Taylor Hutton, STRIKE AND BURN

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Taylor Hutton, STRIKE AND BURN" on Totally Booked with Zibby

In the February 20, 2025 episode of Totally Booked with Zibby, host Zibby Owens welcomes Julie Buxbaum and Adele Griffin, the dynamic duo writing under the pseudonym Taylor Hutton. They delve into their latest dark romance novel, Strike and Burn, exploring the intricacies of their collaborative process, the themes woven into their narrative, and their future projects in the literary world.

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Introduction to Taylor Hutton

Zibby Owens introduces the authors by explaining that Taylor Hutton is a pseudonym shared by Julie Buxbaum and Adele Griffin. Julie brings her extensive experience in writing for adults, young adults, and middle-grade audiences, while Adele is recognized as a New York Times Best Selling author and an Edgar Award finalist. Together, they have authored over 40 books, merging their unique styles to create compelling stories.

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The Genesis of a Collaborative Partnership

The conversation begins with Zibby inquiring about how Julie and Adele teamed up to create Strike and Burn. Julie explains, “Sarah is the starting point of so many creative, amazing productions in the world. She set us up as friends, not as co-writers” (02:25). Adele adds, “Sarah was like, this is your person. She is going to ease your transition from Brooklyn to living here” (02:54). Their friendship, fostered by their mutual friend Sarah Blandowski, organically blossomed into a writing partnership.

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Creative Process: One Hour a Day

Julie and Adele detail their unique writing routine—dedicating one hour each day to collaborate on their shared Google Doc. Adele shares, “I found myself at 2am looking on my phone to see if Julie had written anything new” (04:27). This disciplined yet flexible approach allowed ideas to flow seamlessly, fostering a creative environment where both authors could experiment and build upon each other’s contributions.

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Adopting the Pseudonym: Taylor Hutton

When asked about their choice of pseudonym, Julie explains, “We wanted a name that felt really separate from us. Taylor is not at all connected to who we are as people” (07:00). The name Taylor Hutton embodies a persona distinct from their usual genres, allowing them the creative freedom to explore dark romance without the constraints of their established literary identities. They aimed for a name that combined “the badass powerhouse of Taylor [Swift] and the old-school glamour of Hutton” (07:50), crafting a unique authorial voice.

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Exploring Dark Romance: Themes and Characterization

Zibby praises the writing style of Strike and Burn, noting its “propulsive and accessible” nature while balancing dark themes with engaging storytelling (09:15). Julie elaborates on the concept of “tromantasy,” a blend of trauma and romance, stating, “We don't mean fantasy as in dragons, fourth wing fantasy. We mean fantasy as an aspirational” (12:27). This approach allows readers to process trauma within a heightened, fantastical narrative framework.

Adele adds, “We knew we were writing about two very broken people and their brokenness complimenting each other” (12:45). The protagonists’ intertwined struggles and eventual acceptance provide a nuanced exploration of love amidst adversity, creating relatable and deeply emotional characters.

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Balancing Darkness with Humor and Levity

While Strike and Burn delves into heavy subjects like loss and abuse, Julie and Adele intentionally infuse humor and lighter moments to balance the narrative’s intensity. Julie recounts a particularly edgy scene involving a cat, which they ultimately decided to tone down to maintain the story’s overall tone (16:18). This meticulous attention to detail ensures that the novel remains engaging without becoming overwhelmingly dark.

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Character Development and Reader Engagement

Zibby highlights the protagonist Taylor’s resilience, noting her ability to function amidst significant loss: “She seems fairly, like, together” (14:03). Adele responds by emphasizing the importance of creating characters that mirror real human emotions and struggles, allowing readers to find solace and connection within their journeys. Julie adds, “It's like a reconnection with our younger writing selves” (19:43), underscoring the personal investment and authenticity woven into the characters.

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Future Endeavors: Expanding the Taylor Hutton Universe

The authors reveal plans for a companion novel titled Axe and Grind, scheduled for release the following January. Julie explains, “It's another dark romance... a companion novel about two characters who are in Strike and Burn and their story” (20:34). This expansion signifies their commitment to developing a rich, interconnected literary universe for their readers.

Additionally, Julie mentions her upcoming middle-grade series, The 4th Area 51 Files, set to launch in the summer, showcasing her versatility as an author. Adele shares that she has recently completed a first draft of an adult novel focused on second-chance romance, highlighting their continuous creative momentum (21:26).

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Conclusion: The Magic of Collaborative Creativity

Zibby Owens wraps up the episode by expressing admiration for Julie and Adele’s collaborative magic, remarking, “Creativity is like capturing something in a bottle. Like magic in a bottle” (22:39). The authors reflect on the “crazy alchemy” of their partnership, attributing their success to their complementary strengths and the foundational support from their friend Sarah (22:43).

Julie concludes with a heartfelt thank you, emphasizing the joy and fulfillment derived from their joint creative endeavors, while Zibby encourages listeners to explore their works and support their literary journey.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• Julie Buxbaum: “Sarah set us up as friends, not as co-writers.” (02:25)
• Adele Griffin: “I found myself at 2am looking on my phone to see if Julie had written anything new.” (04:27)
• Julie Buxbaum: “We wanted a name that felt really separate from us. Taylor is not at all connected to who we are as people.” (07:00)
• Julie Buxbaum: “We knew we were writing about two very broken people and their brokenness complimenting each other.” (12:45)
• Julie Buxbaum: “It's like a reconnection with our younger writing selves.” (19:43)
• Julie Buxbaum: “It's another dark romance... a companion novel about two characters who are in Strike and Burn and their story.” (20:34)
• Zibby Owens: “Creativity is like capturing something in a bottle. Like magic in a bottle.” (22:39)

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For fans of dark romance and collaborative storytelling, this episode offers an insightful glimpse into the creative process behind Strike and Burn. Julie Buxbaum and Adele Griffin demonstrate how friendship and shared passion can culminate in compelling, emotionally resonant literature. To stay updated on their work and future projects, follow them on their respective platforms and keep an eye out for the release of Axe and Grind in January.

Transcript

[Zibby Owens]

The recent fire in LA destroyed many schools in the Pacific Palisades area where we have our home. I am currently raising money to completely rebuild the library collections of four schools in the neighborhood. If you are interested in helping me raise up to $800,000 to restock the libraries, go to zivimedia.com donate one book donate a thousand books but please help imagine if this was your school or your kids school. Thank you. 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 zibbymedia.com and follow me on Instagram ibyoans Taylor Hutton is the author of Strike and Burn. Taylor Hutton is actually the pseudonym of a pair of writer friends, one of whom has twice been a finalist for the National Board Award and the other who is a New York Times Best Selling author and Edgar Award finalist. Between the two of them, they have written over 40 books. When they are not passing their latest sexy thriller back and forth on Google Doc, they are browsing bookstores, sending each other ridiculous memes, walking their dogs, Trudy and Potato, around their Los Angeles neighborhood, and making their children cringe with their TikTok videos. Welcome ladies. We're talking about Strike and Burn today. The pen name Taylor Hutton, but tell everybody who you really are.

[Julie Buxbaum]

Da da da. I'm Julie Buxbaum. I have written a bunch of books for adults and young adults in middle grade, but this is my first jointly written novel and my first foray into dark romance.

[Adele Griffin]

I'm Adele Griffin and this is also my first foray into dark romance, though I also have written a bunch of books for middle grade and young adult and adult. We are mirrors.

[Zibby Owens]

Yes, kind of like the identical twins in the book, right? There you go. Both sides of the story.

[Julie Buxbaum]

I'm the watcher.

[Zibby Owens]

Okay, so first of all, how did the two of you team up? And I saw that you dedicated this to Sarah Blandowski, who is like why I'm even doing this podcast and who I love and adore. So that's amazing. So did she pair you up and that's how you did the book. What happened? Sort of.

[Julie Buxbaum]

It's so funny. Sarah is the starting point of so many creative, amazing productions in the world. Yeah. So she set us up as friends, not as co writers.

[Adele Griffin]

She sent Julie up to sort of help me as I moved into LA world as a mom. Julie had all the info. And so Sarah was like, this is your person. She is going to ease your transition from Brooklyn to living here. And that was true.

[Julie Buxbaum]

Yeah, it was. It was funny. Sarah had a very different conversation with me about me and Adele. Her conversation was Adele's moving to la. You both are very deeply weird, but in different ways. But you will appreciate that deep weirdness about each other and understand that deep weirdness. And you are going to love each other. And she was 100% right.

[Adele Griffin]

100% right.

[Julie Buxbaum]

It was like love at first sight. And then we started writing together, but not writing the same book together, just like getting together to write. And then one day we started chatting about a book idea and we did not know it would actually become a book. It was sort of, you know how writers just throw out ideas and chat about them and just have fun chasing down that rabbit hole.

[Adele Griffin]

It was like building a recipe that we didn't know what it would taste like. We were like, what if?

[Julie Buxbaum]

Yeah. And we throw this in and that and we have no rules.

[Adele Griffin]

It was just fun. And that was the first rule of. It was one hour a day. Pass it back and forth on our shared Google Doc, Untitled Romance, or whatever we had decided to call it. And you could work for an hour after your real work. Sort of like Cinderella after your real work is done.

[Julie Buxbaum]

Magic slippers. For just an hour.

[Adele Griffin]

I found myself at 2am looking on my phone. I had put the Google Doc into my phone so I could see if Julie had written anything new in the day. I began to look so forward to what had happened in our book while I was. While I was gone.

[Zibby Owens]

That's so cool. What a fun way to do a project. I mean, and you can tell when you read something when authors are enjoying writing it. Right. There's just something intangible, but, like something with the lightness or the energy even in a dark romance, when, like, people are enjoying it versus, like, slogging out sentences that don't even need to be there.

[Julie Buxbaum]

Yep. Exactly.

[Zibby Owens]

Right. Because I've been. We've been there too.

[Julie Buxbaum]

Absolutely. And I think that's actually where this book came from, is that we were there. I think both of us were starting to feel like our real work Felt like work. And one of the best parts of being a writer is that work doesn't feel like work. Right. And so I think we were both like, we need a hobby. Like, we need something fun to do. And since neither of us are people who could play pickleball and coordination, for us, this felt like, you know, a great, just fun outlet. The fact that it became a book is sort of just gravy because it was more about the. The curious exercise, I think, than the actual book itself. And I feel like that's the magic alchemy that makes it really fun. The book itself is fun because of it.

[Zibby Owens]

So did each of you then write a chapter essentially, or a short. Not even a chapter. Just.

[Adele Griffin]

No. We don't even know. The joke is we don't. Taylor Hutton wrote the book because I'll go back through it and have no idea who wrote what. I mean, it's became such a blend of. We have a joke that we're the mom of Taylor Hutton because she's this young, free spirited, dark romance writing. Also has a pseudonym, doing her own thing. And then we're kind of looking at pages going, whoa, that's.

[Julie Buxbaum]

That's hilarious, Taylor.

[Adele Griffin]

My goodness, Taylor.

[Zibby Owens]

So did you feel like you used the pseudonym to give you the freedom to just write sort of out of character in a way? Or, like, did you consider using your real names?

[Julie Buxbaum]

We never considered using our real names, mostly because I don't think we feel like we wrote it. I mean, I feel exactly the same way. I mean, when I was working on it, I always felt like I was writing for an audience of one, which was Adele. And I think Adele felt the same way. Like we were writing to each other purely for each other's entertainment and feelings. Eighth grade, it really was like eighth grade, passing the notebook back and forth. And so when it came time to actually, like, when we actually were like, whoa, we did write a book. And this is an actual book that we could sell.

[Adele Griffin]

And it happens to be in a business that we're already in.

[Zibby Owens]

Yes, it happens to be so funny. My hobby is actually my job.

[Julie Buxbaum]

Who knew? We wanted a name that felt really separate from us. We toyed with a pseudonym that was connected. That was AJ Windsor. So Adele and Julie Windsor, which is a street that Adele used to live on, where most of the book was written. And then we felt like, first of all, it felt a little royal, but also felt connected to us. And we were like, no, Taylor is not at all connected to who we are as people. I mean, dark romance is also not connected to who we are as people. I love it. We loved writing it. But, you know, knowing us, the last thing you'd think we'd write is dark romance. Like, we should be writing cozy coffee shop mysteries, Mysteries set on a rainy day. And second chance love. Second chance love in Northern Ireland, you know, that kind of thing.

[Adele Griffin]

Why didn't we do that? We still don't know why we didn't do that.

[Julie Buxbaum]

So Taylor had to be someone so different from us. And so it was. Taylor Swift was in her, you know, eras tour, and she was everywhere. And we felt like we wanted the badass powerhouse of Taylor. And then, like, the old school glamour of Hutton.

[Zibby Owens]

Love it. Wow. Well, you realize that to people who are not writers, the idea that, like, you didn't write the book might not make sense, but I totally get what you're talking about.

[Adele Griffin]

Like, it was such a freedom, creativity.

[Zibby Owens]

You can't explain it. And especially collaborative creativity. Like, what does that even mean? Where does that come from? How do you do it? So I appreciate the efforts to describe, but it's intangible. It's like one of those things. So I get it.

[Julie Buxbaum]

I don't know if you feel this way, though. I don't know if you ever talked about this, but when my book. Whenever my books come out, I feel like it's like my kid going off to college and they're on their own now. Not that when my kids go off to college, they'll be on their own, but you know what I mean, the idea that it no longer belongs to me, it's part of the world, and the world has to receive it on its own two feet, et cetera. With this book, it's like five steps further, where it's not only like, it stands on its own, but it's like, I wonder who wrote this. It's the strangest separation between us in the book. Adele and I often fight. We'll read a not fight fight, but we'll read a passage, and I'll be like, oh, Adele, that was totally you. And she'll be like, no, that was you. And then we truly don't know who wrote it. And we're like, oh, Taylor.

[Zibby Owens]

Well, let's talk about the book itself. And by the way, the writing is great. It's propulsive and accessible and page turning and all the good things that you want out of writing, like, did not want to put it down. Like, really great, a little funny, and yet talking about really tough subjects as well. I mean, you're talking about, like, you open in the morgue and there's, you know, family violence and really tough scenes with their dad. And, you know, it's not light and fluffy all the time. There's. It's. And I guess that's why you keep calling it dark romance. But talk about that. Where did. And even just the whole premise of having an abusive relationship and always feeling scared and not knowing and even after, maybe I won't give anything away, but even after things happen, is the fear ever gone? And what does that mean? I mean, these are. This is heavy.

[Adele Griffin]

Yeah, well, Julie was the one who kind of wanted to get into the, you know, she wrote just sort of the first piece of the backstory. You know, it just sort of arrived Taylor. But it was. And I really connected to the way she had been thinking of this backstory that sort of in, you know, layered into this, to the book. Because suddenly this over the top story had a real little, you know, family there and, and a real history and a sort of a why. Why had this all happened? And it was, I think, a great way of anchoring with that writing something that made sense to us both. Having been young adult, middle grade, writing a lot of young characters, the young family feels, you know, you know, really synergized to the big book, but also felt like, oh, this is a great jumping off place in my head. It felt great because suddenly these characters who, I don't know, I would have completely related to started to make sense as real characters in a book. And I think that was. It was a really smart call because it was sort of more how we both wrote. You know, there's that backstory feels, you know, it's very emotional, but it has more nuance than this front story that's kind of, you know, moving things forward, snapping things along. So I think it was helpful.

[Julie Buxbaum]

Yeah, I mean, I think it's our natural, organic writing place for both of us. Dark romance is not. But sort of layered characters who make sense within this sort of larger fantastical world. I think we needed that grounding to understand them and accept them. I think there were two sort of motivations. I think that was sort of the writing motivation. I mean, just as us as writers, it just is how it sort of unfolded. But in terms of the characterization in the novel itself, we knew we were writing about two very broken people and their brokenness complimenting each other and the acceptance that comes from someone seeing your brokenness and loving you, not only in spite of it, but because of it. And so we wanted to create these backstories that made that make sense. Adele and I talked a lot about this concept of tromantasy, which I think Adele coined.

[Zibby Owens]

I love that. That is good.

[Julie Buxbaum]

And we don't mean fantasy as in, you know, dragons, fourth wing fantasy. We mean fantasy as an aspirational. You know, the striking anti hero billionaire who comes in and sort of rescues her while she rescues him. Like the fantastical elements.

[Zibby Owens]

Wait, what about. What about Tromcom? Is that a thing?

[Julie Buxbaum]

Ooh, Trom works too.

[Adele Griffin]

I love that.

[Julie Buxbaum]

But I feel like our book is less common, more rom. But I want to write a Trom Trom now.

[Zibby Owens]

Right? I feel like. All right, I'm going to write it down. I'd just like to say, for the record, I coined that on this call.

[Adele Griffin]

There it is. This timestamp.

[Julie Buxbaum]

I think it's going to be a Google Doc later. Be like one hour a day zippy, because you have so much free time.

[Zibby Owens]

Honestly, that's. No, but that sounds like fun. You know, when you. Well, anyway, back. That's back to the process.

[Julie Buxbaum]

I'm titled Tromcom coming to your inbox later. This is how the magic happens.

[Adele Griffin]

Okay.

[Zibby Owens]

Actually, the title could actually just be Tromcom.

[Julie Buxbaum]

Oh, my God. Yes. This is why you're a publisher.

[Adele Griffin]

It's a really good idea.

[Julie Buxbaum]

Seriously, you're packaging this right now. Write it down.

[Zibby Owens]

Yes, I am. Yes, I am. I'm writing it down in a sticky for the wall of ideas to come.

[Julie Buxbaum]

But the idea for us with Tramandasy was using the fantastical elements or this propulsive, juicy love story to allow people to process trauma. I think people see themselves in these characters and then get to go on this journey where they find love, where they deal with their trauma in ways they probably can't in real life. And hopefully the idea is that this sort of escape is kind of healing.

[Zibby Owens]

Yep. Well, what do you do with all the loss? Right? The backstory? There is so much loss already. When Taylor meets, you know, when she goes off on her journey, right. She's lost her brother and her parents and now her sister. Right. And then she's like, I know I should be like, on the apps dating, but, like, who is this guy? And all of that, but like, to take all of that with you and then to be in the room and I know this is just one scene and, you know, whatever, but how do you. How do you even, like, put one step ahead of each other? Because she seems fairly, like, together. Like, she's. She's doing things. She's. She's functioning amidst all of that which is impressive in a way. Not to judge responses to loss and trauma, but there's so much trauma in the world right now. And is Taylor a model for how to get through? What can we take from her to help everybody who is going through a trauma or a loss?

[Adele Griffin]

Well, I think Julie had a thing. She said, you know, you can always turn everything up to 11 in this book because then you're sort of like, safely in the world of something that isn't quite. You know, it's like reality plus anchor there. And then for somebody who is sort of able to read and absorb these big things, it also feels like you're almost safely in the fantasy of the book. You know, it's almost. It's meaningful to feel like, wow, this is so amplified that I can find my own thing. But, you know, I've. I'm experiencing something. But look over here at her. Look over here at this. And it's like you're sort of rowing your little boat through their story. In some ways, that can make a reading feel a little bit sort of safer.

[Julie Buxbaum]

Yeah, it's true. Like, the idea that we could have had her, you know, have parents and just lose her sister, which would have been a devastating loss, right? Yes, but that would have been a 7. And we were aiming for 11. And I think there is this sort of comfort in reading someone's story, which is just so devastating, that provides. You know, it sounds bizarre that the harshness of it provides comfort, but I think it might.

[Adele Griffin]

It's like Jane Eyre.

[Julie Buxbaum]

Yeah, well, it's not quite Jane Eyre.

[Adele Griffin]

But I remember meeting Day Nair. Yeah.

[Julie Buxbaum]

Yeah.

[Zibby Owens]

When I got to the part about the cat. Oh, my God. Like, I was like, stop. Really? Tell me about that.

[Julie Buxbaum]

Okay, so it's a really good question because that was one of those scenes where we. Okay, so we said, we're going to turn it up to 11. And we had a rule that there was no such thing as too far we can go as which. And with every single scene we actually did sit, and every. Almost every line we discussed, like, how can we push this further? Right. How? If it was a sad scene, how can we make the sadder. If it was an emotional scene, how can we make them feel more heightened or more passionate? If it was a sexy scene, how can we make this sexier? Right. Everything was turned. The dial was turned as high as it would go. With the cat, we turned it really high. And it was the only time where we're like, let's turn this back.

[Adele Griffin]

Just if you can imagine, we Turned it down.

[Julie Buxbaum]

We had spatchcocked the cat.

[Zibby Owens]

Oh, stop.

[Julie Buxbaum]

And had the bad guy, Troy, deliver the. The carcass of the cat on a platter for her to eat with it. Spatchcocked.

[Adele Griffin]

And almost goes to a place where it's sparse.

[Julie Buxbaum]

Yeah, yeah, it was sparse. As opposed to too far. As opposed to enjoying the 11. That was farce. And we were like, okay, yes, there's some campy helmets, but this is. This is true camp and that's not what we're doing. So we had a. We had to dial that back. I can't remember who was responsible for the spatchcocked cat. Let's just leave it. Yeah, I. And I suspect might be me. I don't know.

[Zibby Owens]

I also love just her abundant curiosity when she starts getting into, you know, this guy, right. And starts working there and all that. And yet she's like, what is his life like? What? It's like that when you can't stop thinking about somebody and you just need to know a little bit more and a little bit more and all of that, like, that's hard to convey in a book. Right.

[Julie Buxbaum]

I think it mirrored our own curiosity. Like this book we both approached with just pure joy and curiosity. Like, we just wanted to know more and more and more. I wanted to know more and more about what Adele was thinking and what she was going to write next. And I think hopefully she felt the same way.

[Adele Griffin]

And I totally agree with that. And I think there is also something really interesting about sort of in the profile of Taylor Hutton. Taylor Hutton is young. So, you know, she's not someone who's been saying, take out the trash. You know, like with her, Taylor is young and the character is young. And so the romance had to be that kind of, I can't get this guy out of my mind forever. Which feels more like a 25 year old author in some ways. You know, that was the energy of the story. You know, think of Taylor at 3am Just like, I got to finish this scene. It's got me so nuts, you know.

[Julie Buxbaum]

And that was sort of aspirational for us. Who, both of us. I mean, I spend a lot of time yelling at my husband about leaving his socks on the floor. Right. So to be able to escape that and be Taylor and actually be, you know, over the top in love and, you know, excited and curious about someone new and mysterious was just a delight.

[Adele Griffin]

It was like a reconnection with our younger writing selves too, I think, which also felt sort of heady, you know, I think we Got excited and then we had Taylor could get excited. And then we were writing about something where you could get, you know, you could really feel the zing.

[Zibby Owens]

It's.

[Julie Buxbaum]

What's interesting, though, is we're both like super reliable, hardcore worker, industrious types, makers, list makers. Like, we're just pretty type A. So we brought that type A industrious. Like, we always felt like we need to be stewards of the book. And I think bringing that energy matched with the adventure of it all sort of worked together to make a book actually happen. If we only had that curious energy and didn't bring the sort of, I don't know, responsible mom part too.

[Adele Griffin]

Like the bullet list. All the things we need to address on this book, which you loved.

[Julie Buxbaum]

I did. I always made the lists.

[Zibby Owens]

Have you started writing another one? Are you going to do another one?

[Julie Buxbaum]

There's another one coming out next January. It's a.

[Zibby Owens]

Are you ready? Oh, my gosh.

[Julie Buxbaum]

It's called Axe and Grind. It's a companion novel about two characters who are in Strike and Burn and their story.

[Zibby Owens]

Oh, yes.

[Julie Buxbaum]

Another dark romance.

[Zibby Owens]

Wow. Ax. Yes. And he has, like that funny accent. Doesn't he have an accent?

[Julie Buxbaum]

Yes, yes. He has a sexy Scottish accent.

[Zibby Owens]

Sexy Scottish. Okay, Right.

[Julie Buxbaum]

Adele can do it. I can't. I made Adele do all the brogue stuff. I'm like, I can't.

[Adele Griffin]

When you say Adele can do it. I see him, like, wobbling down.

[Julie Buxbaum]

Oh, my gosh.

[Zibby Owens]

Well, that's exciting. So you have another one, which is. That's super clever. Love that continuation. Ish. And then what about your real work? Quote unquote? Do you have other books that you've written individually that are in the works or coming out? What's the status there?

[Julie Buxbaum]

I have the 4th area 51 files, which is my middle grade series for 8 to 12 year olds coming out this summer.

[Zibby Owens]

Okay.

[Julie Buxbaum]

Which is as the as far from Strike and Burn as you can get. I mean, it's like a silly area 51 alien farting fun kids book. Like a true kids book. And I am also working on an adult novel that is just, you know, kicking my toes.

[Adele Griffin]

I have an adult novel in. Just finished a first draft. So it's, you know, has to go live somewhere apart from me for a while while the dust settles on all of that feeling, all that first draft feeling. But it is older characters. It's sort of a second chance romance.

[Zibby Owens]

Oh, love it. Amazing. Awesome. Well, I'm so inspired by this project. It sounds so fun. I'm like, who can I write a book with for an hour a day and have as much fun as the two of you have. So. And it came out great. And I'm just, you know, it's awesome. Creativity is like. What's that expression? Like, capturing something in a bottle. Like magic in a bottle. You know, it's like you kind of do something like that.

[Adele Griffin]

Anyway, it's all been fun. Yeah.

[Julie Buxbaum]

It's like. It's crazy alchemy.

[Zibby Owens]

Yeah, Crazy alchemy. There you go.

[Julie Buxbaum]

Or maybe the secret's just knowing Sarah and having Sarah. It's just sort of magic in all of us.

[Adele Griffin]

Sarah, what do I need?

[Zibby Owens]

The magic Sarah wand. I love it. Congratulations and thanks so much for coming on.

[Julie Buxbaum]

Thank you. Thank you. Okay.

[Zibby Owens]

Okay, bye.

[Julie Buxbaum]

La.

[Zibby Owens]

Okay, bye. 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 ibbyowens and spread the word. Thanks so much. Oh, and buy the books.