Episode 47: Alison Hammer, author of Little Pieces of Me & You and Me and Us.

Alison Hammer, author of You and Me and Us, and Little Pieces of Me

Key Topics:

Alison Hammer, who has been called a great new voice in women’s fiction, chats about her beautiful sophomore novel, Little Pieces of Me. Her latest has already received a Library Journal starred review, and was named one of the top April books by E! News. We chat about her writing process, advice and recommended reads.

Interview Notes:

This is an interview I’ve wanted to do for so long – with my good friend and one of the writers I most admire; Alison Hammer.

Her debut YOU AND ME US last year made me cry and was much acclaimed and this week her sophomore novel LITTLE PIECES OF ME just released! This is a book that already earned a Library Journal starred review and already had over 100 top notch reviews from book lovers pre-release!

The most consistent word in Alison’s reviews is beautiful; beautiful writing, beautiful story, beautiful characters.

Alison shares what a big fan she is of Colleen Oakley @writercolleenoakley who wrote the most beautiful review for this, Alison’s sophomore novel.

And we talk about the question of reading your reviews, dealing with bad ones, and how coming from a marketing or advertising background helps.

Editing wise, Alison shares why she retypes her second draft from scratch, and how dramatic a change the book went through to make it the fabulous book it is. Alison also shares great writing advice about not editing too much with your first draft: Don’t perfect the pages you may need to cut! Also @bradeighgodfrey ‘s advice that the first draft’s only job is to exist.

Alison shares three book recommendations (and that she’s a huge audiobook fan): A MILLION REASONS WHY by Jessica Strawser, also a book with a DNA aspect; about two women who are half-sisters and find each other though a DNA test.

ARE WE THERE YET? By Kathleen West has been called the American Liane Moriarty, and Alison points out her writing style is smart and clever.

And Alison’s third recommendation is my own debut THE EXIT STRATEGY by yours truly Lainey Cameron, which Alison points out has been cleaning up the awards lately (smile).