Hello new followers. So happy to see you here. I’m Jo and I am supposed to be taking a break this week to celebrate my husband’s 50th birthday in Puerto Rico, but I am terrible at taking breaks so I figured why not write a newsletter. Also it is pouring rain in the jungle and we are waiting it out with a beer in the national park cafe.
I am delighted to see all of you here. Tomorrow (or Friday) I will be adding the latest installment of the #tradwife murder mystery novel (WORKING TITLE: EVERYONE IS LYING TO YOU) that I have been sharing in installments here (much like Charles Dickens, but for the Internet…and with influencers and maybe more sex and murder and sourdough and prairie dresses).
Due to popular demand I have extended the offer to grant a free lifetime subscription to folks who purchase a copy of my novel The Sicilian Inheritance and DM or email me (jo.piazza@gmail) a receipt. It’s pretty fucking great. Even the New York Times liked it, which is saying a lot. And then you will get access to all of our content AND a bunch of fun bonuses like giveaways and live events.
But enough about me. Let’s talk about blowing up your fucking life and how terrifying that can be and also how liberating.
I first met the author Elle Cosimano at a reading retreat in Virginia with Bluebird Bookshop. Yes. A reading retreat. Those exist and they are magical.
Elle is the author of many, many bestselling books but the ones that I gift and handsell to people are the Finlay Donovan series, a witty, fast-paced adult mystery series that follows struggling suspense novelist and single mom turned-amateur-sleuth Finlay Donovan, whose fiction begins to tread dangerously close to the truth.
Elle and I had only known each other for about an hour when she told me the story about how she blew up her life as a real estate agent, as a breadwinner, as a wife and mom of two kids and moved to Mexico with her entire family, to try her hand at writing a novel. I love this story. It gives me chills.
I also tell it to people all the time because this is one of those stories that inspires me to keep going and creating and inventing and trying new things. Because I think a lot of times as women we need permission to do the things we want to do. And so often, stories give us that permission.
I was very lucky to get to chat with Elle on the Under the Influence podcast so she could share the story of how she became an author AND about the tribe of women that she found to support her.
Elle talks candidly about the struggles of leaving a secure career behind, the guilt and fear that come with seeking something more out of life, and the incredible leap of faith it took to redefine her path.
Elle's story is not just inspirational; it's a testament to the power of storytelling. At a time when she was juggling the responsibilities of being a breadwinner and a mother to two young children, Elle made a decision that many of us fantasize about but seldom dare to undertake. She blew up her life in the most extraordinary way—by moving her family to Mexico to write. But she never would have done it if her mom hadn’t told her to…if her own mother hadn’t said, “hey let me take your kids so you can try this thing I know you want to do.”
Below are some of my favorite parts of this interview.
Elle: I was the breadwinner for our family and I was miserable. I had two small kids in elementary school at the time. I think they were probably five and eight when I started down this road. I was feeling like I just kind of hit this wall where I knew I wasn't doing anything I wanted to be doing with my life. I was working way too hard. AND I felt like I wasn't being enough of a mother. I would feel selfish imagining anything for myself.
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