what's meant to be will always find a way

"she's in love with the boy" by trisha yearwood & what the thing called love showed me about writing

One of my all-time favorite writers/people Kerry Winfrey has a new romance out! It’s called Just Another Love Song, and it’s country music-inspired, small town summer vibes, second chance romance . . . in other words, it’s PERFECT.

I’m also very proud that it was partially through my annoying influence that Kerry finally watched one of my all-time favorite movies, The Thing Called Love, and wrote a newsletter analyzing how weird and charming the movie is, and how much Trisha Yearwood there is in it (spoiler: more than you even think!).

This is one of those movies for me where I would love to just describe it beat-by-beat, every micro expression, every tiny moment I love BUT. I won’t do that to you. Instead, I’m just going to talk a little bit about my recent journey into country music (NO ONE IS MORE SHOCKED THAN ME) and how The Thing Called Love speaks to me as a writer.

But first. This song!

A few years ago, I made a playlist called Country Music I Can Stand, and this was the only song I put on it. I could’ve added a few more songs — pretty much all of them ones Dominique Moceanu had chosen for floor routine music at ‘90s gymnastics exhibition events IYKYK!!! — but instead I thought it would be funny to leave the playlist that way. So there it sat, Country Music I Can Stand, with one song on it.

“She’s in Love with the Boy” by Trisha Yearwood.

My whole music-listening life, I’ve definitely been one of those “anything but country” people. Like, PLEASE, anything but country. It was the over-pronounced twang that just sent me over the edge. I didn’t like the sound, I didn’t like the vibe, idk I was just NOT ABOUT IT.

Then a couple months ago, my family took a road trip to North Carolina, and my husband decided it was the perfect opportunity to put on his six-hour “Country Bangers” playlist of ‘90s country songs.

SIX.

HOURS.

But, you know what, he was driving, I didn’t want to harsh his music mellow, whatever, I figured I could deal. It was hard at first, I’m not going to lie. I thought I was going to “Watermelon Crawl” out of my skin, to steal a joke my husband made while we were sitting in really bad traffic at one point listening to the referenced song.

Maybe that’s part of what made me start to come around. I enjoyed hearing about his connections to the songs, listening for moments he particularly enjoyed where he’d turn the volume up and tell me to focus on the harmonies or the way the chorus subtly changed. Some of the songs told compelling stories, some of them were kind of silly — I mean, “I left something turned on at home” and it ain’t the stove, it ain’t the heater!!! That is just hilarious! Sorry, ‘90s “anything but country” Alicia, but turns out ‘90s country did have some bangers!!

My only real connection to country music prior to that point was “1993’s most financially unsuccessful movie” (according to IMDB), The Thing Called Love, starring Samantha Mathis and River Phoenix in what turned out, tragically, to be his last role. The movie follows four country music hopefuls trying to make it in Nashville — Miranda Presley (no relation), played by Mathis; James Wright, played by Phoenix; Linda Lue Linden, played by Sandra Bullock in an EARLY and UNDERRATED role; and Kyle Davidson, played to earnest perfection by Dermot Mulroney.

I watched it again last night, and this time it really struck me how much this movie has to say about being a writer. (I was mostly focused on the love triangle before, which as Kerry points out in her newsletter, is an EXCELLENT love triangle and should be the blueprint as far as I’m concerned.) Here are a few moments in the movie that especially stood out to me, with the warning that I’ll be spoiling the hell out of this almost-30-year-old movie for you:

1. The movie kicks off with Miranda arriving in Nashville from NYC (she wears a Yankees cap so you’ll know), hoping to audition for a spot to perform at the legendary Bluebird Cafe. It’s a notoriously competitive audition process, with lots of hopeful singers hoping to have the chance to sing in a venue that might get them noticed by record executives, and the brusque but kind woman who runs the cafe is basically like, “if I don’t call your name, it just means I don’t think you’re ready. Keep writing, and come back.” This kind of perspective frustrated me sometimes during the years I was querying manuscripts — because of course, from my angle, I always thought but I’m ready now. I feel like this is the manuscript, I worked hard on it, I think it’s good, why don’t you think it’s good? Sometimes in hindsight I can see why that manuscript wasn’t going to be the one, why it didn’t really fit into “the market” (ugh), whatever. Sometimes I still believe in the manuscript, and don’t understand why no one else did. Either way, I think that’s the most solid advice you could take as a writer — “Keep writing, and come back.”

2. Miranda has an unsuccessful first audition with her cute little ditty “Big Bar Hair” (she’s so charming performing this! her fingers very realistically stumble over the chords a bit which I found comforting as a burgeoning guitar god! James mouths “Big Bar Hair” along to the last line of her song and it’s weirdly hot?) So of course she heads to the cafe the next day to try to get some feedback. “You want to know what I thought was wrong with your song?” the owner asks dryly, and Miranda is like, “Or what you liked about it, that would be okay, too, right now.” RELATABLE. Listen, when a writer wants feedback, sure, they may genuinely want to know what they could improve, but also we just want to know what you liked about it!!! The owner points out that Miranda sang a novelty song, and “country music does its best to be honest with itself. When it’s sad . . . it' says it’s sad.” I love a novelty song as much as the next person (I don’t think “I left something turned on at home” is that deep, for example), but it’s true that sometimes our best and most honest writing has to come from a more vulnerable place. In my own writing, I know I can feel the difference when I’m writing something that’s deeply meaningful to me versus just like, taking the piss, and the meaningful stuff does resonate in a different way.

3. At one point, Miranda and Kyle are walking down the street, talking about their country music dreams, and Miranda asks Kyle why he’s not putting himself out there more. After he describes how he’s afraid of the disappointment, she says, “I have two words for you, Kyle Davidson — no wonder.” She encourages him to shoot his shot — which in this case means, break into Trisha Yearwood’s car to put his tape inside, not exactly what I would recommend (although this movie suggests it could be a viable strategy!). I do love this, though because I’m all about shooting your shot! See: how I tried to slip a copy of my book to Phoebe Bridgers because why the hell not?!

4. This is a small moment, but when James goes into the studio to record an album, there’s this disembodied voice after he finishes a take that just says: “You got it, James, you’re cooking, buddy!” in a way that I find HYSTERICAL. I want a recording of this on my phone that I can play for myself after finishing a writing sprint or whatever. “You got it, Alicia, you’re cooking, buddy!”

5. The movie ends with Miranda coming back to the Bluebird for one last audition, this time with a song that’s more meaningful to her. (Another iconic line for me — the way she says “This is something new” into the microphone before starting to play her guitar, if you ever catch me giving an impromptu reading of a manuscript I’m working on why would I ever be doing that???? please know that I will 100% lean into the microphone and say, “This is something new”). What I especially love about her last performance is the way you see how everything in her journey, her past performances, etc. have really been leading up to it. She recycles chords from her first song, she uses the melody from her second but changes the lyrics, she keeps the line that resonated before, she puts all her pain and heartbreak and hope into it. And the movie doesn’t end with a record deal or any huge win like that — it just ends with her getting the chance to perform at this cafe, having the validation from others but also within herself that this was a good song. She kept writing, and she came back.

The movie is (I think) streaming on Amazon Prime, so if you have an opportunity to watch it, I highly recommend it! And also I want to talk about it with you because there is SO MUCH MORE I could say. For example, TELL ME Samantha Mathis and River Phoenix are not a bisexual awakening in this film:

I mean!!!!!

As if we wouldn’t notice!!!!

The next time you hear from me MY BOOK WILL BE OUT IN STORES! Insert scream-face emoji, mind-blown emoji, hearts-around-face emoji, yikes-face emoji, celebration-party emoji, sweating-emoji, all the emojis! Here are a few links, in case you’re interested:

• You can still preorder Love in the Time of Serial Killers, including an audiobook or ebook version if that’s more your speed!

• If you do preorder, you can fill out this form with your information and receipt to receive some cool swag (a postcard, art print, and sticker sheet)! I have packaging these up while I watch Damages, so yours will be sent out in the Season 5 batch which I’m getting to very soon.

• Of course, if you preorder through my local indie, you will automatically receive the swag, PLUS I’d love to sign/personalize your book for you! If you happen to be local to the Tampa/St. Pete area, I will be in conversation with my friend and badass bookstagrammer Carmen Alvarez IN PERSON at Tombolo Books on 8/16 at 7:00 p.m., and will also sign books and have the swag at that event!

• If you’d like to try your luck for a free copy, check out the Goodreads giveaway running through 8/15!

  

Currently reading . . . I found a copy of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey in a Little Free Library, so I’ve been reading that. Of course I’ve seen the movie — albeit a long time ago — but it’s interesting to read the book. Do I like the book? Do I not? I genuinely can’t tell. It’s very well-written. It’s hard to read, in more ways than one. I don’t know, I’ll have to sit with it. I WANT to be reading Just Another Love Song by Kerry Winfrey, but my copies haven’t arrived yet!

She will be mine. Oh yes, she will be mine.

watching . . . in addition to baseball (always on) and Damages (13 episodes to go until I’ve finished the series), I started the second season of Only Murders in the Building. This show is just impeccable. The set design, the costuming, Martin Short, getting meta about true crime podcasts, it’s murder but make it cozy and fun, it’s a true comfort show and I already know it’s one I’ll watch multiple times.

listening to . . . I am literally listening to the “Country Bangers” playlist as I write this, because it’s on theme but also I am proof that people can change and grow (or regress, depending on your feelings on country music) because I ain’t askeered of six hours straight of living that honky tonk dream. I also am FINALLY listening to the audiobook for Something Wilder by Christina Lauren and really enjoying it so far!