7 Questions with Alli Frank and Asha Youmans
Co-authorship is, suddenly, so en vogue. And it’s a trend I am totally here for. As a solo-writer, I have definitely felt the pains of isolation that invariably come with carrying the weight of a whole work on your own shoulders. Really, it seems, co-authors have it right.
I recently became acquainted with a new co-author team, Alli Frank and Asha Youmans. This duo authors Tiny Imperfections, a witty and heart-wrenching rom com set in and around a ritzy private school. It hits shelves tomorrow and is definitely not one to be missed. Before you head out — or head online - because...social distancing — and buy your copy, get to know these awesome authors a little better. Check out their responses to our searing — or, okay, not to searing — 7 questions.
1) What’s your favorite drink?
Asha: My favorite day time drink is Arizona Green Tea with Ginseng and Honey. At night, I enjoy an espresso martini; with whip cream if you have it.
Alli: Am I going to get kicked out of this book group for having boring drink answers? I swear I’m fun, ask Asha! I have to have a GT’s Trilogy Kombucha daily. And I cradle a cup of black tea all day long like a toddler holding tight to their favorite lovie.
2) Where and when do you write?
Asha: When Alli and I are together, we like to meet at neighborhood coffee shops or sit kitty-corner at Alli’s giant family table. Her dining room has fabulous lighting during grey Seattle days.
When we signed with G.P. Putnam & Sons, my husband began to dream of retiring. He promptly turned our guest bedroom into an office, painted it sunshine yellow, and decorated it top to bottom. When I’m working solo, my office is my private oasis, and I love it.
Alli: I have become the queen of toting my laptop everywhere I go. I write for twenty minutes here, waiting outside my youngest daughter’s elementary school for pick up, an hour there during a middle school volleyball practice for my older daughter. On a day when Asha and I are working separately I probably get three hours of writing in, but it’s often divided into two or three chunks of time.
3) What does your prewriting process look like?
Personal connection is the most important aspect of our writing process. At the beginning of every work session, with full cups of tea and coffee, we spend time shooting the breeze. We share stories about our children and spouses, or where we found a deal on facial masks, commiserating over the health issues of loved ones, or discussing our holiday plans. This time spent connecting not only deepens our relationship as friends and collaborators, but also sparks the laughter and good feelings that inspire the content of our writing. Like any great pair, we complement each other’s strengths and shore up each other’s weaknesses. Through it all we laugh hilariously at big and small things, hoping the coffee shop we’re working at doesn’t kick us out for being disruptive.
4) What’s up next?
We look forward to the near future with a parallel view of where our families are. Alli has school-aged daughters, and Asha’s sons are adults, so we continue to make room for each other to grow our families first and foremost. We will continue trying our best, with humor and grace, to be the best mothers, wives, daughters, and friends, we can be. Though we have laid the groundwork for a spin-off novel, the Bordelon women have much more to share, and we plan on giving them a voice and continuing their story.
Aside from our writing careers, we are thrilled to share that TV/film rights for “Tiny Imperfections” have been optioned by a major studio, and we are hyped about diving into that aspect of our journey very soon. Aunt Viv, a character from our book, would say “The good Lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise,” we hope to write together and keep laughing together for a long time to come.
5) Often co-written books feature two protagonists, or two divergent timelines, making it pretty clear to observant readers how the task of writing was divided between two people. That’s not the case here. How did you go about dividing the task of writing this novel?
When it’s time to put our ideas on paper we sometimes sit side-by-side working on sections together or reading aloud to one another to work out sentence structure and authentic dialogue. Often, we trade chapters back and forth like a game of leap-frog or assign threads of concepts from the book like the characters’ relationships or the timeline of the story’s school year calendar. As time went on and the book neared completion, we’d trade larger sections of the book and critique what we wrote. There were a lot of emails, texts and phone calls as ideas came to us or we needed advice on just the right words to convey an idea.
Above all we checked in during all the ups and downs and in-betweens of our individual family lives to make sure we were both happy with our writing, our working relationship and most importantly, still laughing.
6) Throughout this novel, our protagonist, Josie, and her high-school-senior daughter, Etta, butt heads as they navigate the college selection process. As a parent of two children – who are both (thank the Lord Jesus) nowhere near college-aged – I often found myself agreeing with Josie and feeling that Etta should take the safer, more academic route. At the same time, as a writer, I felt really conflicted because I do value the arts and did feel that Etta should be able to follow her dreams and realize her talent. What lessons would you want parents – who will all someday have to let their children live their own lives – to take from this ongoing conflict?
Asha: As the mom of two adults, I know just how Josie feels. After spending the greater part of two decades making your child’s plans, every parent hopes for, and at the same time, dreads the day their children follow their own plans. The funny thing about every stage of your child’s life is that when you get there, though you may have worried about reaching each monumental milestone, you will be prepared to support the people you have so bravely raised. In this time of the Corona virus, I am missing out on my oldest son’s graduation ceremony from NYU, and my younger son’s high school graduation and prom. Life is so unpredictable that even when you perseverate over the most important events for your child, those events may not even be there when it’s time. What can you do but keep livin’, lovin’ and laughin’?
Alli: Framed in our kitchen is a huge poster with our five family values that we created several years ago. The values represent the type of people our family strives to be in the world. Trust me, I can catch myself leaning towards carving a certain “life path” for my girls and they are only in 3rd and 6th grade, but then the poster is always looking over my shoulder, reminding me that I am nurturing unique humans not mini-professionals. I think the ultimate dance of a parent is to know when to lean in and push, but equally important is to know when to lean out and let go.
7) This novel is filled with two things: (1) comedic asides that induce literal laughs out loud and (2) strong as nails, independent AF women. Which real-life women inspired you to write a rom-com that was, truly, such a girl-power anthem?
Asha: My grandmother, Eva Vassar, was an original ‘Rosie the Riveter.’ Born in 1922, she came to the Pacific Northwest to answer a call by BOEING for women to work in the machinist trade during World War II. And when my mother, Lynda, arrived in Seattle with my father, TJ, and two daughters in tow at age 21, from a family plagued by chronic addiction, she and my grandmother joined forces to build us girls up with the same resilience they had. Raised in different generations but sharing similar stories, they each made something of themselves despite tough obstacles, and made sure I paved an independent path as well. They modeled how to connect with other women from state politicians to streetwalkers, and to find value without judgment in every one. The kind of stories my grandmother and my mother shared about life, even the tragic ones, were always infused with humor, a tool they obviously used to survive and thrive. Their stories are my greatest inspiration.
Alli: I grew up with a fairly common story of great-grandparents fleeing Jewish persecution in Eastern Europe to discover a freer life of education and opportunity in the United States. Overcoming impossible obstacles, working hard beyond where others give up, and honoring the blessings of excellent education have been common themes to the stories my family has passed down generation to generation. These life lessons have shaped the core of who I am, but also whose company I keep and that is always women who are tough, resilient, and relentlessly curious. As one of my closest girlfriends often points out about me, it’s no coincidence that my own initials are AF. I take that as a compliment.
Check out this read by Alli Frank and Asha Youmans:
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