January 18, 2022 | Issue #126 |
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Latest News From "The Fab Four"
Patti Callahan Henry has been huddled in her office space during this dreary weather while working on her next secret project. She takes breaks to read again and again the beautiful Publisher’s Weekly review for The Secret Book of Flora Lea. They said “It captivates,” and that’s exactly what she was hoping for. This Sunday 1/22 at 7 PM ET she’ll be virtual with her pal, Paula McLain, to talk about literary friendships and why they matter with the Kauai Writer’s Conference. Click Here and use FFF to watch for free!
Kristy Woodson Harvey spent last week in Beaufort, SC (the OTHER Beaufort!) to film for one of her favorite PBS shows: By the River. This was her first official interview for THE SUMMER OF SONGBIRDS and it couldn’t have gone better.
Kristin Harmel is realizing that she doesn’t have an “off” button. She’s supposed to be taking it easy, yet finds herself at her desk each day creating tasks for herself. She is, however, trying to be better at simply hanging out with 6-year-old Noah… which means she now knows more about Pokémon than any human should know about anything.
What Kristin is reading: Spare. I tried to resist, but I couldn’t.
Mary Kay Andrews is feeling liberated after turning in the final (fingers crossed) revisions for her Christmas novella, which will be out in September. Want to see the super-exciting cover reveal? You’ll have to tune in tonight! MKA will be coming at you live remote from her New York hotel room, where she and Meg will be meeting with her publishing and marketing team at St. Martin’s Press. Thursday night she and Meg have tickets to see FUNNY GIRL on Broadway, then it’s back home to start work on her book for Summer 2024.
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Get to Know Our Friend, Elle Cosimano!
What would you be if you weren't a writer?
Before I was a writer, I was a real estate agent. I actually sold homes in many of the same counties (and even a few of the same neighborhoods) where the Finlay Donovan novels take place. I was exceptionally good at my job, and it paid the bills. If my writing career hadn’t worked out, that’s probably what I would be doing today.
What's the biggest misconception people have about you and your work?
A lot of people categorize the Finlay Donovan novels as cozy mysteries (maybe because of the pretty pink illustrated cover), but they’re not. Not really. They’re too edgy and suspenseful to fall cleanly into that sub-genre. There’s a bit more blood, violence, and action than you’d find in a typical cozy, and probably a little more tonsil-hockey, swearing, and heavy petting than cozy genre conventions would deem appropriate. My books are hard to categorize. If a rom-com, a thriller, and a cozy got together and made a book baby, it would be the Finlay Donovan mystery series. There’s something in them for everyone.
When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?
I had joked for many years that one day I would have a midlife crisis, quit my job, and write a novel. I never imagined I would actually do it. But in 2010, with my fortieth birthday creeping closer, my mother must have heard a kernel of truth in that long-running joke, and she challenged me to actually do it. She offered to watch my children for a summer, giving me the time and quiet I needed to draft my first manuscript and decide if I was serious. I guess I was. If you like my books, you have my mother to thank for them.
Tell us about the first piece of fiction you ever wrote.
I’m pretty sure I was in third grade and it was an epic poem about a pirate king. It was all very dramatic, involving swordplay, villainy on the high seas, and chests full of gems and gold. Believe it or not, I did not always dream of becoming a real estate agent. I’m certain I missed my calling in piracy.
Do you have any writing rituals?
Aside from procrastinating until the very last minute before my deadline? No. That’s probably the most interesting one.
Is there a particular independent bookstore or library you'd like to shout-out?
Yes! My favorite local indie is a wonderful bookstore called Bluebird Bookstop in Crozet, VA. It’s a mom-owned business and Flannery Buchanan (the founder) is the coolest, most creative, most wonderful mompreneur I know! She’s built a dynamic community of book lovers—hosting events, signings, and book clubs—and she offers signed, personalized copies of all my books through her website HERE.
The last book you raved about:
Wow! So many! But I’m very excited about one in particular that’s releasing in March. It’s called The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise by Colleen Oakley. It features a phenomenal cross-generational female friendship, humor, heart, and plenty of criminal shenanigans. Pre-order this one, folks! I can’t recommend it highly enough!
Tell us about your work-in-progress.
I’m hard at work on the fourth installment of the Finlay Donovan series.
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Get to Know Our Friend, Laura Zigman!
What would you be if you weren't a writer?
I became a writer because it was the only thing I was somewhat good at. When I was younger I'd wanted briefly to be a surgeon and an archeologist, but when I realized there was so much math and science involved (and flying! I don't love to fly), I realized I'd have to do something that involved writing. My parents encouraged me to be a teacher, or to find a job "writing brochures" for big companies. But luckily I went to New York and got a job in book publishing and started writing. If I could choose a different career now, knowing what I know about myself at this age, I'd be a therapist. I love hearing other people's stories.
What's the biggest misconception people have about you and your work?
Normally it's hard to know what people think about you, but when you're a writer all you have to do is read your reviews on Goodreads! Kidding. (Sort of.) In general, I think people assume it's easy to write humor, even though it's really not; and I think people are sometimes uncomfortable with the sad parts of stories. As a writer, you want everyone to love everything you write, and that's just not possible, so what means the most are the readers and reviewers who understand the story you were trying to tell, don't wish you told it any other way than the way you told it, and are moved by the emotional struggles of the characters. There's nothing more satisfying than getting messages from readers who say "I felt seen" reading a book I wrote. That's everything.
When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?
When I was in high school I worked at the big ice cream parlor/restaurant that everyone went to for family celebrations and after school performances and sports games. It was my first job, and it was a family-owned business, and the owner was terrifying — always there watching everyone to make sure they were working hard enough. You see a lot when you work in a restaurant, and it was a big life-lesson at an early age: at 15, I was hearing people's hard-luck-stories and understanding the world in a completely different way. In my senior year, I wrote a piece about the restaurant, which won the city-wide writing award. Expressing myself that way made me realize that processing life through writing was what I wanted to do.
Do you have any writing rituals?
In many ways, I'm a very undisciplined writer, but when I'm about to start a new book or if I'm well into one, I do become very focused. For this book, Small World, I made a binder, full of research about the disability-rights movement in the 1970s, the institution outside Boston where my sister lived before she died, and all sorts of other pieces that played a part in the story, including Nextdoor posts that were extremely funny and annoying that I would turn into poetry. Making a binder is now part of my ritual for starting a book; going away alone for a few days to get going or to keep going is also a necessary ritual.
Tell us about your work-in-progress.
I've just started a new novel called Gloomchaser about a middle-aged woman who starts over after her divorce and her son leaves for college by moving to Gloucester on the north shore of Massachusetts, becomes a driver's ed teacher, and befriends a young motherless woman who owns a candle-book-shop-and-cafe called Gloomchaser that dabbles in "life magick" and "ragecraft."
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Subscribe to the Friends & Fiction 2023 First Edition Subscription Box!
Purchase of this special 2023 Friends & Fiction First Edition Subscription Box includes each 2023 NEW & SIGNED hardcover release from ALL FOUR of the Friends & Fiction host authors plus a fun, small gift included with the first shipment—a kitchen towel that reads, “Dinner can wait. It’s time for Friends & Fiction!”
Subscribers will receive four shipments around each book release:
May 2023—Patti Callahan Henry's The Secret Book of Flora Lea
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Sept 2023—Mary Kay Andrews's Bright Lights, Big Christmas
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Listen to the F&F Podcast!
Coming this Friday, January 20th—Ron & Meg talk to Susan Stokes-Chapman about her atmospheric debut novel, Pandora, a lush reimagination of the mythological Pandora.
Out Now! WB_S5E2—Ron & Patti are joined in a luminous conversation with novelist Armando Lucas Correa about his atmospheric new novel, The Night Travelers. LISTEN NOW!
Out Now! WB_S5E1—It’s new year, new you time! The first episode of the new year has Ron & Kristy in conversation with calligrapher, founder of All She Wrote Notes, and author Maghon Taylor all about reinvention, goal-setting, and her new book, 100 Days of Praise and Positivity. LISTEN NOW!
Out Now! WB_S4E22—Our year-end episode features Brenda Gardner & Llsa Harrison, hosts of the beloved and Zibby Award winning Friends and Fiction Official Book Club with Brenda and Lisa. This dynamic duo, affectionately known as PB&J, talk about their backgrounds, how the book club began and how it’s run, along with what to look forward to in 2023! LISTEN NOW!
Listen, download, subscribe, rate, review & share wherever you get your podcasts!
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News from the Zibby Award-Winning Friends &Fiction Official Book Club with Brenda & Lisa
We’ve got some great events coming up! Take a look at our book club schedule and be sure to save the dates. All events begin at 7pm Eastern unless otherwise noted.
Jan 23: Bookends by Zibby Owens—We are excited to feature our first non-fiction book!
Feb 9: 7:30pm ET Happy Hour with Ron Block
Grab these books and start reading now!
If you missed it:
Watch our Dec 21st takeover of the main Friends and Fiction page here.
Watch our Dec 8th Happy Hour with Ron Block and special guest Mary Kay Andrews HERE.
Brenda and Lisa were featured in the Writer's Block Podcast with Ron Block that dropped on Dec. 30, 2022. Listen to it HERE or wherever you get your podcasts for the story behind the Friends & Fiction Official Book Club!
The Friends & Fiction Official Book Club is on YouTube! You can view previous book club discussions and happy hours at your leisure. Please subscribe to our channel HERE!
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The F&F 2023 Reading Challenge!
We have announced the 2023 F&F Reading Challenge! This year the challenge is being run by the F&F Official Book Club with Brenda & Lisa. Join in on all the fun on their Facebook group page. Each month there is a different category prompt designed to get all of us reading outside of our comfort zone. Let’s have fun together all year long reading books from lots of different genres. On the book club’s Facebook page, there will be ideas shared for each category and the chance to talk with fellow members about your reading selections. The timeless F&F Reading Journal makes the perfect companion piece to this or any reading challenge, helping you keep track of all the books you read all year long. Grab your reading journal HERE.
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Did you miss the January 11th episode with Sonali Dev? If so, you can watch it on our YouTube channel HERE. We air our show on YouTube every Wednesday night at 7pm ET. And every episode since our show’s inception can be found there too. So if you ever miss one, or in case Facebook is being difficult, check us out on YouTube. Subscribe today so you never miss an episode and get alerted every time we post new content. We also have book trailers and highlight clips on our channel, too! Watch the January 11th show HERE.
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Introducing Friends & Fiction: Behind the Book
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