Danny Pellegrino, THE JOLLIEST BUNCH: Unhinged Holiday Stories
[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.
[0:21]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.
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[0:34]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.
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[1:03]This special episode is presented by Nordstrom and ACAST Creative.
[1:07]I'll start with the bio of Danny Pellegrino.
[1:09]Danny Pellegrino is a comedian, writer, and the host of the popular pop culture podcast
[1:15]Everything Iconic.
[1:16]His first book, How Do I Unremember This, was the New York Times bestseller and target
[1:20]book club pick.
[1:22]His follow up is a collection of hilarious and heartfelt holiday stories called The
[1:27]Jolliest Bunch out October 24th of this year.
[1:31]Welcome Danny.
[1:32]Thanks so much for coming on Momstone.
[1:33]Have time to read books to discuss The Jolliest Bunch Unhinged Holiday Stories.
[1:37]Thank you so much for having me Zippy.
[1:39]I'm so excited to talk to you and I'm a huge fan of your work.
[1:42]So thank you for having me.
[1:43]Oh, thank you.
[1:44]I feel like I know you so well now.
[1:46]I know everybody says this after they read your books, but I really, I don't feel like
[1:51]I know your mom so well and I know you and your family and oh my gosh, the one, the part
[1:56]of the book with the strand of the three lights that are still out and missing your
[2:01]mom.
[2:02]Oh my gosh.
[2:03]I was so sad reading it anyway.
[2:04]Most of it was so funny.
[2:05]But I mean, the book really is like a love letter to moms and my mom and I have a very
[2:09]close relationship and there's a lot of chaos with the holidays.
[2:12]So there's a lot of laughs on moms behalf, I think.
[2:16]Yeah.
[2:17]But I really hope it comes across just how much in particular with moms.
[2:20]I just I'm I'm so close with my mom and I think moms are the best people in the world.
[2:24]So amazing.
[2:25]Well, why don't you why don't I take it back a minute and ask, you know, why why did
[2:30]you write this book?
[2:31]Why the jolly is French and what's it really about?
[2:34]Yeah.
[2:35]So I came out with a book last year called How Do I And Remember This and was collection
[2:38]of stories and a lot of them were family stories and those were the stories that I heard
[2:42]from the most when I was on my book tour and meeting people and on social media.
[2:47]And I think people really related to the stories about my parents and my older brothers
[2:50]and being raised in this Midwest family.
[2:53]And while I was writing that book, there were so many chapters that were sort of centered
[2:58]around the holidays.
[2:59]So in my head, I thought I can't have them all in this book.
[3:03]But I had this fantasy of doing a holiday collection.
[3:06]I grew up loving like David Sedaris and Jean Shepherd has a great essay collection that
[3:10]was the basis of a Christmas story, which is a movie that's played a million times.
[3:14]But I love the idea of having like a holiday collection that people could pick up over
[3:19]the holiday season and read every holiday season or just stories that are little nuggets
[3:24]that people can read in between shopping and baking and doing all the craziness.
[3:28]And hopefully have some laughs and there's a little, hopefully some heart in there too.
[3:33]But I'm really just wanting people to be able to pick it up and laugh.
[3:37]What I think about the holidays and this book in particular, I think if you love the holidays,
[3:42]hopefully you'll like the love letter to the holidays.
[3:44]And if you hate the holidays, hopefully you'll find the humor in it throughout this book, too.
[3:48]So I like to think it's for anyone.
[3:50]It's absolutely for everyone and so great.
[3:54]The story you told about driving cross country was her name Barbara.
[3:57]I think her name is Barbara.
[3:58]Oh, my gosh, I was laughing out loud.
[4:02]I kept like quietly laughing.
[4:04]I was like, oh my gosh, this is so funny.
[4:06]Why don't you just summarize what happened with Barbara and she's your voice is so funny.
[4:12]Just like hearing your internal on the log, but like on the page while you deal with it was
[4:17]so funny.
[4:18]Thank you.
[4:19]Thank you.
[4:20]I was this woman.
[4:21]Her name was actually Claudia, but I had, no, no, it's okay.
[4:24]I was trying to think, too, because I changed all the names.
[4:27]So sometimes I'm like, wait, who, a third name in the back and first is real life.
[4:31]So I took a cross country road trip the only time I ever drove from California to Ohio,
[4:37]which is where I'm from.
[4:38]I happened to be for the holidays, basically a friend of a friend, someone who worked with
[4:41]a friend was doing the road trip.
[4:44]And so I naively jumped in her car and it was just a sort of chaotic trip and she,
[4:49]this woman was a little crazy, but it, it very crazy, but it, I always kind of like
[4:55]the craziness.
[4:56]I like to look around and being like, what's going on here?
[4:59]Why am I in this situation?
[5:01]But it's just sort of a cross country road trip gone awry to get home for the holidays,
[5:05]which I think is as I've gotten older, I don't always feel so much pressure to make
[5:10]it back to Ohio for the holidays, but throughout the years, you know, there is that every
[5:14]time November, December comes around, you're thinking, okay, when am I going to get back
[5:18]to see my, my parents or my siblings and there is so much pressure it seems to, to try
[5:25]to make it, especially if you're someone who lives out of state from the rest of your
[5:27]family.
[5:28]So you do whatever it takes.
[5:29]And at the time I was in my twenties and I didn't have a lot of money, so I couldn't afford
[5:32]the plane ticket and it was an opportunity to get home and see everyone.
[5:36]So I took the opportunity, but there was craziness.
[5:39]She ended up, I found out throughout the road trip that she had been drinking while driving,
[5:43]which we do not support and I did not know that.
[5:47]And then, because you were so funny though, because you're like, oh my gosh, it's your birthday
[5:51]happy birthday.
[5:52]How are you going to celebrate?
[5:53]And she's like, I already had a few drinks and you're like, Oh, last night, she's like,
[5:56]no, no, this morning, she was one of those people though.
[6:00]And I envy this in people just so unapologetically doing what like marching to the beat of
[6:06]their own drum.
[6:08]And she's someone that was so unfiltered too.
[6:12]And that's something I envy, I'm someone who's in my head a lot and I always want everyone
[6:16]to get along and all that kind of stuff.
[6:19]And I always, I like to be around people like that who are so outspoken and just say exactly
[6:24]what's on their mind and have kind of dirty sailor mouths and I tend to gravitate towards
[6:29]those people.
[6:30]I think probably because I might be a little bit of the opposite, but she was one of those
[6:33]people who kind of pulls you out of your shell, but yeah, she just was living in her own
[6:39]world.
[6:40]And I envy that so many ways.
[6:41]Well, the best part was not her, but just the way that you interacted with her.
[6:45]And I don't want to keep harping on this, but when you were at the gas station and you
[6:48]were trying to buy Oreos and like a Coke or something.
[6:50]And she was like, we have to go and shove something deep into your pocket and you thought
[6:54]you were stealing, but actually it was just paper towels.
[6:56]Oh, my gosh.
[6:57]Anyway, I know I thought she was going to get me arrested this woman, but yeah, I wanted
[7:03]all the stories to kind of feel.
[7:05]The first book a lot of people were telling me kind of the stories felt like the movie
[7:09]Vacation, like Clark Criswald.
[7:11]And so I kind of liken this to like a Christmas Vacation where each chapter will kind
[7:16]of highlight some of the absurdity that goes on around the holidays and whether it be
[7:20]getting home for Christmas or doing a childhood Christmas play or whatever it is.
[7:25]Having a your epigraph by Clark Criswald was the greatest having that book, I was like,
[7:31]I am going to love this book.
[7:32]This is amazing.
[7:33]Yeah, the title comes from the speech from the movie Christmas Vacation where he says,
[7:37]Santa is going to squeeze his ass down the chimney and see the jolly as bunch of a holes
[7:41]inside the meth house.
[7:43]Well, it's not all laughs as we alluded to.
[7:47]There's some very real feelings that really speak to how stressful the holidays can be.
[7:52]There's the scene where your mom and you kind of ask the question, which of course everyone
[7:56]who hosts events always ask, why do we do this to ourselves?
[7:59]Like why?
[8:00]And you're like, why is she doing this to yourself hosting holidays and Christmas and cooking
[8:03]all day and all of this stuff?
[8:05]Because it happens every year and we'd be fine with like pizza.
[8:08]But anyway, people try themselves nuts trying to make the perfect Christmas Eve party.
[8:13]That's what my mom does every year.
[8:15]And she never enjoys it.
[8:16]And every year we're like, mom, why are we doing this?
[8:18]Like why don't we just do a scaled down?
[8:20]Why don't we all just watch a movie at home or something?
[8:23]Relax.
[8:24]Just the media family or something.
[8:25]But it always has to be this big elaborate thing that inevitably turns into chaos.
[8:30]And my mom screaming that she wants to go sit on the corner because that's always
[8:36]like her famous things.
[8:37]Like I'm getting in the car and I'm going on the corner, going on the corner, Dan.
[8:41]And we're like, what are you talking about?
[8:43]But there's so much emotion.
[8:44]She's trying to make it perfect, but you can't make the holidays perfect.
[8:47]They're imperfect.
[8:48]True.
[8:49]I feel like that just that scene where your mom was in the car and you found her in there
[8:54]and she was basically just like having a moment with the corner and all that.
[8:58]But really just like a moment to regroup and freak out and then cut to not even an hour
[9:03]later when she's walking, everyone's walking in and it's beautiful and she's like, it
[9:06]was nothing.
[9:07]Right.
[9:08]That's that's always the dichotomy.
[9:09]As I know before anyone gets there and it's very Midwest Catholic upbringing where it's
[9:15]like sweep everything under the rug, but it's like the immediate family knows what's
[9:18]going on in the house, but then immediately or as soon as the other people come over the
[9:23]the aunts, the uncles, the cousins, then it's like we're presenting the Brady Bunch face.
[9:28]And we're oh, it's my mom's like, oh, it's nothing.
[9:30]This is also pleasant and I can't wait to do it again next year, but then right, five minutes
[9:35]before that she's having like a total breakdown and we're all fighting and all of that.
[9:41]I think actually it really allows for much more closeness if you show the behind the scenes,
[9:47]right.
[9:48]If two families getting together could see the craziness of right before they meet up,
[9:52]it would just allow for a much deeper level of conversations.
[9:55]Yeah.
[9:56]It's amazing.
[9:57]With my other book, I told a story about a family vacation.
[10:00]And I thought, oh, this is such a crazy family vacation story, but then I heard from so many people with their own crazy family vacation stories that were even wilder.
[10:10]And it's, yeah, everyone has everyone I think goes through these similar touchstones.
[10:15]They might look a little different, but I think most people, whether it be Christmas Eve dinner or some other holiday at birthday or just having a nice dinner on a Sunday, I think people all kind of go through those moments right before the company gets there or there.
[10:29]That's absolutely true. So why do you think we do it? Why is it all worthwhile when there's so much stress and what can we do about what do you think? Like is there anything that could make it any easier?
[10:41]I think those stories that we all remember from our childhood that were chaotic over time they become these loving stories that we look back on fondly, but in the moment they weren't they were, you know, so filled with bad emotions anger sadness, whatever, but when we look back and so I think as we get older, we try to sort of recreate those moments that we thought were so perfect, but of course they weren't whether that was in the past or present.
[11:09]We do keep chasing that high, but ultimately we're chasing the imperfection story. So I also think the holidays are a beautiful, I mean there's so much chaos, but it's also so beautiful.
[11:20]I love the twinkle lights everywhere. I love the colors. I'm, I'm decorated for Halloween now, but I'm so excited for Christmas time decorate, but there's also so much joy and and music and nostalgia that makes us feel good.
[11:34]So yeah, I think we just keep chasing those highs of our, or maybe not our youth, but those holidays we remember that seems so perfect in our head, but I think of most people were to kind of take a step back and reexamine those moments that they held so fondly in their heads, they might realize there were, it wasn't as perfect as they thought.
[11:53]Yeah, I think the things you remember the most are the things that go wrong and they become the funny stories. In the end, does it really matter how beautiful the table or where every fork is said or, you know, those things fade, they fade quickly.
[12:08]Do you have a favorite holiday memory is there like one that sort of jumps out at your head in your head as I mention that favorite holiday memories. I just feel like whenever my family would get together, even for Thanksgiving, for example, like the guys would all go in one room and watch the football game and talk about business like all the women would be in the kitchen and I was like, I don't want to be in the kitchen.
[12:31]I want to be with the guys. I want to be talking about, you know, like, so I would kind of sit and does love to my dad on the chair and just like listen to their conversation and listen to the sounds of the football and I don't know.
[12:41]It makes me look so fondly with my dad and my uncle is my grandfather and anyway, I don't know.
[12:46]And the other thing too, I think with the holidays is you remember sort of those people in your family unit that are no longer with you. And so sometimes that nostalgia is so tied to the people in our lives.
[12:56]And yeah, yeah, you think about people you've lost and the holidays you had with them or, or even the new people I think as families grow and kids come into the world.
[13:06]I was the opposite of you though. I was always looking to be in the kitchen with the women.
[13:11]Like, I just, yeah.
[13:13]We could have just been in the kitchen.
[13:14]The same occasion and just swapped.
[13:15]It was fun.
[13:16]Yeah, like I don't like to cook really in a, I don't know what's going on with football.
[13:20]I want to be gossiping with the women in the kitchen.
[13:22]I always say like my home base is the oldest woman in a room.
[13:26]That's where most people like put me near the grandma, the whoever the person is in the kitchen, the oldest woman there is who I want to chat with.
[13:34]My grandma would have loved you.
[13:37]As a working mother of four, I know just how hard it is to juggle our already packed schedules during the holiday season.
[13:43]Having one place to shop for everyone in the families growing personality and styles makes at least thoughtful gift giving that much easier.
[13:51]No, it's Jim has gift wrap and box options in store and online.
[13:55]They also offer free style health.
[13:57]So you can book an appointment with a stylist for free and their experts will create looks to match your style and budget or even select the perfect gift for everyone.
[14:05]For everyone on your list as for attending eight million performances, concerts, class parties, sports games and family gatherings, still starting that out for gifts.
[14:14]I'm getting everything all in one place at Nordstrom that go to destination for the entire family's holiday party and shopping needs.
[14:21]See you there.
[14:22]Nordstrom makes it easy.
[14:23]You're home for the holidays.
[14:25]And I know that you are involved with Nordstrom.
[14:28]You have all these amazing deals like you're just like you're everywhere.
[14:31]So tell me about what you love at Nordstrom or what you've gotten there lately.
[14:35]And you know what you recommend for holiday gifts.
[14:38]Well, Nordstrom is so great.
[14:39]They have everything.
[14:40]But I think in terms of worth talking books and they have so many different things that you.
[14:44]I am a big fan of creating the vibe around your reading.
[14:48]So I mean, you are in a beautiful library right there.
[14:50]But I think it's so important to.
[14:52]So if you like candles, light a nice candle and put on a cozy blanket.
[14:56]I love the nest candles, which you can find there.
[15:00]And then there's so many different great cozy blankets.
[15:02]I always think that makes a great book or a great gift and putting those together.
[15:06]And I give basket with some good chocolate.
[15:09]I think it's important for everyone to have a good chocolate tier or a good chocolate.
[15:14]I really love the Tony's chocolate.
[15:16]I know that's not what we're talking about here, but the Tony's chocolate Tony.
[15:18]I think it's called.
[15:19]I feel really passionate about them lately.
[15:22]But I think you're putting together going.
[15:25]And if you have a reader in your life, you can get the jolly's bunch or another book.
[15:29]But just put together a gift basket with some of the stuff from Nordstrom.
[15:33]And they have everything.
[15:34]Also, I want to say the Nordstrom cafe.
[15:36]It's attached to a lot of the Nordstrom, not all of them have them.
[15:40]But the blackened chicken Caesar salad is truly like the best Caesar salad ever.
[15:46]I love it.
[15:47]Get it.
[15:48]Blackened chicken and chopped.
[15:50]Yeah.
[15:51]I like to ask for salads extra chopped.
[15:54]I have to say.
[15:55]Sometimes they're not chopped enough.
[15:57]I mean, come on.
[15:58]I'm with you.
[15:59]I have a beautiful green throat that I got at Nordstrom.
[16:02]And I feel like if you put a plant and a green throat and maybe a coffee table book about
[16:07]plants, all of a sudden you have like the outside in makes a new vibe.
[16:11]I have that in my office.
[16:13]I also just have to say that one of the great things about them is if returning stuff is so
[16:18]easy there or exchanging.
[16:20]And I think that's great for gift giving because I don't know about you.
[16:23]But sometimes you get something from a specialty store that you don't want.
[16:27]And you can't exchange your return.
[16:29]And they just could have good customer service and stuff there.
[16:33]Last year, my son was like trying to meet some girl or something.
[16:37]So we were in a part of this village.
[16:39]I'd like town I'd never been in, but they had a mall.
[16:42]And it was near the holidays, not that close though.
[16:45]And I was like, well, let's just go walk around the mall.
[16:47]There's nothing else to do here.
[16:48]And I was like, wait a minute.
[16:49]I don't have to order stuff online.
[16:51]Like, you know, you get in those habits.
[16:52]I'm like, I could just actually do it here with the kids.
[16:55]And next thing is we were running everywhere.
[16:57]We got him like spent the afternoon wrapping ourselves.
[17:00]Although I know that Nordstrom has amazing wrapping services.
[17:02]But we were not there that time, which is why I'm going to go there this time.
[17:05]Because it took us like another two hours to wrap everything.
[17:08]But I was like, this is so efficient.
[17:10]Sometimes it's the easiest way.
[17:11]It's easier because it's the easiest way.
[17:13]It's easier to go.
[17:15]I remember shopping with with my mom when we would go for Christmas shopping.
[17:19]We would just go together, me and my brothers with with her.
[17:22]And she would we'd see something.
[17:24]And I'd be like, oh, I really like that t-shirt or whatever.
[17:26]And she'd be like, okay, why don't you guys go.
[17:28]Go get a pretzel in the mall food court or something.
[17:31]She's like, I'm going to sit in Nordstrom and do all the shopping.
[17:33]And so she'd be able to get it done.
[17:35]Or if you're with someone, just send them away while you're at Nordstrom.
[17:38]Say go to the restroom, go look for something else.
[17:41]And then you can buy it there.
[17:43]Yeah.
[17:44]Perfect.
[17:45]Makes it so easy.
[17:46]Yeah.
[17:47]I know.
[17:48]It's amazing.
[17:49]So how do you fit in everything that you do in life?
[17:51]You have written two books, podcasting, everything like when do you do what?
[17:56]And tell me about your whole podcasting experience and how you even got into podcasting and writing and all of that.
[18:01]Thank you.
[18:02]Yeah.
[18:03]I started podcasting like five years ago.
[18:05]My show is called Everything Iconic.
[18:06]And I had been doing stand up and sketch comedy around town and Los Angeles.
[18:11]And I lived in Chicago for a couple of years.
[18:14]And I was sort of struggling.
[18:16]I'd fallen into a bit of depression.
[18:19]And so I had some mental health struggles.
[18:20]And I thought at that time I was like, I'm never going to perform again.
[18:23]A friend recommended a podcast because she said you could talk about what you want.
[18:28]You could, you can do some comedy and all that kind of stuff.
[18:31]And so ultimately I picked up a microphone and I started podcasting.
[18:35]And it grew quicker than I thought and it led to performing live.
[18:39]And I have been touring and doing shows across the country.
[18:43]And it's been really fun.
[18:44]And my show is a mix of a lot.
[18:47]I cover a lot of like reality TV and bravo.
[18:49]So I cover a lot of real housewives.
[18:51]So I'd say it's about like 80% reality TV.
[18:54]And then 20% celebrity guests.
[18:56]So I just recently had a dean of in salon.
[18:58]But I've had Drew Barrymore, Kelly Ripa, Andy Cohen, all sorts of great people on.
[19:03]So it's a fun mix.
[19:04]I try to just follow what I'm interested in.
[19:06]So sometimes I will cover other shows.
[19:09]I just recently recapped the and just like that series, which is a crazy show.
[19:14]But fun, fun, crazy to watch.
[19:16]And so I just, yeah, it's a lot of pop culture is the long story short.
[19:21]And I, in terms of finding time, I don't know.
[19:24]I just, I'm someone I really like to work and I like to keep busy.
[19:27]I feel like that's when I'm comfortable.
[19:29]That's where I'm comfortable at.
[19:31]So I just, I don't know.
[19:34]I sort of fit it all in.
[19:36]Amazing. Is there anything you wish you had more time for, especially around the holidays?
[19:40]Oh, yeah.
[19:41]Around the holidays, I think just, I love to sit and watch.
[19:45]I'm a huge hallmark movie, Christmas movie fan.
[19:48]And so I always find that I wish I had more time.
[19:51]I mean, I say that, but I also, I spend a lot of hours watching.
[19:55]Countdown to Christmas and all those cheesy holiday movies.
[19:59]But.
[20:00]Yeah, I wish sometimes I had more time or even just a cook. I'm I love to cook, but sometimes I don't know if you find this
[20:07]It's a lot of time to clean and cook and everything and when I cook
[20:11]I like to have a lot of time that I could just really like settle in and relax into it and
[20:16]But get a have a recipe going that I can have plenty of time to screw up or to experiment with and just kind of play around in the kitchen
[20:24]So I think that's probably those two things would be the thing. I wish I had more time for I
[20:29]I recently got into late. I hope I'm saying this right like crusade like like crusade
[20:34]Yeah, yeah, but I got this one of the pumpkin Dutch ovens and so it's become sort of this weird goal this holiday season to make as much as I can
[20:43]I've because it's a very expensive a piece of equipment and so it's an excuse
[20:48]I've had is like I have to use that so it's sort of forcing me to try different recipes in there and
[20:54]And that's my focus this year. I love that my husband's the same way
[20:58]He likes to just happy. He's like when I am like the kids have to eat at like six 30 because we have this we have that
[21:02]And he's like, but no when I cook I can't feel like looking at the clock. I'm like pretty mean like
[21:09]Difference so he's now he cooks when he has time on the weekends. He's so good
[21:13]But yeah, if you if you rush it or if it's something we kids don't like he's like you're taking all the joy out of cooking
[21:19]Well, I'm sure it's so much more stressful with kids too. I don't have kids
[21:22]But I would imagine yeah, I haven't to feed all a bunch of kids
[21:25]It's like you may do you don't have time? You don't have the energy to be able to
[21:31]Experiment for hours, but I love like a Sunday. I'm Italian and so we would spend Sundays where it's like you're just around the pot of pasta
[21:39]for hours and it's cooking all day and there's different
[21:44]Grandma's bringing out different dishes to the table while you're waiting for the sauce to be done and so I like kind of I
[21:50]The ideal Sunday is like being able to read and cook and just sort of sit around and
[21:55]Do that all day. Oh my gosh. Are you working on another book already? I have like an idea for another one
[22:00]So hopefully people buy this one and let me do another one and then I really have this fantasy of doing a children's book of about cozy rodents
[22:09]It's sort of a in a running gag on my podcast because I sort of I have a fear of I don't like rats and rodents and so it's become this
[22:17]Idea of like facing my fear and doing a book about really cozy rodents
[22:22]So I know that's like a fantasy of mine, but maybe one day. Yeah
[22:26]Are there a lot of people who like rodents not to you know if you wrote it
[22:29]No, but come to join or anything, but you know. No, I don't think many people like them
[22:33]But one of the interesting things I found is there are so many books about rodents like the sort of oils and the there's so many
[22:39]kind of nice children's stories about rats and mice and
[22:44]Squirrels and all sorts of stuff. That's true. Yeah, you should definitely do that. That sounds great
[22:49]We were thinking of doing a book
[22:51]I've done moms don't have time to have kids and moms that have time to anthologies
[22:54]So we were thinking of moms that have time for the holidays where authors would write different essays
[22:59]So I mean yours is all written by units. So brilliant, but maybe if I ever get time
[23:04]I hope you did that city selfishly. I want that book. So please just find that okay, but you'll have to write nothing
[23:10]I really found that there weren't till I would love to but I found that there weren't a lot of
[23:16]There's so many essay collections or story collections, but in terms of holiday season
[23:20]Ones, there weren't a ton and I always go back to the santa land diaries or in god
[23:26]We trust the gene shepherd book or or even surviving Christmas like I go back and read those holiday books every year and so
[23:33]I love and I love I think especially around the holidays season ever and so busy sometimes you might not have
[23:38]Time to read a book cover to cover so being able to get little shorter essays that I am a fan of are you an audio book listener
[23:46]Yeah, I'm more I like to hold the book. I'm not as much of an audiobook person
[23:51]But I know people love it. I shouldn't say that as a podcaster because
[23:56]But I prefer I just love that I think there's something so satisfying about like closing a book and
[24:02]Being done with it and I also earmark pages sometimes if I like something or yeah
[24:09]I'm with you. How about you? Yeah, you're hard. I
[24:12]Sometimes I just don't think to listen to audiobooks
[24:14]I do like audiobooks the other day. I had to walk to my kid's school
[24:18]And I was quite a distance and I passed this woman who was like, you know booking it down the street with her earpods
[24:23]And I was like I should put earpods in
[24:26]I could use this time instead of just like spending 20 minutes walking. I know and sometimes people do audiobooks
[24:32]I think even better than the print copy I listened to I read the Mariah Carey book
[24:37]But I also listened to it. So I did both and it was fascinating
[24:41]To be able to hear even throughout it. She would sing certain things and so you kind of get a different experience with audiobooks sometimes
[24:48]But I did listen at the Matthew McConaughey's audiobook. Have you listened to green lights?
[24:52]No, I haven't listened, but he's got that's one to listen to I think because and I saw you interviewed him
[24:57]I did he's got that great draw on his voice. So yeah, I would highly recommend highly recommend
[25:04]I read green lights, but now I might have to go back and listen to it. Yeah. What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
[25:11]I think
[25:12]Just follow what you with anything in the arts. I think it's really just important to follow your gut and follow what you like and know that if it's something
[25:20]You think you would like there's gonna be other people out there. I think that's more important than
[25:25]Chasing or trying to write a book because a certain genre is really popular or there's an author who's really successful at the moment
[25:33]I think just kind of write the book you want whether that's fiction nonfiction whatever it is and
[25:39]Then I think that helps with your voice too because I never think of myself
[25:43]I'm not a very good technical writer and when it comes to things like grammar and spelling and there's editors that can help with that kind of stuff
[25:51]But I feel like I'm more of a creative storyteller and so there was a long period of time before I was a ghostwriter before I had written my own books
[25:59]And I think I was so worried about my technical skills, and I was so worried. Am I am I
[26:06]Crafting this sentence properly and all of those kinds of things and when I started branching off on my own
[26:11]I realized I had to kind of let go of some of that stuff and and I tried to I try my best to write more in a
[26:16]Away that I would talk and so I think that's really good in honing your voice and those technical skills are are really important
[26:23]If it's people are in school and I think it's good to know all those things
[26:26]But in terms of finding your own voice, I think you have to just kind of listen to your gut
[26:31]I think that's great advice totally agree hard to really connect if you're not bringing your most self to the table, you know
[26:36]Yeah, don't be afraid of those scary parts too. I one of the things with both my books
[26:41]I noticed was at first I was like well every chapter has to be really funny and
[26:46]Then I started realizing that I could I could have different chapters that I can have different moments in there
[26:53]Or maybe more dramatic or something and and not to shy away from those because those are me too
[26:57]I I can be really silly, but I can also be kind of dramatic and so
[27:02]That goes with that whole thing of just making it your own and making it your voice and
[27:07]Doing what you as much as you can of course within the confines of
[27:11]of a publisher and editor and those kinds of things I
[27:15]Think I think your alternation or the assortment curation of different experiences in the book really
[27:22]Echo that the landscape of holiday emotions anyway, right?
[27:26]We all have hilarious times and we have times where we're nostalgic or we're missing people or we're
[27:32]just sad about something or
[27:34]Struggling and then we're laughing about something else
[27:36]So it's very relatable and endearing honestly, although that doesn't sound like a nice word
[27:41]But I mean, you know that is a way just you know
[27:45]You want to like give you a hug after and be like, oh my god, that was amazing. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You're welcome
[27:50]Well, thank you so much for coming on mom start time to read books
[27:53]Congratulations on the jolly's sponge and I look forward to hopefully sing you around and thank you, Zivi
[27:59]I'm so excited. I'm gonna come to Santa Monica and hopefully we'll get to meet in person
[28:03]Yes, I've only heard like the best things about your place there and so I'm so excited check it out and I love
[28:08]I'm a huge bookstore person so I can spend hours in a bookstore
[28:12]So I'm so excited to make it there. Good. Come settle it
[28:16]All right, there's a lot of Danny. Thank you so much, Zivi. All right, take care
[28:20]Thanks YouTube. Bye. So remember if you're looking for the best gifts for everyone
[28:24]You love all in one place head to Nordstrom Nordstrom makes it easy
[28:28]Thank you for listening to our episode today brought to you by Nordstrom and a cast creative
[28:34]Thanks for listening to this episode of moms don't have time to read books
[28:37]Don't forget to follow me on instagram at zibi Owens and at moms don't have time to read books
[28:43]Also sign up for my newsletter at zibiowens.com and sign up for my virtual book club and meet lots of authors on zoom every other week
[28:49]Thanks so much to Steve and Ryan back texture sound for the sound editing and thank you to morning moon productions for providing this fantastic intro and out trim music