Jane Rosen, ELIZA STARTS A RUMOR
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[1:04]by it is a gift to housewarming if you actually go somewhere or just give it to yourself. Everybody
[1:09]needs a treat without a long spring. PageOneBooks.com. Welcome to day three of my second week of my
[1:16]July book blast. So I guess technically this is day eight of my July book blast. And today is
[1:23]Beach Reads Wednesday. I'd love Beach Reads. I wish I had more time to just sit on the beach and read
[1:28]as I'm sure we all do. But instead of that, I'm offering up all these amazing Beach Read
[1:33]books, which you should definitely check out the summer and beyond. Jane L. Rosen is the author
[1:38]of Eliza starts a rumor. She's also the author of nine women One Dress. She is a screenwriter
[1:44]and a Huffington Post contributor. She lives in New York City and Fire Island with her husband
[1:48]and three daughters. Welcome Jane. Thank you so much for coming on Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books.
[1:53]Thank you for having me. I'm a big fan. I think you know that because you must see my name
[1:58]at two o'clock every day. It's the governor at 11 and Zibi at two.
[2:05]So funny. So Eliza starts a rumor. Let's talk about your book. It's coming out. I'm not sure when
[2:11]I'm releasing this exact transcript. But it's coming out to you next week when we're talking,
[2:15]which is so exciting. And you have a big event coming up with Katie Couric. First of all, how did
[2:19]that happen? That's exciting at McNally Jackson. It's exciting that she's a friend of mine,
[2:24]you know, fairness. And she's just a very supportive friend. She loves my
[2:28]books. Am I writing? And she writes a lot too. And we pass it back and forth. And I was just so
[2:34]happy that she agreed to interview me. Oh, that's awesome. Very, very cool.
[2:39]Well, if she wants to be on my podcast, who you just send her my way, you know, I will.
[2:42]I love writing a biography. Oh, well, there you go. You'll have her soon.
[2:46]Back to you. A life starts a rumor. Can you please tell listeners what this book is about?
[2:53]Sure. The book is really about female friendship and about women supporting women. But at the
[2:59]basis of it, it's like a woman who is an empty nester and runs a bulletin board kind of like
[3:06]the upper side bulletin board or mama's groups and all these different things that are all over
[3:11]the country. And she's feeling a little irrelevant. And she has a Gorephobia, which is a funny
[3:17]thing. The timing of it is kind of funny with this because we've all been staying home so much.
[3:21]that I could almost relate to her even more than I ever did. But anyway, she starts a rumor
[3:27]to live and things up on the spoken board and basically, you know, tumbles into many different
[3:33]people's lives. And it's, you know, at turn's funny and at turn's difficult because it explores
[3:41]all the very common problems that different women have. And it's different age groups. One of the
[3:46]other women is 48, one is 38, one is 28. So it's a whole intergenerational female exploration.
[3:56]Well, I don't know anyone who's ever started a rumor. So I wouldn't, I don't know.
[3:59]I don't think anybody would be able to relate to this book at all.
[4:04]I mean, it's funny because, you know, gossip as a topic doesn't get to discuss that much,
[4:10]even though it's sort of is a currency among women, if you will, right? Like it's how people,
[4:18]you know, you almost trade on that information to become closer. I see like my little kindergarten
[4:23]or daughter, you know, starting to tell it. And it's an interesting way to sort of enter into
[4:29]different friend groups. I know it's on a site of my bulletin board, but still like the idea of it
[4:34]of what does gossip do for us? What does it do for women is sort of an interesting topic?
[4:39]Well, you know, it's a little bit of a thrill, right? Like sometimes you don't want to admit it,
[4:43]but gossiping, it's like interesting somehow, even though you know, you shouldn't be doing it,
[4:48]you know, how many times have you said to someone, oh, you can't tell anyone else, you're kind of
[4:53]have, right? And then you think they probably do. So you could see how something spins out of control
[4:59]so quickly. I know, I feel like my memory is like, no, what it used to be. So now I'm like,
[5:03]I can't say anything because I'm not going to remember what's a, I don't remember what's
[5:07]secret, what are secrets and what are not secrets? You know, anyway, I don't know. I told someone
[5:13]something personal the other day. And then I said, don't tell anyone, because it's like about one of
[5:17]my kids. It wasn't even my thing to tell. And her husband walked in like the way you made it
[5:22]later. And she just told him. And I just told you that's tell anyone, but it's definitely a bad
[5:29]idea. But this is more of a random kind of thing, but she starts a rumor that she doesn't think
[5:34]is true just on the bulletin board to live and things up. It's not talking about someone she knows.
[5:41]Right. So it's fun though. It has its moments of laughter and fun. And how did you get the idea for this
[5:46]book? It was funny. I was at my last book talk for nine women one drafts. And when you do talks
[5:53]like this is the first one for me for those. But when you do these talks, you start to get
[5:58]that you hear it gets a little boring for yourself. If you repeat the same talk over and over again,
[6:03]it was the last talk. And I just decided to just wing it and just change things up with that.
[6:08]And it even gave out like some little juicy tidbits about the bunk like that something really
[6:13]maybe was kind of true in it or what else. And as Joe, I said, it's like these moms bulletin boards
[6:20]where you could say anything you want and people to act like it's not on the internet,
[6:24]I don't know what's going to repeat it. Have you noticed that? So true. It's hysterical. They'll just
[6:29]say like anything. And it just anything goes. But of course, everyone else is reading it. So anyway,
[6:35]I started talking about it and all the women like it was in New Jersey and they are like we
[6:39]belong to this one. We belong to that one. And they say this and they see that and there was
[6:43]and all of a sudden like that's is my next book. Right. Well, I was up on the podium speaking.
[6:48]I like you wrote notes the whole way home. Are you in any message groups yourself?
[6:53]Well, now I am of course because I had to research. Yes. But I tried so hard never to steal
[7:00]even one line for many of them because I just didn't want to, you know, be pillaging. But yeah,
[7:05]I'm in the upper side one. But I lived downtown, but I brought my kids up on the upper side. I'm
[7:10]in what would Virginia will do, which is really how I started getting into this. Have you ever seen
[7:16]that one? No, it's kind of neat. It's like 30,000 women. But they just took it offline and made it
[7:22]to something else that you belong to. But yeah, I'm in a few of them because mostly because of
[7:27]that. And like the LA mom, he's mentioned in the book and they are doing a book club with me
[7:32]over the summer, which is fun. And some other places like moms behaving badly. People are just
[7:38]into it. I felt like the first time I joined a message group was when I was pregnant with twins.
[7:42]And now this is like, you know, over 13 years ago. And the amount of information and the pace
[7:47]at which people are sharing, it's like, it's really unbelievable. Right. It's just like, you know,
[7:53]it's like, some people are just sitting there all day doing it. It's pretty as nice.
[7:57]Yes. Like it's like, but also you could ask something, like even in the middle of the night,
[8:03]if you have like something wrong, your son had a rash. It's literally, I feel like you could say,
[8:08]what is this rash? And then 16 women will say, it's hepatitis. This is that one that people are like,
[8:13]in some acts, like you just get any answer to anything. It's true. It's like a, it's like a
[8:18]24 hour helpline community supported helpline. Yeah. Yes. But there was a big controversy,
[8:25]you know, on the upper east side one. I heard that. I heard that. I heard that they haven't like
[8:30]taken the time to dig deep into what exactly happened. But it was about like a moderator being
[8:35]what they wanted to add a black moderator and make things more equal. And it was a whole argument
[8:40]with the current, I don't know. I really don't pay that much attention to it now because
[8:45]I want to my next point. But it's, it's an interesting concept. It really is.
[8:51]So you obviously did research by going into different message groups. What else was part of the
[8:56]process of writing Eliza starts a rumor? Well, there are some serious things touched upon in the
[9:02]book. And I had a really research that. So the main character, Eliza, this is not really giving
[9:06]anything away because right at the beginning, you find out she's a gora phobic. And the reason why
[9:13]she is a gora phobic comes out as the book goes along. So I did, I don't want to give me
[9:17]quite a lot of research. Just in, just women going through a certain, you know, different things
[9:23]than how they reacted and how it carries with them. And there's a whole new two section,
[9:28]me two moment of the book and like how would it feel if your husband was accused of me to kind
[9:33]of thing and that took a lot of research. But I guess that's, and then there's a, oh, there's
[9:37]a whole cheating thing also. I researched that, which is funny because when you research something
[9:42]like cheating, every, like time you turn on your computer, it's like, do you want to spy on your
[9:47]spouse? Ten times a new cheating. Like if anyone was to look at my computer, they'd be like,
[9:51]office for women. And my husband's wonderful. So it's like, the internet thinks he's awful.
[9:58]And how I'm going to take two
[10:00]Right, like where did you go to write it?
[10:01]Did you write it home?
[10:02]Do you like to go out to write?
[10:03]How did it differ from your last book?
[10:05]I counted you approach that one versus this one.
[10:08]Well, my last book was really complicated
[10:11]because it had like 17 different narrators
[10:15]and it was about this dress.
[10:17]And it was, let's say over a four month period,
[10:20]I literally had to like put the dress,
[10:22]where the dress was on a calendar
[10:24]because it was too confusing.
[10:25]Like, you know what I mean?
[10:26]Like I just couldn't, I kept on,
[10:27]where's the dress now?
[10:28]I kept on losing it.
[10:30]So this was a lot easier for me to write was, you know,
[10:33]wasn't all these different voices.
[10:35]And took me, kind of just came right out of me
[10:38]the first draft, like only like four months, really.
[10:42]I write mostly at home in the mornings, very early
[10:47]like writing first thing in the morning to me
[10:50]is the best.
[10:51]My brain is clear.
[10:53]I'm not yet thinking about, you know, the to do list
[10:56]and all of that.
[10:57]And I try and do that for like as long as I can.
[11:01]And then basically I'll go out,
[11:03]do whatever it is I have to do errands.
[11:05]And then in the afternoon, maybe I'll walk into,
[11:07]I live in New York City.
[11:08]So I'll go into like a different coffee shop
[11:09]or just to get out of it.
[11:11]Because like if not, I could just stay in,
[11:14]I hate to say I could stay in my bed
[11:16]and write for like three straight days.
[11:17]So that's not, that's not a whole situation, right?
[11:20]There's no lack of material just going out the door
[11:23]in the city.
[11:24]Yeah, you pay attention on the subway,
[11:28]off the subway, it's like a plethora of material.
[11:32]And I read an interview you did a while back
[11:34]where it seemed like the title of the book
[11:36]was actually going to be the Hudson Valley Women's Community Board.
[11:40]I hope I got that right.
[11:41]Hudson Valley, ladies, bullet and bullet.
[11:42]Bullet and board.
[11:43]Sorry, so tell me about changing the title
[11:45]and how that all came about.
[11:48]You know, I have a new publisher from last time,
[11:50]a new editor, a new agent, new everything.
[11:52]And they called me one day.
[11:54]I was at lunch with my friends from college.
[11:57]And maybe it was my agent that called me.
[11:58]It's just like they want to change the title
[12:00]to a lie so it starts a rumor.
[12:02]And I always take a little while to get used to things.
[12:05]But at first I was like, why?
[12:07]Like I was just, I couldn't believe it.
[12:09]But of course it's up to you.
[12:10]And like I used to be a screenwriter
[12:12]when you're a screenwriter, nothing is up to you.
[12:15]They could change the title to like four women go to Mars.
[12:17]And I'd have to be like, okay.
[12:19]But you know, this is really kind of,
[12:22]you could say no.
[12:24]But I thought, you know what,
[12:25]there's so much smarter than me about this.
[12:27]And if they think that this is the right idea,
[12:31]I'm just going to go with what they think.
[12:33]And I did.
[12:34]And then within like a week or two,
[12:36]I was like, yeah, with this title is much better.
[12:38]You know, it's not limited really.
[12:40]And it's interesting.
[12:41]And it focuses on a lie who really is the main character.
[12:46]Even though there are three other women
[12:48]and one man that are, you know,
[12:50]pretty much followed their stories as well.
[12:55]But yeah, they changed the name and I was fine with it.
[12:57]And the cover, everything changed.
[12:59]Oh my gosh.
[13:00]Tell me about your screenwriting
[13:02]and how you got started in that.
[13:04]I had an idea for a script.
[13:06]And this is a really good story
[13:08]because it means like anybody could do this.
[13:10]Because it was, you know, anyone could find time to read,
[13:13]but you could also find time to write.
[13:14]So I had an idea, my kids were younger.
[13:17]And I signed up for this Gotham writer's workshop screenwriting.
[13:22]I think it was like eight weeks to be in a screenwriter
[13:24]or something.
[13:25]And I went one night a week, you know, no big deal.
[13:27]And I wrote this script, right?
[13:29]It was called Confessions of a Dog Walker.
[13:32]I write this script and fast forward a couple of months
[13:36]and a lot of back and forth and stress whatever.
[13:38]And I don't want to say the name.
[13:39]I'll say Mirabax, both the script.
[13:42]And it was crazy, right?
[13:44]To write the first script and sell it to, you know,
[13:46]I don't want to say his name.
[13:47]You can say his name.
[13:48]It's hard-wise, dude.
[13:51]And so it was pretty exciting.
[13:53]And there was a lot of rewrites and all that.
[13:54]And it never asked with many scripts.
[13:56]It never got made.
[13:58]So I was writing screenwriting for a long time.
[14:00]And I loved it.
[14:01]I love the visualization of everything.
[14:03]I love writing that way.
[14:05]But I wanted my stories to be heard.
[14:07]So I wrote 911 drafts, kind of thinking, OK, I'll write the book.
[14:12]And maybe it'll be made into a movie.
[14:14]And homework is optioned, so we'll see.
[14:16]But, oh, that's great.
[14:17]Yeah.
[14:18]So that's what, you know, it was just,
[14:20]I think even now I write very visually,
[14:22]like a screenwriter somewhat.
[14:23]Oh, that always helps them, you know,
[14:25]for pelling the narrative forward
[14:27]when you can see it all in your head, right?
[14:30]That's great.
[14:30]And with dialogue, of course.
[14:32]Yes, the dialogue.
[14:33]Yeah, they're just very different crafts.
[14:35]So like everyone in screenwriting, they would say something
[14:37]to me like, could you help them meet when they're young?
[14:40]The two main characters, like the live and all that.
[14:42]I said, OK, and I would rewrite the whole thing
[14:44]with the meeting while they were young,
[14:45]come back with the next draft, like however many weeks later,
[14:49]they read the whole thing, they come back to me.
[14:50]It's like six people weren't going to move it.
[14:52]They're like, could you help them not meet when they're young?
[14:55]I felt like, OK, it's like a crazy thing.
[15:00]And with the editing in the book world,
[15:03]it's just been, I love it.
[15:05]It's been, I love editing.
[15:06]I love my last editor and this editor
[15:08]and it's just great collaboration.
[15:09]And do you always love to write?
[15:11]Is this something that you'd love to do your entire life
[15:14]or is it something that's come more recently?
[15:16]When I was a little kid, like sixth grade,
[15:19]except like, that age, I loved to write.
[15:22]And I got a lot of attention for it.
[15:24]Like in elementary school and stuff,
[15:25]they would bring my work around.
[15:27]And then I don't know what happened.
[15:28]Like, I just kind of lost my way with that.
[15:31]I guess I was more interested in like finding a job
[15:34]that I could support myself and live on my own in New York
[15:36]City and the whole thing.
[15:37]And I didn't major in that and I didn't pursue it.
[15:41]And I went into the garment center, which
[15:42]was very helpful with nine women, one dress.
[15:44]But and then when I had kids, and I was home with them,
[15:47]I started writing again.
[15:49]So I wrote children's books and then I
[15:51]broke into the screen writing thing.
[15:52]But there was definitely a big gap
[15:54]where I didn't, I wish I went to college and studied English
[15:58]and writing and all of that in my, you know,
[16:00]but you don't know, right?
[16:01]No.
[16:02]You can't do it again.
[16:03]This is the way I've been, I don't know.
[16:05]I know one tells you, like, I look at my kids
[16:07]and say like, you're good at this, you're good at that.
[16:09]It doesn't mean they're going to end up doing it.
[16:11]But I feel like my mother was just like,
[16:13]should be any attention to my school or anything.
[16:15]She was just like, oh great, you're graduating.
[16:17]And oh great, you got into college.
[16:19]You know, it was just different now.
[16:20]It's funny.
[16:21]So are you working on anything new?
[16:23]Yes, I am.
[16:24]But it doesn't have a title yet.
[16:25]I don't know wait.
[16:26]I don't want to.
[16:27]You don't want to jinx it?
[16:28]No.
[16:30]But it'll come out, not next time, but the summer after.
[16:33]And it's with Berkeley.
[16:34]So it's all, like, it's all, you know, that's sad and everything.
[16:37]Yeah, yeah.
[16:38]Yeah.
[16:38]That's great.
[16:39]You do look congratulations.
[16:40]It's a fun.
[16:41]It's more of a romance.
[16:42]There's romance and allows us to talk to a rubber tube, but just a small part of it.
[16:46]Interesting.
[16:47]Having had the success that you've had, what advice do you have to aspiring authors?
[16:51]I would say just keep writing because I mean, I didn't publish my book to I was 50.
[16:56]So if I would have given up, like sometimes I felt like this is ridiculous.
[17:01]It's almost embarrassing, you know, and you mean like you're writing and writing and nothing
[17:05]is really happening.
[17:06]Like I sold things, but, and I wrote a bunch of scripts and, you know.
[17:10]So just talk about, I think that's the main thing.
[17:13]Just keep writing and don't give up.
[17:16]And eventually something's going to stick, and when the first thing gets turned down,
[17:20]write something else for the town, start with something else, go in different directions.
[17:24]You know, that's my advice.
[17:26]Awesome.
[17:27]Congratulations to you too.
[17:28]You just didn't have a children's book with that.
[17:31]I did.
[17:32]Yeah.
[17:33]So exciting.
[17:34]I know.
[17:35]It feels kind of silly because I've been trying to write a novel for like two and a half
[17:39]years and then like my children's books sells.
[17:41]So, you know, life is weird.
[17:43]I don't think it's that silly.
[17:45]I wrote children's books first years ago and now we're sending them around and they
[17:51]never, and I sent them to everybody that then.
[17:53]So like mine was the opposite, you know, it doesn't matter.
[17:57]No, I'm thrilled.
[17:58]No, I don't mean to do.
[17:59]I mean, I am thrilled.
[18:00]It'll be great.
[18:01]I'm excited for that to happen.
[18:02]It feels very far away, but yes.
[18:04]Awesome.
[18:06]Well, thank you, Jane.
[18:07]Thanks for coming on Rob's no time to read books.
[18:09]Thanks for telling us more about Eliza's start to rumor.
[18:12]Now I will think of you and hold my tongue for gossiping a little more.
[18:16]I think now I'm kidding.
[18:18]There's hardly anything that happens.
[18:19]It's so published yet on the internet.
[18:21]It's probably okay.
[18:23]No.
[18:24]That was where she really went wrong.
[18:25]I feel like the gossip also, there's nothing even to talk about what happens.
[18:28]I mean, nobody.
[18:29]I don't know.
[18:30]It's not like there's nothing to gossip about now.
[18:34]What are you going to say?
[18:35]Exactly.
[18:36]There's nothing to say.
[18:37]There's nothing to say.
[18:39]It's like groundhog day.
[18:40]I know.
[18:41]It's so true.
[18:42]Anyway, well, this is really fun.
[18:43]I'm glad we finally got to talk.
[18:44]And I'm really excited to talk.
[18:45]I'm excited to talk.
[18:46]And you're back.
[18:47]It's really cool.
[18:48]Thank you.
[18:49]Okay.
[18:50]Thanks.
[18:51]Okay.
[18:52]So you're two o'clock.
[18:53]Bye.
[18:54]Bye.
[18:55]I hope you've enjoyed this.
[18:56]Be Treat on Be Treats Wednesday, part of my July book blast.
[19:00]Thanks again for listening to my podcast.
[19:02]Moms don't have time to read books.
[19:04]If you liked this episode, please follow me on Instagram at Zippy Owens.
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[19:24]Thanks so much to Steve and Ryan at Texture Sound for the Sound Editing.
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