Bronson van Wyck, BORN TO PARTY, FORCED TO WORK
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[1:39]I'm here today with Bronson Van Wick, who's the author of Born to Party Force to Work,
[1:44]21st Century Hospitali.
[1:46]He's the co-founder, along with his mother of Van Wick and Van Wick, a well-known event
[1:50]planning firm that has designed events for three presidents of the United States, Beyonce,
[1:54]the Cooper Hewitt, and many other notables.
[1:57]A graduate of Yale University, he currently lives in New York City, although he's originally
[2:00]from Arkansas.
[2:01]I'm here today with Bronson Van Wick.
[2:04]Very exciting.
[2:05]He's the author of Born to Party Force to Work, which is right behind him.
[2:08]We are on Instagram Live also, so Instagram Live and doing the podcast, so a multi-media
[2:15]Bronson Van Wick morning for everybody today.
[2:18]Always phoasure.
[2:19]Okay.
[2:20]So thanks for coming on mom's, I don't have time to read both.
[2:23]Like for having me come.
[2:24]I don't know if anybody has time to read books anymore.
[2:27]It's really hard.
[2:28]It's really not just moms.
[2:29]You have to make time.
[2:30]You do.
[2:31]I make time.
[2:32]When do you read?
[2:33]I read whenever I can.
[2:34]I probably have at any moment, on any given day, I probably have five books open in different
[2:39]places in my apartment.
[2:40]It's a great source of kind of refreshment for me to just get outside of the present
[2:46]where I am and what I'm doing or my day, my bills, my loans, my administration, all of
[2:53]it and go into the world of a book.
[2:56]I read history.
[2:57]Oh.
[2:58]I sort of like to get taken to other times in places.
[3:02]Do you end up remembering everything?
[3:03]Like, are you one of these people who can remember everything you read?
[3:05]I can't remember what I had for breakfast.
[3:07]Okay, good.
[3:08]I feel better.
[3:09]If I read a history book, I'd be like, in one year, at the other end of this
[3:12]point.
[3:13]I have to take notes and study my notes.
[3:15]I think this thing I get out of history books more than anything is just how much circumstances
[3:21]change but the human condition and sort of who we are fundamentally doesn't change.
[3:26]And so we find ourselves doing the same things, I mean, you know, that adage of history
[3:31]repeats itself.
[3:33]History really does repeat itself.
[3:35]We have problems today that are the same problems just in a slightly different form that
[3:40]people had in the past and when we observe those and study them, I think we have a great
[3:44]opportunity to figure out to see how other people solve the problems or didn't solve
[3:50]the problems and maybe learn from them.
[3:52]We could use it.
[3:53]It's optimistic.
[3:54]We could use a little more historical perspective in all parts of our national life.
[4:00]So you're a big reader.
[4:02]You love history.
[4:03]And now you've come out with your first book.
[4:05]My first book.
[4:06]20 years in the vent planning business.
[4:08]And it is this book.
[4:09]Why this book?
[4:10]You could have written anything, right?
[4:12]So you've written a beautiful gleaming golden born to party coffee table book slash
[4:18]manifesto on hospitality.
[4:20]I think, well, you got to write about something you know.
[4:23]And so this is something I think I know about somebody said to me the other day.
[4:29]You know, I've always thought, I remember when I was, when I decided to go out to LA
[4:32]to be an actor and my parents were sort of stunned into silence when I told them this and
[4:39]they're not very, they're not silent people, but they really, they really didn't have
[4:43]anything to say that night at dinner when I told them.
[4:47]The next day I was, I came into my dad's office and he was on the phone with my god
[4:52]father.
[4:53]And the thing I heard him saying when I walked in the room is, but he went to Yale.
[4:59]Why is he going to go out to LA and throw it all the way?
[5:03]And you know, I, I, at that point, worked as a photographer on a political campaign.
[5:10]And for a newspaper, I'd done correspondence for Hillary Clinton in her office.
[5:15]I'd worked at the State Department in protocol.
[5:19]I'd spent a summer at a venture capital company.
[5:22]I'd worked in the farm for years.
[5:24]And I went out to LA and I was an actor.
[5:26]And of course that meant I really actually was a waiter.
[5:29]So I was waiting tables at this Indian restaurant called the Bombay Cafe at Peacone
[5:35]Bundy and it was in a second floor of a strip mall.
[5:37]As many good meals in that world, that's true, that's true, that is true.
[5:42]And I ended up, I did some set design.
[5:44]I was reading scripts.
[5:46]And I realized that comment of my dad's that, you know, I'd sort of had this training or
[5:50]this education and it sort of dovetailed with feelings that I had of not knowing how to
[5:57]do anything or not being prepared for anything.
[6:00]And I started doing this and I realized really quickly, actually, my entire life was training
[6:08]and education to do this.
[6:10]You learn protocol at state.
[6:12]I learned how to create a budget at the VC company where I worked.
[6:16]I learned about the importance of the visual when I was taking pictures.
[6:20]Set design, obviously, I mean, that's so related to what we're doing.
[6:24]You learn how to deal with guests if you're a waiter.
[6:29]You learn how to deal with clients if you're an actor.
[6:31]So everything had kind of sent me down this path of having not been able to find, I went
[6:38]through this extended process of elimination in which I really can felt like I had no
[6:43]marketable skills.
[6:44]But I realized I had been developing the skills that were important for what I ended up doing.
[6:49]That was a really long answer.
[6:50]That's great.
[6:51]I love to answer to a not very complicated question.
[6:53]Well, and then growing up on the farm in Arkansas, we were 100 miles from Memphis.
[7:01]We were 100 miles from Little Rock.
[7:05]Our closest neighbors were three miles away.
[7:07]And those were my grandparents.
[7:09]And so here we were kind of in this very isolated rural place, which had great natural
[7:16]beauty.
[7:17]But no, there were no movie theaters or restaurants or museums or nightclubs or anything.
[7:24]But my family were all of us were, well, I was a little kid.
[7:28]All of them, this sort of generation above us and the generation above them were really
[7:33]involved in the world.
[7:34]They traveled.
[7:35]They wanted to go places.
[7:36]I had an uncle who was a stunt pilot.
[7:38]I had another one who was Mr. Arkansas.
[7:41]I had an aunt who was involved in all kinds of things involving getting dissidents out of
[7:46]Eastern Europe and former Soviet Union.
[7:49]There were artists.
[7:50]My dad was from New York.
[7:51]And so they were involved in a larger world or a world that was outside of the geography
[7:58]of where we were.
[7:59]And that world sometimes came to us.
[8:02]And so when people came, we had to entertain them because there was no other option.
[8:10]There was no other way to entertain them except what we created or what we gave them.
[8:14]We had a meal every day and it was, you know, lunch or dinner, which we would call
[8:21]lunch dinner and we would call dinner supper, where almost everyone in the family
[8:26]was together and whoever had house guests or visitors, they all came.
[8:31]So every day there was basically an event and that might be 20 people.
[8:34]It might be 30 people.
[8:35]It might have been 15 people.
[8:37]But it was a breaking bread together as a family, also with the participation of guests.
[8:43]So we were sort of constantly engaging in this exchange, which is what hospitality really
[8:51]is.
[8:52]It's an exchange of kindness and love and making people feel comfortable.
[8:57]So why did I write the book?
[9:00]Did I ask that?
[9:01]Why did you write the book?
[9:02]Why did I write the book?
[9:03]Why did you write the book?
[9:04]Why did you write the book?
[9:05]I think what I realized is that there's a lot about hospitality that is completely
[9:12]transferable from one event to another to another to another and whether we're talking
[9:18]about the opening of the St. Regis Hotel in Bal Harbor or we're talking about the launch
[9:26]of a new shade of lipstick from Chanel or whether we're talking about somebody's wedding
[9:31]or whether we're talking about children who are giving a surprise 50th anniversary party
[9:36]for their parents.
[9:37]These are, they all come, it all comes back to this idea of hospitality.
[9:42]And as I kind of, I've always been curious about the rituals of hospitality.
[9:49]And as you go back in history, and again, this is maybe where the nerdiness is.
[9:52]Yeah.
[9:53]Now I see why this is in the book.
[9:54]Okay.
[9:55]So as you go back in history, you see that every single.
[10:00]culture on the planet, completely independently of each other, felt the need at some
[10:05]point in its development to call forth divinity in order to ratify or support or to condemn
[10:15]certain kinds of behavior that a functioning society needs to either have or can't survive
[10:22]if they do have.
[10:23]So these are things like love and weddings and not killing each other, and also the
[10:32]divine was always, I think, used also to explain the things we didn't understand, life
[10:37]and death and the weather.
[10:40]But hospitality was so important because there was always a horizon and there was always
[10:47]something beyond the horizon and as human beings, we want to know what's beyond the horizon.
[10:54]We want to go there and if we're going to go there, we might encounter people who are
[11:01]like us but different from us and they may be nice or they may be mean.
[11:08]But we have to figure out a way to initiate the contact and allow the contact and allow
[11:13]the interaction, let's say the exploration of what the relationship could possibly
[11:18]be, we have to figure out a way to do that in a sort of safe space.
[11:24]And the safe space is what hospitality creates.
[11:29]It's a sort of ritualized safe zone where strangers get to interact and get to know
[11:36]each other, hopefully become friends.
[11:38]So you see this in with the ancient Greeks and I talk about this in the book, obviously,
[11:45]the king of the gods, Zeus was actually the god of hospitality also.
[11:51]And Hermes, who was another really important, one of the 12 Olympians, he was the god of
[11:56]guests and travelers, the messenger god.
[11:59]And there's a great story which I tell in my book about Zeus and Hermes going down
[12:06]to a little village in what's now Turkey and disguising themselves as poor sort of vagrant
[12:14]travelers, beggars on the road.
[12:17]And they go to a really prosperous town that has rich merchants and in those days you
[12:24]could tell kind of the prosperity of a town if based on the, if they had good walls and
[12:30]they went to a town with really high walls and nobody would take them in.
[12:36]And so, you know, they went from house to house, asking for hospitality, a meal, a place
[12:41]to sleep, and all the doors were closed to them.
[12:45]So they finally wander to the edge of the town and there's a hovel there with an old man
[12:51]and an old lady, Bacchus and filament and a little farm yard.
[12:56]And you know, a few sheep and that's all these guys had and they present themselves
[13:02]and the couple immediately opened the door and invite them in.
[13:07]And they come in and sit down, the woman bustles around and pours them line, washes their
[13:13]hands for them and they're sitting there drinking the wine.
[13:17]The husband goes outside, they have one goose and he goes outside to slaughter their
[13:22]one goose to make a meal for these strangers and it's a meal that will be better than
[13:27]any meal that couple has had together just for themselves in a long time.
[13:33]But the goose is fast and the old man is slow and the goose escapes from him and jumps
[13:39]into the lap of one of the gods where the goose becomes very calm.
[13:45]This moment sort of is, I think probably surprising to the couple, but what is more surprising
[13:51]is they've been sitting there drinking wine and they look down in the glasses of wine
[13:55]or full again without anyone having poured the wine.
[13:58]That's the perfect party.
[14:00]It's the perfect party.
[14:01]That is the perfect party.
[14:02]That is the perfect party.
[14:03]And Zeus says, why are you honoring us this way?
[14:07]And the old man says, we're honoring you as guests and when we honor guests, we honor the
[14:13]gods.
[14:14]And at that point, the gods throw off their disguise and they're revealed and they say,
[14:20]of all the people in this town, you two are the only ones who have treated us with honor.
[14:26]What can we give you?
[14:28]The couple fall down on their knees and they said, we just want to be able to honor you,
[14:33]continue to honor you and we love each other so much, neither one of us wants to outlive
[14:37]the other.
[14:38]And so the gods destroy the town.
[14:41]The couple live a long, happy life in the structure that the gods create for them.
[14:46]And when he starts to pass years and years later, he starts turning, he turns into an oak
[14:53]tree and she goes with him and turns into a Linden tree and the branches intertwine.
[15:00]And so they get to spend eternity together as trees.
[15:04]That is the Greek.
[15:05]That is a Greek myth.
[15:06]The same story happens in almost every single culture.
[15:13]And you know, the foundational myth of Christianity is a couple shows up in a town.
[15:21]They're there because they wanted to count it in the Roman census and all the doors are
[15:25]close to them.
[15:26]She's pregnant, nowhere to stay, they end up staying in a manger.
[15:32]And Mary gives birth to the Son of God and this is a story about hospitality.
[15:38]And you see the same story in the Old Testament with lot and Sodom.
[15:43]You see it in Hindu tales.
[15:46]So my point is, hospitality is divine and we are touching divinity when we practice hospitality
[15:56]and when we do it right.
[15:57]I love that.
[15:58]It's like taking it up a notch.
[15:59]It's not just a dinner.
[16:00]We should always take it up a notch.
[16:01]Yes.
[16:02]So what are some of your, your late?
[16:05]Stay time.
[16:06]We can take it up.
[16:08]What are a few and this is like putting you on the spot a little bit.
[16:10]But as you produce basically, you're like a producer.
[16:14]These aren't just parties.
[16:15]You produce massive events and happenings and yet you go down to the tiniest detail to
[16:22]make them important.
[16:23]So for somebody at home who loves to entertain but doesn't have the means to hire a genius
[16:28]like you to help them with a party or wants to just like do with themselves and make an
[16:33]amazing event.
[16:34]How do they make it divine?
[16:36]How can you bring the divine into your own home to make a really special memorable event?
[16:41]Well, I think that it really comes down to the intention and the things about hospitality
[16:49]that are actually free and those have to do with care and thoughtfulness.
[16:54]You know, have you ever been on a date with someone and you know, you kind of, they ask
[16:58]you to meet them.
[16:59]You go to meet them and they say, what do you want to do?
[17:01]And you're like, what do I want to do?
[17:03]You invited me.
[17:04]Oh, well, you know, we can do this or we can do this.
[17:08]It's sort of like, that's about as romantic as going to the dentist.
[17:12]But if you go on a date with somebody and they say, you know, meet me here and you get
[17:16]there and you're at some great restaurant that you've never been to before and you eat
[17:22]and you know, he says, we've to eat fast because we're going somewhere after and then
[17:26]you go somewhere after and you're going to see some great show and you feel so appreciated
[17:33]and so loved because somebody else has anticipated you.
[17:37]They were thinking about you when you weren't even there.
[17:40]That's a big compliment.
[17:42]And I think that any host can do that.
[17:45]I think the fundamentals are seeing to the comfort and well-being of your guests.
[17:51]This has to do with if they're hungry, feed them.
[17:54]If they're thirsty, give them something to drink, keep them dry, keep them warm.
[17:59]The rest is just semantics, right?
[18:01]So I think another important dynamic of that is not just people's physical well-being
[18:07]but also their emotional and spiritual well-being.
[18:10]And that means making sure that they feel accepted and included and comfortable.
[18:17]And I talk a lot about this in the book.
[18:20]I mean, these are not, this is sort of common sense in a way.
[18:24]But you know, when we have people in our care, we have this wonderful opportunity to
[18:30]allow them to forget about their problems and know that somebody else is solving the
[18:37]problems.
[18:38]And you know, that's, you have a guest come and they, you know, they have certain interests.
[18:43]Think about another guest who you might have come who has the same interests or is curious
[18:48]about those interests.
[18:49]And those two people are going to guess well, they're going to have a great conversation
[18:52]probably.
[18:53]You can, I think the most important thing that a host can do on a practical level is be
[18:58]sure to plan ahead.
[19:00]So that you can be present with your guests.
[19:05]And if that means getting a recipe from Epicurious to make a great punch that you can make
[19:11]that afternoon and put in the refrigerator and then serve so that you're not having to play
[19:16]bartender all night and not be able to hang out with your guests, then you do that.
[19:20]If it means cooking something that you can serve room temperature, so you're not having
[19:24]to leave the table five times during the course of a meal to go in the oven and try to
[19:29]get that souffle just right.
[19:31]You do that.
[19:32]I don't just start.
[19:33]That's great.
[19:34]The most important thing I take away is in the challenge.
[19:39]I feel like I have when I have events is like you're managing so much in your head being
[19:43]able to like be really excited and talking and being not having to run around like what
[19:48]you're sitting being present, like you shouldn't have to be running around at all.
[19:51]And remember that your presence is actually what you're giving the guests.
[19:55]The hospitality is happening around the minute, creates a stage or sets the environment.
[20:00]for the interaction, but they're coming because they love you.
[20:04]They're coming because they want to see you.
[20:06]And they want to see you happy.
[20:08]And they don't want to see you pulling a Soviet path
[20:10]and putting your head in the oven in the kitchen
[20:12]because somebody dropped a tray of glasses.
[20:14]Who cares?
[20:15]No, I feel that way when I go to people's houses.
[20:17]If they're all stressed out, it's like, yes.
[20:19]I have a definitely stressed.
[20:21]You feel like you're sort of, oh God, I'm, you know,
[20:23]I'll leave soon.
[20:24]Don't worry, you'll be, you never want to guess
[20:26]to feel that way.
[20:28]So how did you come up with this title?
[20:30]Born to party, forced to work.
[20:32]I mean, forced, really, I mean,
[20:34]give me a little more background into this.
[20:37]Do you feel like you're a party boy who's now like a grownup?
[20:41]Do you feel like this is like,
[20:43]do you know, like who's the book?
[20:44]Who are you thinking of when you came up with the title?
[20:47]What?
[20:47]I hate to say it, but I hate to say it, but I was really
[20:52]just thinking about myself.
[20:53]There you go.
[20:54]All right.
[20:55]You're just self-absorbed.
[20:57]No, I was always made to work.
[21:00]And I had my lawns when I was a kid.
[21:03]I, you know, we would wash cars.
[21:05]And when I was 13, I actually had to work on the farm.
[21:07]And that meant working, that wasn't like setting up
[21:10]a limited stand.
[21:11]That was actually, I mean, they're probably the laws
[21:13]against me.
[21:14]They're probably are.
[21:16]If there aren't, there should be.
[21:17]But at 13, I was, I got the loneliest job on the farm,
[21:21]which was pulling red rice out of rice fields.
[21:25]So, you know, you grow rice.
[21:27]And the whole, the whole point is to get a crop of white rice,
[21:30]because that's what Uncle Ben's will buy.
[21:32]But naturally, in a field of rice, you get some red.
[21:37]It's like a recessed gene, recessed of gene, right?
[21:39]So, so there's no machine that can sort for that,
[21:42]because they're all exactly the same size and shape.
[21:45]So only people can do it.
[21:48]And it's, it's the sucker that has to do it.
[21:52]So if there's a group of people working on the farm,
[21:54]you know from the one who's pulling out red rice,
[21:56]that they're the loneliest on the totem pole.
[21:58]So I did that for an entire summer.
[22:00]You're bent over, you're wearing work gloves.
[22:03]The blades of grass from the rice are so sharp,
[22:06]that by the end of the day, you've ripped through a pair of gloves.
[22:09]You go through a pair of every day.
[22:10]Another summer, I walked around on a farm
[22:12]and checked levees all summer,
[22:15]and to make sure that water wasn't going through levees.
[22:17]And, you know, that sounds sort of be a colic in a way,
[22:20]that you're in hip boots, not because of the water,
[22:24]although there's a ton of water, obviously.
[22:27]But because there's so many water moccasins,
[22:30]which is a very aggressive poisonous snake.
[22:33]And they love levees,
[22:35]because they come up out of the water and they sunbathe.
[22:38]And so, you know, every day you'd have encounters
[22:40]with 12 or 15 snakes.
[22:42]I tell you about these stories,
[22:44]because this was part of the sort of culture of my family,
[22:49]where we were always made to be productive and work.
[22:53]When I went out to LA to be an actor,
[22:55]at a certain point, my dad said,
[22:56]this is for the birds, you're on your own.
[22:58]You gotta figure this out entirely.
[23:00]And so, I had to be productive and independent.
[23:05]So that's where the forced to work part comes from.
[23:07]I mean, I think I would have loved to have been
[23:11]just a party boy.
[23:13]I kind of was in college.
[23:14]You don't have to think about it so much in college,
[23:16]or I was able to be a college without having to work
[23:20]while I was there.
[23:21]And I went through this sort of,
[23:23]I think trying to find myself in a way
[23:26]by exploring all aspects of social life.
[23:31]And at a friend who gave me that great book,
[23:33]Edie and American biography,
[23:35]which was Gene Stein and George Plumpton wrote
[23:38]about Edie Sedgwick and, you know, who was doomed.
[23:42]And a friend gave it to me and said,
[23:44]you have to read this before you turn into this.
[23:47]And it was sort of a wake up call.
[23:50]And then I got serious.
[23:51]One question about the background
[23:53]from your childhood that you put in the book
[23:55]and that we've been talking about,
[23:57]do you feel like you would have been able to develop
[23:59]all these creative skills if you had had a different,
[24:02]like how much do you think you're
[24:03]upbringing contributed to it?
[24:05]Cause I wonder about kids now, right?
[24:07]Like, let's say kids here in New York City
[24:09]and on the iPads and they're like,
[24:12]are they, they're not out picking rice from a field,
[24:14]where their brain is allowed to really flourish.
[24:16]Wrong. Yeah, I wonder.
[24:17]We have all that time and freedom
[24:20]to really help with stuff.
[24:21]Like, do you feel like that made you a more creative person?
[24:23]Do you feel like a creative,
[24:24]I mean, I am assuming you're a creative person
[24:26]by the content of what you create.
[24:27]But I think of myself as a creative person.
[24:30]It's the process that I really enjoy.
[24:32]I think we were free to be creative,
[24:35]but we also kind of had to be creative
[24:37]because there were no other.
[24:38]You had to do that.
[24:39]There was, yeah, we had to entertain ourselves.
[24:41]And I had parents who, you know, if we were inside
[24:45]when the sun was up and we weren't reading a book,
[24:48]mom or dad was like, what are you doing in here?
[24:50]Get outside, go figure, you know, go play, go, go,
[24:55]and play meant, you know, building something
[24:57]or destroying something or shooting something.
[25:01]And we, where we lived, we didn't actually have television.
[25:07]So there was one ABC affiliate
[25:09]that we could get kind of with a lot of snow
[25:12]and static local affiliate.
[25:16]It was within range,
[25:17]but we were way too far outside of town to get cable.
[25:20]So we had this satellite dish
[25:23]that was a gigantic moment when we got the satellite dish
[25:26]and we were so excited for it as kids.
[25:28]But it really was kind of, it was kind of a pain
[25:31]because we had to, the where it was sighted,
[25:34]it was outside the house, obviously,
[25:36]and you had to go out and crank it to turn
[25:39]to go from, you know, the MTV satellite to the CBS satellite
[25:44]to the, and you didn't know
[25:46]when you were out there cranking what the result was.
[25:48]So somebody had to be at the window shouting to you out there.
[25:52]Oh, go back half a notch.
[25:54]So that was a lot of work to watch a TV show.
[25:57]So we didn't watch much TV.
[25:59]I worry about kids who are,
[26:02]you want them to be digitally proficient.
[26:04]You want them to exist in the world
[26:06]that they're going to have to function in.
[26:09]But I think that forcing kids through lack of stimulation,
[26:14]but provision of opportunity to be creative
[26:19]is really, really powerful and effective
[26:23]in terms of people being self-sufficient
[26:25]in their creative process.
[26:28]We weren't overstimulated, but we were very stimulated.
[26:31]It's hard to strike that balance into this room.
[26:33]It's very hard.
[26:34]It's really hard.
[26:35]A lot of Godchildren in Summer in New York City.
[26:37]And some of their parents didn't let them watch TV,
[26:40]didn't give them an iPad, didn't give them a cell phone
[26:42]until they're, you know, 12 or 13.
[26:45]And those are the ones who want to go to the science museum
[26:49]and others, other kids who I know of friends,
[26:53]you know, kind of grew up with all that
[26:55]and they don't really know how to interact.
[26:58]Great.
[26:59]I think they need some work.
[27:01]I'm not judging anything.
[27:02]I'm just like, too late for my kids.
[27:05]I think that people are all making choices.
[27:07]We're all busy.
[27:09]I don't think there's anyone right way.
[27:11]So we're almost out of time,
[27:12]but tell me, like, is there an event
[27:14]that you're longing still to produce or to have
[27:17]or something that is in the back of your head
[27:19]that you've always wanted to do?
[27:20]Or now that the book is out,
[27:22]has any new opportunities come about?
[27:25]Or is there just anything, like, what's next?
[27:27]Like, what's next?
[27:28]You want to accomplish?
[27:29]Well, I'm going to Miami tomorrow
[27:30]because we're working on the Super Bowl.
[27:33]Oh, wow.
[27:33]And so I'm excited about that.
[27:35]We're doing the NFL's party.
[27:37]And then the dolphins are hosting the Super Bowl this year.
[27:40]So they're not going to be in it.
[27:42]I think they're zero games this year.
[27:46]I think they're 0 and 7.
[27:47]But they're giving us the hosting team
[27:49]they're giving a party.
[27:50]So we're working on that.
[27:51]I'm doing some stuff during our Basel.
[27:52]So I'm going down there tomorrow.
[27:53]And I'm looking forward to that.
[27:55]That's a great part about this job is traveling
[27:57]and getting to go places.
[27:59]We've got, oh, I'm going to ask them,
[28:02]which I can't wait for in December
[28:03]because we're doing a polo tournament in snow.
[28:07]Wow.
[28:08]Which I think will be really fine.
[28:09]I've never done that before.
[28:10]We're going to spend Thanksgiving in London, my family.
[28:12]Looking forward to that.
[28:13]And what are you looking forward to?
[28:15]What am I looking forward to?
[28:16]I don't know.
[28:17]Having time to read not on a schedule.
[28:19]LAUGHTER
[28:21]You need a vacation too.
[28:23]LAUGHTER
[28:24]I want to give an Egypt party, an ancient Egypt party,
[28:28]a Nile kind of.
[28:29]And you know, it could happen in Egypt,
[28:32]but given what's going on there right now,
[28:33]more likely it won't, I've been dying to give that party.
[28:36]And people come as pharaohs and gods.
[28:40]And that's the one that's racing around in my head right now.
[28:43]I should have answered differently.
[28:44]What I am looking forward to is I'm having a holiday
[28:46]book fair, which I had last year.
[28:48]Also, when I sell all the books of the people
[28:50]who have been on my podcast.
[28:51]Oh, that's fantastic.
[28:52]I invite everybody and they meet the authors
[28:53]and they meet each other.
[28:54]That's great.
[28:55]So I am looking forward to that.
[28:56]But thank you very much.
[28:57]That's in December.
[28:57]Yes, December 2nd.
[28:58]Yeah.
[28:59]There you should go.
[29:00]Yeah.
[29:00]Do you have any advice to aspiring authors
[29:02]having completed this task?
[29:05]Somebody said to me, write the first sentence,
[29:07]and write the last sentence.
[29:08]And that helps a lot.
[29:10]I found that very hard, actually.
[29:12]The first sentence was impossible for me,
[29:14]but I could write the last sentence.
[29:16]So I started there.
[29:17]And then I tried to write the first sentence
[29:18]of the last chapter.
[29:20]So I did that.
[29:22]And then I started doing that chapter by chapter.
[29:23]And I created this kind of outline of the chapters
[29:26]and that sort of worked from there.
[29:28]Oh, and actually, I couldn't write any of it.
[29:31]I was, for a year, I sat there,
[29:33]really not able to write the book.
[29:36]And then I just got, I started recording myself talking.
[29:40]You can tell I like to talk
[29:42]by the length of my answers to your questions.
[29:44]That's great.
[29:45]But I recorded 30 hours of talking.
[29:48]And I just would do it kind of every day,
[29:50]not even in a regimented way,
[29:52]but 10 minutes here, I was in a cab.
[29:54]And we transcribed everything.
[29:56]And I had the book, actually.
[29:57]And it took me four months to take all that.
[30:00]and then cut and paste it and go through and make the sentences sound so when my grandmother
[30:08]reads them, she doesn't regret that she sent me to college, but make the English proper
[30:12]and everything.
[30:13]But I did it orally.
[30:14]Excellent.
[30:15]Well, thank you for coming out.
[30:16]Mom's no time to read books.
[30:17]Thanks for sharing your experience and the beautiful images and the stories in the book.
[30:22]Thanks for having me.
[30:23]Thanks for listening to Mom's Don't Have Time to Read Books, the award-winning podcast.
[30:28]This episode has been sponsored by Book of the Month Club.
[30:31]Book of the Month Club dot com and your code, Zibi, to get your first book for just $5.
[30:36]You can follow me on Instagram at Mom's Don't Have Time to Read Books.
[30:40]Thanks so much to Steve and Ryan at Texture Sound for the Sound Editing.
[30:44]And thank you to Morning Moon Productions for providing this fantastic intro and outro music.
[30:48]Thanks for listening.
[30:49]You can always email me at zibi at zibiowens.com.