Julia: Hey reader, welcome back to another episode. I'm your host, Julia Bodwell, and joining me today is USA Today best-selling author, Eliza Knight. Hello, Eliza, thank you so much for being here. And I know you have a very busy schedule, so I'm incredibly grateful that you had some time to carve out to sit down and chat with me about all things books and your career and everything.
Eliza: I'm excited to be here. I love your store. You guys are like one of my favorites in the area. So thank you. I was very
Julia: We feel same about you. You're one of our favorite authors, so we love that you are close enough to pop in and sign books and do events and sit down to talk about your career. so I would love to start with your most recent release. You just released Lost in the Summer of 69, which we loved having you come in to the store. great book, historical fiction, very light. it's about three generations of women who go on this epic summer of music and love and friendship and this incredible road trip. so can you tell listeners a little bit more about the book and what inspired you to write it?
Eliza: Yeah, sure. So as you mentioned, it is a three generations of women, a grandmother, a mother, and a daughter. And the grandmother has just turned sixty-nine, she's recently widowed, and she's been diagnosed with dementia. In her youth during World War One, she was known as the Belle of Wartime music. So now that she knows she's gonna start losing some of her memories and her cognitive abilities and maybe even forget how to play music, she wants to have this one epic last summer hurrah. So she's gonna go
Julia: She does. She really does.
Eliza: She's like, go back and go home, right? Yeah, I love that. Yeah, so she she's gonna go out on the summer of a 69 tour. There's concerts everywhere across the country that summer. So you get to explore that with her and see her sort of have a little bit of a comeback. But meanwhile, back at home, her daughter, Leanne, discovers that her mother has gone missing. She knows that she's recently been diagnosed with dementia and she's really worried about her. So she enlists the help of her teenage daughter, who has just graduated high school and is about to go off to college in the fall to join her on a road trip. And naturally a teenager would rather spend the summer before college with friends, but she does agree to go with her mother on the condition that her mother lets her read her book as they go.
Julia: I love that. The fact that they're reading this book together aloud in the car. I just love that. Is that something that
Eliza: Right, like I love an audio.
Julia: that you ever done with your family? Like you guys listen to whether it's now or as a kid growing up? Yeah. Wondering about that component
Eliza: Like right now.
Julia: because that was a very specific detail that you included and I was like, okay, I like this.
Eliza: It's super fun. So we vote like we we do a lot of road trips and so we vote on a book to read and then we'll listen to it.
Julia: Everyone like throw their their title in the hat and then you vote and whichever one.
Eliza: Funny enough, it often ends up being like a memoir or a thriller, which I think we all kind of like that sort of genre versus like no one ever picks romance. I don't know why. but yeah, so I I I really liked having that little aspect in the book and and they head off, you know, on the road to find grandma and they're sort of one step behind most of the way, but they do get you know glimpses of her as they go. And it's a nice, you know, hard.
Julia: Which I love that like they're always one step behind her, but it was it it it like never in a bad way. Like it wasn't like we missed her again. It was just like okay, well we're also having our own adventure, so we'll we'll get to you know catch up to her eventually.
Eliza: You know, at first, you know, Lee Ann is super paranoid about her mom because she's really afraid she's gonna end up lost in a ditch somewhere. But they keep getting glimpses of her on news reports, they hear about her on the radio, so they know she's mostly safe. so I think that sort of stems some of the worry and makes it more of like an adventure.
Julia: And they're they were just such incredible characters, all of them. now this correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the first time that you've really created main characters just completely from scratch. Yes. Obviously this is set in a very historical, you know, time period, the the summer of sixty-nine, all these music festivals happening. And you do mention a lot of real people from history, a lot of musicians and things, but the main characters are all fictional. So what was that like having to create them completely from scratch, but also make sure that they fit with the time period?
Eliza: That was actually really super fun, a little bit liberating for me because most of my historical fictions have been biographical historical fiction and you really have to stick very closely to the timeline and a person's life story.
Julia: Right.
Eliza: Exactly. And if you do, people will be like, but that didn't happen in that life. Right. and even Confessions of a Grammar Queen was based on several women in history. Great people. So she was also fiction, but I really used real people to inspire her character. So she also had bits and pieces that were real-to-life stories. so yeah, these are completely fictional characters, and I I really had so much fun with it. I especially Eleanor, to be honest, she's the grandma. I had the most fun with her. Because she's just such a risk taker, but also such an amazing soul. Such a rubble. Yes, I loved it.
Julia: She's probably my favorite of the three. yeah, it looked like They're all great, but definitely like she's a rebellious, you know, nature in her
Eliza: Yeah, and and just her like you know, zest for life and her want to to live on and like create music and and share it with other people. I love to
Julia: Yeah. So what kind of research did you have to do to you know, obviously y you weren't going to these festivals, I wish. I don't think you're that old, but you you know, you weren't going to these festivals, so what kind of research was involved for this particular book maybe that might have been different from your other book?
Eliza: So I did a lot of research on the music itself and during during that time period, there was a really great documentary called The Making of Led Zeppelin, which was amazing. There's a exact one which I love anyway. So it's I'm doing research. It's research for I'm like, this is great. And I would watch it like a hundred times. It was so good. Okay. and then I watched
Julia: Do you like take notes?
Eliza: Okay. Yes, yeah. And I watched a bunch of documentaries and live footage from other concerts during that summer, especially Woodstock. Yeah. and I I studied all of the musicians' music, watched interviews, looked at how people changed in the way they danced and the clothes they wore during that decade. I also had to do a lot of research on the road trip itself because obviously driving the sixties is way different than driving today. Yeah.
Julia: And they go all over.
Eliza: So I to know highways, road stops, what kind of hotel they would be staying at, what a hotel might look like, what food it would have, gas, like, you know, the fact that they, you know, in in Jersey right now people still pump your own gas.
Julia: Which I'm from Pennsylvania, so even you know there would be some spots, but yeah, we get cross that boulder into New Jersey. It's just like why why are they coming together? I can get I can do my own
Eliza: Well in the sixties they didn't pump their own gas either. So like having you know the a lot of different things, just make sure it like authentic. Yeah.
Julia: Yeah, you want it to be historical.
Eliza: exactly. Studied like the fashion of the time, what kind of car they would use. for Nora who was the teenager, she was gonna be one of the first females to go to Yale. That that was the first year they had opened it up to women. Yeah. So doing a little
Julia: Which made me think, you know, reading that I'm like, wow, I didn't even think of that as a historical moment in time that wouldn't would have needed to happen because I've only grown up in a time where women can go to any college.
Eliza: Exactly. Yeah. So that was really interesting too. but then also like the things that are going on in the world in that year, like the you know, civil rights movement, women's rights movements, were at war. We were at war with Vietnam during that summer and there's a lot of protests going on. So when you're writing in a time period, you have to make sure that you you know everything that's going on because that will affect all of the characters and everything they do and think, and then even you know, people they might pass on the street and you want to make sure that it all is like very
Julia: Yeah.
Eliza: Yeah.
Julia: And I definitely you know, reading it, I don't know a lot about that time other than just like the big aspects, but it never never once did I have a moment where I had stop and question. I'm just like, no, this is just exactly how it was. So you did a great job. so when you're writing d and doing your research, do you find historically that you will just do all of your research kind of as a front loading and then you ha hit a point where you're like, Okay, I'm ready to start writing or do you start writing and still need to research as you as you're writing? What's your process?
Eliza: So I do a lot of front loading on like the big picture stuff, like obviously all of the music and the music festivals, what was going on in the world during that year, those things I all really wanted to know up front, the car that they were driving so I can make sure when I'm writing the scenes I had the car right. Yeah. and then when I'm editing and like doing my revisions, that's when I'll add in more of like the little tiny details like maybe what they're eating. So in my first draft it might be like and they ate, you know, lunch at the Howard Johnson. But like when I do the revisions I'll like be much more specific what they're eating. Yeah. Okay. and what, you know, the comforter looks like at the hotel or what h her shirt might have looked like. So those little tinier details I do later 'cause at the first one I'm just trying to get the story down and those bigger historical details you have to know those really to write the story. So for example the books that they were reading to each other, I read those before I started writing because I knew I wanted the book's content to be like something that sparked conversation. Conversations. Yeah so
Julia: And you know, again, as a reader, you don't think about all those tiny details that you go back in later and add, but they really do just make the story, you know, so much richer and you really need that. So I can see why you would want to kind of tackle it in that way. That makes sense. if you were to have been able to go to any of these festivals, which like what would be your top wish that you could have gone to?
Eliza: Definitely Woodstock. It's the most iconic and the craziest. Like five hundred thousand people in one place, that's amazing. Yeah. I would have brought my own cooler of food because they did run out of food. Yeah. and I don't know that I would have stayed for the several days either because I feel like the bathroom situation might have gotten a little bit hooky, but I think
Julia: Just even today's festivals I'm just like, I can maybe do like a day an afternoon, like you know, I don't know that I can do a whole weekend. Yeah. Was it Coachello that's like a l weekend long? Like I don't maybe maybe ten years ago, fifteen years ago, but like I don't wanna like camp in a in a tent. No. I'm I'm I'm good. I I like indoor plumbing. I like indoor plumbing shower.
Eliza: much and to let's be honest so we went to the reggae rise up festival in St. Pete while I was actually writing this book because I wanted to be like in a festival which was awesome but I did like splurge for the VIP ticket so that we could use the private porta potties. I mean it's still porta potties but like cleaner than the exactly
Julia: Like not as many people are going in as
Eliza: it like it's the same porta potty there's just less
Julia: I like that last butt. So did that that was in the middle of writing? Did that seem like it inspired anything additional or just kind of like really reiterated that this is the story I want to tell?
Eliza: Definitely a lot of the sensory details, like the the music, the way it pulses in your body, the the enjoyment of the crowd dancing and singing and just so like excited to be there listening to the music. the way people are sort of bouncing off each other and strangers are talking and and excited for what's happening because you know music is so like joyful and emotional I feel like. So I I liked that. obviously there was a lot of weed there, so I got a little bit of of sensory overload with that as well. So I was able to
Julia: You're fully immersing yourself.
Eliza: Yeah.
Julia: is there anything that didn't make it into the book that you wish had stayed or or something that, you know, you wish that you had put in that you didn't?
Eliza: I don't think so. I pretty much put in everything. The biggest thing that changed, I would say, is the age of the grandma's love interest. So in the original like pretty much everyone's interesting. Yeah.
Julia: say I'm glad that you're supposed to be much younger, yes. And and and she was about how old is that. Same age as that's right.
Eliza: So she is sixty nine. And he was originally in his twenties. Yeah. And I thought that was great because he reminded her of like her former love during her musical career. And that was sort of like what he was a foil for. But everyone that read it, like including my editor, was like, It's a little young. It's
Julia: Okay.
Eliza: a little too young. Not really believing it. So I did bump him up to forties. Yeah. Which
Julia: Yeah, I thought that was a good fit and still there was still an age difference but not so extreme that is like not really believable. Right. because he was just smitten with her. And
Eliza: Yes he was.
Julia: and he was he was adorable. I love that. You know, whether we don't know w you know where that might go, but I love that. Yeah. That those two characters together. Thank you. so what do you hope that readers who you know get out of those?
Eliza: I think the biggest thing when I was writing it, well for one thing I want it to be a nostalgic read, whether you live during that time period, you remember people telling you stories about it or you just wish that you had lived there.
Julia: after reading it like I wish that I had been able to like experience that.
Eliza: So like you can I feel like see yourself in each of the characters in each generation. but the biggest thing is that basically at any age you can change the trajectory of your life or you can relive something or you can try something new. And I really got a lot of reinforcement with that thought process when I was doing my master's degree program recently.
Julia: Which you yeah, you recently graduated.
Eliza: Thank you. But at least I would say a quarter of the students were, you know, pretty close to having just graduated with their bachelor's, maybe like within one to five years of graduation. The other three quarters were people that were my age or older. There's a woman in her seventies. wow. Yeah, so I I'm doing my masters and I'm gonna be a you know, a lot of them wanted to be writers or teachers. They were pursuing different careers and I thought that's really fantastic that you know at any age you can decide, like you know what, I don't wanna do Exactly. And so Eleanor changes her, you know, path with the music. And Leanne, who is a very sort of I don't want to say boring, but like she's a very straight-laced housewife. Yeah,
Julia: Yeah, very
Eliza: she's gotta learn some new things and and come up with a hobby. And so she changes her life a bit as well. And then Nora, who is trying to do the responsible thing, you know, feeling a lot of obligation being one of the first females to go to Yale, decides, you know what, maybe I don't need to take that strict of a path, I can still go to school and do something I want. Yeah.
Julia: So really pursue the passion. I do I do love that Lee Ann really felt like you know a caterpillar emerging. Yeah into a like turning into a butterfly, like emerging from the chrysalis and sort of. So that was as much as I you know she wasn't my favorite character, but I loved seeing that and it was just small, subtle changes throughout the story that really, you know, show that, yeah, like you said, it's never too late to either reinvent yourself or decide, you know, you want to try something different or or pursue a passion. So I think that's a great message that maybe isn't like the most important. important takeaway, but it's definitely something that I hope readers as as someone who's read the book and felt that way, I hope they take that away.
Eliza: Yeah.
Julia: I'm just so curious too, since you brought it up your your MFA program. So you said it's just sort of people from all walks of life, ages and and directions. you and your bestie Madeline Martin both did the program. Were there a lot of other authors who were also doing the program or was a lot of people who had never written before that wasn't the path they were gonna go down.
Eliza: Yeah, so
Julia: It you know, as someone who was already an accomplished author, for you to go back yeah, you know, it's like well you don't even need it. You you're you've already doing the thing.
Eliza: And like so the reason that I did it was because two well, two things. I had been teaching at a international writing school and originally they required a master's, but with my experience they said that they would accept me. So I did teach there for two years. But most colleges in the United States do require like a master's degree or advanced degree to teach at the college level. So I really wanted to do that. Okay. And so I thought, okay, well, my you know, this is where that was like my mo my main reasoning behind it. There were lot of already published people so some had published short stories a couple of journalists were in the group okay there was mix yeah a romance novelist who wanted to hone her craft also wanted to become a teacher there was one of my good friends was a script writer and a novelist and he also wanted to teach so there was a a wide variety yeah and some new writers
Julia: Yeah. Are you still teaching are you still teaching at the college level or will you again?
Eliza: Yes, so I did teach an undergrad class. I loved it and I'm still technically an adjunct, but right now with my like writing schedule I'm not doing anything.
Julia: Which is just insane.
Eliza: But I did just read out though about that. about starting up possibly in the fall.
Julia: Is it creative writing that you teach? Mm yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well that would be exciting to get to have a class taught by a lesson I'm
Eliza: Yeah, and I also do some stuff on the side. I have a it's called 30 Day Kickstart and it's like every once in a while I host like a month long small group mentorship where I teach workshops, do live coaching and like writing sprints and things like that. Okay, awesome.
Julia: It's good to know for anyone out there who's an aspiring writer or even a s you know seasoned writer that wants to learn more. and you you are a very prolific. You you write historical fiction, you write historical romance. you just had your your newest Brave Highlander, which is the first in a new series set in Scotland. That just came out. You have another book coming out on August 4th under your pseudonym Michelle Brandon, Tradwife. So you are very busy. You are doing a lot. can you tell listeners first a little bit about those two books and and those genres that you write in and and how you came up with the ideas for for your newest program or
Eliza: Of course. So Brave Highlander is a medieval Scottish romance, and it is a it's the start of a new series called Guardians of the Highlands, and it takes place in the you know the era of Robert the Bruce, William Wallace. If anyone has seen the movie Brave Heart, I'm sure people have seen that. Yeah, it's like the whole setting for the book. So my hero and two of his friends are the guardians of the highlands. They fight for the Bruce, and in this particular book, one of them is injured and And so he's not allowed on the battlefield anymore, but he has been charged with basically being a bodyguard of sorts to the Bruce's niece. And so he has to take her to a safe place because people are after her. But there's a whole faction that is like a secret society underneath that is trying to thwart everyone and chasing after her because they want her, you know, basically she could fetch quite a ransom. So it's a lot of adventures. Some fighting back and forth and then obviously some romance. And it just came out this month and I'm very excited for it 'cause I haven't had a medieval come out, I think in about a year. and that's my romance readers, that's their favorite genre of
Julia: So So they've been waiting. Yes. You know, on edge, waiting for your next remote.
Eliza: Yeah. Yeah. And then Tradwife is it's a suspense revenge-ish novel. and that comes out August 4th. And it is about three trad wifes in a small coastal town in Florida that I did make up.
Julia: Is it in inspired by any real place in Florida?
Eliza: kind of like this coast that we're on right now. I named it Crystal Harbor. So it's like the kind of a mishmash of several towns in this area. and I got some inspiration even from like downtown Sarasota, like one of the coffee shops they go to is a little rustic like the St. Armand's notice. Yeah.
Julia: Maybe some of your local readers might know similarities and
Eliza: Tradwife stands for traditional wife, and it's like a huge social media trend right now. There's a lot of Tradwife books that started coming out maybe last year or the year before, and then have continued. Definitely. It's very popular, yeah. So mine has three main heroines, technically four, because there's a historical timeline. Well, I shouldn't say historical, it's like 13 years in the past. And it's about the murder of a young girl. And in the modern timeline, these three trad wives are trying to keep the secret. Of that murder basically hidden while also dealing with their own social and personal issues. So the first trad wife is a former dancer. she's, you know, very, very married to the trad wife life. but she's suffering from postpartum depression. And her husband doesn't believe that's a disease, so she's suffering a lot alone with that. And then The second tribe wife is a divorced woman with multiple children, and she's sort of been chauffed out of the community because people don't think that if you're divorced that that you're worth anything, basically. So she's trying to kind of spread the message about how that can be dangerous for women. She had no working skills and now she's sort of by herself and has to figure out how to survive. And what do you support? Yeah. So she's gone onto social media to talk about what tribe wives are and and how you can protect yourself if you are a tribe wife. And the funny thing about that. Is someone said to me recently, Well, you don't see any older trad wifes, do you? Like they're all like 20s and 30s. And was like, yeah, actually. So yeah. So if maybe it is a good message to be talking about that. and then the third trad wife is the most perfect trad wife, the best clothes, the best parties, but she is also out for revenge and hiding a secret.
Julia: Yeah, I I love y so this is only your second book, under Michelle Brandon, but you you released Rush Week last year. Yeah. And that was just like juicy and drama filled.
Eliza: There's and the same you can expect the same this one. Very juicy, drama filled, mean girls. Okay.
Julia: So you're not a trad wife yourself. No. So what kind of what kind of research did you have to do to sort of embody the the trad wife?
Eliza: So I did watch several like sort of shows that are kind of trad wife ish, like The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. I watched that. I watched a lot of social media. There's a a hashtag Tradwife and I basically b watched everybody's videos.
Julia: 'Cause there's a lot of influencers on there who are sort of living this trad wife life and
Eliza: posting about it. Exactly. I listened to a lot of podcasts. There's several podcasts out there that actually have to deal that deal with women who were divorced and are also spreading this message about what that lifestyle was like for them and what happened after. So that was I liked seeing that other side of the coin there. and then, you know, I do love to cook. So the making of the bread and the soup and a lot of the recipes that you know my main character is making like I do all that stuff anyway.
Julia: So some there is there are some some real aspects of you in there.
Eliza: There are some real aspects for sure, but like, my husband's definitely not my boss.
Julia: So Trife will be your 99th published book, correct? That is incredible. Like you're you're just such a prolific writer. How do you juggle all of your deadlines? Like what does that look like?
Eliza: Well, it can be very insane. Last year was probably the worst year because I had two books due in June and then I had one due in September last year. So
Julia: Even this year they're all so close together.
Eliza: Well, I actually I was thinking about it. I actually have only written one book this year. Okay. So Brave Highlander, I started that in January and it took me about four months to write and then go through the editing process until it came out. So and I've written half of two other books. So I still have like other things that I'm writing. But I definitely took a a seat like in the back seat of the car this time just to like take a little bit of a break because the year before I wrote like three or four books. And that was really, really hard. Yeah. It is insane. and so
Julia: How you keep like everything separate, you know? You have so many different stories happening at your writing at the same time.
Eliza: Definitely can't actively draft two things at once. Okay. And when I have had to do stuff like that, then I I really have to be very careful not on the same day at least. Okay. So I might split the week or I might do every other week. The problem with the every other week or you know, taking a chunk of time and then coming back to it is then I have to refamiliarize myself with the story. Yeah. So doing half the week and half the week, that did work a little bit better because I didn't forget everything that I had written the week before. Yeah. and the good thing is they're so totally different. In the genre, that it isn't too hard for me to like sort of comp compartmentalize those like characters and everything because they're not similar, if that makes sense. Like, if I was writing two medievals, I think it would be way harder because there'd be way too much overlap, and the characters would talk the same. And so I feel like then I'd be meshing them together and that wouldn't work. But you know, going from like a contemporary, nasty mean wife, to like you know, Eleanor Grandma, that was like. Super easy for me to do. the hardest thing is the time. And because I was having to write so much, I was dealing I have carpal tunnel and I was dealing with a lot of wrist pain. So I started doing dictation and that was a disaster. But I I did end up like that's
Julia: I know personally like that I don't would that would be a mess for me, but I know I know plenty of authors will use it whether they need to or they just choose to.
Eliza: I don't wanna ever do it again. Like only if I have to. but it was not fun. so this year I slowed down a bit and I'm kind of pushing I pushed back a bunch of deadlines. my book that comes out next year, it normally I try to get those done by June and it's not due until mid October. So
Julia: So you give yourself like enough time to make sure you're not scrambling. Yeah.
Eliza: Exactly.
Julia: Yeah. Well, and you're also a hybrid author. So you are indie published and traditionally published. So I I'm assuming you probably have a little more of say over your indie deadlines than the traditional deadlines. But
Eliza: Definite.
Julia: what what has that pathway been like and you know, what made you choose to go that way? And can you talk a little bit about being a hybrid author and what that means and
Eliza: So I started out with a small press, actually three small, was it three? Three or four small presses. back in two thousand eight was when my first novella was published. So most of my early story Yeah. Most of my early stories were novellas because I had really little kids and I wanted to complete a project, but I wasn't sure I could complete a full novel. In fact, my first full novel took like a very long time. so I did small presses at first and then I had a friend who had just started self publishing. her romance novels and she was like the you need to do this I think you you know you've got the bandwidth for it and I think you can do it so I did my first novel came out in 2011 okay self-published and it did it was a learning curve I would say but not one that I felt was so overwhelming and so I have actually been in depublishing ever since then including historical
Julia: And that was all of your romance.
Eliza: romances. I did have Have a traditional historical romance trilogy that came out in 2020 and 2021 because I wanted to see if there was a difference between my indie stuff and if I went trad with the romance, but there really wasn't, so that was a good experiment, and also I really enjoyed working with the publishing house with that. in fact, they ended up being the ones who published this book, so that was really nice. But with historical fiction, my first several historical fiction. I also indie published, but they did so well the first month that I so ended up selling them to a publisher. So that was a really that was a neat yeah. It was cool. I like that. and I've just done traditional with those ever since.
Julia: Okay. Yeah. So what made you decide so you had the historical romance kinda where you started and then you, you know, started doing historical fiction, what made you decide to also toss the kind of contemporary dramas into the Vicks?
Eliza: So funny enough, when I first started writing for publication in two thousand six, my I I was trying to dabble in a bunch of different genres to see which one I would be good at. The very first one I I think I only got maybe twenty thousand or so words in and it was a YA like magical realism type book. Okay. And I did enjoy doing it. Like I would wake up at three AM and pull out the computer or and start writing, but I quit like after the first twenty I was like, I just don't even know where this is going. So I was no direction. Yeah, I was like, I this it's fun and I was enjoying like learning how to write, but I don't think that was it, it wasn't something that I just was going to keep going with. So then I dabbled with some thrillers and I was entering some contests and the feedback I was getting back wasn't great. But I think that had mostly to do with the fact that I was a new writer and so and also hadn't like developed that like thick skin yet that you kind of need as a writer where people don't reject. Yeah, there's a lot of rejection. You get rejected by agents, editors, and readers all the time. So I I think that if I had just ignored some of that and kept learning, I probably would have continued with the thrillers. But I b I back put those Okay. I had always been a huge historical romance and historical fiction reader. I read my first Ken Fallett and Margaret George books when I was fourteen. Yeah. And also my first romance novels when I was fourteen. So I was like, well, let me let me just dabble in both of those. And my historical fiction that I was writing took me over five years to write, and that came out in two thousand fourteen. So it was almost roughly around the same time that I was. starting his writing historical romance, I was dabbling in historical fiction. I knew I wanted to do kind of both. I've never been a type of person that when people are like stay in your lane like I don't know what that means. Everywhere. Yes.
Julia: Like I'm in all the leaves. Yeah. So I'm gonna do all the things.
Eliza: All of the things and with the romance I entered some contests and my first contract I actually won through a contest. So that was I was like, well I guess this is what what I'm doing. And then so long story short, several years ago my agent and I were talking about how I wanted to have another genre to write in. Yeah. and I was like, I've really always wanted to write in like the thriller suspense space. And she said, Well I actually happen to know an editor who's looking for something if you want to write a pitch. And so that was Rush Week. Okay. Yeah.
Julia: So you just you pitched it and then you're off to the So
Eliza: Exactly.
Julia: obviously you'll continue to write the thrillers. Do you ever see yourself adding another genre? No. Or are you just like this is I've got the historical, I've
Eliza: It's good
Julia: got the romance, you know, and I've got the thrillers, like we're good. The the trifecta.
Eliza: I should say technically it's a romance. My daughter and I have written about one-third of a romanticy novel. So it's still romance. Okay. And it's it's been a lot of fun. It's kind of medieval-ish, but with some magic. and I we really have had fun with that. But that is like, I don't know when that would even come out. Like she's very busy and I'm very busy, so we kind of pick at it whenever we've been working on it for like two years. So we pick at it whenever. Yeah.
Julia: Does she have goals to be a writer as well?
Eliza: She would love yeah. I think she would love to be a writer. She's a three daughters, right? Yes.
Julia: Yeah, yeah
Eliza: And this is my daughter, my oldest daughter. She's a assistant librarian and a freelance editor. So she's definitely in the bookspace already. Yeah. Like that's like her her two jobs already. So I think she would love to be a writer.
Julia: So maybe there'll be more future collabs between Okay.
Eliza: Yeah.
Julia: Well we'll have to keep an eye out for that romanticy collab between you as well. yeah, you've just you've had a very long, robust career. What what would you say has been the most exciting or your your favorite part of all these years? Hmm.
Eliza: I think that the best part is always holding your book in your hand. I feel like getting to see like all that hard work and flipping through the kitchen.
Julia: Okay.
Eliza: Right? Yeah. Like you labored over that and here it is. so I love that. And then I think one of the other really exciting things is when you you know, someone either emails you or they meet you at an event and they say that they loved your book. Yeah. I like hearing that. Because, you know, we write by ourselves and you write first and foremost for yourself, but in the end, if you're seeking publication, you're writing for our readers too. Yeah. So to hear them Yes. Yeah. Look, you like me. Yeah.
Julia: Yeah, you're writing for an audience. You want them to like it. Well, on the other side, as the readers, we also go to events and get very s excited and nerd out and getting to meet authors who have written books that we love. So the the love goes both ways. So hopefully the the authors feel that. Yes, definitely. When you when you go to your events and and you do all these things. do you have any advice for aspiring writers? You have a very incredible career,
Eliza: yeah, a couple of things.
Julia: so
Eliza: So there's one thing I always tell everyone is read a lot. Like reading is our homework. You know, nurses, doctors, they all have to go get their continuing education credits. I think teachers do too, right? So they're always having to learn. And our way of learning is to read and you know, take workshops if they're available. but then I always tell everyone the three P's, which is persistence, patience, and perseverance, because you need all three of those things to be a writer. You have to persist. in your craft writing multiple days a week. I wouldn't say every day because we need to have boundaries with ourselves. Yeah exactly. Perseverance because there's gonna be a lot of ups and downs. And then
Julia: we talked about a lot of rejection. Yeah.
Eliza: Exactly. Exactly. And patience because it's really more of a marathon than a sprint. and there's so much hurry up and wait. Yeah. where they're like, Yes, we want you know the full manuscript right now and then they might take like six months before you hear anything back, if at all. So like those are the Yeah, it is.
Julia: It is very hurry up. Well that I think that's great advice. so you do you do have Tradwife coming out in on August 4th, very soon. Anything you can share about what you're working on for next year?
Eliza: Yeah, so I have a book coming out next fall. It's called Under a Grecian Sun and I haven't we haven't announced it yet. Hasn't we? yeah,
Julia: Yeah. Okay. Here first. Yes.
Eliza: so it's not been formally announced, but it comes out next fall and it is about a woman actually from Tarpon Spring. she her life has imploded. She's in her forties and she was married, she's no longer married.
Julia: Will this be under a short or a license?
Eliza: Yeah. She owned a brewing company that she started from scratch. It's gone. and she grew up with her grandparents believing that her mother had abandoned her to live overseas in Europe. wow. Yes. So her grandparents have asked, she gets a note from her mother's friend that says, your mother wanted me to write to you and let you know that she has left you a villa and a dog. And so the woman basically is like, you know what, I have nothing left here for me, might as well go to Greece and see what that's about.
Julia: Yeah. So will you have to go to Greece to do your service?
Eliza: It was amazing. It was amazing. and a lot of like the food and the sights that I saw are in the book. So it is sort of like a a nice like vacation novel. but it's a a mostly a novel about self-discovery and learning about your past and the secrets that you know can be revealed on paper. in the the off chapters from the main heroine's chapters are letters from her mother about her childhood and how they spent time together. So she's sort of of learns like wait my mom didn't actually abandon me and it's kind of sad a little bit but mostly it is a very joyful novel okay she meets a very hunky Australian writer the dog is of course very adorable there's
Julia: I feel like there's always
Eliza: always a dog and I did write a chapter in the dog's point of view
Julia: I will say I was disappointed that the dog was not on the cover of Lost and Friday. Why not? It's like where's the dog? Little Roxy.
Eliza: but I deleted the chapter with the dog's point of view because it didn't serve as well as the mother's letters and I didn't wanna like it felt too overwhelming with all of that going on.
Julia: Well and yeah, as a writer you can kind of feel when y you don't want to force it
Eliza: Yeah.
Julia: too much when we take that and pull it back a little bit. Okay, well we'll have to keep an eye out for that. That's all
Eliza: It's called Under a Grecian Sun. I don't know if I already said that, but I love the title so much. I think so. They do. Yeah. It's out now.
Julia: And and you're allowed to say that? We're allowed to like that. Under under wraps. Okay. All right. Fall twenty twenty seven. Okay, we'll keep an eye out for that. anything else that you want to leave our listeners with
Eliza: I guess just like thank you for reading. Yes. Come and see me. Yes.
Julia: Well, thank you so much for joining me on this episode. We will have you back for for that wonderful novel next year. maybe something before then. So thank you guys. We'll see you next time.
Eliza: I'm excited to be here. I love your store. You guys are like one of my favorites in the area. So thank you. I was very
Julia: We feel same about you. You're one of our favorite authors, so we love that you are close enough to pop in and sign books and do events and sit down to talk about your career. so I would love to start with your most recent release. You just released Lost in the Summer of 69, which we loved having you come in to the store. great book, historical fiction, very light. it's about three generations of women who go on this epic summer of music and love and friendship and this incredible road trip. so can you tell listeners a little bit more about the book and what inspired you to write it?
Eliza: Yeah, sure. So as you mentioned, it is a three generations of women, a grandmother, a mother, and a daughter. And the grandmother has just turned sixty-nine, she's recently widowed, and she's been diagnosed with dementia. In her youth during World War One, she was known as the Belle of Wartime music. So now that she knows she's gonna start losing some of her memories and her cognitive abilities and maybe even forget how to play music, she wants to have this one epic last summer hurrah. So she's gonna go
Julia: She does. She really does.
Eliza: She's like, go back and go home, right? Yeah, I love that. Yeah, so she she's gonna go out on the summer of a 69 tour. There's concerts everywhere across the country that summer. So you get to explore that with her and see her sort of have a little bit of a comeback. But meanwhile, back at home, her daughter, Leanne, discovers that her mother has gone missing. She knows that she's recently been diagnosed with dementia and she's really worried about her. So she enlists the help of her teenage daughter, who has just graduated high school and is about to go off to college in the fall to join her on a road trip. And naturally a teenager would rather spend the summer before college with friends, but she does agree to go with her mother on the condition that her mother lets her read her book as they go.
Julia: I love that. The fact that they're reading this book together aloud in the car. I just love that. Is that something that
Eliza: Right, like I love an audio.
Julia: that you ever done with your family? Like you guys listen to whether it's now or as a kid growing up? Yeah. Wondering about that component
Eliza: Like right now.
Julia: because that was a very specific detail that you included and I was like, okay, I like this.
Eliza: It's super fun. So we vote like we we do a lot of road trips and so we vote on a book to read and then we'll listen to it.
Julia: Everyone like throw their their title in the hat and then you vote and whichever one.
Eliza: Funny enough, it often ends up being like a memoir or a thriller, which I think we all kind of like that sort of genre versus like no one ever picks romance. I don't know why. but yeah, so I I I really liked having that little aspect in the book and and they head off, you know, on the road to find grandma and they're sort of one step behind most of the way, but they do get you know glimpses of her as they go. And it's a nice, you know, hard.
Julia: Which I love that like they're always one step behind her, but it was it it it like never in a bad way. Like it wasn't like we missed her again. It was just like okay, well we're also having our own adventure, so we'll we'll get to you know catch up to her eventually.
Eliza: You know, at first, you know, Lee Ann is super paranoid about her mom because she's really afraid she's gonna end up lost in a ditch somewhere. But they keep getting glimpses of her on news reports, they hear about her on the radio, so they know she's mostly safe. so I think that sort of stems some of the worry and makes it more of like an adventure.
Julia: And they're they were just such incredible characters, all of them. now this correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the first time that you've really created main characters just completely from scratch. Yes. Obviously this is set in a very historical, you know, time period, the the summer of sixty-nine, all these music festivals happening. And you do mention a lot of real people from history, a lot of musicians and things, but the main characters are all fictional. So what was that like having to create them completely from scratch, but also make sure that they fit with the time period?
Eliza: That was actually really super fun, a little bit liberating for me because most of my historical fictions have been biographical historical fiction and you really have to stick very closely to the timeline and a person's life story.
Julia: Right.
Eliza: Exactly. And if you do, people will be like, but that didn't happen in that life. Right. and even Confessions of a Grammar Queen was based on several women in history. Great people. So she was also fiction, but I really used real people to inspire her character. So she also had bits and pieces that were real-to-life stories. so yeah, these are completely fictional characters, and I I really had so much fun with it. I especially Eleanor, to be honest, she's the grandma. I had the most fun with her. Because she's just such a risk taker, but also such an amazing soul. Such a rubble. Yes, I loved it.
Julia: She's probably my favorite of the three. yeah, it looked like They're all great, but definitely like she's a rebellious, you know, nature in her
Eliza: Yeah, and and just her like you know, zest for life and her want to to live on and like create music and and share it with other people. I love to
Julia: Yeah. So what kind of research did you have to do to you know, obviously y you weren't going to these festivals, I wish. I don't think you're that old, but you you know, you weren't going to these festivals, so what kind of research was involved for this particular book maybe that might have been different from your other book?
Eliza: So I did a lot of research on the music itself and during during that time period, there was a really great documentary called The Making of Led Zeppelin, which was amazing. There's a exact one which I love anyway. So it's I'm doing research. It's research for I'm like, this is great. And I would watch it like a hundred times. It was so good. Okay. and then I watched
Julia: Do you like take notes?
Eliza: Okay. Yes, yeah. And I watched a bunch of documentaries and live footage from other concerts during that summer, especially Woodstock. Yeah. and I I studied all of the musicians' music, watched interviews, looked at how people changed in the way they danced and the clothes they wore during that decade. I also had to do a lot of research on the road trip itself because obviously driving the sixties is way different than driving today. Yeah.
Julia: And they go all over.
Eliza: So I to know highways, road stops, what kind of hotel they would be staying at, what a hotel might look like, what food it would have, gas, like, you know, the fact that they, you know, in in Jersey right now people still pump your own gas.
Julia: Which I'm from Pennsylvania, so even you know there would be some spots, but yeah, we get cross that boulder into New Jersey. It's just like why why are they coming together? I can get I can do my own
Eliza: Well in the sixties they didn't pump their own gas either. So like having you know the a lot of different things, just make sure it like authentic. Yeah.
Julia: Yeah, you want it to be historical.
Eliza: exactly. Studied like the fashion of the time, what kind of car they would use. for Nora who was the teenager, she was gonna be one of the first females to go to Yale. That that was the first year they had opened it up to women. Yeah. So doing a little
Julia: Which made me think, you know, reading that I'm like, wow, I didn't even think of that as a historical moment in time that wouldn't would have needed to happen because I've only grown up in a time where women can go to any college.
Eliza: Exactly. Yeah. So that was really interesting too. but then also like the things that are going on in the world in that year, like the you know, civil rights movement, women's rights movements, were at war. We were at war with Vietnam during that summer and there's a lot of protests going on. So when you're writing in a time period, you have to make sure that you you know everything that's going on because that will affect all of the characters and everything they do and think, and then even you know, people they might pass on the street and you want to make sure that it all is like very
Julia: Yeah.
Eliza: Yeah.
Julia: And I definitely you know, reading it, I don't know a lot about that time other than just like the big aspects, but it never never once did I have a moment where I had stop and question. I'm just like, no, this is just exactly how it was. So you did a great job. so when you're writing d and doing your research, do you find historically that you will just do all of your research kind of as a front loading and then you ha hit a point where you're like, Okay, I'm ready to start writing or do you start writing and still need to research as you as you're writing? What's your process?
Eliza: So I do a lot of front loading on like the big picture stuff, like obviously all of the music and the music festivals, what was going on in the world during that year, those things I all really wanted to know up front, the car that they were driving so I can make sure when I'm writing the scenes I had the car right. Yeah. and then when I'm editing and like doing my revisions, that's when I'll add in more of like the little tiny details like maybe what they're eating. So in my first draft it might be like and they ate, you know, lunch at the Howard Johnson. But like when I do the revisions I'll like be much more specific what they're eating. Yeah. Okay. and what, you know, the comforter looks like at the hotel or what h her shirt might have looked like. So those little tinier details I do later 'cause at the first one I'm just trying to get the story down and those bigger historical details you have to know those really to write the story. So for example the books that they were reading to each other, I read those before I started writing because I knew I wanted the book's content to be like something that sparked conversation. Conversations. Yeah so
Julia: And you know, again, as a reader, you don't think about all those tiny details that you go back in later and add, but they really do just make the story, you know, so much richer and you really need that. So I can see why you would want to kind of tackle it in that way. That makes sense. if you were to have been able to go to any of these festivals, which like what would be your top wish that you could have gone to?
Eliza: Definitely Woodstock. It's the most iconic and the craziest. Like five hundred thousand people in one place, that's amazing. Yeah. I would have brought my own cooler of food because they did run out of food. Yeah. and I don't know that I would have stayed for the several days either because I feel like the bathroom situation might have gotten a little bit hooky, but I think
Julia: Just even today's festivals I'm just like, I can maybe do like a day an afternoon, like you know, I don't know that I can do a whole weekend. Yeah. Was it Coachello that's like a l weekend long? Like I don't maybe maybe ten years ago, fifteen years ago, but like I don't wanna like camp in a in a tent. No. I'm I'm I'm good. I I like indoor plumbing. I like indoor plumbing shower.
Eliza: much and to let's be honest so we went to the reggae rise up festival in St. Pete while I was actually writing this book because I wanted to be like in a festival which was awesome but I did like splurge for the VIP ticket so that we could use the private porta potties. I mean it's still porta potties but like cleaner than the exactly
Julia: Like not as many people are going in as
Eliza: it like it's the same porta potty there's just less
Julia: I like that last butt. So did that that was in the middle of writing? Did that seem like it inspired anything additional or just kind of like really reiterated that this is the story I want to tell?
Eliza: Definitely a lot of the sensory details, like the the music, the way it pulses in your body, the the enjoyment of the crowd dancing and singing and just so like excited to be there listening to the music. the way people are sort of bouncing off each other and strangers are talking and and excited for what's happening because you know music is so like joyful and emotional I feel like. So I I liked that. obviously there was a lot of weed there, so I got a little bit of of sensory overload with that as well. So I was able to
Julia: You're fully immersing yourself.
Eliza: Yeah.
Julia: is there anything that didn't make it into the book that you wish had stayed or or something that, you know, you wish that you had put in that you didn't?
Eliza: I don't think so. I pretty much put in everything. The biggest thing that changed, I would say, is the age of the grandma's love interest. So in the original like pretty much everyone's interesting. Yeah.
Julia: say I'm glad that you're supposed to be much younger, yes. And and and she was about how old is that. Same age as that's right.
Eliza: So she is sixty nine. And he was originally in his twenties. Yeah. And I thought that was great because he reminded her of like her former love during her musical career. And that was sort of like what he was a foil for. But everyone that read it, like including my editor, was like, It's a little young. It's
Julia: Okay.
Eliza: a little too young. Not really believing it. So I did bump him up to forties. Yeah. Which
Julia: Yeah, I thought that was a good fit and still there was still an age difference but not so extreme that is like not really believable. Right. because he was just smitten with her. And
Eliza: Yes he was.
Julia: and he was he was adorable. I love that. You know, whether we don't know w you know where that might go, but I love that. Yeah. That those two characters together. Thank you. so what do you hope that readers who you know get out of those?
Eliza: I think the biggest thing when I was writing it, well for one thing I want it to be a nostalgic read, whether you live during that time period, you remember people telling you stories about it or you just wish that you had lived there.
Julia: after reading it like I wish that I had been able to like experience that.
Eliza: So like you can I feel like see yourself in each of the characters in each generation. but the biggest thing is that basically at any age you can change the trajectory of your life or you can relive something or you can try something new. And I really got a lot of reinforcement with that thought process when I was doing my master's degree program recently.
Julia: Which you yeah, you recently graduated.
Eliza: Thank you. But at least I would say a quarter of the students were, you know, pretty close to having just graduated with their bachelor's, maybe like within one to five years of graduation. The other three quarters were people that were my age or older. There's a woman in her seventies. wow. Yeah, so I I'm doing my masters and I'm gonna be a you know, a lot of them wanted to be writers or teachers. They were pursuing different careers and I thought that's really fantastic that you know at any age you can decide, like you know what, I don't wanna do Exactly. And so Eleanor changes her, you know, path with the music. And Leanne, who is a very sort of I don't want to say boring, but like she's a very straight-laced housewife. Yeah,
Julia: Yeah, very
Eliza: she's gotta learn some new things and and come up with a hobby. And so she changes her life a bit as well. And then Nora, who is trying to do the responsible thing, you know, feeling a lot of obligation being one of the first females to go to Yale, decides, you know what, maybe I don't need to take that strict of a path, I can still go to school and do something I want. Yeah.
Julia: So really pursue the passion. I do I do love that Lee Ann really felt like you know a caterpillar emerging. Yeah into a like turning into a butterfly, like emerging from the chrysalis and sort of. So that was as much as I you know she wasn't my favorite character, but I loved seeing that and it was just small, subtle changes throughout the story that really, you know, show that, yeah, like you said, it's never too late to either reinvent yourself or decide, you know, you want to try something different or or pursue a passion. So I think that's a great message that maybe isn't like the most important. important takeaway, but it's definitely something that I hope readers as as someone who's read the book and felt that way, I hope they take that away.
Eliza: Yeah.
Julia: I'm just so curious too, since you brought it up your your MFA program. So you said it's just sort of people from all walks of life, ages and and directions. you and your bestie Madeline Martin both did the program. Were there a lot of other authors who were also doing the program or was a lot of people who had never written before that wasn't the path they were gonna go down.
Eliza: Yeah, so
Julia: It you know, as someone who was already an accomplished author, for you to go back yeah, you know, it's like well you don't even need it. You you're you've already doing the thing.
Eliza: And like so the reason that I did it was because two well, two things. I had been teaching at a international writing school and originally they required a master's, but with my experience they said that they would accept me. So I did teach there for two years. But most colleges in the United States do require like a master's degree or advanced degree to teach at the college level. So I really wanted to do that. Okay. And so I thought, okay, well, my you know, this is where that was like my mo my main reasoning behind it. There were lot of already published people so some had published short stories a couple of journalists were in the group okay there was mix yeah a romance novelist who wanted to hone her craft also wanted to become a teacher there was one of my good friends was a script writer and a novelist and he also wanted to teach so there was a a wide variety yeah and some new writers
Julia: Yeah. Are you still teaching are you still teaching at the college level or will you again?
Eliza: Yes, so I did teach an undergrad class. I loved it and I'm still technically an adjunct, but right now with my like writing schedule I'm not doing anything.
Julia: Which is just insane.
Eliza: But I did just read out though about that. about starting up possibly in the fall.
Julia: Is it creative writing that you teach? Mm yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well that would be exciting to get to have a class taught by a lesson I'm
Eliza: Yeah, and I also do some stuff on the side. I have a it's called 30 Day Kickstart and it's like every once in a while I host like a month long small group mentorship where I teach workshops, do live coaching and like writing sprints and things like that. Okay, awesome.
Julia: It's good to know for anyone out there who's an aspiring writer or even a s you know seasoned writer that wants to learn more. and you you are a very prolific. You you write historical fiction, you write historical romance. you just had your your newest Brave Highlander, which is the first in a new series set in Scotland. That just came out. You have another book coming out on August 4th under your pseudonym Michelle Brandon, Tradwife. So you are very busy. You are doing a lot. can you tell listeners first a little bit about those two books and and those genres that you write in and and how you came up with the ideas for for your newest program or
Eliza: Of course. So Brave Highlander is a medieval Scottish romance, and it is a it's the start of a new series called Guardians of the Highlands, and it takes place in the you know the era of Robert the Bruce, William Wallace. If anyone has seen the movie Brave Heart, I'm sure people have seen that. Yeah, it's like the whole setting for the book. So my hero and two of his friends are the guardians of the highlands. They fight for the Bruce, and in this particular book, one of them is injured and And so he's not allowed on the battlefield anymore, but he has been charged with basically being a bodyguard of sorts to the Bruce's niece. And so he has to take her to a safe place because people are after her. But there's a whole faction that is like a secret society underneath that is trying to thwart everyone and chasing after her because they want her, you know, basically she could fetch quite a ransom. So it's a lot of adventures. Some fighting back and forth and then obviously some romance. And it just came out this month and I'm very excited for it 'cause I haven't had a medieval come out, I think in about a year. and that's my romance readers, that's their favorite genre of
Julia: So So they've been waiting. Yes. You know, on edge, waiting for your next remote.
Eliza: Yeah. Yeah. And then Tradwife is it's a suspense revenge-ish novel. and that comes out August 4th. And it is about three trad wifes in a small coastal town in Florida that I did make up.
Julia: Is it in inspired by any real place in Florida?
Eliza: kind of like this coast that we're on right now. I named it Crystal Harbor. So it's like the kind of a mishmash of several towns in this area. and I got some inspiration even from like downtown Sarasota, like one of the coffee shops they go to is a little rustic like the St. Armand's notice. Yeah.
Julia: Maybe some of your local readers might know similarities and
Eliza: Tradwife stands for traditional wife, and it's like a huge social media trend right now. There's a lot of Tradwife books that started coming out maybe last year or the year before, and then have continued. Definitely. It's very popular, yeah. So mine has three main heroines, technically four, because there's a historical timeline. Well, I shouldn't say historical, it's like 13 years in the past. And it's about the murder of a young girl. And in the modern timeline, these three trad wives are trying to keep the secret. Of that murder basically hidden while also dealing with their own social and personal issues. So the first trad wife is a former dancer. she's, you know, very, very married to the trad wife life. but she's suffering from postpartum depression. And her husband doesn't believe that's a disease, so she's suffering a lot alone with that. And then The second tribe wife is a divorced woman with multiple children, and she's sort of been chauffed out of the community because people don't think that if you're divorced that that you're worth anything, basically. So she's trying to kind of spread the message about how that can be dangerous for women. She had no working skills and now she's sort of by herself and has to figure out how to survive. And what do you support? Yeah. So she's gone onto social media to talk about what tribe wives are and and how you can protect yourself if you are a tribe wife. And the funny thing about that. Is someone said to me recently, Well, you don't see any older trad wifes, do you? Like they're all like 20s and 30s. And was like, yeah, actually. So yeah. So if maybe it is a good message to be talking about that. and then the third trad wife is the most perfect trad wife, the best clothes, the best parties, but she is also out for revenge and hiding a secret.
Julia: Yeah, I I love y so this is only your second book, under Michelle Brandon, but you you released Rush Week last year. Yeah. And that was just like juicy and drama filled.
Eliza: There's and the same you can expect the same this one. Very juicy, drama filled, mean girls. Okay.
Julia: So you're not a trad wife yourself. No. So what kind of what kind of research did you have to do to sort of embody the the trad wife?
Eliza: So I did watch several like sort of shows that are kind of trad wife ish, like The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. I watched that. I watched a lot of social media. There's a a hashtag Tradwife and I basically b watched everybody's videos.
Julia: 'Cause there's a lot of influencers on there who are sort of living this trad wife life and
Eliza: posting about it. Exactly. I listened to a lot of podcasts. There's several podcasts out there that actually have to deal that deal with women who were divorced and are also spreading this message about what that lifestyle was like for them and what happened after. So that was I liked seeing that other side of the coin there. and then, you know, I do love to cook. So the making of the bread and the soup and a lot of the recipes that you know my main character is making like I do all that stuff anyway.
Julia: So some there is there are some some real aspects of you in there.
Eliza: There are some real aspects for sure, but like, my husband's definitely not my boss.
Julia: So Trife will be your 99th published book, correct? That is incredible. Like you're you're just such a prolific writer. How do you juggle all of your deadlines? Like what does that look like?
Eliza: Well, it can be very insane. Last year was probably the worst year because I had two books due in June and then I had one due in September last year. So
Julia: Even this year they're all so close together.
Eliza: Well, I actually I was thinking about it. I actually have only written one book this year. Okay. So Brave Highlander, I started that in January and it took me about four months to write and then go through the editing process until it came out. So and I've written half of two other books. So I still have like other things that I'm writing. But I definitely took a a seat like in the back seat of the car this time just to like take a little bit of a break because the year before I wrote like three or four books. And that was really, really hard. Yeah. It is insane. and so
Julia: How you keep like everything separate, you know? You have so many different stories happening at your writing at the same time.
Eliza: Definitely can't actively draft two things at once. Okay. And when I have had to do stuff like that, then I I really have to be very careful not on the same day at least. Okay. So I might split the week or I might do every other week. The problem with the every other week or you know, taking a chunk of time and then coming back to it is then I have to refamiliarize myself with the story. Yeah. So doing half the week and half the week, that did work a little bit better because I didn't forget everything that I had written the week before. Yeah. and the good thing is they're so totally different. In the genre, that it isn't too hard for me to like sort of comp compartmentalize those like characters and everything because they're not similar, if that makes sense. Like, if I was writing two medievals, I think it would be way harder because there'd be way too much overlap, and the characters would talk the same. And so I feel like then I'd be meshing them together and that wouldn't work. But you know, going from like a contemporary, nasty mean wife, to like you know, Eleanor Grandma, that was like. Super easy for me to do. the hardest thing is the time. And because I was having to write so much, I was dealing I have carpal tunnel and I was dealing with a lot of wrist pain. So I started doing dictation and that was a disaster. But I I did end up like that's
Julia: I know personally like that I don't would that would be a mess for me, but I know I know plenty of authors will use it whether they need to or they just choose to.
Eliza: I don't wanna ever do it again. Like only if I have to. but it was not fun. so this year I slowed down a bit and I'm kind of pushing I pushed back a bunch of deadlines. my book that comes out next year, it normally I try to get those done by June and it's not due until mid October. So
Julia: So you give yourself like enough time to make sure you're not scrambling. Yeah.
Eliza: Exactly.
Julia: Yeah. Well, and you're also a hybrid author. So you are indie published and traditionally published. So I I'm assuming you probably have a little more of say over your indie deadlines than the traditional deadlines. But
Eliza: Definite.
Julia: what what has that pathway been like and you know, what made you choose to go that way? And can you talk a little bit about being a hybrid author and what that means and
Eliza: So I started out with a small press, actually three small, was it three? Three or four small presses. back in two thousand eight was when my first novella was published. So most of my early story Yeah. Most of my early stories were novellas because I had really little kids and I wanted to complete a project, but I wasn't sure I could complete a full novel. In fact, my first full novel took like a very long time. so I did small presses at first and then I had a friend who had just started self publishing. her romance novels and she was like the you need to do this I think you you know you've got the bandwidth for it and I think you can do it so I did my first novel came out in 2011 okay self-published and it did it was a learning curve I would say but not one that I felt was so overwhelming and so I have actually been in depublishing ever since then including historical
Julia: And that was all of your romance.
Eliza: romances. I did have Have a traditional historical romance trilogy that came out in 2020 and 2021 because I wanted to see if there was a difference between my indie stuff and if I went trad with the romance, but there really wasn't, so that was a good experiment, and also I really enjoyed working with the publishing house with that. in fact, they ended up being the ones who published this book, so that was really nice. But with historical fiction, my first several historical fiction. I also indie published, but they did so well the first month that I so ended up selling them to a publisher. So that was a really that was a neat yeah. It was cool. I like that. and I've just done traditional with those ever since.
Julia: Okay. Yeah. So what made you decide so you had the historical romance kinda where you started and then you, you know, started doing historical fiction, what made you decide to also toss the kind of contemporary dramas into the Vicks?
Eliza: So funny enough, when I first started writing for publication in two thousand six, my I I was trying to dabble in a bunch of different genres to see which one I would be good at. The very first one I I think I only got maybe twenty thousand or so words in and it was a YA like magical realism type book. Okay. And I did enjoy doing it. Like I would wake up at three AM and pull out the computer or and start writing, but I quit like after the first twenty I was like, I just don't even know where this is going. So I was no direction. Yeah, I was like, I this it's fun and I was enjoying like learning how to write, but I don't think that was it, it wasn't something that I just was going to keep going with. So then I dabbled with some thrillers and I was entering some contests and the feedback I was getting back wasn't great. But I think that had mostly to do with the fact that I was a new writer and so and also hadn't like developed that like thick skin yet that you kind of need as a writer where people don't reject. Yeah, there's a lot of rejection. You get rejected by agents, editors, and readers all the time. So I I think that if I had just ignored some of that and kept learning, I probably would have continued with the thrillers. But I b I back put those Okay. I had always been a huge historical romance and historical fiction reader. I read my first Ken Fallett and Margaret George books when I was fourteen. Yeah. And also my first romance novels when I was fourteen. So I was like, well, let me let me just dabble in both of those. And my historical fiction that I was writing took me over five years to write, and that came out in two thousand fourteen. So it was almost roughly around the same time that I was. starting his writing historical romance, I was dabbling in historical fiction. I knew I wanted to do kind of both. I've never been a type of person that when people are like stay in your lane like I don't know what that means. Everywhere. Yes.
Julia: Like I'm in all the leaves. Yeah. So I'm gonna do all the things.
Eliza: All of the things and with the romance I entered some contests and my first contract I actually won through a contest. So that was I was like, well I guess this is what what I'm doing. And then so long story short, several years ago my agent and I were talking about how I wanted to have another genre to write in. Yeah. and I was like, I've really always wanted to write in like the thriller suspense space. And she said, Well I actually happen to know an editor who's looking for something if you want to write a pitch. And so that was Rush Week. Okay. Yeah.
Julia: So you just you pitched it and then you're off to the So
Eliza: Exactly.
Julia: obviously you'll continue to write the thrillers. Do you ever see yourself adding another genre? No. Or are you just like this is I've got the historical, I've
Eliza: It's good
Julia: got the romance, you know, and I've got the thrillers, like we're good. The the trifecta.
Eliza: I should say technically it's a romance. My daughter and I have written about one-third of a romanticy novel. So it's still romance. Okay. And it's it's been a lot of fun. It's kind of medieval-ish, but with some magic. and I we really have had fun with that. But that is like, I don't know when that would even come out. Like she's very busy and I'm very busy, so we kind of pick at it whenever we've been working on it for like two years. So we pick at it whenever. Yeah.
Julia: Does she have goals to be a writer as well?
Eliza: She would love yeah. I think she would love to be a writer. She's a three daughters, right? Yes.
Julia: Yeah, yeah
Eliza: And this is my daughter, my oldest daughter. She's a assistant librarian and a freelance editor. So she's definitely in the bookspace already. Yeah. Like that's like her her two jobs already. So I think she would love to be a writer.
Julia: So maybe there'll be more future collabs between Okay.
Eliza: Yeah.
Julia: Well we'll have to keep an eye out for that romanticy collab between you as well. yeah, you've just you've had a very long, robust career. What what would you say has been the most exciting or your your favorite part of all these years? Hmm.
Eliza: I think that the best part is always holding your book in your hand. I feel like getting to see like all that hard work and flipping through the kitchen.
Julia: Okay.
Eliza: Right? Yeah. Like you labored over that and here it is. so I love that. And then I think one of the other really exciting things is when you you know, someone either emails you or they meet you at an event and they say that they loved your book. Yeah. I like hearing that. Because, you know, we write by ourselves and you write first and foremost for yourself, but in the end, if you're seeking publication, you're writing for our readers too. Yeah. So to hear them Yes. Yeah. Look, you like me. Yeah.
Julia: Yeah, you're writing for an audience. You want them to like it. Well, on the other side, as the readers, we also go to events and get very s excited and nerd out and getting to meet authors who have written books that we love. So the the love goes both ways. So hopefully the the authors feel that. Yes, definitely. When you when you go to your events and and you do all these things. do you have any advice for aspiring writers? You have a very incredible career,
Eliza: yeah, a couple of things.
Julia: so
Eliza: So there's one thing I always tell everyone is read a lot. Like reading is our homework. You know, nurses, doctors, they all have to go get their continuing education credits. I think teachers do too, right? So they're always having to learn. And our way of learning is to read and you know, take workshops if they're available. but then I always tell everyone the three P's, which is persistence, patience, and perseverance, because you need all three of those things to be a writer. You have to persist. in your craft writing multiple days a week. I wouldn't say every day because we need to have boundaries with ourselves. Yeah exactly. Perseverance because there's gonna be a lot of ups and downs. And then
Julia: we talked about a lot of rejection. Yeah.
Eliza: Exactly. Exactly. And patience because it's really more of a marathon than a sprint. and there's so much hurry up and wait. Yeah. where they're like, Yes, we want you know the full manuscript right now and then they might take like six months before you hear anything back, if at all. So like those are the Yeah, it is.
Julia: It is very hurry up. Well that I think that's great advice. so you do you do have Tradwife coming out in on August 4th, very soon. Anything you can share about what you're working on for next year?
Eliza: Yeah, so I have a book coming out next fall. It's called Under a Grecian Sun and I haven't we haven't announced it yet. Hasn't we? yeah,
Julia: Yeah. Okay. Here first. Yes.
Eliza: so it's not been formally announced, but it comes out next fall and it is about a woman actually from Tarpon Spring. she her life has imploded. She's in her forties and she was married, she's no longer married.
Julia: Will this be under a short or a license?
Eliza: Yeah. She owned a brewing company that she started from scratch. It's gone. and she grew up with her grandparents believing that her mother had abandoned her to live overseas in Europe. wow. Yes. So her grandparents have asked, she gets a note from her mother's friend that says, your mother wanted me to write to you and let you know that she has left you a villa and a dog. And so the woman basically is like, you know what, I have nothing left here for me, might as well go to Greece and see what that's about.
Julia: Yeah. So will you have to go to Greece to do your service?
Eliza: It was amazing. It was amazing. and a lot of like the food and the sights that I saw are in the book. So it is sort of like a a nice like vacation novel. but it's a a mostly a novel about self-discovery and learning about your past and the secrets that you know can be revealed on paper. in the the off chapters from the main heroine's chapters are letters from her mother about her childhood and how they spent time together. So she's sort of of learns like wait my mom didn't actually abandon me and it's kind of sad a little bit but mostly it is a very joyful novel okay she meets a very hunky Australian writer the dog is of course very adorable there's
Julia: I feel like there's always
Eliza: always a dog and I did write a chapter in the dog's point of view
Julia: I will say I was disappointed that the dog was not on the cover of Lost and Friday. Why not? It's like where's the dog? Little Roxy.
Eliza: but I deleted the chapter with the dog's point of view because it didn't serve as well as the mother's letters and I didn't wanna like it felt too overwhelming with all of that going on.
Julia: Well and yeah, as a writer you can kind of feel when y you don't want to force it
Eliza: Yeah.
Julia: too much when we take that and pull it back a little bit. Okay, well we'll have to keep an eye out for that. That's all
Eliza: It's called Under a Grecian Sun. I don't know if I already said that, but I love the title so much. I think so. They do. Yeah. It's out now.
Julia: And and you're allowed to say that? We're allowed to like that. Under under wraps. Okay. All right. Fall twenty twenty seven. Okay, we'll keep an eye out for that. anything else that you want to leave our listeners with
Eliza: I guess just like thank you for reading. Yes. Come and see me. Yes.
Julia: Well, thank you so much for joining me on this episode. We will have you back for for that wonderful novel next year. maybe something before then. So thank you guys. We'll see you next time.
