Where I Left Off

Taking the Cake with Author Natalia Williams

• Kristen Bahls • Season 2 • Episode 27

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Thanks to contemporary romance author Natalia Williams for talking to me about her debut novel, Taking the Cake. Hear about this adorable story and a sneak peek at her upcoming book Two to Tango. If you want to hear us laugh, talk all things Gray and Sabrina, and Glenn Powell, then this episode is for you.

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For links to the books discussed in this episode, click the link here to take you to the Google Doc to view the list.

For episode feedback, future reading and author recommendations, you can text the podcast by clicking the "Send us a message button" above.

For more, follow along on Instagram @whereileftoffpod.

Kristen Bahls:

welcome back. I'm K balls and you're listening to where I left off a bookish podcast, and today I'm joined by author natalia williams and we're talking about her debut novel, taking the cake. Thank you so much for joining me. Thank you for having me. This is so exciting, yay. So the first question that I always have to ask anyone is what are you currently reading? And I know that you're kind of in the middle of writing a book right now, so you may not be reading a lot, and that's okay.

Natalia Williams:

So I just finished A Risk Worth Taking by Jessica Joyce.

Kristen Bahls:

Oh my gosh, I love that. I just finished it too.

Natalia Williams:

I loved it. I loved it. Yeah, so I get into really bad like I'm a really big mood reader and so it's really hard for me to pick books sometimes, and again, when I'm writing like it's so hard and so sometimes, like a novella is like the perfect way to go, which is what I, which is what I decided to do, and it was, yeah, I really loved it. I really really loved it.

Kristen Bahls:

Claire and Connor are so cute. I know it was it was like perfect.

Natalia Williams:

It was just what I needed. I loved it.

Kristen Bahls:

I loved it have you already read You With a View?

Natalia Williams:

I did, yeah, I didn't. I really love that one, yeah.

Kristen Bahls:

And then the Ex Vows comes out Tuesday.

Natalia Williams:

Yes, which also, like I pre ordered as well. So I'm very excited. I think her writing is great, I think she's I really loved it.

Kristen Bahls:

So yeah, I know it's like you you read some of her books and you just have that moment of like. Yes, that's exactly what that feels like, and yeah it's perfect. So, speaking of your work I know that you're working on your second novel Is there anything that you can kind of share, whether that's like tropes or a title or any, any and everything that you want to share?

Natalia Williams:

Yeah, I mean. So it's. I'm writing a series is what I'm going to be doing. My first was a standalone. This is going to be a series. It's a writing a series is what I'm going to be doing. My first was a standalone. This is going to be a series. It's a three book series is the plan, and it follows three cousins and the first one is set to come out like late September. Oh, wow, that's quick. It is quick. It's quick because I don't like to talk about things and then I talk, you know, and so it's called Two to Tango and it's a story about a woman who's a lawyer. She's really unhappy, she's really just not feeling very fulfilled in life, and her grandmother was a famous tango dancer and she sort of leaves her her tango shoes, and so she kind of decides to embark on this like reinvention of her life, kind of. She meets, you know, a tango instructor and all sorts of fun things happen.

Kristen Bahls:

So oh, my gosh Sign me up. I love that.

Natalia Williams:

That sounds so cute. It's been a challenge for sure, but I'm really excited about it. I think it's good. It's been a challenge for sure, but I'm really excited about it. I think it's good, it's good.

Kristen Bahls:

And September is super quick. So how do you continue to kind of churn out books as an indie author, because it just seems like so many indie authors are so quick with releases. I don't know how you do it.

Natalia Williams:

I mean, I don't do it.

Kristen Bahls:

It's the answer to that.

Natalia Williams:

You know, when I first decided to do to go this route, it became very evident that like it's a very fast paced environment, I mean you can, you know, you set your own timelines, you're able to sort of do whatever. It's obviously very different than going the like traditional route. But I very quickly learned that it's not. I'm a very slow writer and I've just kind of you know, accepted that about myself. I think there are a lot of other things that I have going on in my life and that's for anybody you know. So I really commend the authors that can release like three and four books a year. I think it's insane. I think I very quickly realized that I just can't um, so at this rate, I think I'm like at one a year.

Kristen Bahls:

is is where I'm at, which is still really quick. Honestly, I know, I know when you when you, I know I know it's.

Natalia Williams:

it's so easy to get to be like so hard on yourself, but it is, it's a process. It's a process, so's it's hard, and there are people that you know three, four books a year that's insane, it's great but I can't do it so.

Kristen Bahls:

I mean especially with something like writing. It's so creative. So I mean as much as you want to say. Sure, I'd love to hit this word count that day If you're sitting in front of your computer and the words just aren't coming to you. They're kind of just not there that day.

Natalia Williams:

No, and I you know something that I really learned at first I like, when I try to do a draft, I try to write every single day to get it out really quick, and I quickly realized that that was hard, realize that that was hard, and so I try to take days where I don't write at all or where I'm just, like you know, brainstorming in my mind maybe and I'm not and I'm not necessarily getting words on paper, and I think that has helped a lot. I also tend to edit a lot as I go. It's very hard for me to just like sort of write a bunch of stuff and then sometimes it. It helps personally for me to sort of have an idea of what I'm doing and then write it down that makes sense.

Kristen Bahls:

I feel like that would make it a lot easier. So, talking a little bit more about taking the cake specifically, which I absolutely loved, whenever you were kind of deciding on the idea for this book, was there a particular like, event or idea that kind of set you on this path where you knew you wanted to go with taking the cake.

Natalia Williams:

No, so I have a culinary background and that's. You know, maybe probably where, where part of it came from? I it's it's like some sort of fever dream, like I started writing it in 2020. So the idea came to me. My son was still like really little and I remember I was like up in the middle of the night with him and it was just this like my brain was just all these ideas were coming to me and it was the first thing I think that came to me was like this fun bakery where, like all of these fun characters work right and you know, there's funny co workers and she's obviously very successful. And then it evolved from there.

Natalia Williams:

A lot of of things were changed. I took a break in between and I kind of the first draft is like such a mess. So I ended up coming back to it in like 2021 or 2022, I think. Um, and then, like rewriting it and a couple things changed. The majority of it stayed the same, but I I knew that I wanted to sort of focus on a bakery and things like that.

Kristen Bahls:

Is your culinary background more on the baking side or a little bit different?

Natalia Williams:

More on the baking side. But I've done it all you know I worked in restaurants for like almost eight years. I was a culinary instructor for like three. I've worked with kids like teaching kids how to cook. I've done a lot of a lot on that end. But yeah, mostly baking, mostly like baking and pastry and stuff like that yeah, I can definitely uh tell there are a lot of.

Kristen Bahls:

There are just a lot of references, of course, because they're in a bakery for the majority of it. But also it's kind of that thing where it's almost like an Allie Hazelwood type thing where you know that, like you can feel the expertise to where it makes it easy for us to understand, but it's nothing that's too complicated, you know, yeah, yeah, I did not have any problem and of course I mean that's, I'm glad, I'm glad, I'm glad that that like came through and it's not like, what is she talking about?

Kristen Bahls:

Yeah, no, no, no, it did and of course, I know how to bake, but I don't know how to like commercially bake or you know any of the things that it takes to run an actual bakery. So, yes, it was really well done in that way, for sure. So what are some central themes that you really wanted to explore with this book?

Natalia Williams:

So I always say that you know, at its core, a lot of the book is about like self-worth, right, like how she views herself and sort of the aftermath of like a difficult relationship, how that leaves you feeling. You know there are some complicated family dynamics in there as well, but I think it all sort of boils down to her self-worth and that was. I think it all sort of boils down to to her self-worth and that was, I think, the the main thing, that that I really wanted to explore with this book.

Kristen Bahls:

I get that, and Sabrina of course is figuring out so much of it on the page, so we kind of get to go along the journey with her right, which is, you know, bumpy, but yes, bumpy but necessarily to get to the place that she needs to get to. Yes, so what do you think resonates most with readers about this story overall?

Natalia Williams:

you know, from what I've heard from a lot of not a lot of readers, but what I've heard from readers is um, I think the main one is really sort of the aftermath of like a long relationship where it was. It was long, it was very drawn out. I think it's common for people to kind of be stuck on exes sometimes, you know, and maybe you make really stupid decisions based on that. I think a lot of people can relate to working really hard to sort of prove yourself to others, which I think she's really trying to do. She built this whole business on that, and so I think those are maybe the relatable things, at least I hope.

Kristen Bahls:

I would agree, definitely agree. So you kind of said that you started writing this book and then you ended up like taking a break and rewriting a lot, and so now you kind of self edit up like taking a break and rewriting a lot, and so now you kind of self-edit. Are there any other things, um, that you've learned from taking the cake that you'll take into future novels as far as, like, your writing process goes?

Natalia Williams:

you know, with the second one it was such a different experience that I think I just realized that everything is every process will probably look different, and maybe there are certain processes that will look the same. I did in both instances. Well, so with taking the cake, I didn't even have an outline when I first started. I had this like this idea in my head and so I just said, okay, let's just, let's just start writing and see where it goes. And I quickly realized that is not going to work for me at all. And so I like, I outlined and I redrafted, and I quickly realized that is not going to work for me at all. And so I like, I outlined and I redrafted and once I had a better idea, it flowed much easier for me.

Natalia Williams:

With this one I changed the outline probably three or four different times with with my book coming up. It was. It was so hard for me to like, I felt like I kept getting stuck, and sometimes if I get really stuck, it's hard for me to keep moving forward. I tend to write like chronologically, I guess you'd say from yeah, but with this one I jumped around a lot. I tried to kind of write the things that were exciting me the most because it was so hard for me to to figure it out. It took a while to figure it out.

Kristen Bahls:

Yeah, and I'm sure, like sometimes you kind of get writing a specific section that you think is going to work one way and then you're like, yeah, no, that's not, and then it affects everything else, and then it's just and then it affects everything else and then I have to go back and then I have to.

Natalia Williams:

It's oh, I mean, I, I love it is. It's like a puzzle right where you kind of have to the pieces have to sort of fit, and sometimes they fit one way, sometimes they fit another. But it's so stressful, sometimes like I would just have to walk away, like I need I need a minute to figure this out I mean you're writing entire novels.

Kristen Bahls:

I know, I know it's like I know it's.

Natalia Williams:

You're being so hard on yourself, I know, I know like sabrina, and, of course, with taking the cake.

Kristen Bahls:

Like you said, it's a standalone versus a series, so I'm sure that that's a whole, completely different mindset as well whenever you're writing it, that now you have to take into account how the series is going to play out for everything, versus taking a cake.

Natalia Williams:

You can kind of just go okay this is this yes that's how it goes and some of it has like overlapping timelines too, and so I'm like my brain is just like fried trying to figure it out. Yeah, it's definitely a much different process, that is true in taking the cake.

Kristen Bahls:

I know this is a really difficult question, but who is your favorite secondary character?

Natalia Williams:

you know I love this question because it's funny. When I started writing it, liz was like such a. She was just such a loud character in my head and a friend of mine read the book early and like she loved her too. She's like, oh my God, she's just such a hot mess and you know I love their friendship. So she was, you know, a character that I really loved and it's happened with this with my new book coming up as well. But like the secondary character that I think I'm going to really love turns out to, I mean, I still love her, like absolutely love her, but I always get taken by surprise by other characters, and I think Pop was a big one.

Kristen Bahls:

I just love him and I love Nancy too, like I love their friendship, and so that was kind of a surprise in how he developed and and I, I really love him not to spoil anything, but there's this one part where Pop and Gray are talking and he is giving him advice and of course he's always the voice of reason anyway, but it's just like the way that he structures the advice. It felt like he was giving it to me or anyone else and I'm like, oh my gosh, I just love it. So yeah pop.

Kristen Bahls:

Pop is a huge favorite? Yeah, of course, you know all the scenes where they're eating dinner together after work and like the bakery and stuff. That that's really good, like found friendship too. So it's it's difficult to try to pick. You know, a favorite secondary character I love? Yeah, I love him. Were there any characters? Um, and again, you kind of talked about it a little bit just now, but were there any other characters that evolved in a way you didn't expect? Like, did gray and sabrina evolve in any ways?

Natalia Williams:

They um, she was always very clear in my head, he? No, you know what they were? Both always very, um, um, straightforward. I think more so, and I mean, we're talking about taking the cake, but you know, in other instances where characters sort of change a little bit, but in this instance, no, I think they're always pretty straightforward.

Kristen Bahls:

Nice. That helps a lot.

Natalia Williams:

It really does. It really does. You're not crying in front of a laptop trying to figure out what to do next.

Kristen Bahls:

That's really good. Yeah, that would be very frustrating so what do you think sets this book apart from other romance novels?

Natalia Williams:

you know, can I be honest, I don't know that it sets it apart at all. I think, um, I think I can acknowledge that it was like a very cliched romance book, right, like she's the bakery owner and he's taking care of his grandfather and like there's a small beach town. I think it's more a celebration of romance novels and and things that I love, and so it's hard for me to to say what picks it apart. Maybe that just makes me a terrible marketer of my books, I don't really know, but do you think it's what? Do you think the answer is to that?

Kristen Bahls:

so I think honestly that it was kind of the way that Sabrina continually thought about her ex and he played such a big role and it wasn't just like in the beginning she misses him, but then Gray magically comes on the scene and he is just completely forgotten and you know, like it was a true process, uh, which I feel like is different from at least a lot of the novels that I've read lately. And then the other thing is just kind of like, I guess, the thought that maybe sometimes everything doesn't go the way that you want it to, or you don't say the thing, it doesn't come out the way that you wanted it to maybe the first time, and so then you have to go back and have other conversations and maybe give some things some time and kind of grow a little bit to get to that point, which again is not.

Natalia Williams:

I feel like sometimes I can just kind of be skimmed over a little bit, and this was kind of more in the emotional side of things, I guess but also in a fun way like it wasn't, you know, down in the dumps or anything but no yeah, but I, yeah, I mean, I do think that I think I try to aim for the realistic side of things, I guess, which sounds like I'm knocking books and I'm not at all, but I, I think you know, I think about you know, what would somebody really do in a situation like this? Right, like it's not always so black and white. The things are complicated, like we're complicated people, you know. So, yeah, well, thank you for that yeah, I'll.

Kristen Bahls:

I'll market your books anytime. So if taking the cake were going to be adapted into film, who would you cast as gray and sabrina?

Natalia Williams:

I'm this is a hard question it's so hard, like I'm so bad at this, like you know, if I had to really think, like not really think about it, if I'm like just shooting off the top of my head like maybe a younger ryan gosling oh, yeah, yeah like I feel like that. Why not? You know it's my movie. Let me just, you know, dream for a minute sabrina, she's harder, maybe, like a, like a florence pew does that fit.

Kristen Bahls:

Oh yes, I think that fits.

Natalia Williams:

Yes, yes I like she, like I almost went like maybe a Jennifer Lawrence, but I don't know, I don't know. No I think it's Lawrence P Fitz. That's my movie.

Kristen Bahls:

I think those are two good castings. Yeah, it's it's hard. It's so hard because A it's like their ages, Sure.

Natalia Williams:

And.

Kristen Bahls:

I have to like roughly match up, which I feel like half the time. I think of actors as like they're slightly younger selves. And so it's hard not to you know age up and then go oh, wait a minute, they would be a little bit, a little bit too old now. I mean with makeup and stuff you never know.

Natalia Williams:

Or like like teenagers, or like no, like 30 year olds playing teenagers.

Kristen Bahls:

Yeah, exactly, if they can do it. Yeah, exactly if they can do it. Oh, I know, wait, I feel like it's kind of my default, but I I always want to put him in there. But I feel like glenn powell could also do a good job as gray like, oh my god, yes, yeah, I think he would kind of have that like slightly cheeky side, but then, yeah, that's so good.

Natalia Williams:

I didn't even think about that. That is so good. I that is good. I totally agree, yes he's my go-to.

Kristen Bahls:

I don't know, he just fits so many different like mailman characters that I kind of always feel like I'm throwing him in and I'm like, okay, he's just a standard.

Natalia Williams:

I mean he's become like very heartthrobby, I think, lately. But, um, you, did you watch? Set it up, yes, yes, I mean that was the first time I saw him and I thought he was so great in that I think he I don't think he was as like, you know, out there as he is now I think, yeah, he was, he was fun and he just has a lot of range from doing.

Kristen Bahls:

you know I say serious but like more actionyy, kind of like Top Gun versus than he did do Anyone but you. So you know he Right.

Natalia Williams:

Which I haven't seen yet.

Kristen Bahls:

You haven't seen Anyone but you. Oh my gosh.

Natalia Williams:

Is it good?

Kristen Bahls:

It's cute, it's very cute, yeah, okay, it's one of those where I mean I'm not saying it's like 13 going on 30 or like 27 dresses level or like you've got male level, but for modern rom-coms it's pretty, it's pretty good, yeah, yeah yeah, I don't.

Natalia Williams:

I don't. I haven't been watching a lot of movies lately either. I feel like I just I just go to bed when I'm tired and I, instead of staying up and maybe, I should stay up and watch all these movies? I don't know.

Kristen Bahls:

I don't know. They've been just kind of eh, lately most have, it seems like. So I don't know that you're really missing that much but anyone but you was really cute, so I would suggest that one. That's good. Yeah, if you see something, it's funny, like it's both funny and um and cute, so so do you. Okay, do you relate more closely to Sabrina or Gray, like on your personality scale?

Natalia Williams:

I think there's a little bit of me in a lot of the characters, which sounds like a cop out. But there is a lot of me in Sabrina. But there's a lot of me in Gray too. There's even a good little bit of me in Liz. Me in gray too, there's even a lot, a good little bit of me. And liz you know, she, their friendship, sort of no, came from a friendship that I had in high school and then friendships that I have now. It was sort of this amalgamation of it, and so there's a little bit of me in all of them and I don't know that I can just pick one. I think people that know me would probably say differently.

Kristen Bahls:

But yeah, but that's okay and that's kind of the way to go to have a little bit of you in every character, because if you made one character so specifically you, then it would probably be difficult to write in the other characters point of views, because you wouldn't have any like similarities basically um, yeah, or maybe it would make it easier.

Natalia Williams:

I think you know you can write something super outlandish that isn't even yeah, and it wouldn't have to be based in any kind of reality at all. That's true too well.

Kristen Bahls:

thank you so much for joining me today, natalia, and if you have not picked up taking the cake, I don't know what your problem is. You need to pick it up right now. It's a perfect summer read. It is, it does. It takes place in the summer, which is actually kind of hard to find. It seems like a lot of books take place, you know, like in fall and winter and stuff like that. So this is a good summer, it's a good summer book. Yeah, thanks for listening to when I left off a bookish podcast. You can visit natalia's site, you can follow her on social media and you can purchase her novels through the link in the show notes or, of course, you can always find them on kindle unlimited.