Diane Marie Brown, BLACK CANDLE WOMEN
[0:02]Hi, I'm Zippy Owens and you're listening to moms don't have time to read books.
[0:06]This 30 minute podcast features a new author interviewed by me every single day, 365 days
[0:12]a year for about 30 minutes.
[0:15]I am also the publisher for Zippy Books, which publishes 12 books a year in fiction and
[0:21]memoir.
[0:22]Our books are already out now.
[0:23]You can check it out on zippybooks.com.
[0:26]And we have a magazine called Zippy Mag where we have lots of wonderful essays and lifestyle
[0:31]features.
[0:32]That's at zippymag.com.
[0:33]We have classes, it's a B-Classist.com.
[0:36]And I recently opened a book store in LA called Zippy's Bookshop at 1113 Montana Avenue
[0:43]at 11th Street in San Monica.
[0:45]I hope that you are able to enjoy some of our other offerings.
[0:49]But this here podcast is the basis of all of it and started in 2018.
[0:54]And no matter what I do, this is basically my favorite thing.
[0:57]Enjoy.
[1:03]Diane Marie Brown is the author of Black Candle Women.
[1:06]Diane is a professor at the Orange Coast College and a public health professional for the
[1:10]Long Beach Health Department.
[1:12]She is a BA and MPH from UCLA and a degree in fiction from USC's Master of Professional
[1:16]Writing Program.
[1:18]She grew up in Stockton and now lives in Long Beach, California with her husband, their
[1:21]four daughters and their dog Brownie.
[1:24]Black Candle Women is her debut novel and was picked as a read with Jennifer.
[1:28]Welcome, Diane.
[1:29]Thanks so much for coming on momstone.
[1:30]I have time to read books to discuss Black Candle Women.
[1:34]Thank you.
[1:35]Thanks for having me.
[1:36]Kit, you please tell listeners what your book is about.
[1:39]Sure.
[1:40]So Black Candle Women tells about a multi-generational family of Black women whose lives
[1:46]are affected by a curse.
[1:48]And this curse happens to kill anyone with whom they fall in lab.
[1:53]So they've lived their lives, protecting themselves from the curse.
[1:57]They've been isolated in their Southern California home, but they have to face the curse
[2:04]head on when the teenager in the house brings home a love interest for the first time.
[2:10]And as a grapple with that, we hear about their challenges in present day, but through the
[2:17]family's matriarch, we go back to 1950s, New Orleans, to learn about the curse's origin,
[2:24]which was put into place by a Buddhist sorceress.
[2:28]Ooh.
[2:29]Okay.
[2:30]Where did this come from?
[2:32]So it has a few origins stories.
[2:35]I'll take them all.
[2:37]Yeah.
[2:38]I guess the first of which is in my writing program, we had a prompt for a very short story.
[2:46]And I don't even remember what the prompt was, but I just, that's where these women came
[2:51]to my mind and I started writing about them there.
[2:55]And then I really liked them.
[2:57]And so I wanted to give them a bigger story.
[3:00]So I started thinking to my childhood, both of my parents are from Louisiana and my uncle
[3:07]lived in New Orleans.
[3:08]So every year, my mom and my mom was a teacher.
[3:12]And we would go by train every summer to New Orleans to visit my uncle.
[3:18]We'd go by train because my mom didn't apply.
[3:21]And so we take the long trip from Northern California all the way to New Orleans and just
[3:27]would spend weeks there hanging out, cooking, playing with the neighbors.
[3:32]It was just, it was always something that I looked forward to.
[3:36]And it was so different from my hometown.
[3:39]And I always just thought about those summers with a lot of nostalgia.
[3:44]And just remember thinking about some of the things that made New Orleans interesting.
[3:50]So of course, the whole aura of voodoo and hoodoo.
[3:54]And I thought about Marie Levo, who is the voodoo queen of New Orleans.
[3:59]And as I was older, I'm an only child.
[4:02]So and I didn't know my grandparent.
[4:04]So I'm always just, and my parents being educators, just a huge imagination all, you know,
[4:09]all my life.
[4:10]And so I started thinking one day.
[4:12]What if I was related to Marie Levo somehow or or just, you know, Marie Levo, like,
[4:18]if she had generations that were alive today, what would she have imparted to them through
[4:25]just her lineage, what skills or abilities, which she have passed along.
[4:29]And so that just kind of got the wheels turning and somehow death.
[4:35]I love, I love with came into play.
[4:39]I think it was a more sinister story before where they were kind of using that to seek
[4:45]vengeance on people who deserve it, but I kind of changed it.
[4:48]Because I really wanted to focus on these women and their connections in this family.
[4:53]And so that's kind of how the story was born.
[4:56]Wow.
[4:57]And has anybody in your family lost to left one like that or anything?
[5:02]Not that I know, but it's just, you know, again, kind of not knowing my grandparent say
[5:10]her stories about them, but always seeing my mom and dad be grandparents and knowing that
[5:17]relationship.
[5:18]I've just always been curious about how a relationship like that might have been for me.
[5:23]And so just making up stories about potential families, I guess.
[5:29]This is what novelists do, right?
[5:32]The whole thing, making up the stuff and I need families.
[5:36]And so tell me about the process of writing the book, like how long did it take and how
[5:41]what was that like and how did you balance everything else in your life and what else is in
[5:45]your life? Like what are you balancing and how crazy is your life and all of that stuff?
[5:49]Yeah.
[5:49]Well, this path was not a very straightforward path.
[5:54]My writing program I graduated from in 2011 and this was my thesis, the first 100 pages.
[6:02]And so after grad school, I worked on it for probably another year and didn't get in.
[6:09]I didn't have beta readers.
[6:10]I was in a writing group.
[6:12]It was a draft and I just, I don't know, maybe just the immaturity at the time.
[6:19]I don't know. I was just like, oh, it's ready to go.
[6:21]So I sent it to agents and didn't really get any interest from agents.
[6:28]And so it was only then that after going through that process, I worked on it a little bit more,
[6:34]revised, centered out again, got a little bit more interest of people who wanted to read
[6:39]the entire manuscript, but just agents passing for one reason or another.
[6:46]So I had kind of put it away and started working on something else.
[6:50]And so in 2020, with everything being locked down, I work in public health.
[6:57]So I was busy working for our local health department and George Floyd, death that made headlines.
[7:05]And everybody was just kind of, it's just a very fraught time.
[7:10]And we know that there were organizations who wanted to step up and just maybe feeling just helpless
[7:15]and wanted to do something.
[7:17]And so great in house, they're an imprint of Harlequin Harper Collins.
[7:22]They put out an open call for fiction by unagented black writers.
[7:28]And so I said, well, I have this book on that I, you know, it's just been sitting here.
[7:34]And I wasn't able to find an agent.
[7:36]So hey, let me clean it up a little bit and send it their way.
[7:40]Well, first I sent the query and what they said is they, and the first I think five or 10 pages,
[7:47]and they said they would give feedback to anyone who met the criteria.
[7:51]So I'm like, you know, at least that would be wonderful.
[7:53]They didn't promise that they would represent and or publish anyone's manuscript.
[7:58]But there was an editor there who took interest.
[8:02]She asked for the full manuscript and it was months and months later.
[8:06]I never got the feedback.
[8:07]So I'm like, okay, well, maybe that's a good thing.
[8:10]And so March of 2021, she reached out and said that great in house would be interested
[8:17]in publishing my novel.
[8:19]And she wanted to be my editor.
[8:22]But I had to get an agent to sign the contract.
[8:25]So she helped me find an agent who was wonderful.
[8:29]And I wouldn't have been able to connect to otherwise because she was closed to queries.
[8:33]And since then, it's just been kind of a whirlwind.
[8:37]We spent quite a bit of time revising.
[8:40]But then all the other things that go along with publishing.
[8:44]And so over this, well, I guess your journey, 12 plus year journey,
[8:51]I've had my children are now all my youngest is in college.
[8:57]And so they kind of see me go through this.
[9:00]But I can't imagine publishing 10 years ago.
[9:05]I think the timing was just right for this book.
[9:09]Not that I wouldn't have wanted to publish a long time ago and not go through all of this,
[9:13]but just thinking about how crazy things have been now those last two years.
[9:19]I think if I had younger children, it would have been a lot harder to balance along with my full time.
[9:24]Hi. Can I test to that?
[9:26]Wow. What a great story.
[9:30]And it just speaks to like timing is such a huge factor in books in general.
[9:34]And like when it's meant to come out, when it's not, like what pieces you can take from past
[9:41]stories and how everything you do is like never a waste.
[9:44]You know, it's never a waste.
[9:46]But I definitely believe that.
[9:48]And it can be hard, especially for new writers or writers who really want to get
[9:54]their work published to think that, you know, well, I'm working on so hard on this.
[9:58]And maybe it's not.
[10:00]and I happen right away,
[10:01]but I definitely feel like that time
[10:04]that I had was valuable for me.
[10:06]And so in some books, some people,
[10:09]things happen very, very fast.
[10:10]And that is just their timing.
[10:11]And so I have to kind of be a piece
[10:14]with believing that this was the right time for this book.
[10:17]I think that the fast timing stories are much more rare.
[10:22]I feel like I should go back through all these podcasts.
[10:25]It's good.
[10:26]And get some stats out of the conversations
[10:29]because I think you would find that those stories
[10:31]are few and far between.
[10:33]And yet, the allure of them is so intoxicating.
[10:38]Everybody thinks like, well, maybe that'll happen to me.
[10:41]Yes.
[10:42]And actually, that's quite rare.
[10:44]So definitely, yeah.
[10:46]That'd be interesting.
[10:47]Yeah.
[10:48]Okay.
[10:49]In my spare time, Paul.
[10:50]I'll do.
[10:50]I'll work on that on the side.
[10:52]And then of course this became a read with Jenna Pick
[10:54]on top of everything else.
[10:56]I mean, how crazy that is amazing.
[10:58]Did you, what was that story like?
[11:00]And how did you find out?
[11:01]And did you have to keep it a secret
[11:03]and tell me that whole story?
[11:04]I did.
[11:05]That was definitely unexpected and overwhelming.
[11:12]So I finished a pretty good version of the book, probably
[11:18]around this time last year, just because the publisher
[11:23]they need time for sales and marketing
[11:25]and all those things that go on behind the scenes.
[11:28]Along with final edits, but a pretty good version of the draft.
[11:31]They said, we need this to send out to all the book clubs.
[11:35]And I'm like, OK.
[11:36]And just didn't really think much of it
[11:40]because I know how hard those opportunities are to come by.
[11:46]But in August, I was going back and forth with my editor
[11:50]and she emailed me and she said, by the way,
[11:53]do you have a chance to chat a little bit later?
[11:56]I have some nice news.
[11:58]And I was like, OK.
[12:01]If she wouldn't have said the nice news,
[12:02]I would have panicked because we had only spoken on the phone
[12:06]like one other time before.
[12:07]Everything we have a billion emails going back and forth,
[12:11]but rarely talk.
[12:14]And so she said, I just need to find a time when
[12:18]Shreece, who's my agent, can meet.
[12:22]So they call me.
[12:24]And they asked me if I'm sitting down.
[12:27]Then they asked me if I have any champagne.
[12:30]I was up north visiting my dad.
[12:32]And so I didn't.
[12:33]But I'm like, well, I can get some.
[12:35]And so they told me the news that it
[12:39]was going to be a selection for March.
[12:42]And they said, you know, you might have to move the date up.
[12:45]And I was like, that's totally OK with me.
[12:49]And I was just thrilled.
[12:51]And then I thought we were kind of in the conversation.
[12:55]And then they're like, well, wait, there's more.
[12:58]And I'm like, what?
[12:59]And that's when they said that she was also
[13:02]starting a production company.
[13:03]And she was going to, by the rights,
[13:06]because she wanted to make this into a,
[13:09]I didn't know what at the time, but it ended up
[13:11]being a television show.
[13:12]So it was incredible.
[13:15]And then they said, yes, and you can't tell anyone.
[13:19]Or the biggest secret of, I think, I've ever
[13:22]had to keep like that for eight months, seven or eight.
[13:26]Oh, my gosh.
[13:27]Yeah.
[13:27]It's like, now you can write a book about the pain
[13:30]of the secret keeping.
[13:31]Right, right.
[13:33]Well, now I know.
[13:34]I mean, it was, I know how to hold onto a secret now,
[13:38]definitely, and can maybe translate that to a character.
[13:41]Yeah, exactly.
[13:42]Yeah.
[13:43]The book club went in character in your next book.
[13:46]It's funny.
[13:47]Yeah.
[13:48]Well, that's so exciting.
[13:49]It was so nice meeting you at the Read With Jenna
[13:51]celebration and all of that.
[13:53]So cool.
[13:53]I mean, she's really gotten 70 wonderful authors and stories
[13:57]and it's really fabulous to use the old-station
[14:00]platform for that and all of it.
[14:02]It's great.
[14:03]Yes, it's amazing.
[14:05]I mean, it's just, I can't imagine having that type
[14:08]of a platform as a debut is incredible.
[14:11]So I'm just incredibly grateful to her and all
[14:15]the people that work with her.
[14:16]It's been a nice ride so far.
[14:19]Wow.
[14:20]And now, are you working on another book?
[14:23]I am.
[14:24]So I teach at a community college.
[14:27]I'm in my office right now.
[14:30]And so we have one more week in the semester.
[14:33]And then I am off for three months.
[14:37]And so I've been doing research on my next book.
[14:41]And but I'm looking forward to sitting down
[14:43]and just really getting that muscle, again,
[14:47]of writing every day and getting a good draft
[14:51]or a close to a full draft of something
[14:53]by the end of the summer.
[14:54]So something that's kind of similar in tone.
[14:59]It's a story that was very grounded,
[15:01]but maybe has like a teeny bit of magic
[15:04]that people hopefully can suspend their disbelief for.
[15:07]Just saying, I love it.
[15:10]Do you have some go-to books or authors
[15:13]that you really love?
[15:14]Or are you reading anything great now?
[15:17]Yeah.
[15:18]Well, I definitely am inspired by Zora and Jill Hurston.
[15:23]She definitely had a little bit of her influence,
[15:27]I think, in some way in Black candle women
[15:31]and always love Terry McMillan because what she did
[15:36]for sharing the stories of Black women
[15:41]and contemporary life, I always appreciate
[15:43]how she kind of paved that way.
[15:46]And right now, I'm just reading a lot of books.
[15:48]I read on my Kindle, I read hardcover books or paperbacks.
[15:55]And I listened on my way to work.
[15:58]I listened to a lot of books.
[15:59]Just finished a book by a friend of mine.
[16:02]We have this little writer's crew in Southern California.
[16:08]But Jasmine Ilani Hakes, she just published
[16:14]a book called Hula that I have in a week.
[16:17]And it's wonderful.
[16:19]It's incredible.
[16:20]So I had a good time listening to that.
[16:23]And I just started this morning, a yellow face,
[16:26]which I think just came out of that year.
[16:28]I have to read that.
[16:29]Yes.
[16:30]So yeah, that's kind of those have been keeping me occupied.
[16:34]Amazing.
[16:35]What advice would you have for aspiring authors?
[16:39]Oh, well, definitely doing something
[16:41]that I didn't do, at least initially,
[16:45]is having a writing community, I think,
[16:50]is very important, a trusted writing community.
[16:52]People that you can talk to about writing
[16:54]that you can get resources from that can encourage you.
[16:58]And then people that you can trust to read
[17:01]your manuscripts along the way.
[17:05]Maybe not super early, because we
[17:06]know how those early drafts can be.
[17:09]But somebody that can, depending upon what you need from them
[17:13]can give you advice or tell you what they like
[17:17]or the ways that maybe you can strengthen things.
[17:20]Or just, again, just encourage you and tell you to keep going.
[17:24]I think that's super valuable.
[17:26]And I plan on relying on that with any other projects
[17:32]that I work on anything.
[17:35]So when you think about the summer and getting
[17:36]to work on this next book, do you,
[17:39]do you have anything that you keep next to you?
[17:41]Like, I always have chocolate covered almonds,
[17:43]which are not the best for that.
[17:46]That I kind of like may align whenever I'm trying to get anything done.
[17:49]Do you have things like that?
[17:50]Do you go to snacks or routines or rituals or whatever?
[17:53]Yeah, well, in the mornings, I like to have my coffee.
[17:57]I make my little homemade latte with my vanilla cream.
[18:03]I have to have that.
[18:05]And then in the afternoons, I love to snack on kettle corn.
[18:09]So there's a farmer's market on Thursdays by the house.
[18:11]And so I pick up a big thing of kettle corn.
[18:14]And that usually lasts me over the weekend
[18:16]if I'm riding over the weekend.
[18:18]So those are my two things that I really like to have.
[18:22]And apples and peanut butter.
[18:24]Oh, that's another snack that I like.
[18:26]So yeah, I like bananas and sun butter, too.
[18:30]Sort of spin off.
[18:32]OK, if you want to mix it up,
[18:34]like my morning breakfast.
[18:36]Anyway, I don't even know why I'm talking about this,
[18:38]but anyway, I'm sorry.
[18:41]Thank you, Diane.
[18:41]Thank you for coming in while I'm so tired to read bugs.
[18:43]Thank you for sharing your experience.
[18:46]Again, it was so great to meet you.
[18:48]And yeah, just so excited for you.
[18:50]I love hearing inspiring stories like this.
[18:52]So, you know, perseverance and timing
[18:55]and having all the things sort of work out
[18:57]and having good things happen to nice people.
[19:00]It's really awesome.
[19:01]Thank you.
[19:02]And thanks for all that you do for writers.
[19:04]It's amazing and wonderful and congratulations
[19:08]on your webby.
[19:09]Oh, thank you.
[19:11]I have.
[19:12]We had fun.
[19:13]We had fun.
[19:15]Very good.
[19:16]All right, well, I hope our paths cross again,
[19:18]especially in Southern California in the store and everything.
[19:20]So, definitely, I plan to visit them.
[19:22]Okay.
[19:23]All right, bye.
[19:24]Bye.
[19:26]Thanks for listening to this episode
[19:27]of Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books.
[19:29]Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, at ZB Owens,
[19:32]and at Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books.
[19:34]Also, sign up for my newsletter at ZB Owens.com
[19:37]and sign up for my virtual book club
[19:39]and meet lots of authors on Zoom every other week.
[19:41]Thanks so much to Steve and Ryan at Textures Sound
[19:44]for the Sound Editing.
[19:45]And thank you to Morning Moon Productions
[19:47]for providing this fantastic intro and outro music.