September 18, 2025 • 38 mins
Lisa took the book club on the road to Tampa, Florida. Elin Hilderbrand is on a book tour for her new book The Academy and added Lisa’s Book Club to the list! She dished all about how her daughter, Shelby, and Elin wrote the novel. She talked about how The Academy already has a movie deal and Jen Garner filming 5 Star Weekend on Nantucket!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hey, Welcome to Lisa's Book Club, a podcast where I
interview best selling authors from the New England area, pulling
back the curtain on what it's really like being a
best selling author. They're guilty pleasures, latest projects, and so
much more. So just a little background on Lisa's book
Club before we get started. I started at about three
years ago with the idea that I wasn't reading enough,
(00:26):
my son wasn't reading enough, and the fact that in
New England we have so many amazing authors and Ellen
being one of them.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
So welcome, thank you, all right, thank you, Yeah, all right,
there we go. Hi everyone, Hello Tampa. So exciting to
be here.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
I just want to thank Oxford Exchange for doing the book.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Yes how it is one of the most first of
all aesthetically beautiful stores bookstores I've ever visited. I've been
there I think two or three times in recent years.
It is gorgeous, That's what I hear. And they are
very You've got to stop when you're in Temple, You've
got to go look at it.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
It is like nothing else you've ever seen. Am I wrong?
I'm right, It's okay, Okay.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Before we get started, I want to we have some
thank yous, Craze Grace.
Speaker 5 (01:11):
They did the charcroterie, which I know you guys loved,
the soorci sprits.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Those two hot guys in the back of the wine
guys like that. We got to bring it to Boston.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
And I want to introduce Carrie.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
She's had a brands for birch Lane and she's going
to welcome you to this beautiful store and she's got
some fun things for you.
Speaker 5 (01:35):
Hi Ruon, thank you so much, Thank you so much
for coming. We are really excited. The Wayfair team as
a whole has been working with Lisa for a while
and this is our first time coming down to Florida
with the birch Lane store, and the entire birch Lane
team was so excited about this.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
I myself have been in many a.
Speaker 5 (01:56):
Marketing meeting where people are describing what our spring is
esthetic is and it's Ellen Hildebrand, you know, so you
are literally the inspiration for some Spring twenty twenty six
is inspired by your book Aesthetic. So the whole team
was super excited. We're glad to have you here. Make
(02:18):
sure to enter the raffle. If you haven't, it should
have been on your seat to win a two hundred
and fifty dollars gift card. We'll pull a winner at
the end of that, and then the takeaway card on
your seat is also fifteen percent off the entire store
for the next thirty days, So if you didn't have
a chance to shop today, you can come back and
(02:40):
capture anything you like here, perhaps one of an Ellen
inspired look. So yeah, thank you so much for coming
and I will kick it back to Lisa.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Thank you, Carrie. She's not joking. They're obsessed with you, honest.
So hire Brush Lay team is obsessed with you. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
I want to also mention that we're raising money. We
do in Boston, we raise money for Raising a Reader
and we've been able to purchase five thousand books for
families in Massachusetts, which is amazing. Here we're doing Hillsboro
Educational Foundation and they support childhood education. So that's what
your Raffle ticket is going towards. So I really want
to thank the Tampa team for putting that together.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
It's really huge.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
So all right, so Ellen, we've been together now twice.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
We've had two book clubs Swansong.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
And we did with Hotel Dante did two book clubs
and then we did Quincy.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
So we've actually been together through right, do you write
your rights right? Because I did one at the casino.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Yeah, we got in trouble. We'll have to talk about
that people.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
And then you came to Nantucket right right, and we
did the Swan and then we did Quincy and then
we did Quincy.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
So so our fourth time together. We I know, I
feel like I'm on like a tour with you now.
I know we're on tour with me now, yes we are. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
So I need you to share because you shared this
when we were at dream In Theater when Swansong came out.
What you told your publisher when you decided that after
your thirtieth book on Nantucket that it would over?
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Can you please share that quick story? Yes, So I.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
Told my publisher that Swansong was going to be the
last of the Nantucket based books.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
And for those of you who.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
Are feeling sad about that, I want to explain my
reason in case you haven't seen.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Why that is the case.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
So I Nantucket is small. It's four miles wide and
thirteen miles long, and I have written I think of
the of the three books twenty seven or set on Nantucket,
so that I've covered it, Okay, ways, I've covered it,
and I really felt like I wanted to stop before
I started repeating myself, before it started to feel stale,
(04:39):
before I started phoning it in, because I could feel
myself like start growing less interested in it.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
So I said, Okay, Swansong is going to be my
last novel. And then my daughter.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
At that time was a software junior at Saint George's
School in Rhode Island, and as soon as she got
to Saint George's, the phone calls, I mean three, four
or five phone calls a day. She was having a
one full time, but the stories were blowing my mind.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
So I said to her, we have to we have
to write a book. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
So I went to my publisher and I said, would
if I wrote like a boarding school book with Shelby,
would you be interested in publishing it? And the very
next day there was a two book deal in my inbox.
So Shelby and I started writing The Academy together. So
that is what we're here to celebrate tonight.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
And I saw you on CBS this morning with Gail,
You and Shelby. Yeah, and you guys are talking about
how what it was like, we're writing a book with
Shelby and how you were organizing your thoughts, Like can
you explain like did you give her characters to develop
(05:45):
in the book or how did that work?
Speaker 4 (05:47):
Yeah, so we developed all of the kid characters together.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
I wanted I was explain it to you this way.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
We've all read novels set at boarding school, Like, how
many of you guys have read Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld?
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Anybody?
Speaker 4 (06:02):
So some of you have read that a separate piece
which came out like before we were born. But that's
like a classic boarding school novel, Catcher in the Rye
Harry Potter, Right, So there's a whole canon of sort
of boarding school literature, but there's nothing from gen Z.
So we wanted to write a gen Z boarding school novel.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
We also.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
Wanted it to be more like the Hotel Nantucket, where
everybody's point of view is come is shared. So in
the Hotel Nantucket, as you know, we talked to every
We hear from everybody at the hotel, the guests, the
cleaning staff, the front desk, the bellman, the owner, the
whole thing. And in this novel, the Academy, we hear
(06:49):
from the head of school. We hear from the teachers,
we hear briefly from the parents, and then we hear
from the kids. So Shelby and I developed all of
those characters and their arcs together. But she really chimed
in when we were talking about the kids.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Right, and what they were wearing, and what they were
wearing and what yes.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
And also she had the lived experience of going to
Saint George's. I went to like a very mediocre suburban
high school in the nineteen eighties, so you can, you know,
watch my high school years when you look at sixteen candles.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Or pretty I'm book.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
Yeah, yeah, I mean that was like every suburban high
school in America in the eighties was sort of the same.
And I did not have the mystique or sort of
you know, the eliteeness of going to like a fancy
New England boarding school, So I knew nothing about it.
I didn't know the lingo, I didn't know the way
the year is structured. I didn't know the way the
day was structured. So all of those things she'll be
(07:40):
shared with me. But then I would also give her assignments.
So because I'm the novelist, I was very much in
charge of how the book was going to unfold, and
then I would, like I was a teacher to a student,
I would say, Okay, Shelly, now write the scene where
Dobby goes to tell Charlie that she has a dress
for her for first dance. And so Shelby wrote that
(08:00):
scene and then I would edit it, and then she
would edit me because I'm embarrassing and cringing and every
single word I wrote needed to be fixed.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
So it was really like a back and forth process.
Speaker 4 (08:15):
And she trusted me with you know, the plot twists,
and you know, narrating the arcs and the pacing and
all the things that you know I would know after
writing thirty novels.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
And I fully.
Speaker 4 (08:25):
Trusted her in that, you know, all of the details
she gave me, and especially as for the dialogue for
the kids that I just wrote it as she said it.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
So she was like, really, your research buddy too at
this thing.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Did you know the ending and the book before you
started it? So we knew that some loops for those has.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
Anybody finished it? I finished in here Lisa and a
couple of people. Some of the loops close and some
of the loops are open because there's a book too
coming and so by as basically, we start the academy
at the beginning of junior year, something tragic has happened
at the end sophomore year. Everybody in the junior year
is a little tender, and a new girl comes in
(09:06):
as a junior, which is highly unusual. But they've had
this child dying at the end of sophomore year, so
it all plays into what's happening. Book two will of
course be their senior year, right, so the loops that
are left open at the end of this book will
be finished and closed in book two.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
So some of the scandals that are in this book
are loosely based on stuff that Shelby knew about, stuff
that you've heard about at other boarding schools.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
Yeah, I can't say too much because I do.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Not want to get sued, although we've.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
Discussed getting sued, and then Shelby was like, would it
really be so bad if we got sued at such
good publicity? And I'm like, yeah, it is, But what
says gen Z right, like do we even care?
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Okay, But the.
Speaker 4 (09:53):
It was more like the spirit of things that would
happen rather than actual particular things that happened, right, You
know the spirit of certain characters were included in characters.
But you know, as I've said a million times to
you and to other people, real people do not belong
in fiction. Real people are too random and diverse and
have too many aspects to fit neatly into a story
(10:14):
that has to make sense.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
So we used bits and pieces of things that shell
be new.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Was there anything surprising you when you were writing with Shelby,
like anything that popped up? Like was there anything difficult
about writing with your daughter?
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Like?
Speaker 3 (10:26):
I don't know. I mean, I did not realize how
out of touch I was with gen Z. You know,
because your son and your son day, is he still
at Milton.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Or did he graduated? He graduates at Brown? Now, okay, awesome, Yeah,
I am so impressed. Okay, So Lisa's daughter went to
another very fancy and Milton's.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Miss my son is a freshman at Milton Academy. Oh
you have another okay, yeah, yeah, we've got too yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
So okay, yeah, so anyway, you know, we know, and
it just so happens at the head of school at
Milton used to be the head of school at Saint George's.
I kind of wish she'd stayed at Saint George's, honestly,
but she's great.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
Yeah, so, yes, I was. But anything she told me
that shocked me, No, I cannot be shocked.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
Shelby has been very open with me throughout her adolescence
because I made a point of just saying to her,
you can tell me anything. I'm not gonna punish you.
I'm not gonna scream and yell. I'm just gonna absorb it.
And I really have stood by that. Yeah, she's never
been grounded, she's never had anything taken away because she's
(11:26):
always been super honest and open with me, even about,
you know, the difficult things, things I certainly in a
million years would never have shared with my mother. But
that is because we were different, you know. And my
mother is a boomer. She might not even she might
be even one year older than a boomer. But so
(11:48):
but I would never tell I would never have told
her anything. But I said to Shelby very strict parents
a lot of times, like I had very strict parents,
you would lie to them because of course you're gonna
do all the bad things you're gonna do, regardless of
whether they want you to or whether they're strict or lenient.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
So I knew that because I was a good kid.
I got straight a's whatever.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
But I was like sneaking out of my house to
go to my boyfriend's house in the middle of the
night and smoking cigarettes and doing all kinds of things.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
But my mother still to this day does not know
and will never know. But I knew. I said to Shelby,
just tell me right, you know.
Speaker 4 (12:18):
Yeah, So there was nothing that went in the book
that was like a shocker surprise.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Okay, let's talk about the cover art, because it looks
exactly like your daughter. I mean, how involved were you
with the cover and tell a story about like how
and Bobby were with other covers.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Well or not. In general, I have.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
Very little say about the covers. Historically, they my publisher
comes up with some ideas.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
And then do you know who they ask.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
They ask to Target, they ask Walmart, they ask Burnes
and Noble, they ask major retailers what they think of
the cover, and the people in charge of marketing for
those stores weigh in. I ill to this day, thirty
books later.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
You know, bestseller list doesn't matter.
Speaker 4 (13:03):
Have very little say. It is not Shelby on the cover.
But it does sort of look like her. At one
point they were going to use Harvard, and Harvard said,
is Harvard mentioned in the book? And I said, yes,
I believe because but like just in passing, and I
(13:25):
think then they said no, they were not going to
lend their image to the book. So I don't know
where except as I'm looking at this, Lisa, and you agree,
that does look like Harvard, right, it does, But I
don't know what they used for that building. But it's
very it's a whole process of which I am just
(13:45):
like a slender part.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
So I know.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Well, you've already stated this that this book has been optioned, right,
can you tell us?
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Yeah? I wish I could tell you more.
Speaker 4 (13:57):
We had this time last year, Shelby and I were
on the phone and on zooms with basically everybody in
Hollywood because of The Perfect Couple was such an enormous hit.
So The Perfect Couple came out like September fourth, right,
we're now September seventeenth, So then it's two weeks later.
I've finished the Academy, I've turned it in to my
Hollywood agents.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
They've sent it around, and.
Speaker 4 (14:18):
Because the Couple was such a hit, everybody wanted the Academy,
so we had a lot of you know, we had
zooms with Hello Sunshine and just a bunch of streamers
and producers and it was super exciting. Shelby was nonplused.
She was like, I don't care, okay, but she was
on them.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
She was on them.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
And then it ended up we had a little bit
of a bidding more and there were two major streamers
going after it, and we went with one of the
major streamers, and I can't tell you which one, and
I can't tell you whose show running. It's supposed to
be announced this week to coincide with the publication of
the book.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Who do you think would be a good head master?
Speaker 4 (14:53):
So I think Carrie Washington would be good for Audra.
She's a woman of color, she's in her fifties. I
want someone hugely popular, it says Carrie Washington to me,
or like Regina King or somebody like that, like somebody
really she would be perfect.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
And like Davy, who do you think like Zendia?
Speaker 4 (15:13):
Dobby yeah, Dobby yeah, like a Zendia yeah, Zendaya.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Yeah, would be really fun. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
I have to say after reading this book, like I
was so hungry you're a description of food on campus
and the menus, so elaborate on this I can.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
So as I'm writing the book, I'm like, Okay, what
do people you know? Because I understand it's a departure, right,
and you guys want the things that I've always given
you in the other books, and I'm like super cognizant
of that. I'm like, Okay, when I'm writing this book,
what am I going to give my royal longtime readers?
Speaker 3 (15:51):
They want the food. So I'm like, I obviously have.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
To have a lot, like a New York chef who's
been disgraced because of gambling and him at the school. Yes,
sort of his punishment, but yet the food is absolutely amazing.
And of course I enjoy writing about food so much.
It was so much fun. Yeah, So I get to
and then my editor was like, put in the menus,
you know, put they have all these parties at the school.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
So all of the parties.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
Have menus, and they have like the Christmas party, and
they have the you know, the first dance, and there's
all these orders. So I list all the menus, which
is so much fun. The chef ends up having like
sort of you know, he has his own.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Little arc in there too. But it was really for
you guys that I chose and for me, but to.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
Choose to include all the delicious food. The food at
Saint George's was atrocious. I followed there was like a
company that ran the kitchen there, and I followed the
company online, so I could see what Shelby was having
for dinner every night.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
And I'm like, this just gets worse and worse and worse.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
That's why I'm surprised because at my kids school too,
it's not great.
Speaker 4 (16:59):
It's not great, no, but at Tiffin because it's imaginary.
Oh yeah, we've got a world class chef.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
So when you're reading it, just have like snacks ready
to go.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Because you're gonna be starving.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
So let's talk a little bit about Five Star Weekends, Okay,
because I know just last week Jennifer Garner and the
whole crew were on Nantucket. You were with them, right,
So elaborate on what's going on with that.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
So the one, so The Couple is now finished and
we're in development for season two. The show right now
that I'm focused on is Five Star Weekend, which is
green lit by Peacock. It will be an eight part
series coming out in the spring. It will be either
late May or early June. It stars Jennifer Garner as Hollis,
(17:46):
Chloe Savigni as Tatum, Regina Hall as Drew, Anne, Darcy
Cardon as Brooke, and Jimmy Chan as Gg and Timothy
Elephant is Jack.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
An amazing cast. I mean, it is an amazing cast.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
So the way they chose to film it is they
had they shot most of it in Los Angeles because
Jen Garner only shoots in LA for obvious reasons. That's
where her children are. We sort of know what her
parenting situation may or may not be like, so I
totally understood why she would want.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
To stay home with her kids.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
And so they had these sound stages. So for anybody
who's never been on a sound stage in Hollywood, it's
an airplane hangar.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
And in the airplane hangar.
Speaker 4 (18:28):
They built one Nantucket House and one Wellesley House. They
were in separate hangers, okay, separate to sound studios. And
so they shot in the Nantucket House and then they
shot in the Wellesley House. And they did that all
summer long. They wrapped at the end of August, and
then everybody flew out to Nantucket and they started shooting
September eighth, and so I had a whole week before
(18:50):
I went on tour. I had a whole week with them.
And Jen Garner is exactly the person that you think
she is. She showed up at my signing on or
on Sunday, like we're all sitting there. There's a line
just like there was here, and she comes running in
and takes pictures with everyone, takes.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
Selfies with everybody.
Speaker 4 (19:12):
You know, no makeup, she's her hair is in a braid,
she's going for a bike ride. I mean, she is
the most She's the loveliest, most successible, friendliest, nicest, kindest.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
She'd already been to church, she'd already been to hot yoga.
Speaker 4 (19:22):
You know, she was just doing all the She said,
I'm in heaven here, Ellen. I love Nantucket so much.
I think she went to a real estate company. I'm
not sure, but you know. And they so now they're
shooting on Nantucket for the entire month, and they're shooting on.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
All Point Road with the house.
Speaker 4 (19:39):
They're shooting at the Chicken Box right, they're shooting in
the stopping shop, they're shooting at Bartlett Farm. I went
to Bartlett Farm one day when they were shooting, and
I'm gonna be honest with you, it's very very boring
on set because they do a million takes of the
same scene over and over and over again, and you're
(19:59):
sitting in the rector chair, you're watching it on a
monitor and you're just seeing the same scene over and
over and ever. So I only go for like an
hour because you're just watching the same thing.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
So are you more involved in these projects now that
you have more time?
Speaker 4 (20:14):
I think I'm more involved in this one. I don't
know if it's because I have more time. The Perfect
Couple shot during the strikes and it was very dicey.
They shot over and shot them. I went twice. I
went then I went out to La but because of
the strikes, it was it was.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
It was just it was just challenging, you know. And
they do have a cameo in this one.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
No, they offered, And honestly, I was so busy trying
to get ready to come on tour and with a
million other things.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
I don't need to be in it, Okay, I.
Speaker 4 (20:47):
Don't, because my cup is already full just from having
it made and having it shot on Nantucket, and I
didn't have half a day to donate to being in it.
Once I get out from under all the things that
I'm doing, be in a show at some point, is
my guess. But not this show.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Okay, you said there's an Academy two, the Academy two.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
When will that be coming out?
Speaker 4 (21:08):
So my second book, The Thoroughbreds, will come out this
time next year.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Oh great?
Speaker 4 (21:12):
Yeah, and then I will really and truly, you guys,
I'll be done.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
I'm finished after that. She keeps saying it.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
Yeah, I know, I know, I feel like Brett Favre.
I mean, I will be done. I will be done
after that. I will keep writing, and I may may
publish a book down the road, but as far as
like year after year after year, I'm taking.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
A break, all right.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
So swan Song is basically the Perfect Couple too, right,
That's what they're basing it on.
Speaker 4 (21:37):
They are using Swansong as the second season for the
Perfect Couple. It has yet to be green lit because
what they're trying to figure out is how to take
an entire novel or elements of that novel and plug
it into the existing show.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
I heard the take actually this.
Speaker 4 (21:52):
Morning on my way from the Tampa airport to my hotel,
I talked to the showrunner and the ideas, the idea
this guy has for how to do it is so ingenious.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
But this is like the.
Speaker 4 (22:04):
Third show runner that they've hired, and they fired the
two other ones, So.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
This is like the cast. Do you know that. I
don't know who they're going to cast.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
I don't know who they're going to cast because the
idea he has is so clever, but it's we don't know.
But they will bring in some new people and plug
it into Lev will still be in it.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
Nicole will still be in it. Oh wow, that's new information.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
Yeah, they will be in it, okay, because it's trying
to take Swansong and insert it into.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
The actual show. Right.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Do you have a favorite character in your books?
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Do you have a favorite book?
Speaker 4 (22:44):
I think I have a favorite, Like my two favorite
books are The Bluebeestrow in twenty eight Summers Razor Handi Fields.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
Are also your favorites? Okay, some of us, some of us?
Speaker 4 (22:56):
And my favorite character though, I think is from the
Winter Street series, my Christmas series wager Hand.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
If you've read the Christmas series, oh a lot of
you read the Christmas series.
Speaker 4 (23:04):
Okay, so Margaret Quinn, and I think it's just by
virtue of the fact that she's been in four books
first of all.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
Then she makes a cameo and Troubles in Paradise.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
But I love her because she's like a divorced mom
and she has a career and she's really helping her
adult young adult children. And that feels like me. Okay, yeah,
good an answer. I like that too. Wow.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
So what I know that you're a big reader.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Yeah, I always see you posting on Do you follow
Ellen on Instagram?
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (23:34):
Follows me, just if only for the book recommendations. It's sad,
that's all. I was just going to say, your book
recommendations are amazing.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
So do people send you the books and then you
put are you finding them? Is Tim helping you? Old story?
Speaker 4 (23:47):
It's really organic. So I get my book ideas from everywhere. So,
for example, I just finished a book called Dominion by
a writer named Addie Kitchens. She that was sent to
me by her publisher, and so I looked at it
and it's about like a small Mississippi Baptist church and
(24:09):
there's a pastor.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
In this church.
Speaker 4 (24:13):
But the story is told from the point of view
of his wife and his youngest son's girlfriend, and this
family has a lot going on and it's anyway, and
you're like.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
There's like a murder whatever, you're like turning.
Speaker 4 (24:25):
It was so good that was sent by their publisher
and I just happened to pick it up and read it.
The book I'm reading now is called Bittersweet by a
woman named Hattie Williams, and I guess it's all over
the internet and I saw it on Instagram and I
ordered it from the store and I was like, Okay,
I'm just going to read this, but it's just something
that I had someone like, I saw on Instagram post
and the description made me think I'm going to like this,
(24:46):
and I am really enjoying it. It's about it's set
in London, and it's about a young assistant in a
publicity department at a publishing house in London and she
has an affair with an older, married writer and that's
right in my realhouse.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
As you guys know.
Speaker 4 (25:00):
So I was like, I am reading that and it's
very very good. I bought it with that's it. What's
going on with your podcast? My podcast, John Grisham is
out today. Yeah, My podcast is called Book, Speech and Beyond.
For those of you who don't listen, you should listen.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
And this is.
Speaker 4 (25:16):
Why we Because I'm already an established novelist, it has
been extremely easy for me to get the writers that
you guys already read. Season one, we had Taylor Jenkins read.
We had Colleen Hoover, we had Kristin Hannah, we had
Jody Pico, we had Jennifer Weiner, we had last season,
(25:37):
we had Aina Gerdon, we had Kevin Kwan, we had
we had Nicole Kidman on. We had Sarah Jessica Parker
on for we had Take tapperon. We had Sonny Houston on.
So every almost every single person you will already know them.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
You will.
Speaker 4 (25:53):
It's and we're talking about, you know, in a little
bit of inside Baseball about writing. We had Emily Giffen on.
I have John Grisham on his episode dropped today. So
lots of writers that you've already you already know them.
And that's what I wanted from this podcast. I didn't
want to pick an obscure writer that you've never heard of,
(26:14):
and then you have to go read the book that
is not interesting to anybody. I wanted people that you
already know who they are. And I'm so so lucky
we had to unpatch it on. I mean, I'm so
lucky because I can just ask these people. And the
only person that Tim, my co host, Tim really really
really wants that we have not been able to get
is Stephen King. And I have written to him so
(26:36):
many times just begging him.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
Does he respond no, that's wrong with him? I don't know.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
We really really want Stephen King. And the other person
that said no is Danielle Steele. I want I want
Stephen King from my book club too. I know, right, Yeah,
maybe you're right so good. Yeah, but you guys should listen.
They're forty five minutes.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
And Tim, her her partner, her podcast partner, is like
the best guy ever.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
Yeah. He's like, we're like you and Billy, We're like, yeah, totally.
They don't know who Billy is. Unfortunately he's he's uh,
my co host.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
I'm Billy and Lisa in the morning in Boston and
we've been working together for twenty five years. I've been
sitting next to this man at four o'clock in the morning.
Speaker 4 (27:16):
And he's just so cool. Yeah, and he's fun. Yeah,
he's not cool tim and he is fun. And that's
a timis he's my work husband. Yeah, he has a husband,
but he is my work husband.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
Right, Yeah, that's what bially is. Do you guys have
any questions for Ellen? Anyone have any questions? I'm sure
you have questions, because here I am in Tampa. I
know if you do, just raise your hand, can me here?
Speaker 4 (27:37):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (27:37):
There you go?
Speaker 6 (27:39):
Is your daughter getting any of the residuals from the book?
Speaker 4 (27:42):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (27:42):
Okay, question?
Speaker 7 (27:43):
Yeah, what's that?
Speaker 3 (27:45):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (27:45):
So she's taking twenty five percent of everything, which is
not enough of you, asked Kerk. But too much of you,
asked me, and too much of you ask her brothers
because they are really mad.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
Oh boy.
Speaker 4 (27:57):
But yeah, So, and that's twenty five percent of all
four of the movies of everything.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
So she's all set. She's all set. Is she touring?
Is she doing the book tour with you? No, she's
in college.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
So last night one of the reasons I'm kind of.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
Losing my voice.
Speaker 4 (28:11):
So yesterday morning we got up at four am. We
went on with Gail King on CBS Mornings in New
York City. She had flown in at midnight the night before.
Then we turned around and We went back to Miami
yesterday and we did a big event at the University
of Miami, a huge event there. She obviously did that
with me, she's a sophomore there. And then she stayed
(28:32):
put and I came to Tampa and then I go
around the rest of the country for the next week
and a half, and then you're back in Boston.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
With us on October twenty October twenty.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
First, I have a question just about writing in general,
because when I tell people how you should read, like
five Star Weekend, you should read hosts on Nantucket Nantucket,
and this person is maybe new to you, they always
ask me, well, is this like, do I have to
read all the other books?
Speaker 3 (28:55):
So how is a writer?
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Do you organize books so that they're not so they
can be a standalone book? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (29:02):
How does that work?
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Well?
Speaker 4 (29:03):
The thing that I've done in my career which has
been very important is that my summer novels are all STANDALONESE.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
They are all standalones.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
You can read them in any order, and some of
them feel like sister novels, where by which I mean
they have common characters, but you don't have to You
can read them in any order.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
You'll just recognize certain.
Speaker 4 (29:24):
Characters who appear again and again, but you don't have
to know anything about them, Like you could read Swan
Song first and then go back and read the Castaways
and then read the Rumor. And that's and you will
not be you will not be unhinged by that. It's
totally fine. I have written two series. Those, you guys,
must be read in order. That is my Christmas series
(29:45):
Winter Street, and then the pair, especially the Paradise series
that's set in Saint John. Those must be read in
order or you will be very confused.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
And also like a ton of spoilers, so.
Speaker 4 (29:58):
When you're reading those, you want to look on the
spine and see if it has a number on it.
But the Paradise series and the Christmas series are those
are in order. If it's a summer very clearly a
summer book, you can read any which one you want.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
Yeah, and is that hard to do? No, I guess
a writer because I never wanted.
Speaker 4 (30:16):
I never wanted to write like a sequel to any
of the summer backs, so.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
They're all just standalones. That's great, And the Academy will
be one of two. Yes. So I loved five Star
Weekend that was my favorite book. Loved it. I love
the whole idea. So how did you get the idea?
And have you done it? Okay, that is a great question.
Speaker 4 (30:38):
So the answer is I, during the pandemic, had drinks,
which was very dicey with I have a very good
writer friend and I will not name her, but she's
you've maybe heard of her, very good writer friend. She's like,
I'm on Nantucket. Can you have drinks? It's the middle
of September twenty twenty.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
Nobody's going for drinks.
Speaker 4 (30:57):
I said, okay, fine, So I meet her at the
Hotel Nantucket Bar and you know, we're sitting at a
table and nobody else is, of course around us because
it's distancing. And I said, what are you doing here?
And she said, I came for a weekend. My one
of my best friends has terminal cancer and she's not
(31:19):
going to live very much longer.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
But she feels okay now.
Speaker 4 (31:21):
So what she did was she invited her best friends
from each stage of her life and we're all here
for a weekend on Nantucket to celebrate her. And she
goes on, Ellen, I can't stand the other woman.
Speaker 8 (31:36):
And that's why I invited you for a dad, and
I'm like, okay, I'm using that obviously.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
Oh oh my god, that's an almost She goes, well,
it's a no. One hill, a brand novel, and I go, yes,
it is.
Speaker 4 (31:51):
So I changed it obviously because I thought that was
too sad.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
Yeah, that's too sad.
Speaker 4 (31:56):
I'm not going to have her dime and have her
husband die.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
And there you have it, and that's essentially. Yeah, it
was really good. Another question I think we have. I'll
come with you. Yeah, well we'll get on myke here.
We'll start right here and then we'll come back. Do
you ever have any regrets after your book has been published?
So all of a sudden it's out, people are buying
it and you're thinking, oh, why did I let her die?
(32:21):
Because we're all here crying. Not usually.
Speaker 4 (32:24):
I am very beautifully edited by my editors in New York.
And I've had two really just to my entire career,
Ring and Arthur and Judy Klain, and they're so so
talented they would.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
Never let me make a misstep.
Speaker 4 (32:39):
Every once in a while there's like a line I
wish I hadn't used. You know, we're getting increasingly, you know,
or there wasn't time. Maybe like two or three years
ago where everybody was like, I'm going to use the
phrase politically correct, but even.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
That's not right anymore.
Speaker 4 (32:55):
But like where people were very upset because I would
use a phrase that was you know, a and so
just like a part of the population, and so I
was like, shit, I wish I hadn't used that. But
other than that, like as far as plot points go,
I'm fairly happy. One of the interesting things though with
Hollywood is like they're adapting, you know, I don't do
(33:17):
any screenwriting at all, So I'll read the scripts and
I'll be like, shoot, I should have I should have
thought of that, Like they'll have such good ideas.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
I think one more. I'm a tea shirt coach. I'll
need to Okay, thank.
Speaker 7 (33:31):
You for coming. I'm an Iowan, so thank you. So
I'm wondering if you're going to have any more stories
coming from Iowa City or going down to Saint John
because one of my favorite places to vacation.
Speaker 4 (33:44):
Yeah, so I'll tell you why I set part of
the sort of the people. Okay, when I started writing
the Paradise series, my publisher and this is like a
very look like a peek behind the curtain. My publisher said, Ellen,
is there any of the sales department has had? Is
there any way you could set like the secondary location,
(34:06):
not on Nantucket, not in the Northeast. Can you use
the rest of the country. So I thought to myself, Oh,
what am I going to do? I don't really know
anything about the rest of the country. Oh but wait,
I did live in Iowa for two years when I
was at the University of Iowa Writer's workshop, so I
had Irene live in Iowa City and everyone.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
In Iowa was of course thrilled.
Speaker 4 (34:29):
And then as my two other secondary locations, I used
Houston in Denver purely because I've done book signings there.
So I'm like, Okay, I've done book signings in Houston,
I've done book signings in Denver. I'm gonna use those
two where the that's where the boys live. And then
I just had to like research those places. But Iowa
City I knew a little bit more about. Will I
write another Saint John book? The answer is no, I'm
(34:51):
not going to be writing any more books, as we've discussed,
but that has been optioned by Universal as well, and
as with a major dreamer as well, so hopefully that
will get made into a series. I think of all
of my books at this point, that would be the
one I want to see get made because I want
(35:12):
the Virgin Islands really to get their moment, because there
has not been a good or any series set in
the Virgin Island. Saint John is completely undiscovered and that's
probably what we love about it. And I'm probably about
to ruin it. But if I feel like that, you know,
you'll get your fix that way. Maybe hopefully, can I
ask you because you keep saying this, is it like
after the Academy too, What.
Speaker 3 (35:33):
Are you going to do? Yeah? No, I'm going to write,
but I'm not.
Speaker 4 (35:37):
I'm probably not going to do anything like I've done
in the past, like I'm going to.
Speaker 3 (35:42):
Write a novel.
Speaker 4 (35:43):
I just I just need a break so I can't
like I would never promise, Oh yes, I'm going to
go back. I definitely won't be going back to the
Virgin Islands because I feel like I did a really
good job. I just I'm leaving it there and and
I may I may go back back to Nantucket, you
never know.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
But it's not going to be my first book out,
you know.
Speaker 4 (36:01):
I'm just going to write I've always been writing on
of contract, which means that I have to turn it
in and I'm done doing that.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
Yes, I'm finished.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
Okay, one, we're in the back and then we're going
to do our drawings because Ellen, I al it's going
to Charleston.
Speaker 3 (36:17):
Yeah, I'm going to.
Speaker 6 (36:17):
So I'm a former educator and I'm from Hillsborough Education Foundation, wonderful.
I'm their CFO, doctor Terry Carson, and I want I
would be remiss if I didn't ask you. Was there
someone in your life, perhaps an educator that you came
in contact with or a parent that encouraged you, inspired
(36:38):
you to read and inspired you to become a writer.
Speaker 4 (36:42):
Okay, Terry, You're going to love this answer, and it
is one hundred percent true.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
When I was in second grade, at the end of.
Speaker 4 (36:49):
The school year, my second grade teachers gave out an
award to every student in the class.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
My award was the top Author Award. I can remember
them saying it.
Speaker 4 (36:59):
I can see my little self, I can see myself
sitting down cross legged, and they said top Author Award,
all On Hildebrand And I thought to myself, Yes, I
am an author. Yeah, And if anybody else had gotten
that a word, I would have been angry and upset,
like without even really knowing why. But I felt like
that was like my special interest and they recognized it.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
Do I think that I displayed the enormous talent at
age seven?
Speaker 4 (37:22):
No, but they knew I loved doing it, and by
acknowledging me, acknowledging me and saying you're the top author,
they set me on my path.
Speaker 3 (37:32):
Now here's the better story.
Speaker 4 (37:34):
Years and years and years later, I'm signing in my
hometown and who comes to my signing My second grade teacher,
missus Buckwalder.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
And she sits in.
Speaker 4 (37:43):
The front road and I get to say to her,
you know, you are the person that believed in me
and that named it when I was so young, and
it's because of you that I'm.
Speaker 3 (37:52):
Up here today. And she got to hear me say that,
h that's a great, great story. It's theft is a
defect act into the fut
Hey, Welcome to Lisa's Book Club, a podcast where I
interview best selling authors from the New England area, pulling
back the curtain on what it's really like being a
best selling author. They're guilty pleasures, latest projects, and so
much more. So just a little background on Lisa's book
Club before we get started. I started at about three
years ago with the idea that I wasn't reading enough,
(00:26):
my son wasn't reading enough, and the fact that in
New England we have so many amazing authors and Ellen
being one of them.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
So welcome, thank you, all right, thank you, Yeah, all right,
there we go. Hi everyone, Hello Tampa. So exciting to
be here.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
I just want to thank Oxford Exchange for doing the book.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Yes how it is one of the most first of
all aesthetically beautiful stores bookstores I've ever visited. I've been
there I think two or three times in recent years.
It is gorgeous, That's what I hear. And they are
very You've got to stop when you're in Temple, You've
got to go look at it.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
It is like nothing else you've ever seen. Am I wrong?
I'm right, It's okay, Okay.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Before we get started, I want to we have some
thank yous, Craze Grace.
Speaker 5 (01:11):
They did the charcroterie, which I know you guys loved,
the soorci sprits.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Those two hot guys in the back of the wine
guys like that. We got to bring it to Boston.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
And I want to introduce Carrie.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
She's had a brands for birch Lane and she's going
to welcome you to this beautiful store and she's got
some fun things for you.
Speaker 5 (01:35):
Hi Ruon, thank you so much, Thank you so much
for coming. We are really excited. The Wayfair team as
a whole has been working with Lisa for a while
and this is our first time coming down to Florida
with the birch Lane store, and the entire birch Lane
team was so excited about this.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
I myself have been in many a.
Speaker 5 (01:56):
Marketing meeting where people are describing what our spring is
esthetic is and it's Ellen Hildebrand, you know, so you
are literally the inspiration for some Spring twenty twenty six
is inspired by your book Aesthetic. So the whole team
was super excited. We're glad to have you here. Make
(02:18):
sure to enter the raffle. If you haven't, it should
have been on your seat to win a two hundred
and fifty dollars gift card. We'll pull a winner at
the end of that, and then the takeaway card on
your seat is also fifteen percent off the entire store
for the next thirty days, So if you didn't have
a chance to shop today, you can come back and
(02:40):
capture anything you like here, perhaps one of an Ellen
inspired look. So yeah, thank you so much for coming
and I will kick it back to Lisa.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Thank you, Carrie. She's not joking. They're obsessed with you, honest.
So hire Brush Lay team is obsessed with you. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
I want to also mention that we're raising money. We
do in Boston, we raise money for Raising a Reader
and we've been able to purchase five thousand books for
families in Massachusetts, which is amazing. Here we're doing Hillsboro
Educational Foundation and they support childhood education. So that's what
your Raffle ticket is going towards. So I really want
to thank the Tampa team for putting that together.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
It's really huge.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
So all right, so Ellen, we've been together now twice.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
We've had two book clubs Swansong.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
And we did with Hotel Dante did two book clubs
and then we did Quincy.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
So we've actually been together through right, do you write
your rights right? Because I did one at the casino.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Yeah, we got in trouble. We'll have to talk about
that people.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
And then you came to Nantucket right right, and we
did the Swan and then we did Quincy and then
we did Quincy.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
So so our fourth time together. We I know, I
feel like I'm on like a tour with you now.
I know we're on tour with me now, yes we are. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
So I need you to share because you shared this
when we were at dream In Theater when Swansong came out.
What you told your publisher when you decided that after
your thirtieth book on Nantucket that it would over?
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Can you please share that quick story? Yes, So I.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
Told my publisher that Swansong was going to be the
last of the Nantucket based books.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
And for those of you who.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
Are feeling sad about that, I want to explain my
reason in case you haven't seen.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Why that is the case.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
So I Nantucket is small. It's four miles wide and
thirteen miles long, and I have written I think of
the of the three books twenty seven or set on Nantucket,
so that I've covered it, Okay, ways, I've covered it,
and I really felt like I wanted to stop before
I started repeating myself, before it started to feel stale,
(04:39):
before I started phoning it in, because I could feel
myself like start growing less interested in it.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
So I said, Okay, Swansong is going to be my
last novel. And then my daughter.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
At that time was a software junior at Saint George's
School in Rhode Island, and as soon as she got
to Saint George's, the phone calls, I mean three, four
or five phone calls a day. She was having a
one full time, but the stories were blowing my mind.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
So I said to her, we have to we have
to write a book. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
So I went to my publisher and I said, would
if I wrote like a boarding school book with Shelby,
would you be interested in publishing it? And the very
next day there was a two book deal in my inbox.
So Shelby and I started writing The Academy together. So
that is what we're here to celebrate tonight.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
And I saw you on CBS this morning with Gail,
You and Shelby. Yeah, and you guys are talking about
how what it was like, we're writing a book with
Shelby and how you were organizing your thoughts, Like can
you explain like did you give her characters to develop
(05:45):
in the book or how did that work?
Speaker 4 (05:47):
Yeah, so we developed all of the kid characters together.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
I wanted I was explain it to you this way.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
We've all read novels set at boarding school, Like, how
many of you guys have read Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld?
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Anybody?
Speaker 4 (06:02):
So some of you have read that a separate piece
which came out like before we were born. But that's
like a classic boarding school novel, Catcher in the Rye
Harry Potter, Right, So there's a whole canon of sort
of boarding school literature, but there's nothing from gen Z.
So we wanted to write a gen Z boarding school novel.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
We also.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
Wanted it to be more like the Hotel Nantucket, where
everybody's point of view is come is shared. So in
the Hotel Nantucket, as you know, we talked to every
We hear from everybody at the hotel, the guests, the
cleaning staff, the front desk, the bellman, the owner, the
whole thing. And in this novel, the Academy, we hear
(06:49):
from the head of school. We hear from the teachers,
we hear briefly from the parents, and then we hear
from the kids. So Shelby and I developed all of
those characters and their arcs together. But she really chimed
in when we were talking about the kids.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Right, and what they were wearing, and what they were
wearing and what yes.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
And also she had the lived experience of going to
Saint George's. I went to like a very mediocre suburban
high school in the nineteen eighties, so you can, you know,
watch my high school years when you look at sixteen candles.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Or pretty I'm book.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
Yeah, yeah, I mean that was like every suburban high
school in America in the eighties was sort of the same.
And I did not have the mystique or sort of
you know, the eliteeness of going to like a fancy
New England boarding school, So I knew nothing about it.
I didn't know the lingo, I didn't know the way
the year is structured. I didn't know the way the
day was structured. So all of those things she'll be
(07:40):
shared with me. But then I would also give her assignments.
So because I'm the novelist, I was very much in
charge of how the book was going to unfold, and
then I would, like I was a teacher to a student,
I would say, Okay, Shelly, now write the scene where
Dobby goes to tell Charlie that she has a dress
for her for first dance. And so Shelby wrote that
(08:00):
scene and then I would edit it, and then she
would edit me because I'm embarrassing and cringing and every
single word I wrote needed to be fixed.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
So it was really like a back and forth process.
Speaker 4 (08:15):
And she trusted me with you know, the plot twists,
and you know, narrating the arcs and the pacing and
all the things that you know I would know after
writing thirty novels.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
And I fully.
Speaker 4 (08:25):
Trusted her in that, you know, all of the details
she gave me, and especially as for the dialogue for
the kids that I just wrote it as she said it.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
So she was like, really, your research buddy too at
this thing.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Did you know the ending and the book before you
started it? So we knew that some loops for those has.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
Anybody finished it? I finished in here Lisa and a
couple of people. Some of the loops close and some
of the loops are open because there's a book too
coming and so by as basically, we start the academy
at the beginning of junior year, something tragic has happened
at the end sophomore year. Everybody in the junior year
is a little tender, and a new girl comes in
(09:06):
as a junior, which is highly unusual. But they've had
this child dying at the end of sophomore year, so
it all plays into what's happening. Book two will of
course be their senior year, right, so the loops that
are left open at the end of this book will
be finished and closed in book two.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
So some of the scandals that are in this book
are loosely based on stuff that Shelby knew about, stuff
that you've heard about at other boarding schools.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
Yeah, I can't say too much because I do.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Not want to get sued, although we've.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
Discussed getting sued, and then Shelby was like, would it
really be so bad if we got sued at such
good publicity? And I'm like, yeah, it is, But what
says gen Z right, like do we even care?
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Okay, But the.
Speaker 4 (09:53):
It was more like the spirit of things that would
happen rather than actual particular things that happened, right, You
know the spirit of certain characters were included in characters.
But you know, as I've said a million times to
you and to other people, real people do not belong
in fiction. Real people are too random and diverse and
have too many aspects to fit neatly into a story
(10:14):
that has to make sense.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
So we used bits and pieces of things that shell
be new.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Was there anything surprising you when you were writing with Shelby,
like anything that popped up? Like was there anything difficult
about writing with your daughter?
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Like?
Speaker 3 (10:26):
I don't know. I mean, I did not realize how
out of touch I was with gen Z. You know,
because your son and your son day, is he still
at Milton.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Or did he graduated? He graduates at Brown? Now, okay, awesome, Yeah,
I am so impressed. Okay, So Lisa's daughter went to
another very fancy and Milton's.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Miss my son is a freshman at Milton Academy. Oh
you have another okay, yeah, yeah, we've got too yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
So okay, yeah, so anyway, you know, we know, and
it just so happens at the head of school at
Milton used to be the head of school at Saint George's.
I kind of wish she'd stayed at Saint George's, honestly,
but she's great.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
Yeah, so, yes, I was. But anything she told me
that shocked me, No, I cannot be shocked.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
Shelby has been very open with me throughout her adolescence
because I made a point of just saying to her,
you can tell me anything. I'm not gonna punish you.
I'm not gonna scream and yell. I'm just gonna absorb it.
And I really have stood by that. Yeah, she's never
been grounded, she's never had anything taken away because she's
(11:26):
always been super honest and open with me, even about,
you know, the difficult things, things I certainly in a
million years would never have shared with my mother. But
that is because we were different, you know. And my
mother is a boomer. She might not even she might
be even one year older than a boomer. But so
(11:48):
but I would never tell I would never have told
her anything. But I said to Shelby very strict parents
a lot of times, like I had very strict parents,
you would lie to them because of course you're gonna
do all the bad things you're gonna do, regardless of
whether they want you to or whether they're strict or lenient.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
So I knew that because I was a good kid.
I got straight a's whatever.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
But I was like sneaking out of my house to
go to my boyfriend's house in the middle of the
night and smoking cigarettes and doing all kinds of things.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
But my mother still to this day does not know
and will never know. But I knew. I said to Shelby,
just tell me right, you know.
Speaker 4 (12:18):
Yeah, So there was nothing that went in the book
that was like a shocker surprise.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Okay, let's talk about the cover art, because it looks
exactly like your daughter. I mean, how involved were you
with the cover and tell a story about like how
and Bobby were with other covers.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Well or not. In general, I have.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
Very little say about the covers. Historically, they my publisher
comes up with some ideas.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
And then do you know who they ask.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
They ask to Target, they ask Walmart, they ask Burnes
and Noble, they ask major retailers what they think of
the cover, and the people in charge of marketing for
those stores weigh in. I ill to this day, thirty
books later.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
You know, bestseller list doesn't matter.
Speaker 4 (13:03):
Have very little say. It is not Shelby on the cover.
But it does sort of look like her. At one
point they were going to use Harvard, and Harvard said,
is Harvard mentioned in the book? And I said, yes,
I believe because but like just in passing, and I
(13:25):
think then they said no, they were not going to
lend their image to the book. So I don't know
where except as I'm looking at this, Lisa, and you agree,
that does look like Harvard, right, it does, But I
don't know what they used for that building. But it's
very it's a whole process of which I am just
(13:45):
like a slender part.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
So I know.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Well, you've already stated this that this book has been optioned, right,
can you tell us?
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Yeah? I wish I could tell you more.
Speaker 4 (13:57):
We had this time last year, Shelby and I were
on the phone and on zooms with basically everybody in
Hollywood because of The Perfect Couple was such an enormous hit.
So The Perfect Couple came out like September fourth, right,
we're now September seventeenth, So then it's two weeks later.
I've finished the Academy, I've turned it in to my
Hollywood agents.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
They've sent it around, and.
Speaker 4 (14:18):
Because the Couple was such a hit, everybody wanted the Academy,
so we had a lot of you know, we had
zooms with Hello Sunshine and just a bunch of streamers
and producers and it was super exciting. Shelby was nonplused.
She was like, I don't care, okay, but she was
on them.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
She was on them.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
And then it ended up we had a little bit
of a bidding more and there were two major streamers
going after it, and we went with one of the
major streamers, and I can't tell you which one, and
I can't tell you whose show running. It's supposed to
be announced this week to coincide with the publication of
the book.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Who do you think would be a good head master?
Speaker 4 (14:53):
So I think Carrie Washington would be good for Audra.
She's a woman of color, she's in her fifties. I
want someone hugely popular, it says Carrie Washington to me,
or like Regina King or somebody like that, like somebody
really she would be perfect.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
And like Davy, who do you think like Zendia?
Speaker 4 (15:13):
Dobby yeah, Dobby yeah, like a Zendia yeah, Zendaya.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Yeah, would be really fun. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
I have to say after reading this book, like I
was so hungry you're a description of food on campus
and the menus, so elaborate on this I can.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
So as I'm writing the book, I'm like, Okay, what
do people you know? Because I understand it's a departure, right,
and you guys want the things that I've always given
you in the other books, and I'm like super cognizant
of that. I'm like, Okay, when I'm writing this book,
what am I going to give my royal longtime readers?
Speaker 3 (15:51):
They want the food. So I'm like, I obviously have.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
To have a lot, like a New York chef who's
been disgraced because of gambling and him at the school. Yes,
sort of his punishment, but yet the food is absolutely amazing.
And of course I enjoy writing about food so much.
It was so much fun. Yeah, So I get to
and then my editor was like, put in the menus,
you know, put they have all these parties at the school.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
So all of the parties.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
Have menus, and they have like the Christmas party, and
they have the you know, the first dance, and there's
all these orders. So I list all the menus, which
is so much fun. The chef ends up having like
sort of you know, he has his own.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Little arc in there too. But it was really for
you guys that I chose and for me, but to.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
Choose to include all the delicious food. The food at
Saint George's was atrocious. I followed there was like a
company that ran the kitchen there, and I followed the
company online, so I could see what Shelby was having
for dinner every night.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
And I'm like, this just gets worse and worse and worse.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
That's why I'm surprised because at my kids school too,
it's not great.
Speaker 4 (16:59):
It's not great, no, but at Tiffin because it's imaginary.
Oh yeah, we've got a world class chef.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
So when you're reading it, just have like snacks ready
to go.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Because you're gonna be starving.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
So let's talk a little bit about Five Star Weekends, Okay,
because I know just last week Jennifer Garner and the
whole crew were on Nantucket. You were with them, right,
So elaborate on what's going on with that.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
So the one, so The Couple is now finished and
we're in development for season two. The show right now
that I'm focused on is Five Star Weekend, which is
green lit by Peacock. It will be an eight part
series coming out in the spring. It will be either
late May or early June. It stars Jennifer Garner as Hollis,
(17:46):
Chloe Savigni as Tatum, Regina Hall as Drew, Anne, Darcy
Cardon as Brooke, and Jimmy Chan as Gg and Timothy
Elephant is Jack.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
An amazing cast. I mean, it is an amazing cast.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
So the way they chose to film it is they
had they shot most of it in Los Angeles because
Jen Garner only shoots in LA for obvious reasons. That's
where her children are. We sort of know what her
parenting situation may or may not be like, so I
totally understood why she would want.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
To stay home with her kids.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
And so they had these sound stages. So for anybody
who's never been on a sound stage in Hollywood, it's
an airplane hangar.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
And in the airplane hangar.
Speaker 4 (18:28):
They built one Nantucket House and one Wellesley House. They
were in separate hangers, okay, separate to sound studios. And
so they shot in the Nantucket House and then they
shot in the Wellesley House. And they did that all
summer long. They wrapped at the end of August, and
then everybody flew out to Nantucket and they started shooting
September eighth, and so I had a whole week before
(18:50):
I went on tour. I had a whole week with them.
And Jen Garner is exactly the person that you think
she is. She showed up at my signing on or
on Sunday, like we're all sitting there. There's a line
just like there was here, and she comes running in
and takes pictures with everyone, takes.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
Selfies with everybody.
Speaker 4 (19:12):
You know, no makeup, she's her hair is in a braid,
she's going for a bike ride. I mean, she is
the most She's the loveliest, most successible, friendliest, nicest, kindest.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
She'd already been to church, she'd already been to hot yoga.
Speaker 4 (19:22):
You know, she was just doing all the She said,
I'm in heaven here, Ellen. I love Nantucket so much.
I think she went to a real estate company. I'm
not sure, but you know. And they so now they're
shooting on Nantucket for the entire month, and they're shooting on.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
All Point Road with the house.
Speaker 4 (19:39):
They're shooting at the Chicken Box right, they're shooting in
the stopping shop, they're shooting at Bartlett Farm. I went
to Bartlett Farm one day when they were shooting, and
I'm gonna be honest with you, it's very very boring
on set because they do a million takes of the
same scene over and over and over again, and you're
(19:59):
sitting in the rector chair, you're watching it on a
monitor and you're just seeing the same scene over and
over and ever. So I only go for like an
hour because you're just watching the same thing.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
So are you more involved in these projects now that
you have more time?
Speaker 4 (20:14):
I think I'm more involved in this one. I don't
know if it's because I have more time. The Perfect
Couple shot during the strikes and it was very dicey.
They shot over and shot them. I went twice. I
went then I went out to La but because of
the strikes, it was it was.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
It was just it was just challenging, you know. And
they do have a cameo in this one.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
No, they offered, And honestly, I was so busy trying
to get ready to come on tour and with a
million other things.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
I don't need to be in it, Okay, I.
Speaker 4 (20:47):
Don't, because my cup is already full just from having
it made and having it shot on Nantucket, and I
didn't have half a day to donate to being in it.
Once I get out from under all the things that
I'm doing, be in a show at some point, is
my guess. But not this show.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Okay, you said there's an Academy two, the Academy two.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
When will that be coming out?
Speaker 4 (21:08):
So my second book, The Thoroughbreds, will come out this
time next year.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Oh great?
Speaker 4 (21:12):
Yeah, and then I will really and truly, you guys,
I'll be done.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
I'm finished after that. She keeps saying it.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
Yeah, I know, I know, I feel like Brett Favre.
I mean, I will be done. I will be done
after that. I will keep writing, and I may may
publish a book down the road, but as far as
like year after year after year, I'm taking.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
A break, all right.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
So swan Song is basically the Perfect Couple too, right,
That's what they're basing it on.
Speaker 4 (21:37):
They are using Swansong as the second season for the
Perfect Couple. It has yet to be green lit because
what they're trying to figure out is how to take
an entire novel or elements of that novel and plug
it into the existing show.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
I heard the take actually this.
Speaker 4 (21:52):
Morning on my way from the Tampa airport to my hotel,
I talked to the showrunner and the ideas, the idea
this guy has for how to do it is so ingenious.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
But this is like the.
Speaker 4 (22:04):
Third show runner that they've hired, and they fired the
two other ones, So.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
This is like the cast. Do you know that. I
don't know who they're going to cast.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
I don't know who they're going to cast because the
idea he has is so clever, but it's we don't know.
But they will bring in some new people and plug
it into Lev will still be in it.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
Nicole will still be in it. Oh wow, that's new information.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
Yeah, they will be in it, okay, because it's trying
to take Swansong and insert it into.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
The actual show. Right.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Do you have a favorite character in your books?
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Do you have a favorite book?
Speaker 4 (22:44):
I think I have a favorite, Like my two favorite
books are The Bluebeestrow in twenty eight Summers Razor Handi Fields.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
Are also your favorites? Okay, some of us, some of us?
Speaker 4 (22:56):
And my favorite character though, I think is from the
Winter Street series, my Christmas series wager Hand.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
If you've read the Christmas series, oh a lot of
you read the Christmas series.
Speaker 4 (23:04):
Okay, so Margaret Quinn, and I think it's just by
virtue of the fact that she's been in four books
first of all.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
Then she makes a cameo and Troubles in Paradise.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
But I love her because she's like a divorced mom
and she has a career and she's really helping her
adult young adult children. And that feels like me. Okay, yeah,
good an answer. I like that too. Wow.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
So what I know that you're a big reader.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Yeah, I always see you posting on Do you follow
Ellen on Instagram?
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (23:34):
Follows me, just if only for the book recommendations. It's sad,
that's all. I was just going to say, your book
recommendations are amazing.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
So do people send you the books and then you
put are you finding them? Is Tim helping you? Old story?
Speaker 4 (23:47):
It's really organic. So I get my book ideas from everywhere. So,
for example, I just finished a book called Dominion by
a writer named Addie Kitchens. She that was sent to
me by her publisher, and so I looked at it
and it's about like a small Mississippi Baptist church and
(24:09):
there's a pastor.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
In this church.
Speaker 4 (24:13):
But the story is told from the point of view
of his wife and his youngest son's girlfriend, and this
family has a lot going on and it's anyway, and
you're like.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
There's like a murder whatever, you're like turning.
Speaker 4 (24:25):
It was so good that was sent by their publisher
and I just happened to pick it up and read it.
The book I'm reading now is called Bittersweet by a
woman named Hattie Williams, and I guess it's all over
the internet and I saw it on Instagram and I
ordered it from the store and I was like, Okay,
I'm just going to read this, but it's just something
that I had someone like, I saw on Instagram post
and the description made me think I'm going to like this,
(24:46):
and I am really enjoying it. It's about it's set
in London, and it's about a young assistant in a
publicity department at a publishing house in London and she
has an affair with an older, married writer and that's
right in my realhouse.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
As you guys know.
Speaker 4 (25:00):
So I was like, I am reading that and it's
very very good. I bought it with that's it. What's
going on with your podcast? My podcast, John Grisham is
out today. Yeah, My podcast is called Book, Speech and Beyond.
For those of you who don't listen, you should listen.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
And this is.
Speaker 4 (25:16):
Why we Because I'm already an established novelist, it has
been extremely easy for me to get the writers that
you guys already read. Season one, we had Taylor Jenkins read.
We had Colleen Hoover, we had Kristin Hannah, we had
Jody Pico, we had Jennifer Weiner, we had last season,
(25:37):
we had Aina Gerdon, we had Kevin Kwan, we had
we had Nicole Kidman on. We had Sarah Jessica Parker
on for we had Take tapperon. We had Sonny Houston on.
So every almost every single person you will already know them.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
You will.
Speaker 4 (25:53):
It's and we're talking about, you know, in a little
bit of inside Baseball about writing. We had Emily Giffen on.
I have John Grisham on his episode dropped today. So
lots of writers that you've already you already know them.
And that's what I wanted from this podcast. I didn't
want to pick an obscure writer that you've never heard of,
(26:14):
and then you have to go read the book that
is not interesting to anybody. I wanted people that you
already know who they are. And I'm so so lucky
we had to unpatch it on. I mean, I'm so
lucky because I can just ask these people. And the
only person that Tim, my co host, Tim really really
really wants that we have not been able to get
is Stephen King. And I have written to him so
(26:36):
many times just begging him.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
Does he respond no, that's wrong with him? I don't know.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
We really really want Stephen King. And the other person
that said no is Danielle Steele. I want I want
Stephen King from my book club too. I know, right, Yeah,
maybe you're right so good. Yeah, but you guys should listen.
They're forty five minutes.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
And Tim, her her partner, her podcast partner, is like
the best guy ever.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
Yeah. He's like, we're like you and Billy, We're like, yeah, totally.
They don't know who Billy is. Unfortunately he's he's uh,
my co host.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
I'm Billy and Lisa in the morning in Boston and
we've been working together for twenty five years. I've been
sitting next to this man at four o'clock in the morning.
Speaker 4 (27:16):
And he's just so cool. Yeah, and he's fun. Yeah,
he's not cool tim and he is fun. And that's
a timis he's my work husband. Yeah, he has a husband,
but he is my work husband.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
Right, Yeah, that's what bially is. Do you guys have
any questions for Ellen? Anyone have any questions? I'm sure
you have questions, because here I am in Tampa. I
know if you do, just raise your hand, can me here?
Speaker 4 (27:37):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (27:37):
There you go?
Speaker 6 (27:39):
Is your daughter getting any of the residuals from the book?
Speaker 4 (27:42):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (27:42):
Okay, question?
Speaker 7 (27:43):
Yeah, what's that?
Speaker 3 (27:45):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (27:45):
So she's taking twenty five percent of everything, which is
not enough of you, asked Kerk. But too much of you,
asked me, and too much of you ask her brothers
because they are really mad.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
Oh boy.
Speaker 4 (27:57):
But yeah, So, and that's twenty five percent of all
four of the movies of everything.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
So she's all set. She's all set. Is she touring?
Is she doing the book tour with you? No, she's
in college.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
So last night one of the reasons I'm kind of.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
Losing my voice.
Speaker 4 (28:11):
So yesterday morning we got up at four am. We
went on with Gail King on CBS Mornings in New
York City. She had flown in at midnight the night before.
Then we turned around and We went back to Miami
yesterday and we did a big event at the University
of Miami, a huge event there. She obviously did that
with me, she's a sophomore there. And then she stayed
(28:32):
put and I came to Tampa and then I go
around the rest of the country for the next week
and a half, and then you're back in Boston.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
With us on October twenty October twenty.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
First, I have a question just about writing in general,
because when I tell people how you should read, like
five Star Weekend, you should read hosts on Nantucket Nantucket,
and this person is maybe new to you, they always
ask me, well, is this like, do I have to
read all the other books?
Speaker 3 (28:55):
So how is a writer?
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Do you organize books so that they're not so they
can be a standalone book? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (29:02):
How does that work?
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Well?
Speaker 4 (29:03):
The thing that I've done in my career which has
been very important is that my summer novels are all STANDALONESE.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
They are all standalones.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
You can read them in any order, and some of
them feel like sister novels, where by which I mean
they have common characters, but you don't have to You
can read them in any order.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
You'll just recognize certain.
Speaker 4 (29:24):
Characters who appear again and again, but you don't have
to know anything about them, Like you could read Swan
Song first and then go back and read the Castaways
and then read the Rumor. And that's and you will
not be you will not be unhinged by that. It's
totally fine. I have written two series. Those, you guys,
must be read in order. That is my Christmas series
(29:45):
Winter Street, and then the pair, especially the Paradise series
that's set in Saint John. Those must be read in
order or you will be very confused.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
And also like a ton of spoilers, so.
Speaker 4 (29:58):
When you're reading those, you want to look on the
spine and see if it has a number on it.
But the Paradise series and the Christmas series are those
are in order. If it's a summer very clearly a
summer book, you can read any which one you want.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
Yeah, and is that hard to do? No, I guess
a writer because I never wanted.
Speaker 4 (30:16):
I never wanted to write like a sequel to any
of the summer backs, so.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
They're all just standalones. That's great, And the Academy will
be one of two. Yes. So I loved five Star
Weekend that was my favorite book. Loved it. I love
the whole idea. So how did you get the idea?
And have you done it? Okay, that is a great question.
Speaker 4 (30:38):
So the answer is I, during the pandemic, had drinks,
which was very dicey with I have a very good
writer friend and I will not name her, but she's
you've maybe heard of her, very good writer friend. She's like,
I'm on Nantucket. Can you have drinks? It's the middle
of September twenty twenty.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
Nobody's going for drinks.
Speaker 4 (30:57):
I said, okay, fine, So I meet her at the
Hotel Nantucket Bar and you know, we're sitting at a
table and nobody else is, of course around us because
it's distancing. And I said, what are you doing here?
And she said, I came for a weekend. My one
of my best friends has terminal cancer and she's not
(31:19):
going to live very much longer.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
But she feels okay now.
Speaker 4 (31:21):
So what she did was she invited her best friends
from each stage of her life and we're all here
for a weekend on Nantucket to celebrate her. And she
goes on, Ellen, I can't stand the other woman.
Speaker 8 (31:36):
And that's why I invited you for a dad, and
I'm like, okay, I'm using that obviously.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
Oh oh my god, that's an almost She goes, well,
it's a no. One hill, a brand novel, and I go, yes,
it is.
Speaker 4 (31:51):
So I changed it obviously because I thought that was
too sad.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
Yeah, that's too sad.
Speaker 4 (31:56):
I'm not going to have her dime and have her
husband die.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
And there you have it, and that's essentially. Yeah, it
was really good. Another question I think we have. I'll
come with you. Yeah, well we'll get on myke here.
We'll start right here and then we'll come back. Do
you ever have any regrets after your book has been published?
So all of a sudden it's out, people are buying
it and you're thinking, oh, why did I let her die?
(32:21):
Because we're all here crying. Not usually.
Speaker 4 (32:24):
I am very beautifully edited by my editors in New York.
And I've had two really just to my entire career,
Ring and Arthur and Judy Klain, and they're so so
talented they would.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
Never let me make a misstep.
Speaker 4 (32:39):
Every once in a while there's like a line I
wish I hadn't used. You know, we're getting increasingly, you know,
or there wasn't time. Maybe like two or three years
ago where everybody was like, I'm going to use the
phrase politically correct, but even.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
That's not right anymore.
Speaker 4 (32:55):
But like where people were very upset because I would
use a phrase that was you know, a and so
just like a part of the population, and so I
was like, shit, I wish I hadn't used that. But
other than that, like as far as plot points go,
I'm fairly happy. One of the interesting things though with
Hollywood is like they're adapting, you know, I don't do
(33:17):
any screenwriting at all, So I'll read the scripts and
I'll be like, shoot, I should have I should have
thought of that, Like they'll have such good ideas.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
I think one more. I'm a tea shirt coach. I'll
need to Okay, thank.
Speaker 7 (33:31):
You for coming. I'm an Iowan, so thank you. So
I'm wondering if you're going to have any more stories
coming from Iowa City or going down to Saint John
because one of my favorite places to vacation.
Speaker 4 (33:44):
Yeah, so I'll tell you why I set part of
the sort of the people. Okay, when I started writing
the Paradise series, my publisher and this is like a
very look like a peek behind the curtain. My publisher said, Ellen,
is there any of the sales department has had? Is
there any way you could set like the secondary location,
(34:06):
not on Nantucket, not in the Northeast. Can you use
the rest of the country. So I thought to myself, Oh,
what am I going to do? I don't really know
anything about the rest of the country. Oh but wait,
I did live in Iowa for two years when I
was at the University of Iowa Writer's workshop, so I
had Irene live in Iowa City and everyone.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
In Iowa was of course thrilled.
Speaker 4 (34:29):
And then as my two other secondary locations, I used
Houston in Denver purely because I've done book signings there.
So I'm like, Okay, I've done book signings in Houston,
I've done book signings in Denver. I'm gonna use those
two where the that's where the boys live. And then
I just had to like research those places. But Iowa
City I knew a little bit more about. Will I
write another Saint John book? The answer is no, I'm
(34:51):
not going to be writing any more books, as we've discussed,
but that has been optioned by Universal as well, and
as with a major dreamer as well, so hopefully that
will get made into a series. I think of all
of my books at this point, that would be the
one I want to see get made because I want
(35:12):
the Virgin Islands really to get their moment, because there
has not been a good or any series set in
the Virgin Island. Saint John is completely undiscovered and that's
probably what we love about it. And I'm probably about
to ruin it. But if I feel like that, you know,
you'll get your fix that way. Maybe hopefully, can I
ask you because you keep saying this, is it like
after the Academy too, What.
Speaker 3 (35:33):
Are you going to do? Yeah? No, I'm going to write,
but I'm not.
Speaker 4 (35:37):
I'm probably not going to do anything like I've done
in the past, like I'm going to.
Speaker 3 (35:42):
Write a novel.
Speaker 4 (35:43):
I just I just need a break so I can't
like I would never promise, Oh yes, I'm going to
go back. I definitely won't be going back to the
Virgin Islands because I feel like I did a really
good job. I just I'm leaving it there and and
I may I may go back back to Nantucket, you
never know.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
But it's not going to be my first book out,
you know.
Speaker 4 (36:01):
I'm just going to write I've always been writing on
of contract, which means that I have to turn it
in and I'm done doing that.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
Yes, I'm finished.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
Okay, one, we're in the back and then we're going
to do our drawings because Ellen, I al it's going
to Charleston.
Speaker 3 (36:17):
Yeah, I'm going to.
Speaker 6 (36:17):
So I'm a former educator and I'm from Hillsborough Education Foundation, wonderful.
I'm their CFO, doctor Terry Carson, and I want I
would be remiss if I didn't ask you. Was there
someone in your life, perhaps an educator that you came
in contact with or a parent that encouraged you, inspired
(36:38):
you to read and inspired you to become a writer.
Speaker 4 (36:42):
Okay, Terry, You're going to love this answer, and it
is one hundred percent true.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
When I was in second grade, at the end of.
Speaker 4 (36:49):
The school year, my second grade teachers gave out an
award to every student in the class.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
My award was the top Author Award. I can remember
them saying it.
Speaker 4 (36:59):
I can see my little self, I can see myself
sitting down cross legged, and they said top Author Award,
all On Hildebrand And I thought to myself, Yes, I
am an author. Yeah, And if anybody else had gotten
that a word, I would have been angry and upset,
like without even really knowing why. But I felt like
that was like my special interest and they recognized it.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
Do I think that I displayed the enormous talent at
age seven?
Speaker 4 (37:22):
No, but they knew I loved doing it, and by
acknowledging me, acknowledging me and saying you're the top author,
they set me on my path.
Speaker 3 (37:32):
Now here's the better story.
Speaker 4 (37:34):
Years and years and years later, I'm signing in my
hometown and who comes to my signing My second grade teacher,
missus Buckwalder.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
And she sits in.
Speaker 4 (37:43):
The front road and I get to say to her,
you know, you are the person that believed in me
and that named it when I was so young, and
it's because of you that I'm.
Speaker 3 (37:52):
Up here today. And she got to hear me say that,
h that's a great, great story. It's theft is a
defect act into the fut
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