9 completely random and personal questions with author Elizabeth Letts
I sit down with one of my favorite authors to talk about finding beauty in the ordinary, the rigor that goes into publishing a book, and how writing can teach us about living a good life.
In today’s special Sunday edition of bathmilk, I sit down with someone I admire from afar (storytellers, horse girls, comedians, mothers, dreamers, gorgeous fail-artists and more) and ask them a series of personal questions.
You may recognize Elizabeth Letts from her books, “Eighty-Dollar Champion,” (which is a #1 New York Times bestseller) “Finding Dorothy,” “The Ride of Her Life,” “The Perfect Horse,” and (her latest children’s book), “My Blue-Ribbon Horse.” Elizabeth writes the most beautiful, quick-read historical fiction and her books are always the ones I want to crawl back into. She writes stories you will hold close to your heart always, classics in their own right, and I know my children will read her novels with the urgency and heart I felt reading them. I am so grateful and honored that she agreed to answer my random and personal questions today, as I look up to her as a classic and deeply talented author.
Elizabeth's writing has earned her numerous awards and recognitions, including the PEN USA Literary Award for Research Non-Fiction and the Daniel P. Lenehan Award for Overall Media Excellence from the United States Equestrian Foundation. Her works have been featured in various prestigious lists and have received accolades for their storytelling and historical accuracy.
I discovered Elizabeth by reading “Finding Dorothy,” a book recommended by my own mother, an avid reader. For Horse Girl Book Club, we unearthed “The Ride of Her Life,” and I was so honored when she agreed to be a big part of engaging with the book club. And now with me, here, on this little corner of Substack.
Without further ado…
BATHMILK: The thing that you do, regularly, that’s hard as shit but worth it.
ELIZABETH: Parenting. I’m the mom of four kids, fourteen years apart from top to bottom. My youngest graduated from high school this past spring, so officially, I’ve retired from chief cook and bottle washer to sideline cheerleader, but being a good mom to my kids at every stage of their lives is the most important thing in my life for sure.
BATHMILK: Have you ever been self-conscious about your writing - that it looked different than other people’s? Why or why not?
ELIZABETH: Interesting question. I’ve never worried that my writing “looked different” but surely every day that I sit down and face a blank page, I worry it’s not good enough. Fundamentally, writing is communication. Our job is to communicate, through the written word, in a way that other people can understand. There’s artfulness to that job, but the key thing is to get your ideas across so that people can get to the emotion without being impeded by the words. It turns out that seemingly simple things are devilishly difficult. We do best when we speak in our own voice — what most impedes our voice is that we are clumsy or awkward, or long-winded, or unclear. So, I’d say that rather than worrying that my writing looks different from other people’s, I’d say I’m plagued with feeling that my writing looks different from how I want it to look!
BATHMILK: Most people really underestimate ... what?
ELIZABETH: How difficult it is to publish a book. It seems like there are so many books out there that it must be easy to get one published. But in reality, its level of difficulty is more akin to getting drafted into the NBA. I’m not saying you can’t, new writers get published every year. It’s just that most people wildly underestimate how difficult it is. So, if you really do want to write a book, my advice is to be realistic about a few things.
1). Writing the book is not the hardest part — it’s much harder to find a publisher and especially harder to find readers than it is to write the book.
2). Expect to hear no many many times before you ever hear yes.
3). Do not rely on your friends and family to tell you if your book is ready — you need to seek out advice from genuine professionals who will tell you the truth.
4). Don’t offer your ideas to published authors. We don’t take ideas from other people, and it’s awkward to explain that even a great idea is just an idea. We are not going to take your idea and make it into a book.
BATHMILK: What are you currently reading/watching/listening to? Or, what are some of your favorites (books, TV shows, podcasts, movies) from 2024?
ELIZABETH: I’ve read some really good books recently! And I noticed that the books I have been sharing the theme of showing women at work. Two standouts for me were “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow,” by Gabrielle Zevin. I didn’t think I’d be interested in a book about game developers — but I was wrong. It went straight onto my top reads of all time list. The other terrific book is “Let’s Call Her Barbie” by Renee Rosen, which tells the backstory of Ruth Handler who developed the Barbie — I loved how Renee kept the focus firmly on the strong business woman that she was. It was so fun to go behind the scenes alongside a woman who was a not a secretary but a full-fledged business executive during the Mad Men era. Really great! Favorite movie … hands down, “A Complete Unknown.” My dad was a big Joan Baez junkie, and I grew up listening to recordings from the Newport Folk Festival. Boy did I love that movie! So great!
BATHMILK: How do you use writing to understand yourself and the world around you?
ELIZABETH: The very best part of being a writer is that I get to be curious for a living. Do I wonder what it’s like out there in all the little bypassed towns in America — write a book, “The Ride of Her Life.” Did I sometimes imagine riding a jumper over huge fences in Madison Square Garden? You bet [“The Eighty-Dollar Champion.”] How did that feel? Going down the rabbit hole, learning about things I’m curious about, that’s my job. How lucky is that? As for what it helps me understand about myself? I guess what I’ve learned is that I have a deeply positive outlook toward humanity — I love a dark psychological thriller as much as the next person, but that is not my strength. My strength is finding stories about ordinary people who one day rise to the occasion and do something extraordinary, and I think that’s because I’m an ordinary person, and I love to see what exactly does allow people to suddenly and unexpectedly rise above the hum-drum of daily life, out of their comfort zone, and go all in to chase after a dream. I figure that each of them must have something to teach me and others about how to live a good life.
BATHMILK: Sometimes, I wish I would have become a zookeeper or wildlife biologist. It seems like a big part of us wishes we were exquisite inside of another craft aside from our own. Who or what craft are you jealous of that leads an entirely different life than you have now? Why?
ELIZABETH: English teacher in a boarding school. Yup. In my heart, I see myself as Robin Williams in “Dead Poet’s Society,” standing on a desk, inspiring a generation of students to recite poetry. Ah, in another life!
BATHMILK: Do you have a story about failure? And why did it make you an even better version of yourself? 🙂
ELIZABETH: Do I NOT have a story about failure? I published my first novel in 2005. It hardly made a blip, but I’d gotten a two-book deal, so I was under contract to write a second book. When I submitted the second book, before it was published, my editor died suddenly, leaving my book without an advocate — what is referred to in publishing as “the book was orphaned.” Not surprisingly, the publisher only printed a small number of copies, did nothing to promote it. The book was dead-on-arrival, and so was my career. My publisher declined the offer to publish my next book. My publisher dropped me and in the blink of an eye, I was an ex-writer. I was writing another book, but I could not find another publisher. Prospective book publishers look very carefully at how your previous book sold — a bad track record is worse than no track record at all. Everyone in my family encouraged me to give up. I was raising four kids, had a full-time job, and in spite of having published two books a year apart, I had essentially zero readers. My two books had been resounding flops. What happened though was that instead of giving up, I stumbled upon the story of Snowman and wrote my first non-fiction book “The Eighty-Dollar Champion.” That book became a #1 New York Times bestseller, and completely changed my career as an author.
[Editor’s Note: SMALL SQUEAL! Snowman, the horse featured in “The Eighty-Dollar Champion” is sitting next to me as his own Breyer horse (unboxed, even) due to the popularity of that book. SO COOL].
BATHMILK: A five part question about writing: How do you practice honest/ongoing writing? When are you your most productive; or what do you need to do to get there? Where do you find inspiration (examples: specific books, music, nature)?
Writing is hard. Someone said that every time you write a new book it’s like learning to write all over again. So I just work really hard and try to listen hard to editorial feedback. I’ve been working on my current book for almost four years now. That’s long for me, and it has been through a lot of very major changes along the way as I’ve groped toward capturing the story I’ve been trying to tell. So the process itself keeps me humble.
I’m at my most productive in the early morning — I make a giant cup of tea and milk and go straight to my keyboard. I get about five hours of really good work time per day and then my brain starts to get tired. When I realize my attention is drifting to checking news sites or online shopping, I call it a day.
I take inspiration from the natural world. I love to be outside and out in the country. I recently moved from Wyoming to Maryland to be closer to the rest of my family, and I very much miss the sweeping expanses and constant contact with wilderness that I experienced out there, but beauty is all around us, and if my well runs dry, the natural world brings it right back to me.
BATHMILK: Let’s end with a tough one: Regret. A fair teacher or not worthwhile?
ELIZABETH: Regret? Not a big one for me. For better or for worse, I like to live out my pipe dreams. I’ve had three completely separate and totally unrelated careers (and two master’s degrees, neither of which has anything to do with writing.) I’ve lived in eight states and two countries overseas. I worked as a nurse-midwife and delivered hundreds of babies. I’ve been a Peace Corps volunteer, and can hold a decent conversation in five languages. I recently took up piano since I was sorry I didn’t have more lessons as a kid. So, I’m not much of a woulda-coulda-shoulda kind of gal. I wouldn’t say I have a lengthy bucket list, but when I put something on it, I expect I’ll end up doing it. Quite frankly, it’s awkward at cocktail parties — every time someone says “oh I’m from x, or I work in Y, I tend to say ‘me too.” People think I’m nuts. Maybe I am!
