“It’s in the act of making things and doing our work that we figure out who we are.”
~ Austin Kleon (Steal like an Artist)
She saw, in a magazine, a figure in an evening gown, paddle boarding. That sparked something, and now her novel is being published in less than two weeks!
Kayce Hughlett Stevens and I have known each other for several years. We met, of course, at a writer’s retreat – this one with Jen Louden at the marvelous Mabel Dodge Luhan house. I remember Kayce sitting by a little pool in a beautiful garden, walking and chatting, and stories about the full moon keeping her up so she made a nest in the bathtub and wrote there, in the wee hours of the morning! We share many common traits, though lately writing and color seem to be the thread we are both following. I read an advance copy of “Blue” in order to support Kayce at first, though once I was half way in, I stayed up late one night and finished it in one fell swoop, completely forgetting I knew the author and enthralled by the magical world she weaves through the lives of three women.
The other day, Kayce and I spoke by phone as I painted the piece in the photo above (more on that later!). There’s a lot I could share with you, though her story of writing this wonderful book is such a great example of listening to her intuition, to her knowing that I’ve decided to focus on that aspect of Blue.
I wanted to know more, once I was through reading it, and I suspect you might, too. While I loved Kayce’s first book, As I Lay Pondering, this “Blue” was a whole different thing! I asked her how she moved from a lovely inspirational daybook to her first novel and apparently the difference was key.
I’ll let her tell you the story in her own words:
National Novel Writing Month popped up on my radar just a few weeks before it started. I had finished As I Lay Pondering, and I had writers block. Pondering was a really important and meaningful work for me, and it was clearly non fiction, and when we write non fiction, there is a tendency to try to make meaning out of things. For me, it had that label to it – a teaching quality. It had to have a lesson – a requirement of the genre. I knew my voice was evolving and the idea of making things up rather than making things mean something was very attractive to me! Blue is my voice now and it’s a different one.
What happened, of course, was that “Blue” ended up having SO much meaning woven into it. It’s still surprising me! As I’m doing interviews and talking to those who have read the book, I am realizing things that I didn’t see before, that meaning was woven through, without me meaning to do it. What a beautiful lesson is that, right?
Back to the character – I, like you, am very visually stimulated, and I have this practice of deep listening, so I had decided – I’d set this intention that I would do these thirty days of writing for Nanowrimo. I didn’t know what that would look like. The cool thing is that there were no expectations, other than to start it and finish it. And it had this framework – I’d start on November first, during that month, I’d write 50, 000 words, and by the end of November, I’d have an ending. So I just let that kind of muddle around. I knew that there were these characters who were going to be related. And I knew there were three prime women characters and while I knew that, I didn’t know how I knew that. I was sitting and having lunch one day, and I flipped through the magazine and there was this woman! It was Vanity Fair, and there she was! I have cutouts on my journal pages, for each character. 
At this point, I realized that Kayce was outlining the exact process I advocate for any creative pursuit – set an intention, have some structure but not too much, let go of expectations and just begin. How wonderful! So I asked her to go further. “Once you had these “sketches” of your characters, what happened?”
What really happened, which was totally surprising – I don’t think I really “had” Blue until I woke up on November first and wrote the first chapter and it WAS Blue! It was the Daisy character, which is interesting because some early readers are having a hard time connecting with the Daisy chapters, though for me they were the most fun! She just sort of showed up and I wrote for awhile with that character, then all of a sudden, Monica had something to say!
I did all three stories simultaneously – in many ways, they were written pretty much as you see them in the book, in terms of order – though there were lots of revisions, editing, etc. What I found was that it was weaving itself, so before I sat down to write, I’d kind of ask, “Ok, who wants to talk now?” And I used, as we’ve talked about, I used music to inspire. Quotes, which started to “randomly” show up, as I was writing. And then, of course, the visual. AND the sensory – I went off on a random thing, a writers group retreat, on Octboer 31st. I’d been invited many times, to this group, by this friend, but of course it had never been the right time. And so I was also surrounded by other creative types, in those initial days. For example, there is one scene where Izabel is cooking and that is all really real! I was a little brain dead one day and I thought, well – what do I smell? Enter the sensory. Really allowing myself to sink in to whatever was coming up in front of me. To steep in it.
I think that’s why people like you sink into the book! You feel that. It may not be accessible for everyone, and that’s ok. If they don’t get it, they won’t love it.
I do love this book, and I love the way Kayce is putting it out in the world, as an offering. A different perspective on people’s lives, a way to see how we all weave in and out of each other’s worlds. I’ll add what Kayce told our mutual friend, Debbie Reber, about the advice she’d give to anyone wanting to put their book out in the world, as they begin – “Start writing. Your book knows the way.” Indeed.
Peacocks are associated with insight, karmic connection, and laughter. If you’d like to help Kayce spread the news about “Blue“, the novel, you might win this one-of-a-kind peacock, created during a special conversation between me and Kayce. HOW TO ENTER: Between now and September 6 ~ Promote/share this post, buy a copy of BLUE, write a review, sign up for Kayce’s Book Launch Birthday Celebration. Tweet, Facebook, Instagram, or Pin and LET US KNOW. We’ll enter you into a random drawing. Winner of this signed original, mixed media piece on 22×30″ watercolor paper to be announced September 7, 2015. Tag @KayceHughlett #Blue #CelebrateBlue
Author Kayce Stevens Hughlett is a long-time blogger and contributor to several collections and online publications. Her 2012 non-fiction book, As I Lay Pondering: Daily Invitations To Live a Transformed Life, is a lyrical and lucid treasure that invites readers to new awakenings throughout the year. Her latest creation, Blue: a novel, releases September 10, 2015.
A native of Oklahoma, she and her family relocated to the Pacific Northwest more than twenty-five years ago. Her first career was as a posh accountant in a downtown high-rise, now she’s an artist of being alive and speaker practicing creative lifestyle coaching around the world. Learn more about Kayce here.
Blue is available for pre-order now at Amazon.com,
BQBPublishing.com, or your favorite independent bookseller. RELEASING September 10, 2015!!
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