Elyssa Friedland, LAST SUMMER AT THE GOLDEN HOTEL

[1:38]Zibby Owens: Hi. This is Zippy Owens, and you're listening to the award winning podcast, Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books. I'm also the host of Moms Don't Have Time to Lose Weight, and I'm the editor of the anthology, which you should run out and buy, called Moms Don't Have Time To, a Quarantine Anthology. All proceeds of that book go to COVID nineteen vaccine research. And I'm the editor in chief of Moms Don't Have Time To Write, a new publication on Medium, and we're accepting submissions, so please send your personal essays there. If all that isn't enough, you can follow me on Instagram at Owens, and my website is zibbyowens.com. Okay. Now back to this amazing podcast. Listeners, if you enjoy this podcast, I promise you will love my new audiobook for moms don't have time to a quarantine anthology. It's not about the quarantine, but a lot of the essays were written during that time about other things that moms don't have time to do or other busy people. Things like reading, eating, working out, breathing, having sex, and 60 bestselling and notable authors wrote essays. All those authors have been on this very podcast. So if you like to listen to my conversations, if you want to get to know these authors better, I read the audiobook myself. Check it out on Audible, Moms Don't Have Time to A Quarantine Anthology. Again, Audible audiobook. Go listen to it. It's like sixty minute podcasts. I hope you enjoy. I'm excited to welcome back Alyssa Friedland onto my podcast this time for her novel last summer at the Golden Hotel, which is flying off the shelves and is currently in its fourth printing. And I know Alyssa is freaking out on Instagram that the shipments are delayed and everything but this is a good good problem to have. Alyssa is the author of four novels and a forthcoming picture book. She attended Yale University where she served as managing editor of the Yale Daily News and is a graduate of Columbia Law School. She worked as an associate at a major firm before turning to writing full time. Alyssa currently teaches creative writing at Yale. Her work has been published in the Washington Post, McSweeney's, Pop Sugar, Real Simple, Bustle, Modern Bride, New York Magazine, Columbia Journalism Review, CBS Market Watch, Yale Alumni Magazine, and Your Prom. Alyssa resides in New York City with her husband and three young children. The Floating Feldmans by the way was a People Magazine, People Pick, and a Skim Reads selection. That was the book right before this one, The Floating Feldmans and was praised by Cosmo, Bustle, Good Housekeeping, National Geographic, Women's Day, Women's World and many many others. The Intermission which was her novel before that was praised by The Wall Street Journal, She Reads, PureWow and many others. Her debut novel Love and Miscommunication was a best book in Cosmo Glamour and More. Finally, The Museum of Lost Teeth, her first picture book will be published in fall twenty twenty two. She's also a co author of First Street, a serialized novel available in electronic and audio formats about four ambitious lawyers clerking at the supreme court. And I actually had her on to discuss both First Street and the intermission and so this is think she is my most frequently featured author. And we did this in person, by the way. Hi, Lisa. Hi, Sophie. How are you? Thanks for coming back. I don't know. Just don't have time to read books. I feel like you might have been on more than anybody. This is, your third time. Yes. Oh, that's true. Because I came for the joint project that I did. Wow.

[4:53]Elyssa Friedland: So I'm a three peep. A three peep. That's an honor. Wow. Thank you.

[4:58]Zibby Owens: Last Summer at the Golden Hotel. This book was so good. Really immersive, amazing. I don't know how you developed all these characters well enough that I have a visual of everybody in my head. I didn't see the plot twist coming. Seriously, I mean, I often feel like a moron when I talk about books because I'm like, I didn't see that. Maybe I should have. It just means that we're doing our job well. I guess so. I guess so. I'm totally in it. So tell listeners what Last Summer at the Golden Hotel is about and then how you came up with this plot. I know it's in no, never think.

[5:28]Elyssa Friedland: So last summer at the Golden Hotel is really about a hotel. The Golden Hotel is a resort in the Catskills, very similar to Kellerman's from Dirty Dancing. And I am certain that, like, 99.9% of your listeners have seen Dirty Dancing probably at least twice, maybe more like 10 times. I think I saw it in the theater, like, eight times. Course. Obsessed. I mean and it's really stood the test of time as the best movie ever. And so the Golden Hotel is very similar to Kellerman's and also the Steiner Resort in season two of the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, another fictional Catskills hotel. But in real life, there were thousands of them in the area for decades. And these hotels were the most glamorous, the place to see and be seen. There was definitely a concentration of Jewish people that went to the Catskills, but there were other ethnic groups that had places in the Catskills also. There was a Greek area, there was an Italian area, and it was basically a refuge for people who lived in the city to get out of the city and have fresh air and just have fun in the summertime. It wasn't like an era of twenty four seven connectedness with a smartphone, obviously. So families would go for weeks at a time. Usually, the mother and children would go for the entire summer, and the husbands would drive up on the weekends really old school. And it was like, I would say good, clean family fun, but there's a lot of not clean things also that happen up in the Catskills. It's kinda like what happens in the Catskills days in the Catskills, if you will. Anyway, the Golden was really the preeminent resort for decades. And, you know, the book opens in present times, 2019. I said it pre COVID just to sidestep that whole issue. And the hotel's the last one in the region standing. And the guest book is half full only. The furniture is duct taped together. The pool is full of goose poop. The grounds are just impossible to maintain. And really, the writing is on the wall that the hotel should be shuttered, and an attractive offer comes from a casino developer that wants to buy the hotel and convert it into a casino, which really means just buy the property and raise the buildings and put up a casino in its place. This brings the two families that co own the hotel together back to campus for a week to decide whether they should sell the hotel or whether they should try to modernize and try, you know, one last ditch effort to keep the hotel standing. And both families arrive with three generations in tow. You've got the founders who built the hotel with their bare hands practically, and they're very attached to the place. You have millennial grandchildren who are totally disengaged from the hotel, but then the minute they get there, decide that they're the experts on how to fix it. Like, simply you need artisanal cheese and goat yoga and a cryotherapy tank. And as long as it becomes a hipster paradise, it'll all be saved. And then you have the middle generation that I probably identify with the most, and they're just like, I don't care what happens to the hotel, but I'm right now dealing with my parents and my children at the same time, and they all just wanna run away. And it's a big cast of characters, and I liked that because the Catskills was this very robust place that touched a lot of lives. And I liked having I liked being able to show what the hotel meant to a lot of people. Obviously, I will not give away what happens in the end, except to say that I've received a lot of emails that people were very satisfied

[8:50]Zibby Owens: by the ending, which was a nice feeling. I liked the ending too. Thank you. I liked it. It was all I liked how you tied everything up. Sort of I I could see where every character was going. Like, I could see a part two perhaps. Have you thought about it?

[9:04]Elyssa Friedland: We'll see. I don't know. I mean, I think I'm mostly hoping that this goes to screen, you know, which is like I do have a film agent so far. I have not sold the option rights, but I've just gotten so many emails from people, like, begging to see this on screen. So for me, like, that would be the dream. I don't love sequels so much, like, in terms of writing because, like, when I'm done, I'm done, and I'm on to the next. So I love these characters, but then I fall in love with my new set of characters. Yeah. And by the way, you already have your new book in here, which is like good for you. So Most Likely is coming out in 2022. Yeah. Next fall. And tell everybody about that book. So most likely most likely came out of a story that my mother told me, which was really funny, which she tells to my kids when they come home from school and they're having a bad day. Now you're gonna tell your kids this story. So my mom in high school had a big crush on this guy, Lewis, and she's like, He never looked at me. I was nerdy. I was poor. I was nerdy. He didn't even know my name probably until like one time he wanted me to write a paper for him, which I did. He was so handsome, so gorgeous and popular and an athlete. Fast as they graduate high school, obviously don't expect to ever see each other again. My mom goes to college, she meets my father shortly after college, they get married, they buy their first house, a small house on Staten Island. And they, for the first time, call and arrange to have their windows cleaned. And who shows up to clean the windows but Lewis, my mom's major, major crush. And not only is he the window washer, he fell off the ladder, and he fell from the 2nd Floor, like, into the bushes. Totally fine. Here's this guy who my mom, like, worshiped, who's like she's, like, pulling him out of pine needles, you know? So that story has stuck with me forever. And it's a great story for, like, when your kids come home and they're like, I have no friends or I feel stupid or this or that because who we are and what we are in high school and what we turn into twenty, twenty five years later, sometimes it's a straight trajectory and sometimes it's really anything but. So most likely is about four women who reunite at their twenty fifth high school reunion. They've stayed friends, but they're, you know, they're spread across the country. They they chat, but they're not, you know, seeing each other all that often. And they get drunk and they start going through the yearbook on the first night of the reunion and they come across their high school superlatives, which are nothing like what they've turned into. And they have a bit of a moment of reckoning and they're each like, is this really where I wanna be with my life? All but one of them who seems absolutely to have it all. She really seems to have reached her superlative. The other three are nowhere near what was, you know, expected of them or what they were voted to become. And they decide to give each other until the end of the school year to try to actualize their dreams. And they support each other. They hit many bumps along the way. And it really,

[11:56]Zibby Owens: in a comical way, in a heartfelt way, addresses like, what does it mean for a woman to have it all? Wow. And by the way, may I just commend you on how well you talk about all your books? Thank you. Yes. I feel like I tend to be long winded. No, no. It's great. Anyway, what were you most likely to be when you were in high school? Well, I thankfully we didn't have any superlatives,

[12:18]Elyssa Friedland: but I was I probably didn't deviate that much from I was the valedictorian in my high school. I then went to Yale. I then went to Columbia Law School. I'm such a type A nerd. And while I'm now in a creative field, I'm still like ambitious and I'm like checking my Amazon ranking every thirty seconds. Like, it's like the girl who like, you know, went to the science teacher and said, you said you'd post the grades. You said you'd post the grades. It's still the same girl that's like refreshing Amazon and like checking how many reviews I have. So I really haven't changed that much other than to say that I'm a lot more confident. Like I had no confidence in high school. I mean, I definitely was like, never felt good about myself. Never thought I'd have a boyfriend like in that. I've like grown into my skin. I'm certainly like, I'm about to turn 40. I feel so much better about myself. I might look worse than I did then, but I feel a lot better So I'm because not everyone is totally different than who they were in high school, but there were definitely people in my high school. Like, we have, you know, people from my graduating class who are brain surgeons now, and they were in the bottom bottom classes. Like, people thought so either, like, they're terrible brain surgeons and no one should go to them or they just blossomed later. And I think it's such an important lesson. I definitely that's really if you're talking about in the professional track, but even just like the girl who was like mean, but everyone followed her around. She was such a queen bee, like kind of a loser now. I'm sure you have

[13:46]Zibby Owens: some similar stories. Activating what I would say out loud on the podcast. But yes, there's this whole thing peaked in seventh grade. I feel like we always used to talk in high school, Oh, no, no, that guy peaked in seventh grade. That was his era or that was her era. Feel like it's inversely correlated, status ranking in seventh grade to your middle aged I success or

[14:11]Elyssa Friedland: don't know. Feel like Your husband would have an interesting take on this because I know he's a competitive tennis player. He was. And I have heard that in Europe, they actually don't allow kids to compete until, like, a certain very mature age, like, much older than they started in The United States because, like, if they do, they peak too early. And it apparently, like, really diminishes your chances for long term success if you're, like, a six year old out on the court competing, which I think and there's some statistics also about, like, Olympic medalists typically start their sport later

[14:48]Zibby Owens: than other, like, very good people who don't meddle. Kyle didn't start out playing tennis. He started playing tennis to improve his football skills. Oh, well, so there you go. So that kind of proves it. So it's sort of interesting, this whole idea of not wanting to peak too early. And then look at all the pressure. I mean, like Naomi Osaka, don't know who's been following with the French Open and the effect on your mental health when you I wonder if there's some social corollary, right? When you peak and you can't deal with the pressure, of, these queen bee girls I

[15:17]Elyssa Friedland: don't know. Just as we mature, we're like, actually, it's not so great to hang around with a mean person. I don't know. I'm so glad. I see it and even when I see my daughter come home, I'm sad. I'm like, Oh, I wish you could just have the crystal ball I have. Because that mean girl,

[15:34]Zibby Owens: no one's going be following her around soon enough. It's so true. I know. Especially it's so weird having kids. I have two kids who are just finishing seventh grade. I don't know. I feel like I was just in seventh grade. By way, ours are all jokes, but mine was most likely to teach driver's ed because I failed my road test so many times. I got in so many cars. Are you a good driver now? As long as I don't have to park. Okay, fair enough. Yeah. I feel like I'm doing a lot better. Okay. Let's talk about this book a little bit more because there was so much in here. Part of what you wrote about sort of the rise and fall of the Catskills Hotel was based on the three As of why the Jews even had gone and why they are no longer going. And you talked about the advent of air conditioning, assimilation, that now there's lots of other places that Jews and other groups can go. What was the third one? Airfare. Airfare, right. Is probably the biggest.

[16:26]Elyssa Friedland: And you hear it at the end, Max Kellerman in Dirty Dancing actually says the line, I think when he's talking to Doctor. Hausman and he's like, It feels like it's all slipping away. These kids don't want to come and take foxtrot lessons with their parents. They want 13 cities in ten days. Because Dirty Dancing was actually made in the eighties meant to show the sixties. So the hotels were already starting to decline. I went to the Catskills with my family in the nineties. We used to stay Kutcher's. There's actually an amazing documentary that I relied on called Welcome to Kutcher's that's available on Amazon Prime, and it's all about the Kutcher family and the decline of their hotel and how they just it was the most treasured place for so many families, but they just couldn't keep the lights on anymore because while people had the most fond memories of going there and having this peaceful time and being in nature, they're like, except I just got an email that says, like, I could fly to Iceland for $119 so I could go back to Liberty, New York for my thirtieth time, or I could see Iceland cross something off my bucket list. And so the Catskills really did fall out of favor, but there is a revival now. And it is of a more hipster variety. I mean, there's like, I just was interviewed on New York Public Radio and the host, Alison Stewart, was like, I'm going in there. She's my age. She's like, I'm going to the Caskill's this weekend. And I was like, oh, where are you going? And she tells me the name of the hotel and I look it up. I mean, you couldn't be more hipster. Like, every room has some totally bizarre theme. It looks seems like the entire hotel was made for Instagram, and that is definitely happening. Like, I remember I went to Scrivener's Lodge for the weekend to, you know, do some research about the area, and it's like all of Brooklyn has, like, gone to the Catskills now. You know? It's like hip parents that are, like, skinny and have tattoos and their kids have, like, cool strollers. Like, that's the new Wow. That's the new Catskills. So it is not such a dead area anymore. I'm not cool enough for the Catskills to turn around. Think you might not be. No offense. That's okay. None taken. It's all right. I mean, I'm not either for whatever.

[18:32]Zibby Owens: I know all the hipster places. I don't know. I just have missed the, I'm just not hip. It's okay. It's okay. I love this whole how often Phoebe is posting in her Instagram as someone who is obsessed with Instagram, Zippy Owens, by the way. And how you make fun, the way you poke fun basically at every character is what makes me smile. The way she'll take a picture of whatever and five seconds later she's posting and then you had her climb that tree and take a picture from whatever building or what, I don't know, she was up high somewhere. And just this need to capture everything as you're doing it and make everything a moment. Like, tell me a little about that. Today's episode is sponsored by Quince. Summer always makes me rethink what I'm reaching for every day. Lighter fabrics, better materials, pieces that just feel good the moment you put them on and look effortless. That's why I keep coming back to quints. They focus on high quality essentials. Think breathable linen, soft organic cotton, washable silk, but without the luxury markup. It's that rare balance where everything feels elevated but still easy. Quince has beautiful everyday pieces like 100% European linen pants, dresses, and tops with styles starting at $32. Their denim is soft and easy to wear. I wear my jean jacket all the time. And their organic cotton sweaters are perfect for layering on cool summer nights. Everything at Quince is priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands. Quince works directly with ethical factories and cuts out the middlemen, so you're paying for quality, not brand markup. And it's not just clothing. Quince has really become a destination for elevated essentials across home, bedding, and beyond, making it easy to bring a more premium feel into everyday life. In addition to my jean jacket, I recently got a white tank top dress with a beautiful cotton skirt that is absolutely gorgeous, and I can't wait for it to be warm enough so I can wear it every day, but it has been a cool spring. Elevate your summer wardrobe. Go to quince.com/zippy for free shipping on your order and three hundred and sixty five day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's quince.com/zippy for free shipping and three hundred and sixty five day returns. Quince.com/zippy.

[21:45]Elyssa Friedland: So Phoebe has turned into, seems like, the majority of people's favorite character. And I think it's because so Phoebe is this gorgeous millennial with a great body and long blonde hair, she's beautiful. And she doesn't really seem to have a job because all she does is walk around with her phone. But actually, she makes quite a bit of money because she posts a t shirt and then that t shirt is sold out ten minutes later. So she's hired by companies, like, as a traditional influencer. Naturally, her grandparents are, like, concerned and they would much prefer to see her in law school, like her father. Like he went, you know, he's an attorney, but instead she's like totally not attracted to this traditional job. And she's like making a ton of money and actually has terrific ideas and she's plucky. And I think that she's actually like, I I don't even think of her as someone who's so obsessed with Instagram because she's really monetizing it. Like for her, it's really more of a career. It's not like a, you know, mom who's just to show off her kids every two seconds or like a person who has to show off where they are on vacation. She's like, I'm showing up where I am on vacation and I'm laughing all the way to the bank, you know, because this hotel, I'm here for free. She ends up, you know, and she does a lot of good. And she does a lot of good. She's a really likable character. I happen I did this in my last book, The Floating Feldmans as well. Like, I love to write about women who are easily dismissed but who are surprising because I think, like, you walk in with a certain body and a certain look and at being of a certain age, and it's very easy to dismiss. And there's nothing I love more than like the Elle Woods story. You know, like, what? Like, it's hard? You know, like you got into Harvard Law School? Like, I love that. Like, she's cute little blonde Barbie who's like, yeah, with a one hundred eighty on the LSAT. To me, that's the best. And writing about those women makes me so happy. So Phoebe's one of them, and people have really responded Is this her real account, by the way? I didn't I didn't I meant to go on and look at this, like, what was it? No. But I should because I would be, like, such a perfect to be Phoebe. You should totally do that. That would be such a great Easter egg. You know? Like Yes. When people put those in the books. What I really wish I had done Before you leave today. I'm doing it. That's so smart. Sign up for that. The other thing someone when I did a podcast the other day, the woman who interviewed me was like, you have to make T shirts for the five b. So who the people who have not read this book are listening, I when the hotel is failing and word gets out, all of it is like, there are thousands and thousands of people who are devastated. They might not be showing up there anymore to book hotel rooms, but they can't imagine that this institution won't be around anymore. And so they start a GoFundMe page and it's called the five b, bring back the borscht belt baby. And so this person who interviewed me was like, you need merch. Like, you need That's true. Bring back the Borscht Belt baby t shirts. You could there's a lot of merch you could do. So I'm like, maybe some merch. Not a bad idea.

[24:29]Zibby Owens: You first, you have to go back and post the things that she posts in the book. Yes. Let's start with that. You're so smart.

[24:38]Elyssa Friedland: Thanks. I mean, you guys already know that and I already It's knew

[24:42]Zibby Owens: not smart. It's just these are fun ideas. I don't know. You also have this great intergenerational, like how do we deal with when a son is obviously gay and hasn't come out to his family and you have this whole scene, which was hilarious. One of my favorite scenes in the whole book, but that's okay. And you know, it's like pride Month or whatever it is now. Talk about that relationship and how the older generations just wasn't at I mean, they just didn't want to see it. Absolutely.

[25:12]Elyssa Friedland: So the Catskills, one of the main purposes of going to the Catskills wasn't just to get out of the city, it was also to marry off your children. And if you remember Robbie from Dirty Dancing, he went to Yale. He was like the waiters and the bus boys and the bellmen. These were highly educated people who were there either to make connections for their jobs, which was huge. You might be serving a table one summer and then you're at Goldman Sachs working for the person you served when you graduate college. It was a great way to network. And also many marriages came out of the Catskills, but there weren't too many grandparents walking around saying like, do you know you know, like with the grandson saying like, do you know any nice boys for my grandson? Like, it just wasn't out there. But of course, I hinted it at the book. It's not to say that same sex stuff wasn't happening. It just certainly wasn't out in the open. So naturally, like, I really wanted this book to be modern. And so the idea of everyone being straight is ridiculous in these times. And if I really wanted to show the differences between the generations, like having Michael be gay, it was just perfect. Like, it let me explore the themes of like, you know, modern versus tradition and acceptance and the changing nature of, you know, even like the Jewish community and like what's accepted. And so his grandparents, I think, really just don't wanna see it. They can't even imagine it. Nope. They don't really know people who are out. They live in a bubble. And Michael's parents see it, but they're just completely consumed and busy and they don't have the relationship with him where, you know, he's officially come out or they suspect it. And so it also is just about, like, you know, the hotel brings them closer. And the hotel and being away from phones and work and slowing down and having a chance to actually go for a long walk and talk gives Michael the chance to have a heart to heart with his parents about his sexuality. Though he's outed, not in the way that he might have I wanted to

[27:14]Zibby Owens: also really liked Amy because she had to Amy. She had to deal with a husband who ends up making a mistake very early on in the book and then how she then has to deal with it with both her kids and her husband and whatever. And then I was thinking it would be so cool if there was some sort of meeting of Amy and I don't know if you've read Lauren Weisberger's new book. Not yet. But the House of Screen and the Girls Are Pretty because her husband, well, there's also, it wasn't necessarily her husband, but there's like a transgression that happens. It's sort of similar. Anyway, I thought it would be so great to have those characters go out for coffee. No. I was like, you know, like in the Jeffersons or something where people would like crossover into like different I mean, that was the best. So I feel like the two of you need to get together and like see what would happen when Amy gets coffee. You know us both. I'll put it together. Yeah. Would like to Set it up and we'll have a write a little script. This is what happens. I spend too much of my life now in books. And now I'm like, oh, I need that character

[28:08]Elyssa Friedland: to be this other character. As long as you don't start inviting these people to your house for dinner, I think it's okay. And we know you've crossed the line. Elijah and Amy

[28:17]Zibby Owens: are sitting here

[28:19]Elyssa Friedland: next to each other. Oh my gosh. And even aging. You talked about so beautifully with Louise and what happens to her? My grandma was really beautiful. And when she started to lose her looks, it was really hard for her. And I remember it, like she would still, like, I would go stay with her in Florida because of course she lived in Florida and I would stay with her in her apartment. We used to share a bed when I went to stay with her. And I wake up at like, no matter what time I woke up, she was already out of bed because she was like doing her face, doing her hair. I felt like I think I could wake up at four and she'd still be gone. She'd start half an hour before I ever woke up because putting on her face was so important to her. And she talked about, like, feeling invisible sometimes. She was someone she worked as a receptionist at Solomon Brothers, which then merged with Lehman Brothers, and she was the receptionist. They don't put the ugly people as the receptionist. She was beautiful. And back in the day, like men came in and they loved to flirt with her and talk to her. She was beautiful. And like, she got on in age, it just, it stops, you know, and the looks stop and she had a tough time. And Louise is like that in the book. Louise is beautiful and glamorous and, you know, coming to terms with

[29:27]Zibby Owens: aging. Stephanie, my grandmother, who recently passed away when she was 97, she was like, You know, I've never looked better than when I turned 90. She's like, No one ever used to tell me I looked amazing. She's like, Now? Every day.

[29:41]Elyssa Friedland: That's amazing. Yeah. I like that. Loved it. She was like Well, someone one of my friends told me, like he's like, I just wanna tell people that I'm, you know, ten years older than I am, and then everyone just says, you look amazing. And they're like, you're 60? You look amazing for 60. So I'm like, It's a great way to get a lift. To compliment everybody. Exactly.

[29:59]Zibby Owens: Exactly. Oh my gosh. It's so funny. Okay. So you've already written your next book completely or No. Oh my God, wish.

[30:06]Elyssa Friedland: Wish. I mean, having the kids this whole year with COVID, like it was just a nightmare. You know, my son, my oldest was home three days a week. He only went to school twice a week. I felt like every other day the cohorts were quarantined. It was such a crazy year. So my job is to finish it this summer. So the minute my kids, all three of my kids are going to sleep boy camp, June 26, I it's like if I could just throw them out the window, get them there today, like, I would I would helicopter, please. Like, please put them there because I have spent so much time with them as you know how it is. Like, it's just been nonstop constant for so long since last last March. And, of course, they didn't go to camp last summer. And I just I love them so much, but I don't feel that I've been able to really think clearly in over a year. And when when they leave, when they are in camp I've never had all three gone before. This will be the first time. But even when I'm down one or two, it feels like a drawer and my brain got organized. Like, it frees up space. Like, almost like you delete on your phone, and you have more memory. Like, that's how I feel. Like, I'm no longer like, what time is wireless pickup? And, oh, Charlie dentist and shoot. I never got the cavity drill. Like, just that running

[31:15]Zibby Owens: cycle getting in divorced. I'm kidding. What about 50% of the time where you don't have them? Is that glorious or not? No. No. It's terrible. It's terrible. You miss them. It's not 50%, at least. But but the weekends that I don't have them, I'm like every other weekend, I have what you're talking about. I have the reset, and that's how I'm able to, like, be a functional human. Well, you have you do so much. It makes sense that you do have a couple of days where you don't have them because I don't know how you could do it otherwise. I wasn't doing it otherwise. I wasn't doing it before. You need that

[31:41]Elyssa Friedland: It feels like my brain I don't necessarily even feel smarter. I feel clearer. And there's just more space because I don't have to deal with just the logistics. There's just so many I'm still dealing with logistics. Even if the kids are not in front of You're still know? But by the way, I'll still be dealing with something when they're at camp because, like, I am telling you, it's like the school is trying to mess with us. Like, June 26, they will get on the bus and leave for camp. And then by June 30, there will be like, the medical forms are due by your child's school. Getting the medical forms, Emma. Magnus Health is already after me. Magnus. And then you start getting the fall activities. We'll start emailing you over the summer, like, early bird specials. This is limited. Blah blah blah. I'm like, I've already missed the tryouts. What if she wants to be on this team? It's such a treadmill. Oh my gosh. It is such, such a treadmill. But at least we know you'll be writing this book. So I will finish the book this summer. Actually, you know, I also teach. I hired one of my students to help me this summer. She's just like I wouldn't call her a research assistant because it's not such a research heavy book. But, like, every time I write something, it's like checking for the inconsistencies and, like That's awesome. You're writing this like, I think this is you know, the scene is supposed to take place in December in Connecticut, and you have her in a tank top outside. Like, you know, catching those types of, like, little inconsistencies. Oh my god. That would stress me out. Well, I don't look at them. Like, I'll I'll do it in a chunk. Like, she's working through it because that's the hardest thing for me. I'm all big, big, big ideas, and I get super excited about my ideas and my plot developments. And then I will, like, change someone's name in the middle of the book and then forget. Or I'll have, like, you know, something that just doesn't make sense. Like, you know, you said that she is a senior in high school, the daughter, like, you have to mention college then. Like, you can't you know, this is and so she's picking up those types of things. But it's even just like you talk about her eating breakfast and then the next scene, you haven't accounted for the day. And so that type of thing I find really helpful. I've never had anyone like that before. But the student was super promising, a really incredible writer. And so she's helping me, and she's just organized. You should have her write an essay for Mom's No Time to Write. Maybe I will. She's really incredible. And by the way, talent is not distributed equally because I had office hours with her the first time I really got to know her. And she's a brilliant writer. We And were meeting about her midterm, and I asked her a little bit about her life and when she's graduating this then. And she's like, well, I'm in a little bit of an untraditional path at Yale because I'm also in Dear Evan Hansen. Stop. Yeah. Okay. She's definitely writing. I mean, can you ask? Her own book. Can you well, she's so talented and I'm sure she will. But I was like, so you write that well and you sing a dance? Is that something just come again? It's not fair. Yeah. She's the understudy for the sister character. Oh my gosh. That's huge. That's huge part. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So some people have a little more talent than others. Oh my gosh. Or she could just come over and, like, sing for my kids. That too. Yeah. She's a real she's amazing, and it's been fun. And, you know, she's digging. There's a lot of, I guess, research. The only really research in the book is that these particular women were in high school in the nineties. And so and so was I actually, but I don't remember everything. New Instagram account. You have to check it out. What? It's like I have to find it. It's something like at New York City in the nineties or nineteen nineties. And it's all the pictures from when we were all in high school. Well, that's what I I wanna get the hairstyles right. And, like, I know I'm gonna send the end of the nineties, like, we did have smartphones, but they not smartphones, but we had cell phones. But, like, I don't know. Was it the StarTek? Like, I need those details to be correct. How much was, like, a Happy Meal at McDonald's? You know? Like, I just wanna That I don't have. But, like, that kind of thing she'll be helpful with, you know, and even just I like to do these inspiration boards in my office. So even just printing out pictures so that when I walk in, I'm like, I'm in the nineties. That is so cool. I don't know how I feel about the nineties as a decade.

[35:26]Zibby Owens: Yeah. I don't know. Like, it doesn't have much of a personality, I don't think. Time for a rebrand. I agree. Awesome. Okay. Well, advice to aspiring authors. I feel like you might have new advice because you keep cranking out some awesome content. Aspiring writers. I mean, I teach writing, and I believe in the value in taking writing classes.

[35:44]Elyssa Friedland: So I had done a lot of writing when I was an undergrad. I think that you don't certainly don't have to go back to full time school, but I did classes at Gotham Writers Workshop even here in New York when I decided to switch from being a lawyer to being a full time writer. I think that, of course, talent plays a role, but a lot can be learned. So I think take a writing class. If nothing else, it's a workshop environment. It forces you to write. So you have to do the assignments. You have to read other people's writing and critique their writing. You have to turn in your own work. And I'm sure I'm not the first and I won't be the last to say read. Just read as much as you can. You will pick up a little writing tip from every book you read. Awesome.

[36:26]Zibby Owens: All right. Last Summer at the Golden Hotel. Everybody go pick it up. Thank you. Thanks for listening to this episode of Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram at Zibby Owens and at moms don't have time to read books. Also sign up for my newsletter at zibbyowens.com and sign up for my virtual book club and meet lots of authors on Zoom every other week. Thanks so much to Steve and Ryan at Texture Sound for the sound editing, and thank you to Morning Moon Productions for providing this fantastic intro and outro music.