By J. Adrian Betancourt, Host, The Miami Book hub By the time we sat down to record Episode 25, Laura Lekkos and I had already spent the better part of two days talking about books. Fortunately, neither of us was close to running out of things to say. The evening before our conversation, I had watc hed Laura discuss her debut novel, All the Little Ways, at The Betsy Hotel, where she had also spent several days as a writer-in-residence. The setting suited the book. All the Little Ways follows Victoria and Liz, two expectant mothers who enter pregnancy without the close female friendships they have been told they will need, then find in one another a life-changing source of support. A revelation threatens that bond, but Laura was careful not to spoil it. “I wanted to write a platonic love story about two women who change each other’s lives,” she explained. Laura’s own writing story began with flashlight reading under the covers, teenage magazine work and what she now cheerfully calls a “really terrible” first novel. One screenwriting class later, she moved across the country to Los Angeles. “The ignorance of youth is a gift,” she said. That leap eventually led to a successful screenwriting career; years later, the six-month writers’ strike gave her the opening to finish the first draft of her novel. Screenwriting gave Laura a strong feel for structure and dialogue, but fiction let her play, as she put it, “in a larger sandbox.” On the page, the novelist must also become the director, production designer and costume designer, building the world that a film crew would otherwise help create. She still loves both forms. And while she would adapt All the Little Ways herself if the opportunity arose, she rejected the idea that a book needs Hollywood’s validation. “Some books just exist as books,” she said. “And that’s lovely.” Our most useful exchange concerned authenticity. “Specificity and authenticity are the keys to success,” Laura said, adding that writers cannot do their best work by chasing the marketplace, acclaim or ego. I put it more plainly: “At the end of the day, you have to please yourself. Why else are you doing this?” That does not mean ignoring good counsel. Laura relied on a small circle of trusted readers and remained receptive to suggestions without surrendering her vision. The episode’s second half brought back USA Today bestselling author Rochelle Weinstein for Reading with Rochelle. Her usual four picks turned to six given the sheer volume of great books out this month: Dèy by Edwidge Danticat; OMG! Did I Just Time-Travel?! by Molly E. Silver; When We Are Born We Forget Everything by Alicia Jo Rabins; Crazy for College by Beth Heller Gelles; Hollow Bones by Jodi Picoult; and Between Chapters by Zibby Owens*. The list moved easily from grief and identity to friendship, college admissions and reinvention. Proof that a healthy reading life should stretch beyond a single shelf. Learn more about Laura Lekkos at LauraLekkos.com, Rochelle Weinstein at RochelleWeinstein.com, and The Betsy Hotel at TheBetsyHotel.com. Visit The Miami Book Hub—Your Home for Readers, Writers Resources—at TheMiamiBookHub.com. Until next time… keep reading, keep writing, and stay curious, Miami! *Correction: During the podcast, we mistakenly referred to Zibby Owens’s Between Chapters as Between Books, an earlier working title.The post All the Little Ways We Find Our People: Laura Lekkos and Reading with Rochelle first appeared on Miami's Community News. ...read more read less