Tara Conklin, COMMUNITY BOARD
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[1:03]Tara Conklin is the author of Community Board, a novel.
[1:06]Tara was born in St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands and raised in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
[1:11]She's the author of The New York Times Best Sellers, The Last Romantics, and The House
[1:15]Girl.
[1:16]Welcome, Tara.
[1:17]Thank you so much for coming on momstone.
[1:18]I have time to read books to discuss your latest novel, Community Board.
[1:21]Thank you, Zippy.
[1:22]I'm so happy to be here.
[1:24]Can you please tell us, and there's what your novel is about.
[1:27]Yes.
[1:28]Community Board is the story of a somewhat hapless heroine.
[1:32]At least at the beginning, Darcy Clipper, whose life falls apart when her husband decides
[1:40]to leave her rather unceremoniously for a professional skydiver whom he met on a team building,
[1:47]corporate team building event.
[1:50]And she returns home to her hometown to be sort of nursed back to emotional health by
[1:56]her parents only to find that they have moved to Arizona without telling her.
[2:03]So it's really the story of the prodigal daughter returning to her returning to her kind
[2:09]of place of safety and finding that everything has changed and she needs to rebuild herself,
[2:17]rebuild her life, and rebuild her community.
[2:20]And that is Community Board.
[2:23]What that doesn't say is how funny it is.
[2:25]Like you're so funny, it's like the sense of humor and all of it, like they sell
[2:31]roach clips or something across the street, and she's like, well, they're like, it's
[2:34]legal here, Darcy, and I'm like, hey, she's like, not Arizona, but your dad has his
[2:40]ways.
[2:41]Like, I don't want to know.
[2:43]I had a lot of fun writing it.
[2:46]I mean, I wrote it mainly during COVID when I really needed something, we all needed
[2:51]something to laugh about.
[2:53]And so I was like, okay, the world is falling apart.
[2:57]My children are at home 27 doing remote schooling, like we're all going to die.
[3:03]I'm just going to write something that makes me giggle at the screen, you know, at least
[3:07]for an hour or two a day, rather than do scrolling and, you know, buying masks online.
[3:16]I feel like at some point there will be if there hasn't already been, and I just missed
[3:20]it, some sort of like deep dive into the types of novels that came out of the pandemic.
[3:25]Like what were they writing?
[3:26]You know, do you go like, funny, do you go?
[3:30]Some people went like deep into their own lives or like the most depressing, you know, so
[3:34]I love this.
[3:35]You're like watching people's coping mechanisms in real time, totally, totally.
[3:40]And I mean, not just novels, just like all the art that's been created, you know, bow
[3:45]Burnham had a thing on Netflix that he did totally during COVID, like all by himself.
[3:51]I don't know if you saw it, but I thought that was really sort of a brilliant use of quarantine
[3:56]time.
[3:57]But yeah, this was my, this was my attempts to make sense of everything.
[4:02]And I wanted Darcy, so I really wanted to examine what was going on with me and with my
[4:07]friends, with my kids during this period of time, but I didn't want it to be novel
[4:13]about COVID.
[4:15]So, so that was why I set the entire thing in the year 2019, don't mention COVID once.
[4:22]And it's funny, because sometimes I think some people who read it that I gather from some
[4:28]of the Goodreads and Amazon reviews that I have accidentally read, they don't necessarily
[4:35]make the connections to COVID until they read my acknowledgement section where I specifically
[4:42]say, like this is novel that came out of COVID.
[4:44]And which I find is interesting, because when I was writing it, I was like, oh my
[4:47]God, Tara, you're being so over the top.
[4:49]This is like two, like the connections are too obvious and maybe you should, you know,
[4:55]lighten it up a little bit.
[4:56]So that, so that I found interesting that this kind of isolation, this period of isolation
[5:01]that she goes through really was intended to mimic a bit of what I was going through.
[5:09]And my friends were going through during COVID.
[5:11]All the weeping, all the weeping, and the food, and yeah.
[5:17]And I mean, just that emotional, like the emotional landscape of, you know, having every
[5:22]single thing in your life changed in an instant.
[5:27]And what do you do?
[5:28]Like what, what can you do?
[5:30]And there's, you know, the retreat, the emotional retreat of like having to kind of protect
[5:35]yourself and, and, and just living with fear and anxiety.
[5:40]And then gradually is Darcy kind of comes out into the world again, which I feel is still
[5:45]kind of happening, like book events and dinner parties and school thing, you know, things
[5:53]that my kids school.
[5:55]And those things are still like, I feel like people are still kind of working their way
[6:01]back into normal, normal, everyday interactions and relationships and, and like the social,
[6:09]you know, anxiety of looking people in the eye again.
[6:14]And, you know, well, like it's, it's, it's still happening, but you also touch on in such
[6:20]a funny way, the whole enabling culture of parents, you know, hand holding kids for too long.
[6:26]And the series is all the things they let her kind of quit right from college to now
[6:33]Chris, I can't remember.
[6:34]But just like the series is like, no, no, you're fine, you know, camp, do whatever you
[6:39]need.
[6:40]Like all of a sudden you try to come home from life and you can't.
[6:42]Yeah.
[6:43]Exactly.
[6:44]Exactly.
[6:45]And yeah, I mean, they, I feel like Darcy is sort of the quintessential, like participation
[6:51]prize person, like at least, you know, like she got, she gets her participation.
[6:56]And she's like, and her parents have definitely, I mean, she's sort of a coddled only
[7:02]child and her parents have really propped her up her entire life.
[7:08]And when they're not there, I mean, she's 29, you know, and I feel like maybe I was poking
[7:14]a little bit of fun at sort of what I view as like the millennial, you know, like the millennial
[7:22]kind of culture of, you know, the kids who are moving, who live with their parents until
[7:28]they're in their 30s and, and, you know, they, they have really done that for her.
[7:35]And she, you know, there's one point in the book where she says, you know, I've become
[7:40]an emotional, I've become an emotional blood sucking leech and my parents across state
[7:45]lines to escape me.
[7:47]So she kind of has that real vision that she does need to stand on her own.
[7:51]She needs to, she needs to find herself.
[7:54]And that's pretty, yeah, that's sort of the, that's really the arc of, of the book.
[8:00]And of course, I tell it through a lot of board posts.
[8:04]Yes.
[8:06]Are you during COVID or now or whatever, which boards do you follow like for your tech,
[8:11]like which ones?
[8:12]Well, we're the inspiration come from.
[8:15]Yeah.
[8:16]And I had and probably still do have, I will admit, a sort of unhealthy obsession with
[8:22]my neighborhood next door board.
[8:24]And when the idea for this book was first kind of percolating, because it, because I had
[8:29]the idea before COVID, because I would read these posts and I would just be like, holy
[8:37]cat.
[8:38]And part of these people, and like, there's so much drama and so much tragedy and so much
[8:43]comedy and pathos and kindness and racism and sexism.
[8:49]And I mean, every good thing, every bad thing shows up on these boards.
[8:54]And I was like, I don't need to, you know, there's a novel right on every day, you know,
[9:00]Wednesday in the middle of June in Seattle.
[9:04]So I have my, my next door.
[9:07]And then I also am on a group called Midrona Moms, Midrona is my little neighborhood here
[9:13]in Seattle.
[9:14]And those are, those are the two main ones that I, that I kind of lurk on and everyone
[9:21]is selling old crouch or something.
[9:24]But it was funny when my friends found out that I was writing this book, I, you know,
[9:29]everybody was sending me their favorite posts from their neighborhood message board.
[9:34]So I was getting stuff from like Menlo Park and the Upper East Side and, you know,
[9:40]all in Chicago and Austin.
[9:43]And so I have quite a collection at this point, so funny.
[9:47]My gosh, my husband is still, I unsubscribed, but my husband still follows our next
[9:52]door one in LA and he was like reading emails and a traffic light, which of course he shouldn't
[9:57]be doing.
[9:58]But he was, you know, scrolling and he had...
[10:00]I'd be like, look at the thing.
[10:01]And it was like, I've lost my pet owl.
[10:03]And he was like, who has a pet owl?
[10:05]And then he like put the phone down, looked up,
[10:07]and literally right in front of him
[10:09]in like another part of LA, was this owl?
[10:12]And he's like, oh my God, is this the owl?
[10:15]And like, what am I even supposed to do with this?
[10:17]Like, what was it?
[10:18]It's like, hilarious.
[10:20]That is really, yeah.
[10:22]I mean, you can't see, you can't make it up.
[10:24]Like, you can't make it up, I know.
[10:25]Just like, do I write back on the board?
[10:27]Like, do I try to capture the owl?
[10:29]I don't know.
[10:30]So yeah, he can't make a step up.
[10:32]Yeah.
[10:33]Well, that was the like, lost pets was obviously
[10:36]a big part of the book.
[10:38]And that sort of her first foray back into the world.
[10:42]Yeah, I'm catching birds, you know,
[10:44]she put a piece of bacon on her head and walked around
[10:49]the park hoping the bird would swoop down.
[10:52]But yeah, there's, I mean, there's, yeah, there's so much.
[10:55]So you, you probably do not have time to
[10:58]the work on these boards.
[11:01]I was before, but the problem is every time the emails
[11:05]would come, you'd have to go click and then log in.
[11:08]Yeah, yeah.
[11:09]Just like be there.
[11:09]So then I'd have to go in.
[11:11]I don't know.
[11:12]I don't like that.
[11:13]Then I would forget my password or it wouldn't be saved
[11:14]on the right computer.
[11:15]Like, I don't know.
[11:16]I had access problems.
[11:17]Basically, to get it from here.
[11:20]Yeah, I know, yeah.
[11:22]But I should go back to it because it is
[11:25]not.
[11:26]You should not go back to it.
[11:27]Don't worry.
[11:28]That's what I should do as well.
[11:32]I mean, I liked telling.
[11:34]I like sort of, I really enjoyed creating this narrative out
[11:38]of these, you know, because it's because I have board posts
[11:41]and then I have a kind of a more straightforward narrative.
[11:44]And then I have draft emails that she writes,
[11:48]but does not send to her ex-husband, which I have.
[11:53]Because that is something.
[11:56]I don't know if I very often will be like, you know,
[11:59]really mad about something and like write the email.
[12:02]And then I'm like, OK, I need to step away.
[12:06]Yeah, I put it usually in a document, though,
[12:09]because I'm so worried I'm accidentally going to send it.
[12:12]Or I'll forget it's a draft or I'll forget what it is.
[12:15]Or I'll put somebody else the wrong email or my kids will send it.
[12:18]I don't know.
[12:19]So then I started password protecting Word docs.
[12:22]Now I can't remember any of my passwords.
[12:23]I'm always like, but I was really upset like years ago.
[12:27]And anyway, I can never read them again,
[12:30]which is probably fine.
[12:30]I should have just deleted them.
[12:32]Yeah.
[12:32]And the sort of cathartic, you had that release.
[12:36]You got it out on paper and that was the important thing.
[12:40]Yes, that's always nice.
[12:41]But I do feel like also in community Word,
[12:43]you totally tapped into the, you know, almost 30.
[12:47]My life has to be set right now.
[12:50]This is the biggest turning point that you only realized
[12:52]when you're like, that was 40 was like totally not
[12:55]a turning point at all.
[12:57]It was just like a stepping stone and that the real changes
[13:01]come a little bit later.
[13:03]Yeah, totally.
[13:04]I do, I definitely remember that kind of, and it was don't die.
[13:09]You know, I'm going to be dirty.
[13:11]Yeah, and it's, and it is just kind of a little blip.
[13:15]You're not an adult even at that point.
[13:19]I mean, pretend to be, but there's so much more waiting for her.
[13:22]And I mean, and that, you know, I feel like Darcy,
[13:26]by the end of the book, she is, you know,
[13:29]she's kind of found her family.
[13:32]Like she's found her place and found,
[13:34]and it really is a story of about found family
[13:38]and kind of deciding where you're going to be
[13:41]and where you're going to stay
[13:42]and how you're going to build a life.
[13:45]And she's, you know, just turned 30
[13:47]and she's like at the beginning of that journey.
[13:50]So this book actually came out quite a video.
[13:52]I have no idea why it took us so long to even talk about it.
[13:55]I don't know what happened, but I was like,
[13:57]what I've had the book forever.
[13:58]So have you written like an entire other book
[14:00]at this point, basically, or what's going on?
[14:03]Are you releasing another book like next month?
[14:05]I wish I am in such awe of those people
[14:09]who can the writers who can write books, you know,
[14:12]one a year, the one a year people.
[14:14]I am working on another book,
[14:16]but it is not good to be ready for a publication.
[14:19]And I don't know, baby.
[14:21]I'm more of like once every three or four or five.
[14:25]So I'm working on a book and it's,
[14:29]I really enjoy writing different kinds of novels.
[14:34]I mean, my first was kind of historical fiction.
[14:37]My second was a big family epic.
[14:40]Well, maybe go into them more for people who haven't read
[14:43]those books.
[14:44]Yeah, my first book was called The House Girl.
[14:46]And it's a dual narrative book.
[14:49]It's a story of a young lawyer in New York
[14:52]and a young woman who's enslaved
[14:55]on a tobacco plantation in Virginia in the 1860s.
[15:01]And it goes back and forth between this two time frames.
[15:05]So that was my first novel.
[15:06]And I wrote it while,
[15:07]because in my previous life, I was a lawyer
[15:09]and I wrote it kind of while I was being a lawyer
[15:13]and did not think at all
[15:15]that I was ever going to be sitting here talking to you
[15:17]about books, you know, as I really,
[15:20]I mean, when you talk about, you know, starting your life
[15:24]or kind of reinvention and that is definitely something
[15:28]that has happened to me over the past 10 years or so.
[15:31]So that was my first novel.
[15:33]And then my second was The Last Romantics,
[15:36]which was, well, it's about four siblings
[15:40]and a tragedy that takes place within this family
[15:43]and it's set over basically a hundred years.
[15:46]And it's narrated from the future
[15:49]by my protagonist Fiona and she is a poet
[15:54]and she is kind of looking back on her life
[15:56]and she's telling the story of her family
[16:00]and then community board.
[16:03]And the next one, I mean, I'm actually,
[16:06]I'm kind of deep in it right now
[16:08]and it's, I don't have an elevator speech for it quite yet.
[16:12]But it's kind of a literary thriller.
[16:15]I want, it's a story of a young woman.
[16:18]It's also kind of a love story,
[16:20]but it's about a murder of someone.
[16:24]Okay, that's pretty big.
[16:26]Yeah, it is a little vague.
[16:28]And I guess the inspiration I really haven't talked
[16:31]about this at all.
[16:33]It's inspiration, you know,
[16:38]I'm always really fascinated by,
[16:43]fascinated and horrified by women
[16:46]who do not support other women and women
[16:48]who like my worst boss was a very successful woman.
[16:54]And I just remember, you know,
[16:58]I'd be like, why are you like this?
[17:01]Is it an amazing thing?
[17:02]Is it a, you know, jealousy thing?
[17:06]Like you have it easier than I had it
[17:07]because, you know, like, generationally.
[17:10]But I've just, I have, I'm one of three sisters
[17:14]and, you know, and I have a lot of very, very close
[17:18]female friends and I just do not understand women
[17:22]who don't support other women.
[17:23]So, and kind of the, the epitome of that
[17:28]was the whole just laying Maxwell playing with Jeffrey Epstein.
[17:32]And, and her, she has like a person is so just horrible.
[17:39]I mean, the, like what she did year after year
[17:43]and the, you know, to these young women.
[17:46]So anyhow, that is sort of a very long-winded way of saying
[17:51]like that kind of betrayal,
[17:53]a woman to trying another woman is sort of
[17:56]about the, the crux of this, that sounds really good.
[18:01]That sounds really good.
[18:02]I love that.
[18:03]Everybody can relate to that.
[18:04]Mean bosses and, yeah, unfortunately, we can all really.
[18:10]That sounds great.
[18:11]So what do you do when you're not writing this next book
[18:13]and you're not promoting your other book?
[18:18]Well, I just got back from Big Family reunion
[18:23]in Mont that we just missed all the flooding
[18:27]that is going on right now there.
[18:29]Crazy, my gosh.
[18:31]And it was raining pretty much continuously during this,
[18:34]during this time, during the trip.
[18:36]But, but it was still lovely to see it was the first time
[18:38]we had all kind of been back together since COVID.
[18:43]And most of my family's on the East Coast,
[18:45]I'm originally from Massachusetts.
[18:47]And now that I live in Seattle, I don't, you know,
[18:51]I don't get back as I don't see them as often.
[18:53]So it was really nice.
[18:55]And my dad is one of six kids and then he has four sisters
[18:58]and they all have kids and their kids all have kids.
[19:01]So it was like getting all of the like cousins
[19:03]and second cousins all together and that was really fun.
[19:07]But when I'm not, when I'm just kind of at home,
[19:11]I like my garden, I garden and I do a lot of yoga.
[19:16]And I also, and I teach, I teach at Hugo House,
[19:19]which is a Center for Writers here in Seattle.
[19:24]And I also work with some private clients
[19:27]on manuscript development.
[19:29]And I do kind of some ghost writing on the side.
[19:33]Like political ghost writing using my,
[19:36]the other side of my brain, my writerly brain
[19:39]from my law school days, my lawyer days.
[19:43]And that's, yeah, I play with my dog,
[19:45]hang out with my boyfriend, hang out with my kids.
[19:50]Well, my oldest is applying a college in the fall.
[19:54]Oh my gosh, it's freaking me out.
[19:59]So we've.
[20:00]been doing a lot of college tours to my son, who's 16,
[20:04]was literally like, so next summer,
[20:06]we're gonna just like tour colleges the whole time.
[20:08]Like, should we plan that?
[20:09]Oh my gosh.
[20:11]I would talk about that.
[20:13]I'll just say that.
[20:14]Then I was like, oh, I have a great idea,
[20:15]because I have a novel coming out in March.
[20:17]And I was like, this is perfect.
[20:18]We'll go on like a joint college book tour,
[20:21]and I can do all my bookstore events.
[20:23]And he's like, in the colleges?
[20:25]No, no, I gotta wait.
[20:27]Do anything in the colleges I will get.
[20:29]And I remember a little I wanted my parents
[20:31]to even like speak on our tours, you know?
[20:33]Don't say anything, just don't say anything.
[20:35]I'm only, oh my god, every time I ask a question,
[20:37]I feel like my daughter kind of shoots me a 30 log.
[20:40]Get out.
[20:41]Someone told me this year, like a couple months ago.
[20:43]And I feel like of course I'm already behind,
[20:45]which is totally the case of parenting all the time,
[20:47]that the advice comes too late.
[20:49]And by the time I hear it, it's too late.
[20:51]But anyway, that you should be looking at colleges.
[20:53]Like, anytime you go anywhere with a kid,
[20:56]you should like run them over to the closest college.
[20:59]You know, like, I was like, what do I,
[21:01]like you're on a family trip to, you know, wherever LA,
[21:05]like run, go to UCLA, go to USC, like go on the tour
[21:08]and no matter how young your kids are.
[21:10]And I'm like, oh, okay, okay.
[21:13]Yeah, another thing to put on the list.
[21:15]No way.
[21:16]Now, yeah, that is horrible advice.
[21:18]Sorry, good, because I didn't do it.
[21:21]And I'm already behind.
[21:22]Oh, oh my god, and it's stressful.
[21:25]It's like stressful for you.
[21:26]And also it takes freaking forever.
[21:28]These tours are like an hour long
[21:30]and they have the information session
[21:32]and then you have to go to the bookstore
[21:33]and like buy a sweatshirt.
[21:34]And it's like half a day, like it's a lot and a lot.
[21:39]And it's stressful.
[21:42]I mean, I find it stressful just because, you know,
[21:44]I don't want my daughter to move away.
[21:47]And I love having her here.
[21:48]And she finds it stressful for obvious reasons.
[21:53]I mean, it's such a different landscape
[21:55]than when I was applying to college.
[21:57]Like, so, I mean, the acceptance rates are so low.
[22:02]It's like, it's just mind boggling, you know,
[22:05]like 4% of people getting into, you know,
[22:10]UCLA, for example, we went to look at UCLA
[22:12]and it's just, it's nuts.
[22:15]So yeah.
[22:16]I do feel that the expectations, though, have shifted.
[22:19]Like I feel like enough people have kind of gotten them
[22:21]and I'm like, it's impossible to get into any schools.
[22:23]Like, so just go anywhere.
[22:24]Like, just do well.
[22:25]That's like, when I look at resumes, you know,
[22:28]for whatever, I'm like, like I literally do not care
[22:31]about the college, but I'm like, but how did you do?
[22:32]Like, you really graduated Phi Beta Kappa
[22:35]from any school in the world?
[22:36]Okay, come talk to me.
[22:37]Yeah, yeah, that's good to hear.
[22:40]Yeah.
[22:41]Now I think, I think it has shifted also
[22:43]with the cost being so crazy and like, you know,
[22:48]our kids, you know, kids have that, you know,
[22:50]even if you get into one of these schools,
[22:52]then you have to find a way to pay for it.
[22:54]And then if you're graduating, you know,
[22:57]with however much in debt,
[23:00]like that is that is a huge, you know,
[23:03]that's a huge burden.
[23:05]So yeah, it's, I mean, right now I'm like,
[23:09]just trying to just try to get my head around the fact
[23:12]that, you know, she's not gonna be in her bedroom.
[23:16]Like, I'm not gonna, yeah.
[23:19]And she's two, I have three kids of my younger
[23:23]or both boys and she is like such the calming presence.
[23:27]Like the boys are always kind of sniping at each other,
[23:29]not always, but they definitely have more of a
[23:32]like antagonistic relationship and she is always very calm
[23:37]and she's, so yeah, I don't know what's gonna happen
[23:40]when she flies the coop.
[23:43]So do they ever go to, do you, do you divorce?
[23:47]Is that what happened?
[23:47]Do they ever go to your house?
[23:49]Yeah, I got divorced about 10 years ago,
[23:51]but like the reinvention was, was everything.
[23:55]And they are, they, we do 50, 50.
[23:59]So, and he lives with his, his new wife
[24:03]about I don't know five minutes from here.
[24:06]So it's very, it's very easy and they can walk
[24:10]between houses and at this point they're, you know,
[24:13]it's been long enough that they're, they're pretty accustomed
[24:16]to it.
[24:17]And yeah, I have that too.
[24:19]I'm divorced and we live close by, but I feel like it,
[24:23]like I went through some of the things that parents
[24:25]who have never had that go through only with college.
[24:29]Jimmy, at least I have time with the rooms empty.
[24:33]Like I've learned what to do with my life.
[24:34]Like I don't, right?
[24:35]We get to get the early transition person things.
[24:39]Yeah.
[24:40]No, you're right.
[24:41]It is not the same, it's not the same.
[24:43]I'm just saying like at least, yeah,
[24:45]at least there's some like training wheels on it
[24:47]or something.
[24:48]Yeah.
[24:49]No, you're right.
[24:49]And yeah, and because, you know, at the beginning,
[24:52]it may be you had this when you first got divorced.
[24:55]Like when the kids would go to their dads,
[24:58]I would just be so sad and so fast.
[25:01]Oh, and then over time, you just kind of,
[25:05]you get used to it and then you're like, oh my God,
[25:08]I can do so much stuff like when the kid, you know.
[25:13]Yeah, I would like sit in my son's room.
[25:16]I remember this one time in the beginning,
[25:18]like all the lights off at night
[25:19]and like all the kids rooms were empty
[25:20]and I was just sitting in his arm chair
[25:22]like holding his stuffed animals,
[25:23]like looking out the window for Lauren.
[25:25]Like I was, you know, so ridiculous.
[25:27]Like they were, this is not, anyway, it was so sad.
[25:31]And now I feel like I get sad only when they're really sad.
[25:35]Like if they're having a tough transition,
[25:36]then I'm back to being mess.
[25:39]But if they're happy to go off, I'm like, I can't.
[25:41]Yeah, yeah, anyway.
[25:43]Yeah, adjustments.
[25:45]And I think, yeah, it's, I mean, I do think
[25:48]I am a big proponent of quality parenting over quantity.
[25:53]Yeah, parenting.
[25:54]And I do think that I am a better parent
[25:59]because like I get those breaks,
[26:01]particularly when they were younger.
[26:04]I mean, now, you know, those teenagers,
[26:06]they're, there's a lot less or at least,
[26:11]I mean, I was gonna say there's a lot less parenting involved
[26:13]which I don't think is true.
[26:15]It's just different kind of parenting in it, yeah.
[26:17]Yeah.
[26:18]I interviewed Jay Ryan Stradel and he was saying
[26:22]that with his wife, they have a three-year-old,
[26:24]they have different divorcee nights on the calendar
[26:27]where like you're allowed to do whatever you want
[26:29]pretend you're like divorced like you have a night off.
[26:32]It's like there's something to it.
[26:34]Anyway, totally.
[26:35]I have taught, you know, so many of my friends were like,
[26:37]God, I wish that I could have 50, 50 custody
[26:40]even though I don't wanna get divorced
[26:42]like I would just that I could do like, I mean, I think.
[26:46]Yeah, I mean, with, I mean, this is a whole other discussion.
[26:49]Yeah.
[26:50]Like the intensity of parenting today.
[26:53]I mean, it is kind of a miracle that people
[26:56]are able to hold it together without having breaks.
[26:59]And I think, you know, it would be good for relationships,
[27:02]good for the kids to just have a time
[27:06]when you can step away, like a regular time.
[27:09]Not, but no.
[27:11]Yeah, oh, there's this one girl's weekend in two years
[27:14]that I'm gonna go away for, you know.
[27:16]Oh my gosh.
[27:19]Well, sorry, we've seemed to have like completely shifted away
[27:21]from community board, but it was lovely getting a chance
[27:26]to chat with you.
[27:27]And I know, I was in Seattle for Andrea Dunlap.
[27:30]You know, you know, I obviously know him.
[27:32]Yeah, I love your book or something.
[27:34]Yeah, I love her book and I love her
[27:37]where we have lunch and coffees and wine all the time.
[27:41]Yeah.
[27:42]All right, well, if I'm ever back in Seattle,
[27:44]I would like to be a large in on that drink session.
[27:48]And please do.
[27:49]It would be wonderful.
[27:51]All right, well, thank you so much.
[27:53]Thanks for coming on mom's room and time to read books
[27:55]and thank you for being, it was great.
[27:58]Okay, bye.
[28:01]Thanks for listening to this episode of mom's
[28:03]don't have time to read books.
[28:05]Don't forget to follow me on Instagram at zebi Owens
[28:08]and at mom's don't have time to read books.
[28:10]Also sign up for my newsletter at zebiowens.com
[28:12]and sign up for my virtual book club
[28:14]and meet lots of authors on Zoom every other week.
[28:17]Thanks so much to Steve and Ryan at Textures Sound
[28:19]for the Sound Editing.
[28:20]And thank you to Morning Moon Productions
[28:22]for providing this fantastic intro and out trim music.