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Broadway, Big Screen, and Books: Heather Hach's Tale · Create The Best Me

• 0:00
  Carmen Hecox: Welcome to Create the Best Me.
• 0:02
  Carmen Hecox: I am Carmen Hecox, a personal development coach, and I am so excited to be connecting with you today.
• 0:09
  Carmen Hecox: Whether you're listening to the podcast or joining us on YouTube, my goal is to help women navigate through midlife challenges with compassion, inspiration, and empowering conversations.
• 0:21
  Carmen Hecox: Each week we'll dive into thought-provoking topics, designed to build self-confidence, overcome invisible women's syndrome, and find the courage to create the best version of yourself.
• 0:34
  Carmen Hecox: I'll also be joined by expert guests who will share their wisdom and insights, so make yourself comfortable and let's embark on this journey together.
• 0:44
  Carmen Hecox: Well, hello there, fearless midlife trailblazers.
• 0:47
  Carmen Hecox: Welcome to Create The Best Me.
• 0:49
  Carmen Hecox: If you are new here, I am so glad you made it here.
• 0:52
  Carmen Hecox: If you are returning listener, welcome back to the one and only place where we encourage and empower women in midlife to pursue their dreams and live life to the fullest.
• 1:05
  Carmen Hecox: I'm Carmen Hecox, your host and personal development coach.
• 1:09
  Carmen Hecox: And speaking of living life to the fullest, today's guest Is a master class in that very thing.
• 1:16
  Carmen Hecox: A woman of many talents, Heather Hach pinned the screenplays for the beloved movie like'Freaky Friday' and'What to Expect When You're Expecting' and has dazzled the theater world with her Tony nominated and Oliver winning creations,'Legally Blonde the Musical'.
• 1:36
  Carmen Hecox: Now, between her days as a magazine editor and a laugh out loud member of an improv comedy trope, her unexpected but unforgettable role as a judge on MTV's'The Search for the Next Elle Woods', Heather's journey is nothing short of awe inspiring.
• 1:56
  Carmen Hecox: She has faced her set of challenges like her time at'Caroline in the City' and'Dilbert' but the universe had big plans in store when she clenched the Walt Disney Screenwriting Fellowship back in 1999.
• 2:13
  Carmen Hecox: Fast forward to today and she's not just a screenwriter, but she's also an author of a youth adult novel, Freaky Monday, and diving into the world of adult fiction novel, she brings us'The Trouble With Drowning'.
• 2:30
  Carmen Hecox: Joining us from her vibrant home in Manhattan Beach, filled with her husband, two dogs, a golden doodle, and a quirky pug, please give a warm welcome to the incredible, the vivacious, Heather Hach.
• 2:46
  Carmen Hecox: Heather Hach, welcome to Create the Best Me.
• 2:51
  Heather Hach: Oh, thank you for having me.
• 2:52
  Heather Hach: It's so good to be here.
• 2:53
  Carmen Hecox: Um, can you tell the viewers who you are?
• 2:57
  Heather Hach: I am first and foremost, uh, professionally a writer.
• 3:01
  Heather Hach: I have been a screenwriter for about 20 years.
• 3:06
  Heather Hach: I moved out to Los Angeles after a, awful divorce and, trying to reinvent myself and become a screenwriter and it worked! I won the Walt Disney, Screenwriting Fellowship in 1999 and I've been a writer ever since.
• 3:18
  Heather Hach: I wrote'Freaky Friday', What to Expect When You're Expecting', and because of that work I got to become the book writer for'Legally Blonde the Musical'.
• 3:28
  Heather Hach: So I worked as librettist for'Legally Blonde the Musical'.
• 3:31
  Heather Hach: I've also written a YA novel with Mary Rogers called'Freaky Monday', but I'm here to promote my debut adult novel it's called'The Trouble with Drowning'.
• 3:43
  Carmen Hecox: And let me first say congratulations on your upcoming book,'The Trouble With Drowning', without giving away too much.
• 3:50
  Carmen Hecox: Can you give us a brief overview of the plot?
• 3:53
  Heather Hach: Yes, it is a psychological thriller, so I don't want to, uh, give out all the secrets.
• 3:59
  Heather Hach: But it's basically about a woman.
• 4:03
  Heather Hach: She's had kind of a troubled life.
• 4:05
  Heather Hach: She's been in the foster system and she's on scholarship at the University of Arizona, for writing.
• 4:10
  Heather Hach: And she starts dating her first love, who is also the son of one of her heroes, a professor.
• 4:18
  Heather Hach: So it's sort of the life that she's always wanted.
• 4:21
  Heather Hach: And when that relationship falls apart, she also falls apart.
• 4:25
  Heather Hach: And when he starts dating someone new, it's the nightmare.
• 4:29
  Heather Hach: You do not want your ex to start dating.
• 4:32
  Heather Hach: And so she wants to not only push her from her perch, but replace her completely.
• 4:37
  Carmen Hecox: Oh, my goodness, that sounds so thrilling.
• 4:40
  Carmen Hecox: I can't wait to read the book myself.
• 4:43
  Heather Hach: Thank you.
• 4:43
  Heather Hach: It's a, it's fun.
• 4:44
  Heather Hach: It's a slow burn, but it was super fun to write.
• 4:47
  Carmen Hecox: How did your journey with screenwriting influence the pace and structure in'The Trouble With Drowning'?
• 4:54
  Heather Hach: You know, I always say every medium is different.
• 4:57
  Heather Hach: you have to kind of use different tools, but ultimately your job as a writer is the same thing.
• 5:04
  Heather Hach: You are telling a story.
• 5:06
  Heather Hach: You are taking the reader, or the viewer on a journey via a character who's going to go through some changes.
• 5:15
  Heather Hach: And you just have to lean in to the gifts of every, medium.
• 5:20
  Heather Hach: And so visually, as a screenwriter, You are trying to write to create images and feelings in the reader's head.
• 5:29
  Heather Hach: And that's essentially what you're doing as a writer as well.
• 5:32
  Heather Hach: You are trying to allow the reader to see, basically, the movie that you're creating on the page.
• 5:39
  Heather Hach: So it's just a lot of subtleties of, um for example, I think in a screenplay you tell more.
• 5:48
  Heather Hach: And in a book, you show more through subtleties of character.
• 5:51
  Heather Hach: So I had to kind of, I'm still having to undo a lot of that training and a lot of that writing style.
• 5:57
  Heather Hach: But ultimately you want to tell a story that engages people and brings them in and, have it relatable and have it move and, keep the pacing alive.
• 6:11
  Carmen Hecox: What aspects of the novel writing did you find most liberating as compared to screenwriting?
• 6:18
  Heather Hach: Uh, it was just so wonderful to really go into the heads of the characters and to let them breathe and to luxuriate in the details of a novel.
• 6:30
  Heather Hach: Um, you know, brevity is everything in a screenplay and moving a scene along and making it as tight as possible, but you get to breathe in a novel and it's those little details, as a writer and that's what I'm interested in in life are those funny details that really make a person interesting or make a situation interesting that I'm trying to comment on.
• 6:55
  Heather Hach: So it was just very liberating to have the luxury to...
• 7:00
  Heather Hach: Indulge a bit more in the language.
• 7:04
  Carmen Hecox: Were there any particular scenes or characters in'The Trouble With Drowning' that were inspired by your experience in Hollywood or Broadway?
• 7:14
  Heather Hach: That's a good question.
• 7:15
  Heather Hach: Um, I wouldn't say necessarily inspired by anyone I've ever met.
• 7:22
  Heather Hach: Um, I definitely saw people like actors sometimes would float in and out of my mind as I Would have fantasy file of Taylor Swift could play Eden.
• 7:35
  Heather Hach: Um, but no one in particular, it's all a creation of me and my imagination.
• 7:42
  Carmen Hecox: That's a great one.
• 7:44
  Carmen Hecox: How do you hope'The Trouble With Drowning' will resonate with, both fans from your screenplay to your new readers?
• 7:55
  Heather Hach: Yeah, I, I think it's a, it's a different, um, totally it's kind of different for me.
• 7:59
  Heather Hach: I mean, a psychological thriller is not something that I'm known for, but I love them.
• 8:03
  Heather Hach: I'm a huge, you know, Hitchcock fan and I absolutely adore reading psychological thrillers because they're just such a wonderful escape.
• 8:12
  Heather Hach: They're so much fun.
• 8:14
  Heather Hach: And I really hope that people will see.
• 8:18
  Heather Hach: There's commonalities in my characters, in some of my humor I think will come through.
• 8:25
  Heather Hach: And peculiarities that I always kind of observe.
• 8:28
  Heather Hach: Um, but I think it will be a big departure from what I'm normally known for.
• 8:33
  Heather Hach: But I still have the hope that it has my signature fun.
• 8:37
  Heather Hach: I think my pieces all have a sense of fun and of celebration.
• 8:42
  Heather Hach: And, I want it to be really entertaining.
• 8:44
  Heather Hach: I want it to be worth your time.
• 8:46
  Carmen Hecox: Yeah, well, you're known for funny.
• 8:48
  Carmen Hecox: I mean, most of your work has been funny, entertaining, make people laugh.
• 8:54
  Carmen Hecox: And this book's more of a thrill seeker.
• 8:58
  Heather Hach: Yeah, there's laughs within it for sure.
• 9:00
  Heather Hach: Um, but yeah, it's darker.
• 9:03
  Heather Hach: And comedy is what I love the most.
• 9:07
  Heather Hach: I did improv comedy for years in Denver with Comedy Sports, um, an improv comedy troupe.
• 9:13
  Heather Hach: And ever since I was a kid, like, making people laugh is such a delight.
• 9:18
  Heather Hach: It's, it's such a win win.
• 9:21
  Heather Hach: I just always, as a kid, was like, okay, I feel good making you happy and you feel good laughing.
• 9:27
  Heather Hach: This is a, this is a wonderful exchange.
• 9:30
  Heather Hach: And, um, I just knew it was a way to kind of create a niche for myself as a child.
• 9:37
  Heather Hach: So it's always something that I've been obsessed with Saturday Night Live since I was a young child, and comedies.
• 9:43
  Heather Hach: And I think it will always be in my work, no matter how dark it may get.
• 9:48
  Carmen Hecox: So, tell me this, personally, on the personal side, are you a funny person?
• 9:54
  Heather Hach: Um, you know it, funny is subjective.
• 9:56
  Heather Hach: Like, I can watch a scene in a movie that I think is the funniest thing in the world, and someone else may not agree with me and my daughter shows me things from TikTok or YouTube that I'm like, I don't understand why that's funny anymore.
• 10:10
  Heather Hach: Um...
• 10:11
  Heather Hach: You know, my friends who have a similar sense of humor that I do will tell you I'm hilarious, but probably not everyone thinks I'm funny, but you know, it's just, it's a value in my life.
• 10:23
  Heather Hach: I mean, I don't, if you can't laugh, I don't know what the point of being on this planet is.
• 10:29
  Heather Hach: Like laughter gives context and heart connection and I love crafting comedy.
• 10:38
  Heather Hach: I love thinking about what makes things funny.
• 10:41
  Heather Hach: I love, it's endlessly, endlessly wonderful.
• 10:47
  Heather Hach: Um, and I'll never stop.
• 10:49
  Heather Hach: If I ever stop laughing, I've, I'm not here anymore.
• 10:53
  Carmen Hecox: You've achieved great success in Hollywood and Broadway, what motivated you to venture into the world of novel writing?
• 11:02
  Heather Hach: You know, I think COVID was like a huge midlife crisis for the world and everything felt like it was falling apart and it was very terrifying to live through that unknowing and destabilization.
• 11:20
  Heather Hach: So I really went back to reading compulsively, which is what I did as a kid.
• 11:26
  Heather Hach: I was always a huge, huge reader and I got such joy from Little House on the Prairie and Nancy Drew.
• 11:34
  Heather Hach: And then as a teenager, Stephen King and Judy Blume.
• 11:37
  Heather Hach: And I just read all the time and it was my escape and movies and TV as well.
• 11:42
  Heather Hach: But I've always been a huge reader.
• 11:44
  Heather Hach: So when COVID happened, I was just looking for escape and, and comfort.
• 11:49
  Heather Hach: So I just started reading compulsively and it was, I've always been a huge, huge reader.
• 11:54
  Heather Hach: I write down every single book I've ever read since like 1991.
• 11:58
  Heather Hach: Um, But it became my therapy.
• 12:02
  Heather Hach: It became, a context of my day.
• 12:05
  Heather Hach: Like my son and I at two o'clock would have what we called a read date on my bed and we would both read at two.
• 12:11
  Heather Hach: And it, it reignited my love of books in such a kind of fanatical obsessive way.
• 12:18
  Heather Hach: And, as I was going through COVID and really struggling to make structure and get through this strange time of having everybody in the house and the world falling apart.
• 12:28
  Heather Hach: I was like, I'm going to write that idea I had 30 years ago, and I, just started writing.
• 12:34
  Heather Hach: I read a few books on writing, um, novels because it's a different form.
• 12:39
  Heather Hach: But I just intuitively, you know, I know how to write and I was had such fun doing it and it became everything to me and my escape valve for dealing with COVID.
• 12:50
  Carmen Hecox: How do you think your background in screenwriting and theater shape your narrative voice in The Trouble With Drowning?
• 12:57
  Heather Hach: I think I see what I wrote very visually I'm definitely a fast paced writer.
• 13:04
  Heather Hach: I really want people turning the page in the same way that I want them turning the screenplay.
• 13:09
  Heather Hach: Um, so I think that this would also make a really great limited series or movie.
• 13:14
  Heather Hach: Um, so I think that it's really lent, my writing is very visual and very evocative and I think that, um, that sense of play and of scene is apparent on the page.
• 13:28
  Carmen Hecox: And I was going to ask you that question.
• 13:30
  Carmen Hecox: If you saw this book potentially being, on stage, as a screen, as a play or possible movie.
• 13:41
  Heather Hach: Yeah, I think it would be a great movie or a limited series.
• 13:44
  Heather Hach: Um, unfortunately with the writers.
• 13:46
  Heather Hach: I'm in the Guild, the Writer's Guild, my wonderful Guild, and we're on strike, and I don't see any end in sight, and I can't go out with anything because I would obviously love to be attached, um, as one of the co producers, and, um, I'd love to help write it, and we can't go out with it right now, so it's kind of a bummer.
• 14:07
  Heather Hach: But, I still think it would have a great life, like as a Netflix series.
• 14:12
  Heather Hach: It's kind of an update of'Single White Female', you know,'Fatal Attraction','Gone Girl'.
• 14:19
  Heather Hach: It has a lot of elements that are kind of in the zeitgeist.
• 14:22
  Carmen Hecox: So perhaps maybe after, in the future, there's that potential?
• 14:28
  Heather Hach: Knock on wood be lovely.
• 14:31
  Carmen Hecox: Can, fans of your screenplay, expect an Easter egg or nod to your previous work within this book?
• 14:40
  Heather Hach: Sort of.
• 14:41
  Heather Hach: I did name, I love musicals.
• 14:44
  Heather Hach: There's a lot of music.
• 14:46
  Heather Hach: Actually, if you go to my website at HeatherHach, there's a Spotify link for all the music that I've selected, um, that's in the book itself.
• 14:55
  Heather Hach: Um, I sing all the time to myself.
• 14:59
  Heather Hach: I just, I adore music and I don't know what I'd do without music or laughter.
• 15:04
  Heather Hach: So, I named a pug, one of the characters has a pug, and I named it Don Lockwood, which is the name of Gene Kelly's character in Singing in the Rain, which is one of my all time favorite movies.
• 15:16
  Heather Hach: And I always wanted to have a pug named Don Lockwood.
• 15:20
  Heather Hach: Um, it's not the most popular choice in my house, so I got to have my dream through a character in my, in the book.
• 15:26
  Heather Hach: So, there's a little bit of a nod to musicals and, that people will definitely identify with.
• 15:32
  Carmen Hecox: Well, you do have a pug, personally, don't you?
• 15:35
  Heather Hach: I do.
• 15:36
  Heather Hach: I am a pug person.
• 15:37
  Heather Hach: My, my grandparents had them.
• 15:39
  Heather Hach: And apparently the third word I ever said was hectic, the name of the pug.
• 15:46
  Heather Hach: I love them.
• 15:47
  Heather Hach: They're hilarious.
• 15:48
  Heather Hach: They're like having your own Muppet.
• 15:50
  Heather Hach: I mean, they just have the strangest face and they, they do say that, that pugs are the court gestures of the toy breed.
• 15:58
  Heather Hach: They just have a great sense of timing and comedy.
• 16:01
  Heather Hach: And I'll always have a pug.
• 16:02
  Carmen Hecox: Oh, they're cute.
• 16:03
  Carmen Hecox: I think they're cute.
• 16:05
  Heather Hach: God's little weirdos.
• 16:08
  Carmen Hecox: Both Legally Blonde, the Musical and Freaky Friday feature.
• 16:12
  Carmen Hecox: strong, multifaceted female characters.
• 16:16
  Carmen Hecox: How has your experience writing these women influenced the protagonist in your novel?
• 16:23
  Heather Hach: I'm just interested in women stories.
• 16:25
  Heather Hach: And I'm really interested in it you know kind of commenting on what were going through right now um it's really complicated to be a woman.
• 16:34
  Heather Hach: I think that's why Barbie resonated so.
• 16:38
  Heather Hach: on a lot of different levels, but one of the reasons it resonated so incredibly with everybody is, or most people, is because it really gave voice to how complicated it is to be a woman in this world today.
• 16:51
  Heather Hach: And there's just a lot of contradictory information about what we're valued for and what people want out of us.
• 16:58
  Heather Hach: And Always kind of walking that tight rope of satisfying everybody.
• 17:03
  Heather Hach: I mean, I think that just always trying to take care of everybody and always trying to make everybody comfortable is just such a female, um, perspective.
• 17:11
  Heather Hach: And I'm really interested in women's stories that are empowering and not, maybe it may be in a more, um, unconventional route, like Elle Woods on paper would not be seen as the most traditional feminist heroine, someone following her ex boyfriend to college.
• 17:35
  Heather Hach: that's not the best choice, but her mistake ended up leading her to where she needed to go and to find her own strength.
• 17:42
  Heather Hach: So I'm also for looking at the bestiness that it is to be a woman and Cat is not a Uh, linear character.
• 17:50
  Heather Hach: She is a mess.
• 17:51
  Heather Hach: She is had a troubled past.
• 17:54
  Heather Hach: She definitely battles with mental illness, and she's struggling.
• 17:59
  Heather Hach: Um, but I have great sympathy for her, and I really wanted to give, uh, a humanity to a messy character, to a complicated character.
• 18:07
  Heather Hach: And, I'm interested in exploring what it means to be a woman today.
• 18:14
  Carmen Hecox: Yeah, well, but I think, You also did that with Freaky Friday, when the mom and daughter just switched places, and you gave the daughter a perception of what it's like to be a mom, how difficult it is, the um expectations that, society, that our family has on us.
• 18:32
  Heather Hach: Yeah, I, yeah, and, and how different the all those expectations are and how much we think we understand what the other is going through when we have no idea.
• 18:41
  Heather Hach: I mean, that was, it was so fun to come up with the test character for Jamie Lee Curtis's character in Freaky Friday was she was literally a psychologist who was helping people and thought she knew everything, um, about what it was like, you know, how to help someone and, and what it was like to be a teenager.
• 18:59
  Heather Hach: And she had no idea.
• 19:01
  Heather Hach: And I actually wrote a, uh, a storyline that didn't make it to the final, um, film that I wrote that the character of Stacey Hinkhouse, which was the popular girl, which Dawn Hinkhouse was the most popular person in our middle school.
• 19:19
  Heather Hach: Um, so I named her after Hinkhouse.
• 19:22
  Heather Hach: Um, but I had it in the one of the original scripts that Tess's character was actually helping Stacey Hinkhouse with problems.
• 19:32
  Heather Hach: And so, you know, Anna got to see that the woman that she thought had it all perfectly in, uh, you know, in school, didn't.
• 19:42
  Heather Hach: And so, I don't know what happened in the iteration of it didn't make it, but I thought that was a really interesting idea.
• 19:51
  Heather Hach: Yeah, people are not what you think and everyone's going through something.
• 19:56
  Heather Hach: Everybody.
• 19:57
  Carmen Hecox: What was it like to work with Jamie Lee Curtis?
• 20:01
  Heather Hach: Well, it's, she's wonderful.
• 20:03
  Heather Hach: Everything you could ever hope she would be, she is.
• 20:08
  Heather Hach: And it was supposed to be Annette Bening, and Annette dropped out at the last second, so literally they called, I think, Jamie Lee on a Friday afternoon, and she was on set on Monday.
• 20:18
  Heather Hach: Uh, and what else is really weird is that my mother looks so much like Jamie Lee Curtis, and that to the point my mom has like a canned response.
• 20:27
  Heather Hach: To anyone who tells her she looks like Jamie Lee Curtis, she always says, Oh, it's the body.
• 20:33
  Heather Hach: You know?
• 20:34
  Heather Hach: So it's just weird that like, the woman that, the mother character I wrote ended up being played by the actress everyone said my mom looks like.
• 20:44
  Carmen Hecox: Is your mom anything like the character on Freaky Friday?
• 20:48
  Heather Hach: Um, not really.
• 20:50
  Heather Hach: No, my mom, isn't, she was a very happy to stay home and was a stay at home mom and she loved that and very happily married and loved that role.
• 20:59
  Heather Hach: Um, I always wanted to work and, she was totally supportive of that.
• 21:04
  Heather Hach: I always knew as a little girl, I'm like, I'm going to work.
• 21:06
  Heather Hach: I always knew I wanted a family, but I, I wanted to have a job.
• 21:12
  Carmen Hecox: How does the creative process in developing a story for the stage differ when you're envisioning it for the pages of a book, like a novel?
• 21:21
  Heather Hach: Well, there's just a technical aspect of, I, like, for example, when I first started writing Legally Blonde, I sort of forgot that, oh right, you're not a screenwriter now.
• 21:31
  Heather Hach: You can't just cut the action and move it to another scene.
• 21:34
  Heather Hach: You have to have this thing called the set that you have to be very conscious of and um contain the movement.
• 21:41
  Heather Hach: So you're, ultimately, you're always seeing characters in your mind, whether they're playing out in real life, and you're trying to capture what a camera would see and or what a reader would see in that scene that the camera would capture.
• 22:00
  Heather Hach: But then you would also try to write the action that happens on a stage.
• 22:05
  Heather Hach: But you're ultimately moving a scene forward, moving characters forward, and how are you telling this story and going on this journey with these characters?
• 22:15
  Heather Hach: And how is the story honoring the change that the character will go through and the challenge that they will face?
• 22:20
  Carmen Hecox: Yeah, because I think it's a little more complex because I always tell my daughter this whenever she's trying to write something, I said, you know, she's like, the teacher sent this back.
• 22:29
  Carmen Hecox: It's not right.
• 22:30
  Carmen Hecox: And I'm like, pretend like the person that you are writing for cannot see.
• 22:38
  Carmen Hecox: So you have to paint this entire picture for them.
• 22:42
  Heather Hach: right, right.
• 22:44
  Heather Hach: You have to create a world,
• 22:46
  Carmen Hecox: And so how is that different from screenwriting?
• 22:48
  Carmen Hecox: Because I think screenwriting, it's like there's already images there.
• 22:52
  Heather Hach: Well, you have to be the camera.
• 22:56
  Heather Hach: You have to set the, you know, exterior, interior.
• 22:59
  Heather Hach: Where is this scene?
• 23:01
  Heather Hach: And every, every writer is different.
• 23:03
  Heather Hach: Like, a lot of, there are some writers who really believe in total brevity, that they don't want to paint very much, and then there are a lot of writers screenwriters, who are a little more detail oriented, and a little bit more, precise, and, uh, give more, more depth to the setups, for example, and the scene.
• 23:25
  Heather Hach: But you lay out everything as a screenwriter, and as a novelist, you lay out everything.
• 23:33
  Heather Hach: As a Broadway book writer, you're working so collaboratively with the lyricist and the director and the composer that it is a, you know, you're always in working with other people so closely and a novel is just all in your head.
• 23:50
  Heather Hach: That's what one thing that I loved about writing this novel too.
• 23:53
  Heather Hach: It was, it was all of my world.
• 23:55
  Heather Hach: I didn't have to talk to any producers or have any notes or have anyone weigh in.
• 23:59
  Heather Hach: I just got to do exactly what I wanted to do and create the world I wanted to create.
• 24:03
  Heather Hach: So that freedom was just intoxicating and so much fun.
• 24:07
  Carmen Hecox: Yeah, I would think that it was a little more easier because you're not seeking approval from anyone.
• 24:13
  Carmen Hecox: The approval is you.
• 24:15
  Heather Hach: Yeah, it's at once easier and harder because of course collaborating with people is always pleasing other people is always difficult, but it's also great to bounce off ideas.
• 24:25
  Heather Hach: And when you're stuck, you know, you can help each other.
• 24:29
  Heather Hach: Get unstuck.
• 24:29
  Heather Hach: And I always say when you're stuck in writing, it generally is that you don't know what the characters want.
• 24:35
  Heather Hach: And one thing to tell your, your daughter for writing too, that's the biggest question I always ask myself.
• 24:41
  Heather Hach: Whether whatever form I'm with, what does the character want?
• 24:46
  Heather Hach: What's the intention?
• 24:47
  Heather Hach: What's the motivation?
• 24:48
  Heather Hach: And that, that's underneath every single scene.
• 24:54
  Heather Hach: Yeah.
• 24:55
  Heather Hach: Yes.
• 24:56
  Heather Hach: I actually, I should.
• 24:59
  Heather Hach: Grab it if I could find it.
• 25:00
  Heather Hach: I, in like second grade, they gave a writing, um, lesson and it was great because you got to write it and then the secretaries typed it up and we got to illustrate it and they bound it.
• 25:11
  Heather Hach: So it looked like a real book.
• 25:13
  Heather Hach: And most of the kids, you know, we were like seven years old, did three or four pages and mine was like 32 pages with chapters.
• 25:21
  Carmen Hecox: In second grade?
• 25:23
  Heather Hach: Umm Leroy the lion.
• 25:25
  Heather Hach: And it's actually pretty good.
• 25:27
  Heather Hach: I mean.
• 25:29
  Heather Hach: You know, I, I was, it's not great, but the way that I I, it was obvious that I was a huge reader, because, you know, he said with feet, you know, it was, there was like, you could tell that I, I was emulating what I was seeing.
• 25:44
  Heather Hach: Um, and I've always been a storyteller.
• 25:46
  Heather Hach: I mean, actually, I was a huge liar as a little girl.
• 25:50
  Heather Hach: Um And not in a great way.
• 25:54
  Heather Hach: Like it wasn't like, Oh, I have a pony.
• 25:56
  Heather Hach: It was, that's not my real father.
• 26:01
  Heather Hach: My best friend's mom thought that my dad was not my father for a year when I was like five.
• 26:10
  Carmen Hecox: Oh my goodness
• 26:12
  Heather Hach: I've just always been a tall tale.
• 26:15
  Heather Hach: And then I, I quickly learned that you can't tell lies and it's, it just gets you into a lot of trouble.
• 26:20
  Heather Hach: I wasn't being.
• 26:22
  Heather Hach: I was just bored with real life.
• 26:23
  Heather Hach: I thought it was more interesting if, you know, I had a brother in jail.
• 26:29
  Carmen Hecox: Oh my goodness, so was it difficult?
• 26:32
  Heather Hach: So now I get to change it in a very more productive way.
• 26:35
  Heather Hach: My desire to live in another reality.
• 26:38
  Carmen Hecox: I guess it was kind of difficult to decipher what was really your life and what was stuff that you were, it was your storytelling.
• 26:48
  Heather Hach: Yeah, I, I just, this is the way my brain works.
• 26:52
  Heather Hach: I just always, and it's a gift.
• 26:54
  Heather Hach: I always tell people, you know, a lot of people come up and, Oh, I want to be a writer.
• 26:58
  Heather Hach: I want, I love to read.
• 26:59
  Heather Hach: I love to write.
• 27:00
  Heather Hach: And I always say, yeah, be a writer because one of the best gifts about being a writer is that every situation is potentially interesting.
• 27:09
  Heather Hach: And you can go to a carwash and be stuck waiting for your car.
• 27:13
  Heather Hach: You can go to the grocery store.
• 27:14
  Heather Hach: And if you're watching the details and you're listening to people and you eavesdrop, and you're curious about what, how people are acting and motivated and the inherent funny that exists in just real life and just moments that you can see in at target.
• 27:31
  Heather Hach: Like it's such a gift to be able to be that engaged and interested.
• 27:34
  Heather Hach: I, I get information every day on dog walks, you know?
• 27:40
  Heather Hach: Every detail is potential fodder for story.
• 27:44
  Carmen Hecox: So do you have like a bank, so, let's say you take your dog out for a walk and you see something and you say, oh, there's a story there.
• 27:52
  Carmen Hecox: Do you, do you jot
• 27:53
  Heather Hach: Or a weird neighbor.
• 27:55
  Heather Hach: Yeah, yeah, or I have a little notebook by my bed at night like last night I couldn't sleep and I was just thinking of this new idea I'm working on, um.
• 28:05
  Heather Hach: Right, you know, getting up and writing down, writing everything down.
• 28:09
  Heather Hach: And I love using that time of sleep too because a conscious unconscious mind I think is very creative and I love dreams and I get a lot of information from dreams and um I I work things out in that twilight of consciousness um and in bed often.
• 28:30
  Carmen Hecox: I always get mine when I'm in the shower.
• 28:32
  Carmen Hecox: I don't know what it is.
• 28:32
  Carmen Hecox: Sound of the water.
• 28:33
  Heather Hach: Wherever you get them, driving.
• 28:35
  Heather Hach: It's usually, I love walking.
• 28:37
  Heather Hach: I love taking my dogs on walks and I love, there's something about that frees the mind when you're in activity, when you have another part of your brain that's being kind of preoccupied, then it can allow sort of a creative flow.
• 28:51
  Heather Hach: And that's why, like when I'm, if I'm stuck and I sit down at a computer, it ain't gonna happen.
• 28:56
  Heather Hach: Take a shower, go for a drive, uh, watch a great movie, whatever you have to do to just pull yourself out.
• 29:03
  Carmen Hecox: So, tell me, when you decided, I'm going to write this book, did you know exactly the book is going to be about this?
• 29:12
  Heather Hach: I knew the basic character.
• 29:13
  Heather Hach: I knew the basic conflict.
• 29:15
  Heather Hach: I knew the sort of general storyline, but I really didn't have the ending completely figured out.
• 29:24
  Heather Hach: I kept changing the ending, um, over and over and over, and I knew I wanted kind of that big dramatic ending that a lot of these psychological thrillers, because I started obsessively reading a lot of them.
• 29:36
  Heather Hach: Um, that big, oh no, oh shit moment, you know, um.
• 29:42
  Heather Hach: I didn't see that coming.
• 29:45
  Heather Hach: Moment.
• 29:46
  Heather Hach: So, I knew where it was going, but it was really fun to let...
• 29:50
  Heather Hach: I like to also let the characters lead me in different directions if they need to.
• 29:55
  Heather Hach: Um, I can't really hear them talk unless I let them talk in my head on the page and not in an outline form.
• 30:03
  Heather Hach: I don't hear them as well.
• 30:05
  Heather Hach: I hear them when I'm actually in the work itself and it's like having aliens invade your body because they talk to me and I have to spend time with them to get to know them and to hear
• 30:17
  Carmen Hecox: And did you know all the characters that were going to be involved in your book?
• 30:22
  Heather Hach: For the most part, yeah, for the most part, um, but they took me on different journeys.
• 30:30
  Carmen Hecox: Were there certain parts that you took out because they just didn't quite work out?
• 30:35
  Heather Hach: I mean, the ending I kept fumbling with, um, and I don't want to, I'm not going to tell any you anything about
• 30:41
  Carmen Hecox: No spoilers.
• 30:42
  Heather Hach: it just, it was hard to get right.
• 30:43
  Heather Hach: It was hard to nail down and, um, the timing, the, the drama, it just, it was, it was tricky.
• 30:53
  Carmen Hecox: How long did it take you from start to finish to actually say, I'm done this is amazing.
• 30:58
  Carmen Hecox: This is the baby.
• 31:00
  Heather Hach: Well, it wasn't necessarily amazing right out of the gate.
• 31:04
  Heather Hach: I had to hire an editor and there was a, there's a lot of work to do, but just.
• 31:07
  Heather Hach: To get it done.
• 31:08
  Heather Hach: And I do believe that even if it's, if it's obviously going to be imperfect, but the way to write is to write and to get it done.
• 31:18
  Heather Hach: And that demystifies a lot of it.
• 31:19
  Heather Hach: And that's true with screenwriting as well.
• 31:21
  Heather Hach: If you write one thing and you finish, you get to write the end, it gives you confidence to go forward and to know that you can do it.
• 31:28
  Heather Hach: Because finishing something and actually completing a project is very difficult.
• 31:33
  Heather Hach: And seeing it through, um, but then you have this big hunk of clay to really start molding.
• 31:41
  Heather Hach: So it took me about, I want to say nine or ten months of serious work.
• 31:48
  Heather Hach: And then I, of course, hired an editor and worked more on that.
• 31:51
  Heather Hach: You know, it was, it was ongoing.
• 31:53
  Heather Hach: Um, but it was, it was months of work.
• 32:00
  Carmen Hecox: What does your family think about it?
• 32:03
  Heather Hach: Oh, they're so supportive.
• 32:04
  Heather Hach: And my sister is a writer too.
• 32:06
  Heather Hach: She is a professor at the New School in New York City, and her first book is coming out in 2025.
• 32:13
  Heather Hach: But yeah, my parents, I dedicated my book to my parents because they've just always been so supportive of me.
• 32:18
  Heather Hach: I mean, like, when I...
• 32:20
  Heather Hach: They found out I was lying all the time.
• 32:22
  Heather Hach: They, they just knew I had a big imagination.
• 32:24
  Heather Hach: They didn't give me grief about it.
• 32:26
  Heather Hach: And if I had been told as a little girl, what's wrong with you?
• 32:29
  Heather Hach: Why are you lying?
• 32:31
  Heather Hach: They saw the good in that.
• 32:33
  Heather Hach: They didn't try to, you know, tamp who I was.
• 32:37
  Heather Hach: They always let me be this big creative person.
• 32:39
  Heather Hach: I was always putting on shows and doing a little.
• 32:42
  Heather Hach: Jig and, you know, moving furniture so I can have a stage and, uh, they just let me be me.
• 32:49
  Heather Hach: And that's what I'm really trying to do with my children is whoever you are, it may not be who I am.
• 32:54
  Heather Hach: It's not going to be who I am.
• 32:56
  Heather Hach: Let you be you.
• 32:57
  Heather Hach: That is a big challenge as a parent.
• 33:00
  Carmen Hecox: It is.
• 33:01
  Carmen Hecox: It is.
• 33:02
  Carmen Hecox: 'The Trouble With'Drowning is set to release on October 17th.
• 33:06
  Carmen Hecox: I can't wait to get my hands on it.
• 33:08
  Carmen Hecox: Can readers,
• 33:09
  Heather Hach: Please, I can't wait to hear what you think.
• 33:11
  Carmen Hecox: Can readers anticipate a virtual or in person event so they can learn more about the book or get their signed, get a signed copy?
• 33:22
  Heather Hach: Absolutely.
• 33:22
  Heather Hach: I'm going to be at Pages, my favorite bookstore here in Manhattan Beach, where I live, on October 18th at 630 and going to have a reading and a signing.
• 33:33
  Heather Hach: And I'm also going to Zibby's in Santa Monica at six o'clock on the ninth.
• 33:39
  Heather Hach: I'm going to Annabelle's ah Book Club in Studio City, and it's actually owned by this is crazy small, small world, but Amanda Brown, who wrote Legally Blonde, the book that everything's based on, is a dear friend of mine.
• 33:58
  Heather Hach: Her daughter owns this bookstore.
• 34:01
  Heather Hach: And it is the first, the world's first, um, YA bookstore, but they sell lots of adult books as well.
• 34:07
  Heather Hach: And I'm going to be interviewed by Janelle Brown, the New York Times bestselling author at that one.
• 34:12
  Heather Hach: Um, and that is on October 29th at 2 PM, which is a Sunday at Annabelle's bookstore.
• 34:18
  Heather Hach: And then I'm going to Colorado where I'm from originally.
• 34:20
  Heather Hach: I'm going to go to Tatter Cover and Barnes Noble in Loveland and Park Collins in early November.
• 34:25
  Carmen Hecox: busy busy.
• 34:26
  Heather Hach: I'll be at the Tattered Cover, um, on Friday night, November 3rd.
• 34:31
  Carmen Hecox: As you look ahead, do you see yourself continuing to write novels alongside screenwriting?
• 34:37
  Carmen Hecox: Or do you envision adapting to one versus the other?
• 34:42
  Heather Hach: I love the fluidity I've had as a writer.
• 34:47
  Heather Hach: I love reinventing it.
• 34:48
  Heather Hach: I love that I've gotten to work in so many different genres and I could want to continue doing that.
• 34:53
  Heather Hach: I do see, as I get older, moving more a little bit toward novels.
• 34:58
  Heather Hach: Um, I, who knows what's going to happen if they can get adapted and then I can do it.
• 35:03
  Heather Hach: It's gotten incredibly difficult and it's obviously such a competitive field.
• 35:08
  Heather Hach: Um, but really novels was an intentional, pivot in my own life.
• 35:14
  Heather Hach: I think I could be 70 years old writing novels.
• 35:18
  Heather Hach: So, you know, for me it's a, Pivot of intention, but I still want to continue doing it.
• 35:24
  Heather Hach: I would still love to do another Broadway show.
• 35:26
  Heather Hach: I would love to adapt and work with a team to bring one of my books to life.
• 35:31
  Heather Hach: I'm working on a new book that's much more of a comedy.
• 35:34
  Heather Hach: I just want to keep writing.
• 35:36
  Heather Hach: I just love engaging my mind with story.
• 35:38
  Heather Hach: And, uh, I want to keep writing.
• 35:41
  Carmen Hecox: Lastly, any piece of advice for any other screenwriters or that are juggling the same thing as you.
• 35:50
  Carmen Hecox: what piece of advice would you give them?
• 35:53
  Heather Hach: A screenwriter in particular,
• 35:54
  Carmen Hecox: A screenwriter and somebody who's writing books.
• 35:59
  Heather Hach: My biggest piece of advice.
• 36:02
  Heather Hach: screenwriting is difficult because it's not just the screenwriting itself.
• 36:05
  Heather Hach: It's also the business and it's also the competition and the, you know, they just don't make that many movies anymore.
• 36:11
  Heather Hach: Um, and a lot of the kind of movies they make, Marvel movies, I'm never going to write Ant Man three, like, it ain't gonna happen.
• 36:19
  Heather Hach: Um, so it's hard to stay positive.
• 36:23
  Heather Hach: I always say that a lot of writing is half of it.
• 36:28
  Heather Hach: I say the other half is staying sane in an insane business.
• 36:33
  Heather Hach: Um, so a lot of it is just trying to take care of myself and, um, take care of my mental health and stay positive.
• 36:42
  Heather Hach: And it's hard in, in a tough industry, but at the end of the day, reading, reminding myself, seeing great movies, seeing great TV.
• 36:52
  Heather Hach: It reminds myself of why I do what I do.
• 36:55
  Heather Hach: Like, I love this.
• 36:57
  Heather Hach: I am privileged to be a part of it, a small part of it, and I want to continue doing it as long as I can.
• 37:03
  Heather Hach: And if I am inspired and invigorated and thrilled beyond words by, or sobbing hysterically at Barbie like I did, um, it makes me want to continue in this journey and continue doing what I do.
• 37:16
  Carmen Hecox: And I would say I have, I have tons of respect for screenwriters.
• 37:21
  Carmen Hecox: Tons.
• 37:21
  Carmen Hecox: Because I always tell my husband, you know, you look at these big actors, it's the screenwriters that make the actors.
• 37:29
  Carmen Hecox: Because without the screenwriters, there wouldn't be a story.
• 37:34
  Heather Hach: I always say we're the only ones in this industry, this wild, crazy industry that employs so many different people.
• 37:40
  Heather Hach: We need to get back to work.
• 37:42
  Heather Hach: It starts with a blank page.
• 37:44
  Carmen Hecox: It does and a creative imagination.
• 37:48
  Heather Hach: Well, we all have to channel our unusual minds in some way.
• 37:53
  Heather Hach: And this is the way that society will allow me to be a little bit of a freakazoid.
• 37:59
  Carmen Hecox: It lets you live your ultra ego.
• 38:02
  Heather Hach: I can talk to myself and not be a psychopath.
• 38:06
  Heather Hach: I could just be a writer.
• 38:08
  Carmen Hecox: Exactly.
• 38:09
  Carmen Hecox: Heather, this has been amazing.
• 38:12
  Carmen Hecox: Thank you so much for coming
• 38:14
  Heather Hach: Thank you.
• 38:14
  Heather Hach: This is so fun.
• 38:16
  Heather Hach: I really enjoyed.
• 38:17
  Carmen Hecox: I did too.
• 38:18
  Carmen Hecox: I wish you all the success in the release of your book, The Trouble With Drowning.
• 38:24
  Carmen Hecox: Everybody, you need to buy your copy.
• 38:27
  Carmen Hecox: Pre order it now.
• 38:29
  Heather Hach: You can pre order now anywhere books are sold, or on Amazon, or Barnes Noble, or your favorite bookstore.
• 38:35
  Heather Hach: And, um, I'm on Instagram at HeatherHachHearne and TikTok, HeatherHachWriter.
• 38:42
  Heather Hach: And I would love to interact with anybody and love to know what you think.
• 38:45
  Heather Hach: I really wrote this, um, to help alleviate the stressful world and create an escape valve that is fun and frothy and has something to say.
• 38:58
  Carmen Hecox: I will link all of your information in my show notes and my website and a link to where they can purchase your book.
• 39:05
  Carmen Hecox: Again, all the success and I can't wait to hear about your next book.
• 39:11
  Heather Hach: Thank you, Carmen.
• 39:12
  Carmen Hecox: What a whirlwind of insights from the ever talented Heather Hach.
• 39:17
  Carmen Hecox: We journeyed through the vibrant world of Broadway and Hollywood and explored the meticulous craft of novel writing.
• 39:26
  Carmen Hecox: If you chuckled at Heather's previous comical writing, you're in for a treat with a twist.
• 39:33
  Carmen Hecox: The Trouble With Drowning, her latest mystery suspense novel, is set to launch October 17th.
• 39:39
  Carmen Hecox: Brings a sprinkle of her signature humor, but ventures into a deeper, darker waters.
• 39:46
  Carmen Hecox: For those seeking a read that promises a blend of wit and suspense, this tale is for you.
• 39:53
  Carmen Hecox: You won't want to miss.
• 39:55
  Carmen Hecox: Don't just take my word for it.
• 39:57
  Carmen Hecox: Secure your copy by pre ordering now.
• 40:01
  Carmen Hecox: And once you've turned the last page immersed in the suspenseful credos and the comical beats, share your thoughts with the community.
• 40:11
  Carmen Hecox: We'd love to hear your take on this gripping narrative.
• 40:15
  Carmen Hecox: Heather's information and links to order"The Trouble With Drowning" and today's transcript can be found at createthebestme.com/ep032.
• 40:28
  Carmen Hecox: If this episode resonated with you, please subscribe to stay updated.
• 40:32
  Carmen Hecox: Join me next week as we'll delve into the topic of stress management.
• 40:37
  Carmen Hecox: An episode I promise will be both enlightening and therapeutic, so be sure not to miss it.
• 40:43
  Carmen Hecox: Until then, keep dreaming big, take care of yourself and remember you were beautiful, strong and capable of creating the best version of yourself.
• 40:54
  Carmen Hecox: Thank you for watching.
• 40:55
  Carmen Hecox: Catch you next week.
• 40:56
  Carmen Hecox: Bye for now.