Marissa chats with Leah Johnson about her debut contemporary romance - YOU SHOULD SEE ME IN A CROWN (the inaugural Reese's Book Club YA pick) - as well as extraordinary prom traditions, the under-representation of queer Black girls in YA fiction and the responsibility Leah felt in writing for a relatively empty marketplace, the important role of tenacity when so much of the publishing journey is reliant on chance, and why every single accomplishment deserves to be celebrated.
Books discussed in this episode can be purchased from your local independent bookstore or buy them online from the Happy Writer bookshop.org store (that benefits indie bookstores) at https://bookshop.org/shop/marissameyer
Find out more and follow The Happy Writer on social media: https://www.marissameyer.com/podcast/
Marissa chats with Leah Johnson about her debut contemporary romance - YOU SHOULD SEE ME IN A CROWN (the inaugural Reese's Book Club YA pick) - as well as extraordinary prom traditions, the under-representation of queer Black girls in YA fiction and the responsibility Leah felt in writing for a relatively empty marketplace, the important role of tenacity when so much of the publishing journey is reliant on chance, and why every single accomplishment deserves to be celebrated.
Books discussed in this episode can be purchased from your local independent bookstore or buy them online from the Happy Writer bookshop.org store (that benefits indie bookstores) at https://bookshop.org/shop/marissameyer
Find out more and follow The Happy Writer on social media: https://www.marissameyer.com/podcast/
[inaudible]
Speaker 2:Hello and welcome to the happy writer. This is a podcast that aims to bring readers, more books, to enjoy and to help authors find more joy in their writing. I'm your host, Marissa Meyer. Thank you for joining me a quick bit of housekeeping today. If you are not following the happy writer on Instagram, you may not know that we are currently hosting our first giveaway and we're having a contest in which we want to see a photo of your favorite place to write. Uh, or if you're not a writer, then your favorite place to curl up with a good book. The contest is ending July 31st, which is just a couple of days away. And then we will choose two entrants who can win either one of my books or a book from any previous guest, including today's guest. So full details on how to enter can be found on Instagram at happy writer podcast. And if you don't win this time around, we're going to try to host one of these every month. So there will be plenty more chances on that note. The thing that's making me happy today is in fact, seeing all of the wonderful photos that you guys have been posted. Um, I love seeing someone's place that they write and they read there's something very inspiring about it. That just makes me want to gather at my pen and my notebook and get to work. So thanks to everyone who has shared their own personal little writing retreats so far, I have a really enjoyed seeing them. And of course I am so happy to be talking to today's guest, her debut, young adult contemporary novel. You should see me in a crown, came out in June and was an immediate bestseller. I don't know about you guys, but I have been seeing this fabulous book cover everywhere, and I am so thrilled to have her on the show to talk about it. Please welcome. Leah Johnson. Hello, Leah. Yeah. Strong story.
Speaker 1:I accidentally muted myself.
Speaker 2:Oh no. Okay. You're back. We're good. I was like, where did she go? How are you? How's your bunker? You know, I'm, I'm sheltering in place in my apartment in Brooklyn. And it's very different from how I spent the first four months or so of a dependent because I was at home in Indiana with my family. And I went home with the intention of being there for a couple of weeks. I was like, we're going to ride this out. It'll be totally back to normal soon. I was like, by the time the books book comes out, no problem I'll have a tour. It'll be great. And then, um, I blinked and it was June 2nd. The book was coming out. I was launching my book and quarantine. I was having my, uh, launch party in my parents' kitchen. I was doing all of my festival appearances in front of a glee poster in my childhood bedroom. Um, and so it's been a real, in a real strange experience. I can't imagine my, I have a lot of feelings for all of the authors who have had books come out during this whole situation. It's a totally different experience. Yeah. Yeah. It's, I mean, it's been very strange and you know, of course every debut is grateful for the opportunity to even have a book out in the world. Like this is such a massive deal. Um, and it's certainly not the way you expect to see your first book baby out into the world. But, um, you know, I just have held tight to the belief that the book is going to make it into the hands of the readers. That's supposed to make it into and that's going to happen. Whether we can walk into Barnes and noble Willy nilly or whether we have to get in with our indie booksellers and hope that they have a curbside option and like whatever we have to do, the book will get where it's supposed to go. Yeah, no, I agree. And I mean, people still need books, maybe even more so being in quarantine. Um, so, so people are out there. They're wanting books, they're wanting material and content. And I agree. I think people will find the books that it will speak to them. Um, so I need to start by telling you kind of a funny story. I actually had a dream about this book. Oh, wow. I love that. I love where this is going. So quick bit of backstory. The, one of the projects that I'm working on right now, I've been doing a lot of research on like, uh, like medieval books and scrolls and mapmaking and like that kind of thing. And the night before I was going to start reading, you should see me in a crown. I had a dream where a wizard came to me, um, like very Gandalf wizard and told me, he gave me this book like this old parchment and leather tome of a book and told me if I could figure out the right way to combine the text from this medieval book, with the text of you should see me in a crown, then it would unleash a magical spell. I do not doubt that that is possible. I really, and truly believe that your dream is going to help us unlock something. I think there's a perfect, there's something, there's a prophecy here. There's something going on here that we really need to tune into and listeners y'all need to make sure you're paying attention. Cause when we unlock the next dimension with this Gandalf he character, and then you should see me a crown mashup now. Yeah. The possibilities are endless when there's like really just a ton of overlap here.
Speaker 3:So on that note, why don't we start with you telling listeners what is you should see me in a crown about? Yeah. So you should see me around is a book about a girl named Liz lady. Who's growing up in a small and small minded, Midwestern hometown. And her main goal is to get out and go to college and become a doctor. But those plans are derailed when her financial aid falls through and she ends up having to run for prom queen for the scholarship that's attached to the crown. That would be tough enough for a wallflower like Liz, but it's made even more difficult by the fact that Liz starts to fall for her competition and sparks fly. This book was absolutely hysterical. Oh my goodness. Thank you. I wish that I would have been marking every page that made me literally laugh out loud. It was so funny. Um, and just so many like smart quippy comments and the school itself, like their, how seriously they take this over the top. Um, which made me wonder, like, is this the prom aspect? Is it all based in reality? Do we think there are actual schools like this? Well, you know, the funny thing about this book and one of the, I try not to read reviews. Um, even when people tag me in reviews, I try not to read them, um, because you never know what you're going to get. Yeah. And like, but of course I'm human. And so I've read a couple and occasionally a critique that'll come up is like, Oh, this is absurd. Like, this is so ridiculous. Like this could never happen. Like, you know, she really blew this out of proportion. And part of my response to that is that like, that's kind of the conceit of entering into a romcom is that there are parts of it that are going to be a little absurd. Like you have to turn it up to 11 because there is like supposed to be a level of awareness of how ridiculous this is. Like nobody's life works like a romcom works, but you know, we read them anyway. But the thing about you should see me in a crown that I always think is really interesting is that like these aren't fake things, I pulled these traditions from high schools across the country. Like all of these traditions come from real places. Yeah. And so, yeah. And so it's, I threw them all together into one huge prom explosion monster, but you know, in general, like there are schools in the, in the United States for whom like these things are totally normal. And so what I wanted to do was, uh, really lean into how wild this tradition is for anybody outside of the communities, in which like those traditions are normal and use that as a way into exploring heteronormativity and classism and sexism and homophobia and how all those things are bound up in this, uh, sort of ridiculous American tradition now. And it really, I mean, it's one of those things where there's, there's a veil. Like there are these really important themes and topics worth discussing, but it's all under the guise of this really fun, almost like reality show, TV, drama. Yeah. So, so fun. And so smart, such a brilliant way to do it. Thank you so much. I love knowing that these are actual traditions. Did you just like research prom traditions or, you know what actually you can like if you Google CRA, like I try not to use the word crazy, but um, like crazy prom traditions, like there are listicles that site, different schools across the country that like do different, um, you know, different things in preparation for prom. So like one of the things that I would not have thought about without having done this research is the, there's a scene in the book where in the week before prom, they have a drunk driving stimulation. Um, so that to dissuade students from going and, uh, you know, drinking at prom. And whereas like at that scene of the book, I don't know how it plays out in real life. But when I read about this tradition, I was like, this is so strange. And I am from a small ish community in Indiana. And this is so unlike anything that I experienced in the run up to my own senior prom, and I was like, well, what would it look like if I took this and I just kicked it up a couple notches, you know, like what happens if we really lean into the theatrical of this? What does that reveal to all of us about the things that we value the most? And like, I, I really, I had a lot of fun playing around with that. Yeah. No. And that was a great scene. I also, I love the baking, the baking scene that didn't just devolves into chaos. Oh yeah, yeah. You know what I will say? Like, I'm a lot of people who I grew up with are like, is this based on our high school? And it's not necessarily in, in actions behaved on or based on our high school, but I will say the, the layout of this place is a lot like our high school. And so we have like, when you walk into my Alma mater, there's like this huge common area. And we have like, just all glass, like everything is glass in there. So you can see the people inside of each of these different rooms. And I was like, this feels like a zoo. Like, it feels like this could be the perfect environment for some real shenanigans. Right? Like what happens if we take this glass wall? Because glass to me indicates a desire to observe and be observed. And so like what happens when we actually put somebody on the other side of that whose express purpose is just to be a witness to whatever's happening inside. And, um, then we, once again, I was just like, let's turn it up. And then we're going to have an entire paparazzi crew of like tittering freshmen following these kids around for, you know, the weeks leading up to prom and watching all of this unfold in a, hopefully a spectacular fashion. Now it does have kind of a voyeuristic element to it. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's what I was thinking about too. I mean like also one of the things that I hope comes across in a crown is that, you know, Liz is thinking of prom is this thing that is very outward. You know, it's this performance, it is a costume that you put on. It is a character that you inhabit for a night or however many weeks it takes to run for prom queen or prom court. And the thing that I wanted to do with this as well as like is, think about what does it mean when we don't envision a night like this as something that is about being seen, like what happens when we do it? And we put on the clothes and we dance with the person we want to dance with. And we put on the crown, what happens when we do that? Because like, that's what we deserve because it is a thing that we desire because that is a way that we can reflect outwardly all the things that are happening internally for us. And so, yeah, I was, I was thinking a lot about those was thinking a lot about performance, uh, in the, in the writing of this. Yeah. No, and it is interesting. I mean, even, obviously in real life, people have very different interpretations of prom and what it means and do they love it? Do they hate it? You know, it's very different. And I think very much based on kind of where you are in this social sphere in high school. Right, right. Yeah. It's one of those things we don't really, um, I mean, people are very strange about talking about money and about race and about sexuality. But one of the things that I think went under discussed when I was growing up is like how, how all these intersections affect these things that are supposed to be staples of a high school life. You know, like when you have kids who, so I was in show choir in high school. And, uh, I don't know what show choir is like in other areas of the country, but in, in the region where I'm from, it's like a big deal. Like we take it very seriously. And there are some schools where it costs thousands of dollars to be in show choir and you know, my school. Yeah. And so like, cause you have to buy the costumes, you have to get the hair, you have to get the nails, you have to do the makeup. You have to look like everybody else on stage, you have to travel. All this stuff goes into it. And my high school had, uh, you know, lower fees than other schools. But even that for my family was this massive deal, like coming up off of this money every year. And so this thing that other people got to do with such ease that is like, you know, the performing arts. So like a cornerstone of people's high school experiences, even that for someone like me, I was like always thinking about the way my class intersected with race and how that intersected with, um, you know, this myriad of other identities. And so, uh, prom is another one of those things where I think it is the perfect confluence of every intersection of high school life. And so, because that's the case, I think it's a perfect opportunity to talk about those things in a really explicit way. Yeah. Did you go to prom? I did go to prom. I did my, I went to prom my senior year at my school. You could go as a junior or a senior, I guess you could go younger if you're invited by a junior singer. Um, but I went my senior year and it was not nearly as much of a production in the way that, uh, Liz and them experiences the production, but it was an ordeal. Nonetheless, I didn't. And I can never decide if it's something that I feel like I missed out on or not. This is the thing about prom. Prom is prom. I don't know it wasn't some like life-changing night, you know, I there's this movie it's literally just called prom. It's a Disney film that came out in like 2011 or something. And it's with Amy T garden from a Friday night lights. For those of you who are FNL fans and the movie the entire time, it's like promise the biggest night of your life. Like it's the biggest night of your high school career. It represents this, this and that. And it's just like the combination of everything you've ever wanted, everything you've ever worked for and dreamed of. And that, and that was not my problem experience at all. And I always thought that was such an interesting way of framing this, this experience, because it's like, prom is prom. You put on some clothes, you go hang out with your friends, you dance in a circle, you take goofy photos, you go home, like, you know, you go out to eat, maybe afterwards you got to, our school has this thing called post prom, which is like the PTO hosts, this huge like carnival in the gym. And you go there once promise over. It's really, really cool actually, in my opinion. Um, but that's, it, it doesn't represent, you know, it doesn't actually change anything. You don't wake up the next day fundamentally different because you went to prom. It's just one of those things that is like supposed to be this huge marker of, you know, high school life. And for me, it was just like, I had a lot of fun, but also problem was the same day as like our sectional tennis tournament.
Speaker 2:And I had like a concert choir competition that day. And my brother's graduation from college was that day. And so, you know, I, I was spread kind of, and I don't even really remember. I don't even remember the finer details of from yeah, no, it is funny. Cause I totally get what you're saying. And I feel like that had I gone, that would have been my same sort of experience. Like, yeah, it was a fun night. We danced and hung out with friends and then we went home. Um, but, but so much of the, the culture surrounding prom very much hypes it as this, you know, this Rite of passage. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and that's the thing too, is like, I think one of the reasons why it was so interesting for me to explore prom and uh, you know, the tradition surrounding it in this book was because it's such a staple of quintessential American life. Like when you think of the all American girl, what we're taught to think about is the princess, the prom queen, the white thin heterosexual, like girls who cheerleader, she's the cheerleader. She's, you know, that's what we're told is all American. And so one of the things I wanted to do with current round is flip that idea on its head. Like, what does it look like when we queer the idea of what all American is? And I think the best way for me to do that was to come in through the institution of prompt. So let's, let's talk about Liz, Liz lady. I got her, I love her,
Speaker 4:My child
Speaker 2:It's like in there, I thought like you may actually have a daughter named Liz. And I was like, wait, what are we talking about? Oh no, no, no, no, no. My, my book child. Yes, yes. They are like our children that are our best friends. I always feel like my characters turn out to be my best friends. Um, but Liz, I love her. She's so many things that I adore. So many things I want to be, you know, she's smart and she's dedicated and she's down to earth, but also not afraid to dream and not afraid to put her heart out there. Like I was just rooting for her so much throughout this book. I wanted her to win prom queen. I wanted her to get the girl. I wanted all the good things for her. Well, what were some of your inspirations or how did you go about writing her? What were you thinking as you were kind of creating this character? Well, that's a great question. Um, everybody teaches you when you're a beginning writer to write what you know, right. And so I returned to all the things that I was wrestling with, even in my adulthood. Um, I think for a lot of queer people who come out in their adulthood,
Speaker 3:Uh, in a lot of ways, we're doing a lot of the learning that we, that other folks, heterosexual people straight people generally get to do when they're, you know, 14, 15, 16 years old. And so, um, because those things were so looming so large in my personal life, those were things that became really integral to Liz's character as well. There's desire to, um, desire to do right by the people that you care about, but also believing that that must come as a great personal sacrifice to your, um, honesty, you know, the way you were honest with yourself. And so, um, the premise, you know, one of the central conflicts of the book is that Liz is not out to folks who are not really close to her. She's not out out. Um, and so when this girl comes into town, just skates into town, um, fumbling through the hallways and making a lot of trouble, and this is, you know, falling for her. She has to decide whether or not it's worth giving up this anonymity in this comfort that has been attached to that for so long, or if it's worth it, to be honest with herself and the people around her and embrace this newfound, you know, relationship. And so that was something that I was thinking a lot about, um, as I was coming into my own queer identity. And so that really manifested itself and Liz in some really clear ways also, um, I wanted to make sure that if I never got another shot at writing a book, all of the things that I most needed to see when I was a teenager, I wanted them to be on the page. I wanted a girl who's growing up in relative poverty. I wanted somebody who was from a family that was nontraditional. You know, it wasn't a two parent, a two and a half kids, white picket fence household. It was just people who were trying to do the best. They could by one another and messing up frequently, but loving each other, um, immensely all the while I wanted, I can't remember if I said anxiety, representation, but I wanted anxiety representation because that's something that I thought I needed to see when I was 15 years old. And so I, yeah, those things all came together to form what became, who lives becomes.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And I will, I wanted to ask you that specifically, because like you say, I mean kind of making an assumption here, but I'm going to guess that when you were growing up, you're in high school, probably not a whole lot of books out there featuring black queer protagonists. Um, how do you, what do you think young Leah would have thought or felt if someone would've put this book into her hands?
Speaker 3:Well, I'll tell you young Leah would not have been able to read this book when she was a teenager. I was not allowed. I remember I picked up pretty little liars and I was getting ready to check it out from the public library. I was there with my mom and my little sister. And, um, I also come from a really, uh, religious Pentecostal family. And so I remember like marching up to the checkout and my mom just like casually flipping over in the back flap and reading the premise. And it says on the book jacket that, uh, one of the characters is, um, a lesbian and my mom was like, put it back. And I was like, what? She was like, put it back, you know, bringing that into the house. And of course then all of our understanding of queerness was not nuanced. It was incredibly uncomplicated and really flawed. And since then, you know, my entire family has evolved in our relationship to, uh, you know, queer identity and also how that interacts with our religious practice. But, you know, when I was a teenager, this book, what was unheard of, like even if it had existed, I don't know that I would have had access to it. And so, you know, that's one of the reasons why this is so it's so incredible to me to watch the way that crime has been received, um, because it did not, even when I wrote it, I did not envision a future in which this many people would read a book like this. Um, and part of that is because like, you know, you have to, you have to really think about it in these terms, which is that like in 2018, which is when I signed for crown and I hadn't written the book at the time, um, in 2018, uh, CCBC releases, diversity numbers every year, um, for kid lit and that year they released the numbers and they had crunched the previous three years and out of like 21 or 22 books in which there was a black girl who was at the lead of black girl, main character, only one of those books over the course of three years was a black queer girl. And that was little in line by Brandy Colbert. And so that was the landscape that I was writing into. It was not populated by stories like this queer stories in general, but certainly not queer black girl stories. Um, we were still riding the wave of, uh, love Simon or Simon versus back then. And so, you know, that was, that's where all of our minds were going when we were thinking about a queer representation. And so, yeah, I think that if I was a teenager, now, this would still be a pretty massive deal to have access to a story like this because there's still not a lot of them. Uh, there's not nearly enough. So if I was able to sneak it past my, my, who, my mom was 10 years ago, then this would've been, uh, really permission giving. I think so I
Speaker 2:Have to. Now I'm curious. So when you were first embarking on writing this book and you, you know, it's severely underrepresented, there is, there's just not a lot of these books out there. Were you seeing it as an opportunity, um, that like, okay, this, the market needs this and I want to come in and I want to tell this story, or was it more fear that this is not going to go anywhere? Nobody is going to want this book. This isn't a good time for it.
Speaker 3:You know, I think all of those things were happening at once, right? Like I knew what I was writing into. I was very aware of the space or the empty space really, um, that I was writing into. And so in that way, I felt a massive responsibility to do this story justice. Um, my priority always is to make sure that when black girls specifically queer black girls come to my books, that they know that they are cared for. And I wanted to write a book that told queer black girls that it is absolutely okay to be who you are. It's not just okay, it you're going to find your people. Maybe you don't have them near you now, but we are out here and we are waiting for you with open arms. And so I wanted that story to be told in a way that felt honest and loving, but also that comes along with a huge type of responsibility. And like that was anxious making, especially for me, somebody who was not out at the time. And so I didn't come out until the day that my book got announced, my mom flew to New York to celebrate with me. Cause she was like, you should not be without your family while you're celebrating this. And that was when I finally came out to my mom was the weekend that she flew to New York to celebrate this book coming out. And so the entire time I was writing it, I was thinking, well, I'm not queer enough to tell this story. I am not honest enough to tell an honest story. So like how could I expect this character to have that journey? Um, you know, I just, I was riddled with a whole host of, of inadequacies that I felt like rendered me and able to do this work justice. And so, um, as you see Liz growing into this identity, over the course of the book, I was growing into my identity as well. And I think that's, I hope that's what people feel when they read the book is that like, this is not the type of self discovery that was coming from somebody who was years removed from this process. I was in it knee deep. Um, and so I knew also that like, if this book did not perform well, then the likelihood that another book that like-mind to come after it was very slim. Um, you know, publishing folks know how this works. It's like if, you know, they use comparative titles to decide how much money you deserve or whether or not they're even going to acquire the book in the first place. And so my comp titles for this book were not black queer women's stories there because there weren't really any to point to. Um, and so I knew in the future, if somebody had to comp you should see me in a crown, it had to do well in order for that to be a successful sale for them. And so I'm constantly thinking about what it means to, um, I don't believe that I'm like opening the door necessarily, but I do think that I had a chance to prop the door open so that I could, you know, so more people could come after me. Um, and along with that is like a lot of considerations about what, what the story needed to be and how it had to sell in order for those things to happen.
Speaker 2:Well, and I think from the last couple of months, since the book has been on shelves, I mean, you really have shown that people were craving a story like this. And for all the reasons you've talked about, you know, a black queer protagonists, uh, there's a lot of wonderful family dynamics, a lot of great friendships storylines. Um, the I'm so glad you mentioned the anxiety aspect. I think the mental health aspect within the book is something that a lot of readers are really gonna connect with. So I don't know, I get it. I get why people are just gravitating towards Liz and her story right now. And I think, um, you know, listening to you talk about it and how much clear thought and, and passion you put into telling this story just says to me that you, you know, you have your whole heart into it. So I'm, I'm so happy for you.
Speaker 3:Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. I mean, like I said, it's not that a, I'm not the first black queer woman to be out here doing this work, right? Like there have been so many of us that have come before, but have not been given the same platform, have not been given the same types of team that I got at Scholastic. I have a team that is so incredibly supportive that even before I believe that this book was going to make a splash, my editor was like, no, this is it. This is it. We're with you, we're behind you, we're behind this book and we're gonna get this where it needs to go. And so, you know, if we look forward in the next five, 10 years of publishing, what I really like to see is that level of enthusiasm in house.
Speaker 2:Yeah. For stories like this, because we're out here, we're telling them they have the ability to be highly marketable.
Speaker 3:You know, they have the ability to reach like middle aged white moms in the Heartland. You know what I mean? Like we have, we can get there, um,
Speaker 2:Middle aged, white moms like me, you know, it's
Speaker 3:Like, you know, this book is like, it doesn't check, you know, you, you all don't check all the same boxes that the main character, like the one in my book to find this book relevant or enjoyable, or have it resonate with you. You know, I think that what it takes is people, uh, championing these books regardless of background or identity. And that's what I'd like to see moving forward. I think that's, what's going to change this industry for the better. Yeah, I agree. And I think that we are seeing that, um, and it just, people do seem to be more aware and more wanting to draw attention to more own voices story. I love the own voices hashtag and think that that has been really powerful. Um, so I think that, I think that we're moving in the right direction, but I did want to know. So you said that you, you sold the book on the idea before you had actually written it, um, which is very unusual for a debut. How did that come about? Right. So I wrote, um, so I was at school at the time. Um, I was getting my MFA in fiction writing and so I had an entire plan a lot, like a year, two years, three years out how I thought this was going to go. And so when I was in my second year, second semester, um, I was like, you know, I gotta make some ends meet, let me write this essay. And so I wrote this essay for, um, an outlet called electric lit and the essay was about lack of diversity in a Y. And so I was writing about all the Y romances and the Y romcoms that I have read growing up and about how I never saw myself reflected in any of those, um, texts and what kind of implications that had on me. And the day it came out, I got contacted by a couple of agents, a couple of editors. Um, and my current agent was one of those agents and we met and we talked about what my intentions were as a writer. And we talked about my thesis, um, that I was working on at the time, which we'll probably never make it out of a drawer. Rightfully so. And, um, you know, she's like, I just met with an editor at Scholastic. Who's really interested in acquiring this type of project. And, um, so that's really how it happened. It was very backwards. I'm really fortunate that, um, my career seems to take place at the right, you know, all my moves happen at the right place at the right time. I got matched with the right agent at the right time who had met the right editor at the right time. And the book, even though it came out in the middle of a pandemic, was met with, uh, a huge show of support because it came out during pride. But also it came out in the midst of a lot of conversations about, uh, diversity in publishing and, um, supporting black content creators. And, um, so yeah, along, I've been met with a lot of, a lot of, really, a lot of really good twists of fate, but, um, so it's so hairy at this point. And I know I've like told this story so many times that you think I would have it nailed down to a science, how to, how to talk about it. So anyway, so, um, what happens is I wrote up 30 pages or so of, you should see me in a crown. We wrote up a synopsis, some sample pages. And, um, my editor really loved them. They took it to acquisitions and I got my first deal a month after I had left my MFA program. Oh my goodness. That's very strange. It's like, I teach in an MFA program now and I'm, I try to tell my students, I'm like, look, don't, don't be disheartened if it doesn't play out like this, because this is very unusual. Yeah,
Speaker 2:No, that's a cool story. And I will say I also am a writer that I feel like there was a lot of serendipity surrounding my first book coming out. Um, let's not ignore the fact that you also worked really hard and have a lot of talent and wrote a great book, which I think, you know, that's, that's true. Those things do help. They do have, yeah, I think we can forget that sometimes when it just seems like everything is dusted with fairy dust a little bit.
Speaker 3:Yeah. You know, I think part of what I think about too is that like some of the most talented writers I've ever met will never be offered book deals. And that is something that's totally outside of their control it's I was listening to, um, an episode of longform podcast. Uh, and it was, I mean, not too. Uh, so, and, uh, and Friedman, and they're talking about getting an offer on their, the book that they co-wrote. And I mean, not to was talking about, um, how this is like all monopoly money, like all of this, this is all just a game. Like these are really randomized pieces. And like, you know, you hope that your talent is enough. You hope that your personality is charming enough and you hope that these things are like, what gets you where you need to go. But at the end of the day, like there is a huge amount of chance that is, that plays into it. And so it helps if you meet that chance with a great deal of tenacity. Um, so I have like every time an opportunity is put in front of me, I chase it down. Like it's the last time I'll get it because, you know, I'm, I do believe I'm good, but I also recognize that like, this industry doesn't always reward the folks who are good. Um, especially not if you're black, especially not if you're queer, especially not if you're, um, a woman. And so, you know, I have to take those opportunities with both hands, um, and really try to rise to the occasion and be twice as good as anybody. Well, thank you for sharing your story. Um, I, yeah, I love hearing it. I love hearing the different ways that writers kind of accomplish this dream. Uh, at least the original dream of getting published. Of course there's many more dreams to come. Okay. We are gonna wrap this up with the happy writer lightning round. Okay. Okay. What book makes you happy? Oh, man. Um, okay. Oh, it's supposed to be a lightning round. Oh my God. I'm so stressed. Oh, I already messed it up. I'm going to go with, uh, Nick and Nora is infinite playlist, but David Love it, Dan. Oh, that's a good one. If you should see me in a crown had a theme song, what would it be? Um, I think it would be a crown by Chica who is a rapper who I think is incredible, um, or idle town by Conan gray. I mentioned at the start of this episode that we are currently having, uh, an Instagram contest, asking people to show us pictures of their favorite place to read or write. What is your favorite place to write my favorite place to write, used to be a cafe and square called the bean. Um, I went there almost every day after work. When I was writing the first draft of you should see me in a crowd and it no longer exists. So, um, yeah, it was a real bummer. I got back. Um, I went to Manhattan for the first time in a long time. Um, once he moved to Brooklyn, it's like Manhattan is seven and a half years away. But, um, I like went to Manhattan for the first time in a long time, a couple months ago. And it was gone, the beam was gone, uh, heartbreaking. It was so sad. They hit what happened is they actually moved it to a different location. Like what used to be a Starbucks? They like moved it into an old Starbucks, but it's not the same. You know, it lost its magic. Yeah. I hear you. Uh, what do you do to celebrate an accomplishment? Oh, Marissa. This is my favorite question. I celebrate literally everything and I do mean, so when you like, people are like, Oh, like I got, I got a new book deal. Like I got a car, I bought a house. Like those are like accomplishments that you're supposed to celebrate. I sobered everything. You know why? Because there's life is too short and things suck so bad. You should take every moment of joy. You can find. That's what I believe. So I celebrate by, uh, eating my favorite foods. I go out to eat at restaurants that are not like everyday restaurants, you know, which for me, which for me, because I'm from the Midwest is like cheesecake factory. Um, so if I'm at cheesecake factory, you know, it's, it's a big deal. Something big gone down. Um, I celebrate by, uh, buying sunglasses. So this is random. So random actually, um, sunglasses in suits are like the things that I spend the most money on. And so, um, I almost always celebrate by seeing what Azara is talking about and buy myself a new suit. And let's see, I celebrate by also, I want people to know you don't have to celebrate in a capitalist way. I would love to divest from capitalism, but I have to say I'm still very much entrenched in the system. So all of my celebrations are very much reliant on money. Um, and what else? I'll, I'll travel like in a non pandemic world. Normally I would travel somewhere, but, um, or book a trip somewhere, but we can't do so much of that anymore. So yeah. My celebrations have been little different past couple of months.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. I've been the bubble bath has become my new, like I can't go out anywhere. So I've taken a lot of bubble bath.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah. That's so relaxing. I w Oh, I gotta get out of Brooklyn. My apartment doesn't have like the bathtub we have, like the water pressure is so low, you know, how long it takes to fill up this bathtub. I tried it, it took a half hour to fill up the bathtub cause the water comes out so slow. I say, you know, at this point I'm not even, I don't even want to relax anymore. I'm struggling.
Speaker 2:Like I could have written a chapter in the time it took,
Speaker 3:I was like, this is not. So I'm like, I'm in the throws of revision for book two right now. And so every time I finished something or every time I hit a milestone, I'm like, Oh, okay. Time to go celebrate. And so, um, I celebrated this week by paying to get my laundry done. I didn't do my own laundry. I took it and asked someone else to do it, which was great. Um, yeah. I went to Panera this week, which is another spot I don't go to frequently because$15 for a tuna sandwich and chips is outlandish, but you know, so yeah. Stuff like that.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you so much for that answer. Um, I, I have been asking that to every writer that I've had on this show and I have been shocked how many writers tell me that they don't take time to celebrate when they accomplish something. And, and I'm, I'm the same as you. I feel like every, everything should be celebrated, you know, enjoy every little special moment that you can. So I'm so happy that you said that.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to go back and listen to some more episodes and in the back catalog. So I want to hear what people are doing if you're not celebrating by going to the cheesecake factory, what are you doing?
Speaker 2:Okay, last question. Where can people find you?
Speaker 3:You can find me on Twitter and Instagram at, by Leah that's B Y
Speaker 2:Leah Johnson. Um, I'm perhaps to online. Um, so you can always catch me there, but if you can't, you can also find me at my website, www.youguesseditbyleahjohnson.com. Leah. Thank you so, so much for coming on today. This was so much fun to talk to you. Of course. Thank you for having me readers. Definitely check out. You should see me in a crown, which is out and for sale now. And of course, if you can support your local indie bookstore, we always encourage you to do so. Please subscribe to this podcast and leave us a review. If you're enjoying it, you can find me on Instagram at Marissa Meyer author and at happy writer podcast. And don't forget to enter our writing space contest by July 31st, for a chance to win a free book could even be Leah's until next time, stay healthy and cozy in your bunkers and whatever life throws at you today. I do hope that now you're feeling
Speaker 1:[inaudible].