Rochelle Weinstein loves bitter sweet women’s stories about finding identity through love and loss and her latest, What You Do To Me introduces pioneer female Rolling Stone magazine, journalist Cecilia, who obsessively pursues the story while – unacknowledged – her closest relationship crashes and burns around her, Hi, I’m your host Jenny Wheeler, and in today’s Binge Reading episode, Rochelle, a former music industry exec, talks about how popular music forms a soundtrack to our lives and why she finds sweet stories of women’s lives so alluring. Our Giveaway This Week Our Giveaway this week is an action and adventure giveaway, fiction in all genres, free downloads of mystery, romance or crime, including Unbridled Vengeance. Book #5 in the Of Gold & Blood series, a historical mystery with a romantic sub plot, When Californian rancher Caleb is falsely accused of a vicious murder, his French immigrant neighbor, Madeleine has evidence that will save him from the gallows.. Will she risk her own life to save his? You’ll find the link to download a wide range of books in the show notes for this episode on the website, the joys of binge reading com. DOWNLOAD FREE BOOKS Now just another housekeeping matter before we get to Rochelle. A reminder you can help defray the costs of production of the show by buying me a cup of coffee on buy me a coffee.com/jennywheelx. Thank you Nick, for buying me a coffee last week. buy me a coffee And remember, if you enjoy the show, leave us a review so others will find us too. Word of mouth is still the best way for others to discover the show and great books they will love to read. Links to things mentioned in the episode Hey There Delilah – Plain White Ts: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/heres-the-actual-story-behind-hey-there-delilah Spotify Playlists for What You Do to Me: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2GhwfbTm3xzs2Z9jRje2zW?si=aW2qeHSDT-GALkCAV8zKnw&pi=u-TC_ooXsRR7yC https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4kKq1hJpvGEJD7G3T5EOZm?si=qbhlIZioT56PHPd7L88gNw&pi=u-F7QVF5cESmmb Books Rochelle loves: A Little Life, Hanya Yangihara https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22822858-a-little-life Lisa Barr, The Goddess of Warsaw, https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-goddess-of-warsaw-lisa-barr?variant=41099496980514 Annabel Monaghan, https://annabelmonaghan.com/ (Annabel on The Joys of Binge Reading –https://thejoysofbingereading.com/annabel-monoghan-evocative-romcoms/ ) The Stationery Shop, Marjan Kamali, https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/42201995 Patti Callahan Henry, The Secret Book of Flora Lee, https://www.patticallahanhenry.com/the-secret-book-of-flora-lea (Patti Callahan Henry on The Joys of Binge Reading, https://thejoysofbingereading.com/patti-callahan-narnia-magic/) Barbara Davis, the Keeper of Happy Endings, Echo of Old Books, https://barbaradavis-author.com/ Sam Woodruff, https://www.samanthawoodruff.com/ Alison Wynne-Ryder, https://www.thequirkymedium.com/home/about-alison Taylor Jenkins Reid, https://taylorjenkinsreid.com/ Lynne Golodner author and writing coach: https://lynnegolodner.com/ Where to find Rochelle online Website: www.rochelleweinstein.com Social media: Facebook, Threads, X. Introducing author Rochelle Weinstein Jenny Wheeler: But now here’s Rochelle. Hello there, Rochelle, and welcome to the show. It’s great to have you with us. Rochelle B Weinstein, women’s fiction with bittersweet key Rochelle Weinstein: Thank you, Jenny. I’m thrilled to be here with everybody. Jenny Wheeler: Now we’re talking about the latest book that you’ve recently published called What You Do To Me, and I thought we’d just start out for people who aren’t familiar with your work by asking you how you’d classify it. It’s a romance, but it’s more than a romance as well, isn’t it? What category would you put it into? Rochelle Weinstein: I think it’s women’s fiction with a nice romance nestled between the pages. I think that’s a good way to describe it. Jenny Wheeler: Sure, and it’s emotionally intimate, but a mild heat level as they describe romance, isn’t it? Rochelle Weinstein: Yeah. I’m pretty much known for writing emotionally evocative stories. They’re layered, they have depth to them. I’m hoping this one doesn’t disappoint. I. Jenny Wheeler: I’m sure it won’t. I haven’t read any of your other books, but I love this one. It joyously celebrates popular music. What You Do To Me refers to a popular hit song of the early two thousands, which we’ll talk about in a moment, but it’s very much involved with how important life moments for most of us often have a soundtrack of music. Can you tell us, is that how you see life and do you have those important moments yourself? Popular music – soundtrack of our lives Rochelle Weinstein: Oh my God, music and books are a huge part of my history and I hear a certain song and I am literally transported back to childhood, to high school, to college years. Just like nostalgic moments. I remember the song that was playing when I had my first kiss. I remember, unfortunately, the song when I was saying goodbye to my mother. Those are what I call the soundtrack of my life. I think a lot of us have a soundtrack in our lives of all the songs that were there for those pivotal moments. Jenny Wheeler: I do agree. The title, What You Do To Me as I just referred to, is taken from the lyrics of a Plain White Ts’ song. It’s actually in the chorus and it plays a major role in the story. I wondered if you’d just give us a little bit of an introduction to the setup of the story. Rochelle Weinstein: Okay What You Do To Me is actually a line from the song Hey, There Delilah by the Plain White Ts. I loved this song and when it came out – I’m always curious to know the story behind a song – and I wondered if there was a real Delilah, And there was a real Delilah. Tom Higgenson from the Plain White Ts met her in a bar in Chicago and she had a boyfriend at the time and he’s said ‘I’m gonna write you a song.’ And she was like, ‘oh, but I have a boyfriend.’ And a lot of people thought that was cringey and kind of stalkerish, but I thought it was one of the most romantic things in the world. And so they didn’t end up together, although she did end up going to the Grammys with him. And I was like, ‘Darn.’ A great song didn’t end up the way I wanted it to. So I decided that I was going to reinvent the story with wholly different characters in a wholly different timeframe. A female Rolling Stone reporter And what it became is the story of Cecilia James, who’s a 26-year-old Rolling Stone reporter, and she is on the hunt for the muse behind this famous love song called What You Do To Me. And it takes us back in dual timelines from 1970s Miami Beach, where we meet this young couple, Sara and Eddie, who are star cross lovers and how it eventually evolves and merges into present day and Cecilia. She is finding this muse – Sara – for this love song while she’s also at the same time working on her own relationships. Jenny Wheeler: Yes. And there is an aspect of it where she’s obsessively chasing somebody else’s romantic story while her own close relationship is crashing and burning around her. There’s a terrible section of the book where you can sense that she’s heading for disaster and she just can’t quite see it at that point. Was there something particularly tantalizing for you about that aspect of the story? Rochelle Weinstein: I think that for Cecilia her relationship with her parents, drove a lot of her choices, especially her romantic choices, and it’s something that a lot of us come across. We wonder, how much do we deserve? And how much do these earlier relationships affect our current relationships. I think that chasing this muse -it’s a case of it’s ‘be careful what you wish for’ and sometimes what you get what you want. I think Cecilia clearly had an intimacy issue. And even though she wanted to have this big love, I think at the end of the day she didn’t think she deserved it and it was just easier for her to immerse herself in somebody else’s love story. The playlists to go with the book Jenny Wheeler: That’s a great way of putting it. I loved one aspect of the book, which was each chapter had a song at the beginning of it, and it was a song with a person’s name in it. We start off with Elton John’s Levon, and then halfway through the book we get Steve Winwood’s Valeries and we go on to Neil Diamond’s Crackling Rosie, and every single chapter, and there are 45 chapters, have these songs. How did you come to decide on those songs? Rochelle Weinstein: It’s funny I’ve been asked by a bunch of readers what the significance of the songs for each chapter were, and I said, you give me too much credit. I’m not that talented. They were randomly picked. I literally Googled songs that had names in them. The only thing that I was a little bit more particular about is I kept them within the timeframe of the novel. The songs came out during either the seventies or the eighties or the nineties. And they were also some of my favorite songs. I grew up on Elton John and I grew up on Winwood and I grew up on Neil Diamond and so those were part of the soundtrack of my life. That’s really how I came up with those titles. They basically were just any title that had a name in it. Jenny Wheeler: I must admit that quite fascinated me. I thought of creating my own song list from this book, and then I thought; ‘Somebody’s probably already done it.’ I went on to Spotify and blow me down. There was everything there. Some other wonderful person had created a song list. And then I thought, did you listen to those songs yourself while you were writing the book? Rochelle Weinstein: In the interest of full disclosure, I was the incredible person who made the playlist. I created two Spotify playlists. One, it was the song chapters and one was any song that was mentioned throughout the story. So there were two playlists, and did I listen to those songs as I was writing? I actually did not, I don’t really listen to music while I’m writing. I can typically write anywhere and it’s not that it’s a distraction. For some reason I just wasn’t listening to those songs. I probably should say that I did for inspiration. Daisy Jones and the Six ‘an inspiration’ Jenny Wheeler: I know what you mean. I’ve got one playlist that I listen to with songs, but it is very quiet piano music. It’s very unobtrusive and any song with the lyrics actually, I find a bit distracting. I know what you’re talking about there. We do put all of these links in the show notes for this episode, so I’ll make sure we put these into the show notes too for people who might interested. There were songs that you referred to as you went along and I thought, I’m not sure if I know that one. That sort of feeling. So it would be fun to pick up on them. I noticed that you in. I wondered if you’d been inspired by books related to music or pop music. There has been a sub- genre of these books coming through like Daisy Jones and the Six which probably made the idea made it famous, but there’s quite a few of them. Have you got some favorites in that area yourself? Rochelle Weinstein: Obviously Daisy Jones and the Six. was one of my absolute Top 10 reads in the last, I don’t know, however many years. I loved that book. I devoured that book. It inspired me to write about music. I used to be in the music industry and my first novel, What We Leave Behind, tackled parts of the music industry, but not as full blown as I did in What You Do To Me. There are so many wonderful books out there that have music is a character. And I just decided that I was going to merge my passion for writing and for books and for reading into the book that I wanted to read. And that was What You Do To Me. Exploring love and loss in bittersweet key Jenny Wheeler: Your previous books… I was intrigued by the fact that they have very much the same sort of tenor in their titles and they all are leaning towards bittersweet nostalgia. I’ve just run through the list. You mentioned What You Leave Behind, but then there’s The Mourning After spelt M-O-U-R-N and then there’s This Is Not How It Ends, and When We Let Go. I wondered if you were drawn to these kind of bittersweet nostalgia themes … the minor key, as you might say, in music. Rochelle Weinstein: There’s absolutely a common thread here. I am drawn to know the woman’s journey of emotions, of loss, of grief, of acceptance, of moving through grief and acceptance and coming out mostly whole. I feel like there’s so many beautiful, evocative stories with these types of themes. Clearly, it’s what I’m drawn to. Part of it’s probably some of my history and other part is just being able to take a lot of the emotions that I see in people around me and experiences and fictionalizing them. Jenny Wheeler: What got you started in fiction? Was there a Eureka moment when you thought, I just must write a fiction book? Rochelle Weinstein: I was always a closeted writer. I was a journal writer and then, and I had this high-powered job in the music business and the company was bought by MTV and they moved everybody to New York City and I had just had my twin boys and I opted not to go to New York and they gave me a year severance. I never in my life had not been working. I worked since the day I turned 14, so I was like, ‘who am I?’ I was having a little bit of a crisis of identity, and I did have my twin boys and it was a full-time job in itself, but they would nap a couple hours a day and I was thinking, okay, what am I gonna do? A ‘Eureka’ moment in creative life And my Eureka moment was, I sat down and I was like, okay, I’m just gonna write this story. I had something in me that needed to come out. I had in my own emotional journey that I felt like I needed to fictionalize and I sat down and wrote, and 110,000 words was my first novel. Jenny Wheeler: And that was What We Leave Behind. Rochelle Weinstein: Yep. Jenny Wheeler: And tell us just a little bit about this, about that story premise. Rochelle Weinstein: What We Leave Behind is the story of Jessica Parker and she falls in love with this young boy Jonas, and she’s dealing with the loss of her father. And again, I think I said this, where I think we take a lot of our early relationships in our first family and that’s how we manage our current relationships. So he was, for her the first man that was supposed to love her first. The man who was supposed to love her first died. He left her. So that’s how she equated love, like the longing for a man. So Jonas was just not the atypical relationship, and he wasn’t giving her what she wanted. And then she finally meets the man who gives her everything that she wants, and she feels that she’s not worthy. So it’s about a woman torn between these two destinies and there’s moral, medical, and ethical dilemmas thrown in there to keep the pages going and to keep these characters all in the story. But I think it’s really a story about loving oneself enough to accept real mature love. Starting out with realistic expectations Jenny Wheeler: When you first started writing, did you have a particular goal in mind and have you reached it yet? Rochelle Weinstein: So great question. I teach classes at a local university here, adult education workshops, and when I talk to aspiring writers and authors, the first thing I say to them is, what is the goal for your writing? Because I basically say, if you don’t know your goal, you’re not going to know if you’ve reached it or not. If you want to go traditional, if you want to self-publish, and it also factors into your marketing. I knew very early on that I just wanted this tangible piece of evidence out in the world that I had written a book. I had no delusions of New York Times bestseller lists. I just wrote straight from my heart and I said, I’m going to put this book out. And don’t get me wrong, I tried to get a publishing deal and I couldn’t get an agent. I couldn’t get a publishing house, but I decided to self-publish that book, and I put it out into the world and the response was incredible. It ended up hitting the USA Today bestseller list. And I always say to my students, Manage your expectations. It’s a really difficult business and just have realistic expectations. And I feel since I had such realistic expectations, I was pleasantly surprised. It’s been a great experience for me and as far as achieving my goal, because my goal was merely just to put this book out, I’ve achieved my goal. I feel that I’ve touched readers, I hear from readers who tell me that my words changed their life. That they started to look at relationships differently. They started to look at what motivated them differently. And I feel like that is the gift of a writer. And I’ve accomplished, my goal for my writing. Publishing options in a difficult industry Jenny Wheeler: That’s beautiful. And so how did your publishing journey go after that? Do have you continued to self-publish or did you immediately then find a publisher? Rochelle Weinstein: I self-published my first two books, and then with the success of those two books, I got an agent and I got a publishing house. I’ve been publishing with an agent and a publishing house since. It was two self-published books. I have five published books with a publisher, and my eighth book is coming out next February, 2025. Jenny Wheeler: So you’re very much a hybrid author? Rochelle Weinstein: Yes. Jenny Wheeler: Would you consider self-publishing again? Rochelle Weinstein: It’s funny that question’s coming up more and more today because I’ll tell you the trends in publishing. Publishing is a difficult, challenging business and it changes daily and you’re seeing these really savvy self-published authors that are breaking out and disrupting the marketplace. There is something to be said. I don’t know that I’d be really good at self-publishing, but I would tell anybody out there that if you are savvy at social media and digital marketing and TikTok and you have a real brand, self-publishing could be a very successful way to publish today. Jenny Wheeler: Sounds to me like with the success of your first two books that you would do it. Of course it is a lot of extra work, but you would do well at it Rochelle Weinstein: Yeah. Turning to Rochelle’s wider career.. Jenny Wheeler: Turning away from the specific books to talk a little of your wider career. You have mentioned about your background in music. How was your work and life experience before you became a writer help or hinder your creative career Rochelle Weinstein: Obviously a lot of my experiences is in the music business, and people ask, ‘How much of a book is about you?’ There’s a lot of my own experiences in some of the characters or people that I’ve come across in the music business and in my career. My career influenced the writing, but also I was in marketing, advertising and promotion for every single record label in the country. So that background was also super helpful in my marketing my books, like I had a marketing background, I had an advertising, promotional background. So it was twofold, it was content that I garnered from my work and it was also, strategy. Jenny Wheeler: And we do want you to drop some names. You mention on your website that you worked with “Talented superstars.” I just wondered if you could give us a couple of little anecdotes from those years and naming a few names. Working with some of music’s big names Rochelle Weinstein: Okay, so Fergie, I, we met her, she came to our offices when, she was in a band called Wild Orchid. Jessica Simpson, when she was just first starting out, we worked with her. We worked literally with every single artist out there, even if it was just a random advertising campaign on air. But I met Dave Matthews. We met Hootie and the Blowfish. We met Collective Soul. I met all the rappers, Justin Timberlake the Backstreet Boys. In Sync. Madonna was in our offices once, but I will be honest, I did not meet her firsthand that day. It was just, this was like a lot of like early nineties music and it was a lot of rap and, alternative and pop and so it was it was definitely an amazing experience. Jenny Wheeler: If there is one thing in your creative career that you’d like to change. If you could go back in a time machine, what would it be? Rochelle Weinstein: I don’t think I would change anything. I really feel like it’s that everything in my career has happened for a reason, and it’s happened at the time that it was supposed to happen. Jenny Wheeler: Great. That’s wonderful. Look, we always like to ask people about their reading tastes too. So Rochelle, as reader, what do you like to read and what would you recommend to our listeners? What Rochelle is reading now Rochelle Weinstein: Okay. So I’m a huge reader. And let’s see. It’s funny, people ask me who’s my favorite author? I have favorite books. Let’s see. I loved A Little Life… these are my old ebook goodies. I loved A Little Life. Let me think. Lisa Barr’s new book is coming out in May. It’s called The Goddess of Warsaw. It’s fantastic. I do love Annabelle Monaghan, all of her books. Let’s see, what have I read That’s been The Stationery Shop of Tehran, I think was fabulous. I meant to create a list and I forgot to do that, but I love nothing more than getting lost in a good story. Jenny Wheeler: Women’s fiction is it? Rochelle Weinstein: I read women’s fiction. I read thrillers. I read historical fiction. I’ll tell you the Patti Callahan Henry’s book, The Secret Life of Flora Lee was fabulous. Barbara Davis, the Keeper of Happy Endings, and she also wrote the Echo of Old Books. Fabulous. There’s just so many good books out there, and I have such a robust group of author friends it would just be hard to pick. But Sam Woodruff, Allison Wynn, they’re all such talented women. And of course, Taylor Jenkins, I read all her books. She’s like an auto buy for me. A typical writing life day… Jenny Wheeler: That, lovely. Thank you. You’ve given us a great list. You mentioned your twins. Tell us a little bit about your life now and a typical writing day. Rochelle Weinstein: It’s interesting, my career in writing has run parallel with the birth of my twins, because remember I wrote that first book when they were babies, so I’ve had to adjust my writing around their schedule as they’ve aged. It’s interesting to see the evolution. I used to write three hours a day and then I was mommy. And then they would go to school for five or six hours and I would write, and then I was mommy. And then they went off to college. So now I’m an empty nester. Our twins are 24 years old, one’s in New York and one’s in Miami. And I literally wake up, I do some type of Pilates or a nice walk, and then I write all day long. Sometimes I’ll break for a quick bite to eat or stretch my legs or whatnot. And then, I can write at night, I can write on the weekends. My time is mine. My writing schedule is my own. Jenny Wheeler: Are you able to write everything you want to write? Or are there books there that just don’t fit where you are in the market now that you’d like to write someday? Rochelle Weinstein: I put a lot of careful thought into about what I’m writing. I definitely think about what’s selling in the market, but I don’t let it dictate what I’m writing. I feel in order for it to resonate on the page, it, you have to feel it inside your heart. And if I don’t feel it inside my heart, I can’t write it. So the only time I sit down to write a book is when I really feel something deeply. There’s no book that I have sitting in a drawer that I wish was out in the world. Let’s put it that way. What is next for Rochelle as author? Jenny Wheeler: So tell us, what is next for Rochelle as author, looking down the tunnel of time over the next 12 months. What have you got on your desk and what’s coming through? Rochelle Weinstein: So right now, I’m working on my first draft of Book eight. That’s due to my publisher March 1st, and then I will be editing that book from March to April and May. My summers are spent in the mountains of North Carolina, and that’s typically when I start writing my new concepts. I have a new concept that I’m already like noodling on. I will be doing that this summer and I’m hopefully going to be reading a lot more good books and interacting with readers and other authors and wonderful podcasters like yourself. It makes the job a little less lonely. Jenny Wheeler: Now, tell us about that book that you’ve got on your desk right now in the first draft. Can you tell us anything at all? Is there a working title for example? Rochelle Weinstein: The working title is called The Inn. It’s an inn in North Carolina. It’s based on a real inn, that I’ve gone to and I fell in love with. I typically go somewhere and I get a sense of space and place and I feel like I need to write a book here. And there’s this massive chef’s table in the middle of the kitchen and they have a husband and wife and they cook dinners, like gourmet dinners, seven nights a week for eight guests. And the eight guests stay for a week. So it’s like a. Big Chill meets Nine Perfect Strangers, and it’s the trials and tribulations of these eight guests at the table. And it’s really challenging for me because it is six Point Of Views, which I’ve never done before. Where to find Rochelle in person and online Jenny Wheeler: Oh, that’s great. You mentioned about talking with your readers. Do you do quite a bit of out there in the community presentation? Tell us about your interaction with your readers. Rochelle Weinstein: I have a newsletter where I interact with thousands of my subscribers monthly. We always have great questions and I answer every single one. They’re always thought-provoking questions and I’m always doing some great fun giveaways ’cause I love supporting other authors, so I love to send like their books. It’s not about Rochelle Weinstein promoting her books. I’m out in the community. I’m always speaking, I’m teaching classes. I do local book fairs. I speak, I go to different organizations all over the country. But I have a very special relationship with my readers, and anytime they reach out or, email me with a question about a character, I’m never too busy to respond. I think it’s really important to cultivate and nourish these relationships because without my readers I don’t have a job. Jenny Wheeler: Where can readers who aren’t able to see you in person, find you online? Rochelle Weinstein: You can find me on Instagram, Rochelle Weinstein. I’m on Facebook, I’m on Threads. Where else? My website, rochelle weinstein.com. You can sign up for my newsletter and you’ll be informed of all my goings on and where I’m speaking in the next couple of months and whatnot. Jenny Wheeler: That’s fantastic. Interestingly, when you do your writing instruction, your tuition, what do you find is the most difficult thing for young writers? A pro’s advice to starting out writers Rochelle Weinstein: I think it’s the discipline. I think everybody, I, if I had a nickel for every person who said, I have a story in me, I could retire. It’s just literally sitting down and making the time. And I quote my friend Lynn Golodner, you have to take yourself seriously as a writer and look at it as a profession and make the time to sit in the chair and write, whether it’s hand write, get on the computer. But you have to make the time to write and you also have to prepare yourself with thick skin and knowing that writing is rewriting and every first draft is horrible. Jenny Wheeler: Look. Thank you so much, Rochelle. That’s wonderful. We’ll have the. We’ve discussed in the show and it’s just been fantastic talking. Rochelle Weinstein: No, thank you. You’re wonderful, Jenny. I appreciate you having me. Jenny Wheeler: Okay. Now I think this is going to run the last week in January 30. So Rochelle Weinstein: No worries. Jenny Wheeler: yeah. Yeah. Okay, mate. Thank you so much. Rochelle Weinstein: I appreciate it. Bye-Bye. If you enjoyed Rochelle you might also enjoy… Jan Moran The Chocolatier is a dual timeline story set between post-war US and Italy with a marvelously twisted emotional plot. It really does keep you on the edge of your seat. Jan Moran is a USA Today best-selling author with a slew of 20th century standalone historicals as well as several women’s contemporary fiction series to her credit. Jan talks about how she moved from being a successful beauty care entrepreneur to full-time novelist and why she loves to write strong, independent characters who are striving to build lives that make a difference. LISTEN TO JAN MORAN ON BINGE READING On Binge Reading next time… Celebrating Valentine’s month with clean and wholesome rom coms… Next time on Binge Reading: February is Valentine’s Month. I’m sure you haven’t forgotten, and we’ve got two fun, clean, and wholesome romances to share with you in our fortnightly series. First up, an ice hockey fake dating romance from Emma St. Claire. Before Logan Barnes was hockey’s hottest, bad boy. He was Asher’s brother’s best friend, and her first crush. Now Logan is back in Harvest Hollow, but not willingly recovering from an injury and some bad press. He stuck playing for a minor league team, on reform, and Ash is the team’s social media coordinator who needs his full cooperation. It’s a fun one to escape into. That’s next time on The Joys of Binge Reading. Remember just before I go, if you enjoy the show, leave us a review so others will find us too. Word of mouth is still the best way for others to discover the show and great books they love to read. See you next time and happy reading.

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