Episode #165: Self-care and Self-love with Kacen Callender
Grace and Alvina welcome special guest Kacen Callender to talk about how authors can practice self-care and self-love, including as pertains to social media.
About Kacen!
Kacen Callender is a bestselling and award-winning author of multiple novels for children, teens, and adults, including the National Book Award-winning King and the Dragonflies and the bestselling novel Felix Ever After. Kacen enjoys playing RPG video games, practicing their art, and focusing on healing and growth in their free time. They currently reside in Los Angeles, California.
Books by Kacen:
How have you been?
Kacen has most recently been living in Los Angeles and is re-discovering their love for illustration and art at The ArtCenter in Pasadena. Alvina has been recovering from Covid and feeling pretty dizzy sometimes. They talk about the symptoms and Covid fog. Grace has been trying to decided where to sit and work in her house for the creative juices to flow, sitting vs. lying down!
Self-care and Self-love
Kacen shares why they wanted to talk about this topic and why it is so important to them. During the Pandemic they focused on less people pleasing and more self-care and prioritizing their own wants, desires, and needs. They started to say more “no” to things and less “YES!” to everything all the time. The pandemic forced them to slow down and recognize what wasn’t working in their life.
Kacen published a blog post in response to a twitter post regarding authors and social media. You can find it here! Kacen, Alvina, and Grace talk about their feelings about social media and weather or not that is the key to becoming a successful author.
The book friends talk about what it means to “get ahead” and be successful at your job. Does it require pulling all nighters and working over-time like it always has been? How has the work culture changed in general since the Pandemic?
Fortune Cookie Segment!
What has made us LAUGH this week?
Our Flag Means Death show on HBO Max for Kacen.
Grace said that Hazel made her laugh with some “chicken fingers” she made at pottery camp.
Alvina is laughing at FBOY Island TV show also on HBO Max.
Gratefuls!
Grace has been brought back to many memories of Robert during his time battling cancer. She’s helping a friend with cancer and it feels good. Tomorrow is never guaranteed. Hazel is in camp and she is so grateful for that! Hazel is so happy there and Grace doesn’t have to feel guilty while she’s working at home.
Alvina is grateful that she can work from home now and is also grateful for “Good Luck To You” movie on Hulu.
Kacen is grateful that they can just enjoy creating without feeling the pressure to be the absolute best.
Don’t forget! You can now order Grace’s limited edition autographed 12" x 18" double-sided poster featuring artwork by Grace Lin commemorating the Newbery Award Centennial for The Horn Book Magazine. You can purchase them at the Eric Carle Museum and help support Everylibrary.org! Order HERE!
Thank You!
Thank you for tuning in! Thank you to Hachette Audio, Little Brown Books for Young Readers, and Alex at Pacyworks Studio for producing and editing this podcast. Be sure to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and tell a friend about us. (Use the hashtag #bookfriendsforever.)
You can find Alvina @Planetalvina on Twitter and TikTok and @Alvinaling on Instagram
You can find Grace @Pacylin on Twitter and Instagram and @gracelinauthor on TikTok and @authorgracelin on Facebook
Kacen is at Kacencallender.com or on Twitter @Kacencallender
