I love podcasts. Love them. I love that I can listen to them in the car or while I’m doing dishes. I feel part of a conversation and connected even while I’m running errands or folding laundry all by my lonesome. I’ve learned so much about so many different things because of podcasts. I think when it comes to business, marketing, and the publishing industry I’ve listened to what amounts to a few semester’s worth, maybe more, of podcasts.
Being a guest on a podcasts is equally fun, and this last month I was lucky enough to sit down with Mattie Eddy of Book Talk to chat about my novella, Curses, Diamonds, & Toads. The first question I asked Mattie was, would there be a video recording of our conversation. I work from my home ploffice (that’s a playroom/office) and the photo above is an accurate depiction of what the ploffice typically looks like. Some, erm, work would have to be done to get everything camera ready.
Video was on while Mattie and I chatted, but only our conversation was recorded for the podcast. Our conversation spanned a few different facets, and I wanted to gather a few notes and photos here. It’s amazing how often, “We’ll link it in the show notes,” comes up when I’m listening to podcasts. As a writer, I really enjoy the process of collecting and reflecting on conversations so why not create show notes?
This is my cat, Aspen. And I’m not even kidding when I say that last weekend, when Mr. Trent said, “Aspen come here, I want to talk to you.” She looked up at him and meowed, “Noooooooowwrrr!” My blood turned to ice. It was definitely a captain-they’ve-adapted moment.
At one point early in our Book Talk conversation, I reference this YouTube video below. It’s a family favorite, but also a bit triggering for me.
Mattie and I talked about the inspiration for my novella, the fairy tale “Diamonds and Toads,” and y’all Mattie knows her folklore better than I do. I adored hearing about where and how she first encountered this story. She knew about this one decades before I did. I didn’t learn about this fairy tale until I read a newsletter from The Fairy Tale Magazine‘s Fairy Godparents Club. But I have been a fan of GCL’s Ella Enchanted for years.
Gail Carson Levine, we all owe you so, so much.
I did a little digging, and it appears that the edition Mattie had of The Fairy’s Mistake (pictured above) is no longer in print. The story is now in GCL’s The Princess Tales, Volume I.
The inspiration for my character of the potter came from Bernard Palissy. Below are pictures of Palissy’s earthenware from the V&A, which is one of my favorite museums in the world. Finding Palissy’s ceramics is a bit of an Easter egg hunt. This is what one of the galleries in the ceramics wing looks like:
This is just one half of the gallery. There’s another row like this on the other side. And there were so many galleries in the ceramics wing. I lost count, and Bernard’s (yes, Bernard and I are on a first name basis) work was scattered throughout the wing. Lots to look through.
It made it really exciting when I found a piece. This is me above with one of Bernard’s pieces in the background. See the snake coiled in the bottom of that platter/bowl?
Did you know Bernard’s earthenware is mentioned in the Alexandre Dumas’s The Count of Monte Cristo? Okay, moving on. I also found a lot of inspiration for this story from the Ballenberg Swiss Open-Air Museum in Brienz. So this is Brienz:
It’s not far from Interlaken, which is why we stayed here. But wowzers! Is it pretty, or is it weep for the rest of your life gorgeous?
If you’re going to go to the museum there are two entrances. One at the bottom of the mountainside and one at the top. We opted to rid the bus to the top and walk our way down.
This is a picture of my little princess walking down the museum path. Don’t worry I made her stop and turn around for the family album. I could not get over how beautiful the woods were. She fit right in. Swoon.
The museum contains dozens of historic buildings, and this was a photo of an exterior window of the potter’s house. If you look closely, you might see the mud splatters on the window panes.
A photo of my little prince trying to make friends with the chickens at the museum. Shortly after I took this picture, a strapping young museum employee rode up on a scooter with a scythe and cut the grass across the way with the scythe. My son and I watched in awe, and then he loaded the grass back on his scooter and rode away. It was magical.
So many thanks to Mattie for having me on her podcast and taking time to chat with me about fairy tales and storytelling. If you’d like to listen, it’s the “Finding Comfort in Fairy Tales” episode. Links below. Enjoy!