Lauren Edmondson, LADIES OF THE HOUSE

2021-02-13 · 34:16 · Lauren Edmondson · Podcast Audio

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[0:53]Hi, I don't know if you guys know this or not, but I have an anthology coming out called Moms Don't Have Time to A Quarantine Anthology.

[1:01]And it comes out on February 16th and has essays by 60 plus of the authors who have been on this podcast.

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[3:18]there. Today's episode has been sponsored by chicken soup for the soul making me time 101 stories

[3:25]about self care and balance edited by Amy Newmark. This is a fantastic collection of essays.

[3:32]And everyone will find something relatable and that they can use to make their lives better within

[3:36]these essays. Lauren Edmondson is the author of Ladies of the House, a debut novelist.

[3:43]She has a BA from Williams College and an MFA in fiction from Sarah Lawrence. She currently lives in

[3:48]Northern Virginia with her husband and two children. Welcome, Lauren. Thanks so much for coming on

[3:52]mom's. Don't have time to read books. Thank you, Zeba. Thanks for having me. It's a thrill and an honor.

[3:58]Oh, it's exciting for me too. Let's start. First of all, I have to say congratulations on your baby

[4:04]who I saw on Instagram. And that was like not that long ago. What is he's three months? There's

[4:08]a thing now. Yeah, two months. Yeah, I can't even do math. I don't even know what month we're in

[4:14]actually now. So I mean, I could be wrong. You know, like I could. There's a chance that he's

[4:19]three months. So yeah, he, well, this actually gives me an excuse to like put on some mascara, throw

[4:27]on a pearl, you know, so I haven't been doing that for many weeks. So it felt good. Well,

[4:35]welcome back to the the land of the living here. Thank you. I can't promise you that I'm wearing

[4:42]pants with buttons, but I'm getting close. You know what I mean, I'm closer than I was. I am not

[4:47]wearing pants with buttons. Is that a requirement? I don't even think I have any pants with

[4:51]buttons. I have like one pair of jeans and the rest are, you know, basically pregnancy type

[4:58]pants, even though, you know, my last child is born, what six years ago? So yeah, you know,

[5:03]you're already has these pants now that are kind of like that that have the same band as maternity

[5:07]pants, which I wish somebody would make as regular pants. So anyway, now I wear those if I wear

[5:12]pants at all, which I'm yeah, it's it's much needed. Yes. Anyway, that was too much information about

[5:18]my wardrobe and your wardrobe, but I really just want to say congratulations on your baby and how

[5:22]impressive it is that you have a book coming out so soon after a baby came out and you're like launching

[5:29]both these things into the world. It's basically the same time. How is that going? Like I assume that

[5:34]I mean, did you what did you know first the book date or the baby book? Yes, okay. And I found out I was

[5:42]pregnant the day that I live in Virginia. So the day that our governor announced the lockdown in

[5:52]Virginia, I took a pregnancy test. Those, yeah, in my daughter, I have a four-year-old daughter and her

[6:02]school closed. And so I was going through the early days of the lockdown as well as my early days

[6:13]of pregnancy. And so I had a lot of feelings about that. And we were my lovely editor, Melanie

[6:23]freed. And I were working like crazy trying to get the final edits done before we had to submit

[6:33]the book. And so that was such an intensive process. So, you know, I have this memory of my laptop,

[6:44]my lap, my ginger ale and saltines next to me and the television on and my daughter just bouncing

[6:53]on the couch like over me and like over my computer. And I just had such tunnel vision. I just

[7:00]didn't even care. You know, I was just like, don't touch my keyboard. Whatever else you do,

[7:07]I don't care. So that was a lot of television for her in those days. But you know, she watched

[7:13]one particular show, like, you know, well, you have, you know, kids. So, you know, they get into

[7:19]these cycles where it's like their favorite thing and their favorite episodes. So she was really

[7:24]into the show on Netflix in those early, like quarantine days. And so what's now? Sorry, which,

[7:31]which one? Oh, it's a show on Netflix called True. I don't know where she found it. You know, it had

[7:38]all those bright colors. I'm just always looking for a good stuff for my kids. So, yeah, well,

[7:44]she's just okay. So she's watching true. You never know a little, yeah, a little too young for her,

[7:48]but it's like, it has a very distinctive, like opening credits song. And so whenever now,

[7:55]now she watches it, not, you know, as much as she did back then, but like, I have this physical,

[8:02]like memory of the nausea and the anxiety and like the sweat, you know, the flop sweat of like

[8:13]trying to get this novel done. And I have to like leave the room, you know, because it just brings

[8:19]back almost like smell triggers memory. That sound triggers the memory of those early, you know,

[8:27]panicky dark days. So my pregnancy, wow, well, that's a way to start off, although I have to

[8:34]say, and I want to talk about your book and not spend more time on this, but the idea that you can

[8:38]actually have an entire pregnancy and lockdown is kind of amazing when I think what I had to show people

[8:45]when I was out and about in the world with all the varying sizes of the different pregnancies. So

[8:49]anyway, and maybe blessing in some way, but back to ladies of the house, your second baby of

[8:56]this that the quarantine, can you please tell listeners what ladies of the house is about and

[9:01]what inspired you to write it? Sure. So ladies of the house is a modern retelling of

[9:07]sense and sensibility and the novel starts as sense and sensibility did with this family that's

[9:14]mourning the loss of the patriarch in ladies of the house, the recently deceased Senator Gregory

[9:23]Richardson has it turns out died in a rather in glorious way that leads to a pretty big scandal

[9:35]in DC and the nation because he had been a very prominent senator and the scandal

[9:43]land squarely on the doorstep of the women that he left behind Daisy his oldest daughter who had

[9:50]followed him into politics, Wallace his youngest daughter who is the outspoken progressive of the

[9:57]family and had just returned from

[10:00]a couple years teaching abroad and his wife,

[10:04]cricket, who not only has to deal with losing the man

[10:09]who she spent her life with,

[10:11]but also now reckoning with the fact that this man was a liar

[10:17]and a cheer and a thief.

[10:20]And so these women have to, even though this man,

[10:25]the center of their solar system for so many years is dead,

[10:32]they still have to deal with this mess

[10:35]that he left behind and pick up their lives,

[10:40]pick up their love lives, their careers

[10:43]and try to figure out where they go from there,

[10:48]both individually and collectively as a family.

[10:51]Well, it is really salacious in the way.

[10:55]You portrayed even the scandal

[10:58]and the dinging of the cell phone as the scandal break.

[11:01]You have the scandal break during a memorial service,

[11:04]which is brilliant.

[11:05]And you have all the dinging and everything.

[11:07]And then the family has to all figure out

[11:11]what each of them knew.

[11:12]And that scene was also hilarious.

[11:14]Like the way it all gets introduced is like,

[11:18]you can't stop reading it.

[11:19]It's very engrossing and the tone makes you,

[11:23]as an author, feel like very likable.

[11:25]Like you're very funny.

[11:26]So it's great.

[11:27]I mean, I feel like when you talk about a book being based

[11:31]on a classic, like sense and sensibility,

[11:34]there might be this misconception that this is like trying

[11:36]to be like a modern day flourishing.

[11:41]Do you know what I mean?

[11:42]Like more than a literary classic.

[11:45]This is like a super relevant today.

[11:48]Like your best friend to tell you the story type of book.

[11:51]Yeah.

[11:52]So that's perfect.

[11:54]That's exactly the book that I set out to write.

[11:57]And I mean, Austin was hilarious, like black out loud funny.

[12:05]I mean, there's parts.

[12:06]I remember when my daughter was just born,

[12:10]she had, and this was four years ago,

[12:12]she had a terrible like acid, not acid reflux.

[12:15]She just had reflux.

[12:16]So after every time, did this happen to one of your kids?

[12:19]It did.

[12:20]Oh, what's anything that happens to somebody's kid

[12:22]has ever been on my kids.

[12:24]I realized by this point, but yes, what am I kid?

[12:27]Yes, you've run the gamut.

[12:28]So you know this, after they feed,

[12:30]you have to hold them up right for 20 minutes.

[12:32]So I had a lot of time on my hands.

[12:34]So I just ended up reading, as I was holding her,

[12:37]I read a loud Pride and Prejudice.

[12:40]And I just found myself just read it aloud.

[12:43]Wait, you read it aloud to her?

[12:45]Yeah.

[12:46]Oh, okay.

[12:48]Yeah, I had, like I said, I had a lot of time on my hands.

[12:51]And I just found myself giggling and just laughing

[12:54]and sensing sensibility too.

[12:56]I mean, some of the stuff that comes out of Mary Ann's mouth

[12:59]is just so funny.

[13:01]And I think if you are at least Michael

[13:06]for like trying to do Austin justice

[13:09]was trying also to capture that light-hearted giggling

[13:16]girlfriend, dishy kind of story that,

[13:20]I'd argue she should be just as well-known for, of course,

[13:23]of like in addition to the themes that are still resonant

[13:29]200 years after she was writing.

[13:31]Well, I have to admit I have not read Jane Austen lately.

[13:34]I feel like I can't even say that on the literary podcast.

[13:36]But it's been a very long time since I read Jane Austen.

[13:40]So maybe if I need a good laugh from 200 years ago,

[13:43]I'll pick that up in my...

[13:44]Yeah, in my spare time.

[13:46]But I'd much rather read your book right now, so that's better.

[13:49]And I just had one quick question

[13:50]because you had a scene in the beginning

[13:52]where Daisy decided only to wear certain colors,

[13:56]which I thought was also genius.

[13:57]Is that something that you have ever considered?

[13:59]Because you said, I guess you went to a fitting room

[14:01]and only decided to wear from that time on like grays

[14:04]and creams and blacks and something else, maybe I don't know.

[14:07]Yeah, she, that's not something that Daisy and I have in common,

[14:11]but I just felt like it was such a telling part of her character

[14:15]that she was, or she had made this decision

[14:20]to really edit her wardrobe in this very meticulous way.

[14:27]Just for ease, she works, she's the chief of staff

[14:32]for a senator.

[14:33]So she's working 80, 90 hour weeks.

[14:37]So she did it, I think, for ease.

[14:39]But she also is, you know, unlike her younger sister

[14:44]and this is true for sense and sensibility too,

[14:47]she's much more comfortable in a supporting role.

[14:50]Like in the background, you know, standing in the wings,

[14:53]you know, that's where she feels most comfortable.

[14:57]So it would make sense to her that she is just sort of like very muted,

[15:01]you know, like color palette that she gravitates towards.

[15:06]Well, it made me want to go upstairs and just like toss out

[15:09]all the clothes that are not in like a specific color scheme.

[15:11]Because how much easier would that be?

[15:13]Like I do that if I pack, I'm like, I'm only going Navy

[15:15]or I'm only going like black and then I can, you know,

[15:18]but anyway, I just thought in terms of like so.

[15:21]I find myself gravitating to like a lot.

[15:23]And when I'm, you know, like a lot of blue,

[15:26]like a lot of chambre and I'm like, I'm, you know,

[15:30]I'm a garden and I have that in common.

[15:35]Like I wish I could be like on a garden.

[15:37]No, but I find, you know, and whenever I'm in a shop

[15:40]while I'm not so much anymore, but you know,

[15:41]I'm always reaching for like those like a really nice denim shirt.

[15:46]You know, it's just really comfortable.

[15:48]I have a chambre like denim dress that I got at the Instagram ad,

[15:52]like kept sending me over and over again.

[15:54]And finally I was like, well, I just have to get this.

[15:56]And then I got it. It's great.

[15:58]You know, I'll send you a case.

[15:59]You don't have it. I'll find the label on said to do.

[16:01]Please do. Please do.

[16:03]I'm a sucker for Instagram targeted ads.

[16:05]I'm actually good. I don't know how they do.

[16:07]Anyway, I'm sorry. They're listening to us to be.

[16:09]That's how they're listening right now.

[16:13]Okay, Instagram, chambre shirt, round up, please.

[16:15]I'm going to open Instagram after this interview.

[16:17]And I'm going to be like, Oh, well, that's the dress

[16:19]that she was talking about. Oh, my gosh.

[16:22]If that happens, I can't even, that's crazy.

[16:25]So let's go back.

[16:26]So you wrote this book with such an insider voice, right?

[16:30]That you knew like the ins and outs of everything.

[16:32]Tell me how you got all this information

[16:35]and like take me back a little for your own backstory.

[16:38]I know you went to Williams.

[16:39]I know you went to Virginia,

[16:40]but I don't know all that much else

[16:42]that you haven't revealed in your bio

[16:43]and other public places.

[16:46]Tell me a little more about your background

[16:49]and how you how we ended up here today.

[16:51]I grew up slightly outside the beltway in Northern Virginia.

[16:56]But you know, we both my immediate family

[17:00]as well as the collective region that I live in

[17:04]are immersed in politics 24-7.

[17:08]And my mother still works in government

[17:13]and local government.

[17:14]My father has served in various positions in Virginia.

[17:20]And so I just have memories of my parents hosting

[17:26]like local politicians in our house,

[17:29]like growing up.

[17:30]And so, you know, politics for me was always,

[17:34]I always conceived of it as a force for good.

[17:37]You know, I never had this sort of ooh, like DC is the swamp,

[17:41]you know, kind of outsider.

[17:44]You know, I just never like I never did.

[17:46]I always thought this was something

[17:48]that we should aspire to is like, you know,

[17:50]honorable leadership.

[17:53]When I was in high school,

[17:54]I interned with then Senator from Montana.

[17:59]So all of the like scenes of Daisy and her boss

[18:04]and the staff like in the office,

[18:06]like I got that from because I, you know,

[18:09]was fortunate enough to work there, you know,

[18:12]for a time and kind of see how, you know,

[18:15]I was really a low level intern.

[18:19]Like I walked the Senator's dog, you know, and sorted mail.

[18:22]But at least I sort of got a lay of the land

[18:25]of like, this is how a Senator's office looks

[18:27]and the inside, you know, this is how kind of,

[18:29]so that was very helpful when it came to like writing the book.

[18:34]And of course, you know,

[18:36]I came of age during like Clinton.

[18:40]And so that was very much like on everybody's mind.

[18:44]And that was sort of a turning point, you know,

[18:47]to realize like, oh, this search for, you know, power,

[18:52]even if one is trying to be altruistic

[18:58]and wield their power for good,

[19:00]it gets really thorny because of our, you know,

[19:03]our human condition.

[19:05]And it goes, you know, it can do funny things to people.

[19:10]I think Daisy says it later someplace in the novel.

[19:14]She says, you know, power doesn't corrupt.

[19:17]It just amplifies what's already there,

[19:21]which I think is very telling.

[19:23]And we see it again and again.

[19:26]Daisy also says at some point,

[19:28]she says the only thing oflier than politics is love.

[19:32]And so when politics and love collide,

[19:35]it can get, it can get messy.

[19:38]And so, you know, I had this like all in my head

[19:42]for a long time these themes of politics and power

[19:47]and gender.

[19:49]And I sort of put those aside for years,

[19:55]because when I, after I went to Williams,

[19:59]I started, I

[20:00]I lived in New York actually for many years.

[20:01]I worked at the New York Botanical Garden,

[20:04]asking people for money and donations,

[20:06]which was deeply uncomfortable for the waspyness of me.

[20:11]And it was there where I thought and decided

[20:16]to get my MFA.

[20:17]I went to Sarah Lawrence and I worked.

[20:19]I continued working as I got my MFA.

[20:22]And I started work on this novel,

[20:24]which became my first novel, not this one,

[20:27]but the one that eventually got me Sarah Faire,

[20:31]my wonderful literary agent.

[20:33]And she took me on as a client and we went out on submission

[20:38]and sort of weeks kind of turned into months.

[20:41]And she called me in a loveliest way possible was like,

[20:46]so we're not getting any nibbles.

[20:50]Do you have anything else?

[20:52]And Elizabeth Gilbert talks about ideas

[20:56]as being these like living kind of butterfly type creatures

[21:01]in the ether that sort of shoes the people

[21:04]that they want to land on.

[21:06]And I really felt that.

[21:08]I felt that way with this current book

[21:10]because is that door closed on the novel that didn't sell?

[21:15]I was actually not that disappointed because I had this,

[21:17]like idea sort of chirping at me on my shoulder.

[21:21]And that was to, you know, retail sense and sensibility in DC.

[21:25]We have so many wonderful retellings of Pride and Prejudice,

[21:29]but not so many on sense and sensibility,

[21:31]which I find kind of odd because it is so resonant today,

[21:35]you know, for us today.

[21:37]And the things that Austin was writing about,

[21:39]especially for women is still so meaningful for us.

[21:42]And I think there's so many lessons still to be gleaned from her.

[21:46]So, you know, my editor, excuse me, my agent,

[21:50]when she asked me, you know, do you have any ideas?

[21:51]I said, oh, I actually, I do, I have one.

[21:55]And this was in 2016, 2017.

[21:58]And so we had just had this major presidential election.

[22:02]And I was very, very curious about

[22:07]what Austin would think about that

[22:11]and what that meant for women and, you know, women in power

[22:18]and the kind of rules that still can find us

[22:23]and how many of those rules are made by men

[22:27]and the patriarchy.

[22:29]And also women, you know, buying into,

[22:32]hitching their wagon to that star, you know.

[22:36]So that curiosity kind of just like, you know,

[22:39]followed me into the book.

[22:40]And we went through many, many revisions

[22:42]because I had to, I felt like especially that first draft.

[22:45]I was working through a lot of feelings, you know,

[22:48]around that time and like the first early draft

[22:52]to Daisy, like on a white horse riding the streets of DC

[22:55]like smiting her enemies, like it was like a vengeance story.

[22:59]And my editor, you know, my amazing editor was like,

[23:03]hmm, you know, maybe you wanna just turn the volume down

[23:09]a bit on like the smiting of the enemies, you know,

[23:14]why don't we, you know, look as Austin did always

[23:18]too to hope and to love and to connection.

[23:22]And of course that was the right answer.

[23:24]And that's what the book eventually became.

[23:27]And then what it then you just said and wrote it

[23:30]like how long did that take?

[23:31]Yeah. So once I started, it was like a year and a half

[23:35]that it actually sort of took me to write the first draft.

[23:39]And then it went out on submission.

[23:42]And it was bought like fairly quickly,

[23:45]but then Melanie and I did a solid year

[23:49]of really intensive edits.

[23:51]The editing process was way more rigorous than I thought,

[23:55]you know, I was like,

[23:56]oh, I'm just gonna, you know, change your word here.

[23:58]Like, you know, the source like change an adjective.

[24:03]And that was not how it went.

[24:05]So it was a steep learning curve for me.

[24:07]And luckily I had an editor who was very generous

[24:11]with her time that kind of walked me through this process

[24:14]because I really had no idea.

[24:16]I mean, what the ins and outs of publishing was.

[24:21]I mean, you're launching a book, you know,

[24:23]so like has anything surprised you,

[24:26]you know about this, like about this process,

[24:28]about this business.

[24:30]It's all, it's all surprising.

[24:32]I have a current round of emails going around

[24:38]about something that was really trying hard to change.

[24:41]So I'm like, this doesn't make sense to me.

[24:43]And everyone's like, but this is how it works.

[24:45]I don't know.

[24:46]I don't know.

[24:47]Anyway.

[24:48]Well, yes, it's a lot of time.

[24:49]I know.

[24:50]The business side of it, I think,

[24:52]is was very illuminating to me.

[24:55]And you know, I thought back to this whole process,

[24:58]you know, I thought back to my time at Williams

[25:01]when I was, you know, writing very angsty short stories

[25:05]and the fiction workshop,

[25:07]my, you know, fiction workshop classes

[25:09]that were taught by Jim Shepard,

[25:11]who's like one of, you know, the great American short story

[25:15]writers.

[25:16]And he said, you know, on one of the first days

[25:19]of like, you know, freshman seminar,

[25:21]he was like, if you can think of anything else to do

[25:27]in your life,

[25:29]with that.

[25:30]And I was like, oh crap, I can't think of anything else.

[25:35]But then he gave me hope because I was not like the best writer,

[25:40]you know, in his class.

[25:41]I mean, it was very, very clear to me very early on.

[25:44]Like, I was not the star, you know,

[25:47]but he also said this, he said,

[25:50]if everybody who had talent wrote a book,

[25:54]we would be swimming,

[25:55]we'd be doing the breaststroke down 5th Avenue through novels

[25:59]because this business is not necessarily about talent.

[26:02]It's about work, it's about the slog,

[26:04]it's about the grind.

[26:06]And it's about taking the work seriously, you know,

[26:10]he described it as like a romantic relationship.

[26:13]You know, he was like a couple hours a week,

[26:15]you know, devoted to this craft.

[26:16]Like, what is that?

[26:18]You know, that's not a relationship.

[26:20]That's not, it's not a relationship worth having.

[26:23]You got to take it seriously.

[26:24]And that advice has stuck with me for many, many years.

[26:28]I love that.

[26:29]Wow.

[26:30]I am clearly just like,

[26:32]off on a romantic fling right now

[26:34]then I am definitely like not, I don't know, not in the mind.

[26:40]I, much like Ross and Rachel,

[26:42]I am on a break from my rating right now.

[26:45]And I thought the break would last like four weeks

[26:49]and it's lasted much longer than that.

[26:52]I thought that you were doing a second novel.

[26:54]Did I make that up?

[26:55]You didn't, no, I'm supposed to be.

[26:58]Oh, okay.

[26:59]All right.

[27:01]Yeah, I'm supposed to be,

[27:02]I will get back to it.

[27:04]I know it's calling to me.

[27:05]It's sending me late night, you up texts.

[27:08]I will absolutely get back to it.

[27:10]We will get back together.

[27:11]It's just post baby, I forgot, you know,

[27:14]between baby number one and number two,

[27:16]how much, you know, you just can't think.

[27:19]Like, you know, you just can't string a sentence together.

[27:22]And I also forgot how much they need to eat.

[27:26]And how often?

[27:28]Yes.

[27:29]I guess that's why we have multiple children

[27:30]because we just forget about this stuff.

[27:32]Yes.

[27:33]And maternity leave.

[27:34]Or it's hard to impose your own maternity leave

[27:37]and, you know, writing is something that you feel like,

[27:40]well, of course you could do, you just have to like,

[27:42]you know, hit different keys on the keyboard

[27:44]and you'll be writing versus, you know,

[27:45]emailing or something.

[27:47]Like, what's to stop you?

[27:48]You don't have to go anywhere.

[27:49]I mean, pandemic life too, but even before,

[27:51]like it's a job that is so self-motivated.

[27:55]Yeah.

[27:56]I don't know, it's sometimes harder to say,

[27:58]I'm taking a real break.

[27:59]Yes.

[28:00]Or harder to justify for like, you know,

[28:02]obviously, hard work really like it.

[28:04]Yeah.

[28:05]That justification without, you know,

[28:07]and I think it's acute for us to as women

[28:10]just that constant, like the back of your mind

[28:13]of like, what should I be doing?

[28:15]You know, do I need to be doing more?

[28:17]Like, what can I, you know, what can I add to my day?

[28:20]That's not even the back of my mind.

[28:22]That's like at the very front of my mind.

[28:24]That is like my prefrontal cortex.

[28:27]It's like I posted on my forehead.

[28:29]Yeah.

[28:30]Yeah.

[28:31]Yes, exactly, exactly.

[28:34]I feel immense amount of guilt,

[28:36]just like sitting around and you're not just sitting around.

[28:39]You're raising a human being.

[28:41]That's true.

[28:42]No, seriously.

[28:43]I mean, it feels like you're sitting around,

[28:45]but your body and your mind are preoccupied

[28:49]with like sustaining human existence.

[28:51]So, no small feet.

[28:53]No, I'm serious.

[28:54]It's not the same.

[28:55]There's, it's not the same.

[28:57]So give yourself a break.

[28:58]There will always be time to produce more words.

[29:00]Thank you.

[29:01]Now, just can you send a quick email to my editor?

[29:03]Yes, exactly.

[29:05]I'll just send her this audio file.

[29:07]OK, perfect, perfect, perfect.

[29:09]What is that next novel about?

[29:11]Just like a one-liner.

[29:12]It's inspired by the Vanderbilt family of Newport

[29:19]and the sort of like, don't want to use it a lot in order.

[29:24]But like, you know, I was inspired by this like,

[29:26]ripped from the headlines, you know,

[29:27]because the Vanderbilt family like the generations, you know,

[29:31]that I don't think they were even called Vanderbilt anymore.

[29:35]But they lived, you know, on the top floor of the breakers,

[29:39]like one of the famous Newport, you know,

[29:41]meantians as a condition of like willing, you know,

[29:45]the breakers to the Newport Preservation Society

[29:48]and a couple of years ago, they, depending on who you listened

[29:51]to, they got evicted from this sort of ancestral home.

[29:57]So I have a family, a fictional family.

[30:00]a new port that is kind of dealing with the same thing

[30:03]and trying to figure out, you know,

[30:05]what is legacy, you know, how do you go forward from that?

[30:08]And then that's when I'm noodling on right now.

[30:10]We'll see if I can see that goes.

[30:12]That's really fun.

[30:13]The homeless Vanderbilt, so I like it.

[30:14]Yeah.

[30:17]Very cool.

[30:18]I know you already gave advice from Jim Shepard,

[30:21]but if you are giving advice just from you

[30:23]on writing or to an aspiring author,

[30:26]I feel like you've already,

[30:28]we can already take so much from this conversation.

[30:30]But just as my always parting question,

[30:32]what would you say?

[30:33]Take it seriously, you know,

[30:35]I think I'm totally plagiarizing from Jim Shepard,

[30:38]but it's the, you know, it's the advice that I've taken

[30:43]with me, you know, thus far and have faith in yourself

[30:49]to just do the work.

[30:50]And just because you feel like, you know,

[30:54]as at the end of the day, you're reading your pages back

[30:56]and you're like, oh my God, this is the worst thing I've ever

[31:01]written.

[31:02]I do not deserve to be published.

[31:04]Nobody is going to read this.

[31:05]You can just get up the next morning and like hit delete.

[31:08]And or just start pressing, as you said earlier,

[31:12]just start pressing, start pressing keys because that's

[31:17]what, you know, that's what the work requires.

[31:20]And that's the totally unglamorous part about creativity.

[31:24]You know, Elizabeth Gilbert talks about this too.

[31:26]Just like, you know, we're not, I don't,

[31:29]I certainly don't know any like tortured artists.

[31:32]You know, I just know creative people who are just like

[31:37]work and really hard, even when they don't want to,

[31:40]even when there's like really good bad TV on there hitting

[31:43]those keys.

[31:46]Well, I love it.

[31:47]Well, I kind of hate to stop this podcast

[31:50]because I feel like I can chat with you all day,

[31:51]but I should.

[31:53]So thank you for coming on.

[31:55]Thanks for your great book.

[31:57]It's so fun.

[31:58]And I mean, fun, maybe is the wrong word.

[32:00]It's really enjoyable.

[32:01]It's a great, enjoyable, totally entertaining read.

[32:04]And I really, I really enjoyed it.

[32:07]I really did.

[32:07]And I'm so glad I wanted to be fun.

[32:11]You know, we're, there's so much seriousness and just

[32:15]heaviness going on around us and to be able to just

[32:20]giggle, you know, with characters that, you know,

[32:23]you feel like you know and you want to be friends with

[32:26]and characters who love each other.

[32:28]Those are the kinds of books I want to read.

[32:30]So hearing that you thought that this book was successful

[32:33]in that way is just awesome.

[32:36]I want to read those books too.

[32:37]So good.

[32:39]So I did.

[32:41]Awesome.

[32:42]Thank you.

[32:43]Thank you.

[32:43]And good luck with your book launch.

[32:45]I'm so excited for it.

[32:47]Oh, thank you.

[32:49]I hope these next couple of weeks are smooth for you.

[32:53]And I'm excited to celebrate you and your book comes out.

[32:56]Oh, that's so sweet.

[32:57]And you too.

[32:58]And your February 9th, right?

[32:59]But we're not.

[33:00]Yes, yes, yes.

[33:01]So just a couple of weeks before you.

[33:04]One week.

[33:05]One week.

[33:05]Oh my gosh.

[33:07]Sorry.

[33:08]Watch everywhere your birthdays.

[33:09]Every birthday is all right.

[33:11]OK, well, thank you so much to be well.

[33:14]You too.

[33:14]All right, take care.

[33:16]Bye.

[33:18]Thanks to today's sponsor, chicken soup for the soul,

[33:21]making me time 101 stories about self-care and balance

[33:24]edited by Amy Newmark.

[33:26]And just a reminder, again, please pre-order a copy

[33:29]of my book, Moms Don't Have Time to A Quarantine Anthology

[33:32]and go to my website under the anthology tab

[33:36]for the fundraiser.

[33:37]And I hope you'll buy a ticket and join me

[33:40]for, and I should have mentioned, I'll

[33:42]proceed to go to COVID-19 research.

[33:45]So please join me for the fundraiser.

[33:47]Thanks so much.

[33:48]Thanks for listening to this episode of Moms Don't Have

[33:50]Time to Read Books.

[33:52]Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, at Zibi Owens,

[33:55]and at Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books.

[33:57]Also sign up for my newsletter at zibiowans.com

[33:59]and sign up for my virtual book club and meet lots of authors

[34:02]on Zoom every other week.

[34:04]Thanks so much to Steve and Ryan at Texture Sound

[34:06]for the sound editing.

[34:07]And thank you to Morning Moon Productions

[34:09]for providing this fantastic intro and out trim music.