62. Why Community Matters: Prioritizing Human Connection for a Healthier Life

In this enriching episode of Nourished with Dr. Anikó, Dr. Anikó explores one of the most powerful yet overlooked foundations of health: human connection.

Fresh from a week spent surrounded by people she loves, she reflects on how deeply nourishing it is to share space, conversation, laughter, and meaningful experiences with others. That experience becomes a reminder that while technology has made communication easier than ever, it cannot replace genuine, face-to-face connection.

Dr. Anikó discusses why community is a fundamental human need, how modern life often encourages isolation, and why so many people are unknowingly substituting true connection with social media, endless productivity, or even AI. She explains how these conveniences, while helpful, can never provide the emotional and physiological benefits that come from being physically present with another person.

Throughout the episode, she offers practical ways to build stronger relationships through everyday interactions, from chatting with a grocery store cashier to making time for close friends and loved ones. She also shares why practicing these small moments of connection helps strengthen our social skills, improve our wellbeing, and create a richer, more fulfilling life.

If you've been feeling disconnected, overwhelmed by technology, or longing for deeper relationships, this episode is a gentle reminder that some of life's greatest healing comes simply from being together.

Episode Highlights

01:30 Why community is one of our most essential human needs

03:00 The hidden ways we try to replace genuine connection with technology and productivity

05:00 Why social connection is critical for emotional and physical wellbeing

06:00 How everyday interactions can strengthen your sense of belonging

08:00 Why we're losing important social skills in a digital world

10:00 The difference between casual connections and deep relationships

12:00 Why making time for the people you love should become a priority

14:00 Why there is no substitute for genuine human connection

15:00 Finding meaningful moments of connection in everyday life

17:00 A simple reminder to prioritize relationships that nourish your body, mind, and spirit

This week's episode builds beautifully on the themes explored in Episode 45: Why Community Matters for Your Health: The Hidden Impact of Loneliness and How to Reconnect. If you haven't had a chance to listen yet, go ahead and add it to your playlist. Together, these two conversations offer a powerful exploration of why meaningful connection is essential for our physical, emotional, and mental wellbeing.

Connect with Dr. Anikó:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.aniko/

Website: https://www.draniko.com/

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Disclaimer:
The content of this podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. The views expressed are those of the host and guests and do not substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the guidance of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding your health or a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking it because of something you heard on this podcast.

Transcript

Julie Gerstenblatt: [00:00:00] It's a little bit scary. Like, if you are thinking of a career switch or wanting to be a writer or some other kind of artist and feeling that sense of imposter syndrome or why me or how can I do it, like, the more you put yourself out there, yes, you could face rejection or people could laugh at you, but more likely people are gonna say, "Great, how wonderful that you're going for your dreams," and maybe even give you an idea on how to accomplish that or push you a little bit.

Joan Paul: Hi there, I'm Joan Paul and you're listening to the Her Next Act podcast for women in their 50s, 60s, and beyond who are looking to live a more vibrant and fulfilling life. If you're drawn to this, there's a strong possibility that you want more. Perhaps wanting to pursue a longtime idea, a dream, or even discover a new one.

But you may be telling yourself, "I'm too old." That's not true, and it's absolutely not too late. Rather than turning it in, [00:01:00] it's time to turn it up. "I'd love to write a book someday." I've heard a version of that sentiment from many women in recent years, and some do exactly that. They persist through what can be a puzzling and sometimes arduous process, and at the same time, one that is deeply creative, exhilarating, and fulfilling.

Such has been the case for today's guest. Writing has been a thread throughout her life. She set an early intention to be a published author by 40, and despite the demands of another career and raising a family, she met that goal with a self-published book. From there, persistence carried her forward, leading, after 50, to the traditionally published novel, Daughters of Nantucket, followed by her second book, The Stargazer of Nantucket.

Now, with book tours and a contract for yet a third novel, my guest has fully stepped into the identity she dreamt for herself so long ago. My [00:02:00] conversation with award-winning and best-selling author, Julie Gerstenblatt, right here, right now. Welcome, Julie. Wonderful to see you again. 

Julie Gerstenblatt: It is so great to see you, Joan, and thank you for having me on.

Joan Paul: We know each other because several years ago we met at a conference, New England Coastal Creative, and talked about what you were doing, and you said, "I'm actually writing a book." And I probed a little bit deeper. You had a manuscript that was already at a publisher's, and you had kind of a plan to put the book together.

We actually had you, with your first book, Daughters of Nantucket, as a featured author at a book talk at the Griswold Inn, which is, for anybody who doesn't know, it's our family's business that's been around for 250 years. And I love, and we love, books around here, and we actually have a store, Goods & Curiosities, that features a lot of books as well.

We had just [00:03:00] started to feature authors, and you were our second. It was just perfect timing. Now, bringing us to 2026, exactly one month ago, it was Sunday, June 7th, from this conversation, you, with the second book, The Stargazer of Nantucket, had a pre-launch event at the Griswold Inn, which punctuated our birthday celebration of 250 years of history and hospitality.

 I just wanted to set this scene because you had actually reached out to us right at about the time we were thinking, "We want to have an author to punctuate this event." We had a, a weekend-long slate of activities. What would that be? Who would that be? And we really had just gotten to that stage, and then you reached out via email and said, "I have a book, and I'd love to have a pre-launch event at your celebration."

It was serendipitous timing. 

Julie Gerstenblatt: Yeah. So we [00:04:00] did meet at New England Coastal Creative, and my book was already set to be published in March of 2023. So I spent the year before as part of New England Coastal Creative meeting other creatives in the area, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and going to several of those events.

And the one at The Grist was really the one that sort of affected me the most, because I walked into the space, I walked into the inn, and I was like, "Oh my gosh." It's like the history of my book come to life. And I already knew that I was writing the second one on a clipper ship, and to see all of the ship paintings and walk into The Grist store, and it is, you know, curiosities and it has a bunch of things, but mostly you're first struck by the nautical feeling of the place and the historical feeling of the books that are curated and the items that are there that are so New England coastal.

I [00:05:00] was like, "This is like my dream of an event space." And so I'm so glad that it worked out for both of us that we could have two such fruitful and amazing events together. 

Joan Paul: Absolutely. I mean, that first one was terrific, and what I also remember is when you spoke to us, you were at the end of that book tour.

Mm-hmm. And this time, couple years later with your second book, we were actually one of the first, if not the first, event. Because it was a pre-launch event, your book was going to be published a couple of days later or out to the world and to the public. So we felt very privileged to have this special event at The Grist.

And it also felt so appropriate because of all the things that you mentioned. We're in Essex, Connecticut, and we have a seafaring history as well from way back, m- mid-1800s, all of that, big shipbuilding center. Men and boys went out to sea to China, West Indies, all of that. [00:06:00] It just was so good, the parallels with that book.

I first want to congratulate you and the book for being a USA Today bestseller, because that is quite an award and quite an accomplishment. How does that make you feel? 

Julie Gerstenblatt: Ugh, that is incredible. It is a dream come true. The first book did well, and it started to do well in a way that I hadn't anticipated.

With Daughters, somebody reached out to me and said, "Do you know that you made the NEIBA list of bestsellers?" Which is the New England Independent Booksellers Association. That I was number 15 on a list of 15. I was, like, hanging on there the first week it came out, and I was a bestseller, but regionally.

So with your second endeavor, you know, aim a little higher, so I was aiming for this USA Today list, and I had no idea if it was possible, but I knew I needed everyone on board, which included The Grist and your bookstore, which was so great. You [00:07:00] guys hustled and made it happen and reported to the USA Today website and made sure those books counted towards that goal, and I was just- Florida on July 1st, three weeks after the book came out, to learn that it, it had hit the list.

So thank you. It really shows these goals, like I can set it for myself, but it takes a community and it takes others supporting and cheering you on and, like, lifting, and I know this is a big part of what you believe too, Joan, like women in particular can lift each other up and that it's about all rise with the tide, so.

Joan Paul: Absolutely. That's wonderful, and I ... A little bit later on in the conversation, I'd love to understand who you needed to become- Mm-hmm ... and how do you assume that identity of a writer, now a published author? What's always interesting to me, and I hope to others as well, is I'd love to hear the narrative arc, if you will, your personal story.

Mm. How are you sitting here, right here, right now? I know you've had [00:08:00] a long thread of writing, being passionate about writing, maybe as far back as high school, and continued that throughout even though you had a different kind of career at some point, and you were raising a family. So can you share a little bit about that journey from when you first decided, "Hey, I think I wanna be a writer," and how that evolved?

Julie Gerstenblatt: Sure. Yeah, so I did always wanna be a writer. I was writing in high school, short stories, poems. I worked on the literary magazine in my high school and college. I wrote for my college newspaper, and I actually started a section that was a lifestyle section that they didn't have. You know, they had sports and they had news, and I was like, "Let's talk about fashion and theater and social activities," and started that section of the paper.

And then when I graduated from college, my ... And I was an English major, and I told my parents I wanted to be a writer, and they were kind of like, "That's cute, but that's not a thing. [00:09:00] That's not a job. That's not a career. Like, what do you do to become a writer? It sort of looks like you're a waitress and you're writing at night, or you have some other kind of day job that doesn't tap you or, or take too much from you so that you can support your art."

And I wasn't sure when I thought about it, too, if that was something for me. I just knew I wanted to write as much as possible. And so my parents were like, "You can do something writing adjacent. You could be a journalist. You could work in publishing, or you could, you could be a teacher and write in the summers."

And so I went to grad school. Actually, the day that I got into grad school for education, I also got a job at the Babysitter Club books at Scholastic to be an assistant editor. 

Joan Paul: Oh, that's fun. 

Julie Gerstenblatt: Yeah, and I thought they were both about writing, but I went with grad school, and I think that took me further away from publishing.

I do have friends who were in publishing who then started writing more [00:10:00] frequently, but I thought that I could be a teacher and write in the summers and write on weekends and evenings, but I really was grading papers constantly, and I kept going to grad school. I just love school. I have two masters and a doctorate in education, and it took so much of my time, and I, I did all the other things.

I had this great career. I got an apartment in New York City. I found the love of my life and got married, and I had children, and we moved to a house, and everything was going the way I had hoped, but I still wasn't a published author. And so that's when I was working on my dissertation, and I had time off when my dissertation sponsor was reading, and she'd say, "Okay, I'll get back to you in six weeks with revision notes."

So then I had six weeks with the same babysitter at home to write the novel. 

Joan Paul: And you also, I think you wrote four or five of them- 

Julie Gerstenblatt: Yeah ... 

Joan Paul: I've heard you talk about, and I've talked to other authors as well, and there are many, let's say, manuscripts that never find their way to the [00:11:00] light of day. They happen to be in the desk drawer or on the shelf.

So it sounds a little bit like that was your story, but you still were practicing the craft. 

Julie Gerstenblatt: Yeah, I think the first novel, the first novel I wrote, I started a YA one, and then I wrote a second YA one and showed it to my friend who was an editor at Scholastic, who had helped me get that job interview years before.

And she gave me notes, but I didn't end up revising that. I just started writing a different novel, and this was my first adult novel. And I did get an agent, and she did try to sell it, but she was taking so long, and it was the time when self-publishing became a thing. E.L. James had self-published Fifty Shades of Grey, and I was like, "Well- Yeah

if she can do it, I can do it." And I mean, you know, that worked out really well for her, so. 

Joan Paul: Yeah. 

Julie Gerstenblatt: So I was like, "Oh, I'll just self-publish it," and I took it back from my agent, and we deleted the contract, and I self-published that novel, and my husband made the cover, and [00:12:00] I hired somebody to edit it, and it was a fun experience.

And like you mentioned, my goal was to be published by 40, and so with that self-published novel. So that was probably the third thing I wrote, let's say, third novel. 

Joan Paul: What was it called? 

Julie Gerstenblatt: It was called Lauren Takes Leave, and it was about a teacher who goes on jury duty and pulls a Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

This is inspired by me going on jury duty, and I was- ... supposed to be on a case for two weeks, and the first week I went into school every morning and set up the substitute with the plans, and then went to the courthouse. And the second week I was like, "I'm not doing this. Here are the lesson plans for the week.

I'll see you next week." And then the case got dismissed And another juror turned to me and said, he was an agent actually, and he said, "You've been talking all week about writing a novel. This is where it starts. She's got a free pass for a week. Where's this woman gonna go, and what's she gonna do?" And so I wrote this Ferris Bueller, but the teacher and her [00:13:00] friends take off.

Joan Paul: I love that because the fellow juror inspired you there- Mm-hmm ... or encouraged you to go on. So it's, again, serendipitous, right? You're thinking about this is your story, and am I really gonna do it? And then there's somebody there that kind of pushes you. 

Julie Gerstenblatt: Yeah. Yeah. And I think I talk about those things.

It's a little bit scary if you are thinking of a career switch or wanting to be a writer or some other kind of artist, and feeling that sense of like imposter syndrome or why me or how can I do it? The more you put yourself out there, yes, you could face rejection or people could laugh at you, but more likely people are gonna say, "Great, how wonderful that you're going for your dreams," and maybe even give you an idea on how to accomplish that or push you a little bit.

So I would go to parties and tell people I was writing a book, and feel dumb about it, but also find that that sort of pretend helped me legitimize it and call myself that. Nobody else is gonna [00:14:00] help you do that. Right. You have to be like, "I'm a writer. I'm an artist. I'm a this. I'm an entrepreneur."

Joan Paul: Absolutely. So I also do some life coaching on the side, and one of the things that I tell people when they have this dream to be whatever that is, what you said, the writer, the artist, the jewelry designer, or such, you've gotta claim it. If you're really serious, you've gotta claim it. And not only to yourself in your journal, but if you claim it out loud, there's a lot of power around that.

But you feel like, "Oh, gee, I'm writing a book, but people are gonna think, well, what have you done before? How is it credible for you to do something like that?" And of course, everybody has to start with a blank page. 

Julie Gerstenblatt: Mm-hmm. '

Joan Paul: Cause they've never done it before. And it's interesting that we look at people that are award-winning authors, now you too, right?

But there was a starting point when they didn't have a word written, and they just had exactly the sentiment that you just expressed, "Oh, I'm a writer. I'm writing a book." That's it Yep And then you start. 

Julie Gerstenblatt: Yep, and I would do that [00:15:00] everywhere, and then I got to the point where I remember sitting at a hotel in the Hamptons, and we met another couple with little kids, and we were playing with our kids in the pool.

And they were like, "What do you do?" And I said I was a teacher, but I was working on a novel, and this guy was like, "Oh, I wrote a memoir, and I can give you my agent's name." So by putting myself out there before I was ready to look for an agent, I had about 10 names of people that said they would share their agent's information with me so I could send my manuscript out.

So you're not at zero. You get people on board to help you as you're building this, whatever, airplane before it takes off. 

Joan Paul: Yes. 

Julie Gerstenblatt: Yeah. 

Joan Paul: There's a lot of pieces and a lot of people that come together to support you- 

Julie Gerstenblatt: Mm-hmm ... 

Joan Paul: until finally there's a book on the shelf. It's a published book. Was that the book ... You mentioned again four or five books, but that- Mm-hmm

third book that you actually had self-published, I think I was reading somewhere that you sold 600 copies out of your [00:16:00] garage. 

Julie Gerstenblatt: Mm-hmm. And 

Joan Paul: you went around to see if bookstores might carry it, and what was the reaction then? 

Julie Gerstenblatt: Yeah, bookstores were not supportive really. They had a hard time with inventory. If it's not a traditionally published book, it is hard to sell it in bookstores even to this day, although I now work at a bookstore two days a week, and we do have authors come in I would say, like, once every few weeks.

I can see them coming 'cause I can tell that they're nervous about it, and they approach the desk, and they're, like, a little apologetic. "Hi, I published this novel, and..." And I'm like, "Great. We have a form that you could fill out, and we will take a few on consignment." So it's a different form of payment. It's a different way to get into the bookstore.

I think now, you know, it's 15, 20 years later at least, that bookstores are more comfortable with this and used to this, but it still feels like you're a little bit less legit than the others. I know this is also true of friends of mine who are published by Amazon. Amazon is a giant, but they are competing [00:17:00] against independent bookstores, and so for a different reason, if you're published by Amazon, it is hard for you to get into independent bookstores.

So there's all these different ways. 

Joan Paul: That you've learned along the way just by doing. Yeah. That is also wonderful that you can be more compassionate when somebody comes in the bookstore. Maybe, again, you can see that they're nervous, and they've got their book, and, "Oh, this is what I did." Yes. You know? But now you remember what that's like- Oh, yeah

to have that and feel proud of it, and nervous, and oh my gosh, and all of that. Did that encourage you, I suppose, selling 600 copies- Mm-hmm ... whether bookstores took them or not, to say- Mm ... "I think I've got something here," because 600 people, 'cause that's a lot. Yeah. 600 people decided to buy this book and read the book, and I think there's something to it.

Was there ever a point, I guess, the opposite of where you considered giving up that dream because, wow, this is harder than I thought? 

Julie Gerstenblatt: I didn't give up that dream, but I did realize that I didn't want to continue- self-publishing as a route for me because it was so hard, and I did get really [00:18:00] great press. I was, like, on the front page of the Sunday lifestyle section of the Westchester newspaper.

Like, I got as much local press as I could without a bigger publisher behind me. And so what I realized was that I wanted to keep writing, and I would keep doing that, but I would only publish again if I could get somebody bigger to do all the promotion and publicity and marketing and all that. I realized that publishing was still a big dream of mine, but writing, I would never stop writing, no matter.

I would never stop writing, but I would stop publishing if I couldn't get it published traditionally, since I had already tried the other way. 

Joan Paul: Yeah. It's really interesting, too, the publishing piece, because I think there is a lot of hard work, even though you enjoy it, writing the book. Sitting down to write it, you're passionate about it.

I'm sure there are times when you get stuck, but still there's a passion around that. Oh, yeah. But what people, I think, the wannabe writers and all [00:19:00] that, might forget is that after you write the book, the hard work of writing and then, now another part of that is a lot of work- Right ... which is getting it published and promoting and saying, "Okay, here it is.

Now what?" I think it's an interesting process, too, for people to learn a little bit more about how you go about doing that. Mm-hmm. You know, you've just sort of described how difficult it is, the self-publishing route. So how did you get, then, the book deal? Because I think it was a three-book deal that you got from Harper Collins, which is kind of amazing when you set out.

It wasn't only one book, but they said, "You know what? We want more than one book. We want three out of you." So how did that take place? 

Julie Gerstenblatt: So the first one was one book, and then I got a two-book deal. So but it really was my second agent who failed to sell the novel I wrote after the one I self-published. I wrote a contemporary novel, another contemporary novel.

These had all been contemporary, so this was, [00:20:00] like, novel four, let's say, and it's about a woman in her 40s who wakes up one day, and her husband had passed away suddenly two years prior, and she's coming out of her grief. She has a teenager and a toddler, and it sends her on a mystery. It takes her to Nantucket.

But my agent at the time was like, "Oh yeah, I'll sell this no problem. It's, you know, great setting, well-written," blah, blah, blah. And within The month of February, so the shortest month of the year, like she sent it out on February 1st, and by the 28th she was like, "Nope, nobody wants it. What else have you got?"

And I was like, "I spent a year or two years on this. I don't got anything else." And I pitched her. She goes, "Well, tell me ideas you have." And I'd never had an agent before a book idea. I had always written the whole thing and gotten that first agent, and also written the whole thing and gotten the second agent.

And so she asked me to pitch her ideas. I pitched one that was a memoir. She was like, "No, you're a nobody. We don't know who you are. No memoirs from a person [00:21:00] who's not a somebody." I was like, "Okay." And then I pitched her a contemporary set at college, a college reunion where three women go back to college and confront the man who sexually assaulted one of them, who is being honored as the alumni of the year.

Plus, one of them has a college-age student at that school right now. And then I pitched her this Nantucket historical. And she's like, "Okay, write that contemporary college one." So I wrote 100 pages of it, that was spring of whatever year. and she read it in the fall, By the fall it was the Kavanaugh hearings.

Maybe it was 2016. And suddenly everyone was writing sexual assault stories, and she was like, "We are inundated with them. It is no longer a fresh idea, and so I don't want that one. What else have you got?" 

Joan Paul: And you're not discouraged at this point, like, "Oh, my word. I mean, I put my heart and soul into that"? 

Julie Gerstenblatt: I was a little bit discouraged, but I was only 100 pages in.

I liked it. Because I had an agent, I really wanted to try [00:22:00] listening to her. I hadn't had that kind of feedback before from someone in the industry, and I thought, "Okay, she knows what she's talking about." She said, "I think you should write that historical that you mentioned, set on Nantucket during the great fire of 1846."

And I said, "I write contemporary. That was kind of just me tossing out an idea." And she said, "Well, you're writing contemporary, but it isn't selling, and maybe you can do something different in the market with that historical." And I had told her there wasn't a book about it. It was hard to find research around it.

There was only one history of, of the actual fire itself. So I thought about that and I was like, this is a big takeaway for me, is not just that you have to take risks, but maybe you have to be a little uncomfortable. Like I've now been doing one thing three or four times and not finding success. And so when there's a possibility of like, "Yes, but do it this way or try it that way," and she was there to support me, [00:23:00] but it does feel risky.

What do I know about writing historical? I read it, but I had never tried to write it. I had never imagined I could. But I had an agent who believed in me. 

Joan Paul: Interesting. Just pause for a minute. You know, you pitched all these ideas. It sounded like most of them were contemporary, as you said, and then you had this one idea for this historical novel set in Nantucket, the big fire and all of that.

I know you have a connection with Nantucket, but why did that come to you? As you said, there wasn't anything really written about it. You'd have to dig into research. It would be a lot more work. Where was it inspired for you that it was a possibility? 

Julie Gerstenblatt: So I read Nat Philbrick's history of Nantucket. It's called Away Off Shore, and on page 11 or 12, there are two paragraphs about the great fire, and that was the first I'd ever heard of it.

And I was like, "Oh my God, I've been going to this island since the late '70s when I was eight years old. I love this place. How did I not know about the fire?" And so that's what got me [00:24:00] interested. And so then I did go to the two bookstores on the island, find the one account, nonfiction, someone had self-published, and they did carry it in the bookstore, about the great fire, and I read it cover to cover, and I was like, "Huh, this is an exciting event."

And so that's really what got me started. Like, you have to feel really excited about an idea in order to spend two years writing about it, and I did feel that way about it. I just didn't have the confidence, I think, and that's why I pitched it along with the two others. And at that point, felt it was, like, equal to the two other ideas.

But once the two other ideas were off the table, suddenly this one looked really good, and it was me rereading that material, feeling like it actually had something I was lacking in the other stories, which history gave me, which was like the beating heart of a plot, this thing that really happened, that's important in a way that [00:25:00] nothing else I had been writing about up until that time felt like it had this gravitas, and it grounded me.

It gave me the arc of a plot. It gave me the backbone of a story where I could set my characters. And so the more I thought about that, I convinced myself. And there's one other thing I did to convince myself, which is, as I said earlier, I spent 10 years writing a dissertation, so I did research for a decade, so I could do research.

I love doing research. ... 

Joan Paul: thing that I find fascinating, what I've heard and read about you also, and I know now because I've also read your books, that you are a meticulous researcher. And so what I love about that is knowing that, first of all, the books are entertaining, okay? Mm-hmm. You probably write for that.

But you also learn something from reading it. Yeah. And I am also a Nantucket lover. There's a lot of beautiful places in the world, no doubt. I've been to some of them- Mm-hmm ... of course, but there are certain places that really hit you deep in your soul, and Nantucket, for me, [00:26:00] is one of those places. Mm-hmm.

Been going there also for years, and had, not quite at eight years old, but teenage years and then a gap, and then again we went with our family for 17, 18 consecutive years- Mm-hmm ... and now here and there, And so it's a really special place. When you come in on the ferry, you can't but help feel the history there and all that came before 

So it's, it's interesting 'cause you had that- Feeling about it. You had the sense of place, and you spent so much time there tromping around. And also those family names, knowing all who was on the island, some of them who still are, of course. But just knowing those names so you could play with that a little bit.

So tell me a little bit more about that and your experience on Nantucket, and again, then how you got started even deeper with that story. 

Julie Gerstenblatt: So yeah, I mean, once I thought about it, especially once, um, you know, it sold to Harper, it was like, yeah, this was my route to traditional publishing. Of course, this makes [00:27:00] perfect sense.

But it took so long to figure out that if I write about the place that I love, which I was doing in contemporary fiction unsuccessfully, but then I ground it in the history and the research that I know, and I use this deeper well of knowledge and spend time in a, on the place that I love, looking at it differently, and not just as a vacation place, but all of that stuff that I kind of took for granted.

And so I went and I spent a long weekend doing research and going to the whaling museum and the historical archives and into old homes, and that's what got me to see, you know, Nantucket is lost in time. It doesn't have any streetlights. It is still the historic downtown, as you said, you step off the ferry and you do feel like you've gone back in time.

So it made perfect sense in retrospect, in the rear view. Yeah. Of course that was gonna be the place. And the names that I used, [00:28:00] for the first book, I, I needed a whaling captain's wife, and I was like, "We're gonna call her Eliza Macy" because the Macys were one of the original European families to land on Wampanoag land, and they are a founding family of the town of Nantucket.

And so then I had actual Macys calling me after the book came out to be like, "Is your Eliza Macy our Eliza Macy?" And I said, "No, my..." And they were like, "We thought not, because our historical ancestor had sons and yours had daughters." And I said, "Yeah, I just knew it was a name that made sense for the island."

Of course, the real Macy is R.H. Macy, the descendant of Eliza Macy, the man who started Macy's department store. 

Joan Paul: So it's tricky I guess that's the good news about writing historical fiction, is that you have the license- Mm-hmm ... to change things up a bit. But as a place like Nantucket, where there's old families and descendants now, luckily they weren't [00:29:00] upset or anything.

Like, nobody's upset with you changing the characters or personality traits or... 

Julie Gerstenblatt: When I finished the book and I needed to have other authors read it to get blurbs, one of the first people I reached out to, who has been a supporter since the start, was Nancy Thayer. And she writes contemporary Nantucket love stories and family dynamic relationship books set on Nantucket.

And so she read the manuscript for Daughters, and we went out for drinks, and she was like, "I can think of, like, eight to 10 kind of old school ladies who are going to be upset with what you have created for Maria Mitchell," who is a real person from history. So- She goes, "You're doing something wrong if you don't upset at least one person," you know?

Yeah. 

Joan Paul: You need some reaction. 

Julie Gerstenblatt: So that's tricky because I, fine, I made up Eliza Macy, but I used the real Maria Mitchell. You know, she was America's first professional female astronomer, America's first female professional librarian, and so when I use her as a character, I use [00:30:00] a lot of the real things.

But yes, like you said, I also get to make things up. And so there was a little pushback on that in terms of some of the choices I made, but I stand by it, and I think that's great for discussion too. 

Joan Paul: Absolutely. So was it received well in the end? Yes. Of course, yes. I loved that book so much, and I loved it, again, because I've just mentioned that I have a special soulful spot for Nantucket.

I love it so much, and so it was fun to read it. I love historical fiction as well. Mm-hmm. So that's just a genre I love reading, so there was that, but then a place that I love, so the street names, and I could picture it 

Julie Gerstenblatt: And then like what you said about entertaining and informing, like again, also, I was a teacher forever, so the fact that I actually was...

You know, I'm entertaining people, but there is information you're learning and things you didn't know about, that feels like a life mission of mine too, to tell people about something they might not know. So like with the third character in that novel, Meg Wright, is a free-born Black woman trying [00:31:00] to own a store on Main Street with her husband Benjamin, and she's pregnant, and they're trying to integrate the schools for her older daughter, something she never got to experience.

So that's based on the true story of what happened in the mid-1800s on Nantucket with segregation in the schools. And I was like, "Oh, well, if I have a character embody that, we can learn about it too." So- I based her on some real people. Wright was a family name that I researched that was popular- Mm-hmm

both for people of color and for European and white families on the island, so I thought that was interesting, too. And then with the new book, I was like, "Let's go Starbuck." 

Joan Paul: Yeah. As you're talking about it, kind of exciting to think about, you know, you have some real material to start with, so it's not the blank page that you're making- Right

everything up in your head. But it's a place to start. Totally. You have a starting point, and then to spin the tale from that point, it's fun. Yeah. So after you get all that material, you get all that [00:32:00] research, and you spend the long weekend or whatever going about reading, you go back to your office where you are now, your writing room.

Are you a pen to paper? Are you a laptop, or how do you write? What's that process for you? 

Julie Gerstenblatt: So I write on a computer. I have a home office where I write. It is a big wood paneled room, and when I saw it, I was like, "This is where I'm going to write a novel" about- Yeah ... 12 years ago when we moved to Rhode Island, and declared that intention.

When I'm writing, like right now I'm on book tour and I'm not writing, but when I'm writing, it's every day, like Monday through Friday, and it is at least three to four hours. It takes me a little time to settle, and I'll read over the pages from the day before. I'll maybe know what my goal is for the day so I'm not sitting down worried or scared like, "Ah, what am I doing today?"

It's like, "Oh, right, you're finishing that scene. Oh, right, you're starting this part of the book." And I set myself goals, so I write 1,000 words [00:33:00] a day, and I keep a notebook where I jot it down. It's like a little two-page calendar from CVS, and every day of the week I'll put the word count and give myself a check, check plus, or check minus, 'cause I'm a teacher.

Yeah. And it adds up. It's really about goal-setting and adding up, and not being too critical or harsh. If it isn't a great writing day, that's just today. That was just the moment. 

Joan Paul: And they're words on a page. 

Julie Gerstenblatt: And they're still words on a page. Totally, and then you let it go, and you get back to it tomorrow.

And more, more likely than not, I will walk away from the desk, walk the dog, or go do something else, make dinner, and like, aha, something hits me, and that's like, oh, that's why you were stuck. And my brain just needs space to think around it. Not giving up, like just letting that go for now. And so you have to be really, like gentle with yourself, forgiving, kind, gracious, and like- 

Joan Paul: All of it.

I, you know, I love that because I was just about to [00:34:00] ask you, 'cause of course everybody gets stuck in whatever at some point, and we can get all worked up about it, and of course we know that only makes things worse. But to be able to show yourself some grace, compassion, all of that, as you said, get yourself out of the chair, do something different, and somehow that- Yep

even if you're not thinking about it directly, it's working itself out in the background, and then, you know, you come back refreshed, and you've got this whole thing. Yeah. I think though it's interesting because you can do that in some ways when you don't have a publishing deadline. Yes. But now you're working to deadline.

Yes. Yes. Like, how many pages do you have for us? Can we see anything? Yes. That, that type of- 

Julie Gerstenblatt: That is true. Oh, that just reminds me. Don't remind me. Okay, 

Joan Paul: don't... 

Julie Gerstenblatt: But 

Joan Paul: you're excited every day when you wake up, your feet hit the floor, and you're like, "I get to write my book today." Yes. Is that how you feel? 

Julie Gerstenblatt: Yes, absolutely.

And also, I tell people that I'm working on a book, I also have a writing workshop, and so they keep me honest, and they keep me writing because the first deadline will be you [00:35:00] have 50 pages due in workshop on January 10th. So that's the goal. And then again, another 50 in April, it's your turn again. So that also keeps like these micro deadlines.

Joan Paul: Yeah, it's good to have some structure. I think most of us need a little structure to work towards. So that's actually a writing workshop that you're with fellow writers. It also makes me think about who do you have to become and who have you become now that you are a traditionally published author, not one time, but two times, with wonderful praise and critical acclaim and all of that, with another book in the works.

So somebody is betting on you. They like what you're producing. Do you now really feel like you can assume that identity fully? Like, there's no imposter syndrome anymore because the book is being sold. You're in front of thousands of people who are reading your book, asking you questions, and saying how much they love it.

So how does that make you feel? Can you ever truly get comfortable with that? 

Julie Gerstenblatt: [00:36:00] That's an interesting question. I think I do feel very much like an author now, finally. I think the first time it was really fun, and it was almost easier to enjoy because I had no expectations, and it went so well. And the second time it's like, oh, now I'm the author who's looking at metrics, and trying to do more.

But that, that makes me feel a little more seasoned and maybe a little bit more real because I'm like, "Oh, well, last time," and I can talk to experience, and I have publicists, and I have relationships with the Barnes & Noble in Hingham, Mass, and out on the Cape in Hyannis, and favorite bookstore owners, and you, and people that know me from the first time around.

And so I've built so many relationships that have been critical to my success, but make me feel part of this, "Oh, our author is coming today," or something. Like, oh, that's right, they see me that way, too. And I do feel more legit, but I think I'll always have goals [00:37:00] for myself. It's not like more or better, but to keep going and find time to get back.

Like this time in particular on book tour, I'm already looking forward to the quiet of getting back to the writing. I miss the writing. I love being out on tour, and I love talking to people, and I think it's the teacher in me that likes public speaking, and the inverse of the writing is getting to share it and make it real by having a relationship with readers.

So that's a critical piece of the success of Stargazer of Nantucket, but the third one, it's like this little, I don't know, new relationship where you just can't wait to go off in the corner and sit at a romantic table and just be alone with that book. 

Joan Paul: Oh, that's exciting. You know, I love that, 'cause again, talking to different authors, a lot of times authors are introverts, because they spend a lot of time alone, and they want to spend a lot of time alone, because they want to be with their characters, and they become their friends, and you know, all of that.

And that's an exciting process. But if you [00:38:00] want something to happen with the book, you gotta go out there and promote it, and these days it means being on kind of a rigorous tour of sorts, whether it's in person, on podcasts, and all those different things, and- Yeah ... social media and such. So you've gotta put yourself out there.

 you're lucky you have a personality that likes that part of it, too, and then also knows when it's time to get back to work. That part will be ahead of you again later down the road. 

Julie Gerstenblatt: Yeah. 'Cause there's really no... Without the... After the first book, uh, was sold, I just spent a year and a half not writing, just literally so happy for myself that I got this first book published.

And the second one, when I wrote it, I was already thinking a little bit ahead, and so now with the third it's like, it feels like a career, which is exciting. Something about the third makes it feel like a legit career- ... that can act for sure of a published author with series of books.

And I want to just speak to the book tour thing, because I think it sounds really glamorous. Uh- It looks 

Joan Paul: glamorous on social media. 

Julie Gerstenblatt: [00:39:00] Yes. I am not on a traditional book tour. My publisher is not putting me on planes and sending me across the country and putting me up in hotels. I am driving between an hour to three hours from my home a few times a week to connect with readers, and I am making that happen with bookstores and the relationships I have.

Harper gave me a budget. They gave me some money for a few nights of hotels. I already blew through that at the Nantucket Book Festival. It would've been, let's say- Three or four nights of hotels somewhere. And since I stayed at the Nantucket Book Festival for the duration, there it goes.

It's something, again, I had to create for myself and say, "This is important for me, and it's worth it for me to spend my summer doing that." And then in the fall, start with book clubs, because historical tends to be popular with book clubs, and know that I'm going to spend two nights a week maybe after dinner coming into my office to get on Zoom and [00:40:00] talk to people so that the word of mouth can keep going.

Joan Paul: Yeah. Well, you're very good at the social media part. I'm not on social media all that often. When I am, and I've seen you on there, one of the things I also love, you've become somewhat of a style icon as well. Oh. You are a fashionista, and you could be an influencer in that way, so you could have this whole second thing that could help support your book tour- Right

and those hotels you need to pay for, and the dinners out and such. Yeah. Because I just find that kind of interesting. Just speak to that for a minute. I know it's a little tangent, but not really. No. It seems like- For the Nantucket piece, what I've seen in the outfits that you wear, it's very on brand with Nantucket, the blue and the white and the- Mm-hmm

coastal. What- Yeah ... you love fashion, it sounds anyway. 

Julie Gerstenblatt: I do. I love fashion. I won best dressed in high school, and my- Ah ... mother worked at Bergdorf Goodman, and then Neiman Marcus, which was the same company, and so we got discounts, and if there were ... was a big sale, so she'd [00:41:00] get the 40% off plus her discount.

And so we, we were always looking at fashion, and I was thinking about it. And then with the book tour, I was excited to get dressed up and go out, and I bought a few dresses for the first book that kind of spoke thematically to Nantucket, and then realized, yes, this can be part of my brand, and I spent a lot of time thinking about The Stargazer of Nantucket.

It's set on a clipper ship, so it's nautical. The cover is blue and white and gold, and I was like, "Oh, I'm just gonna lean into that." And, uh- And you 

Joan Paul: have. 

Julie Gerstenblatt: A 

Joan Paul: gold shimmery skirt you even had on one- Yeah ... of your book talks. I thought, "Okay, you go, girl." 

Julie Gerstenblatt: Yeah. So that was, like, in December. I was like, "People are buying gold skirts for Christmas.

I'm gonna wait for them to go on sale. I'm gonna try a few on, and I'm gonna watch it and get one and keep it in my closet until June." And that is what I did. One or two of the dresses are from Poshmark. They're previously owned, but they fit my book. I know the size. I know the company well [00:42:00] enough to be like, "Yes, I can buy that from you at a steep discount," 'cause it goes

It's part of my tour. So I've been able to curate this fun wardrobe of pieces I buy full price, just fall in love in a store, and pieces I'm watching. Like, I'm very into fashion, and I have had so much fun with it that I started to make ... Yeah, I started to speak to it. In the first book tour I just wore the things, and with the second book tour I'm talking about the things.

Joan Paul: Veronica Beard, Alaïa. 

Julie Gerstenblatt: Yep. Yep. Yeah. Veronica Beard is a big one. Sézane is a big 

Joan Paul: one. So these clothes will start coming your way if they're smart, because again, you're in front of thousands of people, and I would think generally women are the ones that are drawn to your books because you have these very strong female characters.

There's so many interesting aspects of what you do, but wanted to come to the current book is also why we are together now. Mm-hmm. The Stargazer of Nantucket, and the fact that, first of all, another Nantucket book. You said you got the first book deal on its own. They liked it so [00:43:00] much they said, "We want another one, a follow-up."

I'm assuming this is what they said, right? "And about Nantucket. Can you do something else?" And of course you came up with The Stargazer of Nantucket. And I was fascinated by how it was inspired because I love talking about inspiration, like what is the spark that brought everything together? Can you share the spark of that book, where you were when you sort of started thinking about it more seriously?

Julie Gerstenblatt: Yeah. Once I wrote Daughters, what happens after you publish a book is that the publishing house gets the right of first refusal on your next book. So they didn't know what it was about. My agent knew I was thinking of another Nantucket book, but it wasn't until they read it that they knew, and they didn't ask for anything in particular.

So it was just up to me to decide, and I pictured it originally as, like, a three-book historical series, then decided it was two books. And as I was researching Daughters, I would stand in these historical homes and realize [00:44:00] that everything in the homes came from Asia. And I started to think really early on about those families.

Like, who are the people who went shopping? And as we discussed, I like shopping. I like clothes. 

Joan Paul: It's, like, a perfect theme for you. 

Julie Gerstenblatt: Yeah. So I pictured this character of Nell Starbuck and her captain husband. So she's the merchant, he's the captain, and they go out from Nantucket around the world and basically bring back all the treasures and goodies that you see in those historic homes, and even now, the china that flanks a mantle, all the tableware, all of the beautiful silks and rugs and all of that stuff, and tea, of course, that came from China.

And so I thought about a family that spent their life pretty much at sea. So while I was researching the first, I had this idea for a character based on the second, and then I wrote her into Daughters. She got kicked out in edits, and I was like, "Okay, we'll give Nell Starbuck her own book." [00:45:00] 

Joan Paul: Okay. So that was the beginning.

You had a spark there, and then the historic homes and absorbing sort of Nantucket culture even now, but being inside of those homes and such- Yep ... and kind of getting the connection. It's interesting, 'cause your first book is of course based on land in Nantucket. Yep, yep. And then the, the second one is exploring the world.

I wanna dig deeper into some of those things now that were mentioned in the book, and even, you know, the opium trade and all of that is fascinating to me as well. So you get little tidbits that you now wanna dig deeper into because of your book. 

Julie Gerstenblatt: I'm glad. I did research, like with the first one, I said I learned about segregation and then realized, well, there was a place in the book for it, to make sure that not only did I speak to it, but others could learn about it.

 But the second book, It was opium, it was the China trade and how it worked, and the Gold Rush of San Francisco, and there was just so many things that I was like, if I can have my characters experience it and give voice to it, it's not a history [00:46:00] lesson, it's just the way that people were living in 1851.

And then, yes, you can go off after and be like, "Wow, I had no idea." 

Joan Paul: Yeah. It's interesting how you look back at history and you other people. They think they were different from us. Mm-hmm. That was just their time period, and whatever was happening day to day is what's happening with us day to day in our own time period.

They're just us. Yep. And I think that's interesting that you write to that also, to the way we think about ambition and fear and all these different kinds of things. They did, too. It's just human nature- Yep ... and human emotion, and whether you're 200 years ago or whatever, or you're now, it's all the same, right?

Julie Gerstenblatt: Yep, that's, that was my entree in, was to realize people have been awful forever, they have been jealous of each other forever, they have been lustful, they have been ambitious. All of those things that make them real and help them not just be like a frozen picture on a wall. And so that allowed me to [00:47:00] explore and feel like, oh, this is a person we could meet today, They're in a different industry, but They have the same kind of greed or whatever it might be. 

Joan Paul: Absolutely. So because we're talking about this book and want people, of course, to go out and get it, can you just give us the synopsis? 

Julie Gerstenblatt: Yeah. So The Stargazer of Nantucket is set around a clipper ship that goes out in 1851 from Nantucket around Cape Horn to San Francisco at the height of the Gold Rush, and on to China, where calamity ensues.

It is, as we mentioned, about the family, the Starbuck's. The husband is the captain, the wife is the merchant, and their 18-year-old daughter, who they forbid from coming along, Winnie Starbuck, who feels like it is her destiny and her legacy to be a part of this family, does not understand why she's been denied the ability to go.

You learn this in the prologue, that something terrible happened when she was little, and she was at [00:48:00] sea, and that is why they don't want her to go, and they are trying to keep a secret from her and the rest of the world. So Winnie, not knowing this, stows away on her parents' ship for the adventure of a lifetime.

Joan Paul: It's wonderful, and I also love the fact that it's a family affair- 

Julie Gerstenblatt: Yes. I was really stuck with Stargazer. Like, I knew it was on this, set on this ship, but I didn't have the piece of Winnie right, and I couldn't figure it out, and I had been workshopping the book for close to six months with no answer in sight, and I was incredibly frustrated.

And when my son and his friend Arthur came home from college, they graduated, they came to visit and asked how the book was doing, and I said it was not going well and I was stuck on the main character. They were like, "Why don't we help you?" They went to film school. They majored in story. They watched a movie, like, every week in class and then talked about it, and they think about structure and character motivation and all these things.

So I told them my problem, [00:49:00] and they solved it within 30 minutes. I mean, really within three minutes. They were like, "This is supposed to go here, and this is that, and this is why. 

Joan Paul: This, this- That is a wonderful 

Julie Gerstenblatt: collaboration. It 

Joan Paul: was incredible. I think, you know, you may use them again at some point, right? 

Julie Gerstenblatt: I did.

And then they started talking to each other about things, like, "Oh, well, sequence four will be this, and sequence five will be that." And I was like, "Let me get a piece of paper," and I wrote it all down, and I scrapped 100 pages, rewrote the first 100 in a month with the outline, and that's what sold to Harper with the third book that had nothing but a, an idea of...

It's called Nantucket Number Three, and they didn't care if it was contemporary or historical. Then I worked with Andrew and Arthur a little bit on book number three last summer on Nantucket. 

Joan Paul: Wow. It's interesting, that third novel, you've just decided the big departure, kind of where you started always wanting to write contemporary fiction, you're going back to that.

But whose idea that Nantucket should still be a part of the theme? You just [00:50:00] decided, I know so much about it now and I can write... I think it's based on a 1989 visit to a haunted house that you stayed- Mm-hmm ... with your family or something- Mm-hmm ... and your college roommate. But that was the idea- Yeah ... to step off from or?

Julie Gerstenblatt: I knew I'm going to keep writing about Nantucket, so that was not the question. I think it was just that I was a little burnt out on research. I have an idea for a third historical, but it really isn't. It's set in Europe. It has less than nothing to do with Nantucket really. It's just two cousins from Nantucket who go to Europe in the late 1800s for, like, a European tour before marriage.

And so I was like, "Well, if that's not even set on Nantucket, we're really diverging here," and I wanted to keep it closer, and I had this summer experience from the summer of '89, and 2024 I'm gonna make it contemporary and recently historical in '89, which I know we don't like to think of the '80s as history, but it is.

So it does have a nostalgic... The others are historical. This one I would call [00:51:00] nostalgic for a different time. 30 years ago on Nantucket does still feel nostalgic to me, and it's something I really wanted to access and try. And because it was already wrapped up and sold, I felt like I had the freedom to do it, and my agent and editor felt too, like it's actually a safe way for me to explore something that's not historical and expected of me.

And I know that it, once I workshopped the idea with them, this time with my agent and editor, and we got the idea right, and I shared the first 75 pages three times and got it right, now I feel really excited to write it. It's a continuation in a way. There are Starbuck descendants in the book, so it ties in loosely, but it also will expand my audience to, I think, younger readers as well as people who don't...

There are people who are biased against historical, and there's pushback that I'm feeling especially [00:52:00] for the second book. As much as it has outperformed the first and has been very successful, Stargazer, just when people hear it's historical, some people won't read it. And so it's like, oh, well then I'll try this other thing, this other story that I really wanna tell 

I still feel early enough in my career where I can pivot and play, and I don't ever wanna feel like, "Oh, she's a writer of that." 

Joan Paul: You can explore different genres- Yeah ... for yourself, right? Yes. Just as a creative in general. Yeah. Your husband is also a creative. How is that working alongside of him, meaning two creatives under the same roof?

Mm-hmm. You right now are very much absorbed and out of town literally for this exciting book tour, but it kind of leaves him on the home front. How have you worked that out? Because I know that can be a challenge for some women that want to pursue something, and maybe their husband isn't as enthusiastic, let's say-

about that, because it's gonna take that person away- Mm-hmm ... from the home, and their own relationship, and what they do [00:53:00] together. 

Julie Gerstenblatt: Yeah. Well, Brett started on book tour with me, and he actually interviewed me for my launch party in Barrington at the yacht club, and we were in conversation together, and he came up with the questions, and has been really, really supportive.

And it, it's part of this being my second act, and he had the big career first, and is now doing less. And, you know, he's consulting, but he has much more free time. So for example, he's supporting me on book tour in terms of like, "Great, you go out on the road and I'll make dinner." 

now I'm an empty nester, and so Brett's like, "Great." Now's 

Joan Paul: your time. 

Julie Gerstenblatt: Now's your time. And he is actually in charge of our kitchen. We're doing a kitchen and master bath renovation, and he's putting all of his creative ... He went to school for graphic design. He's so good with color. He's picking cabinet colors, wall colors, tile.

You're 

Joan Paul: just kind of letting it go, You're picking your wardrobe, and he's picking on the home front. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I also loved how it's a family affair, not only your son with the input on the book and how you could make [00:54:00] that work- But also your mother, who showed up at our Steeped in History author's tea with Julie Gerstenblatt.

She was there with your husband, and it was so wonderful. A tear kept coming to her eye- Yeah ... when she saw you and talked about you. And I think about that as a mother now, too. Doesn't matter how old your daughter is. Mm-hmm. You still are so proud, and seeing you up there with this book, and now a USA bestseller, and the first one an award-winning book as well, wouldn't have even mattered if none of those things happened.

It's just like there you are, and you're living your dream, and it's wonderful to see that, and such an inspiring story for other women who are sitting on something, whatever that is. It may be, as I said, I wanna write a book, because I've heard so many women share that sentiment- Mm-hmm ... over the years. But there are other things that people wanna do.

Start a not-for-profit or, you know- Yeah ... be an artist or all these different kinds of things. And it just shows them that it's possible. You start from [00:55:00] just having the dream, and you claim it, as we said in the beginning. You say it out loud. You say it to somebody. That just makes it real. It brings some momentum to it, and then you sit yourself down, and you start whatever that thing is, and it's literally one step, the next, and the next thing in your case, and it's not the next thing easy, but you've got a book.

Yeah. And now you've got two. And then you have a third book deal. And I know now because I think the confidence has come. I truly am embodying myself as an author, this identity. that so many more ideas for books and things are percolating because you feel like, "I can do it. It's possible. Here I am." Yeah.

And I'm an example of that. I think a couple of days from now you're going on the tall masted ships? 

Julie Gerstenblatt: Yes, I am. 

Joan Paul: I love that. So I grew up in Maine summers. The Windjammer Days was one of my favorite. Right. It always happened over the 4th, and they're just such impressive boats.

Yep. So it'll be wonderful for you to be aboard [00:56:00] that. 

Julie Gerstenblatt: Yes. I can't wait. Um, yeah. So, 

Joan Paul: yeah, and so many other exciting things happening for you this summer. So both of the books, Daughters of Nantucket and The Stargazer of Nantucket, of course they're available wherever books are sold, but you, me, we both like independent booksellers.

You work at one, Barrington Books in Rhode Island. Yep. And we have one, part of our store, Goods & Curiosities, the Griswold Inn Store in Essex, Connecticut. We will have links to your Instagram, your website. You can find out so much more information there. What I also love is that Julie is available to talk to book groups.

If you live within an hour of Rhode Island, where she is, she will actually come and try to make an in-person visit, but you can also do it over Zoom, and that's a wonderful way to engage, and it's exciting to engage with an author and hear all about the process. thanks so much, and good luck with all that you're doing and moving ahead with.

We'll look forward to having you back at the Gris and [00:57:00] on the show with that next book. 

Julie Gerstenblatt: Joan, it has been so great to talk to you today. And again, thank you so much for your support. And everybody needs to visit The Gris in Essex. It's such a wonderful place. And what you say about having hospitality, you are really

It's such a warm welcome, and it's a wonderful place to visit, so everybody head over. 

Joan Paul: Thank you for that little plug for The Gris. Okay. Thanks. So, it was so nice to see you. I'll look forward to seeing you again. 

Julie Gerstenblatt: Thank you, Joan. 

Joan Paul: Thanks so much for listening. I love sharing these stories from inspiring women over 50 who are up-leveling their lives, intentionally creating a meaningful and fulfilling next act.

Beyond the podcast, I offer life coaching and host retreats and in-person experiences designed to help women connect with what it is they truly want at this stage of life. You don't have to do it alone. If you're interested in [00:58:00] finding out more about Her Next Act, please visit my website, hernextact.com, or reach out to me at joan@hernextact.com.

And finally, for now, if you don't want to miss an episode, follow the show, Her Next Act, right here, right now. And please share with others who may find this relevant and inspiring.