Brooke Adams Law, CATCHLIGHT
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[2:14]Brick Adam's Law is the author of Catchlight, which won the Fairfield Book Prize.
[2:19]This is her debut novel. She's the mom of two kids and lives in Connecticut.
[2:23]Hi! Hey, Zavi! Oh my gosh, I'm so excited. I'm good. How are you?
[2:28]I'm good. Well, welcome to Moms Don't Have Time to Treat.
[2:31]Thanks. And congratulations on Catchlight.
[2:33]Thank you. Thank you.
[2:35]Start by telling the story of how the prize you won and how this whole novel sort of came to be.
[2:42]Oh my gosh. Okay, so it's a little bit of a journey. So I don't know if you're even ready.
[2:49]Okay, so I actually, I had the idea in the summer of 2007.
[2:56]This is 13 years in the making, which is part of the reason why it's so exciting.
[3:01]So the way that it came to be originally was I had this idea for a book and it's sort of two-fold.
[3:08]So my grandmother had recently died of Alzheimer's disease and I was also at the time I just graduated college and I was reading this book by
[3:18]Madeline Langal, one of her lesser known books called The Severed Wasp.
[3:23]And that book is about this woman Catherine, who's in her 80s. She's like a concert pianist for her whole career.
[3:31]She travels the whole world and she comes home. She retires and she comes home to New York City to like make peace with her life and really like process her memories and like figure out like what was that whole life?
[3:44]I lived like about. And so I started asking this question, like what happens if we don't get to do that at the end of our life?
[3:51]Like what happens if you go through this process of having dementia or Alzheimer's and like you don't remember your life?
[3:57]Like what happens then? And so that was sort of the genesis of the book.
[4:00]So in any case, I started writing and I ended up with a draft and I was like, oh, I know that it can be better and I have no idea like how to make it better.
[4:09]So I decided to get my MFA degree and I spent the two years of my program really like I started over from the beginning, like wrote the whole book again, like started over a third time wrote the whole book again.
[4:21]So in any case, that's all the way up to like 2014.
[4:26]And I like went gangbusters. I mean, queried like 125 agents was entering contest was pitching small presses and it's like no after no after no after no.
[4:40]And then also right, but like silence silence family other people. And so I put it away for a little while. And then in 2019, I entered for the second time, the Fairfield book prize contest, which the first time around, I didn't even make the final cut.
[4:58]And I was like, what do I have to lose right? I have nothing to lose. And so the thing about the Fairfield book prize is is only open to members of the Fairfield MFA community.
[5:09]So you have to either be a student or have graduated from that program.
[5:13]So on the one hand, it's a smaller pool than a lot of contests, but on the other hand, you know that everyone's work is like really good right like everyone's worked with the same amazing mentors as you and everyone's like really solid in what they're doing.
[5:28]And in any case, I entered in 2019 and that June when my daughter was nine days old, I like open my inbox and it's like, Hey, did you get our email from two days ago, like catch light one, the Fairfield book prize and part of the prize is a book deal with the Woodhall press.
[5:51]That's how it came to be awesome. I love that story. So how now is your daughter. So my daughter is 15 months old at this point. So she's totalling around and you know has big opinions about life.
[6:06]And then my son is four. So we're kind of right in the thick of it parenting lives.
[6:11]Oh my gosh, well, that must have been the best feeling ever. And it just goes to show like persistence is so important. And it doesn't even matter who ends up publishing it. I mean, until I was like getting to know this industry a lot better.
[6:23]I never paid it. I don't know if it's just me, but I never paid an ounce of attention to who published what book. I didn't know what the reputations were of different publishers like none of that meant anything to me, even as like a huge reader.
[6:36]Yeah, I feel like I've been a reader for all of my life and I've never even noticed like if it's a small press if it's so sometimes I ended with self published books and I like don't even know it's like it doesn't like I don't even know that that's the case. So yeah, I really feel that way too that I never paid any attention until recently.
[6:53]I realize now that like they all have their own, you know, particular brand as well their own particular brand end of story, you know, but anyway, for people buying books who cares. I mean, it doesn't matter where the book comes from and it's so amazing that you got yours out there and that we're talking and I'm really, you know, it's very motivating inspiring story to like not give up and when you know you have something to share and just keep getting it out there.
[7:19]Yeah, thank you so much. And I think for me, there was also this lesson of like and sometimes there's like a pause right like there really was there was a pause of a few years where I was like consciously like I'm going to put this away for a little while I'm not giving up on it, but like I also wanted to write something else like I was spending all this time like pitching and I was kind of like I really just want to work on something else.
[7:41]And so it was sort of like a pause and what I see now because hindsight of course is 2020 is this idea that like you know six years ago I didn't know anything about marketing or like the business side of publishing and since then I started my own business and so I know a lot about marketing and just sort of like getting the word out and I feel like I'm in a much better better position than I would have been like five or six years ago.
[8:05]Like it's me some hope too of like sometimes it's like the not yet it's not a no it's just not yet and so it's like the patience and persistence kind of married together that really made the difference for me.
[8:17]like and the he went and like got a whole degree in the middle.
[8:21]I tried writing novel and it was just out of business goals like when I was 20 and I was 28 or something and I remember I applied to MFA program so people said it was ridiculous because I just finished business goals.
[8:31]So I don't know if I actually meant it.
[8:33]But anyway I got rejected by this guy applied to and I was like well that's it I'm not supposed to be a writer like and the story.
[8:40]Well I don't know I don't think that the gatekeepers that get to decide like and that goes with publishing too it's like I don't know there are great books out there and great writers.
[8:50]And I don't know there's gatekeepers that may or may not know it's just like maybe not a fit for their program but it doesn't mean that you don't get to be a writer if you want.
[8:58]to really Jennifer Weiner again recently for a live event that we did for temple manual and she was saying you know anybody on social media could be a published author now in two seconds.
[9:08]But that's right.
[9:09]You put it on your post like there are no gatekeepers in some ways at all.
[9:13]So there's almost too much content in the one hand and not enough in the other and I don't know as long as it reaches people that's the greatest I think so agreed.
[9:24]And your book was great at all the different perspectives of the people dealing with their mother who had Alzheimer's and the initial diagnosis and then the father I mean I don't give things away, but I was like oh my gosh no now this.
[9:38]I'm such super different characters like I thought that at first the whole book would be told from the point of view of Laura. And then when I heard that James is perspective and what was going down in the bar bathroom and all that.
[9:50]Oh, Brooke okay.
[9:52]I know I love it because so when I was in my MFA program one of my.
[10:00]Professor is recommended because originally the book,
[10:02]the original draft was only from the point of view of Laura.
[10:05]And she's like, as you know, she's a therapist
[10:09]and she's very much always trying to like manage
[10:11]everyone's emotions and like make everyone
[10:13]play nice on each other, right?
[10:15]She does not have the best emotional boundaries.
[10:17]And her brother James is an alcoholic
[10:20]and he's like the family black sheep
[10:22]and he's a total screw up.
[10:23]And I did, I just started playing with his voice
[10:26]and I was like, oh my gosh, like he deserves
[10:28]to have a voice in this story
[10:30]because his perspective is so different.
[10:32]And also, I think there's this interesting tension
[10:34]with James where there's one on one hand, right?
[10:37]He always screws up, like he really does.
[10:39]And then also it becomes a little bit of a self-fulfilling
[10:42]prophecy where he's kind of like everyone just
[10:44]expects me to screw up.
[10:45]So I might as well just like hold to the pattern, right?
[10:48]And then you get to kind of see like the different choices
[10:50]that he makes as they go along.
[10:52]So yeah, it's definitely,
[10:55]definitely kind of a firestorm of things happening
[10:57]in their family.
[10:58]Did you take a lot of your grandmother's illness
[11:00]and put that in that you got all the details?
[11:03]I'll put you a lot of your character, like how did you?
[11:05]Yeah, this is a great question.
[11:06]So I didn't use much from her case or her story at all.
[11:10]I think I really took sort of like,
[11:12]I was asking this question about who are we without our memory?
[11:16]And then when my grandmother was ill,
[11:18]I was away at college and I was only a few hours away,
[11:21]but there was still like a certain amount of distance
[11:23]happening.
[11:24]But I really like thought about it after the fact,
[11:26]like my dad is one of six siblings.
[11:29]And so I was like, I didn't see any of this up close,
[11:31]but I was like, what would it be like for all the,
[11:33]like for siblings in this situation to like suddenly,
[11:37]like in the case of this family,
[11:38]which is totally fictional,
[11:40]I was like, they don't get along at all.
[11:41]They can't stand to be in the same room.
[11:43]And then all of a sudden they have to make these very serious
[11:46]decisions about their mother's care
[11:49]and about her finances and how they're gonna, you know,
[11:51]care for her.
[11:52]And so that was really kind of all imagined.
[11:55]And I think in terms of like the actual, you know,
[11:59]disease, I just did a lot of research.
[12:01]And I did sort of ask my dad a little bit about his experience,
[12:04]but it was mostly sort of research
[12:06]and then just my imagination kind of going wild.
[12:09]It really is amazing.
[12:10]I feel like they should tell you earlier in life
[12:12]and for people listening maybe now.
[12:13]This is our chance to tell other people,
[12:15]but like when my mother-in-law is in the hospital,
[12:18]like she had to sign off on things
[12:21]with her brother from whom she had been estranged
[12:23]for a long time about their mother's care.
[12:25]Like you have to like, and now again,
[12:28]like my husband and his sister,
[12:29]they had to join together and sign that you can't like
[12:32]lose touch with your siblings or like not speak
[12:35]when it comes to making major life decisions
[12:38]for your parent.
[12:39]No matter how grown up you feel,
[12:41]you're ultimately the child of your parent.
[12:43]And like it comes down often to you to make those decisions.
[12:47]So I don't know, it's just, I had no idea.
[12:50]Even for like, you know, the form about cremation.
[12:52]You need like both signatures from the children.
[12:55]It's anyway, this is not a dark,
[12:57]but I didn't know that.
[12:58]So I'm assuming other people might not know that too.
[13:00]But yeah.
[13:02]Anyway, but yeah, I think in your book,
[13:04]you mentioned how it was the first time
[13:06]that all the siblings have been together
[13:08]without their spouses or children
[13:10]with their mother and stepped at in a really long time.
[13:13]I feel like as we grow up,
[13:14]like it is so rare when we all have our own families
[13:17]to have that sort of initial family back together.
[13:20]That's the family of origin.
[13:22]And actually that lion came from like,
[13:26]this was probably about two years ago.
[13:28]Actually my aunt passed away very suddenly
[13:31]and my family is in Philadelphia and I'm in Connecticut.
[13:34]So I drove down for the funeral.
[13:35]And it was like, it was like a blizzard.
[13:37]There was like a blizzard happening.
[13:38]So my husband ended up, he was gonna come,
[13:40]but he stayed home with our son.
[13:42]And in any case, it was like my dad, my mom,
[13:44]and my sister, and me, and like my sister's husband,
[13:47]like had to leave to go back to work,
[13:48]I can't remember it.
[13:49]But it was just the four of us,
[13:50]and we were sitting like in my parents' house
[13:53]like where I'd grown up and my dad was like,
[13:55]wow, we've never just the four of us been together.
[13:58]Like, and I think it really was my college graduation.
[14:01]It was like the last time.
[14:02]And that's what it says in the book.
[14:03]And I was like, oh, and it was very poignant, right?
[14:06]For just the four of us to have this moment of like,
[14:09]this loss for us, for my aunt.
[14:11]And then in the book, it's this moment
[14:13]when they find out Catherine's diagnosis
[14:15]of Alzheimer's disease, and it just happens
[14:17]to be the six of them in the room.
[14:18]And I felt like that was really significant
[14:20]that the family of origin is coming back together
[14:24]to kind of, for this like, sea change
[14:25]in like the end of kind of Catherine's life.
[14:27]So I felt like that was very important
[14:29]for them to have that time.
[14:31]I'm so sorry about your aunt, that's true.
[14:33]Thank you.
[14:34]So now that you've been through this crazy publishing process
[14:38]and your book is sort of out there in the world,
[14:40]tell me about that experience.
[14:42]What's that been like versus what you had in mind?
[14:44]Or like tell me about the aftermath, if you will.
[14:48]Oh my gosh, well, I am honestly having so much fun.
[14:51]And so it's really fun too, because like I said,
[14:54]I've been running an online business for a few years.
[14:56]And so a lot of my launch stuff,
[14:59]I had already been planning to do it online.
[15:01]And so the fact that we've kind of converged with pandemic
[15:04]is actually like not that it's ideal
[15:07]for anyone in any way.
[15:08]And also I'm like, oh, I can just leverage
[15:10]a lot of the things that I already have in place
[15:13]to kind of make it work.
[15:15]So I worked with, I brought together a group of family
[15:18]and friends and people that I know to have a launch team.
[15:22]And so the launch team idea was they all pre-order the book
[15:26]and then they got advanced copies.
[15:28]And we're gonna have a party just for the launch team
[15:30]like in a week or so on Zoom.
[15:32]And they're gonna commit to posting a review.
[15:35]And so it's just sort of a fun way to build buzz.
[15:38]And they commit to sharing on social media,
[15:40]telling friends and family like them there.
[15:42]So it just feels fun to like work with my friends
[15:45]to like get the word out, right?
[15:47]And they have just been so supportive
[15:49]and just like my champions.
[15:51]And it's really just lovely to see like this community.
[15:54]Like people from like different eras of my life.
[15:57]Like it's like a college friend alongside, you know,
[16:00]a colleague from my MFA alongside like one of my clients
[16:04]like signed up and it's just really fun to kind of like
[16:07]have them all like in a little team
[16:08]and feel like they're kind of standing shoulders shoulder
[16:12]with me and like helping me tell everyone about catch light.
[16:14]And when people hear this story that I told of like,
[16:17]it's 13 years in the making.
[16:19]Like I think that has kind of like built some interest as well,
[16:22]which is really fun for me because I'm glad that this journey
[16:26]is like appealing so I, right?
[16:28]Because the other thing is like in the middle of it,
[16:30]like I did not know that it was gonna have
[16:32]this like very exciting ending.
[16:34]Like I was kind of like, I don't know if this book
[16:36]is ever gonna see the light of day.
[16:39]So I think that's part of it too,
[16:40]is that it's such a long culmination that like,
[16:43]it's really just like, I'm so thrilled
[16:45]that people are reading it and enjoying it,
[16:47]that I think that kind of shows
[16:49]and people are kind of attracted to that,
[16:50]which is really fun.
[16:52]I love the launch team idea.
[16:53]It seems like so simple that everyone should have a launch team
[16:57]but I've never seen this stuff before.
[16:58]I mean, I've only heard of your team
[17:00]been like, I was sharing all that,
[17:01]but just like assembling your friends
[17:02]and making an actual team.
[17:04]Are you giving them all attention to that?
[17:05]Well, so I have like gifts for them, right?
[17:08]So they're getting, I ordered custom catchlight bookmarks
[17:11]that are just for the launch team
[17:12]and I'm doing autographed nameplates
[17:14]that I'm gonna send them, they can stick in the book.
[17:16]And then we're doing like I said,
[17:19]we're doing a party like just for them.
[17:21]And then this is actually my most favorite idea,
[17:23]which was, this was an idea that a friend of mine
[17:25]in publishing gave me is that they're actually getting access
[17:29]to the original first three chapters of the book
[17:32]that got cut from the final manuscript.
[17:35]The launch team is gonna get access
[17:37]to that like exclusive content.
[17:38]And so like no one else in the world will get to read
[17:41]like the original three chapters,
[17:43]which the feedback that I got, which I agreed with was like,
[17:46]it was too much set up.
[17:47]Like I was just setting everything up
[17:49]and my editor was like, we just need to start
[17:51]like just like throw us in there.
[17:53]And I definitely think it's a stronger opening
[17:55]but also like they'll get to see like originally
[17:57]how I had conceptualized sort of like introducing everyone
[18:00]and kind of setting up the world.
[18:02]So that's like a fun bonus too.
[18:04]So cool. I love that.
[18:06]Wait, so tell me about your marketing business.
[18:08]Maybe I need to hire you for something.
[18:09]I love it.
[18:11]So yeah, so I've learned a lot of marketing
[18:14]just for my business.
[18:15]So for a long time, I was doing copywriting
[18:18]for online entrepreneurs.
[18:19]So I was doing websites and like email funnels
[18:23]and sales pages and that kind of thing.
[18:25]And I actually switched gears just in the past six months
[18:29]and so I'm teaching all about writing and creativity.
[18:32]So I have a membership community called Write Yourself Free
[18:37]which is yeah, I love it so much.
[18:39]It's kind of an amalgam of personal development
[18:42]and writing which are like my two favorite things in the world.
[18:45]So it's all about how do we use the process of writing
[18:47]and creativity to have more self-expression
[18:51]and just sort of like rediscover like your purpose
[18:53]and also like a lot of people in there
[18:56]are writing books or writing just for fun.
[18:58]And I also have some entrepreneurs in there who are like,
[19:01]I need to like write weekly blogs for my community
[19:04]and they just like wanted a little bit of extra support
[19:07]in terms of like how do we come up with an idea
[19:09]and how do we kind of like stay inspired?
[19:12]So that's what I do in there.
[19:13]And then I am also offering writing coaches,
[19:17]writing coaching for people who are writing their first book.
[19:20]So one of my clients right now is working on
[19:22]an amazing epic novel about Uganda
[19:26]and I can't wait until we get that finished
[19:28]and it gets to come out into the world too.
[19:30]So it's really exciting.
[19:32]Didn't I see that you have something
[19:33]where like Mondays at 10 people all write together?
[19:36]What tell me more about that?
[19:37]Oh my gosh, yes.
[19:39]So every Monday morning at 10 a.m. Eastern,
[19:41]I do something called the writing circle
[19:44]and we literally just gather on Zoom
[19:46]and I do like a 10 minutes inspiration
[19:49]kind of teaching at the beginning
[19:50]and then we all sit on Zoom and write together for an hour
[19:53]and it's so much fun.
[19:54]And people are like, people always say they're like,
[19:56]I can't believe how much writing I can get done
[19:59]if I just.
[20:00]don't get up because we all sit and everyone leaves their video on for 45 minutes.
[20:04]And I mean, if you'd have to get up, obviously you can.
[20:06]But people are always like, Oh, if I just focused for 45 minutes, like I can finish,
[20:10]like so much writing.
[20:11]So it's really inspiring.
[20:14]And I also like set it up to be totally honest as like accountability for me.
[20:19]Because I'm working on my next book and I'm like, I need to just have this
[20:22]protected chunk of time once a week where I know I'm staying connected to it.
[20:27]Like even while I'm doing all this long work for catch, like at least once a week,
[20:31]I know that I'm going to show up to this new book because these 15 other people,
[20:35]like whoever's going to show up that day are going to come.
[20:38]And, and I get to be there and hold space for them.
[20:40]So I love that idea.
[20:42]I just love it.
[20:43]Do you all, are you all on mute?
[20:45]Yeah, we all mute ourselves for the 45 minutes.
[20:47]And then at the end, we come back together and I usually have like a question to
[20:50]wrap it up and people can chime in if they want to.
[20:53]And the fun thing is like you don't have to come every week.
[20:55]You just come whenever you're free.
[20:57]So Sibi, if you ever want to come join us, it might not be the link.
[21:02]I am totally not kidding.
[21:03]That's awesome.
[21:04]I'm thinking, what do I usually do Mondays at 10 o'clock?
[21:06]But yeah, and is it free?
[21:08]Totally free forever.
[21:09]It'll be free forever because I just love doing it so much.
[21:13]That's awesome.
[21:14]Well, that's a really great resource.
[21:15]I know.
[21:15]It seems like, oh, what would 45 minutes do, but they add up, right?
[21:19]I mean, 45 minutes every single week.
[21:21]I mean, I've been working on this new book not for very long, but I have like 25 or 30
[21:27]pages already.
[21:28]And I only right now, I'm only doing it that once a week pretty much.
[21:31]Like, that's pretty much what I've got.
[21:33]So it adds up.
[21:35]What is the new book of that?
[21:37]Oh, my gosh.
[21:37]So my new book is called The Apothecary of Stories.
[21:43]And it's sort of like, it's a little bit like the alchemist and that it's sort of like,
[21:49]like a pilgrims progress style.
[21:51]Like, it's about a journey, but it's very symbolic.
[21:54]It's an allegory that was the word I was looking for.
[21:57]It's kind of this allegorical journey.
[21:58]And so there's things happening like out in the world, but like, most of it is kind
[22:02]of happening underneath.
[22:03]So that's as much as I will explain, but I am kind of obsessed with it.
[22:07]And I'm really excited to keep kind of unspooling it as we go along.
[22:12]Well, I just like, your enthusiasm is so awesome.
[22:15]It's really great to hear.
[22:17]I mean, if you like, some people are like, if you can do anything besides right, do it.
[22:21]Oh, my gosh.
[22:22]Okay.
[22:22]This is that, I'm like the writing cheerleader of all times.
[22:26]This is actually a pet peeve of mine because part of what I teach in right yourself
[22:31]free is that like, writing can be fun.
[22:34]And I know that culturally we have this mindset that like, it's the most terrible thing
[22:38]in the world.
[22:39]And the greatest writers drank themselves to death, which is like, actually true, right?
[22:44]Like a lot of writers have.
[22:45]And it's sort of, I don't know.
[22:46]I want to reclaim that for like, people that think it has to be, first of all, this super
[22:52]dry intellectual exercise that's only open to people who have like an advanced degree.
[22:57]Like I don't believe that at all, even though I do have an advanced degree, like I don't
[23:01]believe that at all.
[23:02]I think anyone can be a writer, if you sit down and write.
[23:05]And I also think that it can be fun and exciting and doesn't have to be like horrific.
[23:11]It's great.
[23:12]It's just awesome.
[23:13]If people want to join your writing circle, how should they be that?
[23:16]Yes.
[23:17]Well, I can send you a link if you want to put it, if you have shown them, do you have
[23:20]shown notes or not?
[23:21]I know.
[23:22]Okay.
[23:23]I have like a little description, but I don't put it fine.
[23:25]You can, people can go to my website, brookadamslaw.com, so it's just my full name.
[23:30]And at the top, there's a little bar that says, come right live with me and you just
[23:34]click that and you can sign up and you'll get a reminder every Monday.
[23:37]And again, you can like, you can opt out at any time and you can also just show up whenever
[23:41]you want.
[23:42]It's not like you have to come every week.
[23:43]I mean, I know you're the marketing person now, but you should like, eventually, if you
[23:47]build that up enough, you could get advertisers who are like either pitching different
[23:51]books or people selling writing types things or programs or I mean, you could like sell
[23:57]ads sort of being fun.
[23:58]I don't know.
[23:59]Something or sponsors or I don't know, maybe you could respond to it somehow, not that
[24:04]I'm good at that at all, but just saying maybe sounds a lot bigger than that idea.
[24:09]I love it.
[24:10]Well, you already shared like so much advice for aspiring authors.
[24:13]I feel like that's what this entire conversation has been, but I always ask at the end.
[24:17]So do you have any advice for aspiring authors?
[24:20]Yes.
[24:21]Okay.
[24:22]So there's a couple of things.
[24:23]One is, if you desire to write, what I always say is, if you have a desire to write,
[24:30]I believe that it's a calling to write and that it's sort of like we owe a lot of people
[24:34]think like, oh, like I have students come to me all the time and they're like, oh, like
[24:38]who do I think I am to write and like, who would ever want to read what I have to say?
[24:42]And what I say to them is like, listen, there are millions of people who never think
[24:47]about writing, like it never enters their consciousness.
[24:49]And so the fact that it has entered your consciousness and you're like really interested
[24:53]in doing it means that like you're supposed to do it in some capacity.
[24:57]So just do it.
[24:58]Right.
[24:59]It's just sort of like just jump in.
[25:01]And the other piece is I always say that the act of writing is what makes you a writer.
[25:06]So I know plenty of people who have an MFA degree who have never written again, right?
[25:11]So they wrote their thesis, whether it was like a book of poems or the first hundred pages
[25:16]of a novel and then like that was it for them and they like never kept it up.
[25:20]And I believe so strongly that like the act of writing is what makes you a writer as opposed
[25:25]to the book deal or the degree or the accolades or any of that, that we can all claim
[25:31]the title of writer.
[25:32]If that's what you want to be doing and all you have to do is sit down and write.
[25:36]And you can start by showing up at 10 a.m. for the writing circle.
[25:39]Well, I'm totally going to check that out.
[25:42]I love it.
[25:43]That's great.
[25:44]I feel like you're right.
[25:45]So many people don't want to use that word to describe themselves because it seems like
[25:48]pretentious or you know if I don't have like six published novels, how can I say I'm a writer?
[25:54]But meanwhile, like all I'm doing all day is writing.
[25:57]You're a writer totally.
[26:00]It's also like how they say, you know, people who are worried they might be alcoholics.
[26:04]Like people who aren't alcoholics don't usually sit around worrying about that.
[26:07]That is, yeah, that's a really good point.
[26:10]Right.
[26:11]Like it doesn't cross your conscience.
[26:12]It's sort of like what you're saying with writers like, like my kids, they don't like
[26:15]to write.
[26:16]I'm like, let's write.
[26:17]Like don't you want to write or what you're feeling?
[26:18]And they're like, no, like not everyone processes their life by writing on the same way.
[26:24]I'm trying to get my four year old.
[26:25]I'm like, do you want to draw or like practice your letters and he's like, no, I don't want
[26:29]to do that at all.
[26:30]And I'm like, oh, okay.
[26:31]We're very different.
[26:32]I remember as a four year old, like, bugging my mom to like dot out my name so I could
[26:37]trace it because even then I was like writing is everything.
[26:41]And he's like, I don't want to do that.
[26:43]I'm okay.
[26:44]That's why this podcast is like so much fun for me because I'm like, all these people.
[26:48]It's like, they're all like my people, right?
[26:50]Like you were all like reading as kids and writing and journals and diaries and I mean,
[26:55]not all, you know, everybody has different journeys, but I was totally that kid mentality
[27:01]and I'm proud to do it.
[27:02]Like, gosh, I wish I could sort out my life without writing, you know, if I could just
[27:06]like instantly do it in my head or maybe people just don't have their life sort of at
[27:10]all.
[27:11]Oh, my gosh.
[27:14]Well, I can't.
[27:15]It's not even like for me sorting out because I don't know if my life ever feels sorted
[27:18]out, but also, but like, I'm just like a jibbering idiot.
[27:21]If I can't like process via writing, I'm just like, I can't even like compute to anyone
[27:25]like what I'm thinking or like express myself in any kind of way.
[27:29]It like clarifies what I didn't mean to say either that my life isn't anyway resolved
[27:33]or that, you know, I like could check it off the list or anything, but yeah, that like
[27:37]once I sit down, I'm like, I don't know what I want to do.
[27:40]Like, I don't know.
[27:41]And then I can sit down and write.
[27:42]And I'm like, oh, I totally know what I want to do and these four things are making me
[27:45]choose something else.
[27:46]So I can still relate to that.
[27:49]Well, Brooke, thank you so much.
[27:51]It's been so fun.
[27:52]I hope I get to meet you in real life at some point when I'm excited for your whole
[27:58]launch team effort and I might just show up and surprise you on these writing circle
[28:03]days.
[28:04]That sounds like a good call.
[28:05]I love it.
[28:06]I'm going to DM you the link on Instagram.
[28:07]Okay, please do.
[28:08]Okay.
[28:09]Okay.
[28:10]Thank you so much.
[28:11]This is really fun.
[28:12]Okay.
[28:13]Bye.
[28:14]Bye.
[28:15]Thanks for listening to this episode of Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books.
[28:18]Don't forget to follow me on Instagram at zebi Owens and at Moms Don't Have Time to Read
[28:22]Books.
[28:23]Also sign up for my newsletter at zebiowens.com and sign up for my virtual book club and
[28:27]meet lots of authors on Zoom every other week.
[28:29]Thanks so much to Steve and Ryan at Textures Sound for the Sound Editing.
[28:34]And thank you to Morning Moon Productions for providing this fantastic intro and out trim
[28:37]music.