New Year Part 2: Reflections on Writing and Plans for 2026...

Book Dragon Banter: Podcast Behind the Scenes & Future Writing Goals

In this episode of Book Dragon Banter, Zinzi Bree, Sage, and Katherine talk about their experiences and goals for the future of the podcast. We discuss the upcoming end of our first season, initial trials, and plans for season two, including a new fantasy series deep dive, book club accessibility on Fable, potential guests, and possible format changes. We also share personal writing goals, favorite reads, and insights into our unique writing processes. Join us as we reflect on the past year and look ahead to an exciting future!

Find the Downloadable Reading Challenges here:

Book Dragon Banter Substack - https://bookdragonbanter.substack.com/

BDB Fable Fantasy Focused Book Club: https://fable.co/club/diverse-fantasy-with-zinzi-bree-271215645134?referralID=f9KdWh3wtd

Book Club: Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger

Author Site: https://darcielittlebadger.com/books-and-stories/#elatsoe

Linktr.ee: https://linktr.ee/bookdragonbanter 

TT: https://www.tiktok.com/@bookdragonbanterpod

Insta: https://www.instagram.com/bookdragonbanter/

Sage: https://readorbleed.substack.com/

Katherine: https://www.bookdragoneditorial.com/

Write With Me, Zinzi Bree, Substack: https://writewithmezinzibree.substack.com/

Book Dragon Ink Retreats: https://www.bookdragoneditorial.com/ink-retreats

Books Mentioned:

Hellbent by Leigh Bardugo

One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig

Two Twisted Crowns by Rachel Gillig

The Dreamer Trilogy By Maggie Stiefvater

The Raven Boys Trilogy by Maggie Stiefvater

Violet Thistlewaite is Not a Villain Anymore by Emily Krempholtz

Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult

00:00 Introduction and Podcast Theme

01:33 Podcast Goals and Future Plans

02:10 Book Club and Series Deep Dive

04:02 Guest Appearances and Episode Frequency

06:34 Writing Inspirations and Favorite Books

15:34 Writing Goals and Challenges

19:20 Writing Goals and Obsessions

20:09 Postponing the Book and New Inspirations

22:59 Writing Process and Self-Criticism

28:24 Book Challenges for 2026

34:16 Fable Book Club and Writing Retreats

36:28 Bloopers and Fun Moments

Transcript

Katherine Suzette: 0:00

I like to say I'm a pinball in a pinball machine.

Zinzi Brookbree: 0:02

I can very much see that. Going back to,

Katherine Suzette: 0:06

or just the analogy in general

Zinzi Brookbree: 0:09

analogy in general. Yeah, you sometimes specifically,

Katherine Suzette: 0:13

I.

Zinzi Brookbree: 0:14

also in general because I definitely put too much caffeine in me or, alcohol and, I will be the gigg girliest pinball machine you have ever seen. glad, glad to be a very happy. It's alcohol consumer. That's not how you say that.,

Sage Moreaux: 0:30

this feels like a good segue into saying that this is an explicit podcast because we might talk about things that are not for younger ears.

Zinzi Brookbree: 0:38

I have never been drunk, or tipsy while recording this. I have not had alcohol. I can't say that's true of all of us.

Katherine Suzette: 0:46

I might

Sage Moreaux: 0:47

That could be a whole new podcast.

Zinzi Brookbree: 0:48

Next year, new Year's, we will do. It'll be our, drink infused pajama episode and we will have fancy cocktails and pajamas and talk smack about all the things we read. That should be next, next New Year's episode.

Sage Moreaux: 1:04

Oh yeah,

Katherine Suzette: 1:05

I

Sage Moreaux: 1:05

that will be explicit, certainly.

Zinzi Brookbree: 1:17

Welcome to Book Dragon Banter, a podcast where three aspiring authors talk all things books. We're fantasy focused, but we are not fantasy exclusive. I am Zinzi Bree, with me are my wonderful co-hosts,

Katherine Suzette: 1:31

I'm Sage and I'm Katherine.

Zinzi Brookbree: 1:32

And we're so glad you're here. this is specifically about hopes for this podcast and what we would like the future of it to look like. in 2026, now this is something that I don't have bullet points for. It's something that we're just gonna talk about and you guys get to have a bit of a behind the scenes look of what we're thinking about for season two. Right? we're coming up to the end of our first season, a lot of which is just trial and error of us testing things out, seeing what we like, what we don't like. And I really love to iterate. I like to challenge, I like to change things up. some of the. Things that we are looking to keep and some of the things that we are looking to change in our season two are we want to keep our book club, we're all really enjoying our fantasy reads. we are gonna make that accessible to our listeners through Fable, where you can join our book club on Fable and find out what books we are reading next and read along with us. I will be in charge of that, so you will see me in the comments, as we go through the book. And then hopefully you guys will come and listen. something that we are discussing for our season two is finding a fantasy series to do a deep dive, do a couple chapters at a time, each episode. and this is something that I really hope that we can find a good fantasy series that is epic and high fantasy and is just all of those things that Sage loves and has been really. Missing. so we're gonna be discussing, do we want to revisit a favorite of hers? Like, the realm of the underling series? Do we wanna try a new series? I have talked with, another, podcaster who just recently has done a series breakdown and they gave me a couple of tips, one of which being, maybe start with a shorter series first if you are gonna do a series breakdown. Yeah. Well, but like, if we did the first, if, if it's set up in like trilogies, where you can do, like the first three is kind of its own story arc. And then from there you can decide, do you continue through this whole epic thing, or do you just go, these first three are enough? so that is something we're gonna be discussing titles and. Possibly even letting you guys help us, narrow down on series as we consider that, as part of, what we will release in the summer of 2026. Right. something else that we are hoping to do is start having guests. So that will be, fellow writers that will be, other authors who are published, and indies. and we are excited to share those stories and make those connections and new bookish friendships. am I missing anything else that we've, I feel like we had, we had a giant meeting over like all the things our podcast. Could do and could be. And do we cut back to once a month? Do we ramp it up to once a week? I can't sustain once a week currently with my editing process, in our current format. But there is the discussion of, if you guys want more, can we give you more? And how do we do that?

Katherine Suzette: 4:49

So tell us in the

Sage Moreaux: 4:50

Yeah, we,

Katherine Suzette: 4:50

be an active audience, please.

Sage Moreaux: 4:52

yeah, those were the big ones. And then we also talked about did we want shorter episodes? Did we want

Zinzi Brookbree: 4:57

Mm.

Sage Moreaux: 4:58

do more, topic specific versus the book club style.

Zinzi Brookbree: 5:04

Mm-hmm.

Sage Moreaux: 5:04

those we haven't come up with an full answer to, I don't think

Zinzi Brookbree: 5:07

Mm-hmm.

Sage Moreaux: 5:08

I think we would definitely need to make shorter episodes.

Zinzi Brookbree: 5:13

Well, either.

Katherine Suzette: 5:14

ones, part twos, part threes and part fours. Kinda like this episode might evolve into,

Zinzi Brookbree: 5:18

Yeah. I feel like just for an audio bit,'cause like, so many of the things that we've talked about are important to both process as a reader and also the process as a writer. Um, some of it is just as, as podcasters, which still feels weird to say and own, but we are, um, there's so much potential for what we can do for our listeners and for our community, and that's something that we want feedback on. We wanna know what do you want from us? What can we give you? what would you like us to discuss or hear about? Or is there, books that we are not reading and that you really wish we would, we would love to get that feedback. We would love to hear about those.

Sage Moreaux: 6:05

definitely.

Zinzi Brookbree: 6:06

to sum up, I think the hope for Book Dragon Banter in 2026 is more of book Dragon Banter. but we will see what that looks like in the future. But I'm excited for all of it. I'm excited for the challenge, which brings me to, from the writer's desk, let's move on to our next segment. books that we loved from a writer's perspective, the structure, the world building, the characterization. Were there books that shines for you more as a writer looking at it analytically than they did as a, or both, enjoyment as a reader and a writer, but like what were books that as a writer just sang.

Katherine Suzette: 6:55

Yeah. For me, the first one that comes to mind is Hell Bent. I know that's number two in the series, but I'm not coming up with book number one, but Leigh Bardugo's style in the, that series felt. Very relatable to me for my style. Like when I read it, I feel inspired to put my style on the page. And I mean, that's very, very specifically to style, not necessarily like the world or anything like that, although I do love the dark academia But, there's something about the way that she writes that I feel inspires my style as a writer. Now, it'll be entirely up to readers in the future to interpret that style, however they feel. But I do feel inspired by the way that Leigh Bardugo, represents her style on the page.

Sage Moreaux: 7:40

I haven't read that one yet. I think I'm waiting for book three to come out.

Katherine Suzette: 7:43

Yeah.

Sage Moreaux: 7:44

I read the first one and yeah, agree. she's got a fantastic

Zinzi Brookbree: 7:47

I think it's supposed to come out this year.

Sage Moreaux: 7:49

love contemporary fantasy, so, where it's set in the real world, but there's magic, right? And so that series has that, and I really, I love that. I also, so my favorite book of the year I haven't talked about yet, is a Duology, the favorite book that I read. And it's because every time I sat down to read it, like I was loving it, immersed with it, enjoying the characters, the writing style and everything, but it always just made me wanna go write my own book. And to me, that's a mark of a fantastic book, is where I become inspired. So for me it was one dark window. and the second book in the Duology is Two Twisted Crowns. And the other thing that was really interesting with this one was that the first book was entirely by the one protagonist's point of view, I think first person.

Zinzi Brookbree: 8:42

Mm-hmm.

Sage Moreaux: 8:43

a plot twist at the end of the first book that I'm not gonna share, because I highly recommend you go read it and experience it for yourself. But the second book then transitions into having both her first person perspective a little bit at first and then more, but interspersed with other characters, third person point of views. And

Zinzi Brookbree: 9:05

Hm.

Sage Moreaux: 9:05

maybe have read something that's done that before. It really struck me as interesting.'cause I feel like that's unusual. And she managed, I think it's Rachel Gillig

Zinzi Brookbree: 9:15

Gillig.

Sage Moreaux: 9:15

Yeah. Okay. so she Handled it like a master. the way the first book was written it inspired me to write. then I went to the second book and I was like, whoa, this is a totally different point of view, perspective kind of thing. it inspired me to continue to work on my own novel which is third person, which was great.'cause then I love to read stuff that's

Zinzi Brookbree: 9:33

Mm-hmm.

Sage Moreaux: 9:33

third person while I'm writing because it helps me. Not switch perspectives or anything like that. So, yeah. and dark fantasy, but like, just gorgeously written, loved that one. I also really love, Maggie Stiefvater and I read the second trilogy of, the Raven Boys was the first series, and then she did a

Zinzi Brookbree: 9:53

Mm-hmm.

Sage Moreaux: 9:54

with one of the characters, a few of the characters really from that first trilogy. and the first book is, I think called. Call down the hawk. her writing style is really evocative. Her characterization is extremely good and she really makes you care about the characters. And that's something that I always aspire to with my own writing. I love the contemporary like fantasy setting, that that one has'cause it's real world. It's all set on the East Coast and there's all this dream magic and stuff that's like really original and interesting. But, you just really end up caring deeply. And she's really good at writing. has multiple perspectives also, but she's really good at writing her characters to feel very different from one another. which I think is a strong skill to not have every voice sound the same, and like to have all these different unique characters that you care about

Zinzi Brookbree: 10:46

Absolutely.

Sage Moreaux: 10:47

from each other.

Zinzi Brookbree: 10:49

yeah. I also read one Dark Window. I haven't gotten to the second half of the Duology. It's currently sitting in my holds from the library. but I did read The Knight and The Moth, which is also by Rachel Gillig. and I went back into my notes of my review. To me, she is a. Master craftsman, right? Like just the atmosphere, the layers in theming and story and characterization. so while those are not ones that I admire them as a writer, I'm impressed by them. I do think there's elements of her writing that I would like to study, but I don't know how much they would apply to me as a more cozy fantasy. They're too dark for me. so for over in the cozy fantasy section of books that I really enjoyed this year, one of them would be, violet Thistlewaite is Not a villain anymore, which is a cozy fantasy that came out, quite recently. And the part that I would love to emulate in my own writing, is. There were two characters, Two POVs. every time the character would think about another person or think about, how something makes sense to them, it was always laced with that particular character's, job or way of thinking, if you're a chef, the way you interact with the world is through food, right? And you're looking at people and you're like, I need to remember this person's name. Their hair reminds me of blue cheese. That's now, this is blue Cheese Jeff, right? Like, or you know, this is a person who, it might not be their job, but they might be obsessed with birds. And so every time that they meet new people they're remembering them because it looks like a kiwi or an ostrich and is mentally coming up with, ways that just suit the character's way of thinking. I really loved that and would like to emulate that in my own writing of getting so into the character that even the way that they think. Is formed around what they're passionate about. another one that for me is a hopeful writing emulation. I've only read the first one in the series, which is Assistant to the Villain. I dunno how the rest of the series goes and I'm looking forward to exploring more of that series. But I know some of the, book world seems to be divided on how long the slow burn was or, that the book series is still going and it's not resolved yet, This is not a book that I wanna emulate the world building, it is a book that I want to emulate. Some of the humor. I found the books very funny and charming. and so that is something that I would also like to infuse in my own writing.

Katherine Suzette: 13:33

I love that you brought that up because that really inspired me style wise were assistant to the villain, by Hannah Nicole Maehrer or Mayor. and

Zinzi Brookbree: 13:41

Mm-hmm.

Katherine Suzette: 13:42

by any other name, by Jodi Picoult And those are extremely different. But you ladies know me, like my style, like that messy first draft that comes out is incredibly sassy. And at least I think in whatever state that I have written it in, I think it's hilarious. And then I come back to it a few days later and I'm like, oh, good lord. But then I also have these really pensive states where I really like to encounter concepts in a really way. Um, it's very atmospheric and I believe that Jodi Picoult, by any other name specifically, and the Assistant to the villains series, kind of reflect that and have, have inspired that writer in me as well. Both of those series in, in different

Zinzi Brookbree: 14:27

The duology of you.

Katherine Suzette: 14:30

The duology of you.

Zinzi Brookbree: 14:33

NN not as in a book. No, that's, no, that's, I'm taking the two sides. Yes. The dichotomy of you. That's maybe a better way of saying it, but it's like, you know, the two sides of you, the same coin. The Duology view sounds like a really cool book title, and maybe I should just stick that somewhere as for a future.

Sage Moreaux: 14:49

Yeah.

Katherine Suzette: 14:50

I wanna call it out. You said, I'm thinking of you, Addie LaRue. So VI Schwab, if you ever listened to this and you wanna write a follow up, your second book should be, I'm thinking of you, Addie LaRue, just, you know,

Zinzi Brookbree: 15:02

Mm-hmm.

Katherine Suzette: 15:04

she called it, and that was excellent. and yes, maybe one of these days I'll write a book called The Duology of You. because that is also really beautiful.

Zinzi Brookbree: 15:14

Um,

Sage Moreaux: 15:14

you really makes me think ya of like bittersweet romance.

Katherine Suzette: 15:20

Yeah. Kind of like a shatter

Zinzi Brookbree: 15:21

mm-hmm.

Katherine Suzette: 15:21

kind of style.

Zinzi Brookbree: 15:22

Yeah. I'm actually thinking that the thinking of you, Addie LaRue should be a fan fiction. I don't know that I can get V Schwab to approve, but that should absolutely be a fan fiction somewhere. Ooh. What goals did you have last year as a writer, and did you meet them or did they change. Laugh.

Katherine Suzette: 15:42

Yeah.

Zinzi Brookbree: 15:43

Oh,

Katherine Suzette: 15:43

feel like that encompasses it. End of story.

Zinzi Brookbree: 15:45

mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I had very ambitious goals was fully thinking and intending to have finished drafting, editing and have published, my debut, cozy Fantasy Autumn Set Book. did not, did not happen. I got stuck and we started a podcast and we started a business and a whole lot of other life changes happens and the writing is still progressing. but it just, I have to accept that it's at a much slower pace than. I had hoped for myself, and I'm adjusting to that. I'm making my peace with slower progress, but I am hopeful. I do wanna say going forward with 2026 and new writing goals, I am far less lofty and I need to just have some fun with writing. So Katherine, I'm very much considering picking up our secret project,

Katherine Suzette: 16:48

Yes, me. I would love to.

Zinzi Brookbree: 16:50

that you're, that you've been like, I just wanna work on this. and then Sage. Sage may be our, our, alpha reader and she can tell us if we're actually funny or not. just,

Sage Moreaux: 17:00

discerning.

Zinzi Brookbree: 17:02

I'll cut this if you want me to, Katherine,'cause I know you're more private about your writing than I am. But like, just the whole concept of it is ridiculous. It's fun. It's out there. It's not meant to be taken seriously. And I think that's maybe we've got a lot of serious things that we are trying to do right now. And I think I need just to infuse my writing with some fun. so I am looking at picking that back up and making some progress there and when not working on that. for solo projects, I am looking at, maybe doing some short stories based around The Story Engine Deck prompts that we've been making during Book Dragon Ink there's some. Story ideas that have come out of that, that intrigue me and that I wanna try playing with.

Sage Moreaux: 17:51

My goal for last year was to finish my draft, which is probably like a, somewhere between a second and third draft, depending on scene and chapter.'cause some of it got pretty heavily rewritten. that I could start a beta read with my writing group. But I have not finished it, so I didn't meet that goal. I have until like March or maybe end of March, early April to get my draft done, which is my new goal. I, however, did succeed in one of my writing goals for 2025 because I had a short story published in a magazine, which being published. By 2025 was like a kind of long-term goal I had for myself. So even though it was not my debut novel, it was still a legitimate publishing and I should have my hands on hard copies of the magazine

Zinzi Brookbree: 18:37

Woo.

Sage Moreaux: 18:37

the near future. so that was really exciting and that made me feel very validated. however, like I said, I do wish I always have very high expectations for myself. I wish that it was a full novel, not a short story, but, that has kind of led me into my, besides, my novel writing and my six other novels I'm also currently writing. That's maybe why I can't ever seem to finish something. I also wanna write like one short story I was thinking once a month, so kind of like Zinzi There is a story seed that inspired me, so I might write that one. but I am, liking the idea of doing one short story a month and not editing them, finishing them necessarily. but maybe see.

Katherine Suzette: 19:20

Hmm.

Sage Moreaux: 19:21

Or maybe I'll do six months of writing drafts and then six months of editing drafts.

Katherine Suzette: 19:25

Interesting.

Sage Moreaux: 19:25

could be fun.

Katherine Suzette: 19:26

So goal. In 2025 was to finish a draft but usually there's something else that takes over my mental capacity. And I have learned that I need a state of obsession to finish a project like this a lot of the time. So, which is part of why, I was the voice going like, let's. Extend our writing times for our retreats that we do in Book Dragon Ink The Ink retreats. and now I think I've reframed some of that to be fair. But I'm an obsessive writer. I have to be in a state of obsession in order to get that inspiration on the page when it's like my passion project. Now, that said, I completely postponed my book. I just, released it to the Ether because it was causing me stress instead of bringing me joy. what was bringing me joy and excitement was getting into the building of Book Dragon Ink So I just postponed my book indefinitely, but it has been coming up for me in the past couple of months that I really wanted to start writing again. But what has been coming up for me is the fun book, ZZI, that you and I had that original inspiration idea for at this time last year. however, we bring sage in, we need to, however that happens. I look forward to it, whatever that looks like, but that is also calling to me, so I'll put it out there to the internet, the ether, whatever this is on the podcast. that I am also interested in that particular project because there's somebody else in it with me. Just like with this business, there is just fun to be had.

Zinzi Brookbree: 21:06

Mm-hmm.

Katherine Suzette: 21:07

lot relying on me to, to make it perfect, which is another aspect of my book that was causing me stress.'cause I am a book editor. I tell people my opinions and my ideas and I, I guide them and help to inspire and motivate them as a job. So I put a lot of pressure on my own writing, which is part of the reason why I don't have something published, under my name, outside of academics. And because I just, I put so much. weight on that. So to do something fun that I don't put that same level of pressure on, yes, I am, I'm here for it right now.

Zinzi Brookbree: 21:47

We have

Katherine Suzette: 21:47

Mm-hmm.

Zinzi Brookbree: 21:48

our three writing goals, whether loose or structured, for 2026.

Sage Moreaux: 21:55

I just

Zinzi Brookbree: 21:55

I feel like

Sage Moreaux: 21:56

excited to be your accountability partner for your book as you're writing it. If you need somebody to ask you, you can tell me.

Zinzi Brookbree: 22:04

mm-hmm.

Sage Moreaux: 22:06

I'm asking for consent, so when you are ready for me to kind of be like, when can I read a chapter? When can I get some something? Just take your time. But

Zinzi Brookbree: 22:14

Yep.

Sage Moreaux: 22:15

to be that person

Zinzi Brookbree: 22:16

I,

Katherine Suzette: 22:16

start talking about it now,

Zinzi Brookbree: 22:17

I don't actually think that it's gonna be written structurally as a book, full book. to me it either is novella or the beginning of like a serial. But if we do, if we go the direction of serial, we gotta bring in a bunch more characters, which sounds very exciting given the world that we already started creating for it.

Katherine Suzette: 22:37

I've

Sage Moreaux: 22:37

Love it.

Katherine Suzette: 22:38

this developing into like a graphic cereal too, so like, you know,

Zinzi Brookbree: 22:41

Woo.

Katherine Suzette: 22:42

play with the thought. Play with the

Zinzi Brookbree: 22:44

considering we're we have hot characters on purpose, but we're like playing with some of the hot character tropes at the same time. Yes.

Katherine Suzette: 22:53

was

Zinzi Brookbree: 22:53

so hopes for the year as a writer. I feel like we kind of covered along with the goals. Right. I would like to ask, do you guys feel like you learned any big lessons about your writing process?'cause for me this year it was learning that I am not like a write, publish, repeat writer like I hope to be. I love reading serials. I would love to be able to produce at the rate where I could write and put my stuff out there into the public eye much sooner than I am. But part of that is also me recognizing that a lot of the writing that I do, because I am writing not fiction, but I am journaling the majority of the days outta the week for mental health. and that's important and it's okay for me to prioritize that over my fiction work, if that's what I need. So I think that was one of my big lessons for 2025.

Sage Moreaux: 23:50

I have like a two part lesson. I also don't write as quickly as I would like and I have. Early in my writing journey, I had like a lot of self-criticism that would come up for me a lot and it would stop me from writing. I would tell myself my writing was bad and I almost quit writing because of it. and I have to actually give, props to my husband'cause he would say like, no,

Katherine Suzette: 24:15

Hmm.

Sage Moreaux: 24:16

not quitting. Right? and I appreciated that from him, especially since he doesn't really read the kind of books that I write, so he doesn't have vested interest in that aspect of being the reader. He's just supporting me as a partner, which is lovely. but I think that I, so it's been a multi-year process, but I have pretty much, you know, knock on wood, vanquish the inner critic to the point where it does come up sometimes, but I recognize it and it's usually because I'm exhausted and just need to like not be writing at that moment and like allow myself to, you. Go to sleep or whatever it is that I need to have some food, something to restore. but as part of that, I've also, I think a lot of the reason that that like, negative self-talk came up for me was because I was trying to fit myself into a mold of a writer's process is supposed to be. Like ideally I would write a really, messy first draft, and then I would revise it into a really neat second draft and blah, blah, blah. I write scenes out of order. I change things halfway through and revise, like I am a messy, messy, creative, inspire mood based writer. And I think I have, by telling myself I was doing it wrong, was stopping me from doing it. As much as I needed to be. so I'm still working on that, but I think I've made a lot of progress now. However, I need to just, I just need the accountability of like, yes, you, I write all over the place. And yes, it's not always, sometimes I like revise scenes to the point of perfection before I've even written anything else, which I feel like is a bad idea. But if that's what my process is, then like just let go of the shame and self-judgment and just keep working. do feel like my process could become more streamlined and could evolve, but that also to honor the fact that this is how my creative brain works and it ultimately results in good work that I am proud of. So not to beat myself up over the fact that I don't write the way I imagine it should

Zinzi Brookbree: 26:19

Mm. Mm-hmm.

Sage Moreaux: 26:21

I think that's like maybe a lifelong kind of thing,

Zinzi Brookbree: 26:24

Well, lifelong lesson. you don't wound yourself or guilt trip yourself or harm yourself over not living up to the imagined version of you as a writer.

Sage Moreaux: 26:37

Yeah,

Katherine Suzette: 26:39

Hmm.

Sage Moreaux: 26:40

a hundred percent. Or as a human, just all of us in general, like

Zinzi Brookbree: 26:43

Fair?

Sage Moreaux: 26:44

messy and we're flawed, and that's what makes us beautiful.

Katherine Suzette: 26:46

Yeah. I think my lesson might be, you know, in tandem a little bit with. What I previously had to say about letting go of my main passion project. part of that was that I was holding the editorial hat while I was writing over my writer self as if I should measure up to this standard as a writer. And they're two different hats that I wear. So I think that I've come to the conclusion by the end of the year and also because I have been in business with you ladies and kind of learned and grown as a human shed, some skin, so to speak, that. writing process, my writing style does not have to represent necessarily the things that I would say are quality, especially in that first draft. Like, it doesn't have to look a particular way I would never tell a client that it has to look a particular way. It has to meet all these standards, especially in a first draft. Now I can help them meet their goals on future drafts and whatnot, but the first draft is just to get it on the page and to stop myself from writing because I am already judging it before it's even completed so sad, but so real. So I relate hard to that and I think that was a huge, part of my learning process this year when it came to writing, Will it continue to be part of my inner critic? yeah, probably. I am not at that point where I can say that my inner critic and I are besties yet, but can I process through it a little bit smoother than I used to? Yeah. I believe that I can, I think I can let go and enjoy a little bit better.

Zinzi Brookbree: 28:24

All right, now that we've talked about things from the writer's desk, which brings me to, book challenges. We came up with some of our own For 2026. we each created our own and we have, a bonus one that works in two ways. So I'm gonna go ahead and let Sage, can you please explain your. Magic Systems? Bingo Card book challenge.

Sage Moreaux: 28:48

So I created a Fantasy Bingo challenge, which you, I, you can play a couple of different ways you can get them in the show notes. All of the details are listed with the Bingo card that you can print out or just save. but basically, you know, it's standard five by five bingo with a wild card center space. And you can choose to, just get a line by reading five books, or you can try and do blackout by doing 25 different books. And there might be the case where some books cover more than one square and that is up to your discretion. If you want to, have one book cover, both vampires and Dream Magic. If you have a book you read that has both of those things in there, then you can go ahead and block both of those out, cross both of those off. but. can also do the full challenge of 25 individual books to do a full blackout. like I said, it has things like, it does have various mythical creatures like dragons and vampires and Faye, but it also has things like elemental magic, time, magic, dream magic, 25, 24 total categories. so yeah, if you love fantasy, if you love magic, then you might wanna check this one out.

Zinzi Brookbree: 30:02

what's yours?

Katherine Suzette: 30:03

I have been challenging myself since high school to read at least one nonfiction book a week. And what I'm gonna do is with this challenge, I'm gonna make it once a month. So it's a little bit more sustainable for a lot of people. But I like self-help books. I like psychology books. I like books that are specifically about the science of the vagus nerve and also books about. memory, a memoir and who we are as humans and that kind of thing. So long as it is something.

Zinzi Brookbree: 30:35

This has been very long.

Katherine Suzette: 30:37

In learning more about or that helps you to encounter yourself in a different way. Want everybody to be reading one nonfiction book a month.

Zinzi Brookbree: 30:48

I do kind of feel like your nonfiction challenge might be separate from your mood read thing, but it is actually a challenge that I had for myself last year and plan to have in this year as well. So we can keep ourselves, we can keep each other accountable on the, nonfiction once a month plan. I got through four. I did four NonFiction's, in 2025 and that's not 12, so I need to do better. anyway, we will also have a bonus mood reading bingo sheet that, will be in a format similar to Sages. but the idea behind it is you are either tracking, you read this book. Because you were angry and wanted to read an angry book, or you were happy and wanted to read a happy book, or you are tracking, you read this book and it made you the emotion on here. It puts you into the mood of, am I happy? this one made me sad. This one made me heartbroken, this one made me laugh.

Katherine Suzette: 31:53

Mm.

Zinzi Brookbree: 31:53

and it's less, it's like that one is just like, hey, color in the emoji face of this mood, right? Like it's,

Katherine Suzette: 32:00

I

Zinzi Brookbree: 32:00

this is the, the, So it can be any book, just what mood were you looking for, or what mood did it give you when you finished reading it? Whichever one.

Katherine Suzette: 32:09

my gosh.

Zinzi Brookbree: 32:11

I still have my own challenge. The idea of it is things in fours. I love the number four. I can't really explain why, but it's just my favorite. but I would like to do books that either on the cover or the season is one of the four Seasons, right? you're gonna have spring, summer, autumn, and winter. That's one set of four. Another set of four is directions, north, south, east, and west. Is that in the title of the book? Is that a direction that at some point in the book that you're reading is mentioned that they're traveling? Is there, A compass on the cover of the book that shows one of those directions. my rules for this is very broad. You can interpret it how you like. Another one of the four is elements. So fire, air, water, and earth, right? So that's another set of four. And then my final set of four is modes of travel. So that is travel by air, travel by sea, travel by land, and travel by magic as your final mode of transportation. So those will be my, my things in for, reading challenge that I have no idea how I'm going to do myself, but I'm excited to try.

Katherine Suzette: 33:26

I like it.

Zinzi Brookbree: 33:27

Thank you.

Katherine Suzette: 33:28

all of these challenges honestly, part of me wants to challenge myself to do that, but I also know that challenges are generally not my thing. The only one that I've ever kept up with is the one nonfiction book a week. And even then I give myself a lot of grace. Like so long as I read a couple in a month, I call it good enough. And by the end of the year, it definitely all averages out because I am a mood reader. So sometimes I am in a mood to read a lot of nonfiction books at once, I'll read like five or six, and then I just call that good. So as long as the numbers kind of average out for me and I feel satisfied with it, I call it challenge goal Met. Perfection not required.

Zinzi Brookbree: 34:07

We will be checking in with this on air, during the podcast, or in our, somewhere in our, all the things that we do. Alright, speaking of all the things that we do, you can join our Fable book Club over on Fable our, book for January is Elatsoe by Darcy Little Badger. It is a YA standalone, although I did learn recently that it has a prequel book. But when I picked this book, I did not know it was gonna be a murder mystery. I did not know it was gonna involve dead animal ghosts That makes me nervous. I just knew it was a fantasy and a ya and that it had an indigenous writer. and That it was well recommended. It's a, we'll go into it more when we get into the book itself, but I believe it has a couple of awards or at least nominations. but I'm really excited to read it with you guys. So check that out Elatsoe by Darcy Little Badger.

Sage Moreaux: 35:02

so outside of this podcast, we also have our book Dragon Ink Writing retreats and write with me Zinzi Bree where you can join Zinzi and write alongside a lovely community of authors. you can check all of those, options out on book dragon Inkcom or the links that are in the show notes. And you can find all of our social media down there as well.

Katherine Suzette: 35:27

Our writing retreats another offer that we have been putting together for so long. It's part of why we're here together, we can't wait to have more people come and participate in these events with us, and to give us feedback on what kind of changes it makes on your writing process, on your book, whatever those transformations are for you, we cannot wait to hear what they are.

Zinzi Brookbree: 35:52

You can find the book challenges that we just talked about on our Substack book, dragon Banter. If you've enjoyed this episode, please give us a review. Us book dragons. we need attention. Feed us your attention.

Katherine Suzette: 36:04

Social affirmation please.

Zinzi Brookbree: 36:07

Thank you so much for tuning in and listening to this incredibly long episode, or short cut up episode because I don't know which it's gonna end up being, because I think we have about three hours of recording here. This is Ben book, dragon Banter. Thank you so much for tuning in. We can't wait to see you next time. bloopers. I am determined to just like, say that word a different way for each episode. And I'm sad that I haven't had the chance and the time to put bloopers on the ends of the other ones and I wanna get back to it'cause I think they're fun. I just can't tell if anyone else thinks they're fun. So it's just me amusing myself. I'm gonna make that go away so I can look at our script, our guidelines, they're just guidelines. So did we do enough poses or did we basically we're all just gonna do the different hearts I wish I had like a, a pop. Please don't make this a dirty hand gesture. It like,

Sage Moreaux: 37:12

Oh yeah, let's all do dirty hand gestures.

Zinzi Brookbree: 37:17

yeah.

Sage Moreaux: 37:17

be a great way to get views.

Zinzi Brookbree: 37:19

Yeah. That's for the smut episode, right?

Sage Moreaux: 37:23

Yes.

Zinzi Brookbree: 37:24

Yep. Um.

Sage Moreaux: 37:24

like a barker or a popper

Zinzi Brookbree: 37:27

Yes, I was. Yep, that's, that's what I was thinking about sparklers or like a little confetti popper.

Katherine Suzette: 37:33

that's

Sage Moreaux: 37:33

next year for the pajama party.

Katherine Suzette: 37:35

my mom saw like a clip of our podcast. And said, oh, hey, listen to this. It's funny because I, I did something stupid. And she was like, oh, you mean because your microphone looks like a, a dildo? And I was like, no, no,

Zinzi Brookbree: 37:54

Thanks, mom.

Katherine Suzette: 37:56

it's joke missed. But now the other joke is just not as funny. So,

Zinzi Brookbree: 38:00

Mm-hmm. Was that the, were you showing her when you had your shirt open so that we could imagine her throw m and ms down? Yeah.

Katherine Suzette: 38:10

Yeah. You know the the funny things I do that haunt me.

Zinzi Brookbree: 38:14

But delight me and Sage.

Sage Moreaux: 38:16

For forever.

Zinzi Brookbree: 38:18

All right. Uh, do, do, do do. Nope. I did my robot noise and everything that was supposed to cue me up. What is this? I have not had enough caffeine yet.

Katherine Suzette: 38:30

Maybe

Zinzi Brookbree: 38:31

Welcome,

Katherine Suzette: 38:31

Do, do, do, do, do.

Zinzi Brookbree: 38:33

do, do, do, do, do. Yep. Uploading, loading now. Welcome to Book Dragon Banter. This might have to be a blooper episode on the back end. Um, yeah.