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Transcript

Booktalk With Courtney Walsh! · Moms That Read

0:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to the moms that read podcasts.
0:11
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm Kaylee and I'm McKenzie and today we have an extremely special guest Courtney Waltz who's here to chat all things books and all things about her life as an author and so we're really excited to get to talk to her and ask her a bunch of questions.
0:25
[SPEAKER_02]: So we always start off our podcasts with what we're currently reading.
0:29
[SPEAKER_02]: So are you currently reading anything?
0:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
0:39
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, okay.
0:40
[SPEAKER_00]: I've read that.
0:41
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you like to?
0:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you like to read while you're writing or do you kind of like steer out of it while you're writing?
0:49
[SPEAKER_00]: I have found that my reading goes up way higher.
0:55
[SPEAKER_00]: I like I read way way way more when I'm not writing.
0:58
[SPEAKER_00]: I think just because like when I'm not when I'm writing a book.
1:01
[SPEAKER_00]: in all my free time, I'm thinking about that book.
1:04
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I start listening to like, I can watch television and movies and stuff, but if I start being a book, it somehow kind of gets in my head a little bit.
1:13
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, so this summer right now, I'm not writing, so I'm just like, give me all the books that can be able to make as much as you can, yeah.
1:22
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, do you prefer audios over like physical books?
1:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I am once I just once I used to be like really opposed to audio because I think they've gotten so much better, but like several years ago, they weren't that great.
1:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Some of them weren't that great.
1:38
[SPEAKER_00]: But once I sort of became like a convert, I'm like, I listen on my walks, I listen when I'm in the car.
1:44
[SPEAKER_00]: When I'm making dinner, I listen when it watering the power.
1:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, it's just makes all the mundane
1:51
[SPEAKER_00]: much more bearable to do.
1:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
1:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
1:56
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I just was recently converted like a year and a half ago.
1:59
[SPEAKER_02]: I was an audio but audio but hated.
2:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
2:01
[SPEAKER_02]: And then I spread it like listening to them more and I'm like, Oh, I can do this while I'm doing stuff like daily you have no idea.
2:08
[SPEAKER_00]: or speed like I don't I don't I like I'm always shocked when someone listens on one time speed I'm like you're you're like that's okay like I'm listening now like 1.75 I'm listening to beta topic we're always like okay what do you listen at though because right it's like everybody's your preference and so sometimes when it's a British narrator I slow it down a little just to make sure you know yeah
2:33
[SPEAKER_01]: But there's other times when I'll speed it up even more just because I just I don't know your ear just kind of gets acclimated to it and then yeah I like train my brain because when I first started listening to him, I listened on one speed and I go back sometimes and I'm like
2:48
[SPEAKER_01]: What was I doing?
2:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Because there's no way I was like, what a withstand hearing it that slow.
2:54
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it is, it was listening to an Irish audio book on the way.
2:59
[SPEAKER_02]: I had to turn it down to 1.5 because the accent is just so thick and heavy.
3:03
[SPEAKER_02]: I love it, but I can't always understand it.
3:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, I'm the same way.
3:08
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like the British ones are my very favorite, but also like pay close attention because sometimes there's something where I'm like, wait, what did you just say?
3:17
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, the audio is is like, I don't know, it's just made my life so much happier on it.
3:25
[SPEAKER_01]: It's so good.
3:26
[SPEAKER_01]: And I like doing where I can like listen to one book and I can also read on my candle at the same time.
3:31
[SPEAKER_01]: So I feel like I'm getting like two birds and one stone kind of thing.
3:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, totally.
3:36
[SPEAKER_02]: Because on that topic, who are some of your favorite authors to light listen to and read?
3:42
[SPEAKER_00]: So my favorite authors, well, I just finished Dahlia all the time by Anna Malmanahan.
3:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yes.
3:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Really love that one.
3:52
[SPEAKER_00]: I liked all of her books.
3:54
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a British author named Varie McFarlane, who, she writes like, it's a,
4:00
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if I would call it a rom-com.
4:02
[SPEAKER_00]: It's kind of like a main women's fiction in rom-com, but she's so smart and witty that like, she hers is one when I'm listening on audio.
4:11
[SPEAKER_00]: I have to pause and go, that sentence was so good.
4:13
[SPEAKER_00]: And just listening for is like, normally, that's not really the case.
4:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I think...
4:20
[SPEAKER_00]: super thrown off by by that, but those have been some of my favorites lately that I've just been devouring.
4:27
[SPEAKER_02]: I found an ML monahan last summer, and I binge all of her books, but I haven't gotten to read dolly all the time yet, but it's not my list through it.
4:35
[SPEAKER_00]: It's really good.
4:36
[SPEAKER_00]: I really liked it.
4:36
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought last year was it last year's book was that I think it was summer romance, and I really liked them, and I'm just like all of them, but yeah,
4:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so kind of on your journey as becoming an author of what person's first inspired you to start writing books.
4:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Honestly, I never was a person who wanted to be a writer like that was not my, I studied theater and I saw that the direction that I was going to go.
5:05
[SPEAKER_00]: So I read a lot of plays and learn how to create characters doing theater.
5:10
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's really
5:12
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, and I always was intimidated by writing a whole novel because you have to go back.
5:19
[SPEAKER_00]: You can't just write it and be like, good, it's done.
5:22
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm done with it and write it and then you're editing it and then you're editing it again.
5:26
[SPEAKER_00]: And then other people edited it and then you edited it again.
5:28
[SPEAKER_00]: And so that felt super daunting and like,
5:32
[SPEAKER_00]: honestly scary to me.
5:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, but I don't know.
5:35
[SPEAKER_00]: I was, I just decided like, you know what, I'm just going to try it.
5:39
[SPEAKER_00]: I had an idea.
5:39
[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, I'm just going to try it.
5:41
[SPEAKER_00]: And I wrote it and it was terrible.
5:43
[SPEAKER_00]: And, but I think you have to have one really bad one.
5:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
5:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Nobody ever sees because you can keep, you can keep working on it and make it better or you can be like, okay, I understand the pace a little better and like,
5:56
[SPEAKER_00]: things that that I'm learning as I got like I think that's one of the best best things is to be okay being bad at something.
6:04
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, because that that helps.
6:06
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think I've always been a storyteller.
6:09
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just that the mediums have kind of shifted a little bit.
6:12
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, as I've gotten older.
6:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Are you kind of like you just jump in and start writing or are you a planner you like to lay everything out?
6:22
[SPEAKER_00]: I am like a plotting pancer.
6:24
[SPEAKER_00]: I have a whole thing for what I do as they start with the characters like I have a whole system.
6:31
[SPEAKER_00]: get to know the character.
6:32
[SPEAKER_00]: So the, and it's really similar to what we did in theater, and, and at basically, there's a ton of backstory that you have to know that never even goes into the book, but it helps inform who the person is and who the character is and why they react to it, and all the things.
6:47
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm always starting with character work for any of my point of view characters.
6:52
[SPEAKER_00]: That's kind of like my jumping off point.
6:53
[SPEAKER_00]: And then it kind of know like the story beats,
6:56
[SPEAKER_00]: the basics.
6:57
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I know that I'm going to put in there, but there's always things along the way.
7:01
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is what I love about writing where you're like, oh, I didn't.
7:05
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't know that was going to happen.
7:06
[SPEAKER_00]: And then you just, you know, keep going and build from there.
7:09
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's that I love when that happened.
7:11
[SPEAKER_00]: That's like so far.
7:13
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, so you're a new book brighter than before is coming out really soon in a couple of days.
7:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
7:20
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
7:20
[SPEAKER_02]: Can you tell us a little bit about that book and what inspired it.
7:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so that that book is about a woman who's like she's in her mid 40s and her life just kind of implodes it just sort of falls apart.
7:43
[SPEAKER_00]: And she just kind of has this, she's had her morning period and she sort of has this epiphany that her life isn't going to change unless she changes it.
7:52
[SPEAKER_00]: And so she makes a list of things that like, what do I really want?
7:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Like from little things, little really small things to like really big things.
8:00
[SPEAKER_00]: And one of the things she always wanted to do was move to Chicago.
8:03
[SPEAKER_00]: And
8:05
[SPEAKER_00]: live in a city and just be be like a city person and that's something you do in your young, but yeah, in your 40s like you don't always get the chance to do that and so she does it and her daughter is studying abroad and she sets her up on dates through a dating app and so she goes that.
8:24
[SPEAKER_00]: So she's kind of exploring the city but also like getting back into the dating world at the same time.
8:30
[SPEAKER_00]: And a little bit of found family, a little bit of just like starting over second chance.
8:36
[SPEAKER_00]: It was really fun to write.
8:37
[SPEAKER_00]: I think I was kind of inspired because several, I know several people who have gone through, yeah, I had life shake ups whether, you know, their spouse has passed away or they've gone through.
8:48
[SPEAKER_00]: They've had divorce or, you know, and I'm thinking to myself, oh my gosh, like that's crazy.
8:53
[SPEAKER_00]: What would you, what would you, what would you do if you, yeah,
8:56
[SPEAKER_00]: had that you have some life behind you and now you have to start completely over.
9:00
[SPEAKER_00]: So that was kind of where the idea came from and I actually had so much fun writing it.
9:05
[SPEAKER_00]: So I hope yeah.
9:08
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm so excited for it.
9:09
[SPEAKER_02]: I love the that we're getting and seeing more older FMC now.
9:13
[SPEAKER_02]: I'd like to say that yes.
9:15
[SPEAKER_02]: Like I love that because
9:18
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm not a teenager or 20 anymore.
9:20
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm like 33 almost, like I like seeing the older FMC and I'm loving it.
9:27
[SPEAKER_01]: I would say the same, I feel like there's more more books coming out now that feel more relatable.
9:32
[SPEAKER_00]: They're not just like, oh, here's this like entire low story of someone who's 25 and this is your random life and it's like, I'll be listening to a book or reading a book and I'm just sort of like, oh, wow, they're like young.
9:45
[SPEAKER_00]: They're like, oh,
9:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Because the first love, I mean, that is often in your, I do find that, like, I really want to direct female character who had been through some stuff.
9:55
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, she's established.
9:57
[SPEAKER_00]: She has a life.
9:58
[SPEAKER_00]: She has, you know, like, she knows who she is, but now she kind of gets to also reinvent herself.
10:04
[SPEAKER_00]: And I, I think, I think it's really brave.
10:07
[SPEAKER_00]: And I know a lot of really brave women who have had to start over like that.
10:11
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I just wanted to celebrate that too.
10:15
[SPEAKER_00]: So many of us, you know, find ourselves in this situation where we're like, oh, things are different than I thought that we're going to be.
10:22
[SPEAKER_00]: So how am I going to deal?
10:24
[SPEAKER_00]: You know,
10:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I'm excited.
10:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, so kind of talking about like your collection of books as a whole, who was your hardest character that you had to write?
10:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, my goodness, my hardest character.
10:38
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm looking at all of them.
10:42
[SPEAKER_00]: I think well, the hardest, I don't know if it was the hardest character, but the hardest relationship that I had to write was a cross country wedding.
10:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, it was more and I loved, I loved like the end result.
10:57
[SPEAKER_00]: I did not love the friends to more is so hard to write and she was kind of a hard character because I had introduced her in a cross country Christmas not really.
11:09
[SPEAKER_00]: to give her her own book and then I was like yeah okay so there's some things that have already established about her but why is she the way that she is and so coming up with her backstory and everything was okay and then there's this guy that's like totally smitten with her and the whole time as a writer you're like why does she not see him so you have to continuously throw up to make sense
11:33
[SPEAKER_00]: And then, oh my gosh, I think I rewrote that book like six times.
11:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh my goodness.
11:38
[SPEAKER_00]: It was so hard.
11:39
[SPEAKER_00]: It was so hard.
11:40
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if I'll ever write that trope again.
11:42
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I don't know.
11:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, I need the challenge and do it once again.
11:46
[SPEAKER_00]: But I don't know if I will.
11:47
[SPEAKER_00]: And people love it.
11:48
[SPEAKER_00]: And I love it.
11:49
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, I just don't know.
11:51
[SPEAKER_01]: That's so hard.
11:53
[SPEAKER_01]: I can see that because like the relationship is already established.
11:55
[SPEAKER_01]: So you're like, how do I do this?
11:58
[SPEAKER_01]: I can see that.
11:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and like what is the logical reason for two really good friends.
12:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, well, one of them is in a relationship.
12:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, okay, somebody's going to be a jerk.
12:07
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, and I mean, right, you know, I don't want to hate the character.
12:12
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, exactly.
12:13
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sort of like, oh my gosh, I don't, I don't even know where to go with those.
12:17
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah.
12:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
12:18
[SPEAKER_00]: That one on a race.
12:20
[SPEAKER_00]: What is your favorite trip to right then?
12:22
[SPEAKER_00]: I think, well, the one that I always gravitate to is second stance.
12:27
[SPEAKER_00]: I love writing second chance, but I think fake dating is like my thing.
12:32
[SPEAKER_02]: And I know people love it.
12:33
[SPEAKER_00]: I love it.
12:34
[SPEAKER_00]: I know in real life, it is not realistic, but it's so fun.
12:39
[SPEAKER_00]: every time you're dating, I'm so here for that.
12:41
[SPEAKER_02]: It's like any time there's fake dating like forced marriage, arranged marriage, anything like that.
12:48
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm here for it.
12:50
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm calling.
12:51
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, tell me all the things.
12:53
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll suspend my disbelief.
12:54
[SPEAKER_00]: 100.
12:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I'm so here for that.
13:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I got to them one and I was like, I've never written a fake dating and then I was like, like, let me try to write this and then my back went out.
13:11
[SPEAKER_00]: And so we were on my back went out.
13:13
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm like, okay, I guess I'll just sit here on the couch and like, right.
13:16
[SPEAKER_00]: And I have so much fun and spite of the fact that I was, you know, in pain.
13:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, well, I'm like, Kudos to you.
13:23
[SPEAKER_01]: That was the first time you've ever wrote that to her.
13:25
[SPEAKER_01]: It was fantastic.
13:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
13:27
[SPEAKER_00]: I really think it was so good.
13:28
[SPEAKER_00]: But I love it.
13:29
[SPEAKER_00]: So I love, I love, you know, all the books and stories.
13:33
[SPEAKER_00]: These and everything with it.
13:34
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah.
13:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
13:36
[SPEAKER_00]: I love that whole series.
13:38
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, yeah.
13:39
[SPEAKER_02]: A whole series.
13:40
[SPEAKER_02]: Which, which, um, heart sister was your favorite to write?
13:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, my goodness.
13:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, let me think.
13:48
[SPEAKER_00]: I really, I mean, I really love, I really loved writing, Poppy.
13:53
[SPEAKER_00]: I really didn't.
13:53
[SPEAKER_00]: She was a big, next door.
13:55
[SPEAKER_00]: I loved writing her.
13:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
13:57
[SPEAKER_00]: I was hard.
13:58
[SPEAKER_00]: And Allowies was a lot of fun too.
14:00
[SPEAKER_00]: I just, I, I just keep wondering, why did you not make four sisters?
14:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Because I would love to write another one.
14:05
[SPEAKER_00]: People ask you that.
14:06
[SPEAKER_00]: They're like, are you going to write another her sisters book?
14:08
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm like, there's only three artists for them.
14:10
[SPEAKER_00]: What are they thinking?
14:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, okay, I'm going to have more than three children in the family.
14:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Why are you going to give yourself the option of like a big family, just in case.
14:20
[SPEAKER_00]: But they were all really long.
14:21
[SPEAKER_02]: Just make a horror sister spin off and keep writing about the whole entire hockey team.
14:26
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, yeah, that's what needs to happen.
14:31
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so if Poppy and Dallas came back for novella, where would they be now?
14:39
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't believe you're asking me that because I'm not going to say, I'm not going to say, I'm working on some things.
14:46
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm okay.
14:48
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I'm sorry.
14:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Where are we left them in my merry mistake is they were planning their wedding.
14:54
[SPEAKER_00]: They had their engagement.
14:56
[SPEAKER_00]: They're planning their weddings.
14:57
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think if they came back for novella, I definitely think they would.
15:00
[SPEAKER_00]: probably be either getting married or they are married, um, you know, I also had a thought that he will probably retire soon.
15:11
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm like, would Dallas be doing a few retirees and I could see him coaching, I could see him.
15:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Like a lot, I think a lot of professional ethics go up.
15:21
[SPEAKER_00]: you know, announced her type.
15:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
15:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
15:24
[SPEAKER_00]: That.
15:24
[SPEAKER_00]: But I could see him probably continue to work with her players.
15:27
[SPEAKER_00]: So.
15:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
15:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
15:29
[SPEAKER_00]: She's just, she's just, she's just cooking.
15:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Cooking it up.
15:34
[SPEAKER_02]: I can't wait to see what she's cooking about.
15:35
[SPEAKER_02]: Wait, wait, wait.
15:38
[SPEAKER_01]: We're all like, you could always believe it at that.
15:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Just if you're like, I'm working on something where we're like, we're completely content with those answers.
15:44
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't need anything more.
15:46
[SPEAKER_01]: We're content.
15:47
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, okay.
15:48
[SPEAKER_02]: So Raya is completely different than her sisters.
15:51
[SPEAKER_02]: What inspired her personality?
15:54
[SPEAKER_00]: It's so funny because she's like, she's the most like me.
15:59
[SPEAKER_00]: And in the first two bugs, people would be like, I cannot stand the older sister.
16:02
[SPEAKER_00]: And I would be like,
16:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think she's just the eldest daughter.
16:09
[SPEAKER_00]: She's the perfectionist.
16:11
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, I'm going to take care of everybody.
16:13
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that's very true to life, you know?
16:19
[SPEAKER_00]: the dynamic between the three of them.
16:22
[SPEAKER_00]: I really wanted to make them very different and, you know, Eloise is very much the youngest daughter and you know, had to be kind of like the opposite of that.
16:30
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's kind of where that came from.
16:32
[SPEAKER_00]: She was challenging to, she was a challenging character because I was like,
16:41
[SPEAKER_02]: So, like, Raya was the book that I related to the most.
16:45
[SPEAKER_02]: I loved it so much.
16:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'm like, yeah, I get you because I'm a middle child, but then I'll just daughter.
16:52
[SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, it's sort of act like an older oldest child.
16:56
[SPEAKER_00]: So,
16:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that definitely I have a sister whose five years older than me, but like in where we were kind of growing up like I almost was the eldest daughter, even though I was the middle the middle kid.
17:06
[SPEAKER_01]: And so it's completely relatable like the oldest siblings, the kind of the the outcasts are always my favorite characters because there was most relatable.
17:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, they just and I think it's really like thinking as a parent.
17:20
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, the oldest one has to be more independent earlier, no matter what because it's like you to help with whatever, you know, you just got your hands full.
17:31
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's pretty true to life, I think.
17:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, okay, so for the summer.
17:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, what inspired you to explore the idea of saying, yes, to life.
17:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I had this epiphany that I make a lot of my decisions based on fear and like why in 2018 our daughter was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and that like really took me in like an anxious like I got very anxious about things, but it filtered into so much stuff.
18:00
[SPEAKER_00]: It was like all of a sudden I was like scared to do everything and I'm not even talking about like, oh, I want to go skydiving like I'm talking about like, yeah.
18:10
[SPEAKER_00]: little things like people would have things and I'm thinking of every possible reason do it you know what I mean I thought okay well what if what if you just started saying that like what if you said yes to things that you normally say no to the things that you think are going to make you uncomfortable and it's never as bad as you think it's going to be in your brain.
18:29
[SPEAKER_00]: And so that was kind of where the idea came from, and I thought, okay, what if I put these two people together.
18:34
[SPEAKER_00]: And they just do it for summer and then spend the summer and I'd like to have multi-generational friendship stories.
18:42
[SPEAKER_00]: I really have older characters.
18:44
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's a great wisdom.
18:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, also I love that older people just don't really have a, I mean, it's a love hate relationship.
18:53
[SPEAKER_00]: They don't really have a filter.
18:54
[SPEAKER_00]: So like, they say whatever they think it was just really fun.
18:58
[SPEAKER_00]: So a lot of those characters.
18:59
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, they're going to say what I wish I could say.
19:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, but yeah.
19:04
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's kind of where that idea came from.
19:05
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, that's awesome.
19:07
[SPEAKER_02]: And so, right in the story, didn't help you to start saying yes to things like in your life.
19:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it was funny because that summer that that book came out, we went to Glacier National Park and I like zip line.
19:20
[SPEAKER_00]: And we went kayaking and I mean, these are not in my wheelhouse.
19:24
[SPEAKER_00]: These are nothing.
19:26
[SPEAKER_00]: I would be the normally the one that's like, I'll hold everyone's bag, you know, right.
19:30
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, so there were, there were, there are some these, but it's constantly reminding yourself of that because it's so easy to fall back into those.
19:38
[SPEAKER_02]: It is.
19:39
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, I'm a severe anxiety girl, myself and I just caught her to fear of getting on a plane literally Monday.
19:46
[SPEAKER_02]: So.
19:47
[SPEAKER_00]: That's you.
19:48
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it was fun.
19:51
[SPEAKER_02]: But it was fun.
19:52
[SPEAKER_02]: And I love it now.
19:53
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, I'm like, why did I wait so long to do that?
19:55
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
19:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Because I'm like, wow, you're just kind of like, okay, I made that out to be a way where it's in my head.
20:00
[SPEAKER_00]: It was not the end.
20:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
20:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
20:03
[SPEAKER_00]: I get that.
20:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
20:05
[SPEAKER_01]: So many readers describe your books as comfort reads.
20:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Is that something that you intentionally
20:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, especially the ones that I've written since my daughter's diagnosis, I kind of have this realization like, when you're going through something really heavy or you are feeling anxious, the last thing you want is more anxiety.
20:25
[SPEAKER_00]: And then so I'm writing for the people that are looking for like a safe.
20:30
[SPEAKER_00]: like place to exhale, and I'm not on your first son fine with that.
20:34
[SPEAKER_00]: I know, and I mean, people will say, oh, they're like palette cleansers when I'm in the middle of like really emotional things are really like, you know, a lot of people will read them in between thrillers, because like, you're right, if you keep your adrenaline up all the time, yeah, just like, oh, my gosh, yeah, with that, like I love that people that they find people hopefully when they need that, you know,
20:57
[SPEAKER_00]: Great, just I know you're not going to kill off the main characters.
21:01
[SPEAKER_00]: I know they're going to have the ending, you know that kind of it's like they go through stuff, but hope I'm trying to keep it so they're going through stuff, but not in a way that's life threatening or super scary, you know that sort of thing.
21:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I love that because I'm a huge fantasy reader and like I just need my brain to cut off some times and I like I'm like they're like hallmark movies like I know I can go in and watch them and I'm gonna feel good when I'm done reading.
21:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I'm like I'm gonna be crying and like I've said over something it's just like easy for my brain.
21:33
[SPEAKER_01]: It's content.
21:34
[SPEAKER_00]: If a hundred percent.
21:36
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, I do have a question about gray and Eloise.
21:39
[SPEAKER_02]: Did you expect everybody to love gray as much as they did?
21:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, no, because he was so cranky, like, at first I was like, how grumpy do I make him and I kind of went like he was like I was all in on that, but no, I didn't.
21:58
[SPEAKER_00]: I was very surprised by that, but I actually really love.
22:02
[SPEAKER_00]: those two.
22:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I loved that hearing in that group.
22:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Grumpy Sunshine is another one that I could write in every.
22:08
[SPEAKER_00]: I could write that in a room.
22:09
[SPEAKER_00]: So happy.
22:11
[SPEAKER_02]: Honestly, the grumpy are the better.
22:13
[SPEAKER_02]: I love it.
22:16
[SPEAKER_02]: I love it.
22:16
[SPEAKER_02]: I love it.
22:17
[SPEAKER_01]: I love it.
22:18
[SPEAKER_01]: I love it.
22:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Besides, like for friends to more, it was also like one of your least favorite trips to write.
22:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, I also find everybody's favorite tropes or my least favorite, um, enemy enemies to more people love it and maybe it's just because I've read a lot where I'm sort of like, but why does they not like each other like why yeah.
22:41
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a friend's smart.
22:42
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, you have to motivate that so well.
22:44
[SPEAKER_00]: If these two people really are enemies or they're at like their rivals, even if it can't just be like, I don't like, it has a reason.
22:54
[SPEAKER_00]: And if there's a good reason that I'm here for it, but if there's not that I'm sort of like, okay, but we're all grown up.
23:00
[SPEAKER_00]: So like, oh, yeah.
23:03
[SPEAKER_00]: And there's people in my life that I would ever say I don't like them, like I put in everybody yourself.
23:10
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just sort of weird for me to have like the thought that there would be a whole book about two people who like genuinely consider themselves enemies.
23:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I struggle with that one too.
23:22
[SPEAKER_02]: I kind of agree though because very realistic I like enemies to lovers in fantasy, but in romance I'm like this could have been an email like a conversation that you kind of had and fix the whole day It's honestly a bold miscommunication Yeah, there's like enemies in romance, but yeah miscommunication
23:41
[SPEAKER_00]: So what does it talk to you, darling?
23:43
[SPEAKER_00]: It would be great in a fantasy, or like in certain genres, I think it works so well.
23:50
[SPEAKER_00]: But in a rom-com, it is really hard.
23:53
[SPEAKER_00]: And like, and even if we've seen it in a movie or a book, or whatever, I'm always just kind of like you said, it's like, just sit down and have a talk.
24:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Have a little room.
24:02
[SPEAKER_02]: Go out for a conversation like an adult.
24:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's what we know, a true person.
24:10
[SPEAKER_01]: So in today's romance world where spices often, like a major selling point, what is made you say committed to a writing closed door romance?
24:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, I have a lot of reasons for that.
24:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, number one, I would be really bad at writing spice, and I know that about how I find it to be very cringing.
24:28
[SPEAKER_00]: So like, I'm like, okay, skip, skip, skip.
24:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, so that's one that I think one of the other big things is that I work like we own a performing arts theater, a performing era when you theater, and I work with
24:42
[SPEAKER_00]: And a lot of them read my books and I cannot coming into rehearsal as the director in being like, I mean, you know what I mean, and so that's another big part of it.
24:56
[SPEAKER_00]: I just
24:57
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't love it, and so I find myself skipping in and like if I end up with a book that ends up being like really spicy, I just stop reading it, but I skip it.
25:08
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I'm like, okay, I want to write the books where you don't even have to skip, you just know going in like I'm going to be able to listen to this whole thing and not have to worry about it.
25:17
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?
25:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
25:18
[SPEAKER_01]: No, I'm a middle school teacher and so I completely like what we talking about on our podcast, I'm like they have found me on the internet and I'm like I can't imagine.
25:29
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want them to hate like I'm not talking about that stuff and so I also like they love reading and because I know I love reading, I always like what books and so I'm like I feel comfortable giving you is someone for them to read especially the girls who want to read romances.
25:43
[SPEAKER_01]: They like that's I could trust to give them one of your books and say I
25:47
[SPEAKER_01]: What a lot of you know with you reading this.
25:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's it's a little bit.
25:51
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, and I think there's a lot of like like explicit content in teen books and so then the moms of the teenagers are like, what the heck am I supposed to let my daughter, my daughter, she was reading at like a high school level when she was an element.
26:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, and I'm like, you can't read high school, but like you can't know.
26:09
[SPEAKER_00]: What am I supposed to do here?
26:10
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, I get it.
26:11
[SPEAKER_00]: That's like a that's like a challenging thing.
26:13
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that a lot of young readers and so yeah, and especially like if your parents don't read the parents have no idea like what's actually in the books and they've had books out.
26:23
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, oh, why are you read that?
26:26
[SPEAKER_02]: I have a bakery and coffee shop and we have a little book corner that I sell books and I have your books stocked there but like some of the moms and daughters who are way too young to be reading some of the books that I have stocked will come up and put it on there and I'm like
26:42
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know as like a business owner, if she'd be like, hey, I don't know she should be reading that because, hey, you may let your daughter read that, but also I'm like, oh God, I know it's in that and she did not be reading that.
26:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, a little bit nervous.
27:00
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I think also, like, and this is probably just like my own self-consciousness, but like since my husband and I work together, like, I feel like if you put any like you're automatically making assumptions about a couple and your main thing and so I've just, there's also that level where I'm just sort of like, I don't want to be walking around at like rehearsals and be like, oh my gosh, look at page 42.
27:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, and I'm
27:24
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just amazing.
27:25
[SPEAKER_00]: It's so nervous.
27:26
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm a we've worked with kids like our whole adult life.
27:31
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, there's a giant giant reason why I just I think that's really important to kind of like
27:37
[SPEAKER_00]: keep, you know, because like, they're going to find it.
27:39
[SPEAKER_00]: They're going to find it.
27:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
27:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
27:41
[SPEAKER_01]: But like my favorite part of the romance anyways is like the relationship and like the tension building up anyways.
27:47
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that is like best part and you do that really well.
27:51
[SPEAKER_01]: And so like that's all I need in the books.
28:01
[SPEAKER_00]: a man would want it.
28:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Like they make it real raw cheese or whatever.
28:04
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm just yeah.
28:07
[SPEAKER_00]: We wonderful they're well done and they're fun and they're happy.
28:12
[SPEAKER_00]: They're they just aren't making that anymore.
28:14
[SPEAKER_00]: And then so I try to like that's kind of where I got inspired.
28:18
[SPEAKER_00]: So and I had I think the following in love part is yeah.
28:22
[SPEAKER_02]: Part that I'm like, I'm so here for the, you know, do you think it's harder to write like the tension and relationship building without the spice in there, like it's it more difficult, you think.
28:34
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I've heard people say that I since I've never written it.
28:38
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not sure since I've gone in the world.
28:41
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that would be harder for me to write, but I have heard people say like in order to make sure that there's like, you have to do a little bit more work on the plot or like the characters because you don't have that to rely on like you can't and that does make it challenging because you also don't want it to be like super cheesy.
28:59
[SPEAKER_00]: And so it's like a constant, you know,
29:03
[SPEAKER_00]: back and forth in my brain.
29:04
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm trying to like how much to push and how much not to push.
29:08
[SPEAKER_00]: But I've never and I'm not sure like a like a spicy otter might be like trust me that parts really hard right now.
29:14
[SPEAKER_00]: I hope you.
29:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I believe you.
29:17
[SPEAKER_01]: So have you ever felt pressure from publishers readers or anyone really to include more explicit content.
29:23
[SPEAKER_00]: No, I haven't.
29:24
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I get those trolley comments where people are like you.
29:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, why don't you just put Spice in your room in your, which is the hilarious thing is usually when you go look at those accounts 13 agents that are saying this stuff.
29:36
[SPEAKER_00]: And like, okay, it's like I'm not writing for you.
29:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, yeah, it's not for you.
29:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, but no, I really, I really haven't.
29:44
[SPEAKER_00]: And I, I've been clear and upfront about my books.
29:49
[SPEAKER_00]: I, I am a purpose because if someone is really wanting a spicy romance, they're, they're going to be just, and so I think to set the expectation right at the start, this is what you're getting.
30:00
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you don't want that, that's totally cool.
30:02
[SPEAKER_00]: You've got a million other books to pick from.
30:04
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, I just want people to know going in so they're not disappointed.
30:07
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't want to let anyone down, you know.
30:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Would you say that it's been kind of like the same expectation like since she's been writing or like has the perspective of that changed?
30:17
[SPEAKER_00]: my perspective has been the same.
30:19
[SPEAKER_00]: And like I publisher who publishes, you know, quote unquote great fiction.
30:24
[SPEAKER_00]: So so my I've heard stories where people are like, oh, I bet their publisher was pressuring them or whatever.
30:34
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if it actually happens.
30:36
[SPEAKER_00]: I've been editors who are so great with just letting like the they'll say here's
30:42
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's your story, so you want to make the decisions.
30:46
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?
30:49
[SPEAKER_00]: I hope that that's what other authors are experiencing with their editors because I think that that's really valuable to let the author kind of make it their own.
30:58
[SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, have what upcoming trends in romance books
31:11
[SPEAKER_00]: I honestly am so bad about following friends like you said something about following the whole hockey team, and I was like, should I do that?
31:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Is that like, are we hockey romance yet?
31:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Because I don't have hockey romance.
31:26
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I'm like, so big right now.
31:31
[SPEAKER_00]: And they have, but they have been for, yeah.
31:34
[SPEAKER_00]: And so, you know, there's this part of you where you're like, okay, what point is it gonna fall off the cliff and everyone's gonna do things for us romance and stuff going anywhere anytime soon?
31:44
[SPEAKER_00]: I love it, but like, what other sport would you want to see?
31:47
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?
31:48
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, we have been reading some good baseball romance, is right now, but there is a lack of basketball
32:00
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't think I've ever seen a basketball romance.
32:03
[SPEAKER_02]: The right move by Liz Tom Fordy is the only one I've ever read.
32:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
32:08
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
32:09
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't think there is any.
32:10
[SPEAKER_02]: And like, I feel like there's a good market.
32:14
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, this is basketball is a good sport.
32:17
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a hockey or football.
32:19
[SPEAKER_00]: And like my brother was a baseball player.
32:22
[SPEAKER_00]: So I grew up at baseball.
32:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
32:23
[SPEAKER_00]: I know.
32:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, people read, like, do people want to read that?
32:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Because I think it would be, yes, I think that.
32:34
[SPEAKER_02]: But I'm just going to follow romance like an hour ago.
32:38
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
32:39
[SPEAKER_01]: I think there's honestly, like, I think the sports romance has been such a huge trend, like it's not just plain romance.
32:46
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like sports romance is huge right now.
32:49
[SPEAKER_02]: And it often, like most of the time,
32:52
[SPEAKER_02]: All of the sports romances that I'm reading right now are following a team and so like I'm reading one by Molly Goans and it's like all the best friends in the group and the coach.
33:06
[SPEAKER_02]: So the coach gets thrown in there too.
33:08
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
33:09
[SPEAKER_02]: And it.
33:11
[SPEAKER_02]: I will continue reading them and I think everybody else has been joining them as well.
33:15
[SPEAKER_02]: So there is so many hockey remnants to choose from.
33:19
[SPEAKER_02]: I feel like I would like somebody to write something different, but that's kind of what I wonder.
33:27
[SPEAKER_00]: That's kind of where I'm at.
33:28
[SPEAKER_00]: I was sort of like, I feel like the market got really saturated.
33:31
[SPEAKER_00]: So then as an author, it kind of nervous of like,
33:34
[SPEAKER_00]: are people going to want more of this or are they not?
33:37
[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't really know.
33:38
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not going to predicting trends or what is popular right now.
33:44
[SPEAKER_00]: It never really seems like like I know.
33:52
[SPEAKER_02]: Not NASCAR.
33:52
[SPEAKER_02]: What do we just read F1 racing?
33:54
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like coming up.
33:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'm wondering about that when the movie came out.
33:58
[SPEAKER_00]: The F1 movie came out and I was like, why aren't there more of these romance?
34:04
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, we went to a sports romance book fair and in Charlotte.
34:08
[SPEAKER_02]: In Charlotte and we found a couple F1 romances.
34:11
[SPEAKER_02]: That's awesome.
34:12
[SPEAKER_02]: But there was no basketball and no football.
34:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, there was not a lot of football.
34:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, crazy.
34:19
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like football.
34:20
[SPEAKER_00]: You need to be more popular.
34:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe second one.
34:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Make another.
34:22
[SPEAKER_02]: I think it should make another.
34:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Another comeback.
34:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, because really the only one I've read is Sarah Adams one.
34:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
34:30
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I love that book.
34:32
[SPEAKER_02]: That was a dream.
34:33
[SPEAKER_01]: It was really good.
34:34
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
34:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, so like when you're writing kind of talking about your writing process when you come up with these characters and these ideas for these books like do you feel like you have to because like when I think about the heart sisters like they're very true to like that season of the year, which I really love and like almost kind of like the holiday around it right you try whenever you start the writing process like fitting it in within that timeline like with this book.
34:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, with those ones I did with this one, I always feel weird knowing, like, hey, this book is going to release in June, but it's set in November.
35:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, that makes me feel weird.
35:09
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's so funny you're asking that because I just yesterday, I was kind of like, but someone could pick it up in November.
35:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you know, idea when people are going to be reading the book, right?
35:18
[SPEAKER_00]: I love writing Christmas books so much that with hard sisters, I was like, what if I wrote books like centered around other holidays?
35:28
[SPEAKER_00]: I actually love doing that.
35:29
[SPEAKER_00]: It was still, I mean, I get a little nervous because I'm like, I hope people know they can read it anytime of year.
35:34
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not Valentine's Day or whatever.
35:39
[SPEAKER_00]: But it is definitely something in the back of my head.
35:42
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know that it needs to be, but it's there.
35:45
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's like, if I think that's going to come out in the fall, doesn't need to have all the fall vibes.
35:50
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?
35:55
[SPEAKER_00]: It's about fall, like, like, like, I like, I like both.
35:59
[SPEAKER_02]: I like some that are like heavy on the fall, and then some that are just like, you can read it whenever.
36:05
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I'm trying to figure that out right now.
36:09
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
36:10
[SPEAKER_01]: What would you say is like the most difficult part of your writing process?
36:14
[SPEAKER_00]: the middle, the very middle of the book.
36:17
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, I know it because I do so much character work ahead of time.
36:20
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, I know the people.
36:22
[SPEAKER_00]: And then I'm like, but what in the world is happening?
36:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, what is the thing to keep the middle to keep to launch you into the last third of the book?
36:30
[SPEAKER_00]: And that always is like the part where normally what happens is I write whatever right and then I get to a point and I'm like I got to go back and read the entire and then that carries me through because then it's then it's like I got a clear sense of like okay now I now I know what needs to have it next.
36:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
36:46
[SPEAKER_00]: And then it's almost every single book that I write, right?
36:48
[SPEAKER_00]: It's stuck.
36:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Usually about a little over halfway through, and then I'm like, I'll go back and read it, and then I know, then I figure out what's next.
36:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you go in knowing what the end is or is that kind of like a surprise to you?
37:03
[SPEAKER_00]: I usually have like a pretty good idea of what the end is gonna be.
37:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
37:08
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know how I'm gonna get there.
37:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
37:12
[SPEAKER_02]: That is weird, but I don't know how.
37:14
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
37:14
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
37:16
[SPEAKER_02]: If someone has never read a recording a wall spug, where do you think that they should start?
37:22
[SPEAKER_00]: I asked my readers this question because people would ask me and I'm like, I don't know, and most people said if it's not Christmas start with the happy life of Visitor Bentley or might on a Valentine.
37:36
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think those like I think my funny Valentine if you really want to like a romance that would be the one if you want some of the little more women's fiction with the side of romance I would say the happy life of Visitor Bentley.
37:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
37:51
[SPEAKER_02]: I think the one I recommend all the time is my funny Valentine.
37:55
[SPEAKER_01]: The first one that I read, I always get the name mixed up.
37:59
[SPEAKER_01]: It's one with the firefighter.
38:00
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't help falling.
38:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, I loved that one.
38:04
[SPEAKER_01]: That was the first one I started with.
38:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Even then after like a year later, I was like, why didn't I do a bunch of firefighters?
38:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, there is.
38:12
[SPEAKER_00]: No firefighter.
38:17
[SPEAKER_02]: But I think whatever you write is fine, we'll read it.
38:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
38:21
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm gonna say fine.
38:22
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm gonna say fine.
38:25
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, thank you so much for joining us on this podcast today.
38:28
[SPEAKER_02]: We're so excited.
38:29
[SPEAKER_01]: We got the chance to talk to you.
38:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
38:30
[SPEAKER_01]: And don't forget.
38:33
[SPEAKER_02]: Don't forget to check out brighter than before.
38:35
[SPEAKER_02]: It comes out June 9th, 9th, yes.
38:38
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
38:39
[SPEAKER_02]: Perfect.
38:39
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
38:40
[SPEAKER_02]: And we will see you guys in the next video.
38:42
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
38:43
[SPEAKER_02]: Bye.