Erin Napier, THE LANTERN HOUSE
[0:02]Hi, I'm Zivi Owens, the creator and host of the award-winning podcast that you're listening to right now
[0:07]Thank you so much. Called moms. Don't have time to read books
[0:10]It is a daily podcast
[0:12]365 days a year and each day we talk to an author about all of the things related to their career
[0:18]Their book their life and more in 30 minutes or less because who has time?
[0:22]I am now an author myself
[0:24]Although I wasn't when I started this podcast and you can get my new memoir book ends
[0:29]A memoir of love, loss, and literature wherever books are sold starting July 1st and my children's book prints is charming
[0:36]You can learn more about me at Zivi Owens.com
[0:39]But really you're here to learn more about the authors and that is what we're going to do
[0:43]Also, be sure to check out all the other podcasts in the zcast podcast network
[0:49]You can learn more at zcastnetwork.com and definitely check out those shows as well
[0:54]Aaron Napier is the author of the lantern house and actually my husband Kyle and I interviewed her together
[1:06]Right before the summer Aaron is a designer author and entrepreneur
[1:10]Along with her husband Ben Napier
[1:12]She is the co-host of HGTV's hometown co-author of Make Something Good today and founding co-owner of their stores
[1:19]Laurel mercantine co and Scotsman general store in Woodshop
[1:22]The lantern house is her first book for children
[1:25]She lives in Laurel, Mississippi and she invites you to learn more at Aaron and Ben.com
[1:29]Welcome Aaron. Thank you so much for coming on mom.
[1:32]Don't have time to read books to discuss the lantern house. Thank you for having me
[1:37]We also have a special guest host helping me out here today, which is my husband Kyle
[1:42]Owens
[1:43]Kyle Owens
[1:44]Yes, the one and only and why don't you explain why you want to do this?
[1:48]Well
[1:48]I wanted to do this because I'm a huge fan of Aaron and Ben
[1:52]And I've been watching the show for quite some time
[1:55]Sivian. I have really busy crazy lives
[1:57]in you know production and
[1:59]Everything that she's doing with with the books and the podcast and a lot of times at night
[2:03]I just kind of want to like veg out. I get it. I just watch a little you know HGTV
[2:07]And your husband Ben
[2:10]Looks exactly like my best friend Don
[2:13]Well now I gotta see you
[2:15]And so I was flipping through the channels one night and I was like, oh my god
[2:18]Is it Don and I went back and I landed on your show and I was like, oh my god
[2:22]These this couple they're incredible. They're just so genuine and pure
[2:27]And the show is amazing. I love the whole idea of it
[2:30]And so I just started watching it and you know how HGTV is little the show like 25 out of Santa
[2:35]Exactly before you know, it's like three in the morning
[2:38]And so I just wound up watching a ton of it
[2:41]And I always get like super pumped at night if I turn it on and it's on and then so when she mentioned that you were coming
[2:46]And I was like, oh my god, it's wild. Thanks for joining us. Yeah. Yeah. I wish they've been was here
[2:51]We now have two kids and
[2:54]Before it was easy to like let the grandparents take one, but now
[2:59]I want to have one of us home if possible
[3:01]So he's with the girls and it's the first time I've like traveled and done things like this without him. How does it feel?
[3:08]It's weird
[3:09]Like I'm a little bit naked. Yeah. Yeah, I always have someone to like when I have a
[3:14]I can't think of what to say. There's someone to step in and rescue me. Yeah, but
[3:19]I relate to that. Yeah, I have I feel like
[3:22]I did like my first event without Kyle and I was like I can't look in a room for him
[3:26]That's like who's the guy who's gonna be like you got this
[3:29]All that bringing the energy
[3:32]Experience for me today. Okay, so back to the book or to the book in general
[3:36]Okay, the lantern house by the way gorgeous that we were just talking about
[3:39]Illustrators tell me how this book came to be and how Adam Trester
[3:44]Illustrator was intimately involved in the process and by the way, this is just so gorgeous. I mean
[3:49]This is not the most gorgeous book
[3:52]I hope he's listening because he will just be tickled that he's mentioned him
[3:56]I'll say his name again. Adam trust Adam trust Adam trust Adam to hardies too tickled
[4:02]His wife Lily is going to have a baby at any second
[4:06]So that's why he didn't come to New York for this, but um, yeah, Adam is
[4:12]I mean we're neighbors we've been friends for 15 years and
[4:17]His art has become a little bit famous because of hometown
[4:19]He's been featured a lot and just regionally. He has this huge following and now it's not so regional
[4:25]He's got really big fancy clients in California who are like commissioning artwork and he's shipping it all over the world
[4:33]I'm so proud of it. It's so cool to be from place like Laurel, Mississippi and have a real art career
[4:39]Because people told us growing up. We can't do that. It's neat being from anywhere and having a real art career
[4:45]It's hard these days. It is but yeah, apparently when most people write a children's book they are
[4:53]partnered with an illustrator by their publisher, which is something I did not know
[4:59]I assume you come to your publisher with a whole package a whole plan and idea and
[5:04]So Adam and I have just always
[5:07]Like we would just text each other had this idea for a children's book children's literature is really his
[5:12]Life's ambition. That's been
[5:15]His goal his whole life was to make a great children's book and so he would text me if he ever thought of an idea
[5:20]I would text him if I ever thought of an idea and then
[5:23]This just once we had children you read children's books through a new perspective
[5:30]You know, I haven't read children's books since I was a child and now when you're an adult
[5:34]And you have your child in your lap and you're reading these stories and you find yourself getting really emotional
[5:41]The best children's books. I think are really written for the adult that's reading it like it teaches some
[5:47]Spungimental truth that you've forgotten about yourself or about the world that makes it seem so clear and so simple
[5:55]And that's what I love about a great children's book and anyway, I think I've probably
[6:01]Know it. Oh, yeah. That's great. Yeah. So working with Adam was the only way I pictured making a children's book because
[6:09]Without the illustration
[6:11]I feel like the lantern house doesn't really have an identity and the only person who could make that house have the identity
[6:16]That I really wanted would be Adam. That's perfect. I wrote Princess Charming not even knowing who she was
[6:23]Did you get to meet each other? I've never met her. Really? Yeah, never met her. We've been on Zoom a few times
[6:29]And yeah, after about six months having the books you just sent some some illustrations and I had to be like
[6:35]Okay, great. And I was lucky. I really loved it, but I didn't have much stay in it
[6:39]I was like could you make the brown bear a polar bear and she was like no
[6:43]Yeah, but so this was hilarious is when we were like working out
[6:50]You know your publisher wants you to have a contract in place and they had not done anything like this where it was
[6:56]An author and illustrator who were we had a partnership. We have our own little like a little sea together and they're like so
[7:03]We need an illegal riding what will happen if you guys disagree on something and we're like, but we just won't
[7:11]We just won't disagree and they're like
[7:14]We're really gonna need some sort of
[7:17]Legal love that. Yeah, so it's been funny to me that the way we just have handshake partnerships, you know in a place like
[7:26]Laurel, Mississippi and
[7:29]Sirens are so really intense the best way to do. I don't even hear I don't even hear the sirens
[7:33]You don't even know something I'm from a small town as well and I'm like in business with all my best friends
[7:39]And it's always like that when lawyers get involved in there
[7:41]But what if and we're always like we're not going to be fine guys, right?
[7:46]This for us
[7:47]Yeah, so the content though and the story behind this which is so beautiful about home and everything
[7:53]Where did that come from? How did you what was it like? You decide to partner with Adam and then what yeah well
[7:58]so at this point I've helped renovate about 90 houses all total and
[8:04]The thing that I found they all having common is the house existed before us and it will exist after us
[8:13]The house remains no matter what the family does families move
[8:18]families age and new families begin and the house is there for all of it and I was thinking you know what
[8:25]Stories we literally uncover
[8:28]you know
[8:29]photographs inside walls
[8:30]We find old newspaper clippings that were important for some reason to someone that were saved and then lost
[8:36]We uncover these personal belongings all the time that tell a little of the story of the things these houses have seen
[8:43]But I thought you know these houses that were standing
[8:47]in World War II and
[8:49]Mallory my best friend lived in a house that was standing when the Titanic sank and I think of things like
[8:54]Did they know anyone that died on the Titanic?
[8:57]Did they get bad news in that house?
[9:00]There's so many historic events that have happened in the history of a house's lifetime and the people are just passing through
[9:07]and I found that to be very interesting and
[9:11]Well, it's really so beautiful
[9:14]No, okay, okay. No, it's just the idea that like
[9:18]Someone else will be sitting here. Yeah. I know. It's just sort of sad. I mean if you think about I mean else was sitting here before you
[9:25]I know
[9:28]I actually just met that person. I forgot you can tell you at a party recently. Really? Yeah
[9:31]The person that used to sit here
[9:33]Maybe not right here
[9:34]But she was like I grew up in that house and I was like no way. I was that what was that like?
[9:37]I'm crazy
[9:38]You want to know the things that like happened in our lifetime when they were here and what was it like for them living here and
[9:46]For me that just felt like such a fertile place to begin with a children's story Helen asks a lot our four-year-old
[9:52]She asked a lot of questions about
[9:55]What do you do at work mommy? She's staying hometown and she knows that
[10:00]we help saddled houses. They'll happy again. That's the best way we can like. That's really
[10:05]sweet. Yeah, she she'll see we've drawn their town and see a dilapidated house. She says,
[10:10]mommy, is that gonna be a hometown house as a saddled house? And I think how can I write a story
[10:16]that helps her understand the the evolution of a saddled house and how one time it was beautiful.
[10:23]And then it wasn't and then it can be beautiful again. Yeah, that sounds like some really
[10:29]philosophical way. I'm discussing a very simple children's book, but no, but that's what
[10:34]you're saying before. It's the stories they mean a lot more than they then meets the eye. But
[10:38]this I mean this already does meet me a lot. I think that's always been kind of a struggle for
[10:42]me being an HGTV personality. Going on interviews where they asked talk to us about trends for kitchens
[10:48]this year. Like I have never heard a question that I find more revolving than something like that.
[10:53]Tell me the fads that we can expect to see and paint. Well, I think one of the things that you
[11:02]do so well is that you really I feel like you get to know the person, the couple that you're helping
[11:09]really well and you sort of really, you know, fit and decorate and design the home around that
[11:15]particular individual and not like you said, the trending fads from the moment. Because I don't
[11:21]know what else matters. Nothing else matters about a house. If it's not personal, then it's
[11:26]a failure to me. The best houses are very personal. Like I can look at your house right now and
[11:32]tell so much about who you are as people. And that's a great house. What do you think, you know?
[11:38]You were right. You were like, did and colorful and busy and it looks like a very joyful house to
[11:47]live in. It looks like I bet it is noisy and wonderful. That's what your house looks like. And I
[11:55]love that. I don't there's a lot of life in it. I love houses that have a lot of life in them.
[12:01]And it's the hardest clients we ever have are when I get their initial survey. And my survey
[12:08]asked very like weird questions that seem unrelated. Like tell me about your favorite childhood
[12:15]memory. Tell me about your favorite movies and why you love them. And when someone tells me their
[12:21]favorite TV show is I love Lucy. That tells me something about who they are. Do you know what I mean? Totally.
[12:27]So in that survey, when they tell me things like one time I had a homeowner who actually wrote,
[12:33]I don't want the house to look lived in. And I just felt like I won't tell you what episode it was.
[12:41]it was a very difficult one for me. Favorite colors white gray. Okay. That's the hardest.
[12:50]The hardest thing I've ever done. But when someone tells me I'm obsessed with the Hobbit,
[12:55]we have traveled to New Zealand to see where they filmed the Lord of the Rings. I've always
[12:59]wanted a house that had like a round front door. Things like that. Oh my gosh, it's so easy to go
[13:06]from there and to create a house that becomes this experience in a world that's like your
[13:11]inner personality in an outward visual way. So those are the best houses, I think, that have
[13:17]tons of personality. What was your house like grown up? So good. So comfortable. It's like
[13:23]apple pie. If apple pie were a house, that's my mom's house. The kitchen walls were painted red.
[13:28]It always smelled like cobbler. Big fluffy white down comforters on the beds. Coming home from
[13:33]college. It just glowed like a lantern in the night. There's a best pulling into the driveway when
[13:39]it's like almost Christmas time and it's cold outside and all the lamps are on in the house.
[13:44]Best feeling. They still live there. And if they ever move out of the house, it will kill me.
[13:50]It will kill me. I get very attached to houses. Very. And so how did you get into this whole industry?
[13:58]By accident. None of this was a plan. I wrote a journal about the best things that happened every
[14:07]day on the wedding stationery company and then I renovated a 1925 craftsman our first house together.
[14:14]Ourselves and I documented it on my little journal and Southern Living Weddings picked it up as a
[14:20]story about Southern newlyweds because I was in the wedding industry. And an HTTP executive named
[14:27]Lindsay Wildhorn, who was just like my New York City angel, just messaged out of the blue and said
[14:34]she saw it and would we be interested in doing TV? And we had absolutely never considered that.
[14:40]I mean, why would we? We live in Laurel, Mississippi. You can't have. It would never occur to you
[14:46]that I would like to have a TV show here. And so the first Skype we had with a production company
[14:53]they said, tell us about your idea for your show. We're like, you don't have one. You got this
[15:00]couple of those. They were like, okay, well, what are you passionate about? We're like, you know,
[15:07]making our small town a place people want to live and being very proud of the good things you
[15:14]have right where you are and blooming where you're planted basically. And anyway, they became a
[15:19]TV show. By accident, I thought surely the pilot won't get picked up and then I thought surely
[15:24]season one won't get picked up. But surely it won't get renewed and it just keeps getting renewed.
[15:31]Wow. And there's all these spinoff shows. Yeah. We just watched one of the other nights of
[15:35]the night. Because I had Jasmine. I'm talking about Jasmine. And Jasmine is such a sunshine because
[15:40]she's just. With Ty Pennington. Yeah. Oh, he did. Yeah. Ty and Jasmine were a podcast. No, no, no,
[15:48]okay. Just Jasmine was on my podcast. Yeah, Jasmine is so sweet. She's wonderful. She is like
[15:56]a daisy in human form. Yeah, it's just an absolute honor and a dream to get to work for a
[16:03]company like HGTV, making a show that has been a positive bright spot for people in a kind of dark
[16:11]time. Yep. The messages that we got during COVID, the ones that were most meaningful, we got
[16:17]messages from people who were in the hospital for one reason or another. One in particular that
[16:22]stands out. A woman was waiting to have a mistake to me and she was alone. And because you
[16:26]couldn't have visitors and she was terrified. And she sent us a message to let us know that we
[16:31]kept her company when she was alone in the hospital and that we were something to take her
[16:35]mind off of it. And gosh, if there is anything more flattering than that, I don't know what it is.
[16:43]But yeah, that that was a huge, huge blessing to us that we got to be a comfort to people when
[16:48]they were isolated. Well, that's exactly how I feel about your show. I feel like it's very
[16:53]comforting. Thank you. So talk to me about the process of this. Be sat down. You just whipped it
[16:59]all out. Like tell me about literally wrote it in 30 minutes. Okay. I mean, it was just a story that
[17:04]had been unorganized, but in my mind for years. And I just typed it out, a quick outline of it.
[17:11]It took literally less than 30 minutes. Adam's work took much longer. He had the hard job.
[17:18]He had to take the words I had written and then illustrate them. It's a hard job. An illustrator
[17:25]has a very hard job. There's something just so timeless though about these illustrations.
[17:30]I mean, this book could be one of those classic books. I really hope that it will be. I feel like
[17:35]you know how when you make your own saying, which is not as good, I feel so close to it. And it's
[17:40]so normal for me to see Adam's art from beginning to end to read my words and the things that I
[17:46]say that I've lost perspective. And we want so badly for this to be like a children's classic.
[17:52]It looks like that. Even the same font. Yeah. I feel like this is the same font from the little
[17:57]into the could maybe. It's a more or two era font. Yeah. Okay. It is my favorite font. I use it for
[18:04]lots of branding for our companies too because it's just so it has no accent. Do you know what I mean?
[18:10]I like fonts that you read and it's just the clearest. There is no accent on it. But that's what
[18:18]great typefaces do. They tell you how to read it. Wow. That's beautiful. My background is in
[18:23]graphic design and this is what I thought that I was going to do. I thought I was going to design
[18:27]books for a living. That's what I want to school today. And that's what I'm going to do one day when I'm
[18:31]not on TV. That's the plan. Children's books or any kind of books. All books. Books are my life.
[18:37]Yeah. I mean, we're looking for some designers. It's Debbie Bex. I'm doing fiction and
[18:42]memoirs. You know, just get you in there. Touch setting or whatever. That's my dream. I feel like you
[18:50]also need to write about a story about some of those houses. Like you were just saying that seems
[18:55]like a movie or a circle novel right about all the families and multiple timelines. I am.
[19:01]I'm also writing a book for grownups that'll come out next year. Oh, well, there you go. Very much
[19:06]and it's like this, but a deep dive. Yeah. That's all you can say. Yeah. That's very cool.
[19:12]All right. To come back next year. Come back next year. All right. Well, now I'm curious.
[19:15]Oh. Which is, uh, which is all going to be a bet. Okay, so that's a lot of stuff. So you're writing
[19:20]an adult book. You have a children's book. You're on the show. You've got two little kids.
[19:24]People are always asking me like, well, how do you find out how to do this? I'm like, I don't know.
[19:27]I just do like, I don't know every day. That's crazy. Do you have a better answer to that question?
[19:31]I say no to a lot to say no to a whole lot things. Yeah. You make that sound really easy.
[19:37]I'm good at saying no. This has been one of my like, it's a personality type, I guess. But even in
[19:43]high school, like, I never suffered from peer pressure because I was just like, no, no one can
[19:48]like, pressure me into doing something that I don't want to do is probably not a great character
[19:54]trait. But now we just have to prioritize what's most important our family. Like, that's the number
[19:59]one.
[20:00]been in on our marriage and our girls.
[20:02]Everything else has to be prioritized after that.
[20:06]And so if it takes away from them, then it's in it.
[20:11]And I mean, the only reason I'm here right now
[20:13]is because Ben is there.
[20:14]That was the only compromise that felt right to me.
[20:17]Yeah, that's the only...
[20:18]But does everything take time away from the girls and Ben?
[20:21]I mean, doesn't know because we've made it such
[20:24]that we only do the show from eight to five.
[20:26]We will not film before that.
[20:28]We will not film after that.
[20:29]We were Monday through Friday, eight to five.
[20:31]We come home at lunch.
[20:33]We see them every day.
[20:34]Well, that's good.
[20:35]If we travel, if it's more than two nights,
[20:38]the whole gang comes.
[20:39]If it can be just one of us,
[20:42]it's gonna be two nights and I'm home.
[20:43]And that's what works for us.
[20:47]I mean, we're limited, you know, we can't...
[20:49]We don't get to take a great big, extravagant trips
[20:52]right now, but it's just the season of life that we're in.
[20:55]I think the priority for me is just making them
[20:58]have this very normal and stable and happy childhood.
[21:03]And I want to be there for as much as possible.
[21:05]Because I never meant to be on TV.
[21:07]Like if it were left to me,
[21:08]I would probably be self-employed
[21:09]and spending all of my time with them.
[21:13]So I know this is TV is not forever,
[21:16]no matter how great it is.
[21:17]I mean, even time failed ended, right?
[21:19]Yeah, yeah.
[21:21]And everything ends eventually.
[21:23]And so I think about, you know,
[21:25]what kind of life am I setting us up for
[21:27]when that happens?
[21:29]Wow. Yeah.
[21:30]How do you think you did...
[21:32]Was there anything your parents did
[21:33]that made you so grounded?
[21:34]Because I would like to try to incorporate
[21:37]that with my own parenting.
[21:38]So this is a very selfish question.
[21:40]I don't know.
[21:41]I spend a lot of time with them still
[21:43]and the boys been very close.
[21:44]I live five minutes away from them.
[21:46]I don't know if most people do.
[21:48]I mean, where do you live?
[21:49]I live five minutes from my parents.
[21:49]Yeah.
[21:50]Do you see them a lot?
[21:51]Surprisingly little given that like my dad's across the street.
[21:54]But yes, but he travels a lot of her work too.
[21:56]So, but yes, when they're in town, I see them all.
[21:59]Yeah.
[21:59]I don't know.
[22:00]That's all I can think of is
[22:02]spend a lot of time with my parents.
[22:04]Well, it sounds great because you have
[22:05]such clear parameters, right?
[22:08]We go away for this many days.
[22:09]This is what we do.
[22:10]Like, I think a lot of people get lost
[22:12]in the decision making because everything makes you
[22:14]question it again.
[22:15]Well, I don't know.
[22:16]Should I go to this?
[22:17]Should I do this?
[22:18]Should I do that?
[22:19]And if you don't have that framework,
[22:20]then...
[22:21]That's where you come in.
[22:22]What do you mean?
[22:22]A lot of debating.
[22:24]Well, yeah, but now I'm thinking I should
[22:25]copy this framework situation.
[22:27]This is a great situation.
[22:28]Is it?
[22:29]Does it sound like I know what I'm doing?
[22:30]It does.
[22:30]Yeah, you're pulling us.
[22:31]Because I definitely don't.
[22:33]I definitely don't know what I'm doing.
[22:34]So I'm glad it sounds that way.
[22:36]Well, you're doing it with convection.
[22:37]I feel like you're down.
[22:38]You do it with confidence.
[22:39]Yeah.
[22:40]Yeah.
[22:40]And it feels right.
[22:42]Wow.
[22:43]And I have such a good perspective over, you know,
[22:46]this is the part of my life in which I am forward-facing.
[22:49]But there will be a part, maybe around,
[22:51]maybe a low experience between the TV.
[22:52]Maybe maybe maybe your little ones
[22:54]will be raising their own sad houses.
[22:56]Maybe.
[22:57]You renovate egg and all that.
[22:58]I think so.
[22:58]Helen will definitely vary into decorating suddenly
[23:01]every single day.
[23:02]Now she likes to drag random objects from drawers all
[23:06]over the house.
[23:06]And she makes these art installations on our nightstands.
[23:10]And she says, I decorate it for you.
[23:13]So I have seven-year-old has done his room once, twice.
[23:17]He wants to redo it again.
[23:18]Yeah.
[23:19]We were looking at this other house here,
[23:21]but just like for fun somewhere else.
[23:22]And so what do you think about this?
[23:24]And he's like, well, it would be a good opportunity
[23:26]to get to redo a room.
[23:27]That doesn't.
[23:29]Yeah.
[23:29]So if you need to, if you need a seven-year-old
[23:31]and two-thirds of it, laying into it.
[23:34]It's actually, I was telling someone here.
[23:36]I was writing some folks that are from HGTV.
[23:40]And the first thing she said to me is,
[23:41]did you tell a grandma?
[23:43]Oh, yeah.
[23:43]I should be listening to them.
[23:44]Because he loves it.
[23:45]He loves it.
[23:46]He loves it.
[23:47]Yeah.
[23:47]He just is so, so into-
[23:49]That's so cool.
[23:50]There are not a lot of kids who love HGTV.
[23:52]He loves it.
[23:53]It's awesome.
[23:54]Yeah.
[23:55]It's also great.
[23:56]And then we get to watch it.
[23:57]It's a good channel.
[23:58]If you're going to let your kids watch a TV channel.
[23:59]Totally.
[24:00]Yeah.
[24:01]It's a safe.
[24:02]Absolutely.
[24:03]They learn a lot.
[24:04]Got some off YouTube.
[24:05]Will there be another lantern house?
[24:07]Will there be a series, will there be more?
[24:09]Oh, so.
[24:10]Perhaps.
[24:10]So I have a dream of there being like a Christmas
[24:15]lantern house that would be such an easy and fun and cool
[24:19]place to go in different special life occasions.
[24:22]And Ben has a Christmas show, right?
[24:24]Coming up.
[24:25]It was last Christmas.
[24:26]It was last Christmas.
[24:27]It could be a birthday one.
[24:28]A birthday one?
[24:29]Yes.
[24:30]You could get so many new things.
[24:32]Just think about all this.
[24:33]Yes.
[24:34]All the special occasions I'll just keep going.
[24:35]I'll just keep going.
[24:36]You just write it all down.
[24:37]So it's for me.
[24:38]Those are all, yeah, dreams for me.
[24:40]You have 25 new book ideas, but it's
[24:42]having me here today.
[24:43]I'm like looking at your book collection and thinking,
[24:47]what have I not read that I need to read?
[24:49]Right now, I have, what are you reading?
[24:52]I've been reading one Italian summer.
[24:54]I'm almost done with that.
[24:55]Rebecca.
[24:56]So next on deck is the white album by Joan Diddy and somehow
[24:59]read everything about that one, which I think is probably
[25:02]your most famous one.
[25:04]The last thing he told me is one a friend gave me that
[25:07]haven't read yet.
[25:07]It's in the bag on the strip right now.
[25:10]So I think it's just coming up.
[25:13]Laura was Laura and Rebecca were in the podcast.
[25:15]If you want the backstory of this book, oh, yeah.
[25:18]Yeah.
[25:18]Well, maybe wait till you finish.
[25:19]I don't know.
[25:20]I can't remember that.
[25:21]I can't remember if they gave it away.
[25:23]I don't know.
[25:24]All right.
[25:25]When do you find time to read?
[25:27]For 12 minutes before I fall asleep,
[25:29]it takes me a very long time to read a book.
[25:31]But it's the only way I can fall asleep.
[25:34]Yeah.
[25:34]I have to read for just a few minutes.
[25:36]We do.
[25:38]How do you listen to a lot of them?
[25:41]Do you read?
[25:42]You really read them.
[25:43]She really reads them.
[25:44]You're like walking around the book.
[25:46]I can.
[25:46]I read a whole book yesterday.
[25:47]I can bounce for it.
[25:48]She had a drive.
[25:49]We had a two and a half hour drive.
[25:51]And she read an entire book.
[25:53]Before we actually got to our destination.
[25:55]You're so fast.
[25:55]I have really fast.
[25:56]I get cars.
[25:57]I can read everywhere.
[25:58]I can read like upside down.
[26:00]I read everywhere.
[26:01]I can read walking down the street.
[26:03]I mean, to really put in perspective,
[26:04]we were waiting to get off the airplane the other day.
[26:06]And everybody, you know, everyone stands up.
[26:08]And everyone's got their luggage and taking it down.
[26:11]And we're waiting to go.
[26:12]And she just like pulls a book out of her bag.
[26:16]And it's like reading.
[26:17]I was like, I've got a good 10 minutes here.
[26:19]with like, you know, 170 people.
[26:21]And I'm like, oh my god, what are you doing?
[26:22]Put the book away.
[26:23]Well, I think that's the whole thing.
[26:24]You have like 10 minutes.
[26:25]But you did read like three pages.
[26:27]And then you put the book away.
[26:28]And we got off the point.
[26:29]And I was like, there's the pages in.
[26:30]What's your favorite book?
[26:31]Do you have a favorite?
[26:32]I don't have a favorite.
[26:33]But I love memoirs.
[26:35]My favorite genre.
[26:37]But I love fiction too.
[26:38]But then I feel like you love Danny Shapiro's book.
[26:42]It's really true.
[26:42]I do.
[26:43]I do.
[26:44]I love my favorite.
[26:45]If I was on it, she would be one of my favorite options.
[26:48]It'd be a trivia question.
[26:51]That was what we ought to go with.
[26:52]Yeah.
[26:53]Slum motion.
[26:55]It used to be my favorite book.
[26:56]And then I reread it recently.
[26:59]But the first time I read it, I was like in my 20s
[27:01]and kind of finding my way.
[27:02]And I don't know, do you have a reread books?
[27:04]Yeah.
[27:05]My favorite book I've read three times, I guess.
[27:06]Which book is your favorite?
[27:07]Love in the time of color.
[27:09]Oh, yeah.
[27:10]I love romantic story that spans decades.
[27:15]I loved the time travelers' wife for the same reason.
[27:18]Have you seen a movie about time?
[27:21]No.
[27:22]Oh, gosh.
[27:23]Do that.
[27:24]Have you?
[27:25]I've never even heard of it.
[27:25]Rachel McAdams had a British guy that I don't know.
[27:29]Great.
[27:29]It's one of those movies that's really
[27:31]no one has seen this movie.
[27:32]And it's very much a little like the time traveler's wife.
[27:36]But with a happy year ending, which is fair.
[27:39]Yeah.
[27:40]So speaking of love and romance,
[27:41]I just quickly wondered how did you and then meet?
[27:44]Well, he was like my celebrity crush in college.
[27:47]Yeah.
[27:48]He was like the most popular guy on campus
[27:50]and was always dating cheerleaders.
[27:52]And I was like, you know the movies?
[27:54]She's all that.
[27:55]Yes.
[27:56]That's how I felt.
[27:57]I was like the art girl.
[27:59]I had my hair was like an inch long
[28:01]because I wanted to look like Drew Barrymore in the 90s.
[28:04]And he was just this larger than life.
[28:06]I mean, he's six-foot-six and he's 300 pounds.
[28:08]He's literally larger than everyone else.
[28:10]But he just like radiating kindness in a way
[28:13]that I went to high school with popular guys
[28:15]who were just such jerks.
[28:17]They were such jerks.
[28:19]And he was not that.
[28:20]He was so inclusive.
[28:22]And he made everyone feel like they were in his circle.
[28:25]And I just thought that was the greatest thing.
[28:27]I didn't even know him.
[28:28]I did not know him.
[28:30]He was like the president of every group on campus.
[28:33]And I would see him like leading these big fundraisers
[28:37]in the student union.
[28:38]And I would just say things like,
[28:40]oh, I wish I just knew him.
[28:43]Oh, yeah, that's amazing.
[28:44]Yeah, and then I was the yearbook design editor
[28:47]because I've designed books.
[28:49]And we were doing tan feature stories
[28:52]on the most interesting people on campus.
[28:54]And we were like, who are these people going to be?
[28:57]We had the whole group together.
[28:59]And everybody raised their hands.
[29:01]And three people were like, bin, knife you.
[29:02]I got that guy's got to be one of the feature stories.
[29:06]And I was like, oh, head up that.
[29:08]I thought he'd be there for those photos.
[29:12]That was really kind of the first time we met.
[29:15]And then six days later, he told me that he loved me.
[29:18]And we were going to get married Monday.
[29:20]Oh, my God, I love it.
[29:21]We were inseparable from the day we met.
[29:24]And so nice.
[29:25]I know our feeling this is right now.
[29:27]Like, we're together 24 hours a day.
[29:30]And it is very strange for me to be here without him.
[29:33]You could put him on FaceTime if you want.
[29:35]You know, just have him sit here in the corner.
[29:36]I know.
[29:37]We didn't see him dead.
[29:38]He could have zoomed in.
[29:39]He could have zoomed in.
[29:40]Yeah, he could have.
[29:41]Oh, well, next time.
[29:42]OK, what advice would you have for aspiring authors?
[29:46]I don't know.
[29:47]I wish I did.
[29:48]I think, right, even when you don't feel like it,
[29:52]that's the hardest part is to write when you're uninspired,
[29:55]but do it anyway.
[29:56]And then sometimes you have to fake it till you make it.
[29:59]And then.
[30:00]inspiration comes. Yeah, but with a children's book, this was just different. This was like
[30:05]something that had been in my mind for a very long time. And it doesn't take long to type out
[30:10]40 sentences, you know, because that's really what a children's book amounts to about 40 pages.
[30:14]And yeah, I guess I don't have very good advice.
[30:18]I think that's good advice. Right when you don't feel like it. That's that's actually very
[30:22]good advice because that's what's going to get the job done. Yeah, there you go. Any last questions?
[30:27]Yeah, that was incredible. Really fantastic. Just keep, you know, just spreading all this love
[30:32]and joy around the world that you and Ben are doing. It's really beautiful. It's a lot fun.
[30:37]It's very, very lucky. We love getting work for HGTV and write books. I mean, how lucky are we?
[30:44]What a dream. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you so much.
[30:47]This was a really wonderful. Oh, thanks for being here and bringing the Fina go.
[30:51]I know, but my best friend. My best friends are all here with me.
[30:58]So yes, love that. Thanks for listening to this episode of moms don't have time to read books.
[31:04]Don't forget to follow me on Instagram at zebi Owens and at moms don't have time to read books.
[31:09]Also sign up for my newsletter at zebiowens.com and sign up for my virtual book club and meet lots
[31:14]of authors on Zoom every other week. Thanks so much to Steve and Ryan at Textures Sound for the
[31:19]Sound Editing and thank you to Morning Moon Productions for providing this fantastic intro and
[31:24]now trim music.