New York Times bestselling author Kristan Higgins has sold 4.5 million books worldwide and is published in more than two dozen languages around the world. Her two most recent novels were each selected as People magazine’s “Pick of the Week.” Kristan is also a cohost of the Crappy Friends podcast, which discusses the often complex dynamics of female friendships, with her friend and fellow writer, Joss Dey. Higgins lives in Connecticut with her family. Pack Up the Moon is her most recent novel.
Transcript:
[00:00:00] Rachael Herron: Welcome to “How do you Write?” I’m your host, Rachael Herron. On this podcast, I talk to authors about how they write, what their process is and how their lives fit together. I’ll keep each episode short so you can get back to writing. [00:00:16] Well, Hello writers! Welcome to episode #258 of “How do you Write?” I’m Rachael Herron. So pleased that you are here with me today, as we are talking to the always fabulous Kristan Higgins. She’s been on the show before; she’ll probably be on it again someday. We talk about, not looking back as you go forward in your work. I know you’re going to enjoy that interview. So stay tuned for that. What is going on around here? Well, we’re still at the beach house. We have one more full day. We have tomorrow as our full day here, unless we get locked down again, suddenly, God forbid, cause I’m ready to go. We are going to on Sunday, pick up and move and drive through Auckland. So let me break it down. All of New Zealand now, a little bit more than three weeks after the hard crunch lockdown at level four, that was lockdown as you get, you don’t leave the house except for a short walk and you can’t do anything else. You’re, you don’t go anywhere. You don’t see anybody. We were at level four, then we went to level three. Now we’re at level two. All of New Zealand is at level two, except for Auckland, which is still at level four. So we had one community case of COVID. It was a Delta variant. They locked down over that, within two weeks, there were 700 cases. They were all genome sequence. They were all tracked. They’re all being cared for. It’s up to about 800 now, but yesterday we only had 20 reported inside Auckland. [00:01:50] The only place that the coronavirus is right now is inside Auckland. And let me tell you, when you shut the city down and you don’t let anyone in or out. It can’t get out. It doesn’t get out, which is why the rest of us are at level two. And what level two is, is basically everything’s back to normal. It’s kind of like the states without the fear, because right now everybody’s back at work back at school, but you have to wear a mask when you’re indoors, except when you’re in a gym or eating in a restaurant. But the difference between being here and in the states is that, you know that no one around you has Coronavirus because they’re tracking the wastewater in these areas. They know from wastewater that right now, the only people with COVID-19 are in Auckland. [00:02:37] The New York times did an article about a week ago saying, is New Zealand dreaming? Is this an impossible goal to eradicate the Delta virus? It may be, it may be. But so far it’s working, it’s really working and it’s so exciting. So, we are allowed to leave Northland now and drive through Auckland if we don’t stop and you have to have a reason and you have to have an address that you’re going to. There is disagreement as to when you look at the newspapers, are you allowed to drive through Auckland for other than business purpose? We can’t say that our purpose is business to drive through Auckland but I asked the government, if we could do it. I asked on Twitter, I asked the New Zealand government who is in charge of the COVID response. I said, we would like to move from Airbnb to Airbnb and drive through Auckland without stopping. And they said, yes, you can. You’re allowed to. [00:03:36] So I screenshotted that in case. So there are, there’s police at the borders of Auckland. So I can show them that, but we were ready to move or going to Mount Montgomery, which is just outside of Tauranga or maybe as part of Tauranga, I’m not sure. And it’s a small surfing town and it looks beautiful and we are, we’re really ready to be in a place where we can walk somewhere and buy something because the, where we are right now, it’s about a 15-minute drive from town, which is fantastic. It’s the most beautiful 15-minute drive you’ve ever taken, but we’re looking forward to being able to walk and get a coffee and get groceries and, do all that stuff that we came here to do. When we leave on Sunday, we will have been in this house for a month. Which I cannot believe. But what that means is that Russell, we’re actually at south of Russell, we’re in but this area now feels like home. Like we put down roots here. It feels like this glorious beach house is mine. [00:04:40] And that’s going to be difficult because in Mount Montgomery, we were just renting an apartment. You know, it’s going to have normal windows that look out on normal window things like other houses and cars instead of the variable oyster catcher and the white faced Herron and the pied cormorants otherwise known as the pied shags. Which is definitely my next band name. I’m going to really, really miss this place. I feel like it’s gotten deep into my soul like some places do. I feel like I’m going to keep dreaming about this house and the walks, the long walks that I take out on the deserted road, in the high wind rain whipping around, like, I’m going to dream about this place forever. I don’t think we’ll ever be able to afford to come back and rent it. I found out that I just looked at Airbnb, cause we’re renting an under the table from this guy. It’s not under the table. He gets to run it to whoever he wants to at a very, very reduced rate. Like I’ve mentioned, although it’s still a little pricey for us and he rented for $500 a night in winter! It’s $1,500 a night in summer, so I doubt we’ll ever come back, but I bet we’ll drive down the road and walk down the beach and look up at our house. [00:05:55] I’m very excited that the fancy restaurant in town just opened and you can order online or by phone, which I did. And you order a day in advance and tomorrow night they are delivering like a five course meal to us, the fancy, fancy restaurant, like, you know, truffle glaze for genie muscles drawn from the sea kind of thing and delivery means are going to go to the end of the road and text us and we’ll walk out along the beach to go pick up our dinner and that’s delivery because we don’t have an address here. And it’s been wonderful and I’ve done so much writing. And actually today I’m just finishing, writing up my next Patreon essay. So if you are interested in Patreon and reading the essay about really what lockdown is like and what it feels like to be doing this as an American and as a New Zealand citizen. The differences that we have felt. I mean, they’re obvious but I really enjoyed kind of comparing and contrasting what we thought we were coming here to do, which was to be unstuck. [00:07:04] And we have been stuck in a couple of different places in the MIQ Hotel and in this house and how kind of wonderful all of that feels. And what does that mean moving forward? I think I mentioned last time, that we might have a line on a house in Wellington, which we might be able to rent and it’s got an amazing view. It would make up for losing this view. And my heart is just yearning toward that. So apparently no matter how footloose and fancy free, I want to be moving towns every week, I would like to not do that in a few months, maybe two to four or five months, I would like to rent a house and just settle down for a while and make some friends that is something I’m missing is just the chit chat that you have with your friends. And I would like to have that with a barista. Who knows who I am and the, you know, the guy at the grocery store and meet some writers. I really want to be in a town and meet some writers and hang out with them. [00:08:97] Actually I’m going to reach out to one of the spa girls, if you listened to their podcast, it’s awesome. And she lives in Tauranga. So I’m going to reach out to her and maybe have a coffee. If she lets me, have a tea, so that’ll be nice. I think I’ve catch you up on everything else. That’s going on around here. I did start my classes on Tuesday and they’re going to be amazing. The people in them are just as always sublime and I’m doing a couple of new things with the classes going a little bit deeper into how to get a book done in 90 days, as I am writing the 90 day to done book, I’ve been thinking of new things. So they’re kind of my guinea pigs, in the best way they’re getting kind of the best of what I know. And that is really pretty stupendous and amazing that I was able to do that from a beach house at the far north of New Zealand where I am number 36 of the top 100 E. birders on the app. I’ve got to brag on that. I have identified 22 species of birds, me and my binoculars, so that’s not what I was expecting to do for our first month in the wilds of New Zealand, but it has been wonderful. [00:09:23] So with that update, let us, oh, well let me, actually thank a couple of new patrons, if you don’t mind, they were open and then they closed because the internet does kind of go up and down here, but here it is. Juliet Kelly. Thank you, Juliet and Amber Reed. Thank you. Thank you so much new patrons, new and current existing patrons and all of the patrons of the past. Thank you so much. Because of you, I get to spend the time writing these essays that are the essays of my heart, that I love, love, love to do, so thank you very, very much. All right. My friends, it doesn’t matter whether you wrote yesterday and it doesn’t matter whether you have written yet today. Can you find 10 or 15 minutes today to write some really terrible words. Words that let you down., and words that will not let you down in the future when you go back to them and you make them a little shiny, a little brighter. I know that you can do that. Please find me where I am online and tell me how you are doing with this request that you write, because your story is important. Only you can tell it and I want to read it. So, keep me posted my friends and enjoy this interview with Kristan Higgins. I know you will. [00:10:39] Do you wonder why you’re not getting your creative work done? Do you make a plan to write and then fail to follow through again? Well, my sweet friend, maybe you’d get a lot out of my Patreon. Each month, I write an essay on living your creative life as a creative person, which is way different than living as a person who binges Netflix 20 hours a week and I have lived both of those ways, so I know. You can get each essay and access to the whole back catalog of them for just a dollar a month, which is an amount that really truly helps support me at this here, writing desk. If you pledge at the $3 level, you’ll get motivating texts from me that you can respond to, and if you pledge at the $5 a month level, you get to ask me questions about your creative life that I’ll answer in the mini episodes. So basically, I’m your mini coach. Go to patreon.com/Rachael R-A-C-H-A-E-L, to get these perks and more. And thank you so much! [00:11:37] Rachael Herron: I could not be more pleased today to welcome to the show, Kristan Higgins. Hello, Kristan! [00:11:43] Kristan Higgins: Hi Rachael! So good to see you again. [00:11:45] Rachael Herron: It’s a thrill to talk to you. I don’t think I’ve seen you in a while! [00:11:49] Kristan Higgins: Years [00:11:49] Rachael Herron: Well, we haven’t got a conference. I had you talk to one of my classes one time, and that was awesome, but I’m so glad to welcome you to the show. Let me give a little introduction for those who may not know you. New York Times bestselling author, Kristan Higgins has sold 4.5 million books worldwide and is published in more than two dozen languages around the world. Her two most recent novels were each selected as People magazine’s “Pick of the Week.” Kristan is also a co-host of the Crappy Friends podcast which discusses the often complex dynamics of female friendships, with our friend and fellow writer, Joss Dey. Kristan lives in Connecticut with her family and Pack up the Moon is her most recent novel. So that’s, you’ve got a lot going on. Plus, you’ve got the daughter getting married. We were just talking about off air. Oh, my goodness! Well, congratulations on a new book. I am in the middle of it and loving it, and it is such a tear jerker. [00:12:46] Kristan Higgins: Yeah, i know [00:11:48] Rachael Herron: It’s gotta be your tear jerkiest. Right? [00:12:50] Kristan Higgins: It definitely is, and I say that with pride, you know, I love books that affect me so much that I cry. And I think there’s something really cathartic and healing, and it’s like a gift to be able to cry over a fake person, a fictional person, you know, because sometimes it’s harder to cry in real life, over real people because you have so much going on and you have to take care of things and details. And other people’s grief. And so when you’re reading a book and it’s sad and you have a good blubber, you know, there’s something great about that. And I mean, I hope you’re finding too that it’s not just a sad book, you know? It’s [00:13:39] Rachael Herron: Oh no, not at all. It’s a tear jerker but it’s moving. [00:13:43] Kristan Higgins: Yeah. The premises is clear, you know, a young woman with a terminal illness writes 12 letters to her husband to kind of walk him through that first year of widowhood for him because she knows, you know, that she’s the best thing that ever happened to him. And that he’s not going to have an easy time of it. And that she’s his person. So she’s going to take care of him even after she’s gone, so I think it’s very romantic in that sense. And, you know, it’s a love story. It’s a tragic love story, but without being a plot spoil, it does have a happy ending. [00:14:25] Rachael Herron: I’m feeling that I’m feeling that’s going to happen. I’m very confident in that. But also like it’s just, I think it’s a really good time for this book to come out. I think people have had a lot of feelings and a lot of us included, you know, I struggle with feeling feelings, and this is a way to do that. [00:14:50] Kristan Higgins: We all have had such a, the whole world has had such a rough 18 months plus, and we’ve all gone through this trauma and uncertainty. And I think, you know, for me, certainly, and I think for most people we’ve never really felt the possibility of our immortality, more realistically than we have in this past pandemic, you know, where I’m, you know, I was just doing another interview earlier and I said, you know, I’m Hungarian and we think about death all the time. We it’s our hobby, it’s our, you know, the song of my people is to plan a funeral, you know, and yet every time in the past year or so, year and a half, going to the supermarket might be the last thing that, you know, that keeps you out of the house, you know, that puts you into the hospital or, you know, and I would think that I would go out and say like, is this the day I get COVID I’ve got two masks and my hand sanitizer, and I’m doing all the distancing and, you know, being as careful as can be, but, so were a lot of people who caught it. So I do think that like, as a nation and as a, you know, as a world, we’ve all been in mourning, we’ve all been looking at the possibility of the death of our loved ones. You know, my daughter’s a nurse, she just became, [00:16:18] Rachael Herron: Oh my gosh. That’s amazing. And good for you for raising a woman like that [Read more…] about Ep. 258: Kristan Higgins on How to Write Forward Without Looking Back