Far from being an overnight success, the New York Times bestselling author Emma Straub reveals that she endured over a decade of rejection before her work was finally published.
“It’s just absolutely deranged self-confidence,” Emma, 46, tells host Ateh Jewel in this week’s episode of hello!’s Second Act podcast. “There are always decisions happening around you that you don't see and don't understand. If you take it personally, you're holding a grudge that nobody else is hurt by. It’s not worth it.”
Writing has become harder now that she is juggling motherhood along with running the Books Are Magic bookshop in Brooklyn with her husband, Michael Fusco-Straub. The couple have two sons, aged 12 and 10.
“In the olden days, I could write ten pages a day. Now, if I write ten pages a week, I'm happy,” she says. “But the good news is that my life is full now: babies, a relationship, my bookstores, friends. Before, I only had ambition burning inside me.”
Having spent her adult life dealing with fibroids and struggling to conceive, Emma, whose books include This Time Tomorrow and Modern Lovers, recognises the power of sharing her experience with others.
“Now that I’m entering perimenopause, all the women I know will talk about anything and everything. My goal in life is to be as open as possible.”
While researching her sixth novel, American Fantasy, Emma found her own teenage dreams coming true when she was introduced to her childhood crush, Joey McIntyre from 80s/90s boyband New Kids on the Block.
Emma had booked a cruise to see her favourite boyband – just like her book’s character, Annie, a recently divorced woman in midlife who is desperate to escape issues at home. Following the trip, a friend offered to introduce Emma to Joey; she tentatively said yes, and from one phone call, a friendship blossomed between them.
“If this book has taught me anything, it's that manifesting is real,” Emma laughs. "Joey McIntyre called me and we talked for hours. And we kept talking for hours. He's been to my bookstore, he came to an event in Los Angeles and I took the whole family to Las Vegas to see them.
“He's better than nice. He's smart, he's funny… I wrote this book with a fictional boyband, but it’s very much based on my experience.
"It's the funniest book I've ever written, and it's serious because it's about a woman in middle age trying to figure out how to go forward and find her next act.”
Writing the uplifting story helped Emma to cope with the grief she experienced following the death of her father, fellow author Peter Straub. And in an exciting postscript, American Fantasy is now being turned into a movie by The Handmaid's Tale actress and director Elisabeth Moss.
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