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- [00:01]
Zibby Owens
Hi listeners of Totally Booked with Zibby. This June we have one episode coming out every single day and to celebrate that, I've started the June Listening Club. You can sign up on zibbedia.com or you can just keep listening and every day there'll be a little quiz on Instagram. We're giving prizes away every single day this month. You're gonna get amazing stuff. You would all be invited to a party and a zoom at the end of the month to celebrate with a special certificate. So sign up on Zibbe Media today. Make sure following Totally Booked with Zy on Instagram and get ready to listen. Make it a challenge. June is crazy. Find some airtime for yourself. Put it on in the background. Get ready to listen, learn, laugh and enjoy life.
- [00:51]
Anna Todd
Race the rudders.
- [00:52]
Zibby Owens
Race the sails. Race the sails. Captain, an unidentified ship is approaching. Over.
- [00:58]
Anna Todd
Roger, wait. Is that an enterprise sales solution?
- [01:03]
Zibby Owens
Reach sales professionals, not professional sailors. With LinkedIn ads, you can target the.
- [01:08]
Anna Todd
Right people by industry, job title and more.
- [01:11]
Zibby Owens
We'll even give you a $100 credit on your next campaign. Get started today at LinkedIn.com results, terms and conditions apply. Hi guys, it's Hannah from Giggly Squad. With summer around the corner, I wanted to tell you guys how I'm staying comfy and stylish. Lululemon is my secret. Weap plenty of copycats out there, but nothing compares to the Lululemon fabrics and fit. I've literally had my pair of Lululemon leggings since college and I'm out of college. I know I don't look it, but I am. The quality is next level. I especially love the Lululemon Align collection. It's made with this weightless, buttery, soft nulu fabric that feels like next to nothing. It's so soft. Whether you're in aligned pants, shorts, a bra, tank, skirt, a dress, you get non stop flexibility in every direction so you can stretch, Align, even wicks, sweat and as a sweaty girl. I love this. You know it's going to be my best friend when I play tennis this summer. Shop the Align collection online@lululemon.com or your nearest lululemon store.
- [02:16]
Anna Todd
Better Help Online therapy bought this 30 second ad to remind you right now, wherever you are, to unclench your jaw, relax your shoulders, take a deep breath in and out. Feels better, right? That's 15 seconds of self care. Imagine what you could do with more. Visit betterhelp.com randompodcast for 10% off your.
- [02:49]
Zibby Owens
First month of therapy.
- [02:51]
Anna Todd
No pressure, just help. But for now, Just relax.
- [03:01]
Zibby Owens
Hi, this is Zibby Owens and you're listening to Totally Booked with Zibby, formerly Moms don't have Time to Read Books. In my daily show, I interview today's latest best selling, buzziest or underrated authors and story creators whose work I think is worth your time. As a bookstore owner, publisher, author, and obviously podcaster, I get a comprehensive look at everything that's coming out and spend my time curating the best books so you don't have to stay in the know, get insider insights and connect with guests like I do every single day. For more information, go to zibbedia.com and follow me on Instagram Ibyohans Anna Todd is the author of the Last Sunrise. She is a writer, producer and influencer and is the New York Times bestselling author of the After Series, the Brightest Stars trilogy, the Spring Girls, and the after graphic novels. The after series has been released in 35 languages and has sold over 12 million copies worldwide, becoming a number one bestseller in several countries. Always an avid reader, Anna began writing stories on her phone through Wattpad with after becoming the platform's most read series with over 2 billion reads. She has served as a producer and screenwriter on the film adaptations of after and After We Collided, producer on the upcoming film Regretting youg, and in 2017, she founded the entertainment company Frayed Pages Media to produce innovative and creative work across film, television and publishing. A native of Ohio, she lives with her family in Los Angeles. Welcome Anna. Thank you so much for coming on Totally Booked to discuss the Last Sunrise. Congrats.
- [04:44]
Anna Todd
Thank you so much. It feels like it's been five years in the making and now it's out in like a week and a half. And I'm like, okay.
- [04:53]
Zibby Owens
The glory of the publishing world, right? Those close, those jitters right before the books come out are pretty, pretty bad.
- [05:01]
Anna Todd
Yeah. Every time, like as soon as I turn it in, I'm like, right before I turn it, I'm like, this happens with every book. It's like, oh, this is the best book I've ever written. And then I send it over and I'm like, oh, no, it's not ready. It's the worst book I've ever written. And then it goes back and forth. And then like the week before publishing, I'm like, I can't believe I'm letting this out in the world. And it's just loop plus you can't take it back.
- [05:21]
Zibby Owens
Like, you can't change your mind. At some point it's out and it's beyond your control and there's nothing you can do.
- [05:26]
Anna Todd
Yeah.
- [05:26]
Zibby Owens
Am I making you feel better?
- [05:28]
Anna Todd
Yes, definitely. Absolutely. The hives are hidden under the sweater.
- [05:35]
Zibby Owens
Well, this is. This is not your first rodeo, so to speak. Talk about the Last Sunrise, and then I want you to tell me about how. How you got your start on Wattpad in this really creative way. You've built your whole brand.
- [05:47]
Anna Todd
Okay, so the Last Sunrise is a. Let's see. It was a story that came from first. It was a film idea. I really wanted to tell a story about a person with the same condition that my son has. It's called tuberous sclerosis. The main character, Ariah, has it. Not as severely as my son, but she has it. I didn't want to over, you know, do it to where people felt uncomfortable or it felt like too much sick lit, you know, But I also wanted to tell the story and bring a little bit of awareness while also making people swoon and have this setting that's, like, impossible to not fall in love with. So I sold it as a film idea. And at first I was like, I don't know if I can emotionally write a story given the ending I originally wanted. I was like, I don't know if I can do that just because it's so close to home. And then as the script started progressing, I was like, wait. Actually, like, all these little things were popping in my head and I was like, okay, I'm going to write it. And then I wrote it, and it was actually really therapeutic, but also really fun because it's not all just about this, you know, medical condition that she has. There's, like, first love. And really I was really happy with the storyline between her and her mother. I love writing parent children relationships, especially when the children are coming into the adult world. So that was really fun for me. And then to have, without a spoiler, to have, like, two parallel love stories, like, it's just really new for me. Even though it's romance and it's angsty and it's enemies to lovers, but it still feels like a very new, fresh story that I've never written.
- [07:26]
Zibby Owens
Wow. Well, the medical part, it was interesting how you did it because you don't come out on page one and say, like, this is it. It's told from the first person living with this disease, and you have to figure it out. Like, her mom's saying, like, wait, did you take your meds? And you know something's going on, but you don't know exactly what. And that's Part of the intrigue that keeps it going, and it's not in your face, and yet there are enough references that you know, something is happening.
- [07:51]
Anna Todd
So I, like, I tried to be, like, kind of delicate with it. Like, I didn't want it to feel like a psa. Like, you have to close your book and Google something. Like, I don't. I didn't want it to feel like that, but I wanted it to feel like something's going on here, and I don't know what that is.
- [08:07]
Zibby Owens
And so how does this disease affect your son?
- [08:10]
Anna Todd
He has epilepsy. Pretty severe epilepsy. He has autism. Pretty severe autism. Around 85 to 90% of people with this condition have autism. So kind of goes hand in hand. The autism's like the daily stuff and the developmental delays. The epilepsy is also daily, but it's controlled by medication for the most part. He still does have seizures, but I would say the autism's like, the heavy hitter in the household. And then he has some kidney problems. These tubers that I talk about in the book, my son has them kind of all over his body. Unlike Rye, she's mostly just there in her brain. And then while I was writing this book, I found out that I kind of knew, like, a mother's instinct. I knew that I was carrying the gene because I started thinking about having more kids. And I was. You know, I've been separated and now divorced for a long time. I'm in a totally new relationship, and we're like, life planning. And I'm like, I have a feeling that this condition comes from my side of the family. Even just looking at my relatives and undiagnosed stuff going on, I'm like, I just have a feeling that, like, it's kind of a joke, but it's not a joke. But it's like, the way to deal with stuff is humor is like. I'm like, my mama, who's. My grandma's, like, the hub. I'm convinced she's, like, the hub of this thing. So I got genetic testing done, and I already knew, but I was definitely still quite the hit emotionally to be like, okay, now I know for sure that I do carry this gene that I passed on unknowingly to my child. And now his life is hard because of me. So it was this big loop. I'm like, thank goodness for therapy and, like, you know, being able to walk myself through these phases of grief. But I was like, okay, so now what? But it was. Yeah, I. While writing this, so that was probably not I'm like, I would change the timeline around a little. Cuz then I was like, you know what? Now I'm going to have her mom also carry the jean. So it's. Yeah. And once you. There's two sides not to be all over the place, but there's, you know, spontaneous. You can have this condition spontaneously or it can be passed down and. But once you have it, like my son, for example, he even developmentally, he likely won't ever have children anyways, but he 100% would pass it down to his child since I have the gene. But it's not, it's more of a recessive gene. It's not guaranteed that my child would always have it, but Asher does. So I'm like, okay, we've got a lot of planning to do in this house, but I wanted to talk about it without being in your face about it. But it definitely affects our life every day. And sometimes I forget that, you know, I never heard of it. I mean, I was also 21 year old mother who'd never heard of most medical conditions, but I had never heard of it. And I most people, no one in my family, no one, none of my friends, like whenever I'm like telling them about Asher's condition, no one's ever heard of it. So it's not very common unless you know someone who has it.
- [11:16]
Zibby Owens
So you had your first baby at 21. How did that. Were you married? Wait, let's, let's get into.
- [11:24]
Anna Todd
So I got married right out of high school, like a month out of high school, which I don't recommend, but I'm also glad I did it. My boyfriend at the time, we'd known each other since we were like 14, he was going into the army. I was like, I've got to get out of Ohio. I'm not going to get myself into student loan debt. And my parents are very anti establishment when it comes to like college or any like taking anything from the government or getting into any kind of loans or any like they didn't even have debit cards until like very recently, which is. Yeah, they're very much like, well now I'm like, you know what? You, you guys had a point. But at the time I just remember being like, okay, well I guess I'm not going to go to college because they can afford it. I'm not going to get into debt. So I was like, at least I can get out of my tiny town where there's a lot of drugs and a lot of just like trauma and all this Stuff that I was like, I just want to get out. So I got married to a soldier. He joined the army. I always knew he was going to join the army since I met him, moved to Texas, was a waitress. Didn't really know what I was going to do with my life, but I just knew I'd rather be a waitress in Texas than be a waitress in my hometown and see people I went to high school with every day. And I'm like, I can figure out something. I started doing. It's definitely not legal, but maybe not illegal. I started doing people's makeup on Craigslist with no training whatsoever. Like just army wives, they would pay me to do their makeup. And I worked at Ulta Beauty, so I would use like the samples and stuff. And I'm like, I'm always just kind of finding a way. Like, if there's no way I'm that person that's like, we will find a way for something. I like, no is not in my vocabulary. I'm just like, always. I hate the word hustling because it's like, especially now as a 36 year old woman, I'm like, I'm done hustling. Like, I want to work and continue to build a brand, but like this hustle culture is like, not. I want like a slow, peaceful life while also having a career. But I got married. I was married for a couple years. Everyone kept asking, when are you going to have a baby? And I'm like, I'm literally 21. Like, what are you talking about? And then my husband at the time went to Iraq for the third time. And two days later I found out I was pregnant. So. And I did all the things. I was on birth control is all the things. I was like, okay, let's weigh the options here. But I just like, I'm like, I just instinct. I don't know. I just was like, the only option is to have the baby. Even though that's probably not the advice I would give like a friend. But for me, I was like, this is. I'm doing it alone. So he was gone the whole pregnancy. I went to every doctor's appointment by myself. I went to every, like, breathing class by myself. Every, like, learn how to breastfeed class by myself. While working two jobs. I worked overnight for the irs. And then I worked at Logan's Roadhouse. Like, yeah, waitressing. And then I worked until I had him. And then my husband at the time did make it to come home. Him and his mom. I'm really close with his mom. Still. And him. Actually, it was very amicable divorce, but him and his mom kind of forced me to go to Ohio to have my son because I didn't have any family in Texas and I didn't really have any friends. But I'm at the time. It's funny now, being in a different relationship, I'm not hyper independent, but I've always been extremely hyper independent. So I was like, I don't need anyone here. Like, I'm gonna have the baby by myself. Like, I. This is where I live. I don't want to travel and have a baby and then be around, like, chaos. And everyone's, like, wanting to come see the baby. It's like. Felt like a lot, but it was kind of like two against one. And I was like, you know what it would be like if something went wrong or, you know, you never know. So I went to Ohio, had my son, and then we, like, on his actual due date. And then about two days later, we were walking through the grocery store and his face turned blue, and I'm like, oh, my gosh. So I'm immediately thinking I'm choking him in his little, like, car seat thing, because I don't know how to even work it barely at this point. So I loosen the straps. I'm like, wait, it's already loose. So we take him immediately to the hospital, and they're like, oh, newborns just forget how to breathe. I'm like. I'm like, well, that's not an acceptable answer. So went to a different hospital, and then they were like, let's just wait and see, you know, if something else happens, go home for now, whatever. So within, like, two more two hours later, he was blue again, and I was like. We went to the children's hospital in Dayton, Ohio, which is actually really great.
- [15:46]
Zibby Owens
Considering, I hope, families from there, by the way.
- [15:49]
Anna Todd
Yeah. Oh, really?
- [15:50]
Zibby Owens
Random, right? Really? Oh, my gosh.
- [15:52]
Anna Todd
Oh, yeah. Born and raised. I'm going there, like, next weekend for my mama's wedding. She's 81 and getting married again.
- [15:59]
Zibby Owens
Oh, I wonder if she knows my grandparents. But anyway, keep going, probably.
- [16:02]
Anna Todd
Honestly, it's such a small place.
- [16:04]
Zibby Owens
Yeah. Such a small town.
- [16:05]
Anna Todd
So we go to Dayton Children's, and I'm like, basically, I'm not leaving until we figure out why my son's face triple. It's bigger than, like, not being able to breathe or whatever. It's like, something. I'm not leaving, basically. So they let us stay. They do all these tests on him. I can still remember him, like, screaming. They can't figure out anything. And then they do an MRI finally. Because I was like, I don't care what. Because they're like, we're not sure if your insurance will cover it. And I'm like, my husband deployed three times, and the only good thing about this is the insurance. Give us the damn mri. So we just. My husband was just kind of like, yeah. And I'm like, this is like, we're not leaving. So we get the mri, and thank goodness they did it, because then a couple, like an hour later, this guy who works on the phone polls. They're basically like, technician comes over and he's like, so we. I was told that your son has tuberous sclerosis, and. Which they hadn't even told us yet. And my daughter also has it. And he's like, I've always told them if anyone else comes with the markers of this condition to, you know, come find me, or if I'm not working, call me. Because I. He's like, just a good dad who's, like, been through it without any help, basically. So he knows the ropes already. So in hindsight, I'm like, I'm so glad he was the one that, like, told us about this, because then when the doctors came in, they, like, Canada's pamphlets on, like, mental retardation and all this, like, just the way stuff was worded was so vile anyways. And the way it was handled was like, not to mention my husband is about to go back to Iraq. And, like, it's. There was so much going on. So we're like, okay. And that guy ended up being like, his name is Michael. He ended up being such a resource for, like, the first few years of Asher's life, honestly. And we're like, still friends on Facebook, but they basically told us, like, all these worst case scenarios. And I was like, okay, whatever it is, we're not doing it here. We're going back to Texas. Like, we're driving back. So we drove back with a newborn baby with epilepsy. They realized it was seizures that he was having. And at this point, until he was like two, he was having like, 50 a day. Oh, my gosh, stop. Like, that's so terrifying. Completely nonstop. That's what people are like, how did you have time to write a book on your phone? I'm like, because all I could do is stare at my child and wait for the next seizure. Like, that's like my life. I couldn't work anymore. And even in military income, it's like we couldn't afford for Me to have a special ed or special needs nanny or babysitter or daycare. It's like there's so many issues within that anyways. But I was like, well, looks like I'm going to be a stay at home mom. Which is everyone has their own path, but that's just not what I ever expected mine to be. So I was like, you know what? If I'm going to do that, I'm at least going to have a hobby. So I picked up reading more and more and more. And then I started writing on Wattpad. And no one was reading it at first, of course, but I didn't care. I was like, this is my thing. Everything else in my life is about doctors and babies and diapers and deployments and army stuff and all this. My parents stuff. It's like so many things went on. So I was like, this is my thing. And no one knew about it. I didn't even tell my husband about it. The first person I told was my mother in law. And that was only after I got contacted for a publishing deal because I was like, okay, we're. It's not gonna be easy to hide this anymore. And she was obviously like massively supportive. And then met with some publishers basically and then they pitched why I should sell my book to them. Which at the time I was like, is this a book? Like, what do you mean? Like, I don't have any formal training. I just love to read and I love to tell stories, but like mostly in the like verbal form. I'm not so much of a writer. I don't have any reason to think I should be a writer. And my idea of what a writer was as a reader was so different than now where I'm like, actually a writer just means you like to write and you write it down. But at the time I was like, there's all these rules that you have to go by and you have to like. I remember my first couple author events, people being like, what's your alumni? I'm like, waffle House. I worked at Waffle House a long time in my teens, but it was very much a new world for me. But I feel like I kind of snuck into this big publishing deal and it definitely changed my life in a million ways. But my son's life, especially today's episode.
- [20:17]
Zibby Owens
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- [25:34]
Anna Todd
13.
- [25:34]
Zibby Owens
13.
- [25:35]
Anna Todd
Okay, there's 13 going on like 70. I swear. He's like, we went to the doctor yesterday for a kidney appointment. Just like a standard kidney one. And they're like, he's five, six and a half. I'm five two. He's so big. And then he'll be like, he'll like try to sit on my lap. And I'm like. Because mentally he's around like 3 to 4 ish. And then sometimes in certain areas he's older. But I'm like, he thinks he's like a baby. And he's always like, oh, mom, like hug me. And then he'll like lay on me. And I'm like, I Can't breathe. But He's. Yeah, he's 13, but he's like towers over me now, so it's crazy.
- [26:11]
Zibby Owens
And then when did you end up getting divorced?
- [26:14]
Anna Todd
I got officially divorced, which is another like gripe I have with the state of California. It took so long. I've been separated for over four years. But we had like properties and a trust and all this stuff, so it just took so long. So I've technically only been divorced a few months, but I've been. I've only seen my ex husband in person to like take my son to him and that for in the last four years. So I'm like, I've been in a relationship for pretty much four years, but also separated for four years. So the time timeline is not. Also not what I expected because when I first got divorced I was like, or separated. I was like, oh, it's just giving me an Ash. My son's name's Asher. It's gonna be me and Ash and everything's gonna be like, easy. And my ex is a great person, but I cannot like have two children. And my life is just so different now than it was when we were first married. And I'm different. I feel like I've been 10 different women and he's been the same guy, which is a great guy, but just not the same as what I would date now or what I would want in my life now. So it was very scary, honestly though, because I've been married half of my life and I had this idea in my head that if I stay married, like, imagine I could tell my grandkids, you know, when they're seven or when I'm 70, I can say I've been married for 50 years. And it's like I kept holding onto that little thing and I'm like, that's not enough. Like, that's the ideal, like this ideology of what romance was to me, it was like, yeah, but what if you just, I don't know, start over and maybe there's a different. Like now I'm like, wow. I definitely. There's such like. I don't even know how to explain the massive difference in like having a partner who is just gets me and in a shorter amount of time and a language barrier in the middle. And parenting with someone, you know, that's very emotionally mature, it's just like, it's life changing. But I. My plan at first was either be single or marry like a 50 something year old man who already has kids. Like, I was like, I'm not Going out, dating. Which is kind of funny because I. This was the first guy that I met on accident after my separation, and then now I'm going to be marrying him. So I'm like, I'm definitely a monogamy kind of lady. Like, I don't need to find out what's out there. Like, some of my friends were like, don't you want to, like, date and whatever? You've been married your whole life. No, absolutely not. I see from their experience, I'm like, I got really lucky. Like, I don't need to, like, see what else is out there, because what I have is better than I ever imagined. So I'm not made. I'm always like, I'm not made for the streets. I'm made for, like, 8pm Bedtimes, 6am Pilates. That's it.
- [28:57]
Zibby Owens
And what is the language barrier?
- [28:59]
Anna Todd
Korean.
- [29:00]
Zibby Owens
Interesting.
- [29:01]
Anna Todd
Yeah, it's definitely less of a barrier now. But when we first started talking, the way we met was he was supposed to be teaching me Korean for content reasons because I started producing stuff, and I'm really, really into Korean romance dramas. So I was like, I need to learn language more. So I signed up for this app that's, like, kind of language trading. And then we just. I thought he was in Korea, and he didn't really, like, he knew I was in the States, but he was like, I didn't really care kind of to know where you were. It was like, a very transactional thing. And then we kept, like, kind of talking about everything besides language. And then he basically was like, because. Very, very direct, without any, like, now I'm so used to it. But he's basically like, our relationship is inappropriate, so either we should go on a date or we should not be, like, spending all this time talking to each other. And I was like, okay, all right, so which one do we do? And then we, like, hung out one time, and then now it's literally been four years, and we're, like, living together. We're pretty much inseparable, so. What a whirlwind. Wow.
- [30:06]
Zibby Owens
What a story. And in the meantime, your own career is, like, blowing up, and you're. You got onto social media right away, and that got big because of wattfed. And then you started your own imprint. Like, tell me about all that.
- [30:18]
Anna Todd
Yeah, so I basically, once I learned as. I mean, you never learn everything about publishing, but once I learned a little bit more than what I knew from wattpad about publishing, I was like, every time I went to the bookstore, because when you're on Wattpad. It's like, you have unlimited access to so many stories and so many different kinds of writers. And I felt like at the time, when I went into a bookstore, it was like, the same couple names, just a new book. And I'm like, as much as I love their books, I'm reading at a rate that's like, they're not able to keep up with. Bookstores aren't able to keep up with. And it's like, they already know it's going to work, so that's all they're kind of putting on their shelves. So I was like, we need something between Wattpad, where it's, like, free for all, and bookstores and, like, publishing houses. So I told my agent, slash, she's kind of like a second mom to me now. But I was like, I would love to have an imprint by the time I'm 40. Because I heard once I was walking through Simon Schuster, and I listened to everyone's conversations. Like, I'm telling you, when I'm at a restaurant, I don't care how many 20 conversations. I'm listening to all them at the same exact time. Like, it's. Sometimes I'm like, that's. I. It took me a little bit to realize not everyone does that. But I was listening to these people talk in the hallway about this baseball player who has an imprint, and they were talking about him choosing or, like, approving books. And I was like, what on earth does a baseball player have to do with books? Like, that doesn't even make any sense. So I asked my editor, and he was like, oh, it's basically like a business venture where he, you know, signs off on these books and gets them published. And I was like, why aren't, like, readers doing that? Or why aren't, like, romance authors doing that? Or why aren't women especially doing that? I mean, he's like, well, there's a couple. But I was like, well, are they getting paid as much as he is? I mean, I know he's has a name, but it's like. So I. And that, like, struck something me where I was like, okay, if he can do it, I can do it somehow. I don't know how, but I'm going to figure it out later. So I told my agent this, and then we kind of worked backward of, like, who do we go to? Do we go to, like, the Big Five for this imprint, or do we start small and then sell it later to a big Five? And I really wanted to be very involved, and I wanted it. I didn't want to just stick my name on something and then, like, approve a book every once in a while. So we decided to go back kind of to my roots, to wattpad. And I just asked them basically, like, would you guys want to basically fund and do an imprint with me? And they were like, yeah. And I was like, okay. Right, so where do we start? It was a way faster. Yes. Than I expected. And it happened, like, five years earlier than I expected. But I'm really proud of the authors that we have, and the team keeps growing, and just really cool to go in a bookstore and see people that. We've gotten some off the platform and then some just submissions. So it's been really cool to give these voices their books in stores, because that's, you know, the hardest part, usually.
- [33:09]
Zibby Owens
Wow. And then when did frayed pages come about?
- [33:13]
Anna Todd
So frayed pages. The production side came when I was on set for the After Series, which was my first one that I wrote on wattpad, got turned into a movie. And I had kind of the same thought process where I was like, first of all, this is a mess. And second of all, it doesn't need to be. Like, all the problems that were happening were, like, so easily fixed. And I was like, there's, like, 10 people here doing nothing. Not problem solving, but they're making tons of money. When, first of all, this is, like, my literal idea. And this would be so easy. Like, just saw, like, it just blew my mind how, like, inept some of the people were. So I was like, okay, if these dudes who clearly don't know anything about what women want to watch, they don't even care enough. They're, like, barely even. They're literally just sitting there and, like, eating Cheetos all day. So I was like, okay, if they can do it, I can do it. So I asked my business manager, like, I called him while I was there and was like, how do I open a production company? And then how do I kind of, like, backward negotiate for my production company to get a credit on this movie? Because now I'm rewriting pages. I'm managing the personalities of all of the actors. I'm problem solving all day every day, while everyone else is kind of just vibing out. So I. I just started it, and then I was really involved in the casting. And that was before the. Obviously casting came before filming, but during the casting, one of the casting directors was telling me, like, you really have a good instinct for the talent. Like, you. She's like, if you weren't an author, I would tell you to be a casting director. Because all the people that I was recommending or being like, no, they have it. There was always one of the producers who was obviously, like, an older man who had, like, very inappropriate things to say about all the young girls, but he kept saying, like, no to this one, no to that one. And then basically every single person that I said we should cast ended up on, like, Euphoria or Stranger Things, like, these shows that I'm like, really? So I. And. But I'm really happy with the cast we did get, especially the two main leads. But I was like, I need to stop listening to these opinions from people that I wouldn't even ask for directions.
- [35:22]
Zibby Owens
Okay. And so now. So now why would you be worried about this book coming out? You've built up this whole network of people who respect what you've done, which is formidable. Right? It is not as easy as you make it sound like, oh, I'm just, like, writing on my phone, on Wattpad. Next thing you know, Simon and Schuster calls. Like, this is, like, dream story that most people don't get to live out. So it's amazing that you did this in the face of all the stress you had in your life. It's, like, truly awesome. And now you're still writing and producing and publishing other people's things. So this book in particular, the Last Sunrise, what are you hoping people get out of this book?
- [36:01]
Anna Todd
I'm hoping they get. First of all, I want them to just get it. A little bit of escape. There are some, you know, because it does take place in Mallorca, and in real life, there is a problem with tourists, like, destroying the island. So there are some political themes, but I do want them to feel like they're escaping the world, especially right now. We could all use a little escapism. So I want the escapism. I want them to feel like they're falling in love for the first time. I just want them to. I. I try really hard when it comes to my characters to at least have, like, a couple conversations that I feel like everyone should have in the world. It's almost like my way of, like, therapizing my readers, where I'm like, I want you to think about this later. And it usually. It's worked so far. And some of the cool quotes that people are pulling from the lawsonaries, I'm like, thank you. Because that's. I wanted you to think about that later in, like, connection with your own life and your own choices and how you feel as a person, especially A woman. And so I just want connection. I want them to enjoy the story. Anything else is kind of up to them, but that's my goal.
- [37:06]
Zibby Owens
That's amazing. Well, Anna, I'm so happy for you. As closer to the mom's age than the kids age of this book, I read it from that point of view. What would it be like for the young girl you bring on your big work trip? What is that like? And how does a young person get into the culture? And should you listen to the concierge for recommendations and which room should I be giving her? And anyway, so I think it's not only escapist fun putting yourself in those shoes, but also being the parent of a character like that and what you can learn about managing your own relationship with your daughters and all that. So, yeah, I read it on the beach. It was amazing. I hadn't been in the sun since like the summer last year and I finally got on the beach and I was like, this is the book I have to read. Last Sunrise right now, right here.
- [38:02]
Anna Todd
Thank you so much.
- [38:03]
Zibby Owens
All right, well, thanks. It was great to meet you.
- [38:05]
Anna Todd
Great to meet you. Bye bye. Have a good day.
- [38:07]
Zibby Owens
Thank you for listening to Totally booked with Zibby, formerly Moms don't have time to read Books. If you loved the show, tell a friend, leave a review, follow me on Instagram ibbeowens and spread the word. Thanks so much. Oh, and buy the books. Hi guys, it's Hannah from Giggly Squad with some around the corner. I wanted to tell you guys how I'm staying comfy and stylish. Lululemon is my secret weapon. There are plenty of copycats out there, but nothing compares to the Lululemon fabrics and fit. I've literally had my pair of Lululemon leggings since college and I'm out of college. I know I don't look it, but I am. The quality is next level. I especially love the Lululemon Align collection. It's made with this weightless, buttery, soft nul that feels like next to nothing. It's so soft. Whether you're in aligned pants, shorts, a bra, tank, skirt, a dress, you get non stop flexibility in every direction so you can stretch the summer limits align even wick sweat. And as a sweaty girl, I love this. You know it's going to be my best friend when I play tennis this summer. Shop the Aligned collection online@lululemon.com or your nearest Lululemon store. Your new beginning starts now. Dr. Horton has new construction homes available in Ellensburg and throughout the greater Seattle area. With spacious floor plans, flexible living spaces and home technology packages, you can enjoy more cozy moments and sweet memories in your beautiful new home. With new home communities opening in Ellensburg and throughout the Seattle area, Dr. Horton has the ideal home for you. Learn more@drhorton.com Dr. Horton, America's builder and Equal Housing Opportunity Builder Tipping Culture is out of control. Yesterday I tipped someone just for handing me a napkin. So when hotels.com gives me up to 20% off for being a member, I finally get tipped. And you know what? It feels good. Hotels.com members save up to 20% off at hundreds of thousands of hotels.