this creative thing thatyou've really, really worked
hard on out there in the worldand you do face a lot of
(12:56):
rejection and a lot of criticismthrough reviews and that kind
of thing.
And my biggest piece of adviceis to hold on to what you love
the most about what you do andkeep going and keep going, keep
going, keep going.
My observation is that thepeople who can hold on the
longest tend to have you know,do tend to have the longest
(13:17):
careers and find success in theways that they want to find
success, because there's so manydifferent forms of success, and
find success in the ways thatthey want to find success, cause
there's so many different formsof success.
And so figure out what you loveabout it and hold onto that
really hard.
And it's definitely a piece ofadvice Spend money on editors,
good editors and good book coverdesigners.
Jordan (13:38):
Most important.
Well, and then that kind ofleads me into the next question
how do you process slash dealwith negative book reviews into
the next question how do youprocess slash deal with negative
book reviews?
Abigail (13:52):
So I have gotten pretty good, and I don't know if this
is just because I've gottenolder or because I've been doing
this as long as I have.
I've kind of developed likethey fall into a couple
different buckets.
For me, one bucket is that Ican tell that this is just not
the book for them.
It's either not the genre forthem, or my approach is not the,
or like my voice is not thevoice that you know is going to
connect with them, which is fineTo me.
That's not a negative againstme, that's just we're not a fit,
(14:14):
which is great.
The nice thing about the bookworld is that there's books for
everybody and there's, you know.
So the readers who are a goodfit for me will find me, and the
ones who aren't, no, no worries, go find out, go find the books
that you really love.
And so those tend to tend tojust like roll right off my back
.
Then I get the ones that I cantell are criticisms for the sake
(14:39):
of the reviewer, if that makessense, and those come in a
couple different flavors.
Either it can be something likethey don't like sex in books
and therefore they're going tobe negative about any book that
has sex in it or you know, oranything along those lines, like
they don't like whatever Greekgods and they don't want Greek
gods in any books, or you know,they are just tend to be kind of
(15:05):
critical in general, and so tome it's like, oh well, if
they're critical kind of acrossall books, then I'm, you know,
fair game, and that's, that'scool, you know it's it's.
They kind of fall in thosespaces, and and so also those
are, believe it or not, fairlyeasy for me to let go, because
again, I'm, I'm not the book forthem, then right, like they're
the author for them.
And then the third group arecriticisms, where my writer
(15:30):
brain goes yeah, I see it.
Or oh, that's actually a goodobservation, I haven't noticed
that about my writing.
Or okay, yeah, that's somethingI didn't think about.
Or even sometimes, oh dang,they found the thing that I was
already worried about, like.
Or even sometimes, oh dang,they found the thing that I was
already worried about, like,yeah, they noticed.
Good job on you, reader.
And those are the ones thattend to stick with me, not in a
(15:51):
negative way, but more in a howcan I become a better writer way
, and I'll give you a veryspecific example.
Early in my career, I want tosay it was my like third or
fourth book that I released.
One of the reviews was she'llbe a good writer when she
figures out world building.
And I went, oh, world building.
(16:13):
Like I thought I did prettygood on world building and like
what do you want?
Like the color of the couch,like what's the?
You know what do you mean?
And but that one stuck with mebecause I was like, okay, world
building, how can I get betterat this?
And then I started takingworkshops on world building and
paying more attention to those,or paying attention to other
books that got lauded for theirworld building, and going to
(16:34):
read those and seeing you knowwhat are they doing.
And what that led to was melearning to love world building
almost more than everything elsethat I do when I write.
And now that is what I getreviews for great world building
almost more than everythingelse that I do when I write.
And now that is what I getreviews for great world building
.
And so that that led to growthfor me.
So I look for the I wouldn'tsay negative reviews, but for
(16:57):
the constructive reviews whereI'm like I can use that and make
myself a better writer.
Jordan (17:02):
Oh see, that's, that's a good way to look at it, because
I know I mean, there's are.
There are the reviews that arejust the what.
The ones that bother me are theones that are like oh, there's
like sex in this book, so I'mgoing to give it a bad review,
but it's like, yeah, well, youshouldn't have read that book.
Abigail (17:18):
Like, you knew what you were getting into well, and
I've got trigger warnings at thebeginning of my book, like you
do you do.
I'm sorry, you know I was herefor that Like let's go, or
sometimes they'll make me laugh,Like there was a gentleman who
apparently had gotten a hold ofevery romance book that his wife
owned and was going online andposting reviews about.
My wife has unrealisticexpectations of me now that she
(17:41):
reads these books and putting iton every book that she had.
Yeah.
Jordan (17:56):
And I just thought that was holy.
Oh, clearly someone, someone'smaybe the problem is not her,
but I'm just saying.
I'm just saying, um, okay, sowhat is your writing process?
Like I did, I, I did, oh, wow,I can't talk.
I was at your Greek mythologypanel at Romantic Con, so I
actually know the answer.
Abigail (18:09):
I was fangirling so hard up there with oh my gosh, I
was fangirling so hard and thatwas such an interesting, really
cool panel.
I liked that we had differenttypes of mythologies that we all
got to talk about and ourdifferent approaches to
researching them and enjoyingthem and then kind of taking our
own take for each of them.
That was really cool.
What was the question?
(18:29):
What was the original question?
Because I was fingering.
Jordan (18:33):
What's your writing process like?
Abigail (18:35):
Yes, yes, yes, writing process.
So I'm a very consistent writer.
I like to get so many words aday.
Usually my goal is about 2000words a day.
If I go above that, awesome,but if I don't, then I really
kind of kick myself.
I am somewhere between a plotterand a pantser.
(18:56):
I started out as a pantser myvery first book I wrote.
I wrote the scenes that I couldsee the most clearly and I
figured out a plot later andthat was not maybe the best.
I don't recommend that I couldsee the most clearly and I
figured out a plot later andthat was not maybe the best.
I don't recommend that way atall.
But through the years I havebecome much more of a plotter.
What I tend to plot before Iwrite the book are just the main
(19:17):
beats.
So I write how they're going tomeet, the meet cute, the
inciting incident.
I hit the 25% mark, the 50%,the 75%, the.
You know what's going to turnus into, like the black moment,
and then you know the, theclimax from there and then the
resolution.
So I've got like those momentsin my head, but there's a lot of
gap between those to like letthe pantser in me kind of fill
(19:41):
in with the fun stuff.
But I also have this massivespreadsheet that is every
plotting technique I've everseen all blended together into
one giant spreadsheet, andanytime I run across a new
technique that I've never seen,it goes in the spreadsheet
immediately.
And so what I do is I don'tfill that out, I use it as a
(20:03):
brain teaser so that, like ifI'm stuck in my writing or I'm
like, oh, I'm not quite surewhere to go next or what kind of
scene I need next, I'll checkmy spreadsheet and be like, oh,
yeah, yeah, yeah.
So it's like it'll.
It just gives me like littleclues, like you need a best
friend moment right now, or youhaven't had a breather, or it's
time for another.
You know whatever.
So another, you know whatever.
And so it gives me all sorts offodder for my brain to be like
(20:36):
oh, here's what's next.
Jordan (20:36):
Oh see, that's, that's kind of cool.
Okay, so did you know that youalways wanted to write a book
with Greek mythology in it?
Did it ever?
Did you ever find itchallenging during the writing
process, or was it easier, sinceyou had somewhere to draw
inspiration from, like differentmyths?
This is kind of going for thegames gods play, yeah.
Abigail (20:52):
I knew Greek mythology really well before I got started
.
I would not say that I was anykind of like a scholarly expert,
but for whatever reason, thosestories and those myths have
always fascinated me and so Iabsorbed them like a sponge and
I already had a good majority ofthem in my head.
I already knew, like the majorplayers in the you know, in the
(21:13):
gods, and a lot of the minorones.
I already knew, like the fatesand the muses and the you know
all of them the satyrs, that,like you name it, most of the
creatures, and so that helped alot in that I already had a lot
of that in my head and I didstill do quite a bit of research
just to make sure that.
Because, like, I have foundthat some things that are in my
(21:33):
head have changed since Ilearned them.
They've found out more, they'vediscovered more sources.
So, for instance, when I was inI was probably in elementary
school and they were doing aGreek gods unit they used to
teach that Apollo was the onewho drove the chariot of the sun
across the skies, and now it'sHelios, and so, like, it changes
(21:55):
a little bit as they figure out.
Oh no, this wasn't exactlyworshipped that way.
That was at this time, butbefore that it was this.
You know, that kind of thing,it moves around.
So I did, you know, do a lot ofresearch to check things like
that and or to see what I couldbreak, because I did, I did
change things.
I mean think it's prettyobvious to readers once you I
mean the second you get startedthat Hades isn't with Persephone
(22:17):
in this story and and that wason purpose.
And so I try to kind of givelike wink, wink, nudge nudge to
the readers who I know are GreekGod fans when I am breaking the
rules, where, you know, lyrawill say something to Hades like
oh, we've always been taughtthis, and he's like, yeah,
humans always get it wrong.
Like that's my wink nudge tothe readers who already know the
(22:38):
Greek Gods and love them.
Jordan (22:42):
But, like, yeah, I'm going a little off script here,
and that's what I I thought wasso cool, because, to to be
honest, I thought it was goingto be like a hades and
persephone, like myth, and Ijust didn't know how you were
gonna spin it yet.
Abigail (22:55):
but then, seeing those, I was like oh, I'm here for it,
yeah and I'm like, I'm here forit.
It yeah.
So that made that a lot of fun.
And then I really enjoyed, alsoin my research, um adding in I
call them the brush strokes.
It's the little tiny detailsthat just I think feel like
round out um any given scene.
(23:17):
So, um, the example I like touse with this is that, like in
Dionysus's bar in Olympusthere's's a barkeep and I was
like, oh, who would be a goodbarkeep at a bar?
And so I looked up more minorgods to see if there was anybody
that had like a particularlyinteresting power.
That would be, you know, coolas a barkeep.
And I came up with Lethe, who'sthe goddess of oblivion.
She's technically, she's thegoddess of the river of oblivion
(23:40):
in the underworld.
But I was like oblivion, that'sperfect in the underworld, but
I was like Oblivion, that'sperfect Serving alcohol, like
clearly, yeah, that's perfect.
So, just those littlebrushstrokes and discovering
some of the more minorcharacters in Greek mythology.
Jordan (23:54):
that was really fun.
Oh yeah, that's I.
Actually I didn't know that one, but I think that's really cool
, like, just like the littleyeah, just hear a little extra.
Yeah, yeah, a littlebrushstroke.
How did you come up with theidea for the Crucible series?
I love the games that gods playis about Hades, but not the
normal Hades and Persephone myth.
(24:16):
And then this is at one point,did you want it to like?
Was it going to be the Hadesand Persephone, or did you
always want it to not be theHades?
Abigail (24:24):
Persephone.
I always wanted not the HadesPersephone myth, for a couple
different reasons.
I actually love that story.
It's one of my favorite mythsin the Greek mythology.
Lexicon or not lexicon, I guessthat's the wrong word but
they're the legends.
Part of it is that there's beena lot of Hades and Persephone
(24:45):
retellings, particularly inRomantici recently, and they've
all done such a fantastic joband each taken their own really
unique kind of take on it and itwas like oh, I don't know that
I can go any like.
Am I going to come up withanything that's any more unique
than those?
The other part is thattechnically, he's her uncle.
(25:06):
Hades is Persephone's uncle inthe bloodlines.
She's the daughter of Demeter.
Demeter's his sister.
That's her, that's his niecethat's true, that is true, which
is true with a lot of the Greekgods like almost all the Greek
gods are married to theirbrothers and sisters, same with
the titans.
Like you just kind of kind ofcan't get around that piece of
it and I was just like, and theother retellings in the fantasy,
(25:29):
the romanticist space, have alldone a fantastic job of kind of
giving that a different twist,so that that's not exactly true
for their characters, and I waslike I don't even feel like
coming up with a twist, I'm justgiving him a whole new love
story.
I mean, I was here for it, I'mstill here for it.
(25:50):
I just think about doing that.
Is it opened me up to, I think,being able to explore Hades in
a completely different way?
Jordan (25:56):
Oh, I mean, we do get like a different side yeah.
Abigail (26:01):
Yeah, so I think that helped a lot and gave me kind of
a little more freedom in termsof where I was going with the
storyline, because, yeah,there's definitely no trials,
you know, in in the HadesPersephone myth, really, unless
you count the whole eating ofthe pomegranates nah, this, this
(26:21):
one, this one, though.
Jordan (26:23):
Um so, the things god's break is set to release in this
later this year in september,which I'm so excited for.
Can you give us any hints forthis book?
Abigail (26:34):
I can't give too many hints because um so much of what
I would say I think would bespoilers, and I can tell you and
hopefully I'm not spoiling itfor anybody that it's going to
be a lot of tartarus.
And if you, if you haven't readthe end of games, cosplay what
I feel like.
Jordan (26:52):
That's not, it's not totally a spoiler, because if
you, you don't know yet, andthen like you even, just because
if you just say that, like you,you don't know, like no one
knows so it's a lot of.
Abigail (27:04):
It's a lot of tartarus, and which I had.
What was really cool abouttartarus is that there's not as
much recorded mythology abouttartarus or about the titans
really, um, they're much less.
They were really just kind ofbasic backstory more than
anything for the gods in themythology, and so there's some
(27:25):
things about them, but for themost part it's just kind of like
this is it like?
Here you go, here's a few.
And so it gave me the abilityto be like oh go go, free
imagination, let's like, let'sroll with this, and so that was
really fun.
I can also tell you that thereis going to be another trials
(27:47):
like element in the book, and sonot not exactly the same as the
first book.
It's got its own reasons andown unique little spin.
But I had a lot of fun withthat because I had so much fun
putting those together in bookone.
So I was like how do I do thisagain?
And so there's that element toit.
(28:09):
And oh, and I will tell youthat because it's a book two,
it's a trilogy.
We're not going to get thehappy, happy, happy until the
end of book three, which means,yes, I am leaving everybody on
another cliffhanger.
Jordan (28:24):
I like kind of.
I kind of like the cliffhangers.
Thank you, it's like as much asyou're like, oh, that
cliffhanger.
I like, love a cliffhanger.
Abigail (28:35):
Oh, I love a cliffhanger.
It's like what gets you to thenext book, except I'm like I
finished that and then I waslike, oh, I need to wait, but
it's like, that's like, that'slike that's what's so great
about it, although, I'll behonest, I'm one of those readers
that, like, I'll collect all ofthe books in the series, but I
don't start them until theseries is done, because I cannot
(28:56):
wait for it.
Like, I just can't do it, andso I make myself wait for the
whole series to be done, eventhough I've got them all.
They're all on my shelves,they're ready to go.
I just got to get the last book.
Yeah, I'm one of those, so,yeah, so it's ironic, probably,
that I'm like, hey, readers waitfor it.
Jordan (29:12):
Here's the cliffhanger, but I'm waiting.
Okay, so now we're into thereading section.
What is your favorite book andor series, a book you would
recommend to anyone and everyone?
Abigail (29:28):
Oh gosh, that's a good question because there's so many
and it changes with time, justwith what I've read most
recently.
This is a good question, Iwould say.
So I'm going to dip back intomy bag of like my early
paranormal romance.
(29:49):
After Twilight I am definedmore books like that, but that
were adult and the first personI ran across and who was self
published at the time it wasSuzanne Wright, who was
self-published at the time.
It was Suzanne Wright, who is aBritish author and she had a
vampire series.
The first book is called here BeSexist Vampires, which I
(30:10):
thought was a hilarious titleand she's fantastic.
I love her voice so much and Ilove how every character is.
Just she has such good, strongheroines and the guys are still,
you know, your usual kind ofalpha hole, but like it works
because the heroine's so feisty,like she, she's really great
(30:31):
and so she's.
She really got me hooked on thekind of adult paranormal
romance space.
So I would always recommendsuzanne wright, um, and then
I'll give you like, my mostrecent favorite read and was not
in the romantic space, believeit not, but it was Lights Out,
which I know has huge and blownup recently that's this right
(30:51):
now.
That's my book of the year atthe moment.
Jordan (30:54):
That is on my TV.
Abigail (30:56):
I do really want to read it, I just it's so good and
I highly recommend reading itwhile listening to the audio,
because he's phenomenal.
Jordan (31:05):
I heard the audio is like really good.
One of my friends is reading itand she's upset while listening
to it and she's obsessed.
Abigail (31:12):
The personality, because the personality is
already on the page, but thepersonality that he draws out of
it, out of this character thatcould have.
She did a phenomenal job makingthis character.
That could have been like.
She walks a fine line with thischaracter where he's both a
very morally gray character andyet a total golden retriever and
(31:34):
it's just chef's kiss yeah.
Jordan (31:38):
Oh, I gotta move that up on my TBR.
Oh yeah, what is one line ofwriting, poetry or quote that
lives in your head?
Abigail (31:48):
rent-free that's a good question too.
I have a whole bunch of linesof poetry and it usually the
thing the quotes that always hitme are like in the moment when
I have and it's usually randomlines of like random lines from
movies, random lines from books,random lines from a song, and
then people look at me like I'mbananas because they're like,
what are you quoting?
(32:08):
At me, and actually I can tellyou the quote that I get the
most looks for Not as much.
Now I'm starting to find otherpeople know this quote finally,
and it's from the movie ClueI'll get to poetry in a second.
It's from the movie Clue andit's when Mrs White is like in a
second.
It's from the movie Clue andit's when Mrs White is like
flames on the side of my faceburning breathless, heaving
(32:29):
breaths, like that's one of thebest quotes.
I don't know why I love it somuch, but I do.
And usually people look at melike I'm, yeah, losing it.
Let me think.
Best poetry quotes Um, oh, I'ma huge fan of Robert Frost.
I love the.
(32:49):
You know two roads to birds ina wood and I took the one less
traveled by.
I think that's a fantasticquote.
That's always just been areally good quote for life.
I'm also a big fan ofShakespeare.
Um, I think because of themovie sense and sensibility, I
have that entire sonnetmemorized that Marianne quotes
that is the you know, let, notthe impediment of true minds,
(33:10):
something about the impedimentof true minds, but it's like
love is not love that alterswhen an alteration finds or
bends with the remover to remove.
It's an ever-fixed mark.
Yeah, that I think it's likeleans into tempests or bends
with tempests.
It's a fantastic sonnet.
Jordan (33:27):
I now need to look that up, oh yeah, okay, so this
question is kind of similar tothe other one in a way, but what
book had the most significantimpact on your life, and why?
Abigail (33:44):
There have been a few through the years and for
various different reasons.
I would say probably one of thefirst books that had a big
impact on me was Little Women.
It's the first book I ever like, and I read it when I was like
maybe 10.
And and I I had found it inthis random house that we were
(34:08):
vacationing in and then went andgot another copy because I
couldn't put it down.
Like I didn't do anything thatvacation other than read that
book.
And that's the first book thatconsumed me that way.
And and what I've loved aboutthat?
Because I've gone back and readit about every decade since and
I I connect with a differentcharacter every time I read it,
because I'm at a different placein my life and I haven't read
(34:30):
it yet in this particular decadeand I suspect that when I do,
I'll connect most with Marmee,the mother, because now I'm in
that space, you know so, likewith teenagers who are about to
go off into the world, teenagerswho are about to go off into
the world, and so that'sdefinitely one of the books that
just has always been kind ofdear to my heart.
(34:50):
I would say the next one isgoing to be Star Wars, the
Timothy Zahn series of Star Wars, because that's really, I was
already a big fantasy sci-figeek, but mostly in the
television and movie space.
Like I was already huge StarWars fan, I was already a huge
Star Trek fan.
Both I go both ways, sorry,guys.
(35:11):
Like, yeah, I don't choosebecause I love them both.
And so you know, and I wasreally into like Quantum Leap
and like anything that had likea cool kind of twist to it, and
so I discovered the Timothy Zahnbooks in high school and just
devoured them and that's whatgot me started into reading the
(35:31):
sci-fi and fantasy books.
That really then eventuallyshaped my career.
And then, of course, twilight,just because of the impact it
had on me, realizing that Icould combine the romance and
the and the fantasy into oneamazing genre.
Jordan (35:45):
Yeah, One amazing book, well, series books.
If you could have a literarydinner party with three authors,
living or dead, who would youinvite and why?
Abigail (36:00):
Oh, good question.
Um, hmm, um, that's a reallygood question.
So I would probably say, well,I would say probably Louise and
my Alcott, just because I'd wantto know, like, how much did
that book change her life?
And I know that there wereaspects of it that the
publishers made her change, andyou know what did she really
(36:21):
feel about that?
And you know that kind of thing.
So there's that would be upthere.
I would say probably StephenKinghen king.
I find his interviewsfascinating.
I like how he just is so openwith his process and how he
writes and the ideas he comes upwith, and and so I think he
(36:42):
would just be really interestingto to really, you know, like
get to pick a brain.
You know what I mean.
Like, oh, just okay, let melike sit at the feet of genius,
um, kind of moment, and thatwould definitely be up there.
Um, and I'm trying to, I'mlooking at the books on my
shelves like, oh, what, whowould?
(37:02):
I would really love to love tochat with um if, if he was alive
, probably JRR Tolkien, becauseLord of the Rings is like that's
my, that's my, that's my highmark.
Jordan (37:16):
Oh, I like that.
That's like my favoritequestion to ask, like everybody,
because the answers are alwaysdifferent and the whys are
always different.
So it's like such a good, it'slike a solid question.
Abigail (37:27):
There's so many different ones.
Well, and like I like, evenjust in my genre, I'm very lucky
at this point that I've beendoing this as long as I have and
and also that I'm hitting apoint where I'm getting to
travel so much and get to meetother authors and so, like I
already have a lot of authors,but it means that I've met a lot
of my like idol authors whereI've got to pick their brains a
(37:50):
little bit and chat with them,author to author, about you know
, about their experiences, whichis just really really cool and
I try not to like.
I'm like, be cool, be cool, becool in my head the whole time.
Jordan (38:03):
I think it's like so cool that these like book
conventions are like becomingreally big and there's like so
many of them for differentgenres within romance.
I know there's other bookconventions, but we're just
talking romance here.
But I think it's so coolbecause it's like I never would
have been able to meet off likeI never would have been able to
(38:24):
meet you, but I was able to likeat this like conference, and I
think that's so cool.
And I think it's cool too that,like you, you can meet other
authors.
I'm not an author, I'm just I'mjust a reader over here, but I
think it's cool that it can.
You can meet like these, likepeople that you can like idolize
, and I think it's like really,it's really cool it's, it's.
Abigail (38:48):
It's such a surreal kind of space to be in, where
you're just like I'm okay, letme, you know, like bring it
together and like ask a goodquestion, like yeah, but it's,
it's one of those kind ofawesome privileges that comes
with what I do, so and I love it, and I also love and you know,
also, having been in this aslong as I am I love talking to
(39:08):
new authors who are up andcoming and you know, what are
they interested in, or what dothey see being like the cool
parts of the industry or, andyou know, and I'm always very
happy to offer any advice ifthey ask for it like just
because that's a it's very mucha rising tide lifts all boats
and I'm happy to pass pass itdown, like so no, just getting
(39:29):
to talk with anybody who lovesbooks.
Basically, I would do anything.
Jordan (39:33):
Yep, and there's no gatekeeping in this community,
which I love.
I love.
Okay, so we're now in the finalsection, personal, which is the
last two questions, sadly, butthe first one is looking back on
your life, what is one valuablelesson you learned, and it
(39:54):
could be like in writing or likebeing an author.
Abigail (39:58):
So I'm going to go back to the mean girls and the
reason I stopped writing foryears, and that is don't listen
to the mean girls and you know,don't let somebody else ever
take away your joy in somethingor tell you that you shouldn't
love the thing that you love,whether they're mean girls or
somebody close to you or just atotal stranger on a train.
(40:18):
Like, don't ever let anybodytake it away from you.
Jordan (40:23):
I like that.
I like that one a lot.
Ok, so what is one future goalthat you would like to achieve,
either long term or short term,in like writing, bookish or
personal?
Abigail (40:36):
Oh gosh, oh gosh.
I constantly have I call it mybook bucket list in my career.
I would say a more short termgoal really actually has to do
(41:02):
with family.
And I would say a more shortterm goal really actually has to
do with family.
My kids are getting old enoughthat they're starting to
graduate high school and they'regoing off to college and like
we're in that space in life andso for okay, I did the best I
could and like here you go, fly,hopefully, and so that's
definitely like a major shortterm goal at the moment and that
(41:24):
that's just.
It's one of those I can'tbelieve it's already here, kind
of moments like I seriouslycan't believe it's already here,
kind of moments Like Iseriously can't believe it's
already here.
So that's a personal goal.
I would say in the career space.
I constantly have bucket listthings in the career space.
But Games God's Play haschecked off so many of them that
(41:48):
I'm just kind of like oh, oh,okay, like do I retire now at
the top, like this is as good asI'm going to get?
So like yeah, let's you know.
No, I don't think I could.
I don't think I could.
Plus, it's not really the top.
I feel like and while thisindustry is very cyclical and
I'm sure that I will have, youknow, a downswing, and you know
(42:10):
that could happen even tomorrowI have been doing this long
enough that I just know that Ilove doing it, no matter what's
going on in terms of, you know,success or visibility or
anything like that.
I just enjoy writing thestories very much so, and then
getting to talk with the readers, who do find those stories and
enjoy them, and so I think,really, my goal is just to
(42:31):
continue doing that coming upwith fun stories and being able
to put them out there, and thenlet the career do what it's
going to do.
Jordan (42:39):
Oh, I like that.
Yeah, Because I know I did seeyour post from earlier today
that said that you're puttingdown a new series idea and I was
like yay, yes, I am, yeah, anddifferent, very different from
anything I've done before, soI'm excited about it.
Yeah, I'm excited about it.
I'm excited for the next liketwo books in this series.
(43:01):
I'm excited for that series.
Oh my gosh, you've got so manylike things down the pipeline.
Abigail (43:07):
Oh, yeah, well, and that's one of my favorite things
about like I just have.
I have a.
I had asked, actually justrecently asked on TikTok, like
what do you do, authors, youhave like a boneyard or
graveyard of book ideas.
And one of the other authorswas like oh, I call it my hope
chest.
And I was like, oh, I love thatBecause it's like I hope I get
to write these some days.
It's my hope chest of ideas andso, yeah, they and they just
(43:29):
keep coming.
I keep filling up that hopechest, oh.
Jordan (43:33):
I like that.
Abigail (43:34):
Yeah, me too, I was like that's a really great way
to put it.
Jordan (43:37):
That is a really good way.
Okay, so that's all thequestions I had for you.
I wanted to give you the floor,so I didn't know if you wanted
to like promote anything likeupcoming releases cough, cough,
cough games, gods play 2 comingout in september.
Um tiktok handle uh in uhinstagram handle website.
(43:58):
So the floor is yours, gotcha.
Abigail (44:01):
So, yes, my next release is, uh, the things gods
break, which is ggp2.
Um, it is coming out september16th.
You can pre-order now.
It does have the gorgeoussprayed edges and will have this
, let me tell you right now.
I just saw it yesterdayincredible end paper artwork and
foiling and map a new map.
So I'm super excited about it,super excited about it.
(44:24):
We're in edits at the momentand have, I think we finished
two rounds of edits.
I think we've got maybe twomore rounds of edits and then
it'll go through all the cleanupedits.
So I'm really happy with thatprocess so far.
And then following me.
So the best place to start ismy website, which is
(44:44):
abigailowencom.
From there you can find me onall the different socials.
I'm most active on Instagramand I'm trying to get more
active on TikTok.
I'm figuring out how the heckto make skits, because I don't
act, but I'm so you can tell I'mso uncomfortable with it, but
maybe that makes it funnier, Idon't know.
I do also have a privateFacebook group for fans called
(45:08):
Abby's Awesome Nerds that youcan get to from my website.
Facebook group for fans calledAbby's awesome nerds that you
can get to from my website andof course, my website also has,
like all the events I'm going tobe at, upcoming and um all the
books, including internationaleditions.
Jordan (45:19):
So I'm so excited.
Thank you so much for coming onthe podcast.
Yes, of course, I'm so happy tobe here.
I'm so excited I got tointerview you so like.
Thank you so much.
Abigail (45:33):
Oh well, thank you so much for having me and, like I
said, like I just enjoyedchatting with you so much so I
was very excited to come chatwith you more.
Jordan (45:41):
Thank you so much for listening.
I hope you enjoyed this episode.
Please feel free to rate andreview us on Spotify and Apple
Podcasts or wherever you listen,and if there's any interviews
or conversations you would likeme to have with someone specific
, please reach out either emailor through our Instagram,
(46:03):
available in the show notes andhappy reading.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.