67. Choosing Collaboration Over Competition with Ali Brady

In this episode, I sit down with the writing duo Ali Brady (Alison Hammer and Bradeigh Godfrey) about creative collaboration. 

The former critique partners share how they evolved from giving each other feedback to co-authoring bestselling novels during the pandemic, emphasizing that collaboration multiplies rather than diminishes creative potential. They discuss their writing process where each takes a different character's perspective, their mutual respect and shared work ethic, and how they support each other through both successes and setbacks. The conversation highlights their latest release, Battle of the Bookstores, a romantic comedy about two competing bookstore managers who unknowingly fall for each other online while battling for the same job in real life.

Find Ali Brady here and here

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Transcript

THE WHOLE WRITER EP 67 - Creative Collaboration with Ali Brady

[00:00:00] Nicole Meier: Hi listeners. Today we have something special. We are covering the topic of creative collaboration. I wanted to introduce you to my two guests. Before we jump into our conversation, we are going to talk to Allison Hammer and Brady Godfrey. So Ali Brady, as they're known, is the pen name of the writing.

[00:00:18] Nicole Meier: BFFs Alison Hammer and Bradeigh Godfrey. They are the USA today bestselling authors of romantic, heartwarming, funny novels including the Beach Trap, the Comeback Summer until next summer, and Battle of the Bookstores. Their books have been the Best of Summer Picks by the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal Parade, and Katie Couric Media.

[00:00:40] Nicole Meier: Alison lives in Chicago and works as an advertising creative director. She's also the founder and co-president of the Artists Against Antisemitism. The author of You and Me and Us, and Little Pieces of Me, Brady lives in Utah with her husband, four children and two Dogs. She works as a doctor and is the author of Psychological Thrillers, imposter, and the followers.

[00:01:04] Nicole Meier: I hope you'll stick around because our conversation's a good one.

[00:01:15] Nicole Meier: Welcome to the whole writer, A place where we talk about what it means to show up as a writer, not just a better writer or a more productive writer, or a published writer, but a whole one. Someone who's grounded in their voice, in their community, in their creative path, even when the world tells them to hustle, compare, or conform.

[00:01:36] Nicole Meier: I'm Nicole Meier, a multi published author and book coach who believes that nurturing the person behind the page is just as important as refining the words on it. Each week we'll explore the terrain of riding life with honesty, warmth, and practical wisdom, creating space for you to write from a place of wholeness rather than depletion.

[00:01:56] Nicole Meier: Whether you're drafting your first manuscript or publishing your fifth book, you'll find conversation and companionship for the journey here. So settle in, bring your questions and your curiosity, and let's discover what it means to write and live with authenticity and purpose. Hello, listeners. I'm so thrilled that you're back here with me on the whole writer.

[00:02:20] Nicole Meier: I have two very fun guests today. I cannot wait for you to get to know them. We have Alison Hammer and Brady Godfrey of Ali Brady, the amazing author duo. So welcome both of you. Thank you. Hi. Thanks for having us. This is such a treat for me. So for those of you that don't know, Allison and I have had the treat of hanging out at more than one writer's conference in the past.

[00:02:46] Nicole Meier: And Brady, we have been sort of social media friends, but I've never gotten the chance to sit down talk with you. So this is really special to me, and I don't know if both of you know this, but I've kind of. Switched the focus of my podcast very recently where I'm talking about the whole writer, and I thought that you guys coming on not only to launch your new book coming out, but also to talk about the idea of creative collaboration as opposed to competition would be just such a really lovely way to introduce emerging authors to all of the possibilities out there.

[00:03:19] Nicole Meier: Because when we think of becoming an author, we always think it's this big solo event, but you guys have very beautifully pulled off. A career where you not only write your own books, but where you write books together. So I think that would be a lovely segue for you each to just give a mini introduction on who you are, what kind of books you write.

[00:03:37] Nicole Meier: And I'm gonna start with Allison. 

[00:03:40] Allison Hammer: Amazing. So I'm Allison Ham, the Allie, half of Allie Brady. And on my own I write women's fiction book club kind of books. And Brady was my critique partner before my co-author, so I've never written a book without Brady's input and everything like that. So it was really a natural transition for us.

[00:03:58] Allison Hammer: I'm a creative director at an ad agency and live in Chicago, so that's a little bit about me. Love it. You just have creativity coming out from 

[00:04:06] Nicole Meier: all directions. Too many, too many.

[00:04:12] Bradeigh Godfrey: Yeah, so let's see. I have published a couple psychological thrillers, and like Allison said, we've been critique partners all the way through since before we got agents and got book deals. So she read my thrillers and my second one is dedicated to her. And again, it was just a really natural transition to start writing together.

[00:04:30] Allison Hammer: She made me cry. There's a video on Instagram, but you have to have the volume down because my screech was so loud when I saw she dedicated it to me. 

[00:04:39] Nicole Meier: How did you guys become critique partners? Did someone set you up through WFWA, 

[00:04:44] Allison Hammer: the way the story goes? We call it our meet. Cute. I was doing a little bit of online stalking of Brady, so we're both members as you are of Women's Fiction Writers Association, and there was a online workshop where different people were sharing, I think the first like 200 words of their work in progress.

[00:05:02] Allison Hammer: And Brady and I were not in the same group, but I went kind of snooping around to the other groups and when I read her just the first 200 words, I was like, she's good. I want to be her friend. Then a couple months later, WFWA had like a side group about critique partners and critique swapping, and we swapped pages and instantly hit it off.

[00:05:24] Allison Hammer: We both liked each other's writing style and each other's critique style. I. And I literally remember the day she called me her critique partner, and now I should maybe change it to co-author, but she's in my phone as Brady Godfrey, my cp, which is short for critique partner. I if we knew that, Brady.

[00:05:41] Bradeigh Godfrey: That's so cute. 

[00:05:42] Allison Hammer: I think 

[00:05:42] Nicole Meier: it needs to stay just because it, it's a nod to the og. It's our origin story. Yeah. That's amazing. I love that. I talk about that a lot with emerging authors is that you don't always land with your perfect critique partner on the first try. For me, it took a few trial and error to find out.

[00:06:00] Nicole Meier: I remember thinking, oh, these aren't really my people. I need to keep looking. So the fact that you two found each other so early on is amazing. 

[00:06:08] Allison Hammer: It is amazing. But I also had my fair share of nobody made it to the critique Partner level. 

[00:06:14] Bradeigh Godfrey: Yeah, same. 

[00:06:15] Allison Hammer: I have had one critique from somebody that I almost have memorized 'cause it was so terrible and it was like, you just don't like my writing style and that's okay, but I'm not gonna 

[00:06:23] Nicole Meier: change it for you.

[00:06:24] Nicole Meier: Yeah. Oh my gosh, Brady, you're nodding along. Did you have experience like that too? I did. I remember 

[00:06:30] Bradeigh Godfrey: being in a critique group, being in a couple, but. And some of them were great. I feel like I learned a lot from all the different people. Some people you jive with, some people you don't, and that's totally normal.

[00:06:39] Bradeigh Godfrey: But I do remember getting a critique from a man, a woman's experience. It was a very throwaway line about like balancing career and motherhood. And he said, I. I don't think this is really a thing that women deal with anymore. I was like, oh man, dude, like in 2020 or whatever it was, 2019, women don't face this anymore.

[00:06:58] Bradeigh Godfrey: I was like, oh man. Yeah. 

[00:07:00] Nicole Meier: Oh 

[00:07:00] Bradeigh Godfrey: buddy. He is 

[00:07:01] Nicole Meier: ejected from the group. 

[00:07:03] Bradeigh Godfrey: Yeah, 

[00:07:03] Allison Hammer: right. I wonder if it's the same guy that I had, because my thing was also right. Not again, nothing against Sky. We like guys them, we love. Yeah. 

[00:07:12] Nicole Meier: So you realized early on that you were great sounding boards for one another, giving each other trusted feedback.

[00:07:18] Nicole Meier: I would love to know because you both write and are successful separately. When did you realize that you might work really well as co-authors? 

[00:07:28] Allison Hammer: It happened during the pandemic and it was very accidental. We were at home working from home talking just Brady. I think you even found the message. 

[00:07:37] Bradeigh Godfrey: I did. I found our messages.

[00:07:38] Bradeigh Godfrey: 'cause we text each other all the time on Facebook Messenger. Whatever reason, that's our message of choice. We were messaging back and forth about book ideas and I had an idea and you had an idea. And then I think one of us said, well, why don't we put them together 

[00:07:52] Allison Hammer: and write a, it was you. Because I never would've like I, no, it was you.

[00:07:55] Allison Hammer: Because I was like, you would do that with me? 'cause I'm such a fan of Brady. I don't think that I ever would've suggested it because I remember I had an idea and I sent her a message and I was like, do you think this is dumb? She's like, not only is it not done, but it goes with an idea that I had. And she's like, do you wanna write a book together?

[00:08:12] Allison Hammer: And my first thing was like, you would do that with me? Like, I was like, I just remember that feeling. So I totally remember that. But we talk about this all the time. If it weren't for the pandemic and having that much time, I don't know if we would've done it. But our first book was not the first book that we wrote together.

[00:08:30] Allison Hammer: So the struggles that we've both had as authors individually. Do not go away when we're doing this unique author duo. 

[00:08:38] Nicole Meier: Right? So talk a little bit about that. You had an idea, Allison Brady, you're like, well, this actually kind of falls in line with the premise that I've been thinking about. I'm taking it.

[00:08:47] Nicole Meier: Neither one of you were in the middle of a manuscript of your own at that point. So do thoughts come through your head like, oh, I love her. I love her writing style, but maybe this is gonna be harder than we think it is. What sort of roadblocks? Presenting themselves when you first thought about how do we co-write a manuscript 

[00:09:04] Bradeigh Godfrey: and you regret it, Brady?

[00:09:06] Bradeigh Godfrey: Well, I, I think that we were just so excited about it. I think that it was just this really exciting new thing and we needed something exciting and fun to think about during this dark time in the pandemic where kids were home from school, everybody was working from home. It was very scary. So, yeah, I feel like we just started writing it and I think maybe Allison told her agent, but I didn't tell my agent because I was like, what is she gonna think?

[00:09:29] Bradeigh Godfrey: And I think we finished the whole thing where I told my agent, and my agent said, Brady, how well do you know this person? 

[00:09:36] Nicole Meier: Oh, did she really? 

[00:09:37] Bradeigh Godfrey: She said, big beat to write a book with somebody. And I said, I know I've known her for a while. Like, let's try this out. 

[00:09:43] Allison Hammer: It really did feel like a natural evolution, and I tell this story a lot, but my second book, little Pieces of Me.

[00:09:49] Allison Hammer: Has a line that a lot of people call out in reviews as being one of their favorite lines. And Brady wrote it. 'cause when she was critiquing the book, she's like, it needs to have something here. Like a little bit, like maybe something like this. And I was like, well that's perfect. So we really were so used to working together.

[00:10:06] Allison Hammer: The way that we work is we each have our own point of view character. And so we're working together. And separately the process is, and I'm curious what you think Brady, but it's not that different from. I mean, I guess the ownership is different, but the style and ways we were working together as critique partners really set us up to know how to work together to become co-authors.

[00:10:28] Nicole Meier: Yeah, I agree. So if someone were to, were to pin you down, both of you and say, well, what is your style? I love the yin and yang sometimes when they're married together. So Brady, could you say what your style is, your voice? 

[00:10:40] Bradeigh Godfrey: Such an interesting question. My voice varies depending on what I'm writing because my solo books are thrillers, so they are different.

[00:10:47] Bradeigh Godfrey: And then we write women's fiction with romance or now romance with our newest book. And so it's a little bit and kind of romantic comedy. So it's a lighter voice? Yeah, it's a little different. I feel like it's just a little different voice when we write together. 

[00:11:01] Allison Hammer: And I feel like our voices are similar enough and we each, while we take a character, we each touch every page.

[00:11:07] Allison Hammer: So all writes, and then she'll edit it and back and forth. But. The way that we work is with two different characters, and you want the characters to have a slightly different voice. So I think that that works really well. But I will tell you, nothing makes me happier than when somebody thinks we're one person.

[00:11:22] Allison Hammer: It just makes me laugh. But I will tell you we've had two or three different events where we've shown up and they've only had one chair because they didn't know there were two of us for that. It's a little inconvenient, but it's nice. I think that our style is similar enough, and I don't know what I. Add to it.

[00:11:39] Allison Hammer: I don't mean that to sound like negative about myself, but like there's so many things that I count on her for. Like she does an incredible job with the physicality of like movements and expressions, and that's something that I struggle with a little bit. And she's really good at upping the spice. 

[00:11:57] Nicole Meier: Ooh, that's hard to do actually.

[00:12:00] Allison Hammer: He's so good at it. 

[00:12:02] Nicole Meier: Okay, I love that. I'm actually so happy that you pointed out, Allison, that you point out what Brady brings to the table through your lens. So, Brady, what about Allison? 

[00:12:12] Bradeigh Godfrey: Oh so much man. I mean, number one, just a sounding board of someone to, you know, I'll be like really excited about something and wanna see if it works or not, and it's the best feeling ever when Allison will write back and she's really good at writing very detailed comments on things, which is one of my favorite things.

[00:12:28] Bradeigh Godfrey: And so she'll tell me exactly how she feels in every moment. So like swoon or like ah, or tears or whatever, which feels really good a lot of the time, but sometimes it's like, yeah, this is not working. This doesn't make sense, which is fair, but having that gut check all the way along is really helpful.

[00:12:47] Bradeigh Godfrey: And we were like that as critique partners too. Allison just would write very frequent comments. I've had some critique partners that just give you like two sentences at the end of a scene. She was really, really helpful. And then I think a lot of what we do is the pre-work, the brainstorming, and the plotting and the character work.

[00:13:03] Bradeigh Godfrey: And that's where, I mean, you've brought in some of the techniques that you've used before Allison, like Jenny Nash's techniques where we've looked at character work, and that's been really, really helpful to me too. So yeah, I think it's just the whole process of it. It's really collaborative. It's fun.

[00:13:17] Bradeigh Godfrey: That's 

[00:13:17] Nicole Meier: amazing. Well, I know that there are writers out there listening thinking, well, I love someone in my critique group, or I have a writer friend. But they're also probably having that tiny little flag of hesitancy in their back of their mind thinking, well, what if this hurts our friendship? Or what if the feedback is hard to hear from someone so close to me or someone that I admire?

[00:13:38] Nicole Meier: So truthfully, were there any pockets that you guys felt like, wow, this feels trigger to navigate than I thought 

[00:13:44] Allison Hammer: after we sold our first book? We had a Zoom with another BFF writing duo, Christine Del Lauren. We are both huge fans of, and one of the things that we said to them is like, we know how to write together.

[00:13:57] Allison Hammer: And I will tell you, we know a lot of other writing duos and they all write differently. So like we know it works for us, but how do you market together? How do you do the non-writing things together? Some of the best advice that they gave us was to like not forget about our friendship and to make time when we're talking to be like, okay, friendship, phone call or friendship night.

[00:14:18] Allison Hammer: Just to not let that get lost. And so I think we do a pretty good job of not having every interaction or trip that we do beat business, but we make an effort for the friendship as well. And I think that that was honestly just some of the best advice we could have gotten. 

[00:14:35] Bradeigh Godfrey: Yeah, I agree. I compare it a lot, our relationship, a lot to a marriage because when you're married to somebody, you have your relationship, your personal relationship, but then you have the life that you've built, like your home and all the tasks that you have to do.

[00:14:48] Bradeigh Godfrey: And that's kind of how it is for us. Like we have our friendship and we have the creative work, but I feel like we don't have a ton of disagreements or anything that is any other than productive disagreements on the actual creative work. Sometimes challenges are just with business stuff. I think that's the worst part of being an author, right, is the business stuff.

[00:15:09] Bradeigh Godfrey: Just figuring out where do we wanna spend our money for publicity or ads or different things like that. And so we just have to talk it through. My husband and I have a rule that if there's a no from one of us, it's a no from both of us. We have to both say yes. And it's kind of the same rule, like we both have to feel good about something in order to do it for me and Allison.

[00:15:27] Bradeigh Godfrey: And if we each have a different idea and we're going different directions, then we have to come up with a third idea. And that's just kind of how it has to work. 

[00:15:34] Allison Hammer: I will say Poor Brady because her husband and I are very similar on like. Personality skills. I think we have the same EMFJ or whatever thing.

[00:15:42] Allison Hammer: So Brady's used to having a partner with my idiosyncrasies, I think. But I love Nate. Her husband's wonderful. 

[00:15:48] Nicole Meier: Oh my gosh. That's great. Well, this is all really beautifully demonstrating what I talk about is that it's so much better to have collaboration than competition. I just was talking to another author today and she was talking about, gosh, 20 years ago when she first started.

[00:16:04] Nicole Meier: Women writers were really pitted against each other within the publishing house, and I just thought, gosh, that's not true today. You guys are example of that. So is there something maybe beautiful that came out of working with another writer that maybe didn't necessarily come out yet from working by yourself?

[00:16:21] Allison Hammer: A couple things. I think, first of all, I don't think I've ever written by myself, like I said, like I think that writing can be so lonely, but the community and the partnerships that you develop are like the lifeblood. What you said. I can't imagine, and I guess that's how it was 20 years ago, but it always blows my mind with how incredibly supportive other writers are of each other.

[00:16:41] Allison Hammer: Because some people read a hundred books a year, but some people read too. We are competing for the same attention and the same, you know, with the economy and things like that. So it could be so competitive, but people lift each other up so much. One example that came to mind is our friend Ali Hazelwood, who we adore.

[00:17:01] Allison Hammer: We found out that we had, I think it was a Thursday, and we found out that if we did not have a blurb for our debut by Monday, we were not gonna have a blurb on the cover at all. Oh boy. And we like sent a message in this group chat that we're in with other authors and we're like, oh my gosh, we're freaking out.

[00:17:17] Allison Hammer: And Allie was like, send it to me. I'll read it this weekend. Ugh. And she's a big deal and she didn't have to do that. And I feel like there's so many situations and instances like that. So I would say that other writers are just so incredibly supportive, which we try to give back as much as we can 'cause we've definitely been on the receiving end of it.

[00:17:36] Nicole Meier: Yeah, well, like attracts like, and you guys are so giving in the community. I mean, I know Allison, you, you're amazing. When I see you in conferences, you really are invested in everybody's journey. You're asking people about their writing and where they are. And Brady, you've been on social media for years, really giving so much good free advice and words of wisdom and lifting authors up.

[00:17:56] Nicole Meier: So that really doesn't surprise me that you guys would surround yourself with people who would wanna lift you up too. Brady, anything you wanted to add about like something that's beautiful, it's come from collaborating. 

[00:18:07] Bradeigh Godfrey: The thing that comes to mind for me is having someone who is just as invested in all the ups and downs as you are.

[00:18:15] Bradeigh Godfrey: We were chatting before this started about how you get bad reviews and sometimes they'll get to me, I'm a sensitive soul, and so I'll message Allison and I was feeling really sad and she messaged me back and she was like, Brady, I did the math. 87% of the reviews are four and five stars. Like we're okay.

[00:18:33] Bradeigh Godfrey: Which is amazing. By the way. Only 2% are one star. Like it's gonna happen. One and two star. They're each one and two star jumping 

[00:18:40] Allison Hammer: up 1%. 

[00:18:41] Bradeigh Godfrey: Yeah. But having somebody who is in the trenches with you and really gets it is so important. And then the other thing that has come from that is. There are always times, of course, for anybody in any career, but definitely in writing where you're not able to do what you need to do.

[00:18:55] Bradeigh Godfrey: Like if you're having a hard time, you can't keep up with things. Maybe it's the drafting. Maybe it's the revising, or maybe it's like the social media stuff. There have been times when Allison has had trouble with work and different things, and I've picked up the slack. There have been times that I've had stuff, especially with like my family.

[00:19:10] Bradeigh Godfrey: Especially recently and she did all the Instagram stuff for like three months 'cause I couldn't do anything. So it's really helpful to have somebody that is just as invested as you are and knows it just as well as you 

[00:19:22] Allison Hammer: the time she's talking about. There's one in particular that I was so incredibly burnt out.

[00:19:26] Allison Hammer: I had a job before the one I'm in now that was really toxic and was literally like I was burnt to a crisp and we had a deadline. And what we ended up doing, 'cause we were trying to figure out how Brady could help me, but how I could also keep. What I felt like my part of the character in the story, and she ended up fast drafting a chapter for me, which was incredibly helpful.

[00:19:47] Allison Hammer: That was in our book, the Comeback Summer, and it was the chapter about our characters were crushing their comfort zones and running a kind of a tough Mudder race. And Brady had been so instrumental in coming up with the different challenges and things, and I had to let go myself of being like, okay, it's ours, not mine or hers.

[00:20:06] Allison Hammer: It was incredible. And then. The other thing that comes to mind, Brady, you talk about, will you say it so much better than I do, about how two brains together are better than two separate, or what do you say? 

[00:20:16] Bradeigh Godfrey: When we work together, it's not just like her brain plus my brain. It really is like it multiplies and it's exponential because it's not just her ideas and my ideas.

[00:20:24] Bradeigh Godfrey: It's the ideas bouncing off each other and continue to grow and grow and grow, and it becomes so much more than just the two of us. It's really, really fun. That is so 

[00:20:33] Nicole Meier: cool and that actually addresses my next question I wanted to ask you guys is I was gonna say, you know, for writers out there who are afraid of like, I really wanna collaborate, but I'm afraid I might lose my voice, or I'm afraid I might have to share success, you guys are saying, Hey, two brains are not only two plus two equals three, it's actually fueling one another.

[00:20:52] Nicole Meier: You're much more generative, you're much more supportive. But do you have anything else you would say to those writers who are worried they'd lose their voice in a collaboration? I 

[00:21:01] Allison Hammer: think you have to be careful with who you collaborate with. I think the key is the mutual respect for each other. Brady and I are both fans of each other's writing, and we work hard to balance all of that.

[00:21:12] Allison Hammer: So I think mutual respect is really important. But as far as, I mean, it's team sport versus individual sports. We're there for the tough times. Like back when we were critique partners. I remember when I got my, the offer found out my book was going to auction or something like that. Brady's the first person that I called and she was so happy for me.

[00:21:32] Allison Hammer: I like will never forget, she was walking into Costco with her daughter, who at the time was three years old and I could hear her little voice being like, mommy, why are you crying? And I'm like, we shared that moment. And so we had that a little bit before and it's yours. And I remember one other just fun story story.

[00:21:50] Allison Hammer: Brady was on vacation the week after our book tour last year, and I got a message on Instagram that we had gotten on the USA today list. And it's not real until like we share it. So like, I think I almost texted her husband because she wasn't answering her phone, but it was like, bed I like was FaceTiming her.

[00:22:12] Allison Hammer: She's like, no, I'm still in bed. I'm like, I don't care. But like being excited for each other with each other. My first two books came out during the pandemic, so I didn't get to do a book tour. I can't imagine doing it without Brady. Everything is so much more fun. So if you're worried about sharing the success, I think you would need to switch your thinking because sharing the success is amazing and beautiful.

[00:22:39] Nicole Meier: Oh my gosh, that is such a good story. I love it. Brady, do you have anything you wanna add to that part? I think 

[00:22:46] Bradeigh Godfrey: something that I was thinking as Allison was talking was that. I think some people have a little bit of a misconception when they're gonna write together that it may cut down on the amount of work it is.

[00:22:55] Bradeigh Godfrey: Mm-hmm. Because I don't think it is less work because even though we share the drafting, for example, we are then editing each other. It's a lot of work and a lot of collaboration and we do a lot of work on the front end to get it all prepared. But I do think we come out with a really smooth product by the time it goes to our editor or even our agents before it goes to our editor.

[00:23:15] Bradeigh Godfrey: I think it's in a really strong place. Much stronger than it would've been when it was only one of us. So if you're interested in writing with someone, finding someone who has shared goals and has a shared style, and that you can really come together and are willing to each listen to each other, 

[00:23:32] Allison Hammer: and I think we also both have a crazy, stupid work ethic and we're both very intense.

[00:23:37] Allison Hammer: And so I think that helps. It's like the old school project thing. You don't wanna be on a school project with somebody where you're working your butt off and they're kind of like casual about it. So. We wanna match the intensity, and I'll tell you, we both have really full and busy lives. I run a nonprofit and have a full-time job.

[00:23:54] Allison Hammer: Brady has a full-time job and family and pets, and we both have a lot of other things. And we are more organized than I would be on my own. We have different working styles, like I think we probably spend a similar amount of time, but I'm so like undiagnosed, but totally have a DHD. And so like my time is scattered and it's just like keeping pace with each other.

[00:24:17] Allison Hammer: I listened to a podcast last week with a mutual friend of ours, Camille Pagan, and she was saying something that like, I need to work on is still taking credit for what you do. 'cause I'm not good at that, but I know I bring things to the table, but I'm usually focused on Brady making my areas that aren't as good better.

[00:24:37] Allison Hammer: And so I that it's also important that. You have a role in the partnership too, even if your partner is in your head better or stronger at something else, that you're an important part of it, but that's maybe a little bit more on. My own psychosis or issues. 

[00:24:55] Bradeigh Godfrey: No, but I think something to that of worrying like, am I, nobody wants to be the weak link, right?

[00:25:01] Bradeigh Godfrey: Yes. Yeah. So I think we both feel that way sometimes when we're not maybe carrying our load or, but we're typically so conscientious with rather overwork than under work. 

[00:25:11] Nicole Meier: Which is great when you respect someone, you wanna show up for them, you want to do a good job for them. You wanna make sure that they're feeling like it's an equal partnership.

[00:25:19] Nicole Meier: And that's really what's coming through when you guys are sharing the behind the scenes of your books. I'm getting that from you. So I love that, and I think anyone listening should think about that. If I wanna collaborate, even if it's a short story or a blog or whatever it is, make sure that you two would show up equally for one another.

[00:25:38] Nicole Meier: That's really good advice. 

[00:25:39] Allison Hammer: Another thing that, this was an idea that Brady had, which was really good. And I like Brady, what you were saying about you and Nate. If it's a no from one of you, then it's a no. But even with some of the creative stuff, Brady had an idea that we each get one veto per project.

[00:25:53] Allison Hammer: That was like a absolute like, I feel strongly about this, I wanna change it, or I don't want this to happen like that. And we've only used it one time in five books that we've written. Five books in a novella. So like she said, if there's something that's not sitting right, we talk through and usually we'll come up with a third possibility.

[00:26:11] Allison Hammer: But that I think was something that was a good idea. But again, we haven't luckily had to use it more than that Once. 

[00:26:19] Nicole Meier: That's a great idea. Okay, so speaking of things that are working, speaking of fun stories, I'm dying for you to talk about your book that's coming out because I read the premise and I was like, I need to get my hands on this book right away.

[00:26:30] Nicole Meier: So share the title, share the premise, and tell us when it's coming out. 

[00:26:34] Allison Hammer: It's coming out next Tuesday as we're recording this, so we're still practicing how to talk about it, but it's called Battle of the Bookstores by Allie Brady. And the shortest description, I think of it as you've got Mail meets the hating game.

[00:26:49] Allison Hammer: It takes place in Boston and there are two bookstores that are side by side. One happy ending sells romance, and then the other Tabula in Script Up is a literary bookstore. And they coexist for like years have been great. But then one day they're both purchased by somebody who wants to combine them into one bookstore and they only need one manager.

[00:27:10] Allison Hammer: So whoever's profits are higher at the end of the summer is going to get the job. Oh my gosh. But things get more complicated when pass it to Brady 

[00:27:18] Bradeigh Godfrey: as things get more complicated because unbeknownst to them. They struck up a friendship with each other online on an anonymous bookseller forum, and they've been chatting for months oh one, no idea.

[00:27:28] Bradeigh Godfrey: And so they're very close friends online. They trade book recommendations, and as they're battling out in real life, they're becoming more and more close friends online. Their relationship is deepening. They're sharing more vulnerable things. Eventually somebody's gonna find out and yeah, what could really go wrong at that point?

[00:27:47] Nicole Meier: Oh my, you guys are pulling at all my, you've got male heartstrings right now, so thrilled about this premise. 

[00:27:53] Allison Hammer: Very 

[00:27:53] Nicole Meier: exciting. 

[00:27:54] Allison Hammer: And it was an excuse to watch. You've got male a few times. Ugh. But I will say one of the, the big differences that's nice is that you've got mail and we've been, like, we were talking about reading reviews and people have very mixed opinions on you've got mail.

[00:28:08] Allison Hammer: But what people don't like about you've got mail is like the big business Tom Hanks taking over In this time it's two indie bookstores, so we don't have that corporate greed element, which I think is nice and a fun little fact. Our characters' names were a nod to the movie. We've got. Ryan is a nod to Meg Ryan.

[00:28:28] Allison Hammer: Oh, and Josie is based on Joe Fox, which is Tom Hanks' character. So love it. Inside nods. 

[00:28:35] Nicole Meier: Oh my gosh, you guys so much fun. Okay, so it comes out June 3rd, is that right? June 3rd. So exciting. I am so thrilled for you. I do wanna know, do you have more things in the works with the two of you? You don't have to say what they are, but are you percolating on some things?

[00:28:53] Bradeigh Godfrey: Yes, we are. We're percolating on some things and yeah, we're actually excited 'cause we're gonna be on a book tour and we're gonna have a lot of time together, A lot of time sitting in airports and planes and trains. So we're gonna be doing a lot of brainstorming and plotting. So very excited. 

[00:29:06] Allison Hammer: I'm really excited.

[00:29:07] Allison Hammer: We only have one flight, this book tour. We're taking the train a lot and Oh great. I love trains. Like it's just more comfortable and you're there longer. It doesn't always take longer, but there's not as much like going through security and wasted time, so I'm really excited to do that. But yes, we've got some things percolating.

[00:29:26] Nicole Meier: Oh, I'm sure you guys are gonna come off those train rides going Okay, we have our next story. Okay. So tell all of our listeners where they can find you, because I know they're all gonna be wanting to follow along and also purchase the book. 

[00:29:39] Allison Hammer: We are the most active on Instagram. That is at Allie Brady Books.

[00:29:45] Allison Hammer: We're trying as a experiment to be a little bit more active on TikTok. So there were Allie Brady books, and then we just moved our newsletter to Substack. So we're Allie Brady books there. But we love Substack because we can share our news, but it's also community and conversation and engagement. So those are the three places that are good to find us and our website, ally Brady books.net.

[00:30:10] Nicole Meier: Love it. Yes, I am a Substack fan all the way. That's where I spend all my time these days, so 

[00:30:15] Allison Hammer: it's really great. And it's free, which, yeah, all the other ones like charge you so much for your email list. Totally. 

[00:30:22] Nicole Meier: This was such a fun talk as I knew it would be. I cannot wait to follow along while you're on book tour and I can't wait to get my hands on the book, which is just next week.

[00:30:31] Nicole Meier: So. Thank you both for being here and just sharing all of your creative wisdom and also just your enthusiasm. I know that you guys are cheering along with all of the newbie writers out there, so I appreciate you being here, and we wish you all the 

[00:30:44] Allison Hammer: success. Thank you for having us, and hopefully the three of us will get together to hang out in person sometime soon.

[00:30:50] Bradeigh Godfrey: Yeah, that'd be amazing. Thank you. I would love it. 

[00:30:53] Nicole Meier: Okay, thanks. I'll see you all next time on the whole writer.

[00:31:01] Nicole Meier: If you want to check out my coaching programs for fiction writers, visit nicole meier.com. That's M-E-I-E-R. And if you like this episode, I'd love you to take a minute to leave a rating and review for this podcast. This will help more writers like you to discover the show and to get going on their writing journey.

[00:31:21] Nicole Meier: Thanks so much for listening. Until next time, happy writing everyone.