Tamika Christy, ROUX
[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
[0:30]lifestyle features.
[0:31]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.
[0:58]Enjoy.
[1:03]Tamika Christie is the author of room, award-winning author and Bay Area Native.
[1:08]Tamika has published two books, anytime soon and never too soon.
[1:12]She began writing at an early age, prompted by the gift of a journal for Christmas.
[1:16]With pen and hand, she continued writing throughout college, where she realized her talent
[1:20]for creating intriguing plots and multi-dimensional characters.
[1:23]Tamika continued to nurture her love for writing while attending law school, where she
[1:27]gave birth to her first novel anytime soon.
[1:30]Now as a practicing attorney, Tamika still devotes time to her love of writing.
[1:34]Hello.
[1:35]Hi, everyone.
[1:36]Welcome to Zippy's.
[1:37]I'm Gabby Conti and I am so excited to be here with Tamika Christie, her new book, Boo.
[1:43]You can pre-order it now.
[1:44]Yes, sweet.
[1:45]And it's so good.
[1:46]I got it.
[1:47]This is my advance copy that I got to read and I love it so much.
[1:51]And I also read her book never too soon, but we'll focus this conversation on real.
[1:55]So everyone watching at home and here can find out about it and definitely get that
[1:59]pre-order.
[2:00]When does it come out again?
[2:01]January 9th.
[2:02]January 9th.
[2:03]So you could order it now for the holidays and then it'll be an exciting surprise that
[2:08]comes from the mail after the holidays, so that's always a good choice, right?
[2:13]So before Ru, you did never too soon and anytime soon.
[2:19]And those were focused on Amaya and her journey and her world series.
[2:23]Now, and if you're familiar with those books, those are more of like lighter beach
[2:26]year reads, right?
[2:27]Yes.
[2:28]But now with Ru, we have something a little deeper when we talk about family dynamics,
[2:33]mothers and daughters.
[2:34]So I'm so curious what inspired you to come up with this book.
[2:38]The first two books, so all three of my books are about complicated relationships, family
[2:44]dynamics and just finding like discovering that inner child and finding a way to heal.
[2:50]The first two books I worked full-time and I've always enjoyed writing and so they just
[2:55]not just, but the first one was a short story and it became a novel.
[2:59]And I think I told you this, I didn't think it was the greatest, so I called myself redeeming
[3:04]myself with the second novel.
[3:06]And so it went deeper into the characters and the dynamics of the family.
[3:10]And when I started the third book, I thought, you know, I really want to challenge myself
[3:14]to write something more literary, like I really want to dig deep into this.
[3:19]And so I stuck with my passion of writing about family and complicated relationships and
[3:23]healing, but I did take it a more literary approach.
[3:26]I did keep the humor in there because life is hard and when you're tackling some of these
[3:30]heart issues, it is easy when you can come every 15 or 20 minutes upon a laugh.
[3:36]So I kept some of the light hardness in there, but I do continue to explore some of the
[3:40]deep relationships and the journey of healing.
[3:43]So it's so good.
[3:44]And it's told through three different perspectives.
[3:46]Yes.
[3:47]The Chavez family.
[3:48]Yes.
[3:49]And we have the story of we have Manon, Emerson, and Odester.
[3:54]Yes.
[3:55]So I think I'll tell their stories from different time periods.
[3:59]So why did you choose those three family members to be the voices of the story?
[4:05]I felt like those three characters, I've developed them because they were the most impacted
[4:10]by their moms and their relationships with family.
[4:13]So a lot of times, I don't know, as women, we go through different things in our relationship
[4:16]with our children, with our image, and we don't realize a lot of it comes from childhood.
[4:21]And so Manon, it's Manon, it's a French Creole.
[4:24]Oh, Manon, Manon, I'm sorry.
[4:27]Very overachieving, always appropriate, a member of everything, all the elite society.
[4:32]And you see this woman grow up to be a socialite.
[4:36]She didn't finish all of her dreams.
[4:38]She didn't accomplish the things that she wanted to when she was holding in these deep
[4:41]secrets.
[4:42]All of it was based on this overachieving, this thing that her mom and her family put
[4:49]inside of her that she couldn't get rid of.
[4:52]Odester is the middle child who, she had an undiagnosed learning disorder, and I hope
[4:59]the readers will pick up on that.
[5:01]I picked up on that.
[5:02]Yes, yes, yes.
[5:03]Undiagnosed because it was in the 60s, overlooked the other sisters were smarter, prettier
[5:07]in her eyes because they were a fair skinned.
[5:10]And you see the dynamic of her going into a relationship early.
[5:14]She's a teenage mom, and she starts dipling and dabbling into these different things in
[5:18]life.
[5:19]And you hear through her lens why I don't feel loved, I don't feel pretty, everybody cares
[5:23]about my sisters more than me.
[5:25]And so she starts to self-soothe with drugs and relationships.
[5:29]Emerson is the, she's the fourth generation.
[5:32]She doesn't know her family, she's California, she wants to know her history.
[5:36]And everything for her has been prep school and this school and this society.
[5:40]And she goes back home because she's trying to figure out who she is.
[5:43]And her mom is saying, these people are dysfunctional, all these different things are
[5:46]going on and happening.
[5:47]And she's like, no, like they're not perfect, but they're family.
[5:51]So you see the eyes through somebody who is like, oh my god, these people are incredible,
[5:54]they cook and they get together and I'll care what they do.
[5:57]And somebody who says, these people are overbearing and they want me to be something
[6:01]that I'm not and they only care about image.
[6:04]So I pick those three characters for those specific reasons so you can see the different
[6:08]dynamic.
[6:09]Same family, same lineage and the different outcomes for all three of them.
[6:15]It's interesting.
[6:16]And then Otister and Monon have that similar link where Monon's mom is Otister's sister
[6:22]who she could never live up to.
[6:24]So it's kind of like they share that I know once they try, I guess, bond.
[6:27]No, it is.
[6:28]It's a trauma.
[6:29]Yeah.
[6:30]And trauma bonding, we hear about that a lot and also just, and also family trauma that
[6:34]came up on the Kardashians.
[6:36]Oh, yeah.
[6:38]We're recording Kardashian was trying to say, this is why we're all messed up because
[6:41]we have all this family trauma.
[6:43]But I feel like that's becoming a thing that we're talking about more where it used to
[6:47]be something that we brush aside as, oh, our crazy family as opposed to looking into actually
[6:51]know those are traumatic relationships.
[6:53]Exactly.
[6:54]And I think a lot of people, I know I associate a trauma with just different kinds of
[6:58]abuse or if there's no food, but that is not true.
[7:02]Being a parent who is pushing you to overachieve is trauma.
[7:06]And you find that I'm listening to Dr. Nicole LaPara's book right now, how to be the love
[7:11]you see.
[7:12]And it's so good.
[7:13]And it helps you learn about all these different things that happen when you're young and
[7:17]the woman that you become.
[7:18]And that's what I was bringing out in this novel.
[7:20]So you'll see how Emerson, she falls under her mom who left and so she's hyper independent
[7:26]and she doesn't want to be bothered.
[7:28]And you see Odester who was overlooked and always cooking and cleaning and how she clung
[7:32]to this relationship to the first man who really looked at her.
[7:36]And then Manon, who is just like, she's disconnected because she's better than everybody
[7:40]else.
[7:41]And she's expected to be a certain way.
[7:42]And there's air about her.
[7:43]It doesn't have time.
[7:45]But they all come together and they realize we're all perfectly imperfect.
[7:49]And we can work through this and we can all be okay.
[7:51]And that's the beauty of writing about families and relationships because we all have something
[7:56]no matter where we come from.
[7:58]There's always something.
[7:59]But it's okay.
[8:00]And we can find a way to get through it.
[8:02]And that's what I try to bring out in my novels.
[8:04]I love that.
[8:05]Well, it definitely comes off.
[8:06]I haven't finished the book.
[8:07]I didn't just recently get it.
[8:08]But so far, what I'm reading, it comes off on that and I can't wait to read more.
[8:11]And you guys are in for a treat in January when it comes out and it'll be amazing.
[8:15]So with that, you're writing process.
[8:18]So how did where did the idea from Ru come from?
[8:21]And when you started writing it, what came first?
[8:23]Was it figuring out this family or was it the stories?
[8:26]It was figuring out the character.
[8:28]So I really do go deep into my characters.
[8:30]And even though my first two novels are lighter on the heart and the head, I still go deep
[8:35]into characters, habits, quirks, fears.
[8:39]I go deep into those things.
[8:40]And with this one, I wanted to do the characters first.
[8:43]That's that's my writing process.
[8:45]And then I bring it all together.
[8:47]And I wanted Ru to be the title because in this family, cooking is a huge thing.
[8:53]So the women in this novel cook a lot.
[8:55]And I don't know if you've ever had gumbo, but gumbo in Louisiana, the book is said in
[8:59]Apollusus, gumbo, Ru is the base, Ru is the base of the gumbo.
[9:04]And you put all of these different things in there.
[9:05]And if you don't know, Ru, if you're looking at a recipe or like, oh my god, this doesn't
[9:10]make sense, all these different things.
[9:11]And I feel like that's what relates to family.
[9:13]You have all of these different people and sometimes it doesn't make sense.
[9:16]But when you put it all together and you simmer it, it comes out to be perfectly and it
[9:21]tastes really good.
[9:22]And I think that's the same thing that happens in this family.
[9:25]Because there's all these crazy dynamics that are going on.
[9:27]But when they get together, there's all this like crazy love and support that they
[9:31]have for each other.
[9:32]Yeah.
[9:33]That definitely does show.
[9:34]Yeah.
[9:35]I love that.
[9:36]Now I know what Ru is.
[9:37]Yeah.
[9:38]It's gumbo, Ru.
[9:39]Yeah.
[9:40]I'm like, I'm Italian-American.
[9:41]So like the secret sauce.
[9:42]Yeah.
[9:43]So like what you put in every family has a different, what makes their tomato sauce.
[9:46]So yeah.
[9:47]And I talk about that.
[9:48]Yeah.
[9:49]In Louisiana, we do a seafood gumbo.
[9:50]Oh.
[9:51]And that family is from Baton Rouge, a book of said in Apollusas.
[9:54]But when I moved to California, people make gumbo here and they put chicken in it.
[9:58]Okay.
[9:59]And I was like...
[10:00]So, yes, there's a secret sauce, but then there's people make it in different ways and
[10:07]famous families.
[10:08]I love that.
[10:09]And so, you write all three of your books have been fiction, but they are of some ties.
[10:14]I mean, actually this would be the assumption question for you.
[10:17]How do you connect to your work and how much of your fiction is inspired by your own
[10:21]reality?
[10:22]A lot of it is inspired by real life, my mom's side of the family, my mom passed in all
[10:28]of her siblings.
[10:30]And so, I have 11 first cousins and we, most of us don't have any parents.
[10:36]And so, if you can imagine us from the ages of, I think this band was maybe 19 to 30 years
[10:42]old and we're all helping each other, trying to figure out life and marriage and divorce
[10:45]and school and kids and we're all learning ourselves without having a matriarch is chaotic.
[10:51]Yeah.
[10:52]A lot of experiences and trauma and things that happened were real for me because I
[10:59]don't know, 32 or 33 and I became this de facto matriarch and I didn't know what I was
[11:04]doing.
[11:05]I didn't know how to make a lot of decisions and just everything that came along with
[11:08]that, it lends to me writing in my stories about how we grow and learn and figure out
[11:14]in no matter what we do, no matter what kind of mistakes we make, it is okay because it's
[11:19]okay.
[11:21]Well, with Amaya in a never-too-student anytime soon, right, that's her journey that she takes
[11:27]over the role as matriarch and kind of ends up, well, seemingly missing out on a lot of what
[11:32]people in their 20s and 30s are normally going through because she's so focused on keeping
[11:36]the family together.
[11:38]Exactly.
[11:39]Wow.
[11:40]And it happens to a lot of us whether we realize it or not and you can become a matriarch
[11:45]when your mom or you have on tour still working.
[11:49]It just depends on relationship, it depends on maturity, it depends on different things.
[11:54]So it happens, I know several people who have become like the matriarch in their family
[11:57]and they still have a real matriarch in the family, but it helps you grow and develop
[12:02]and it gives you this level of understanding of life that you just wouldn't get normally
[12:07]and you get a piece of set in a sense of stuff like, okay, this is going to work out.
[12:13]No matter what happens, it's going to work out.
[12:15]As long as nothing is broken and you don't die, you will figure it out and you can work
[12:20]it out.
[12:21]And so I do land a lot of personal things that have happened into my stories.
[12:24]I love that.
[12:25]I love that.
[12:26]Have you ever gotten, I guess backlash is the wrong word, but anyone from your real life
[12:30]being like, oh, I can't believe you put that in there.
[12:33]Well, yeah, I'm the one at the family events with my phone if I have my phone, I'm probably
[12:42]taking notes.
[12:43]But I do.
[12:45]Well, if it's something interesting enough, I will put it in there.
[12:48]So there's, I don't know if you got to this and never too soon, but there's a scene
[12:52]or Sophie, she's a serial data and she goes on the state with this guy and they are ordering
[12:58]enchiladas and she's the waitress that says, do you want cheese enchiladas or he's
[13:03]like, I thought, oh, enchiladas had cheese.
[13:06]That was a true story that my aunt told me, yeah, it was like almost verbatim when she
[13:11]told me that's I'm putting this and yeah, well, they do all have cheese, but they
[13:14]have cheese enchiladas doesn't have meat and then the blanch vegetables because he's
[13:20]reading and he's like, oh, you bleach your best.
[13:23]That is a true story too.
[13:24]It's a true story.
[13:25]Yeah.
[13:26]I thought it was bleached.
[13:27]Yeah.
[13:28]Yeah.
[13:29]So I got all that from her.
[13:30]Oh, my goodness.
[13:31]And now a big part of what you do in addition to being an author is that you want to inspire
[13:36]other aspiring authors to write as well, I know you're currently teaching right now.
[13:41]And you also have this amazing notebook out that helps people write their story.
[13:45]Can you tell people a little bit more about that?
[13:47]Yes, it is a writing journal.
[13:49]When I first started writing, I worked full time and I thought a bit more as a hobby.
[13:52]I didn't know that I would actually become a published author and there were all these
[13:57]tools and things that I didn't know that took me years to learn.
[14:01]And so I started organizing my thoughts and organizing different things and I developed a
[14:06]writing journal for authors.
[14:08]And so it covers the gamut from the inspiration process just from something you glean
[14:12]through the day, whether it's a smell and a cute outfit that you saw, it covers family
[14:17]dynamics, what Thanksgiving dinner is like, the last big fight your family had and it
[14:21]goes all the way through event planning, launching your book, the business side of writing
[14:26]a book where you have to think about budget and money.
[14:29]It just covers everything that I wish I had known when I first started writing.
[14:33]And it also allows you to take notes and think about what your writing process is going
[14:38]to be and what you're going to write about in character development and setting your
[14:41]plot.
[14:42]It covers all of it.
[14:43]And I actually use it every day, I'm using it now for my book launch.
[14:47]So I have this and it's a really good tool.
[14:50]And where can people get that, where can you look at that?
[14:53]Amazon.
[14:54]Amazon.
[14:55]Okay.
[14:56]It's your story matters.
[14:57]It's the author's guide in journal.
[14:58]And so you get that there and then all your books are on your website and Amazon all the
[15:02]links.
[15:03]Yeah.
[15:04]Right?
[15:05]Amazon.
[15:06]Amazon.
[15:07]I'm guessing this too.
[15:08]What it comes out.
[15:09]Yeah.
[15:10]Also, really, what it comes out of the base right here in Santa Monica off Montana.
[15:14]Yeah.
[15:15]So what was, I'm curious, what was the biggest lesson for you when you started to write
[15:20]your book?
[15:21]What is something that you wish you knew because you were just saying that any time soon
[15:25]was you kind of when you did never do senior like, oh, I want, I wish I could kind of get
[15:29]a second shot at writing it.
[15:31]And that's kind of what never too soon was for you.
[15:34]So what was, what was that like a hot moment?
[15:36]What was that realization?
[15:37]I think it was the editing process feeling like I had enough of a voice to say no.
[15:43]With any time soon, there were a lot of cuts in the book and I didn't feel confident enough
[15:47]to say, no, this is how we talk or no, this is the way it's supposed to be.
[15:52]I just kind of, I let it pass.
[15:53]I gained a little more confidence and never too soon.
[15:56]And then with Rue, I had a strong, a stronger voice because I really wanted to tell this
[16:00]story and I really wanted these characters to shine in their way, in their personality
[16:05]and in their southern lingo.
[16:06]And so I was fine with the question marks, yeah, the editor, she's like, I don't know what
[16:11]this means.
[16:12]I'm like fine.
[16:13]And we're going to keep it there.
[16:14]Yeah, good.
[16:15]I'm happy you did that.
[16:16]I'm happy you stood your ground on that.
[16:17]It's a big deal.
[16:18]Like having your words and being creative in your novels, everybody is not going to get
[16:23]it and understand, but you still want it to come across and you want to be authentic
[16:27]in your story and you want to be true to your characters.
[16:30]How do you go from writing a lighter book, like these books, to going to Rue?
[16:35]Was that hard getting the publisher to be on board with trusting you to write a different
[16:39]type of book?
[16:40]A little bit.
[16:41]It was because that was my jam.
[16:42]Like I could write a good chick lit, you could read it on the beach and it was fun.
[16:46]And this time it was, it was very different, but they did trust me and they loved it.
[16:51]They, yeah.
[16:52]I thought because my readers have been asking for the third book and then I as World
[16:56]Series and I've been trying to like get back to it and I was reading a little bit the
[17:01]other day and I was like, oh my gosh, this is not light because it's more, it's more
[17:05]literary.
[17:06]So it's interesting making that shift and trying to see if I can get back to where
[17:10]I started.
[17:11]Are there any Easter eggs to Amaya or any like nods in Rue or did you just keep those
[17:17]worlds completely separate?
[17:18]Completely separate.
[17:19]Completely separate.
[17:20]Did you ever think about doing that?
[17:21]Not for this.
[17:22]But at this family to be completely separate, they're from Opelusas, they have different
[17:27]issues.
[17:28]Emerson's family, they're completely Bay Area, they're Gen X and Gen Z, they're completely
[17:32]different lifestyles.
[17:34]And are you considering doing a third version of the Amaya World Series?
[17:38]Yes.
[17:39]So that's what I was trying to work on, but it's just hard for me to get back into that
[17:43]light.
[17:44]Of course.
[17:45]Of course.
[17:46]But I've started, yes.
[17:47]But I think I owe it to my readers because they've been asking, so I am going to do a third
[17:51]book in The Anise.
[17:53]I love that.
[17:54]And reading Rue, and this is true with all your writing, the characters jump off the page.
[17:58]You feel like you are kind of eavesdropping a conversation.
[18:02]And they feel so real, and the stories are so beautifully told, so have you ever considered
[18:06]or maybe let's manifest this adapting it into film and television.
[18:10]And if so, what would that dream be for you in terms of like cast or direction?
[18:14]That would be amazing.
[18:16]I don't write for screen, but that would be absolutely amazing.
[18:20]And I've heard that about my novels and my character.
[18:23]The dialogue is very personal in the characters' field.
[18:26]They're very relatable.
[18:27]Like when you read the book, you'll say, I know her.
[18:30]I know her.
[18:31]They're very relatable.
[18:32]But that would be great.
[18:34]And if I did it, I could see it being more of a series because there's always more to
[18:39]tell.
[18:40]You can always dig deeper.
[18:41]And even reading the book when I was going through the final edits, I'm like, oh my gosh,
[18:44]I can develop this more.
[18:45]I can figure.
[18:46]So there's always more to add, but that would be great.
[18:49]And I was thinking kind of like this is us in terms of structure because of how it jumps
[18:53]from different time periods and different perspectives and different characters.
[18:56]I feel like to find a way to get it to sound a lot of that show.
[19:00]And just the complexity of it and figuring out and watching, even I don't know if you've
[19:05]gotten to this, but with Odessa and the issues that she had with her addiction and how
[19:10]that manifested in it went down even to her own daughter.
[19:14]And you don't realize a lot of times what we're doing and what we're saying in the impact
[19:18]that it has on our children or the things that our parents did and said in the impact
[19:22]that it has on us.
[19:23]A lot of times we don't realize it until we're a lot older.
[19:26]And so it would be good to be able to show those three generations in a way that continues
[19:31]and you see how they continue to involve because people do evolve.
[19:35]And Odessa, you know, at the end, well, I won't tell you what happened at the end.
[19:39]Well, that's just right for everyone.
[19:40]You don't have to.
[19:41]They can't even buy it.
[19:42]I know.
[19:43]They can't do it.
[19:44]They continue to evolve.
[19:45]And all of my characters do.
[19:47]They come from a place of like, oh my God, this is awful to like, okay, this is not so
[19:51]bad.
[19:52]I can still find a way to be grateful and thankful even in the midst of this chaos.
[19:56]I love that.
[19:57]I love that.
[19:58]Is there anything that you wanted to touch upon that I?
[20:00]in that. No, I think that's it. Make sure to pre-order the book. Yes. It comes out to
[20:05]you right now. I'm really excited about this book. And I'm so proud of it. And just the
[20:10]me changing my style of writing into something more literary. So I'm excited. I did get
[20:15]my first review the other day. Oh, I sent out some advance. Oh, yeah. What was the review?
[20:19]Oh, my gosh. She's like, I finished this book in two days and I could not stop and I love them.
[20:24]And she also, she's like, we need to have a prayer meeting for a dester. Yeah. It's just a
[20:31]lot of issues. I love it. We'll definitely make sure everyone can order it now. It's a perfect gift
[20:38]for yourself or for friends. You could always send it to them. And right now, you can still buy
[20:42]as did he's never too soon. Yes. Well, Tamika, thank you. This was so fun. Thank you guys.
[20:50]Thanks for listening to this episode of Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books.
[20:54]Don't forget to follow me on Instagram at zibi Owens and at Moms Don't Have Time to Read
[20:58]Books. Also sign up for my newsletter at zibiowans.com and sign up for my virtual book club and
[21:03]meet lots of authors on Zoom every other week. Thanks so much to Steve and Ryan. In fact,
[21:07]texture sound for the sound editing. And thank you to Morning Moon Productions for providing
[21:12]this fantastic intro and out trim music.