Author James Patterson joined Cheddar News to discuss a new book he co-wrote with Mike Lupica, "12 Months to Live," their third project together and also spoke about their upcoming tour as well as his passion for child literacy.

<div class="block">Author James Patterson joined Cheddar News to discuss a new book he co-wrote with Mike Lupica, &quot;12 Months to Live,&quot; their third project together and also spoke about their upcoming tour as well as his passion for child literacy.</div>

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Be Well: Author James Patterson on New Book, Upcoming Tour and Child Literacy

James Patterson. You're 1000 Paterson. It's not my 1000. You're almost there. No, it's 900. Of course. Of course. Well, it's out 12 months to live. Super exciting. What can you tell us about it? For starters? Uh, Jane Smith, who is the lead character here? She's really, she's a very strong character. She, she briefly was, was, it was a cop, she was a private investigator and now she's an attorney in this and, um, she has 12 months to live but it's, as it says on the book cover, uh, Jane Smith, you know, she has 12 months to live unless, unless they kill her first. So, that's right. That's right. Right. Right. But I, you know, II, I think it's, uh, you know, with Mike and I, it's the best book we've done together and I think it's the best book that I've done. You know, it's weird. We were in, um, upstate New York yesterday. I read a, a big thing at a bookstore that there's about 800 people and at one point they all stood up and they cheered and, and what I said was that in this world that we're in right now, it's just bad news, bad news, bad news, you know, global warming, whatever, you know, politics and, and, and, and we're tired of it. We're sick of it and we deserve a break. We have a Academy Award winning actress who's attached. We got one, I can't tell you. We have two of the best, two of the best, uh, one of the two best show runners attached and a writer from, from Ozark actually. Well, it's exciting to see you be so excited about your book since you've done so many, had so many amazing characters. And you did this one again. This is your third project with Mike that you guys worked on this. Why do you guys and this one, we, it doesn't work, but we do it anyway. Yeah. And we're going on two, we're going, the reason we're going on tours, we just kind of like hanging out together and, and when we're doing the books, it's like a writers' room, like in a television show, except we do it by telephone and we'll talk, you know, maybe six times a day. I know you care so much about child literacy and making sure you give books back and money back. Why is that so important to you? It's just the way I grew up, I don't take credit for it. My mother, grandmother in particular, uh and that's a thing about 12 months to live the, the effect of my mother and grandmother, very strong women, my grandmother, you know, she only went through eighth grade. She was terrific. Smart. And that's what I grew up with. That kind of very positive and, and that's the way Jane is in the book. You know, a lot of people out there, they want to write a book just like you. Do. You have any advice or tips because the publishing industry has changed so much. I, I think, you know, the two things I want. If you, if you are gonna be a writer, you can't help yourself, you're gonna keep doing it. And, and the second is actually the first piece of advice is outlined, outline, outline, outline, lay out that whatever that story you wanna tell us your life story. Fine, just start laying out the outline. What are all the stories from my life story that I think would be interesting to somebody else? But now you have the most number one books on the New York Times best selling list. Yeah, I mean, how does that feel? Do you ever stop and pitch yourself or just like whatever? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I grew up in a small town and, and one blessing I have is I still look at the world as though through the eyes of this kid from Uber, New York. So this is cool. I'm somebody's filming us. This is no, it's, it's really I, I, yeah, I, and some people may think that's corny or, or like I'm throwing BS out, but I'm not, I, I mean, II, I enjoy it. I mean, the fact that I, you know, did, did books with President Clinton, that's amazing. The fact that I have done a book and we, we're gonna do a movie with Dolly Parton. Uh We get the Alex Cross. Uh, it's a great series and we're about to, uh, I think around March on, on Amazon the next series of, of, of Alex Cross. Uh, um, so, you know. Yeah. And besides that, you already finished your next book and you're already starting on the book after 12 months, 12 months to live. The next one is eight months to live, coming out next year and then four months to live, which will be two years from now and then you'll start the prequel, you two years to live and take it back. Oh, well, we can ask you. Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah, I only take 10% for that. Not a lot. Ok.