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“The Liz Taylor Ring is a gorgeously written multigenerational novel, tracing the path of a diamond ring across decades, through the ups and down in the lives of one family. Brenda Janowitz beautifully weaves stories of love, of motherhood, and of the unbreakable bonds between siblings. I absolutely devoured this dazzling book!” – Jillian Cantor, USA Today bestselling author of Beautiful Little Fools
Picked as one of the “must read” picks for 2022 by everyone from Town and Country magazine to Katie Couric Media, Brenda’s latest amusing romp is part love story, part family saga.
Hi there, I’m your host Jenny Wheeler, and today on Binge Reading Brenda talks about building a mystery and a family story across generations, built around a famous memento like the ring Richard Burton bought Elizabeth Taylor, or Grace Kelly’s wedding dress.
Beach Reads Books Giveaway
We’ve got our usual book giveaway. This week it’s Best Beach Reads. You can find the link to download those on the show notes for this episode at www.thejoysofbingereading.com. OR HERE https://books.bookfunnel.com/pka-beach-read-mysteries/17c2mks8na
If you’d like to get a weekly prompt when episodes are posted, you can join our weekly newsletter and have all the links in one place.
Links in this episode:
The Elizabeth Taylor Ring (formerly known as the Krupp Diamond): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Taylor_Diamond
Princess Margaret and Elizabeth Taylor: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/02/princess-margaret-elizabeth-taylor-hollywood
Elizabeth Taylor’s double eyelashes: https://www.news18.com/news/india/elizabeth-taylor-born-with-two-sets-of-eyelashes-364781.html
Lesson in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58065033-lessons-in-chemistry
The Summer Place by Jennifer Weiner: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58532615-the-summer-place
Marrying the Ketchups by Jennifer Close: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/58537243-marrying-the-ketchups
Mustique Island by Sarah McCoy: https://www.amazon.com/Mustique-Island-Novel-Sarah-McCoy/dp/0063252201
Where to find Brenda Janowitz:
Website: www.brendajanowitz.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrendaJanowitz/
Email: brendajanowitz@gmail.com
Instagram: @brendajanowitzwriter
What follows is a “near as” transcript of our conversation, not word for word but pretty close to it, with links to the show notes in The Joys of Binge Reading.com for important mentions.
Introducing author Brenda Janowitz
Jenny Wheeler: Welcome to the show, Brenda. It’s fantastic to have you with us.
Brenda Janowitz: Thank you so much for having me. I’m thrilled to be here.
Jenny Wheeler: Your latest book, The Liz Taylor Ring, has got a wonderful title for starters, but it’s your seventh novel and it’s received a great series of accolades. It’s been welcomed by many publications people would listen to. It was one of Town and Country’s best books for February, the Katie Couric people thought it was one of the best books of 2022 and Pop Sugar’s most anticipated reads of 2022. Did that give you a bit of a lift to start?
Brenda Janowitz: My goodness yes. It was so incredibly exciting. Certainly by book seven, you think you’d be used to it and everything would be old hat, but it feels like with every book you’re starting fresh and you’re starting over, so it’s always a miracle when anyone likes your book. It feels like, okay, it’s not terrible. We’ve got something here.
Jenny Wheeler: I know you’ve had a lot of success in the past, but would you consider that this was almost a breakthrough book for you? Is it that good?
Brenda Janowitz: I do think each book is reaching a little higher for me. The Grace Kelly Dress was a breakout for me because I was on one path and The Grace Kelly Dress put me out there a little more. Certainly with the follow up being The Liz Taylor Ring, that helped. I feel like I’m slowly but surely inching upwards with these books.
A mystery around famous mementos
Jenny Wheeler: You have been having fun playing with this idea of Hollywood icons and as you mentioned, the one before this was called The Grace Kelly Dress. We will get on to that a little bit later, but you’re building both a mystery and a family story about these very famous mementos that people can relate to. They have seen pictures of them, they know what you’re talking about. Where did this idea come from?
Brenda Janowitz: That’s a great question. When it came time to write my sixth novel, The Grace Kelly Dress, I was thinking about how I could expand my audience. As a writer you always want to write about the things you’re obsessed with because you stay with these books for so long. It takes a year or two to write them and a year or two to edit them, and then if you’re lucky a year or two to promote them, so you spend a long time with the subject matter.
My agent said we should come up with something you’re obsessed with and that other people are obsessed with too. She knew I was obsessed with weddings and wedding gowns, and the idea for The Grace Kelly Dress was born. I would write about an heirloom item, in that case a wedding dress, that was passed down through three generations. When it came time to write about a wedding dress, there’s only one wedding dress that ever comes to mind for me, and that’s Grace Kelly’s gown because, in my opinion, it’s the most iconic wedding dress of all time.
Heirlooms and Hollywood starlets
Then when I wanted to do a follow-up, I wanted to stick with the heirlooms and the Hollywood starlets, because I was having too much fun with it. I decided I wanted to do jewelry because that’s something that is dear to my heart, and I think a lot of other people can relate to these pieces of jewelry that have been passed down – what it means for us and how badly we all want them. These things have meaning to them.
When you pick jewelry, there’s no other Hollywood starlet besides Elizabeth Taylor. She was known for her legendary collection, so that book came together based on yet another obsession of mine, and the Hollywood starlets match. Luckily, I happened to be obsessed with both Grace Kelly and Elizabeth Taylor. So it worked out.
Jenny Wheeler: What types of books had you been writing before those two?
Brenda Janowitz: The two novels I wrote before that were both family dramas as well, but they were a little quieter. I do tend to write about the part of life that I’m in. When I wrote my first novel, I was a single girl working as an attorney running around Manhattan, and that first novel was about that lifestyle – the single, crazy, running around Manhattan lifestyle that I was living.
But as my life has changed, my books have changed. Now I’m an old married lady with two kids and the house and the mortgage and living in the suburbs, so different things are interesting to me and different things I’m finding obsessions with. As I’ve grown up, my books have grown up as well, because I want to be tackling the things I’m seeing in my day-to-day life.
Emotional family stories with a bow
Jenny Wheeler: Even though these famous mementos are a little bit like that phrase MacGuffin and mystery, where there’s something we can focus on, the story is really about the emotional relationships between the characters and that object or item.
Brenda Janowitz: That’s exactly what it is. The starting off point say is the heirloom object, but it’s really about people and how we relate to each other and the meaning of family, the meaning of belonging. All those things are wrapped up in this fun Hollywood starlet bow.
Jenny Wheeler: The dynamics of the family in the Liz Taylor book are especially interesting. You’ve got the Liz and Richie characters, they have the same names as Elizabeth and Richard, and you’ve got three offspring of that couple.
The eldest daughter is very responsible and tries to corral everybody into sensible lives. You’ve got a gay artist, creative son and brother, and the youngest one is rather irresponsible and gets herself into a lot of debt, et cetera. They have all got very different versions of their own family life. You’ve got a great phrase that you use – none of these stories is true, all of these stories are true, more than one thing can be true at once.
You use that like a refrain when the conflicting views clash in the story. Where did that little phrase come from? Is it something you’ve observed in your own life?
Brenda Janowitz: I tend to write about whatever lessons I’m needing to learn in my life, and this book was written during the early stages of the pandemic, the spring and summer of 2020.
Learning to live in shades of grey
Like a lot of us, I was having trouble figuring out the world and my space in the world, and it was suggested to me that I needed to hold two thoughts in my head at once. I remember getting that advice and thinking, no, I can’t do that, that’s not possible, because I am more of a black and white person. What we’ve learned since March 2020 is that we have to live in shades of gray. I’ve never been good at that, so this book is a lot about exploring those shades of gray, certainly within a family.
With the phrase you mentioned in particular, one of the things I was getting at is the nature of family story and family lore, and how these stories are passed down and how they change over time and not only time, but they change depending on who’s telling you the story. Everyone has a different version of it, and I’m fascinated with that. That was a big part of the book for me.
Jenny Wheeler: The actual ring we’re talking about was a fabulous, famous ring even before Richard bought it for Elizabeth. What was so special about that particular ring?
Brenda Janowitz: Oh, goodness. So many different things. The funny thing is when I decided I was going to do a ring and I decided I was going to do Elizabeth Taylor, I didn’t realize quite how many rings she had. First I said, okay, let’s narrow it down to a stone. We’ll do a diamond because who doesn’t love diamonds. Then I realized she had a lot of really big diamonds, so I had to narrow it down further.
Krupp Diamond ring an Elizabeth favorite
I chose the Krupp diamond as my inspiration for a million different reasons because there are a million great Krupp diamond stories. The main thing I loved about this ring was that it was her favorite and she wore it every day. There was something so fantastic about the idea that she loved this piece of jewelry so much that she would wear it every day, like 33.19 carat casual. Wear it to the supermarket. An everyday ring. I guess if you’re Elizabeth Taylor that is your everyday ring.
There are so many other wonderful Krupp diamond stories that reflect the way she approached life and her sense of humor. But once I realized that was the ring she wore every day, it felt like that was the special one. That was the one I had to choose.
Jenny Wheeler: Mentioning her humor – you open the book with a saying of hers. “It’s not the having, it’s the getting.” Although it’s not exactly humorous, I wondered about the context for that remark because it’s very interesting that a woman who had so much valued the getting of it, rather than the actual having of it.
Brenda Janowitz: I agree. Needless to say, I went through a lot of different Elizabeth Taylor quotes. Like I said, she was so smart and so funny, and there are so many great ones to choose from. But once I laid eyes on that quote in particular, it felt so perfect for the book because the book is really about this idea. It’s not necessarily the ring. It’s the journey, it’s the people, it’s the family.
74 Liz Taylor factoids – one per chapter
I thought it was so delicious. This woman has so much, and so many of her pieces were bought for her as presents. It’s all so extravagant and wonderful, this idea about the getting. I thought it was so delicious and sexy. That quote is my absolute favorite. I was really excited to use it in the book.
Jenny Wheeler: You have got 74 chapters in the book and one of the things I enjoyed was that in your author notes at the back, you’ve got an Elizabeth Taylor factoid that relates to every chapter. Some of them I missed along the way, because I wasn’t that particularly well-informed about Elizabeth Taylor, but I’m sure that for people who share the obsession with Elizabeth Taylor, there is something new they’re going to learn about her hidden away in your story.
Brenda Janowitz: I hope so. Part of the fun of researching this book is that there was so much to learn about Elizabeth Taylor. In contrast to Grace Kelly, she lived a longer life and she lived a much more open life because once Grace Kelly joined the royal family, the information about her life was somewhat limited.
Elizabeth Taylor lived out loud and was proud of anything she was doing. Even if it was controversial, she stuck to her guns. There was so much information about her, and of course she did so many more movies than Grace Kelly. It was really fun doing the research. I found as I was researching and watching the movies and reading books about her as I was writing it, I would feel, okay, I want to have this scene at a wedding.
“What might have beens’ in Taylor’s life
Then I would read a chapter and learn that Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton famously lived on a yacht for a number of years, and I said to myself, okay, we got to have a yacht scene. We’ve got to have a yacht. People want the yacht. I do think that Liz Taylor lovers enjoy the Easter eggs, but like you said, you can read the book not knowing anything about Elizabeth Taylor. Within the text itself, the characters do talk about Elizabeth Taylor and talk about her films.
This is funny. One particularly astute reader reminded me of a reference I had intentionally put in there but when I wrote that appendix, I had forgotten about. So it turns out there are even more references in there than I mentioned because someone pointed one out to me. That was great.
Jenny Wheeler: In the end, do you feel all of your research convinced you that Elizabeth and Richard did have one of the major love affairs of the 20th century?
Brenda Janowitz: I do, but what surprised me in my research was I did not realize how in love Elizabeth Taylor was with her third husband, Mike Todd. That was a love affair for the ages, and I often wonder what would have happened if Mike Todd hadn’t tragically died. Her whole life’s trajectory would have been different. She would have never married Eddie Fisher, so she never would have taken the Cleopatra film role.
One of the love affairs of the century?
I’m just guessing of course. Going into all of her husbands was fascinating, but I do think Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton had a love affair for the ages and had something so incredibly special. They had almost like a cosmic connection. Even when they weren’t married anymore, they kept coming back to each other. There are some reports that say on their death beds, they spoke of the other person. They never stopped loving each other.
There is something really special about that relationship, and there’s also something so delicious about the fact that it was so incredibly passionate. Everyone should get to experience something like that in their lives. My goodness.
Jenny Wheeler: I do want to mention for readers who might be interested that one of those factoids related to Princess Margaret. Tell our readers the Princess Margaret remark about the ring.
Brenda Janowitz: I love the Princess Margaret story, and you can Google it. Elizabeth Taylor tells it in an interview and she does the voice, which is fantastic. I’m not going to terrorize you with my terrible British accent, but very soon after acquiring the Krupp diamond, Elizabeth Taylor was wearing it at a dinner where she met Princess Margaret.
Princess Margaret looked at her with a face of disgust said, is that the ring? How vulgar. Elizabeth Taylor doesn’t miss a beat. She says, would you like to try it on? Even a royal can’t resist, so Princess Margaret says, okay. She puts it on and she’s admiring herself and admiring her finger, and Elizabeth Taylor says, so, not so vulgar now is it?
Beauty ‘not the most interesting part of her’
I love that. It shows how quick Elizabeth Taylor was. Well, first generous, because it was rumored that she let anyone who wanted to try on the Krupp diamond which is quite incredible if you think about it. But it shows how incredibly quick and smart she was to come up with something so clever that isn’t disrespectful, but still funny and cheeky.
When people talk about Elizabeth Taylor, they often focus on her beauty, which obviously cannot be denied. She was so incredibly stunning, but that’s not the most interesting part of her. She was so smart. So generous. This great sense of humor. There were so many wonderful things about Elizabeth Taylor, even though we mostly focus on how beautiful she was.
And she was so talented. I had watched her movies as a kid on Sundays in black and white, back in the day, but I rewatched most of my favorites when I was researching this book and I forgot how incredibly talented she is. Obviously she’s Elizabeth Taylor, but her performances are incredible.
Jenny Wheeler: The other thing I had not realized until I read your book was that her famous violet eyes were due to a genetic condition. Tell us about that.
Remarkable story behind the eyelashes
Brenda Janowitz: It’s her eyelashes. She had those gorgeous violet eyes. They were really blue, but in certain lights they glowed violet. What was really special was it looked like she was wearing two coats of mascara and fake eyelashes, but no. She had a rare genetic disorder that made her more beautiful. That’s the kind of one I would like to have. She had two rows of lashes and that’s why they were so dark and thick and luscious. Since she had such light eyes, those dark lashes made them even more explosive.
Jenny Wheeler: Some people who share that condition apparently had other ongoing health issues because of that, but she didn’t so much. They were a blessing. They didn’t have any drawbacks.
Brenda Janowitz: She was plagued with other health conditions in her life. When she was younger, she fell off a horse during filming. She famously had these back problems, but she did live a lot of her life in pain, unfortunately. All of that hand exercise from lifting the Krupp must have helped her.
Jenny Wheeler: Getting back to The Grace Kelly Dress, I was so drawn into that story that I had to look up Madame Michelle, the dressmaker you have in your story, because you quote her in the beginning as if she’s written a book. I thought, is this a real book? I actually went looking for it and came to the decision that it was entirely your imagination. Tell us about creating that.
Inspiration for The Grace Kelly Dress
Brenda Janowitz: It’s funny because I couldn’t decide. I knew I wanted the designer to have this book that was part of the narrative, these quotes from the book. I did a lot of research trying to find someone larger than life who would be like a Madame Michelle, but I couldn’t find the right thing.
So I said, I’m a fiction writer. I’ll just make it up. But certain people are very disappointed when they find out that I made it up. I’ve had so many readers write to me and say, did you make this up? Can I buy this book? I’m like, no, sorry.
I was heavily inspired by Edith Head and a lot of the designers of the day. That’s how I created that character. It was mostly through research but of course, when you create a character she can say and do what you want her to do. So that worked out.
Jenny Wheeler: Turning away from the specific books to your wider career, I imagine that now you get a lot of beginner writers asking your advice about how to have a career as an author. What advice do you give them?
Advice Brenda give beginner writers
Brenda Janowitz: You’re correct. I do hear from lots of people and it’s always so hard to give advice because the industry is constantly changing. When it comes to writing and editing your work, I think the best advice is that writing is rewriting. That is something that took me a few books to learn.
When you’re first starting out, you feel like everything you write is, okay, let’s print it. You feel like every word is gold and everything is “done”. But when you are a few books in, what you learn is that the writing is really in the editing process and refining. Certainly with The Liz Taylor Ring, I did two or three massive edits where I changed the book dramatically.
At one point certain characters had viewpoint characters and that was taken out. There was a storyline with the twins that I ended up reconsidering because I was changing those characters. I’m not talking about little edits. I’m talking about massive edits where I am rewriting parts of the book.
‘Write regardless’ is best practice
What I’ve learned is that’s what’s making the book better, because you’re learning more about the character and you’re learning more about everyone’s motivation and you’re learning more about how the characters relate to each other – especially a book like The Liz Taylor Ring where you have so many different characters. There are a lot of relationships to explore. So I always say writing is rewriting.
That’s the best advice I can give, but usually I start out by saying, if you can do anything else besides being a writer, you should do that. It’s just so difficult. There’s so much rejection. I think writers are people who have to write, they have no choice. If you are one of those people who would be writing a book regardless, if it were published or not, that’s how you know you’re a writer. Then you should move forward.
Everyone has a book in them. We are human beings, we’re natural storytellers, so everyone has at least one book in them. But just because you want to write a book doesn’t necessarily mean that you should. There is so much heartbreak and so much rejection and that part can be so hard, so if you are not obsessed with the writing part I can’t imagine how you would get through that. For me no matter what happens good or bad in my life, I write my way through it.
How Brenda Janowitz got started
Jenny Wheeler: How did you get started in fiction yourself? Is it something you always wanted to do or was there a catalyst that made you think, I must sit down and get writing.
Brenda Janowitz: Ever since I can remember I was a reader and I was a writer. I was always obsessed with books, always surrounded by books. When I was little my parents encouraged this. They would always take me to the library and to the bookstore. I was obsessed with reading and I was obsessed with story.
But I always like to joke, my parents were like, but get a job and move out and support yourself, please. I went to college with the goal of later going to law school because I liked to read and I liked to write. Perfect career. But I very quickly discovered that legal writing is not the same as the kind of writing I wanted to do. I was really yearning for fiction.
For my 30th birthday, my best friend organized a group gift and she said, no more talking about writing, now you’re going to do it. They all sent me to a writing class, because one of my excuses was that writing classes are too expensive. So she organized this big group gift and I went to the writing glass.
Writing made Brenda Janowitz ‘feel good’
She said, from now on Tuesdays are dedicated to writing, and I took that really seriously. I carved out the time on Tuesdays and I didn’t stop after that. I think I actually started writing my first novel in that class, but I realized how good writing made me feel. The rest, as they say, is history.
Jenny Wheeler: When you started out did you have any particular goal for yourself or was it just to finish the first book? You might have been doing it for the straight pleasure of it.
Brenda Janowitz: That is such a good question. I love that question and I’ll tell you why. Like you intimated, I didn’t think I could finish a book. At first I was doing short stories. Then I had this idea for the book and I was sending chapters to friends, as a hoot, just to be funny, check this out, I wrote three chapters. Then my friends were like, write more, write more.
Eventually you find you’ve actually finished the book. I think the goal was, can I finish a book – beginning, middle, end? Can I have a full book? I met that goal, but then I forgot that I’m a Type A person, so once I finished it, I was like, I’ll just get this published. At the time I didn’t know anything. I figured out I wanted to be a lawyer and I became a lawyer. I want to be a writer, I’ll go get this published. If I knew then what I know now, I would have been too terrified to even try, so maybe it’s good that I didn’t know anything.
Importance of supportive friends
Jenny Wheeler: It sounds like an episode from Sex in the City. You and your girlfriends.
Brenda Janowitz: Yes, my girlfriends were so supportive. I did a book club the other night and they mentioned something about my world view. In large part, it is shaped by these female friendships that I have. They are so important to me and they have been my whole life.
Jenny Wheeler: Are they still the same girls around you now?
Brenda Janowitz: Yes, mostly. In fact, I just texted one of them to tell her that for the next draft of my book, she should get herself ready, get her ducks in a row, because she’s going to have to read it for me. I used to do chapter by chapter. Now I’m like, here’s 300 pages. Read it for me. Thank you.
Jenny Wheeler: Turning to Brenda as reader, because we like to check in with your reading tastes as well and see if there’s anything you’re recommending to our listeners at the moment. I don’t know if you’ve been a binge reader over the years.
One of the things we hook this program on is the idea that now that there is TV streaming, people have got much more into their heads the idea of binge reading in the same way that they binge watch. When they finish one book at midnight, they go online and get the next one as an eBook and they can start reading it immediately if they want to. Tell us, what do you like to read and what would you recommend?
What Brenda Janowitz likes to read
Brenda Janowitz: I love reading everything, and I’m a huge binge reader. Exactly what you’ve described, although I love physical books, so I always have a pile of the next 10 that I’m going to read. Like you said, I finish one, I take a deep breath and then I jump into the next one.
The books I’ve read recently that I am absolutely obsessed with are Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. That was a Good Morning America pick. It’s smart and funny and clever. These are just the books I’ve binged in the last week.
I read Jennifer Weiner’s The Summer Place. It’s not a series per se, but the last few years she’s written about Cape Cod. This is the third one. You fall in love with the characters. You want to be friends with the characters, so that was really delicious. Perfect for summer, especially if you are a Cape Cod lover, if you’ve ever been, or you ever wanted to go there.
Now I am reading Jennifer Close, Marrying the Ketchups. From the title, you might guess what it’s about. It’s about a family run restaurant, and I’m falling in love with that one as well. I’ve been bingeing quite a lot lately. When I finish Marrying the Ketchups I have a pile and I’ll grab one from there, whatever I’m in the mood for next.
What’s next for Brenda the writer?
Jenny Wheeler: I guess you get quite a few people ask you to endorse, now that you’ve got to the status you have.
Brenda Janowitz: Yes I do, which is so exciting, and then friends send me copies of their books. Sarah McCoy just sent me a copy of Mustique Island and I’m really excited for that because that feels summery too. Something in the Caribbean that sounds sexy and fun. That’s on my pile for what I’m going to be reading next.
Jenny Wheeler: That segues nicely into asking you, what’s next for Brenda as writer? It sounds like you’ve got a manuscript that’s almost completed. What does your desk look like over the next 12 months?
Brenda Janowitz: I am finishing up my next novel, which is coming out in April 2023. It’s called The Audrey Hepburn Estate. In this one, the heirloom item has gotten a little bigger. The heirloom item is a house, so it’s heavily influenced by the Audrey Hepburn film Sabrina, which I love.
As you might guess, there is a love triangle, but it’s really the story about a woman who goes back to the house she grew up in because she wants to see it one more time before it’s set to be demolished. It’s a little of everything. A family drama, a friend drama, the love triangle, and infused with a little bit about Audrey Hepburn’s life.
‘Killing it?’ Or hanging on by a thread?
Jenny Wheeler: Sounds irresistible.
Brenda Janowitz: I hope so. At this point in the editing process, you’re always second guessing everything. Should I throw this entire thing in the garbage and start over? Do we have time for that?
Jenny Wheeler: It’s so funny to hear you say that because people look at you and see this fantastically successful bestselling author. It’s funny how even the best of us have those sorts of doubts, don’t we?
Brenda Janowitz: Oh goodness, yes. It’s so funny you mention that because I announced the publication date for The Audrey Hepburn Estate on social media and one of my girlfriends wrote, wow, you’re really killing it. I thought to myself, no I’m not. I’m hanging on by a thread, but I’m glad you think that. That’s wonderful. We writers are overly sensitive creatures who are always plagued by doubt.
After Audrey I have a few ideas of what I’ll do. It’s a matter of figuring out what works, what could be a full thing and what is right for my career.
Where to find Brenda Janowitz online
Jenny Wheeler: I’m sure you enjoy interacting with your readers. How have you been doing that over the last few years with COVID? Are you getting back on the road now? How are you interacting with readers, particularly online because a lot of them won’t be able to see you in person anywhere.
Brenda Janowitz: Absolutely. That has been an interesting by-product of COVID because I have been a lot more online. A lot of people reach out through Instagram in particular, because that’s where I spend most of my time on social media. For some reason I can never find my Facebook messages so Instagram is always a good place to find me.
Some readers will go to my website and they’ll email me, which is great. I love interacting that way. A lot of times the people who reach out via email have longer questions or they want more of a response than on Instagram where we exchange a sentence at a time. That’s been wonderful.
I have been doing plenty of Zoom events and I’ve also been doing Zoom book clubs. Since I’m home a lot more I’ve found a way to Zoom into people’s book clubs for half hour at a time, which has been wonderful. I’ve met all of these incredible women this way, and it’s a joy. I’m actually doing an online thing for my sorority tomorrow night, so Zoom and the online has opened up so many doors.
Brenda is on the road for summer
As you said, I’m definitely getting back on the road, so I do have a few more things planned for the summer. I have an in-person event on Long Island in June with Jane Green to talk about her book Sister Stardust, which was fantastic. Then I have some things we’re working on for July, which are not in pen yet, so I shouldn’t say.
I have two library events in August, so lots of in-person stuff. I’m excited, a little nervous. Hopefully I’ll make it to everything.
Jenny Wheeler: If book clubs want to find you, is it best to go through your website?
Brenda Janowitz: Yes, my website’s usually a good way that book clubs find me because my email address is there and it’s easier to coordinate. I’m doing one book club and we’re talking over Instagram and it’s harder to keep track.
Any way you can find me is great. If I don’t respond, it means I didn’t get your message so reach out again. But I almost always get my emails, and I almost always get my Instagram messages unless they get hidden. I find almost all my Facebook messages are hidden somewhere that I cannot find them, so Instagram, email, my website. My website has a form you could fill out. That’s pretty easy. And I do love talking to book clubs.
Jenny Wheeler: Thank you so much Brenda. You’ve been a wonderfully entertaining guest to have today. It’s been a real pleasure.
Brenda Janowitz: Thank you so much for having me.
If you enjoyed Brenda you might also enjoy…
Kate Alcott and her Hollywood stories: https://thejoysofbingereading.com/kate-alcott-hollywood-stardust.
Next Week on Binge Reading
Number one New York Times bestselling author Lee Goldberg talks about his remarkably durable career as an author and TV producer and his latest release, Movieland, the fourth book in the Eve Ronin series.
Thanks To Our Technical Support:
The Joys of Binge Reading podcast is put together with wonderful technical help from Dan Cotton at DC Audio Services. Dan is an experienced sound and video engineer who’s ready and available to help you with your next project… Seek him out at dcaudioservices@gmail.com or Phone + 64 – 21979539. He’s fast, takes pride in getting it right, and lovely to work with.
Our voice overs are done by Abe Raffills, and Abe’s another gem. He got 20 years of experience on both sides of the camera/microphone as a cameraman/director and also voice artist and television presenter. Abe’s vocal delivery is both light hearted and warm and he is super easy to work with no matter the job. You’ll find him at abe@pointandshoot.co.nz