“Regulars at book events know how rare it is for writers to receive a hero’s welcome; more often than not, they’re greeted by rows of empty chairs. The fact that [Elin] Hilderbrand’s fans traveled to an island 30 miles off the coast of Cape Cod, during the coldest month of the year, to see the places she writes about is remarkable unto itself.
Factor in repeat participants, a 300-person waiting list for each of the last two Bucket List Weekends and the expense and you have to wonder: What is Hilderbrand’s special sauce? And what does a Hilderbabe, as fans are known, get out of her time on Nantucket?”
—Elisabeth Egan, The New York Times: “Where It’s Always Summer, Even in January”
When I read this article at the start of last year, I scratched my head in anthropological confusion.
Who are these mostly middle-aged women flocking to this island in pilgrimage to their favorite author? Where is Nantucket, again? Isn’t that one of those spots that fancy East Coast people “summer in” as a verb? Who is this bronzed, blonde bestselling author, the “Queen of the Beach Read,” that, for some reason, I have never heard of?
For one thing, beaches aren’t my thing.
I love the ocean, but I prefer to watch waves tumble at sunrise or sunset, ideally while wrapped in a puffy coat. Forget the swimsuit, sand in every crevice, sticky sunscreen, and the relentless sun bearing down. I left laying out behind after my college days in L.A.
Beach reads aren’t my thing either. Correction weren’t.
For the better part of the last twenty years, I only allowed myself to read non-fiction: “serious” (hah) books that directly seemed to improve my health, finances, relationships, spiritual life, or business. Fiction lovers: I know, I know—what a dumb-dumb, you have full permission to roll your eyes!
But last summer, when I really started Rolling in Doh, I just couldn’t bear to look at business books any longer. What good were they doing, anyway? I was so sick of trying all their strategies and falling short.
So I picked up one of the first beach reads I’ve ever read, yes, for a beach vacation with my family, and indulged myself in the guilty pleasure of Book Lovers by publishing sensation Emily Henry. I figured anything with 87,128 ratings and climbing must be worth checking out.1
Thankfully, this one Emily Henry book opened my fiction-reading floodgates. In addition to books on the craft of writing and editing, the last year has been filled with everything from Pulitzer-prize-winning novels to pulpy paperbacks to new releases by the culturati’s literary darlings.
And so we arrive here, just over one year later, that I found myself peering closer and closer into the edges of Elin Hilderbrand’s rabbit hole—a Nantucket “inch wide and mile deep,” as the saying goes.
Hilderbrand was recently interviewed on NYT’s The Book Review podcast about Swan Song, her final Nantucket beach read, her thirtieth novel. She didn’t have any juice left to craft “the same story told a different way” that her ardent fan base wanted her to deliver. She was ready to move on to new and different things, to new settings, storylines, and collaborators (including her college-aged daughter).
This led me to her popular podcast, Books, Beach, & Beyond, where she and co-host Tim Ehrenberg interview fellow luminaries about their writing process and how they feel about the success they’ve achieved (and how they got there). Something about insiders talking shop with insiders appeals to me, and previous guests include Sarah Jessica Parker, Kevin Kwan, and Maggie O’Farrell.2
The next step in my immersion was watching her first book-to-movie come to fruition after twenty-four years, Netflix’s “The Perfect Couple,” starring Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber. Reflecting on advice from an early mentor regarding how long it took for her to make it to Hollywood, she said to Kit Hoover of The Coop podcast:
“I think he meant if you can be fulfilled personally, any other way than by writing, do it. Because writing is so hard, and so many people fail, and even published writers fail. And even writers who are super successful and get to number one, it took me 24 years to get to Hollywood. I mean, I could not get it. I could not get anything made.”
Twenty-four years! How has she had such career longevity? What’s her secret?
It turns out that she works out for three hours every day before sitting down to write.
One night, as I listened to her on an Eat the Damn Cake episode in bed (I especially love feeding my subconscious writing-related podcasts before drifting to sleep),3 I jolted myself awake upon hearing about her typical day. I rewound three times in a row so that I could re-listen to every single word. Was I hearing correctly? And also: lock this in, I emphasized to myself. I was completely transfixed:
She wakes up at 5 a.m.
Then she takes a 45-minute Peloton cycling class,4 followed by
An hour of “yogging,” a slow run-jog along the water, ending up at
An hour-long barre class in town.
Then, and only then, is she ready to write for the rest of the day.
Who has the time to work out three hours a day, you ask?
Elin Hilderbrand, who, as we have seen above, is also incredibly prolific. She says:
“For me, it’s a job. So I treat it like a job. I write every single day. And in the summer, I try to be at it by 11, and I stay until 6. I can write longhand an in notebooks, so I do it out by my pool.
When I say I write for seven hours, what I mean is that I’m trying to get three hours of composing done. So I give myself seven hours to compose for three.
I read—I’m always reading—and if I’m at my pool or the beach, I swim. I take a nap. I have my lunch. All of that’s happening.
But if you compose three hours a day, 350 days a year, you can write two books a year.”
Her routine gives her time: for the last thirty years, she has produced at least one beach read every summer, and for seven of those years, she delivered two books per year including one for the holidays.
When I heard her workout schedule, a new permission slip clicked into place.
For the last three months, ever since the ER visit, I have worked out at the spaffice for at least two hours every day. After you throw in fifteen minutes in the sauna followed by a shower, and then an email and/or writing sprint, I’m often there for four or five hours each day. But I return home a new person.
Lately, as the leaves turn and everyone returns to full-sprint Fall before the holidays, I have been feeling a little guilty about all this time away from my laptop.
As incredible as I now feel physically, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally—light years better than the Bell’s Palsy days—I am secretly dreading the day the “adult” voice in the boardroom of my brain (and business) chimes in, telling me I need to get my act together already, stop playing hooky, and get back to work. That no one gets to work out this much, there is such a thing as too much self-care. This is self-indulgence, it’s irresponsible, and it’s reckless. It’s ridiculous.
But.
But Elin Hilderbrand!
And it’s not just how productive she is, even setting aside the first three hours a day for fitness. There is something else I find fascinating about her career that, upon hearing it, solidified my unlikely Hilderbabe status—despite not having read a single one of her books (yet).5
Stay tuned for Saturday’s post where I’ll share what that is . . . 6
❤️
Emily Henry’s speedy ascent has been truly mind-boggling—five consecutive NYT #1 best-sellers in five years—and she’s never done so much as a single book tour or in-person signing 🤯 Here’s Emily on Elin’s podcast:
I chuckled at the way she and Ann Patchett dissed the Iowa Writer’s Program they both attended—the most prestigious MFA in the country for writers—that Elin was most miserable attending.
This Manta sleep mask is a must if you share a bed with someone else! Pricey, but totally worth it.
🚴♀️ Peloton members: you can even follow her at ElinWriterBrand :) Want to be workout buddies? Add me @jennyblake.
Let’s just say I’m a convert, and I look forward to diving in. If you’re new to her universe, she recommends starting with The Blue Bistro.
I have been resisting this because I was "too busy and needed to get to the chair ASAP." Using this as permission too. I also LOVED Book Lovers.
I love this so much, Jenny! I've found that I need to get at least ~2 hours of physical activity in per day or my energy starts to wane. So I'm using this permission slip too. It's not self-indulgent if it lets us get the job(s) done. There's only so much our brains can do if we don't tend to our bodies well, right?
I love reading fiction. It's my favorite activity before bed, and it helps me extend my imagination to not just what's true, but also what's possible. Thanks for the reference to Books, Beach, & Beyond. Looks like good "food" for my morning walks.❣️