Julie Pennell, LOUISIANA LUCKY
[0:08]Hi, I'm Zive Owens, and you're listening to the award-winning podcast,
[0:11]Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books. Thanks so much for listening to my podcast.
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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 books,
[1:33]which you should definitely check out this summer and beyond. Julie Penell was born and raised in
[1:37]Louisiana. After graduating from college, she headed to New York to work at 17 magazine. She currently
[1:42]lives in Philadelphia with her husband and young son and is a regular contributor to today.com.
[1:48]Her writing has appeared in the knot in style in her finery 29. She is the author of the
[1:53]Young Wives Club and most recently, Louisiana Lucky. Welcome Julie. Thanks for coming on Moms
[1:58]and I have time to read books. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to chat with you,
[2:02]a big fan. Oh, yay. That's so nice. I feel like I toil in my little room here by myself all day.
[2:09]So it's nice to hear. Okay, Louisiana Lucky, tell us about this novel. What's it about?
[2:16]Louisiana Lucky is about three sisters in small town, Louisiana, who play. They have a monthly
[2:23]girl's night and they play the lottery and they drink cheap wine and fantasize about how different
[2:29]their lives would be if they won the jackpot and spoiler alert. They do if they win $204 million
[2:38]that they get to split between them. And so it kind of follows the story of how they spend their
[2:43]money. Lucky is the youngest and she's just recently engaged. So she decides to plan a Hollywood
[2:50]style wedding. Callie is a local newspaper reporter and the money gives her the confidence to go
[2:58]after her career dreams and also love. And then Hannah is our oldest and she's a mom of two young
[3:05]kids and she wants to give them everything that she possibly can to make their lives better.
[3:11]So it kind of follows that obviously the story is fantasy. It's got your fun, you know,
[3:18]shopping sprees and makeovers. But it's also got some realistic things of disaster and heartbreak,
[3:25]but in between those things, there's also love and family and hopefully some feel good feeling.
[3:33]I've read this book a million times during my editing process and every time I come out with
[3:38]a fuzzy feeling at the end. And I really hope that readers feel that as well, especially in this time,
[3:45]I feel like we all need a feel good story. It's like you knit yourself your own sweater or something.
[3:51]Right? You like wrote your own book to make you feel better. And then it makes you feel better.
[3:54]It's perfect. I will be right, right? Like you want to read the book that or you want to write
[4:00]the book that you want to read. And this is a book that I thought would be really under-read.
[4:05]Well, there you go. It's perfect. And then now you make it fun for the rest of us to read.
[4:09]And I love how you jump around and do alternating viewpoints and different sisters and how you just
[4:15]keep the story moving along and interweave everything. It's like very cool.
[4:19]So what, how did you come up with this idea?
[4:21]I mean, who hasn't fantasized about winning millions of dollars and just changing your life?
[4:28]So I just thought that would be a really fun backdrop for the story just to have fun with it,
[4:34]but also it could be a self-discovery story for the women in the story. But also for the readers,
[4:42]I hope that they come away with some kind of feeling about money and how it, you know,
[4:49]is it tied to happiness? Or do we already have everything that we possibly need,
[4:54]especially right now with the pandemic and being sheltered in place and not spending money?
[4:59]I feel like we're all kind of looking at that within our own selves. So I'm hoping that is also
[5:04]something that readers take away from it.
[5:06]So what was your conclusion after going through the exercise of seeing what happens?
[5:11]and the impact of the lottery win on all these women? I mean, I know I've read studies
[5:16]that it turns out that money doesn't actually buy you happiness, right? That the lottery winners,
[5:21]sometimes they get depressed because their expectations are so higher. They change their lives
[5:24]so rapidly that they lose touch with things that had given meaning to their lives before. So just
[5:30]curious if, like, at this point, winning the lottery, good thing, bad thing, what do you think?
[5:34]I mean, I hope that like what I didn't want to do, I know I've heard like horror stories of
[5:42]lottery winners, you know, like just totally their lives are like ruined forever and I just felt
[5:49]like that was super depressing. Like I think that having money would be fun because you could do
[5:54]things with it and like you could give it to charity, you know, things like that. So I didn't
[5:59]want these girls to like have the worst lives ever after they won, but you'll see in the end
[6:06]that they do realize that it's not about the money itself. It's about the people that are with them
[6:14]and what they can give to others and, you know, what others can give to them. And I think that that's
[6:20]like what makes you rich. It's like, you know, it's a wonderful life, like you're the richest man
[6:25]because you have friends and because you have family and things like that. So, but yeah, I mean,
[6:31]whatever, like also money would be fun too. But I don't think that you need like billions of dollars.
[6:39]I would hope that if someone had billions of dollars, they would give it the way to people who need it.
[6:46]So how did you end up writing a book at all? Like tell me about your whole writing journey. When
[6:51]did you realize you like to write? I'm assuming you like to write, but that is a big assumption. Maybe you
[6:55]don't like to write. How did you become a writer? So I've actually been writing my entire life. Like, I was
[7:03]writing little stories when I was a little girl. My mom still has all of them. And then when I was 14,
[7:10]I just randomly walked up to the local newspaper and asked them if there were any writing
[7:16]opportunities for teenagers. And they randomly like let me come in and intern for them. And then
[7:23]I wrote a weekly teen column for them for seven years, like way past when I was not a teen anymore.
[7:29]So it was just really fun. And I've always wanted to write for magazines and stories. So I worked at
[7:36]17 magazine. And then I've always wanted to write a novel. I've tried so many times. I think a lot
[7:43]of authors have done this where you just like write, you know, you get in, you get really excited. And
[7:48]I wrote like 20,000 words for a couple of books. And then I kind of just had nowhere idea where I was
[7:54]going. And then I finally came up with my debut novel idea, the Young Lives Club, and plotted it out.
[8:01]And I think that that made all the difference in the world. And so yeah. And then it sold. And
[8:08]then they're letting me do another one. And I feel so lucky. I feel Louisiana lucky right now.
[8:16]Are you from Louisiana? How did you place it there? You are.
[8:20]Yes. So I was born and raised there. And I lived there through college. I went to Louisiana
[8:25]Tech for college. And then I ended up moving to New York to work in magazines after. But there's
[8:32]always like a special place in my heart for the state. I just feel that it's so magical and so
[8:37]special. And I kind of just wanted to be transported back there. And when I was writing the
[8:43]book. And I hope that it transports readers to this magical place with the wonderful culture and
[8:51]the smells and sights and sounds of one of my favorite places in the world.
[8:55]And what are you going to write next? Have you already at work on your next novel? I'm sure you are.
[9:00]So I'm mulling over some ideas. I haven't put into paper yet. But I just had a baby.
[9:06]Oh, congratulations. I know I was just taking a little pause. But I find that this is like
[9:11]the time when I need to be like thinking about it. And yeah, so I don't know. But it'll be
[9:17]we'll do it. I'll do have a whole new world of material now. Just wait. Just wait.
[9:23]How old is your baby? So I have, so he's two months old. And then I have a two and a half year
[9:29]old as well. So I actually wrote Louisiana lucky his first year. It's funny. I feel like I
[9:35]have a baby every single year. I have a new book. But yeah, so I was like a stay at home mom
[9:43]for the first year and just kind of wrote it during his nap and after he went to bed at night.
[9:51]So it's really thankful that he was a good sleeper for that. So I'm hoping this new one
[9:55]is going to be a good sleep. Then I'll be able to get another book out.
[10:00]That could be Louisiana, really, really lucky.
[10:04]Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?
[10:06]So, you know, going back on the plotting,
[10:09]I definitely think that that's something that everyone should try if they're struggling.
[10:13]Like I was struggling, you know, I feel like knowing where you're supposed to go
[10:18]in the plot is definitely going to help you get to the end.
[10:22]And of course, like things change because these characters are crazy
[10:26]and they're actually like real people and they have minds of their own.
[10:30]You know, things might change, but at least you have an end goal.
[10:34]And then my other piece of advice always is just to like find time to write.
[10:39]Because, you know, it's so cliche, but like they always say you can't edit a blank page
[10:44]and it's so true. You know, you just have to like, you know,
[10:50]doing it during your kid's naps, or like, you know, on Twitter, there's a five a.m.
[10:54]writer's club where they people get up at five a.m. and do it before their full-time jobs.
[10:58]And even if it's, you know, a page a day, sometimes it takes a while to write a book,
[11:04]but at least you've done it. Like if I hadn't done it during the naps,
[11:08]and I wouldn't be talking about it right now with you, you know, because you just got to do it.
[11:13]Everybody has a story and I think that everybody should try, you know.
[11:17]Well, I'm glad you're your first child naps so that you could write this book in my chat.
[11:22]Exactly.
[11:23]It would all work out.
[11:25]Well, thank you so much for coming on my podcast. Congratulations on this book and good luck with
[11:29]your baby. And it was great chatting with you.
[11:32]Thank you so much. It was great chatting with you as well.
[11:35]Hi, pleasure.
[11:36]Bye.
[11:36]All right, bye.
[11:37]I hope you've enjoyed this Beatrice on Beatrice Wednesday, part of my July book blast.
[11:44]Thanks again for listening to my podcast.
[11:46]Moms don't have time to read books. If you liked this episode, please follow me on
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[12:01]Thanks a lot.
[12:01]Thanks so much to Page One Books for sponsoring today's episode. I hope you'll all check out my
[12:05]summer beach bundle at page one books.com. Thanks so much to Steve and Ryan at Texture Sound
[12:11]for the Sound Editing. And thank you to Morning Moon Productions for providing this
[12:15]fantastic intro and out trim music.
[12:17]Thanks for listening. You could always email me at zippyatzippyowens.com.