Today is part one of two where we are talking to Misty Walker about her books. Over the next 2 weeks you will hear about writing from a young age and binding her own books, speed writing through the first draft of her first book in six weeks, using her network of authors to get her book ready, catching the writing bug, learning different social medias for your books, her advice to be a little more intentional with marketing, picking your friends carefully in the industry and getting lost in your story.

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Misty Walker is a USA Today Bestselling contemporary romance author. Her books have been translated to Hebrew and adapted into audiobooks.

She reads the way she writes, so in between writing her dark and delicious novels, she'll sneak in a few sweet and steamy ones to "cleanse the palate", as they say.

Misty currently resides in the high desert of Reno, NV with her husband, two daughters, and two dogs. She enjoys camping in her comfy travel trailer, reading, and writing. She loves connecting with readers, so her email and DMs are always open.

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Welcome to Freya's fairy tales.

We believe fairy tales are both stories we enjoyed as children and something that we can achieve ourselves.

Each week we will talk to authors about their favorite fairy tales when they were kids and their adventure to holding their very own fairy tale in their hands.

At the end of each episode, we will finish off with a fairy tale or short story read as close to the original author's version as possible.

I am your host, Freya Victoria.

I'm an audiobook narrator that loves reading fairy tales novels and bringing stories to life through narration.

I am also fascinated by talking to authors and learning about their why and how for creating their stories.

We've included all of the links for today's author and our show in the show notes.

Be sure to check out our website.

And sign up for our newsletter for the latest on the podcast.

Today is part one of two where we are talking to Misty Walker about her books.

Over the next two weeks, you will hear about writing from a young age and binding her own books.

Speed writing through the first draft of.

Her first book in six weeks, using her network of authors to get her book ready.

Catching the writing bug learning different social medias for your books her advice?

To be a little more intentional with marketing, picking your friends carefully in the industry, and getting lost in your story.

Petrus Bikers an MMF dark mc romance I thought I had nothing left to give.

It took two dirty bikers to prove me wrong.

Cameron Bigsby was in her third year residency at UMC of southern Nevada when her entire world was stripped from her.

She was given a new name, Petra, and for two years she was made the property of the worst kind of men who abused her until she was nothing but an empty shell.

Then the royal b******'s MC stepped in and saved her.

Sly club treasurer and resident hacker and Moto road captain and gearhead were tasked with finding out who she was and what they should do with her.

The woman was skittish, fragile, and addicted to God knows what, so luring information from her took unique tactics.

But as they coax her to health, they realize she's so much more than the timid dove they rescued.

She's strong, intelligent, and sexy as h***.

Suddenly, they aren't sure if making her remember is the best idea, because Petra belongs in the world of an MC, but Cameron Bixby doesn't.

All right, so the podcast is Freya's fairy tales, and that is fairy tales in two ways.

Fairy tales are something that we watched or read or had read to us when we were kids also, the journey for you to spend weeks, months, or years working on your books, to get to hold them in your hands is sort of like a fairy tale for you.

So I like to start off with, what was your favorite fairy tale or other short story when you were a kid?

And has that favorite changed as you got.

I.

I think, like most people my age, we just grew up on.

Yeah, I still have my collection of Disney books that I was read when I was, you know, Snow White and Boonie and the Beast, and all of those were my favorites.

They released them in, like, a classics set, didn't they?

Yeah, they were like the matte covers with the pretty spines, and.

Yeah, I kept all of those, and my kids had them, but my kids didn't really like books very much still.

My younger daughter, she reads some, but my older daughter, definitely not.

So at what age did you start writing anything?

Short stories, poems, actual novels?

I don't ever remember not writing, actually.

I have books that I wrote probably fourth grade and up.

Okay.

That I would write the stories, I would draw the pictures, and then I would use yarn and needles.

Bind them together.

You hole punch the pages.

Yeah.

So I think I've always kind of had that knack, I guess.

And so did you continue to write, or did you?

Because I know you didn't publish until a few years ago.

So did you keep writing or take a break after that?

I think after I graduated high school, I did not have the best support system, so I graduated high school early and moved out of my parents house the day after I turned 18.

Okay.

From then, it was just, like, life hit, and things like writing and anything for any kind of pleasure just kind of went out the window and was replaced with work and all the fun.

Things that we love to do.

Yeah.

Figuring out how to survive.

And then after that, it was kids and babies that kept me, but it was when both of my kids, I think my youngest was in fifth grade or something, and I was sitting at home, and I was like, well, everything's done.

What do I do?

I mean, they're mostly taking care of themselves at that point.

Yeah.

And so then I just kind of got to think about what I wanted to do.

I was a huge reader, obviously, at that point, and I was working for authors doing PA work, and I was working for an audiobook company doing audiobook proofing, and that just kind of seemed like a natural shift.

Yeah.

And so when you were a kid, these little yarn things were obviously not full length novels.

So your first full length actual novel for grown ups.

How long did it take you to write the first one, whether you published that first one or not, how long did it take you to write it?

Not very long, because once I just made the decision, it was like a fire was burning and I had to get it done, and I just worked and worked and worked and worked and worked.

I don't know.

It probably took me six weeks, maybe.

Oh, gosh.

That is definitely one of the shorter time frames I've heard.

I talked to a lady earlier today who said, like, 25 years.

So you spend not a whole lot of time writing the book.

What did you kind of do once you had the first draft done?

What was the next step that you took because you had a little bit of an advantage having done the PA stuff already?

Yeah, I would think.

Yeah, I definitely did, being already having some close relationships with some authors, but I was scared because I wanted somebody to read it, but I also did not.

Absolutely did not.

So I just kind of sat on it and read through it a million times and made changes.

And eventually I gave it to an author friend of mine, and I was like, listen, I need to know if this sucks.

Please be as honest as you possibly can.

Like, do not let me send this into the world and have it be the worst thing you've ever read.

Right.

And she said that she thought it was good and she thought I should publish.

So I went hunting for an editor, and that was that.

At that point, did you go through, like, a beta reader process or anything, or was that author kind of your.

Beta reader of sorts?

I wouldn't send it to anybody else until after an editor had been through it.

Okay.

I was very nervous about that.

But then after that, I did send it to, like, I was involved with a blog, so I sent it to a few friends and a few other readers that I had known beta read for the authors that I was.

Yeah, but only after it went through the editor.

That was too scary.

So you got it out there, you got opinions on it?

I kind of did the same thing, but I only did it with, like, I think the first chapter.

I sent it to a couple of authors I'd narrated for and was like, can you please tell me if this sucks or not?

Because I don't want to keep working on this if it's awful.

Yeah, not a whole book, just, like, a chapter.

Please tell me if this sucks or not.

So you get it ready to go, and then what did you kind of do with it at that point?

I know I recently came across a video of yours that you said a couple of years ago is when you started all this.

So what year was all of this?

I'm not even sure it was maybe 2018.

Okay, probably 2017.

And so you got it ready?

Did you try to query it at all, or did you?

I didn't because I was only involved with indie authors.

Okay, so you already kind of knew that part of things.

Yeah.

And so I just went straight to indie publishing.

I've talked to enough authors on here that have queried and watched enough authors on TikTok.

I had no desire to spend any time doing that at all.

I'm like, no, we'll just self publish and not spend however long.

Because some people spend years, they take years querying.

I'm like, no, I have no desire for that.

Sounds like a lot of effort for possibly no return ever.

So, no.

Nah.

Yeah.

Well, I guess it was just, like, a process that I was familiar with.

It just seemed easier, I guess.

And maybe that's, like, the lazy way of looking at it, but it did.

It just seemed easier because I already knew how to do it, I guess.

And I had no idea how to query or find anything.

Well, I talked to someone recently, too, that was like, each agent had their own form that they wanted you to use and all this.

I'm like, that's a lot.

To keep track of every agent's specific format of how to do the query.

I'm like, that's a lot.

That's a lot.

Yeah.

So you get it ready, and then what did you do with it next?

I published it, and that was vindicated.

And that's still available now?

I have not read it.

How many books have you published?

My first one comes out in two weeks.

That's exciting.

Are you freaking out a little bit?

I, in the last couple of days, made the decision to out my pseudonym to everybody.

So that'll be tomorrow's adventure.

Oh, wow.

I'm like, let's see.

I've been using Freya Victoria for.

I started January of last year using Freya Victoria.

So January 22, have told very few people that that's the name that I've been narrating under.

But at this point, I've narrated 70 audiobooks under this name.

Yeah.

And now I'm publishing books under this name.

And I've mentioned that I've written books and I've done all this, but just most people don't know what name I've done it under.

So I'm finally like, you know what?

I have several people that know that are willing to support me in all this.

And I'm like, there's a whole lot of people that I know would be supportive if they knew about it.

And I'm like, I feel like I'm being kind of mean to them, not letting them have the opportunity when I'm worried about the very few that are going to be a pain in my.

Yeah, my mom and my sister both know already, and they're like, we can't post on our facebooks.

We just want to post on our.

Oh, they're so proud of you.

Yeah.

So I'm like, okay, we're about two weeks from, like.

And at this point.

At the point that this episode airs, we'll be several months past book one being out, probably close to book two being out.

So I'm like, yeah, let's just get it over with.

Rip the band aid off.

Be done with it.

Yeah.

I grew up in a very religious household, and a lot of my family is very religious, so I was nervous what they would say or think or.

I was very nervous about it.

My mom and my sister were, like, right behind me.

But in my family, they were fine with it in the end.

But it was scary.

It was scary to come clean and be like, I did something.

Well, my mom said yesterday, she was like, something about the 8th mile, Eminem's movie.

She's like, look at.

He kind of outed himself to everybody just to be the one in charge of the narrative instead of letting someone else.

And I recently had someone from my real life find my author TikTok page.

And I'm like, it's only a matter of time.

It's only a matter of time before everyone knows anyways.

Yeah.

It is what it is.

It's a romance.

It's a fantasy romance.

Yes.

So you get the first book out there.

Did you tell everybody at that point, or did you wait to tell everyone in your life at that point?

I think I waited until after I had published.

Okay.

I think I told a couple of people in my real life, but not many until after the first book was out.

Yeah.

Okay, so you didn't wait until you had every single book?

I'm going to wait till I have 20 books out or anything like that?

No, I didn't do that.

I did end up saying something just because I don't use a pen name, I use my real name.

And the way social media works is they're going to link you to and they were going to find it eventually.

Well, up to this point, I've been very careful I don't cross post my TikToks.

I post the ones for the podcast.

That's just like the words and us talking, but I don't cross post any with my face on it up to this point.

So I'm like making work a lot harder for myself by not having this because I can't just reuse the videos everywhere right now.

So I'm like, man, it'll be so much easier when I can use my narrating clips and all that across everything.

Yeah.

So it is what it is.

My legal name is very complicated to say, though, so it is nice to have a name that's easier for people to pronounce attached to my books.

And if anyone ever background checks me, for whatever reason, they won't be able to connect the two.

Right?

Yeah.

So you got the first book out.

How long was it before you wrote the next one?

Did you immediately start into book two or did you kind of wait a while?

I think I started book two before book one had been published all the way.

Okay.

Just because I feel like once you start writing and getting into the process, it's like you catch a bug and you just want to do.

I did.

I released multiple times a year for a few years.

Up until recently, I slowed down quite a bit.

But you have a lot of books out now, so you're doing a lot of packaging up orders.

And that's the videos I usually see of yours is the packaging ones.

Yeah.

I think that's what a lot of people see.

Yeah.

Especially once I started writing my biker books, because I think I kind of found my sweet spot.

And those are just so much fun for me to write that it's like, and this is my full time job, so I'm able to devote quite a bit of time to it.

Yeah, it's exciting for me.

It's fun, not a job, I guess.

I feel like a lot of authors go through that, like, trying to find their genre, like the one that finally clicks or there are authors that just write in different genres because they like it.

So you put all these books out there.

Was there any because you were pa for authors who I'm sure were using pseudonyms?

Did you take a vote on what name to put all these under, or did you know from the beginning you were going to use yours?

The issue that I struggled with that was that because I had been a book blogger and working with authors under my real name, I didn't want to do a pen name and then have nobody know that it was me when I already had built this audience of potential readers with my social media, and it just felt like starting over and trying to convince people to go and follow me here and just seemed like kind of a wasted opportunity for me.

I never debated using a pen name, and honestly, I struggle with even keeping my own stuff together.

I can't imagine trying to keep two identities together.

I guess it's weird.

So I have my day job still my day job.

I obviously operate under my legal name, and I've been involved with that company since I was, like, 13, so that's most people know me as my legal name.

And then when I started into narrating and stuff, I have a different pseudonym that I narrate.

I have two other podcasts under, and I narrated nonfiction at the very beginning, and then when I jumped over into spicier fiction books, that's when this name started.

So then when I started writing my own stuff, I was like, I'm not going to build up another name.

Like, no, we're going to keep it under this one, right?

Yeah.

My own stuff, I cannot imagine under my legal name.

I don't have a bunch of followers or anything like that under that.

So it didn't hurt me at all to build these other platforms.

But the other name that I used to narrate under that, there's not followers on that.

There is no following for that name at all.

My podcast does really well, but the Persona for no, it's Freya Victoria has always been, like, the biggest name of the.

Enjoy narrating nonfiction.

Do what?

Did you enjoy narrating nonfiction?

No, I started, and I didn't start with any coaching or anything like that.

It was like, I'm scrolling through TikTok, trying to make extra money from home, and I'd done a bunch of typing stuff before, and it's, like, a lot of work for not a lot of pay.

I don't really want to do that again.

So I'm, like, scrolling through TikTok with, like, hashtag, work from home, and stumble across, become an audiobook narrator, make a $1,000 an hour.

And so I then searched for audiobook narrators on TikTok and found, like, Natalie noddes and a couple other ones that had recently done walkthroughs of how to get started.

And so I started auditioning.

It took me, like, a week to get not this booth.

I wasn't a closet originally.

It took me about a week to get it up to where I could record in there, and I just started auditioning for everything.

And nonfiction is what was hiring me so it was like, I'm going to take it because it pays.

And then I upgraded my equipment really quickly.

And then I started in September, and then in January is when I landed my first fiction, and then it just kind of snowballed from there.

Now, that's all that I do.

I think the beginning of last year is when I did my last nonfiction, and now they're like, you sound too fantasy.

I'm like, I'm okay with that.

Yeah, you're like, I'm going to take that compliment and stay in that lane.

I do mostly fantasy now.

I did recently do a rom.com, though.

That was super fun.

I just have this very snarky attitude.

So we're like, a lot of narrators have these meeker ya voices.

I'm like, I will never land those roles.

Ever.

Snarky, sarcastic.

Those are big personalities.

Those are the ones I get.

Yeah, that's awesome, though.

So now you somehow got audiobooks out there.

How did that come about?

Well, I worked for an audiobook company for many years.

I actually worked for a couple, but the last one that I worked for, I was still working and writing at the same time, so I was doing both things.

And she is such a supporter, and she's just been so amazing to me that she's really worked with me on getting some audiobooks out.

No, she purchased the rights to one of my books, and she's been very generous with me as far as getting them out.

But actually, the next one that I release in my biker series will be the first one that I have financed completely on my own.

Yay.

We're getting places.

Eventually we'll get all of them out, but they're a big expense.

I got mine done for free.

Yeah, because you can do them yourself.

I'm like, as I'm narrating, for the most part, my book is from the female's point of view, but there's like a chapter and then half of another chapter where I was like, this has to be from his point of view.

So for the most part, it's all female.

And I'm like, I'm not going to hire another narrator for, like a chapter and a half, so I'll just do it myself.

It's fine.

I do dual pov.

The rom.com I just did was dual pov, where it was like back and forth and back and forth.

I'll do whatever the author that's paying me wants.

At the end of the day, that's what it is.

It's whatever the person paying you wants is what you're going to do.

If they want a second person involved, as long as they're paying for it, that is what they're going to get.

So up to this point, I do all the dual and I don't know what it's called when you have three.

I've done many points of view by myself.

Yeah, I'm like, I'll do whatever you want to throw at me.

I'm good.

Just tell me if this person is going to be a major point of view in a later book at the beginning of the series, because if I give them some voice, that is going to just be awful to sustain.

I'd rather know that up front.

I've proofed a couple of audiobooks that are multiple povs and narrators have given each one different voices.

That is such a nightmare to proof because you have to remember the voices, voices for each pov.

And I can't even imagine narrating something like that.

Well, when I do multi pov, that is what I do.

I change the voices as I go.

So it's interesting.

I keep character voice files so that I can reference it all the time.

So anytime I change, I'm always referencing, what did that person sound like again?

Or sometimes I'll be narrating.

I'm like, I think I slipped into this other character's voice.

I can imagine that gets so confusing.

I mean, it's the same as when you're writing a book and you accidentally slip.

Like, I'm working on my first novella now, and there's one character that he's just an a******.

And occasionally I'll find myself accidentally writing his voice on, say, the female's chapters, and she's not that way.

And you're like, that's not something she would say.

I mean, it's the same thing.

It's just voice instead of writing.

Yeah, it's a very weird world.

Weird world, isn't it?

So what are some big things that you've learned?

Because you have quite a few books out now.

What are some big things that you've learned kind of as you've put more and more books out there?

I think I've learned to take some time with things, definitely do a lot more behind the scenes work because I think when I first started publishing, I was just like, go, go get them out.

Because everybody says you're not going to be making money unless you have a backlist.

You have to have backlist.

You have to have backlist.

I was like, I've got to get some books out.

I've got to build up my backlist, and I think now I do more work on the back end as far as, like, promotion and getting people excited.

And I think that's a big thing that I've learned.

What else have I learned?

So how has a shift?

Because TikTok would not have been a thing at the beginning.

What was the platform you mostly promoted on, like, when you started versus when you shifted?

It was just Facebook.

A little bit of Instagram when I first started, but it was mostly just Facebook.

That's pretty much bloggers.

That was the big thing.

You had to have a PR team.

You had to get bloggers, and that was, like, how everybody found out about your books.

Obviously, all of that kind of changed.

With TikTok, and it was almost an overnight shift.

I feel like it was such a weird, sudden shift.

Yeah, I joined in 2019.

You were early.

I was early, yeah, very early.

I mostly joined because my kids, they wanted to have TikTok.

Well, they had musically, back when it was musically, and so I just joined to kind of keep an eye on them.

And then once 2020 hit and more people started getting on is when I started posting videos and I had found the book community.

It wasn't even book talk back then.

It was just like, I don't know, 30 of us maybe talking books every day, and it was more like just talking with your friends because there was just a small little group of us that were posting about books at the time.

But then overnight, like you said, overnight, it just blew up with promoting books and finding bookish people.

Yeah, it's been good to me.

If you search book talk, I think it's got, like, several billion hits of people that have hashtagged book talk at this point in time.

Insane.

Insane.

Yeah, for sure.

It's crazy.

It's awesome, though.

I feel like I hit kind of different audiences with each different social media.

So Facebook, it's kind of like all of my OG kind of people and then know that's, like, the people that.

Want everything pretty seriously, when I watch reels on Instagram versus, like, TikTok videos, I'm like, it's so aesthetic.

So aesthetic.

Why I have never done wildfires because.

I said it person at all.

My sister at one point was like, you know, I think, and this was so funny because I have way more followers than she has, but she was like, I think you would do better if you would, like, wear makeup every day when you're doing your videos.

And I'm like, oh, honey, you've clearly never seen the book talk people because.

No, I mean, there are some that show up with their nails done and their makeup done and all of this.

And then there's the majority of the community that's like, here's a filter, because I'm in a bathrobe, right?

Yeah.

And that's the thing, is that it's such an everyday thing.

You're communicating with people every single day, and who wants to get fully ready and static?

Like, at 06:00 in the morning?

I'm doing too many things for that.

I'm like, let's see, 06:00 in the morning, I get up, and then I record podcast, and then I do my day job, and then I narrate, and then I write.

When would I have time for that?

Yeah, exactly.

So you're still posting on multiple platforms.

You didn't just forget everything.

I employ people now to do a lot of it.

TikTok's one that I have to do myself, although I do actually have help with that one, too.

So I employ a couple different people to keep my social medias going.

I guess Instagram is the only one that I fully do myself.

I have help.

Yeah, but I post on Instagram, like, once a month or something.

If I'm left to my own devices, it would not get done.

That's why I have to have people.

I got in a habit pretty early on, so when I started the podcast, because it was like I kind of added things on over, so I started narrating, and I think when I started, I had TikTok.

I don't remember posting a lot on TikTok, though.

I would post stuff from my other podcast, and so I would post these little snippets from the podcast and just random, like, hey, happy Thursday stuff.

In fact, my mom at one point asked if I was paying someone because they were so generic.

And I'm like, no, I type those every day.

Thank you.

But when I started, I did the most time consuming thing ever, and I would go to each platform's scheduler directly to schedule, because I'm like, it's free if you use Facebook business suite to schedule your posts.

And then I was like, this is exhausting to go to all these places.

So then I paid for a scheduler where I could load all my accounts in one place, and that's really when I started actually promoting the narrating and all of that.

Yeah, and I still do the same thing.

I just loaded all my author accounts into there, like, a month ago so that I could start posting on the author accounts.

Can't imagine the amount of time you.

Have to spend doing that with the schedulers, it's really like 20 to 30 minutes in the morning.

So that is my, I guess makeup time is me doing my scheduling of posts for the day.

A lot of them, like the videos for the podcasts, are all auto generated, so I just have to download them and then upload them to the social media.

So sometimes you get really weird clips because I didn't generate them.

It was someone else that did decided it's like an AI of some sort that listens to it and picks the sections.

So I don't know, sometimes it's really weird sections for this one.

Sometimes I have to repick the audio because I'm like, that's a really stupid, stupid thing.

For my daily fiction one, I'm like, whatever part it wants to pick, I don't care.

It's going to pick whatever it wants.

And I don't want to mess with it because it's a daily podcast and I don't want to mess with it daily.

Like, just download whatever's there, put it where I need to.

You're pretty incredible because I don't know how you would do this daily.

Do all of the other things, too.

I'm pretty crazy.

I'm insane.

I didn't even realize I knew because I listened to podcasts before I started doing podcasts.

And so I knew that there weren't a lot of daily ones out there.

And then, like August of last year, me and my mom, I made my mom go with me because I didn't want to go by myself.

Went to a podcast conference, and I found out that only like 3% of podcasts are daily or something.

It was like some super small percentage.

And they were like, basically, if you have a daily podcast, you're in the top whatever of crazy people, essentially.

And it's like, yeah, but that's been going for over two years now, and I have like almost 50,000 downloads on it.

So I'm like, hey, if any self published author had 50,000 downloads in two years, we would be ecstatic.

I'm like, I just keep going.

I don't know.

That's great.

Good for you.

Yeah.

And then people now, like, my arc team will be like, I have no idea how you do it.

And I'm like, well, you have to remember I've added things slowly over time.

I didn't just suddenly pile all this stuff on.

I started the narrating and the podcasting about the same time but then the author stuff I didn't add until I had those things down.

And I don't write.

I will never be a person that releases, like, a book a month or a book a quarter.

I mean, it'll be randomly, hey, a book is done.

Here you guys go.

Yeah, I'm that way too.

I've tried hard to schedule in advance, look at my year and be like, okay, what's realistic for me?

We can release on this day and this day and this day.

And this is when I was, like, getting involved with author worlds, right?

And you had to stick with a schedule because they give you the day that you have to release.

And I'm just so bad at that.

I can't do that.

I have to be like you.

When the book is done, it's done.

And here it is.

Now, I did schedule.

Let's see, at what phase did I schedule?

When I was about 75% of the way through, I scheduled my editor, and that's when I kind of tentatively picked my release date.

I kind of knew, like, oh, it'll take me.

As I was bringing on beta readers and building my arc team and doing all of this stuff, I kind of had an idea.

I had asked them on my application, like, hey, which the thing I accidentally sent you was my original application, but I asked them like, hey, how long does it take you to read, say, a 300 page book just to get an idea?

Because I'm like, I don't know how long it takes normal people.

I know I can generally read really fast if I'm not doing anything else that day.

So I kind of had an idea, like, oh, it's going to take, like, two to four weeks for them to get through the beta reading process.

And I scheduled the editor, and then I kind of knew, oh, you need to get it to arc readers.

I talked to someone who said about a month ahead of time.

So that's what I've scheduled everything.

I don't know.

And then we're here now.

So I had it scheduled a few months ago, but I was only working on one book.

I didn't even start writing the first novella until book one was done with edits.

And now Monday, I finished narrating it.

So it's all coming out about the same time.

So you're going to release and release your audiobook at the same time?

Yes.

I don't know if that'll be able to happen for future books because it'll depend on my other narrating schedule.

But for this one, it worked out where I was able to shuffle things around to get them out at the same time.

I mean, at the end of the day, I commit to dates when I get contracts on audiobooks.

You commit to when you're going to have them done.

So my options are record things faster than I would like to and spend more time in the booth, or my audiobooks might get done late and that is what it is.

Or record on weekends or something.

I don't like to do audiobooks on weekends, but I could if I needed to.

Yeah, I think I schedule my editor, right?

Well, probably closer.

Probably like 85% when I'm done with my.

Yeah, about 85%.

And then I'll book my editor.

And thank God she works with me so well, because if I had a different editor, it would probably be like, yeah, I can get you in in three months.

But thankfully, she sneaks me in places.

Yeah, mine was pretty open.

As far as time frames go.

She was not a.

I saw one yesterday on TikTok that was like, oh, I'm currently booking for like.

It.

My very first editor was like that.

If I did not book with her at least six months in advance, I wasn't getting my book done for another six months after it was done.

Edited.

Yeah.

That's why I had to find a new editor.

Not because I didn't like her, just because I needed someone a little more flexible, because I am.

Yeah.

Honestly, at that point, I would probably do what you're not supposed to do and be like, I'm just going to put it out there and I'll put the edited version up when it's done.

It can get cleaned up later.

Oh, my gosh.

I could never.

I'm such a mess.

To this day, I will never know where commas go.

I did get pro writing aid, like, super early on.

So the way that I did book one and I'm doing book the next one is a novella.

I keep calling it, it's like my second book, but it's really like book one and a half of my series.

But the way I did the first book, I would write during the week, and then I would put the chapters into pro writing aid on the weekend, and then I would send those to my alpha reader.

And then once she got through, we kind of discussed, like, or once I finished writing and she finished reading it, we kind of discussed what characters needed more because there was a couple of characters where it was like, they weren't in here enough.

It was just kind of like, they were oddly scattered in.

It's like, okay, so add more scenes with this person and this person.

And then I don't think there was any overarching story problems.

It was just like, hey, these characters need to be there more.

And then I added those scenes with those characters.

And then I threw it through pro writing aid again and I sent it to beta readers.

And then I did the beta reader edits and I did it through pro writing aid again.

And then I sent it to the, actually, it had one more round with one of the beta readers, read it a second time, and then there are very few edits at that point.

I was just like, I need someone now that I've done all these edits, I just need someone that's not me to just read through it really quick and make sure that we cleaned it up right.

So this next one, I'm waiting until I'm finished with the first draft before I send it to alpha readers.

I have a second one that's going to work on it this time too.

And then I'm going to have two rounds of beta edits just to make sure we catch most everything.

And then it's going to go to the editor.

You got to learn your process that works best for you.

And I was like, I felt really bad.

The one round of beta readers and then the one person who had to read it a second time right after.

We're just going to plan two groups and then no one has to reread it immediately after they just read it.

Yeah, that's smart.

But it's hard to find your people, like the right editor and the right proofreader if you use one.

It's taken me so long to find kind of my right.

So my editor is basically in everything but developmental.

So I used the beta readers as essentially my developmental people.

And then I had the editor for the editing.

So she does the proofreading and the, what is it?

Proofreading and line editing.

Yeah, so she does those things.

But I got lucky.

I narrated a couple of books for her and I knew that she did editing and she was like, send me your stuff.

So I had her do a sample edit and I was like, okay, I think we'll work fine together.

I know you.

I trust you.

We've already worked together before.

And then I got lucky that she's not incredibly packed schedule for stuff.

Yeah, that is lucky.

My proofreader takes longer than my editor, surprisingly.

And I get so frustrated because once I finish a book, I'm like, oh, I want everybody to read it.

And then you hear back from your proofreader okay, I'll have it back to you in six weeks.

And you're taught me to be patient.

Misty liked snow white growing up.

Today we'll be reading another Grimm's brothers story, the dog and the sparrow.

The dog and the sparrow.

A shepherd's dog had a master who took no care of him, but often let him suffer the greatest hunger.

At last he could bear it no longer.

So he took to his heels and off he ran in a very sad and sorrowful mood.

On the road he met a sparrow that said to him, why are you so sad, my friend?

Because, said the dog, I am very, very hungry and have nothing to eat.

If that be all, answered the sparrow, come with me into the next town, and I will soon find you plenty of food.

So on they went together into the town, and as they passed by a butcher's shop, the sparrow said to the dog, stand there a little while till I peck you down a piece of meat.

So the sparrow perched upon the shelf, and having first looked carefully about her to see if anyone was watching her, she pecked and scratched at a stake that lay upon the edge of the shelf, till at last down it fell.

Then the dog snapped it up and scrambled away with it into a corner, where he soon ate it all up.

Well, said the sparrow, you shall have some more, if you will so come with me to the next shop, and I will peck you down another steak.

When the dog had eaten this too, the sparrow said to him, well, my good friend, have you had enough now?

I have had plenty of meat, answered he, but I should like to have a piece of bread to eat after it.

Come with me, then, said the sparrow, and you shall have that too.

So she took him to a baker's shop, and pecked it two rolls that lay in the window till they fell down.

And as the dog still wished for more, she took him to another shop and pecked down some more for him.

When that was eaten, the sparrow asked him whether he had had enough now.

Yes, said he, and now let us take a walk a little way out of the town.

So they both went out upon the high road.

But as the weather was warm, they had not gone far before.

The dog said, I am very much tired.

I should like to take a nap.

Very well, answered the sparrow, do so, and in the meantime I will perch upon that bush.

So the dog stretched himself out on the road, and fell fast asleep.

Whilst he slept there, came by a carter with a cart drawn by three horses and loaded with two casks of wine.

The sparrow, seeing that the carter did not turn out of the way, but would go on in the track in which the dog lay, so as to drive over him, called out, stop, Mr.

Carter, or it shall be the worst for you.

But the carter, grumbling to himself, you make it the worst for me indeed.

What can you do?

Cracked his whip and drove his cart over the poor dog, so that the wheels crushed him to death.

There.

Cried the sparrow, thou cruel villain, thou hast killed my friend the dog.

Now mind what I say.

This deed of thine shall cost thee all thou art worth.

Do your worst, and welcome.

Said the brute.

What harm can you do me?

And passed on.

But the sparrow crept under the tilt of the cart, and pecked the bung of one of the casks till she loosened it, and then all the wine ran out without the carter seeing it.

At last he looked round and saw that the cart was dripping and the cask quite empty.

What an unlucky wretch I am.

Cried he.

Not wretch enough yet, said the sparrow, as she alighted upon the head of one of the horses, and pecked at him till he reared up and kicked.

When the carter saw this, he drew.

Out his hatchet and aimed a blow.

At the sparrow, meaning to kill her, but she flew away, and the blow fell upon the poor horse's head with such force that he fell down dead.

Unlucky wretch that I am.

Cried he not wretch enough yet.

Said the sparrow.

And as the carter went on with the other two horses, she again crept under the tilt of the cart, and packed out the bung of the second cask, so that all the wine ran out.

When the carter saw this, he again cried out, miserable wretch that I am.

But the sparrow answered, not, wretch enough yet, and perched on the head of the second horse, and pecked at him too.

The carter ran up and struck at her again with his hatchet.

But away she flew, and the blow fell upon the second horse, and killed him on the spot.

Unlucky wretch that I am.

Said he.

Not wretch enough yet.

Said the sparrow, and perching upon the third horse, she began to peck him too.

Carter was mad with fury, and, without looking about him or caring what he was about, struck again at the sparrow, but killed his third horse as he had done the other two.

Last miserable wretch that I am.

Cried he.

Not wretch enough yet, answered the sparrow, as she flew away.

Now will I plague and punish thee at thy own house.

Carter was forced at last to leave his cart behind him, and to go home overflowing with rage and vexation.

Alas, said he to his wife, what ill luck has befallen me.

My wine is all spilt, and my horse is all three dead?

Alas, husband replied she, and a wicked bird has come into the house and.

Has brought with her all the birds.

In the world, I am sure, and they have fallen upon our corn in the loft, and are eating it up at such a rate.

Oi.

The husband ran upstairs and saw thousands of birds sitting upon the floor, eating up his corn, with a sparrow in the midst of them.

Unlucky wretch that I am, cried the carter.

For he saw that the corn was almost all gone.

Not wretch enough yet, said the sparrow, thy cruelty shall cost thee thy life yet.

And away she flew.

The carter, seeing that he had thus lost all that he had, went down into his kitchen, and was still not sorry for what he had done, but sat himself angrily and sulkily in the chimney corner.

But the sparrow sat on the outside of the window and cried, Carter, thy cruelty shall cost thee thy life.

With that he jumped up in a rage, seized his hatchet, and threw it at the sparrow.

But it missed her and only broke the window.

The sparrow now hopped in, perched upon the window seat, and cried, carter, it shall cost thee thy life.

Then he became mad and blind with rage, and struck the window seat with such force that he clefted in two.

And as the sparrow flew from place to place, the carter and his wife were so furious that they broke all their furniture, glasses, chairs, benches, the table, and at last the walls, without touching the bird at all.

In the end, however, they caught her, and the wife said, shall I kill her at once?

No.

Cried he, that is letting her off too easily.

She shall die a much more cruel death.

I will eat her.

But the sparrow began to flutter about and stretch out her neck, and cried, carter, it shall cost thee thy life.

Yet with that he could wait no longer.

So he gave his wife the hatchet and cried, wife, strike at the bird and kill her in my hand.

And the wife struck, but she missed her aim and hit her husband on the head, so that he fell down dead.

And the sparrow flew quietly home to her nest.

Thank you for joining Freya's fairy tales.

Be sure to come back next week for the conclusion of Misty's journey to holding her own fairy tale in her hands, and to hear another for favorite fairy tales.