A Zibby Summer Reads pick! Laura Hankin, ONE-STAR ROMANCE
[0:02]Hi, I'm Sivi Owens and I am the host of this podcast Momstone have time to read books
[0:07]I am also a newly minted USA Today best-selling author of the novel Blake and created a whole community of book lovers
[0:16]Around this podcast a publishing company reading retreats a book store and more learn more at zivi media
[0:23]com or follow be on social at zivi Owens or join the community at zivi readers
[0:29]Laura Hinken is back on the podcast to discuss one star romance
[0:35]Which by the way is a book of the month club pick Laura Hinken is also the author of happy and you know it
[0:42]Which she was on the podcast for for the very first time
[0:45]This is right before covid a special place for women and the daydreams
[0:49]Her musical comedy has been featured in publications like the New York Times and the Washington Post and she's developing projects for film and TV
[0:56]She lives in Washington DC or she wants fell off a treadmill twice in one day. Oh gosh
[1:00]I fell off a step mill we didn't even talk about that welcome Laura. Thanks so much for coming back on momstone
[1:05]Have time to read books to discuss one star romance congratulations
[1:10]Thank you. Thank you so much for having me back listeners
[1:13]You can't see this but we're basically wearing the same exact sweater
[1:15]But in a different color and we look really funny with our books behind us and our brown hair and our
[1:20]sweaters and like
[1:22]Talking books about writers and all the stuff so it's pretty awesome
[1:27]Yes, anyway, I was just saying before we started how much I'm loving this book
[1:32]It's so smart and funny, which is no surprise because I've read your other books and this is just what you do
[1:37]But you know, this is hitting more close to home because while the writing stuff and and all that
[1:43]Although the mom play group thing was also hitting close to home
[1:46]I think you'll just have to you're just like in a follow my life
[1:49]I'll tell you what I'm doing like in five years
[1:52]I'm like just like lurking behind every corner writing down the thoughts
[1:58]You left since we came real last time you were here
[2:02]It's all a long game
[2:04]Yeah, exactly
[2:05]Exactly paying off now with one star romance
[2:08]Tell us in her's what your book is about and where you came up with the idea
[2:12]Yes
[2:12]So one star romance is about a struggling writer who has to walk down the aisle at her best friend's wedding
[2:18]With a guy who's given her book one star on Goodreads
[2:22]And
[2:23]You know, although this made of honor and best man would rather never see each other again
[2:28]They are then forced back into contact over the next decade through their 20s and 30s
[2:33]As in like each time that these best friends of theirs celebrate a new life milestone event
[2:39]And I came up with the idea because I had to walk down the aisle at my friend's wedding with a guy who'd given my book one star on Goodreads
[2:46]No, stop
[2:48]I guess it's true
[2:50]It's true
[2:51]Although we did not fall in love and my husband has been like, please tell people that that's not me and I would never do that to you
[2:59]How did you realize that like have that had a look?
[3:04]Well because it was my first book ever and it was a small printing and so I think at the time
[3:10]My Goodreads page was mostly full of like friends and family writing nice reviews and so I hadn't yet realized
[3:16]That like for your own mental health perhaps you should not go on your own Goodreads because you could just come across the most
[3:23]Like devastating thing ever that will
[3:25]Rookie move
[3:26]Rookie move
[3:28]Yeah
[3:30]I was a rookie
[3:32]Talking my Goodreads page and I saw this one star come in and the name attached to it
[3:38]I was like wait a minute isn't this you know the guy that I'm gonna be like made of honor best man
[3:45]I guess he had just he had bought the book so like support me and then didn't like it and didn't really realize
[3:52]But his Goodreads profile was public and was just trying to like keep track for himself
[3:57]So it was not malicious at all
[3:59]But of course at the time being a young writer. I think it's like how
[4:04]Well, it's really bad. That's bad. So did you find out give me the real-life story? No
[4:10]What did you find out that he did this and did you confront him about it?
[4:15]I found out before the wedding. I think it was like you know months before the wedding
[4:19]It wasn't like the day of and I was like I'm just gonna be
[4:24]So pleasant to him when we hang out at this wedding because I'm gonna rise above it
[4:29]So I didn't say anything to him about it until
[4:33]Okay, good here we go
[4:36]The reception obviously there had been some drinking. I had like done my little toast and on the dance
[4:44]Well, I think some of the other brides may seem like do it do it say something
[4:49]And so on the dance floor. I was like hey, what would you rate my speech?
[4:54]But I don't actually think that he heard me in the dance ring sweaty crowd
[4:59]Because he was sort of like what and then I was too cowardly to say anything else and just kind of danced away
[5:04]I mean is he still like good friends with the friend of yours who got married like is you've now reading this book?
[5:10]I don't know
[5:13]I am not like stayed in contact. You know, this was years ago. It's still this is one of your friends. They're not married
[5:21]It's true. It's true. I'm not sure what this guy is up to and you know like this character in this book is not based on him at all
[5:29]I know I'm sorry. I know I know I
[5:31]And he's like oh, I'm sure a wonderful guy who I bear
[5:34]No, I know this guy in the book and that was a romantic hero
[5:39]That's right. I was like this guy is actually quite likable in the book
[5:41]So you know, he's really funny and you know, they're banter from the first interaction like I love that
[5:48]And I was actually being like wow, this is so good like
[5:51]Sometimes I pause and they just think
[5:53]Someone is writing both sides of this conversation
[5:56]You know because both sides are like really witty like when you watch two people talk but like in a book
[6:01]I mean, it's just it's like a magic magic trick. Really you
[6:05]Anyway, and I almost wish I you didn't have to like market books and put the copy and all that stuff because it
[6:11]Doesn't come right away that this is what's gonna happen and it does come as a surprise me
[6:14]Even though it's because it's like it's not in the first couple pages like you don't get to it till like
[6:18]I don't know page 70 or something, you know, I mean like and then yeah, wait it couldn't be right. It's not really
[6:25]Uh, I think already like are rooting for them to get together at the beginning
[6:28]Mm-hmm. I know that it is the funny thing about having to market a book
[6:35]Like you gotta put your fun stuff right up front
[6:38]But yes, I would about you like building things up a little bit. Yes
[6:42]Yeah, I'm sure you've brought for this yourself. Oh, but it yeah
[6:45]I mean, I could still suspend just at one point. I actually like flipped over the back
[6:49]And I was like maybe isn't about the one star read you know
[6:52]Because this is like a fabulous book about
[6:55]Writers and you know creatives and academics. I have to just read some of these hilarious passages and so
[7:02]I mean is that okay? Could I just read a quarter of a year while you read my words
[7:07]Any things about writing and all that okay? Well first of all
[7:10]This is like a heartfelt really awesome thing about writing when Natalie is describing sort of why she writes and
[7:18]She was saying part of it is
[7:20]For recognition not prizes. She says but she said there have been moments when I read something in a book that feels like it was written
[7:26]Just for me like the author reached inside my brain took all the thoughts
[7:30]I didn't know how to express and put them into a perfect paragraph and in those moments
[7:34]I felt so utterly connected to a person
[7:36]I didn't know that it made me think yes
[7:38]The world can be hard and people can be awful to each other
[7:41]But there is also such beauty in the fact that we can recognize each other like that
[7:45]I want to be able to give that feeling to other people and then he says
[7:49]Well then screw any I'm a favorite that wouldn't want to give you the chance
[7:54]Wow, that's good. Who wrote that? It's really good. It's really good
[7:58]And I feel like so many writers will relate to that and readers will relate to that. I mean it's
[8:04]It's the best feeling. It's the best part of when you read something and you feel so seen
[8:08]Or you write something and someone else feels seen. It's like the greatest. It's the greatest part. Yeah
[8:13]Oh my gosh. Yeah, I have books on my bookshelf right here that are just like underlined
[8:18]You know, like I can't believe that this author and some of them are so old too
[8:23]You know, it's like I can't believe that this author a hundred years ago
[8:27]Or a hundred years before I was even born
[8:29]Like knew how to say the thing that I'm feeling right now
[8:33]Totally. I was just I did this event with the Irma bomb back writers
[8:38]Workshop or whatever. She was writing like so long ago, and it's all the same stuff
[8:43]You know
[8:46]Changed that much over time not as much as we like to think
[8:51]Like oh, well arranged marriage and the you know
[8:54]1800 or like I don't know. I'm sure it was different back then. No, it wasn't different. Nobody wants to be married to somebody. They don't like
[9:02]Yeah, still the same feelings
[9:04]Even if all the conventions are different
[9:06]Yeah, not to say there aren't you know arranged marriages today, but anyway, but this book not only does all of the inside writing
[9:15]stuff, but also
[9:17]The humiliation not humiliation, but the having to go through being a made of honor and all of the stuff that comes with it
[9:24]And the competition among other people and like just the humor and all of the pain is basically this book, right?
[9:34]Thank you. Yeah, well one thing that felt really important to me with this book is that I wanted to write a romance
[9:40]But I also wanted to write about
[9:42]this friendship and how it changes over the course of the decade when you know
[9:47]One person is like moving along this track of getting married and getting the job promotions and having a baby and buying a house
[9:55]And the other one is trying to do this creative career, and it's not immediate
[10:00]really working out for her. And she just feels very lost. And so, you know, how do these people who love each other so deeply and have been so connected, how do they like maintain that same level of love and care for each other as their paths just start to diverge and diverge and diverge.
[10:19]Starting with the maid of honor. Especially as you mentioned, the friendships in younger life right you're like common law married to your roommates and everything. I mean it's very intense bond when you're that age and living with someone like we don't do that now we don't just like live with our friends like we go on a retreat and it's like oh my gosh that was a lot of time.
[10:41]Yeah, yeah, but when you're 24 which is you know how old Napoli is at the start of this book and if it goes till when she's 34 it feels like inconceivable that suddenly your friend could be like oh I don't want to live with you anymore I'm actually going to go live with this guy instead.
[10:57]My gosh I remember being in a wedding in Costa Rica one of my girlfriends was getting married one of the first ones although not that early but still we were so close.
[11:05]And I remember just like crying in my rides made stress in the bathroom because I just felt like I was losing her like that that would be it and it was devastating and of course she's not lost and we still like we live across the country we text all the time but you know there's just something.
[11:19]Like some sense of loss when a close friend gets married.
[11:23]Yeah, and I mean it does change your relationship even if you are able to still be there for each other like it's not going to be the same as it was when you.
[11:33]You know shared a crappy apartment and like could just fall asleep in each other's beds all the time, but it also feels like it's selfish or or immature to like express that sense of law and so you do have to go cry in the bathroom.
[11:48]But otherwise it's just selfish and terrible and I really did want her to be happy and I'm delighted she is happy.
[11:54]Yeah, yeah, but then also I think sometimes there's the panic too if they are moving faster than you are there's the panic of like what if I never find somebody and then like all my friends one by one we've been in this way and then I'm just alone.
[12:10]and how do I learn how to be okay with that and I think you know Natalie has to kind of learn how to be okay with that before she's able to be ready for this love that maybe has been there all along.
[12:23]Don't give it away, yeah, who knows if this book will have a happy happy ever after I can't even imagine.
[12:31]Let me just read this part like Connor took her to this is her at the boy she was dating man whatever man Charles I don't know whatever.
[12:39]She was dating at the beginning of the book but not for that long but and didn't you describe it like this Connor took her to literary salons with his friends from his writing program.
[12:47]She tried to network but Connor's friends were terrifying if they found someone particularly a writer lacking they immediately knew the perfect devastating sentence to expose that person's deeply uncool core God there were so many ways to like all the wrong things in this world weren't there was there anything more pathetic than having bad days.
[13:07]Oh, this is good to.
[13:10]Sorry.
[13:12]When you publish a novel and you're talking about people's reactions to it and of course all the stuff with good reads and all that and how she found the novel.
[13:22]She said her novel was real she found it in a bookstore and publication day and burst into noisy tears, but then you said it's kind of Angus to let people know net replied he and Gabby had come to her book launch and sat in the front row.
[13:34]As far as that could tell though neither one of them had gotten a chance to read the book yet Gabby had started it she texted that after the first page that she was madly in love with it already, but then she'd fallen off while she had a wedding to plan maybe she was saving the book for her honeymoon.
[13:48]Natalie was learning that you couldn't force anyone to read your novel the people you thought would be the first to read my drag their feet while your mother's friends and who you'd met once would email you a week after it came out with a detailed recap of her thoughts.
[14:02]So funny, you know it's almost like in grief is like you just don't know who's going to come out and support and who's going to disappoint it's like any big miles don't in a way.
[14:12]Yeah, yeah, and it's quite it's a beautiful thing sometimes when you're like oh my god this person who I never thought would have connected with it this way.
[14:21]totally did and like had such a strong response that's lovely, even then sometimes as your anxiety can be like why didn't this person read it do they hate it and does that meet or you know did they start it and hate it and does that mean that they hate me to now.
[14:36]Yes, I mean you can't be a writer without it constantly running into your monologue or else you wouldn't be able to write anything right.
[14:46]it's there for you are most susceptible to that all of those you know all of the self doubt and the rest of it so.
[14:54]Yeah, that's why goodreads can you know is such a fascinating thing right because it's like you have all these right early anxieties and you want so deeply to connect with people.
[15:07]you know make readers feel something and there is this like magical website on the internet where you could go and you could see like just how much your work is touching other people.
[15:18]But the price that you have to pay is that you could also read like the most casually devastating review that will like ingrain itself inside your body forever.
[15:28]I read like a podcast review once and I like pride and I cried like all night because most of the podcast and what do you say it's like a conversation.
[15:37]You know it's not like a book it's like anyway I was like how could someone be that mean and I just like cried and cried and I'm like I'm not supposed to cry it's just one person and you don't know what they're thinking and feeling.
[15:49]you know but like Natalie it's like you don't feel like that you know like in a moment you're like this is ridiculous and I am having this response, but also I can't help it.
[16:01]Because in real life like you know nobody's going to walk up to you and be like I find you stunningly boring and pedestrian which is you know not coincidentally the first one star review that I ever got.
[16:13]word for word but yeah like it's just we don't say these things to each other in real life but we say them on the internet.
[16:21]Yeah it's like I know it's if I know books are a product but they are a person's inner most thoughts and art and working in any way.
[16:31]So but then you know it's like the the small price that we pay for getting to like do this amazing job and readers of course should be able to say whatever they want a best book.
[16:43]And so we have to just be like okay maybe this is not for me and I just need to remove myself from this generation, but it takes time to one learn that and to have the self control to do that.
[16:58]So people think it's what if people ironically like give this book one star do I mean like maybe there yeah you can't let that happen.
[17:10]Yeah they're being funny like once I wrote it here's the one star.
[17:14]One star I know the hope is that they'll be like one star more like five yeah like yeah of course there's the possibility of the other way too.
[17:25]I should have listened to the title.
[17:27]Have you talked to anybody at Goodreads like are you because you give them a lot of airs time you know it's marketing them.
[17:35]I think my puzzle is just like reaching out to them but we'll say obviously they have a lot of books to future.
[17:42]I know but still not a lot.
[17:45]Okay well goodreads if you're listening if anybody at Goodreads listening to the podcast would love to work with you.
[17:52]You should do a thing they should like sponsor an event for you or something you know.
[17:56]Oh my god that should be great.
[17:58]What is your lunch event what are your touring plans and all that.
[18:02]Yeah so I am doing my lunch event in Washington DC where I live at the city book shop which I just love it's my neighborhood shop and like every single person who works there is just the most wonderful passionate bookseller.
[18:16]So I'm really excited for that and then I'm coming to New York and I'm going to do the Rift bodice on June 21st.
[18:23]So I can't wait for that too.
[18:25]And then you know I I have a baby now so I'm like maybe yeah surprise I have a baby.
[18:34]So I perhaps am going to go to few replaces and I might otherwise you know last time I went out that way.
[18:42]This time it feels a little bit harder to coordinate that kind of thing so I think for the moment those are my two events but I might I might add on a couple more.
[18:52]Well if you want to do an event ever it's a big bookshop in Santa Monica please feel free we would love it it's so fun.
[19:00]I love visiting it when I was out there last time a great store.
[19:06]Amazing.
[19:07]So how long did this take to write did you just whip this out or like tell me about it.
[19:11]I would say that like the first half of it.
[19:14]Well first of all the outline came white naturally to me.
[19:18]Well okay let's the rewind a little bit.
[19:22]I you know I told this real life anecdote for a while without ever thinking that it could be a book just like a funny thing to bring up a party and stuff.
[19:31]And then I actually made like a TikTok where I told the anecdote and it blew up a little bit in the comments.
[19:37]Everybody was like where's the romcom get on it.
[19:41]So I knew that I wanted to write from this general premise but I couldn't figure out like okay so they you know have this interaction with this wedding over this book.
[19:51]But what then and it took me a little while to realize oh actually it's going to be all the life events that their friends are going through.
[20:00]over this decade. But then from there the outline came quite naturally to me because it's like
[20:05]we've all been to all of those life events, right? So it was like, okay, here engagement,
[20:10]I think, you know, job-promotion and prison, etc. And the first half of the book poured out
[20:16]of me pretty naturally. It was just like so fun and joyful to write. And I think I've never written
[20:22]a romantic comedy before, but I've always wanted to. And I've always snuck little romantic
[20:26]comedies into previous books as subplot. And then I got pregnant and was having like
[20:33]severe morning sickness and fatigue. And it was right around when I was getting into the slightly
[20:40]more challenging sections of the book to write, like when things get more serious. And then I was
[20:46]trying, you know, write a love scene. And I was like, be careful guys, you know, this could happen to
[20:52]you could get really quick. So the end took a little bit longer. But I ultimately finished it
[20:59]and sent off the final edit about a week before giving birth. Yes, that was the process.
[21:05]Oh my gosh, that's really awesome. Do you have another book in the pipeline?
[21:09]I've mostly been on maternity leave, but I'm coming back now and like figuring that out and
[21:16]working with my editor who I love, but nothing to share yet. How old is your baby now? She is eight
[21:23]months. Oh, yeah. She's amazing. Congratulations. It's amazing. Thank you. Yeah, so great. Well,
[21:34]what advice do you have for aspiring authors? I think my biggest piece of advice is
[21:41]recognize that nothing is going to be perfect immediately. You know, like,
[21:46]don't think that just because your first draft isn't good. It means that you are like doomed
[21:53]because perfect is the enemy of done. And like, you can fix a bad first draft, but you can't fix
[22:01]nothing. And you're going to have to fail. Like as in this book, you know, you're going to have to
[22:07]fail before you can succeed. And it'll probably make you a stronger writer if you fail.
[22:12]Oh, embrace that and yeah. Oh, and maybe just, you know, make sure not to give feeble
[22:18]mean reviews. Yes. Not to. Maybe, you know, people that you know, people that you might
[22:25]want to deal with perhaps. Yes. Amazing. Well, Laura, congratulations. Really awesome.
[22:32]A lot of fun. And thank you so much. Yeah. Congrats. Awesome. Thank you, Jenny. All right. Take care.
[22:40]Bye. Thanks for listening to moms. Don't have time to read books. If you love it,
[22:46]please leave a review and follow us on social at Civi Owens and at Civi readers.