Hey Friends,
I just learned that friend of the show Stephanie Land just finished her 2nd book CLASS. And for those of you who know me on Twitter: you might remember how Stephanie recently tweeted about how she’d been listening to her episode several times for sustenance, while enduring a super arduous stretch of editing:
And below Stephanie Tweets out about her chosen Dad Frank’s letter & how reading it out loud on the show has helped make it stronger in her life, as she was battling to finish her book:
And so I thought this would be good time to revisit Stephanie’s episode, since it’s one of our earlier landmark episodes that newer listeners may have missed.
Please note when you hear Stephanie read Frank’s letter, you’ll notice how her voice completely changes, she seemingly goes to a different emotional place, and her tone rises and falls in a different cadence than it does for the rest of our conversation. Why am I pointing this out? Because it’s one of these podcast moments where in imho where a guest breaks into song. It’s very subtle, you might not notice at first. And this is just my opinion: but in those moments, I believe Stephanie is singing a song that she knows but has never sung out loud. IMHO, it’s a beautiful and powerful thing to hear.
(Note: a similar thing happened in the 9th episode with Qian Julie Wang, author of the memoir Beautiful Country. For those who’ve heard the episode: you’ll recall Qian Julie Wang read the letter out loud that she’d received from from her former 3rd grade teacher, when they reconnected nearly 30 years later. Anyway, when Qian Julie reads that letter, her voice just naturally takes on a different tone, and suddenly, it felt like, to me anyway, that Qian Julie was singing a song. And it’s incredibly moving.)
Anyway, so I want to wish my friend Stephanie a huge congratulations for finishing her 2nd book, CLASS.
I hope you enjoy me & Stephanie’s conversation. And I hope that listening to it might be helpful to you in some way. Maybe it will help you finish your book.
Love,
Gabe
Stephanie Land didn’t take the traditional path to writing a New York Times Bestselling memoir (MAID: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive). And she didn’t take the traditional path to having her memoir be adapted into a Netflix Emmy-nominated series (MAID). Stephanie and Gabe talk about her struggles as a single mother living in public housing with two children and her determination to become a writer.
Produced by Lit Hub
Visit Stephanie Land's website and follow her on Twitter and Instagram
Buy Stephanie's nonfiction book Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive
Read about Stephanie in New York Times
Watch Stephanie on YouTube
More episode resources and links
Other episodes you may enjoy:
Merve Emre (contributing writer at The New Yorker)
Tressie McMillan Cottom (NYT's columnist)
Charles Yu (National Book Award Winner)
Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (NYT's bestselling author of Friday Black)
Joe Hagan (author of Sticky Fingers: the Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone)
Keri Blakinger (author of Corrections in Ink)
Elizabeth McCracken (author of The Hero of This Book)
Rafia Zakaria (author of Against White Feminism)
Rebecca Makkai (author of The Great Believers)
Email Gabe Hudson at gabehudsonsays@gmail.com
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