Georgia Clark, Author, THE BUCKET LIST
[0:00]Hi, I'm Zibi Owens, and this is Mom's Don't Have Time to Read Books.
[0:12]This episode of Mom's Don't Have Time to Read Books has been sponsored by Nini's Treats
[0:16]and E-N-E-S Treats, Nini's Treats.com, an amazing family-owned and operated
[0:22]crumb cake business based in Charleston, South Carolina.
[0:25]You can buy their delicious crumb cakes at niniestreats.com or on goldbelly.com.
[0:30]Niniestreats, you won't leave a crumb.
[0:32]I'm really excited to be here today with Georgia Clark.
[0:35]Georgia is the author of The Bucket List.
[0:38]She's a novelist, screenwriter, and performer.
[0:40]A young adult author of She's with the Band and Parch, as well as an adult novelist of
[0:44]the regulars.
[0:46]Georgia writes about, quote, feisty, flawed, funny women.
[0:49]She is also the host of Storytelling Night Generation Women, in which she invites six generations
[0:54]of women to tell stories on a theme.
[0:56]The regulars is currently being turned into a TV show for E. Georgia has written numerous
[1:00]screenplays, including winning a national film and TV pitching competition in Australia
[1:05]with her show, it starts at sunset.
[1:08]A native Australian and a graduate of the University of Technology in Sydney, Georgia currently
[1:12]lives in Brooklyn with her girlfriend who has a blog called 50 Coffee's.
[1:15]All right, welcome, Georgia.
[1:17]Thank you so much.
[1:18]Thanks for coming in.
[1:19]Oh, my pleasure.
[1:20]So your novel, The Bucket List, was fantastic and really dealt with a topic that I haven't
[1:26]seen dealt with so much infection before.
[1:29]Tell readers more about how you came up with the idea of The Bucket List and what it's
[1:32]about.
[1:33]Sure.
[1:34]The Bucket List is about a 25-year-old woman named Lacy Whitman, who lives here in New
[1:39]York City, and she is diagnosed with the Brocco-1 gene mutation, which is the Breast Cancer
[1:45]gene.
[1:46]And that forces a decision either ongoing surveillance as she sort of waits for the high likelihood
[1:55]of developing breast or ovarian cancer, or the more radical step of a preventative
[2:00]double mastectomy.
[2:02]And to help her make this very difficult decision, she and her close-go friends create
[2:09]a boob bucket list.
[2:11]All the things she wants to do with and for her beautiful babies before possibly saying
[2:17]tata, tata, tata, for good.
[2:20]When I first read what this book was about, I was like, oh, she must have the gene
[2:24]herself.
[2:25]That must be where this has come from, but in the acknowledgements, you say that actually
[2:29]you don't have the gene.
[2:30]So how did this book come about?
[2:32]So this book came about from a cancer scare of my own.
[2:34]I was in Sydney on press tour for the regulars, and during my sort of routine, perhaps
[2:40]me and my doctor found a love in my breast, and so I was scheduled to have an ultrasound
[2:44]on my press day, which was 6 A.M. Life Television, Interviews, A Presentation to Salmon and
[2:51]Schuster, my book launch event and the after party.
[2:55]And in between all of that, I had to, without sort of telling anyone, slip off and go and
[2:59]get an ultrasound, and it was the first time I had anything like that happen to me.
[3:03]Of course, I was terrified and, you know, spiraled into the waters.
[3:09]What would I do?
[3:10]How would I cope?
[3:11]Where would I leave?
[3:12]How could I afford this?
[3:13]What would I survive?
[3:15]And ultimately, the lump was benign, but it didn't just disappear.
[3:19]It all stayed with me.
[3:21]And when I came back to New York, I started to think more about what would happen.
[3:26]And I had the idea of a bucket list floating right in my head, but a bucket list in and
[3:29]of itself is, does not have the, you know, gravitas to hold a novel, it doesn't have
[3:34]enough weight to it.
[3:35]But to put those two things together, it is sort of somewhat unlikely marriage.
[3:40]It started to come alive for me.
[3:42]And that was really the genesis of the book.
[3:45]So interesting.
[3:46]So what did you put on Lacey's bucket list?
[3:49]And what is on your personal booth?
[3:51]Your personal booth bucket list.
[3:53]So if you have it, if I have one.
[3:56]So Lacey's bucket list, when Lacey is diagnosed and sort of realizes that she really might
[4:02]have to think about having a preventative mastectomy at 25 or soon thereafter, she realizes
[4:09]that she has not given her boobs there heyday.
[4:12]She's from a small town.
[4:14]And while she's jettisoned herself to New York and has a career in trend forecasting,
[4:18]which is sort of like a career in fashion in a way.
[4:21]And she presents as being quite accomplished and mature and sort of she has her life together.
[4:27]She is not very sexual immature.
[4:30]She has not experienced her body as something that she feels in complete control of.
[4:35]And so her bucket list ends up being a lot of sort of sexual exploitation.
[4:40]So it's in some ways a sexual coming of age.
[4:43]So some of the things on her, some of the things on her list are more sunbathing
[4:49]topless.
[4:50]She hasn't really done a lot of things that are in any way considered risque.
[4:56]But then some of them are far more risque sex and public having a threesome.
[5:01]A lot of kind of classic I suppose sexual exploitation.
[5:06]One of the things I think that it sort of ended up on my own bucket list that as a result
[5:11]of sort of writing a book was she has something on her list called Wearing a Boobs
[5:16]on Parade Dress, which she describes as being the dress that the women are on the bachelor
[5:20]wear.
[5:21]Like a very revealing booby dress.
[5:22]And I don't really dress like that myself.
[5:26]But I did find doing the events for this book.
[5:28]I was drawn to buying and wearing more dresses that showed off more cleavage that I would
[5:34]usually enjoy.
[5:35]So well.
[5:37]Overall, I feel long and a turtleneck right now, so I'm not a fanan, but a non-landa
[5:44]list.
[5:45]Try to imagine these risque dresses.
[5:47]They were just obviously in this game of the role of the bachelor.
[5:52]These dresses were, you know, grandma dresses, but like I still, I went out of my comfort
[5:57]done a little bit.
[5:58]I was telling my kids about your book this morning and the concept of the boob bucket list,
[6:03]which to my, like, basically pre adolescent, you know, love New York twins.
[6:07]They were like, what, what, what is she going to do with her boob?
[6:10]I was like, all right, you know what, let's study what I go at it.
[6:13]Oh my gosh, when we told I was telling my girlfriend's father about it, he was loving
[6:17]us back from the airport and we nearly got it in a car.
[6:20]He was just zooming and like dad, like we like pulled up short.
[6:24]He's obviously, it's, you know, it's a, it's a, it's a, a sex scenes into an concept.
[6:29]When I was reading the book, I was in the player and I often read like when they
[6:33]my kids are around because they're always generally around.
[6:35]Anyway, so I was reading on the couch and some, there are two particularly graphic, three
[6:40]way sex scenes.
[6:41]I like sitting there and my kids are like, you know, like jumping up next to me and then
[6:46]my baby sister starts talking to her and I was like, oh my gosh, don't read these words.
[6:49]Don't let her see.
[6:50]Don't, this, I'm like flushing.
[6:52]Yeah.
[6:53]So that you go into it and I'm like, how do you, I mean, how do you feel about doing that?
[6:59]Do you get embarrassed writing about it?
[7:01]Do you?
[7:02]I really like writing love and sex scenes.
[7:04]I really enjoy seeing what a character does once they tumble into bed together.
[7:09]And I sort of find it frustrating in some books where you spend so much time connecting
[7:13]emotionally with characters as they are falling for each other, like in a rom-com.
[7:18]And then they finally get into bed together and then this is like fatal black and we start
[7:22]again the next morning.
[7:23]And I just feel like, I just invested so much time with you, like, I don't know what's
[7:26]going on.
[7:27]And for me, I'm not so prudish and I think it's fun to think and talk and write about sex.
[7:35]It's fun for me as a writer and especially as someone who's in a monogamous relationship
[7:41]in a way, it's a way for my imagination to, you know, have a day out and go for a walk
[7:46]and try something different without, you know, leaving the confines of my relationship.
[7:51]And so I think in some ways that's kind of what you offer readers as well.
[7:54]Like it's a way to keep your sexual imagination alive in the form of entertainment and
[7:59]also really getting to know a character because I think what we do in bed says so much
[8:05]about us.
[8:06]And it's also a great way for humor.
[8:09]I mean, there's so many ways that you can play out sort of funny situations in bed as well.
[8:14]I wonder what one of the characters, like, take a phone call.
[8:16]Right.
[8:17]It's like, oh my goodness.
[8:19]So you have these sexual type scenes and really fun moments in the book.
[8:23]But you also have these very poignant moments where Lacey is struggling with his diagnosis
[8:28]and basically the feeling of just being so alone in it, you know, not first of all, she
[8:33]wasn't telling people, but more just how would she cope, who should she try, who should
[8:37]she talk to?
[8:38]You said, let me find this quote.
[8:41]You said, I've never, this is Lacey talking now.
[8:43]I've never had real depression.
[8:45]That's my sister's territory.
[8:46]But once I've stepped out of my tool and motorcycle boots and washed my face of makeup,
[8:50]I can't fight the wave of emotion chasing me, tucked into bed feeling small and vulnerable.
[8:54]I let it drown me, thinking into all the things I've been trying to avoid.
[8:58]No man will find me sexy if I go through with it, but I might die if I don't.
[9:01]I don't want to lose my breasts.
[9:03]I don't want implants inside me.
[9:04]I am scared.
[9:05]I am so, so scared, which was just so beautiful the way you have her be so open.
[9:11]Did you make this sort of a device for her to be able to share and did you find that
[9:16]people you talked to who were confronting the same thing felt the same way or was it
[9:20]somewhere from your scare that you just mentioned?
[9:22]I mean, a little of both from the research that I did, and they obviously did a lot
[9:26]of research for this book, the moments leading up to the surgery, whether that was a matter
[9:32]of weeks, months, years, extremely fraught.
[9:35]And there's a lot of very hard decisions that have to be made if that's something that
[9:39]you've decided to do.
[9:40]But more so, I had that in common with Lacey, and I think a lot of readers can relate
[9:46]to the difficulty in asking for help when the proverbial hits a fan.
[9:51]Like it's easy to ask for help when it's like a fun favor or a very simple favor, but
[9:58]to ask for help when you...
[10:00]you really need it because your life is at stake
[10:03]or whether you're going through an illness or a tragedy
[10:06]or anything like that.
[10:08]It's very difficult for some people,
[10:11]myself included, to really reach out and ask for help.
[10:14]And I think one of the reasons why,
[10:16]and again, this is something I think
[10:18]I have in common places,
[10:19]like Lacy, like I'd jettisoned myself
[10:21]from Sydney, Australia, Australia, in spoiler alert,
[10:24]to New York and really build something like life here,
[10:28]I didn't have, you know, friends
[10:30]or a place to live or a relationship or a job,
[10:32]or I really didn't have anything.
[10:33]And so this book takes place
[10:36]when Lacy is pretty new to New York.
[10:38]I'm not as new to New York,
[10:40]but at that time when I was,
[10:42]it's a very vulnerable place to be.
[10:44]You don't have a solid support system.
[10:46]You're not really able to fall,
[10:49]because there's nothing to catch you.
[10:51]So you don't really have the option of falling apart.
[10:55]And that's the position that Lacy sort of believes
[10:59]that she's in, whether that's true or not,
[11:00]is sort of, you know, up for a debate.
[11:03]But I wanted to explore what it would be like
[11:07]for a young woman, very much sort of carving her life
[11:11]and on the way up to go through this.
[11:13]There's no good time to go through this.
[11:15]It doesn't matter if you're in your 60s or your 20s.
[11:18]It's not any easier at any age,
[11:20]but the specific challenges facing someone in their 20s,
[11:23]that would be interesting and it is interesting to me.
[11:26]And also I can still relate to that time in my life.
[11:29]I'm going to went through it.
[11:32]Not too long ago.
[11:33]Not too long ago, right?
[11:34]What were some of the things that you were surprised
[11:37]to find out from all the research you did?
[11:39]And how did you do your research?
[11:40]Like, did you just talk to people in person, interviews,
[11:43]emails, surveys, how did you do it?
[11:45]So I really like to talk to people
[11:47]and I'm not afraid to sort of jump into a community
[11:50]I don't know about.
[11:51]So I connected with a couple of advocacy groups
[11:54]for facing a risk of cancer and power and bright pink
[11:57]and through those communities,
[12:00]met people, whether it was through message boards
[12:02]or just call the emailing people
[12:05]who had written about it,
[12:06]whether that be one article online or a book.
[12:09]I did a lot of reading and then I would sort of find contacts
[12:12]in the way that like a journalist finds contacts.
[12:14]And some people are happy just to do
[12:16]like one interview with you and that's it,
[12:18]but some people are really become invested in the whole process
[12:21]because books take years.
[12:22]And I had a few contacts who I just was able to go back
[12:26]to again and again.
[12:27]And eventually they were reading sections
[12:30]and giving notes and things like that.
[12:32]And I went to events, I sort of researched,
[12:35]not just even in Brucker,
[12:36]but in the transfer casting community
[12:39]and there's other sort of made contacts in that as well
[12:42]and went to conferences.
[12:43]And I mean, I really enjoy research.
[12:46]So it's not writing, so it's a lot easier.
[12:48]And that was how the book came to life.
[12:51]I mean, and not just women who had the gene mutation
[12:55]but also healthcare professionals such as genetic counselors,
[12:59]plastic surgeons, PCPs,
[13:01]does everyone that Lacey came into contact with?
[13:05]I wanted to come into contact with.
[13:08]And I guess you're to your second question,
[13:10]what really surprised me?
[13:11]I guess I'm continually impressed
[13:15]and struck by the resilience and strength of women.
[13:18]I am already, you know, a huge fan of women, I suppose.
[13:22]But I'd never really thought about what it would take
[13:25]to elect to have a preventative surgery
[13:28]for something like your breasts,
[13:30]which are such a marker of the female identity.
[13:34]I mean, they're how we breastfeed children.
[13:37]They're so much a part of our sexual identity.
[13:40]They're such a physical marker of our bodies
[13:43]and the strength that it takes to decide
[13:47]to remove them, to give yourself a healthier,
[13:50]you know, to remove a risk of cancer.
[13:52]I just was so amazed by that and it really,
[13:56]when I started first thinking and writing it,
[13:58]like talking about it with my friends,
[14:00]I think I'm gonna, I'm thinking about writing a book
[14:02]about someone who has a preventing mastectomy,
[14:04]like some of my friends really found that very confronting
[14:07]and physically recoiled from the topic.
[14:12]And that just made me more interested in writing about it.
[14:15]You know, I'm really interested in writing
[14:16]about the things that we, that it still have a lot
[14:19]of to-be's around them, but that are just a reality
[14:22]about lives and whether that's like menopause
[14:25]or menstruation, like all of these things
[14:26]that we experience that it's hard to talk about.
[14:29]I think that fiction and particularly fiction
[14:32]that has like a lot of a warm touch to it
[14:34]is a really interesting way into that conversation.
[14:37]I have to send you the essay right about my hysterectomy.
[14:40]Oh, definitely. Oh my gosh.
[14:42]But I think that one of the things that you do really well
[14:45]is just make everyone who's faced anything like this
[14:48]feel understood.
[14:49]And I think that's part of what like makes fiction so great
[14:52]or any kind of writing, really, right?
[14:54]You just unite everyone, like who hasn't had a moment
[14:56]where they're worried about some sort of test result
[14:58]or had to debate something or.
[15:00]Yeah, I mean, in so many ways,
[15:02]fiction is a practice of radical empathy
[15:04]on both the writers and the readers behalf.
[15:08]Like I haven't experienced this myself,
[15:10]but through putting myself into the headspace
[15:13]someone that hasn't doing the, you know,
[15:16]the research to make it authentic,
[15:17]it's a way in which I can tell a story about something
[15:21]that then gives other people the chance to experience
[15:25]that story in hopefully, you know,
[15:28]I'm not the sole person running about this like to join
[15:31]a larger conversation about women's health and women's lives
[15:34]and choices that we make.
[15:35]And I really take that very seriously.
[15:39]And I really enjoy the experience of getting
[15:42]into other people's heads and lives.
[15:44]And through fiction, you know, you couldn't travel the world.
[15:48]You can meet everyone.
[15:49]You've ever wanted to meet.
[15:50]You can travel back in time.
[15:51]You can go into the future.
[15:53]It's such a wonderful, wonderful thing.
[15:56]I love what you just said.
[15:57]Writing is a practice of radical empathy.
[15:59]This was an article that would be my pull quote.
[16:01]Like big involved, put it on Instagram or something.
[16:05]I also really liked in the book how you contrasted Lacy
[16:08]with her sister, Mara, who did have a child.
[16:11]And was reluctant at first to get the Brack-a-1 test
[16:16]Brack-a-jean mutation test, did you see if she had?
[16:19]Because I feel like that must be common,
[16:21]especially with all these advances in genetics.
[16:23]And should you know, do you want to know
[16:25]what about if someone in your family doesn't want to know?
[16:28]I particularly liked Mara's comment about Moana.
[16:31]And she just wished that Disney had never invented
[16:33]and wanted, there was something really funny in there.
[16:35]I should have written it down for you.
[16:36]Anyway, did you speak to families or have you
[16:40]have friends who went through this or someone in the family
[16:42]just had a different outlook and drove a wedge between them?
[16:46]Yes.
[16:47]I've definitely experienced not even in just this context,
[16:52]but in family dynamics in general,
[16:54]the difference of opinions when it comes
[16:57]to these sort of important questions.
[17:00]And the character of Mara really was a way
[17:04]to activate having someone push back against Lacy.
[17:09]Because I didn't want it to be, Lacy's friends are,
[17:12]they go through their own sort of experience
[17:14]with wanting to help her.
[17:15]But there's a lot of very well-intentioned characters
[17:18]in the book, but you can't just have everyone support
[17:22]this person go through this journey.
[17:23]Otherwise, A, it becomes a little didactic
[17:26]and a little one sided, and B, to create some tension.
[17:30]And I felt like I needed a character
[17:33]who was just saying unequivocally to Lacy,
[17:36]you shouldn't do this.
[17:37]I don't, I think this is a mistake.
[17:39]And for that person, not to be someone
[17:40]who could be easily dismissed like there's, you know,
[17:43]a sprinkle of like sexist doctors and so on and so forth,
[17:45]but they're not someone that you would be holding
[17:48]on the page is being like,
[17:49]well, we should really think about what this sexist doctor
[17:51]has to say.
[17:52]But it's your sister is saying it,
[17:53]then she really does think about it
[17:56]and have to grapple with how is she gonna take this advice
[18:00]and where is she gonna push back against this advice?
[18:02]And I wanted someone to say just the basic things
[18:06]that some, you know, the kind of classic pushbacks,
[18:09]which is like, what do they and then a cure?
[18:11]What do they and then a cure for breast cancer?
[18:12]And then you've had your, you know,
[18:14]breast remove, what would you do then?
[18:15]Do you think you're old enough
[18:16]to make this decision on your own, you're only 25?
[18:19]You know, if you get this testing done,
[18:21]then this will run your life.
[18:23]Like this, you know, you would be making decisions
[18:25]that, you know, the test results were like,
[18:27]things that have a lot of truth to them
[18:30]that Lacy has to really think through
[18:32]and decide where she comes to the table on it.
[18:35]Like, what is her take on it?
[18:37]I love that.
[18:38]And what was your process like with this novel?
[18:40]I mean, you said you came up with the idea
[18:42]and explained the genesis of that.
[18:43]How did this differ from your other ones?
[18:46]Is your fourth novel?
[18:47]Yes, that's right.
[18:48]I researched more through this novel
[18:50]probably more than any other book,
[18:52]although I did do a lot of research for my second book,
[18:56]which was a sci-fi action adventure thriller
[18:59]set in the future.
[19:00]So I read a lot of robots for a couple of years,
[19:02]but it was the more I've I write.
[19:06]And I've also got a couple of books which weren't published.
[19:09]So every author has a couple of books
[19:11]in the bottom manuscript.
[19:12]The process does get somewhat streamlined.
[19:14]So I researched for two or three months full-time
[19:18]and then I wrote for maybe a year
[19:21]to get to a first draft.
[19:23]And then it goes to a series of revisions.
[19:25]I worked with a really good freelance editor
[19:27]who named Sarah Sci-Fi.
[19:28]If anyone is a fiction writer looking for a great
[19:30]freelance editor to hire, I would definitely recommend her.
[19:34]And so I worked with her before it goes in-house
[19:38]and then it goes through one of the series of revisions
[19:40]and copy edits and all that kind of thing
[19:43]once it goes in-house.
[19:44]But sort of was maybe a year and a half from ID
[19:47]to first draft.
[19:49]Awesome.
[19:49]And how did you start writing to begin with?
[19:52]It sounds like you do all different types of writing,
[19:54]not just novels, but screenwriting.
[19:56]And you saw that it was the script
[19:57]to the talent contest.
[20:00]done all these different things. So when did you first know you were a writer and how did your
[20:03]career so that it get kick started? It's always sort of like a bit of a, when you look back on it,
[20:07]it's kind of like trying to remember a dream. It's like how did it all happen? But I went to school
[20:12]for screenwriting and filmmaking. I wanted to be a director when I was at university, I hear
[20:18]college. And after that I worked in magazines. I was an editor of a magazine for a while. I did a
[20:25]lot of freelance writing. And I was really trying to break into screenwriting, which was
[20:29]difficult in Australia because the industry is very small. And I didn't really know how to do it.
[20:35]I was making a lot of guesses as to how to do something like that. And I would say if you were
[20:41]trying to do anything, get informed about the actual practice of the industry rather than
[20:49]making a lot of guesses and assumptions about it because I think I wouldn't do that the same way
[20:54]again. And I made a couple of short films. And when I, nothing was really sort of taking off for
[21:00]me in that way. And I came to New York on a vacation with my roommate when I was 27 and fell in love
[21:07]with the city and really felt had this sort of a hard moment of like this is where I meant to be.
[21:13]So I moved to New York when I was 29 and was going to write a screenplay when I got here like
[21:20]write a feature film. And sort of within a couple of weeks of moving here, I realized that, oh,
[21:25]everyone in America is writing a screenplay. And I'd already had a young adult novel published in
[21:30]Australia. It was a small sort of short book published. But that was something that I was one
[21:37]step closer to that in that industry. Look, I had the door cracked in that industry, whereas I
[21:41]didn't really have the door open at all in screenwriting. And so I sort of realized that novel writing
[21:47]would scratch the same itch as screenwriting. Like what I liked about screenwriting was
[21:52]bringing a large world in my head out onto paper and being able to dream sort of full-time.
[22:00]And I realized that, oh, with novel writing, I don't need a custom crew. I don't need to raise
[22:06]money from people. You know, there's so much about filmmaking that is practically very difficult
[22:12]novel writing. It's not. It's just you and a computer. And that's how I ended up going down
[22:17]that path. And of course, he mentioned the regulars being optioned by E. And now I'm co-creating,
[22:24]we are optioned to write a pilot. So which where we just handed in the first draft of the pilot
[22:30]to E, we're waiting for notes, which we've been getting kind of notes on many of the outline and
[22:36]past moving forward. There's a lot of there's a lot more people involved. That's a thing about
[22:40]screenwriting. There's a lot more people involved with fiction. It's really just you, your editor,
[22:45]your agent, and it's just really those three people for kind of years. With screenwriting,
[22:52]there's a producer, producer, assistant, the studio, all of the people associated with the studio.
[22:56]We have two studios working on this. And then there's a network, another network, and then
[23:00]your co-writer. So there's like all of these people invested in it, which is different. I like
[23:05]it. Everyone has good ideas and you know, you sort of take the ideas at work and all that kind of
[23:10]stuff. And it's been funny how I've sort of come full circle over my career now from trying to get
[23:17]into screenwriting in my 20s, sort of taking a left and becoming a novelist. And now maybe I'm
[23:23]getting back into it. I hope so. I hope you get on the air. So across your fingers with me,
[23:28]when do you find out better? So when you get a deal, there's different ways you can get a deal
[23:33]done, but we, they just option to the pilot. So they pay us to write the pilot and then there's
[23:39]more decisions that have to be made to get it greenlit to shoot the pilot. Okay. And then to actually
[23:44]get a series order. So two larger hurdles before it actually gets on the air. Most, we're in
[23:52]development right now. Okay. And most shows in development don't kind of make it on air.
[23:57]Oh, well. Yeah. So you just crash.
[24:00]And it's been a really fun experience writing that the pilot. So I definitely feel like with that
[24:04]project I'm winning. Is this your first time having a co-writer on anything?
[24:08]Yeah, it is actually in a significant way like this. And I've really enjoyed the process. I think
[24:15]I got lucky. I feel like a lot of people in the industry, their first question is like,
[24:20]oh, do you like your co-writer? Because in some ways, you're just kind of matched. There's not a huge
[24:26]selection process with thousands of people applying and endless meetings and coffees or anything
[24:32]like that. But I heard a woman in based in LA called Gal Gill Christ and she's a really good collaborator.
[24:39]I feel like we have complementary strengths. And she's, I think that it's funny that people assume
[24:45]that whether it's your editor or your co-writer that you're in conflict with these people and that
[24:52]they're trying to wrestle your vision away from you. And that's just really not the case. Like
[24:57]everyone who is in any way, I guess paid or desires to be part of your project. Like everyone has
[25:04]the same end game, which is to make this thing good and to then hopefully get a published or get
[25:11]it on the air or wherever it has to kind of go. So it really is a collaboration. And if you don't
[25:17]like someone's idea, there's generally like a hierarchy of who's, who's idea is to take. And it's
[25:23]there's not a lot of conflict. There's conflict in other parts of it. But in that part, in my experience,
[25:29]and I'm absolutely a newbie and I'm maybe there are some people that kind of are working in
[25:34]writers or who are like, well, get ready. Just like, I respect that. Just do you. I just do
[25:38]wait. Right. For right now, my experiences, everyone's kind of trying to be on the same team.
[25:44]Yeah. That's great. And what about the bucket list? Are you hoping to make that into a movie or show?
[25:48]I mean, that would be great. I would love that. I am in some kind of early talks with some people,
[25:53]which I can't really say anything about now because then I want to jinx anything. But hopefully,
[25:59]yeah, we might sort of, we'll see how it goes. That's so exciting. I think there's such a big
[26:05]audience for this. It's like, I don't know. There isn't a real movie or show that I can think of
[26:11]about this particular someone in this age group, like the same exact thing.
[26:14]Yeah, there is a sort of, I mean, there's sort of, I've done the research, I have to say.
[26:17]No, I mean, there's sort of storylines on television. There was a storyline on a television show
[26:23]that I watched called the bold type about a character who was diagnosed with rocker. I
[26:28]think it was one, not sure if it was one or two. And they sort of delve into that a little bit.
[26:33]But this is sort of yet to really reach the mainstream in the way that other sort of,
[26:39]I think, health issues sort of have. And yeah, I think the strength of something like this is,
[26:45]it's like you sort of said it's a warm and funny and sexy and witty, but also is very serious
[26:52]and is able to do both of those things at once. Yeah. Well, then. I think there's so much,
[26:58]I tried really hard. Do you have any advice, both to aspiring authors and also to anybody
[27:05]out there now who has this gene mutation and isn't quite sure what to do or who to turn to?
[27:11]Sure. For authors, I think that a regular writing practice is number one. It's really hard to
[27:18]write when, quote unquote, the inspiration strikes or just whenever you find a fair minute because
[27:23]you'll just never find that minute because writing is work and it's not always fun. But if you
[27:31]are able to find a time and make, you know, carve out that time in your calendar, whether it's
[27:37]Saturday mornings or Thursday nights or Friday afternoons, whatever you have available and really
[27:44]making that a regular practice, your body will, there'll be like a certain muscle memory that kicks
[27:49]in after a month that when you sit down to write, it'll become easier and easier because
[27:54]you're a sort of brain and body will commit to that time and realize, oh, it's Friday afternoon,
[27:59]now I'm, you know, switching off my phone and turning off the internet and shutting the door
[28:04]and sort of doing a deep dive. You have to remove all of your distractions. I use an app called
[28:09]Freedom, which turns off the internet and physically switch the phone off. So that's a great way
[28:14]into it. I also really recommend working with a freelance editor like I mentioned or finding a
[28:19]community and that sort of my advice as well for anyone who is struggling with any kind of health
[28:26]dilemma is it's really helpful to find a community, something that Lacey actually really pushes
[28:30]back against. She's not someone who really sees herself as like joining a cancer club, like she's
[28:35]sort of is a bit of an eye roller about that, but when she eventually does do that, she meets people
[28:40]that really change her attitude and that support her in a very meaningful way. And I think that
[28:47]it's invaluable to connect with others, even if there are people that you would never usually
[28:53]connect with in your life to realize that you're not alone in whatever you're going through
[28:58]and to be able to talk about it however you can. And sometimes those people are great because
[29:04]there's sort of like a therapist, like they're, they just play a very specific part of your life.
[29:09]And you know, just get the information that you need. I would never advocate that everyone gets
[29:13]tested because it's just a personal choice to make, but I would advocate gathering the knowledge
[29:19]you need to make that choice, like find out if you have a family history. And if you do, then
[29:24]think about whether getting genetically tested feels right for you. I mean, it can be a big piece
[29:29]of information to find out about, but you know, the other side of that is you might, if you don't
[29:35]have that information, you might get a shock or a fright by actually developing cancer for you,
[29:41]you know, and if you know about in advance, it can just empower you with more information. So,
[29:46]I think community and in powering yourself with information of both wonderful things to do.
[29:52]I forgot to ask earlier. I want to know more about your generation of women.
[29:56]Oh, yeah, tell me about that. What's that about?
[29:58]Yeah, I host a multigest-
[30:00]Herational storytelling night here in New York City,
[30:02]we are on once a month at caveat in the Lower East Side,
[30:05]which is a fantastic new downtown theater,
[30:08]and we invited woman to her 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s,
[30:11]and 70s to tell an original story on a theme.
[30:14]And I started the night after conversations with my own mother,
[30:17]Jane, about the experience of disappearing as an older woman,
[30:20]the feeling that when she was walking down the street
[30:22]that people were looking right through her
[30:24]and the more I said to think about ages,
[30:26]especially for women, the angry I got,
[30:30]and the more I want to just think about it.
[30:31]So I started this night as a platform
[30:34]for all women's stories about particularly older women,
[30:36]because we really don't hear enough from older women,
[30:38]and it's a very valuable experience
[30:41]to literally sit around the matriarchal campfire
[30:44]and hear these stories pass down.
[30:47]Some of them are really funny,
[30:48]some are really moving, you know,
[30:50]you'll laugh your cry at one of our nights,
[30:53]and we've built a really strong community
[30:55]around this event.
[30:57]So if you're in New York City, please come and check us out.
[31:01]We're online at generationwoman.us,
[31:03]or you can buy tickets through caveat.
[31:04]We generally sell out a couple a week or so before a show,
[31:08]so get in early, and we'd love to see you there
[31:11]and come and say hi to me.
[31:12]I'm coming.
[31:13]Great.
[31:14]I'm gonna come.
[31:15]I think you should have my grandmother on.
[31:16]Oh, I was 95 and she's the best right now.
[31:18]We've actually never had a team 90s.
[31:20]I'm really excited to book team 90s, so we should talk.
[31:25]Okay.
[31:26]I'll turn off the mic, but I don't know.
[31:28]It makes sense.
[31:29]Great.
[31:29]All right. Well, thank you so much for coming on,
[31:31]Momstone, I have time to read books.
[31:32]I really, really appreciate it,
[31:34]and I really love chatting with you.
[31:35]Thank you, C.B., thanks for having me.
[31:37]All right, thanks for having me.
[31:38]This episode of Momstone, I have time to read books
[31:40]has been brought to you by Nini's Treats.
[31:41]Nini's Treats.com, available also on goldbellie.com.
[31:45]Thanks to Ryan and Steve at Texture Sound
[31:47]for the audio editing and mixing.
[31:49]Thanks for listening.
[31:50]We'll see you next time.
[31:51]Bye.