Carrie Berk, MY REAL-LIFE ROM-COM: How to Build Confidence and Write Your Own Relationship Rules
[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
[0:20]and memoir.
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[0:23]You can check it out on zippybooks.com.
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[0:30]lifestyle features.
[0:31]That's at zippymag.com.
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[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, and no matter what
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[0:57]Enjoy.
[1:03]Carrie Burke is the author of my real-life romcom, had a build confidence and write your
[1:07]own relationship roles.
[1:10]20-year-old Carrie Burke already has a life's worth of accomplishments under her belt.
[1:14]It's no wonder Bella magazine declared her an ambitious and dedicated boss babe and the
[1:19]Wall Street Journal dubbed her a community-minded young creator.
[1:22]She is a verified content creator across several social media channels, including Tiktok,
[1:27]where she has 3.9 million followers, 117 million plus likes.
[1:33]She has 900,000 followers on Instagram, 105,000 on Snapchat, 100,000 on YouTube, 227,000
[1:41]on Pinterest with 4 million monthly views, and has monthly engagement of more than 100
[1:46]million.
[1:47]This is amazing.
[1:48]Oh my gosh.
[1:49]Anyway, a journalism major in college, Carrie is currently a reporter, contributing writer
[1:52]for Huffpost, Newsweek.com, The New York Post, The Daily Dot, and others on topics ranging
[1:57]from beauty and style to celebrity and sports.
[1:59]And just so you all know, my teenage daughter followed her throughout the pandemic and
[2:04]is a huge fan.
[2:06]So this was a total thrill because Carrie went and met my daughter.
[2:11]We were supposed to meet up or signals got crossed.
[2:14]Anyway, she ended up popping by hung out with my daughter in her room and basically made
[2:18]her entire life.
[2:19]So Carrie, thank you so much for that, back to her biome.
[2:23]Carrie has served as an on-camera correspondent for Tiger Beat and Girls Life, covering
[2:27]red carpet arrivals and interviewing celebs at the Radio Disney Music Awards, New York
[2:31]Fashion Week, and the Teen Choice Awards.
[2:33]She has contributed to 17 magazine and Girls Life print and digital channels.
[2:37]She has acted on two Brat TV series, Stage Friday is Karina and Crown Lake is the voice
[2:42]of Heather.
[2:43]She is a bestselling children's book author with 21 books to her credit.
[2:47]She penned her first book, Peace, Love, and Cupcakes, and 2012.
[2:51]The Cupcake Club series went on to publish 12 books, selling 300,000 copies worldwide
[2:56]and became an award-winning off-Broadway show and featured selection in 2017's New York
[3:01]Musical Festival.
[3:02]Her second book, Fashion Academy stems from her passion for fashion.
[3:05]The six-book series also became an off-Broadway production at Vital Theater and is currently
[3:10]licensed worldwide by Concord Music Publishing.
[3:13]Finally, Ask Emma, a three-book series for Bonie was based on Carrie's first-hand experience
[3:19]as a teen blogger and her dedication to being a role model for positive posting.
[3:23]She is a dedicated anti-bullying activist and an advocate for mental health awareness, especially
[3:27]for teens and women.
[3:29]An avid runner, she ran the New York City Marathon in November 2022.
[3:32]By the way, she's only like 20 years old and I feel like completely lazy when I look
[3:38]at all of her accomplishments.
[3:40]Carrie, hats off to you.
[3:42]Welcome, Carrie.
[3:43]Thank you so much for coming on mom's.
[3:44]Don't have time to read books to discuss your first solo book, but like eight millionth
[3:49]book in general.
[3:50]My real life romcom.
[3:51]I had a build confidence and write your own relationship rules.
[3:54]Thank you for having me.
[3:57]It's my pleasure.
[3:58]This is so great.
[3:59]You probably don't remember because you're way too young, but there used to be this book
[4:01]called The Rules About Dating, which when I was in my 20s, I clung to like a, you
[4:07]know, it's a talent announcement for finally ending up in a really different.
[4:10]But this is so great because you're giving advice to a younger set who doesn't get this
[4:14]advice from a lot of places.
[4:16]Tell me about writing the book and your goals for it and all of that.
[4:21]So I came up with this idea.
[4:23]It actually kind of started as like a self therapy of sorts for me during the pandemic
[4:29]because I was obviously locked up lonely and I was worried about losing all of my memories
[4:35]and the lessons related to those memories, especially those in love and dating.
[4:40]So I just started writing down everything I could remember.
[4:44]And it was a series of essays and I sent it to a friend one day and she said, you
[4:49]know, this can be something so much greater.
[4:50]Like you can help a lot of people and help them navigate this world of dating because
[4:55]all those books out there teaching Gen Z teenagers, tweens how to date, they're written
[5:01]by like 50 year old women.
[5:03]Basically, like there's nothing written by a teenager, 14 ages, helping them through this
[5:11]weird crazy time in their life.
[5:13]So I wanted to fill that void.
[5:16]It's different from the rules and that I'm not really giving the rules for dating.
[5:20]I'm not telling people like here's how you should date, here's who you should date.
[5:24]I'm dedicating each chapter to a different guy, a different experience so that tweens
[5:30]and teens can read it and take what they will and pick up some of the lessons I've learned
[5:36]along the way, but also it's not me like telling them what to do if that makes sense.
[5:41]Right.
[5:42]I didn't mean to mislead and it's not like didactic in any way, but you do give advice
[5:45]which we all need and particularly, you know, some of these things like I hadn't thought
[5:51]about since I was really young, even like, you know, how to cope with your, well, the
[5:56]coping with the first breakup that's like any age, but some of these, what to keep in mind
[6:00]for your first hookup, the curse, oh, the curse of the blue check was actually super interesting.
[6:06]You write about what it's like for you dating as like a verified Instagram or with a huge
[6:11]business and following it's such a young age and how, you know, you have to be careful
[6:15]who you date and why they're dating you and do they want access to famous friends or do
[6:20]they want you for you and, you know, that's a, you know, very specific, but really interesting
[6:26]issue that you raised, I was wondering if you could even talk about that and how you've
[6:30]been navigating that.
[6:31]Oh, it's really difficult.
[6:33]I mean, I had this like back and forth for so many years, like should I date an influencer
[6:39]because I was influencer and they'll get it more or should I just date like a normal guy
[6:45]basically because I felt like influencers, it was like more fun, like film videos with them,
[6:51]they really got the whole influencer world, but a lot of the times like influencer guys are only
[6:56]in it for themselves, they're in it for the content and the clout and that's been really hard for
[7:03]me because I'm someone who loves hard and loves fast, so I'll go into it and I'll think it's
[7:10]going to turn into something and the next thing I know it's just like them using me for like a
[7:15]viral video.
[7:16]So that's been really hard to navigate, ultimately I decided like influencer dating, not for me,
[7:23]but the reason why I had some trouble with dating like normal guys is because a lot of guys don't
[7:29]know how to handle a successful young woman. So if they click on my profile and they see like
[7:34]a million formally and followers, like they kind of don't know how to handle it, but what am I supposed
[7:40]to do? Like am I supposed to like fan girl over her? Like what's supposed to happen? So one of the
[7:45]instances I talk about my book was when I was on a date with a guy from my college and he asked me
[7:53]for a famous TikTok or phone number on our date, stuff like that was like really common for me.
[8:01]Oh my gosh, I'm sorry. I mean, you know, these are the downsides of fame, right? Thank you.
[8:08]It's a whole, it's really like a whole new world. I think I just like closed myself off
[8:14]to influencer dating or I was only focused on influencer dating for so long,
[8:19]and I realized that wasn't for me. And then when I joined the dating apps, when I was 18,
[8:24]it was just like a whole new world. Like how am I supposed to like talk to a banker or like a lawyer
[8:32]or something? It's just like so different. Like a culture shock, but it's good. Like you're supposed
[8:37]to be different from one another. That's how you learn and develop like a more emotionally rich
[8:42]relationship when you can teach each other things. Plus now the guys have to deal with the fact that
[8:46]you wrote a whole book about all your other experiences. I actually, I have a boyfriend now.
[8:52]I know. I know. I know. I saw your Instagram. Literally read the book. And after he read the book,
[8:58]I was like so nervous. I had no idea how he was going to react, but he was a freaking champ.
[9:04]Like so good for reading it. I don't feel like there was anything too embarrassing in the book.
[9:10]I mean, you're open about it. And you know, of course, you're like the only person I know who
[9:13]starts hooking up at age four or five, but that's fine. You know, it's a little kiss.
[9:20]It was just a little kiss. That's a sloppy one, but I know it. My gosh. Well, it's really generous of
[9:26]you to sort of take the tips and put them in book form, but not only is it about your relationships,
[9:31]but I found the pieces about anxiety and OCD to be incredibly fascinating and how you've
[9:36]sort of come to terms with all that. Can you talk a little bit about that? And when you sort of
[9:41]realized what was happening and how you're handling everything? Yes. So I was writing the book
[9:49]in the middle of the pandemic. And at the same time, I was kind of going through my own journey
[9:54]with anxiety for the first time. Didn't really know what was happening. I talk a little bit
[10:00]about an in-depth in the book,
[10:01]but I was going through all these like physical
[10:03]and mental compulsions all the time,
[10:05]and I wasn't really sure what was going on.
[10:08]And I was scared to write about it for a while.
[10:12]Like usually my way of coping with emotions
[10:14]is I write it all down.
[10:16]When it came to like anxiety and OCD,
[10:18]I just, I didn't know what to write
[10:19]because I felt like I wasn't educated on the topic.
[10:23]I was scared to write.
[10:24]I didn't like want to do it at this service.
[10:26]So about like six months in,
[10:28]I kind of came to this conclusion
[10:30]that you don't know all the answers.
[10:32]Like nobody really knows all the answers
[10:34]when it comes to anxiety and OCD.
[10:36]And I think that's a message that twins and teens
[10:38]like really need to hear.
[10:40]And I wrote about it in that way.
[10:43]Like I wrote about what it was like in that moment
[10:46]when I was experiencing anxiety for the first time
[10:49]and the confusion surrounding that
[10:51]and how it's still a work in progress.
[10:54]It's not like a, it's not black and white.
[10:56]It's not like one day you just like entirely get better.
[11:00]Like it never really gets better.
[11:01]You just figure out a way to handle it.
[11:04]I guess you develop like greater tools.
[11:07]So that was something really important
[11:08]that I wanted to talk about in general.
[11:11]And when I was deciding to write the last chapter
[11:13]to my book, I had like a personal essay aside
[11:18]about my anxiety just for myself
[11:20]kind of a coke of my emotions
[11:22]that I wrote like six months after I started experiencing it.
[11:26]And I kind of just like took it
[11:28]and I stuck it at the end of the book.
[11:29]I like coffee and pasted it.
[11:31]And I looked at the end of the essay
[11:33]and I realized like so many of these lessons I learned
[11:37]from anxiety and OCD.
[11:39]Like the fact that life is imperfect
[11:42]and neither relationships, you know,
[11:44]the fact that I'm like ruminating over certain aspects
[11:48]of my life, like I should ruminate on romance
[11:51]like that should live in the moment a little bit more.
[11:53]Like so many of these lessons that I learned
[11:55]can apply to relationships.
[11:57]So after I copied and pasted that essay,
[12:00]I kind of just kept writing.
[12:03]Like it just naturally flowed and continued
[12:06]and it just turned into this whole like self-love
[12:09]basically like book anthem that people can read.
[12:13]And that's how the end of the book was formed
[12:15]and it just really tied everything together.
[12:18]Yeah, for sure.
[12:19]You have CFA, I dogured it here.
[12:22]This is like the sort of the life lesson takeaway page.
[12:25]Can I just read one a little bit?
[12:27]Yeah, go for it.
[12:28]You say you may be wondering why I'm choosing
[12:30]to end this book by talking about myself, not boys.
[12:33]It may sound corny, but loving others is not possible
[12:35]unless you love yourself.
[12:37]All those months in quarantine, I prayed
[12:38]that the 16-year-old hopeless romantic
[12:40]was still inside me.
[12:42]But that 16-year-old is in the past.
[12:44]That 16-year-old depended on a boy to make her feel special.
[12:47]But in reality, the ability was inside her all along.
[12:50]Self-love is essential.
[12:52]It means something different to everyone.
[12:53]But to me, it ties in closely with my anxiety journey.
[12:56]Self-love means practicing patience and empathy with myself.
[12:59]It means believing in my inner strength
[13:01]yet showing myself grace if I need to let out a good cry.
[13:04]Most importantly, it means embracing my flaws
[13:06]with my whole heart instead of with hatred.
[13:09]I mean, these are really good life lessons at any age.
[13:12]I mean, the fact that you picked all this up
[13:13]like so early, I mean, you're gonna be just flying
[13:16]by your 40s.
[13:18]Thank you.
[13:18]I think over this past year,
[13:21]especially with the anxiety journey,
[13:22]I've learned so much about myself.
[13:25]Like I've such a strong sense of self.
[13:28]It's no coincidence.
[13:29]Like I met my boyfriend a month after I turned in
[13:31]my final manuscript to my book.
[13:34]And I tell him that all the time.
[13:36]Like I really found myself over this past year.
[13:40]And as I'm navigating my new relationship,
[13:43]I have a really strong sense of self.
[13:45]I'm not afraid to talk about my anxiety.
[13:48]Like that's something that I really hate in the past
[13:51]from everyone in my life.
[13:53]And now I'm so open about it because I realized
[13:56]that there's this responsibility to be a role model
[13:59]for people, like if no one else is talking about it.
[14:02]Like I'm gonna feel that space.
[14:03]Because if I had someone like this
[14:05]when I was going through it for the first time,
[14:07]then it would have helped me so much.
[14:09]Like I probably, it wouldn't have taken me six months
[14:11]so it come to this conclusion.
[14:13]I really needed someone to help me through that.
[14:15]And there was nobody my age that was talking about anxiety
[14:19]in such an open, like raw, vulnerable way.
[14:22]So I'm trying to feel that void.
[14:23]I don't know if you know about the child mind Institute,
[14:27]but I'm actually on the board.
[14:28]And we do this whole thing.
[14:30]My younger self campaign and I think may or some month.
[14:33]Anyway, I should loop you in
[14:34]because you would be such a great advocate
[14:35]for helping all the kids who come through the system
[14:38]and all that.
[14:39]So I think that's really interesting.
[14:42]If you're interested, start off topic.
[14:44]Okay, so tell me about writing all the other books
[14:48]with your mom and getting started early
[14:51]and you've written like two full-on book series already.
[14:56]21, three, sorry, three.
[14:58]So you have the cupcake ones.
[15:00]You have, yeah, tell me at tell me all about it.
[15:01]They're similar.
[15:02]Sorry.
[15:03]So yes.
[15:04]So when I was eight, I was obsessed with writing.
[15:07]Like I loved writing in second grade.
[15:10]My mom is a ghost writer.
[15:12]So I grew up with watching her,
[15:13]type away at her computer every day just in awe.
[15:17]And one day I come home from school
[15:19]and I just learned about realistic fiction
[15:22]and the fact that I could take real life themes
[15:25]and place them inside fictional scenarios.
[15:27]She fascinated me.
[15:29]So I wrote this idea about four girls
[15:33]who are outsiders at their school.
[15:35]They're all bullied, but they come together
[15:37]and they form this cupcake club
[15:39]that really practices inclusion and unity
[15:41]and power of friendship and all these important themes
[15:44]for kids that I didn't see as much in the books
[15:48]that I was reading.
[15:50]So I showed it to my mom and she thought it was cute.
[15:54]You know, it's an eight-year-old girl writing
[15:56]and I begged her to submit it to her book agent.
[15:59]And she said, okay, submit it to her book agent
[16:02]and we were in the middle of the ocean on a Disney cruise.
[16:06]And she gets a call in the middle of the ocean
[16:10]where I get costs and a lot of money,
[16:12]obviously to call in the middle of the ocean.
[16:13]So she picks up the box, it's better be good.
[16:16]And it was like three different publishers
[16:19]wanting to do with the book.
[16:21]And I was just an eight-year-old girl who loved writing.
[16:24]I didn't really understand what's happening in my life.
[16:27]So it just turned into this crazy phenomenon,
[16:32]like the first book sold over 350,000 copies.
[16:35]Oh my gosh.
[16:37]And I was eight years old.
[16:38]Like I did not understand.
[16:40]I was getting a press for the first time.
[16:42]I was just like a cute little girl with braces.
[16:45]I just didn't know what was happening in my life.
[16:48]So that turned into a 12-book series pretty quickly.
[16:52]Turn into an off-Broadway show
[16:54]that I got to star in eventually.
[16:56]So it all started with cupcakes,
[16:58]with a little girl with multiple love cupcakes.
[17:01]And then I was around 14 where I came out with fashion academy.
[17:06]She's a product by my loved project runway.
[17:09]So I was inspired by Project One runway.
[17:12]And then Ask Emma was the most recent children book series
[17:17]that's inspired by, I was a blogger at the time.
[17:20]I had a blog and fashion blog.
[17:22]And Emma was also a blogger, and she gets cyber bullied.
[17:26]And that's something I was going through at the time.
[17:28]So it was always important to me to take these real-life themes
[17:32]that are either taboo or things that aren't talked about as much
[17:36]and place them on paper to try and help people
[17:41]and try and normalize these things.
[17:43]That's still what I'm trying to do through my book.
[17:46]I just wanted to be a little bit more vulnerable
[17:49]because the best writing is true writing.
[17:51]And I really just wanted to write what I know,
[17:55]which is my own life and adulting and all this stuff
[17:59]that I'm going through right now in this crazy time in my life.
[18:02]Oh my gosh.
[18:03]And now also you're working for the New York Post,
[18:05]or you worked there for the summer?
[18:06]What's going on with that?
[18:08]So it was a summer internship.
[18:09]I wish I could have extended, but I do have to finish college.
[18:13]Yeah, it's crazy.
[18:16]I'm in my senior year of college right now.
[18:18]So this month especially, I feel like I'm doing a juggling
[18:22]at this week's Fashion Week.
[18:24]I have a book coming out.
[18:25]I have a three-hour college class right after this interview.
[18:29]Oh my gosh.
[18:30]How are you doing all this?
[18:32]How are you getting through and maintaining any level of sanity
[18:36]and being down to earth and all of that?
[18:38]How do you do that?
[18:40]Ironically, by squeezing in a workout into my day.
[18:44]So by adding something more, it makes me feel better.
[18:47]So fitness is a huge part of my life, too.
[18:49]You see the Peloton sitting in the background.
[18:52]I can't survive that my Peloton.
[18:54]I write about it a bunch in the book, too.
[18:56]There's a little pinch of Peloton.
[18:58]I always say that Peloton saved my life.
[19:00]I really could not have gotten through the pandemic without it.
[19:04]So I think what my Peloton is how I keep my sanity.
[19:08]Like I wish they could sponsor me.
[19:10]They sponsor me.
[19:11]You should teach.
[19:12]I'm sure they would sponsor you.
[19:14]It's mine for three years.
[19:16]What?
[19:17]They sponsored this podcast a few times.
[19:20]Oh, I love Peloton.
[19:21]That's a major sponsor share.
[19:23]I'm sure you could make that happen.
[19:25]I can't believe you can make that happen.
[19:27]I have no doubt you will figure this out.
[19:29]You found a free promo.
[19:30]I give them.
[19:31]And I just don't even care.
[19:34]I write about that.
[19:35]I post all my story every single day.
[19:38]I mean, I think you better get your people on this.
[19:41]I don't know.
[19:41]You must have people.
[19:42]Get those people on it.
[19:43]I'm trying.
[19:47]Oh, my gosh.
[19:48]So you've already accomplished things
[19:51]that a lot of people in the world
[19:54]could never dream of accomplishing.
[19:55]And that many people set as goals, right
[19:58]a book, right, a children's book, right, a book.
[19:59]See you.
[20:00]you know, become famous, become this because you know, all these things like where and you're just
[20:06]graduating college. So what what are you thinking for your life now? Like what is providing meaning
[20:12]and what do you want to do next really like on a deep on a you know, unlike a what job like what
[20:19]do you want out of life? I think that question is what draft me every day. What really burdens me
[20:27]meaning what brings me the most joy in life. I think as a teenager and in a lot of these chapters
[20:32]in the book I was a little bit lost. I was doing a lot of different things but I didn't really
[20:39]focus on what was bringing me the most joy. So it changes over time. I think a few years ago I
[20:47]loved social media and I still like it but it's not like where my heart is at least not anymore.
[20:55]So I'll keep it in my tool box but I don't want to be a full-time influencer. It's not sustainable
[21:02]to talk and go away at any moment. I've just always remained grounded when it comes to that.
[21:08]So I'll keep that on the side where my heart really is and it keeps coming back to is writing
[21:14]journalism. I'm studying journalism in college. I'd love to work for a publication, a newspaper,
[21:22]place like the New York Post would be amazing. I just loved telling meaningful stories. I think
[21:29]my work, whatever I'd write about in the past have some sense of meaning. I think about the other
[21:34]day I was doing a reporting job at my school and I was they said to me like okay what you're
[21:42]going to do for this interview is it's just going to be what teams call it a vibe check.
[21:48]you're just going to ask these people you're interviewing. How are you feeling about this today?
[21:55]What is it? What's the excitement like here? It's just what's like basic question and I
[22:00]walked out of it and I just felt so useless as a writer and reporter and I was like this is not
[22:07]the type of thing I want to be doing. Like I don't want to just be like a vibe check writer for
[22:12]a living. I want to write things that matter and I got out of that situation. I'm so frustrated
[22:17]because I realized like I don't, I love writing a book. I wrote another book my boyfriend with
[22:23]murder me. So I think journalism is just where I want to be. There's so many important things
[22:30]going on in the world right now that I would just love to talk about and bring more attention to.
[22:35]That's great. Good for you. So awesome. And it's part of a Peloton instructor. A Peloton
[22:42]Well, you ran marathons too, right? You're like, you're like a total athlete. Maybe you should do
[22:47]that on the side. I mean, I wish. I always say the writing thing doesn't work out. Maybe in like 10 years
[22:54]I'll head up Peloton and spend them my essay. I feel like I love to give out that. It's great to
[23:04]keep that kind of balance and get the physical out. I mean, you know, they do say that working out is
[23:10]so helpful for anxiety and I keep ignoring all the advice that not managing my own anxiety and
[23:14]not exercising. So I'm like, I do always feel better. And yet I still don't do it. I don't know what's
[23:20]wrong with me. You know, but it helps. It really done. Yeah. So how do you feel about just being so
[23:29]in the public eye and putting so much of your life out there and then having like the piece of
[23:35]yourself that you sort of protect? Like, do you feel like you've been able to carve that out? Do
[23:41]you know, like writing a memoir, being on social from such a young age and all this stuff? Like,
[23:47]I mean, I don't know. Is there like, do you feel like you just have like a safe space if you will?
[23:51]Yeah. I think I've gotten better at it. I think when I first grew up on TikTok over the pandemic,
[23:57]that line wasn't as clear as it was just all about the followers and the fame and people
[24:04]recognizing me on the street was all so exciting. And that was my entire life. That was all I
[24:09]focused on. And I actually think that to a particular moment when I was experiencing anxiety for the
[24:15]first time, I had a friend come over to the Hamptons and we got in a huge fight because she said
[24:24]I was ignoring her and I wasn't living in the moment. So on one note, I feel like I was in the right
[24:33]because I was super anxious and I was doing things that made me happy at the time, which was
[24:38]social media and Peloton and just like directing my attention towards something I was passionate
[24:43]about in order to feel better. But I think now, being more mature and having gone through
[24:50]anxiety a little bit more, like I understand. And I think there's such a value in living in the
[24:55]moment. I used to make fun of her because she wanted to go outside and build a snowman with me
[25:00]and like take in the snow. But all I wanted to do is like take a boomerang of the snow falling down.
[25:06]But now like I put my phone away and I take in what's going on around me and I I live in the
[25:14]moment. I get with my mom sometimes when we're at like let's say I took her the other day to an
[25:19]afternoon tea and she's like taking pictures and on her phone and I just told her a million times
[25:24]get off your phone. Take this in. This is like life is so beautiful. If yes, it's fun to
[25:32]like chronicle everything that's going on in your life on your phone. But do that for a second and
[25:37]then get off your phone and take everything in. So that realization is something that's really
[25:42]grounded me and it feels like I'm not as connected to the public eye when I'm off my phone.
[25:49]So that balanced with going out on a run and not caring if I'm recognized and stuff,
[25:57]stuff like that. I love it. On Instagram, I was checking it out with my daughter and I was like,
[26:03]oh, I love that dress. I love that dress. Oh, that's so cute. And I was like, where is it from?
[26:08]I'm like, why does she not say where it's from? Isn't that what she's been? She's like,
[26:11]no, you don't do that anymore. I'm like, what? So why why are we not saying we're the dress
[26:16]from? Because now I want to go get that blue dress you're wearing. And I don't know where it's
[26:20]from. Yeah, so your daughter's on the money. I did that a lot back in the day when I was in my
[26:27]fashion blogger era. I just feel like now it comes off as inauthentic. Like if you're tagging
[26:35]all your clothes, it just looks like an ad. I mean, sometimes let's say I do a photo carousel
[26:41]with a bunch of different photos in the same outfit on the last slide. I might tag my outfit.
[26:48]But I think people will take you more seriously or look up to you more the more genuine you are.
[26:55]So I think it's just much, I don't know, it's much like more authentic. That's like the
[27:02]living I can say. Like I don't really request clothes anymore or not as often. Like I just wear
[27:10]what makes me feel good. Maybe if I'm going to fashion week, like I'm going to be tagging my outfits
[27:15]because it's fashion week and people want to know what I'm wearing. That's fine. But if I'm posting
[27:20]like a photo with a friend in a t-shirt and shorts, I'm not going to tag my pair of denim shorts
[27:27]just because I want another free pair of denim shorts. That's not the thing anymore to do.
[27:33]Okay, great. My send tells me that you're only supposed to have like six photos on your Instagram
[27:39]now. Have you heard of this trend? How old is your son? 16, they're twins. Got it. Yeah, he's like
[27:48]now you're not supposed to have a whole backlog of photos. You just have to have six. Maybe I should
[27:52]go delete some photos. Oh my gosh. Okay, what advice do you have for aspiring authors?
[28:00]Oh, advice I have for aspiring authors. I said this earlier, right what you know. If you write
[28:08]something that doesn't resonate with you or you're trying to be a writer or type of writer that
[28:14]you're not, it's not going to turn out well. Like I said, the best writing is true writing. Once
[28:19]you start writing about something that you really love, whether it's your own life or something
[28:26]passionate about, that's when you're going to turn out the best quality writing, I think.
[28:33]Okay, I love it. Well, Carrie, excited for the store. Thank you for doing an event.
[28:39]So awesome and congratulations on my real life romcom. And I'm glad there's a
[28:44]not that it's a happy ending that you end up with someone because that's not the important thing.
[28:48]The important thing is to realize you only need yourself and that everything else is from gravy
[28:51]afterwards, right? There you go. It's still, I mean, it's it's it's it's really fun to watch.
[28:57]It's just fun to watch and see what happens. So has your teenager read it yet? Yeah, my daughter.
[29:01]Yeah. You read it? Yeah. I mean, she didn't she didn't finish it, but she is like 55 pages in and
[29:08]she was loving it. Yeah. I've got to say, this is it wasn't supposed to be like this at first,
[29:13]but I kind of realized it's such like a fun gift for moms to give their daughters.
[29:19]Yes. With the holidays coming up. I mean, follow, wait, there's like so many like exciting
[29:25]things back to school. I mean, hello. Yeah. This is fun. The coming of age read that I really
[29:31]think moms could get their daughters. It's a great conversation starter too. Yeah. That doesn't
[29:36]make sex relationships as taboo in a mother-daughter relationship. So I'm I'm really happy.
[29:42]Like it's turned into something that's this isn't the type of book you have to keep a secret
[29:47]from your mom. No person. You got to get it on the butts of a circuit, you know, but
[29:52]mitzvah gifts. Anyway, there's a bought mitzvah chapter in the book. I know. That's what I'm saying,
[29:56]you know, you go into your banana. It's fun. Everything. Okay.
[30:00]Um, thanks so much, Kerry.
[30:01]Congratulations.
[30:02]Thank you.
[30:03]Okay, take care.
[30:04]Bye-bye.
[30:05]Bye-bye.
[30:06]Thanks for listening to this episode of Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books.
[30:10]Don't forget to follow me on Instagram at zibbowens and at Moms Don't Have Time to Read
[30:14]Books.
[30:15]Also sign up for my newsletter at zibbowens.com and sign up for my virtual book club and
[30:20]meet lots of authors on Zoom every other week.
[30:22]Thanks so much to Steve and Ryan McTextur Sound for the Sound Editing.
[30:26]And thank you to Morning Moon Productions for providing this fantastic intro.
[30:29]Good afternoon, music.