Xochitl Gonzalez, OLGA DIES DREAMING: A Novel
[0:01]Hi, I'm Sivi Owens, and you're listening to the award-winning podcast,
[0:05]Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books.
[0:07]If you like this podcast, you will love my new anthology called Moms Don't Have Time to Have Kids.
[0:12]Check it out, and you'll hear from 49 authors about all sorts of things
[0:16]Moms Don't Have Time to Do. All the authors have been on this podcast.
[0:19]Also, check out my TikTok at with Sivi and Tracy.
[0:22]My other podcast, Sex Talk with Sivi and Tracy.
[0:25]Check out Moms Don't Have Time to Write on Medium.
[0:28]And of course, my new publishing company called Sivi Books.
[0:32]And now, back to our daily author interview site, and a quick hello from some of my kids.
[0:36]Hi, hi, hello.
[0:38]Enjoy the show.
[0:41]Happy New Year, everyone.
[0:42]I hope you all had a great break.
[0:44]I wanted to let you know about something that I've been talking a lot about on social media at Sivi Owens,
[0:49]which is the hashtag 22 and 22 challenge.
[0:53]We are at Sivi Books.
[0:55]We are encouraging everybody, like all of you, to visit 22 bookstores in 2022.
[1:01]And we're going to provide a whole series of incentives for every five visits.
[1:05]And you'll be entered to win a $500 shopping spree.
[1:08]And you'll get fun things like bookmarks and all the rest.
[1:11]Plus, you'll be part of a great community of people all helping support bookstores,
[1:16]authors, and more.
[1:17]We're really, really excited about it.
[1:18]If you want to join sign up, you just go to 22 in 22.net.
[1:24]That's 22 in 22.net and click I'm in and put your information.
[1:29]And then every time you go to a bookstore, you just quickly go back on the site and click
[1:32]log a bookstore visit.
[1:34]And then we'll be keeping track and we'll be following up with all of your different achievements
[1:38]and awards and everything.
[1:39]So please sign up, spread the word 22 and 22, get your friends to join and start visiting
[1:46]bookstores and it'll be really fun and exciting.
[1:49]So here's to a wonderful 2022.
[1:51]I'm so excited that you're listening to my podcast and doing all the fun things that
[1:57]I have been trying to bring into the world.
[1:59]So here we go, 2022, hashtag 22 in 22.
[2:03]So cool Gonzales is the author of Olga Dyes Dreaming, a novel.
[2:08]She received her MFA from the Iowa Work Writers Workshop where she was an Iowa Arts Fellow
[2:13]and the recipient of the Missioner Copernicus Fellowship Perfection.
[2:17]By the way, her name is spelled X-O-C-H-I-T-L.
[2:22]An excellent Scrabble word, not really though, because it's a name.
[2:24]Never mind.
[2:25]Anyway, Olga Dyes Dreaming is her debut novel.
[2:27]Prior to writing, she wore many hats including entrepreneur, wedding planner, fundraiser,
[2:32]and tarot card reader.
[2:34]She's a proud alumna of the New York City Public School System and holds a BA in art history
[2:38]and visual art from Brown University.
[2:40]She lives in her hometown of Brooklyn with her dog, Hector Levo.
[2:44]Welcome, so chill.
[2:45]Thank you so much for coming on momstone.
[2:47]Have time to read books to discuss Olga Dyes Dreaming.
[2:51]Thank you so much for having me.
[2:53]I'm like very excited to chat about this.
[2:55]Like, especially I think you're a native New Yorker.
[2:57]Also, yes.
[2:58]I am a native New Yorker.
[3:00]Awesome.
[3:02]Why don't you tell listeners what Olga Dyes Dreaming is about?
[3:06]Yeah, so Olga Dyes Dreaming is a family saga set primarily in Brooklyn and secondarily
[3:12]I'd say in Puerto Rico.
[3:13]And it's set in 2017 in the months before and after Hurricane Maria.
[3:17]And it follows Olga Acevedo, who's a wedding planner to Manhattan's elite and her brother,
[3:23]but yet though, who's a congressman representing Sunset Park and Queens in reality.
[3:28]We need to be a Velasquez's district.
[3:30]That's great.
[3:31]Like in real life, it would be Nydia's district now that we're trying to get rid of or anything, but my fictional politician.
[3:36]And they were abandoned by their mother when they were young children.
[3:41]Their mom and their parents were young lords, just sort of a political movement of the 70s, like the early 70s.
[3:49]And then their mother kind of continued to get radicalized and she left them to pursue more militant politics.
[3:55]And so they were raised by their grandparents by their grandmother.
[3:58]And we meet them as adults where they're sort of forced through circumstance to confront a lot of wounds that they had kind of swept them to the rug.
[4:07]And we're meeting them.
[4:09]I don't know. I kind of think of it as like a mid-life coming of age novel in a funny way.
[4:13]Like I think it's like, you know, we think of a coming of age novel only being about kids, but it's actually, I think we all all often meet middle age adults who have not healed.
[4:23]This is sort of my way of looking at how like healing and forgiveness and sort of finding self satisfaction can come at any stage in life.
[4:35]And that's the gist of it.
[4:37]And it does get political and it involves natural disasters and it involves gentrification, but at its heart it's really a story about family and love.
[4:46]And lots of different kinds of love like, you know, familial love, romantic love, and you know, I always say it's really about resilience.
[4:53]So I think in the end it touches on some dark stuff, but I think at the end I think of it as a pretty feel good kind of book.
[5:02]Well, that was a great description.
[5:04]And, you know, this is one of those books where the minute you start reading your drawn in right away that sort of immediacy and relatability and just like intrigue and everything, right.
[5:15]It opens up with the wedding planning scene and this dichotomy between how the rich and the poor deal with their napkins and events.
[5:25]But, you know, it also shows right away all goes rolling her family and the competition she has with her cousin and what it how she tries to be almost a Robin Hood esque wedding planner right.
[5:42]Yeah, spoils from the weddings and bring them home and it's just an example of of creating a likable character like immediately right, which is great.
[5:53]Even if you're, I don't know, I just love, you know, it was just I think it's kind of fun to like, I think it's kind of fun to have like morally dubious but likable characters because I do think I don't know we were just chatting before we started recording even about like,
[6:09]what are the things that the pandemic has revealed is all of our weird flawed logic. Like it's like, well, I won't go to this, but I was going to go to my parents 50th wedding anniversary.
[6:19]It's like like we, and I think we all sort of have weird logical patterns that I think this is exposed like we used to try to pretend that we all think normally about everything and I think like,
[6:31]she just says bizarre logic pattern that somehow like you follow it. You're like, I think what you're doing might be wrong, but like I follow where you're going with this.
[6:40]Like you go along for the ride and I had a lot of fun, I had a lot of fun writing that I always say that she's kind of like if I'd never gone to therapy.
[6:51]That's actually like the best writing assignment ever, right? A character as if you'd never gone to therapy. You like in a world where you hadn't gotten help. That's great. I love that.
[7:01]Yeah, you just like extrapolate like wherever that when you started therapy and like all of your worst traits and just like amplify them.
[7:11]I would be like stuck on a street corner turning in circles like not being able to make any decisions or like going one way, changing my mind, going another way. I would literally be like in one place, changing my mind.
[7:23]Like I was like, I was like, I would just be the penniest person in the world. Like I'd be like so competitive.
[7:29]Like, you know, like I was supposed to be like really an intriguing exercise. And actually it was a lot of fun. Like, you know, when you're like, well, is she in a relationship?
[7:38]Like how could she be in a relationship? Like you know, like it's like you really it was a great way to like make choices about the character. I think in a lot of ways.
[7:47]So it was kind of it was a fun bizarre exercise. And then you know, it's hard. You have to be like, she goes through a lot in the book and you had like kind of come to love these people that you have to do mean things to them.
[7:59]And you know, I think that was like I think in the name of growth. It was like easier to do mean it's like, okay, but she could stand to become a better person and maybe she's going to learn something from this.
[8:12]So it was that that was my way of being mean to my own characters that I came to kind of really like, you're so funny.
[8:21]So take me back. So I know you're from New York. I know you went to Brown where you were class president as we were just chatting about it.
[8:28]It's just awesome. Tell me, tell me more. Tell me about your name. Tell me about like where your name comes from.
[8:36]What happened after college. Like I want to go back. So I mean, my dad said the families Mexican American and he was very involved in like the kind of Chicano power movement.
[8:46]And my mom was very involved in the social worker party and very in very politically motivated and militant around like independence for Puerto Rico and reparations for the women have like sterilization experiments conducted on them there.
[9:02]Like, but which, by the way, was a giant part of how we came to actually have FDA approved control were these experiments that were conducted in Puerto Rico.
[9:10]But that's an aside. So my parents were very militant and we're kind of constantly traveling. And so when I was about three, I went to live with my mom's parents in Brooklyn in South Brooklyn. And you know, I just kind of like I was always a good student.
[9:24]I think I definitely was, you know, I always was very just kind of came naturally to me. I was a big reader. Like I told people I was like, it's hard to imagine the Brooklyn I grew up in was like calves didn't go there.
[9:38]Like we didn't take calves. Like I mean, like we were very much like in this little pocket of a blue collar pocket of Brooklyn. And my grandparents would dump me in a library after school like to like kill time until they were home.
[9:51]because that was like a safe space to me. And so I just kind of grew up reading. And then I went to an amazing high school. I just actually wrote about it for the Atlantic because.
[10:00]at the great theater program.
[10:01]It was in Brooklyn, at Wood or Moro High School.
[10:03]And I had a teacher that was like,
[10:05]you should try to go to Brown.
[10:07]Like, I think you would love it there.
[10:08]And I really had not thought about going,
[10:11]I wanted to go away.
[10:12]I want to get out of Brooklyn badly at that phase of my life.
[10:15]And then as soon as I got out,
[10:16]I was like, I want to go back.
[10:17]Yeah.
[10:18]But they were like, I think you would really
[10:20]like Brown, it's kind of similar vibe.
[10:22]It's very artistic and all these things.
[10:24]And I was totally true.
[10:26]And then to be completely frank,
[10:28]like I think afterwards, I studied fine art and art history.
[10:31]And afterwards, my family was wonderful.
[10:35]Like so proud of me, unprepared to offer any kind of like,
[10:38]but nobody really knew like how to get a job to gallery.
[10:41]Or like, no one really had like, next steps.
[10:45]And I think at that younger age,
[10:47]I was just a little lost, you know, I feel like.
[10:49]And I think that was one of the things.
[10:51]I had the chance to talk to San Francisco a couple of weeks
[10:54]ago for a couple of months ago.
[10:55]I just think it was amazing.
[10:57]Two days ago.
[10:58]She's amazing.
[10:59]She's amazing.
[10:59]And one of the things that I said to her is that I was like,
[11:02]I never knew what happened to Esperanza
[11:04]when she left Mango Street.
[11:06]And I would read it as I got older and I would like cry
[11:09]because I was like, oh my God, so many hard things
[11:11]are going to happen to you.
[11:12]And you're not going to know what to do,
[11:14]but you're going to have left.
[11:15]And that's the right thing to have done.
[11:16]And so I worked in a little art gallery.
[11:20]I got a job in advertising, like planning like this award show
[11:24]for advertising.
[11:26]I then started like, you know, a creative director
[11:28]asked me to help with their wedding from an ad agency
[11:31]because like they just sort of thought I had like good vibes.
[11:33]And they, you know, they didn't want to have
[11:36]the normal plaza wedding.
[11:37]And so like we ended up carving this like niche.
[11:40]My business partner and I who's my best friend,
[11:42]but we ended up carving this niche
[11:44]where we did like luxury hipster weddings, right?
[11:47]Like, and that was like our thing.
[11:49]And we were very successful at it.
[11:51]I mean, but running as well business is very tough,
[11:53]especially like if you come from kind of a,
[11:56]I think a lot of women, a lot of women of color actually
[12:00]like just generally entrepreneurship provides you a lot
[12:03]of leeway, but often we're under capitalized.
[12:06]So we did great, but then we, you know,
[12:08]you're like surviving a recession.
[12:10]You're survived like every little thing.
[12:12]Like I remember last year at the start of the pandemic,
[12:15]I remember just having like a fit of anxiety
[12:18]on behalf of all of my friends in events
[12:20]because I was like, oh my God,
[12:22]like just an entire industry is just iced out right now.
[12:26]And that, like that is very much something
[12:28]that I did want to keep in capture in in older actually.
[12:31]It was this idea of like the hustle, you know what I mean?
[12:34]Like the hustle that kind of comes.
[12:35]And also a little bit of like,
[12:37]I don't quite know what I'm doing and sometimes you're like,
[12:39]and I don't quite know how I got here.
[12:40]Like 13 years later I was like,
[12:42]I'm a wedding planner for 13 years.
[12:43]Like it's like how did this happen?
[12:45]And I, I felt this anciness.
[12:48]I call it like an intellectual anciness.
[12:50]I mean, I went to Brown.
[12:51]It was kind of a nerd.
[12:51]Like I mean, I wrote like an honors thesis.
[12:54]Like I was like very like kind of academic.
[12:57]And I just, and I was also an artist.
[12:59]And I just, I left all that behind.
[13:01]And so my grandmother who had raised me,
[13:04]I was with both my grandparents.
[13:06]But my grandmother was my last living grandparent.
[13:08]She actually say, I was raised by three of my grandparents
[13:11]because I'd spend summers with my grandmother
[13:12]in California and then winters in Brooklyn.
[13:15]And my last living grandparent died.
[13:18]And I was turning, maybe a month before I turned 40.
[13:21]And we were supposed to go to Puerto Rico
[13:24]for my 40th and then Maria happens.
[13:26]Like right.
[13:26]And so we couldn't take the trip.
[13:27]Like it was like in between Irma and Maria.
[13:29]And I just just like, what did,
[13:31]not even just what do you do?
[13:32]And I had a really good friend pass away
[13:34]maybe two years before that at 38.
[13:37]Like she was 38 when she passed away.
[13:39]And I think I was just sort of like,
[13:41]what are you doing?
[13:42]Like do you know what I mean?
[13:42]Like it's like like what are you doing?
[13:43]Like it's like, you're doing,
[13:45]sometimes I think when we do things really well,
[13:48]like people compliment you
[13:49]and they're like, you're doing such a great job.
[13:50]And like, but you therefore feel like, well,
[13:53]I can't not do this if that makes sense.
[13:55]Like, and it's almost scarier to walk away
[13:57]from something that you're doing pretty well
[13:59]than it is to walk with us.
[14:00]I think you're doing mediocrely, right?
[14:02]I'm so really, I just was like,
[14:04]I'm gonna just try to do this.
[14:05]And so, you know, think about my business partners.
[14:07]Like what are my best friends?
[14:08]Like she I stepped away from the business.
[14:11]We ended up selling it to the person
[14:13]that was doing the bulk of the wedding work at that point.
[14:15]Anyway, I got a day job.
[14:17]Like I was like, I think it'll be easier to have a nine to five job.
[14:20]Like even a hard nine to five job
[14:22]is easier than running your own business
[14:23]just for creative space.
[14:25]And I went to Breadloaf as like a contributor.
[14:29]I started out in nonfiction
[14:30]and then I kind of found a writing group there
[14:33]and I started working on fiction
[14:34]and I decided to apply for my MFA
[14:36]because I got so much better in 10 days at Breadloaf.
[14:39]I was like, let me see what would happen.
[14:41]And my thought was I was like,
[14:42]let me just really like the original thought
[14:45]is let me just go at night,
[14:48]get my MFA in New York.
[14:49]I'll work on my book like, you know,
[14:51]in mornings and weekends.
[14:53]And you know, and then hopefully I can sell it.
[14:56]And then we had a job in publishing
[14:57]or so that, you know, like I was like,
[14:59]I was like, it was maybe it could be like a middle-aged let
[15:01]Latina Tony Morrison without as much talent.
[15:04]Like where I was just like, you'll edit, you'll write.
[15:06]Like, you know, I was like, I ended up getting into Iowa.
[15:10]And so, I was like, I was terrified.
[15:12]I had to rent stabilized apartment.
[15:14]I was like, what are you gonna do?
[15:15]Give up this apartment.
[15:16]And then my best friend was like,
[15:18]it's gonna take you twice as long to do this any other way.
[15:20]Just go to Iowa.
[15:22]And so I walked into Iowa with like 200 pages of Olga.
[15:25]I started Olga the day I found out I got into Iowa coincidentally.
[15:29]Like I had the idea like just coincidentally.
[15:31]And then this whole thing's been so weirdly blessed.
[15:33]And then I finished it my first semester.
[15:36]I polished it during my winter break.
[15:38]I did revisions.
[15:39]I went down to Puerto Rico and I did revisions there.
[15:41]And then it sold at the beginning of my second semester.
[15:44]So it was sort of this like very, like it was really like a gamble
[15:48]that like absolutely paid off.
[15:50]And I don't have a day job now.
[15:52]Like this is my job I'm writing.
[15:54]So this is really lovely and amazing.
[15:56]And it was just like this like weird thing of finally listening
[16:00]to like the voice, you know what I mean?
[16:02]Like, and just I don't know.
[16:04]I think like, I always think my grandmother's such a happy ghost
[16:06]because I feel like it was like, she was just like,
[16:09]go do this, do this, do this.
[16:10]Like, and it was kind of this beautiful.
[16:13]Yeah, this beautiful thing.
[16:15]That's amazing.
[16:16]I love that story.
[16:18]Wait, so I'm confused.
[16:19]So how much had you finished the whole manuscript when you sold?
[16:22]When you sold it?
[16:23]Yes.
[16:24]Yeah, I mean, I went from New York to Iowa City.
[16:27]So I had 200 pages of what's basically like
[16:30]a almost reported page book, but not quite.
[16:33]But that's Iowa City.
[16:34]And I was so much older, you know, let me just say like an MFA is a fully
[16:39]funded MFA is an awesome way to get the hamster wheel
[16:41]of adulting, like if you're middle aged and like end of a stage
[16:44]where you can do that.
[16:45]That was the one benefit, you know, I had been married.
[16:48]We did, we got divorced without having kids.
[16:50]Like I had a moment where I was like, oh, is that like a mistake?
[16:53]You know, and the only good thing is like it was very easy
[16:55]to pack up your life, right?
[16:57]You know, and that only good thing.
[16:58]There's other good things about it.
[16:59]But like, it was like, it was one of those moments where you found
[17:01]the agency of that due to me.
[17:03]And like, and it was like, oh, like you can just go like,
[17:05]which is kind of exciting.
[17:06]Like you're like, um, kind of, you know, this like, I don't want
[17:10]to say unaccountable, but I think I could just go and do that.
[17:12]Like, and now I'm going to do it.
[17:13]And so I got there that that also says like, I really had a lot.
[17:18]I was dedicated on the nights and weekends before I got to Iowa to like
[17:22]working on this book as I was obsessed, obsessed, like obsessed.
[17:27]And then I got to Iowa.
[17:28]I was so much older than all the other students, like so much older.
[17:32]Like the average age in the program, I think was like 26, like 25, 26.
[17:36]And I was like, I turned 43, like the school, 42, 42.
[17:42]And I was like, okay, well, what else are you going to do?
[17:45]I was there's nothing to do in Iowa City.
[17:47]Like the food's okay.
[17:48]Like there was one place that made a decent martini.
[17:51]So I like, I think I left that house.
[17:53]Like I was like, I was like, and I just was like, I'm just going to
[17:57]hang out with my imaginary friends here in my apartment.
[18:00]And so I just was kind of around the clock.
[18:03]It was just, I know it was super exciting because like when you have
[18:07]something that you can do that you get in the zone and you're a writer,
[18:09]it's like, it's just more often life pulls us away from the zone than it is
[18:13]not wanting to be there.
[18:14]And so it was this amazing present to just like get to live in that space.
[18:19]And I just cranked out an unbelievable amount of work.
[18:23]And I don't, I didn't feel badly about, but on revision, you know,
[18:27]everything gets better on revision.
[18:28]Like it was, everything gets better on revision.
[18:30]But the shape of the story was always kind of the shape of the story.
[18:33]Like not a ton change.
[18:35]I think the amount of the amount of a room that Pieto gets and their
[18:39]relationship got stronger on revision, but definitely the first draft was pretty
[18:44]close in terms of spirit and and and plot like to what it currently is.
[18:49]So that sort of, I don't know.
[18:51]I think it felt like it came out relatively formed in this weird way.
[18:55]But I feel only because it was placed there by something bigger than me.
[19:00]You know what I mean?
[19:01]Like, yeah.
[19:02]Yeah.
[19:03]Wow.
[19:04]I love that.
[19:05]I love the vision of you sipping a martini in the middle of Iowa.
[19:08]I just went for somebody with like all these young people around you.
[19:13]I just love it.
[19:14]Totally.
[19:15]I was like, go to like this one place and I'm like, are you really eating oysters
[19:18]in Iowa?
[19:19]But it was like, it was like a raw bar and like they made a decent
[19:24]martini.
[19:25]And I was like, I guess I'll come here once a week.
[19:26]I just feel like normal.
[19:29]Oh my gosh.
[19:31]I love it.
[19:32]I just love it.
[19:33]Okay.
[19:34]So you sold the book and then what happened.
[19:35]I sold the book and then shortly after, like I shortly after I sold the film rights.
[19:42]And this is the awesome parts about doing stuff old like, okay, like, you know,
[19:47]my agent like old, older, older, my agent sent to me.
[19:51]I met this guy through my agent who's a director and producer and he had a fun social
[19:56]visit home and he had done me an role in the dying girl and he does.
[20:00]on a bunch of American horror stories.
[20:02]You wouldn't Emmy for it.
[20:03]And so I was already sort of a fan of his work.
[20:07]And our agents introduced us.
[20:09]And he was like, I want to work on this with you.
[20:11]And then prior to that, my agent had said,
[20:14]we'd have a better chance of selling these rights
[20:16]if you weren't attached, because you haven't screen written
[20:18]and sometimes people don't want to work with the authors.
[20:21]And I felt because this character was basically
[20:24]a version of me that had not gone to therapy
[20:27]with a brother and a grandmother, like,
[20:29]oh, instead of grandparents, I was like, OK, no.
[20:32]Like, and so I said, I was like, well, it's 10 a.m.
[20:35]in California.
[20:37]If by six o'clock, you can find me another middle-aged,
[20:40]New York and screenwriter to talk to.
[20:43]I'll consider stepping off.
[20:45]I was like, but I need to know who, like, I was
[20:48]like, because I'm also part Mexican-American.
[20:50]I was like, and I was like, it's not the same.
[20:52]Like, it's very specific.
[20:53]Like, what, this world is very specific.
[20:56]And two hours later, they called, and they were like,
[20:58]let's just go out with you attached to it.
[21:00]And then, like, like, a week later, I mean,
[21:02]we got an offer from Hulu.
[21:04]And so that is how that kind of came together.
[21:06]I'd already sort of fallen in, like, creative love
[21:09]with Alfonso and our vision of it together.
[21:12]And then Hulu loved his work.
[21:13]And so it just kind of came together.
[21:16]And so I spent my second year of the program
[21:19]basically, like, screenwriting, like, the pilot
[21:23]and working on, like, you know, doing the show Bible.
[21:25]And then doing revisions on the novel.
[21:27]And I was kind of a strange time.
[21:30]Like, I would be in workshop, like, on a Zoom,
[21:32]and then, like, have to, like, duck out for five minutes,
[21:34]take a notes call, like, you're like, hold on one second.
[21:37]So it was very, but I was really determined to finish,
[21:40]you know, like, I have, like, it's weird.
[21:42]Like, I had a bunch of people that were like,
[21:43]you don't need to finish this program.
[21:45]But like, I'd always wanted to get my grandparents
[21:47]always wanted me to get my math.
[21:49]It was what they understood to school.
[21:50]And they were like, why don't you have a math
[21:51]just degree or so smart?
[21:54]Like, I was like, I'm just doing this for me.
[21:56]It's a weird way I was doing it for my grandparents.
[21:58]And I think, I don't know, it was a great,
[22:01]it was a really cool, it's been a really cool experience.
[22:03]And so I, as I've been prepping this,
[22:05]like, we shot the pilot, we shot the pilot.
[22:08]We probably are just finishing up,
[22:10]we're finishing up, like, the audio mix now.
[22:11]But we wrapped October 1st, I think.
[22:14]And so we shot over the course of, like, a month.
[22:16]And now we just, we wait and see if it turns into
[22:19]a full blown show or not.
[22:22]And, but it's been in a beautiful adventure.
[22:25]And, you know, what was beautiful is,
[22:28]I think this isn't great.
[22:29]I think a lot of, it's been gorgeous to see so many people
[22:32]from different walks of life relate to the story
[22:35]and to these characters and find themselves there.
[22:37]But it's been especially rewarding.
[22:40]I felt a real mission to write about, like,
[22:45]you know, the challenges of upward mobility,
[22:47]but particularly about an American story
[22:50]about Puerto Ricans because we are part of America.
[22:53]And I think it's been really amazing.
[22:56]We did, like, the table read and it was over Zoom.
[22:58]I mean, there's, like, a cast of thousands in the script.
[23:00]Like, it's, like, because, you know,
[23:01]you're interacting with different clients
[23:03]and you have, like, different, like, in the world
[23:04]is so big.
[23:06]And, and so many people that we cast
[23:09]were our new Ricans, so many people are Latinas,
[23:13]like, you know, and at the end,
[23:15]people just were, like, weeping.
[23:17]Like, when we got to the end, and, like, and clapping.
[23:19]I mean, and it was like the most beautiful thing
[23:22]that I'd ever, like, seen on a Zoom to be completely honest.
[23:25]And it was just so moving.
[23:27]And so I, I mean, I think my desire
[23:30]to kind of even take it to the screen
[23:33]was just because I wanted the story to, like, be broad
[23:37]and, like, for people to see themselves, like, in that way.
[23:40]And I think it's not that, yeah, I do feel like,
[23:44]I guess I set out to sort of write about the version.
[23:47]I was sort of frustrated that we keep getting such flat versions
[23:50]of ourselves, like, and, you know, I think things are getting
[23:53]better on the book side for sure.
[23:55]Oh, my God, there's a view.
[23:56]I think we're in the middle of, like, a renaissance of Latinx
[23:59]literature right now that's really cool.
[24:01]But I definitely think on the TV and film side,
[24:04]we still, like, you know, you see how things can get flattened.
[24:07]And it's nice to, like, I think there's also
[24:10]a change, a change coming there,
[24:11]but, like, it's exciting to be a part of that in some way.
[24:15]If you find a great manuscript that needs a home, you know,
[24:18]I started this publishing company called Zibi Books a couple
[24:21]months ago, and we are actively inquiring and would love to get
[24:25]something awesome.
[24:26]Yeah, and you have to know amazing.
[24:27]And you have to be wondering if you think of something that
[24:31]would be a good fit.
[24:32]OK, I will.
[24:33]I will, definitely.
[24:34]And that's also been so cool, by the way, is, like, to that point
[24:38]is that, like, it's been really beautiful to, like, meet so
[24:41]many, like, Latinx and diverse, just writers and readers that
[24:45]are still passionate.
[24:46]And that's been, like, a beautiful present that I hadn't been
[24:50]quite, I don't know.
[24:51]I guess it's dumb to not expect that, but like, I think you're
[24:54]so, like, you're still worried about getting the revision, right?
[24:56]And like, you know, like, I've been wearing many hats now
[25:00]because it's like, I've been executive producing this show
[25:03]and then trying, like, you know, and the, the bringing a book
[25:06]out, it requires so much love and care and collaboration with your
[25:09]team and, like, and it's, you know, I think you're so in the
[25:12]midst of doing that you sometimes are like, oh, wait, this
[25:15]could, people are going to feel something when they read something
[25:18]and that's so crazy.
[25:19]And then they're so sweet to share that.
[25:21]And that's like a beautiful, amazing thing.
[25:24]And also, I mean, just the name of your book, it's like, I
[25:27]think it's a, it's one thing that I'll say wedding planning
[25:31]taught me.
[25:31]I mean, many things.
[25:32]But time is the ultimate privilege, right?
[25:36]Like, and so, like, I think it's the thing that is a commodity
[25:41]that universally is scarce no matter what your walk of life is.
[25:45]And I think the idea that people value you what you wrote
[25:49]enough to give you that time to read it is like, you know, it's,
[25:55]it's, it's an even greater transaction than the purchasing of the
[25:58]book in some weird way because I understand how much that time,
[26:02]how hard that time is to come by, right?
[26:05]Like, it's like really, especially like, and I know it can be relaxing
[26:08]and all these other things, but like, I think it's hard
[26:11]right now, like so many people just working from home and raising
[26:14]families and but like, I think it's what, what a privilege that
[26:18]that time has spent with your book, right?
[26:20]Like, it's just really amazing.
[26:21]I feel the same way.
[26:22]Sometimes I'm like, it's amazing.
[26:24]Anyone still reads.
[26:25]I know.
[26:26]Like, when they're shorting TikToks from like 11 seconds to
[26:29]seven seconds for attention to my God.
[26:30]And yes, but they are, but you know, thank God.
[26:33]I mean, I love to read.
[26:34]You love to read.
[26:34]Like, I can think of nothing better.
[26:36]Like, time stands still when I'm reading.
[26:38]I think that's what I like about it.
[26:40]I stop, I stop the constant countdown that's usually in my head,
[26:44]as soon as I'm in it.
[26:45]And I have to like sit in the alarm or like, make sure I don't miss
[26:48]the next thing when I'm totally in it.
[26:50]And I love that.
[26:51]It's a version of meditation in a weird way because it's like,
[26:56]it just pulls you out and makes time sort of stop.
[27:00]And yeah.
[27:01]And I think that that is, that's just,
[27:03]I don't know, that's a special thing.
[27:05]And in fact, it gets more and more special.
[27:07]And maybe that's why people are still reading,
[27:08]because it's harder and harder to do that, right?
[27:11]Like, it's like, yeah, it's just harder and harder to do that.
[27:14]Even, you know, if you think about it,
[27:16]I remember years ago, it would be like rude to keep your phone out
[27:19]while you're at a meal, you know what I mean?
[27:21]Like, and like, it was just sort of like,
[27:23]you just didn't do that.
[27:25]And now it's like, like, it's so normal
[27:28]that we're always in cute places.
[27:30]And I think when you can get away from that,
[27:33]it's kind of nice.
[27:34]It's sort of great.
[27:35]I agree.
[27:36]I agree.
[27:37]Yeah, amazing.
[27:39]So now that this is your full-time job
[27:41]and you're working on your,
[27:42]you know, who loses and everything,
[27:44]are you going to do another novel or what's your plan?
[27:48]I'm in the midst of the second novel.
[27:49]I'm really excited about it, actually.
[27:52]And I'm really excited about it.
[27:53]It's definitely a different process.
[27:56]I think I romanticize now the writing of Olga
[27:59]because I had this unbridled time,
[28:00]like where you're not like pulled out of other things.
[28:02]But I'm very excited about it.
[28:04]And it's sort of a braided narrative that takes place
[28:07]at part of it's the campus novel in the 90s.
[28:11]And part of it takes place in the New York art world and in the 80s.
[28:15]So it got time jumps a bit.
[28:18]And it's like, really, it's about like lineage
[28:21]and creative power and like whose stories are taught
[28:25]and the stories aren't taught.
[28:26]And power dynamics amongst creative couples
[28:30]just something I'm just really interested in now.
[28:32]Yeah, it's definitely, it's going to be a cool one,
[28:35]I think. I'm excited about it.
[28:37]It'll be super different from Olga.
[28:39]But like, I think in a good way.
[28:41]I just was telling my friend last night,
[28:44]I was like, you know, the one thing when you're,
[28:46]I am proud of this first book, right?
[28:47]And it's like, but you have to like really work hard
[28:50]to not be like, psych yourself out and like not.
[28:54]You know what I mean?
[28:55]Like it's like, it's a lot.
[28:58]I remember years ago, Emma Stroud was like third novel
[29:02]came out and I was like that and I remember it being in my mind.
[29:06]It's just somebody that I just admire so much.
[29:08]But like, I remember being like now you're like,
[29:11]that's a real novelist.
[29:12]Like one book, it's like life experience, two books.
[29:16]It's like, okay, like there was some more life experience.
[29:19]Three books, you're like, all right, you're a real novelist.
[29:22]Like, I guess I can't really get a certain point.
[29:25]Like you can't keep buying the same stuff.
[29:27]So like, I'm excited that I, you know,
[29:29]I'm flat ironed given the second book a home
[29:31]and that that will be great.
[29:32]But like, I definitely, it's important to me to preserve
[29:36]that art form because what I learned in doing television
[29:39]in any capacity was that the beautiful part about it is my
[29:43]version is the one that's like between the cover,
[29:45]like, and so you can be a little more flat.
[29:47]You know, like, it's like, okay, that would be better for story.
[29:50]Or like, yeah, let's make that guy his son instead of his brother.
[29:53]You know, like that'll look good.
[29:54]You know, just like for age diversity.
[29:56]Like, you can make, I don't even want to call him compromises,
[29:59]but different.
[30:00]of choices because your pure version is the version between the book binding and that's kind of nice.
[30:06]Wow. Well, I am so excited. I, you know, if I were to put my money on a book, it's going to be
[30:12]successful in 2022. I'm choosing it. I just thank you so sure. I would be shocked if it's not
[30:19]a book club pick by one of these big people, but I'm sure you couldn't even say it if it was.
[30:23]Anyway, that's my guess prediction. I'm putting it out here. It's December 2nd. I'm just
[30:28]saying it to you. Thank you so much for being so supportive and enthusiastic about it. It's just
[30:35]really lovely. No, I'm really excited about it. Yeah, I can't wait to see where it all goes and
[30:40]follow your success. Yeah. Thank you. That's so much. This is really lovely to chat with you.
[30:46]Yeah. And I just love, I love that you do this. I think it's so cool. It's so great. Yeah. Oh, my gosh.
[30:52]Well, you know, and I have this publishing company that we're going to, more involved or anything,
[30:57]or like, I feel like you would bring such amazing energy to like, I don't know. Anyway, we should
[31:01]talk later. Totally talk. It's so good. It's so good to meet you. Okay. Thank you so much. All right.
[31:07]Have a great day. Okay. Bye. Thanks for listening to this episode of Moms Don't Have Time to Read
[31:13]Books. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram at zebi Owens and at Moms Don't Have Time to Read
[31:19]Books. Also sign up for my newsletter at zebiowens.com and sign up for my virtual book club and meet
[31:24]lots of authors on zoom every other week. Thanks so much to Steve and Ryan at Texture Sound for
[31:29]the Sound Editing. And thank you to Morning Moon Productions for providing this fantastic intro and
[31:34]now, trim music.