'It helped to feel like you're not alone.' The five friends who wrote their books together at Little Dom's

Writing a caller is simply a lonely endeavor, 1 that requires thousands of hours successful quiescent solitude. Or truthful I utilized to believe. In the years aft the pandemic, I started gathering with 4 different writers — Jade Chang, Angela Flournoy, Aja Gabel and Xuan Juliana Wang — for regular enactment sessions astatine Little Dom’s, the cozy Italian American edifice connected Hillhurst Avenue successful Los Feliz. We sat cloistered successful a country booth and adhered to the Pomodoro method, expanding the accustomed 25 minutes of enactment to 40, with breaks successful betwixt to talk, implicit elephantine meatballs successful marinara sauce, fried potatoes with ail and lemon, food lettuce Italian tuna salad. What did we speech astir successful those breaks? Seldomly astir our publication projects — but everything else, from the superior to the frivolous. The constituent wasn’t to stock pages oregon store chapters. All of america had published 1 publication and were penning our sophomore manuscripts. The point, simply, was being together, bearing witnesser to each other’s lives, week by week, arsenic women and arsenic friends.

This fall, 3 from our radical person caller novels out: Jade Chang’s “What a Time to Be Alive”; Angela Flournoy’s “The Wilderness”; and Aja Gabel’s “Lightbreakers.” We met up for lunch, nary laptops this time, to bespeak connected the years since we began gathering for “poms.”

Jean Chen Ho: So, however did we commencement penning unneurotic astatine Little Dom’s?

Jade Chang: I deliberation that we started with lone moving unneurotic occasionally. And I consciousness similar determination was a small skepticism. But past radical liked it …

Aja Gabel: I was precise skeptical. I ne'er worked with different writers before.

Jade Chang, left, wears a vintage tuxedo garment and customized pants; Angela Flournoy, center, wears a vintage vest, Melody Ehsani earrings and vintage customized bracelets and rings; Aja Gabel, right, wears an Ali Golden dress.

Xuan Juliana Wang: The pomodoros helped.

AG: Yeah, mounting the timer. I had an bureau that I paid for, and past I would sometimes spell to conscionable up with you guys astatine Little Dom’s, and I started to recognize I would get much done successful a shorter magnitude of time, with you guys. Usually if I effort to enactment with someone, I would conscionable speech and speech and speech and speech and talk, beryllium wholly distracted. But due to the fact that everybody was truly focused connected their novels …

Angela Flournoy: I mean, it’s precise hard to constitute a 2nd book. So it helped to consciousness similar you’re not alone. I besides deliberation that for me, I enactment speech my skepticism due to the fact that I had been inside, a lot, talking to a kid each day. I needed to beryllium outside, talking to adults.

JCH: How acold on was everyone connected their publication projects earlier the poms and co-working started?

AF: When I started moving with you guys, successful January of 2022, I was moving connected my memoir. I gave myself until June, past I sold the publication by August. And past the 2nd twelvemonth of poms, 2023, was each novel. I hadn’t truly worked connected it since 2019. It was dormant due to the fact that I was taking attraction of a child.

JC: I knew what I wanted to write, I knew however I wanted to constitute it, but I hadn’t truly recovered the dependable yet for this novel. I had a batch of notes, pages and pages.

AG: When I truly started penning with you all, I had a draught but was like, “God, you request to hole this.” This was similar the 5th oregon sixth draft. I did the full last draught with you guys, which was benignant of a page-one rewrite. I conscionable started astatine the opening and rewrote everything again. I pulled immoderate worldly from erstwhile drafts.

“The sheer pleasance of making up stories astir radical portion sitting determination with different radical who are truthful bully astatine making up stories is conscionable truthful fun.”

XJW: I was astatine a spot wherever I couldn’t constitute anything. Sometimes it was conscionable having that acceptable time, forcing yourself to constitute thing down. After the pandemic, and aft having kids, it was similar I forgot who I was and however to beryllium — and past it took the poms, 30 minutes astatine a time, to retrieve who I was again, a writer.

AF: That’s beautiful.

AG: I had been penning and rewriting this caller since I sold it successful 2020. I felt similar I mightiness not decorativeness it. But I deliberation seeing however determined you guys were to decorativeness reminded maine that that’s the mode you person to beryllium in.

JC: Oh, no. Is our closest equivalent similar being a tally club?

JCH: Ew! No —

AF: Absolutely not.

JC: I thought tally clubs are about, like, not being competitive, and everyone finishing? I mean, the past happening I would ever bash is articulation a tally club, truthful truly, I don’t truly know.

AG: When we did poms, I would person to travel with a program due to the fact that we lone had the 40-minute chunk, truthful I was like, “I’m gonna bash this country today.” And erstwhile I’m alone, I deliberation I would conscionable beryllium like, “What’s my feeling today?” And past it would instrumentality 8 hours, and I would get the aforesaid scene. At a definite point, erstwhile you’re penning a novel, you conscionable request to decorativeness it. You can’t conscionable feel your mode through.

“I mean, it’s precise hard to constitute a 2nd book. So it helped to consciousness similar you’re not alone.”

AF: I consciousness similar determination was a infinitesimal Jade started cracking the whip a small spot astatine work. We started having timed breaks. Before that, the magnitude of the breaks successful betwixt moving was purely based connected vibes!

AG: Who was successful complaint of making the poms longer?

AF: Did they utilized to beryllium 30 minutes? 25? That wasn’t capable time.

JCH: Well, I person to accidental it’s precise inspiring arsenic the idiosyncratic who hasn’t finished their caller to spot each of you guys get there, and present your books are each coming retired this fall. Can you speech astir however it feels to not lone person written these books together, but to beryllium successful the aforesaid work season?

JC: It’s truthful overmuch fun! What a weird astonishment and treat. When I published the archetypal book, I lone knew 1 different idiosyncratic who had ever written a book. I didn’t cognize immoderate different writers. I hadn’t gotten an MFA. I didn’t person friends wherever you get the behind-the-scenes communicative of however the publication was written.

AG: Yeah, due to the fact that we were determination erstwhile the worldly was made, you know? When I had the archetypal publication out, determination were radical that I would spot who came retired astatine the aforesaid clip arsenic me, and I was like, they indispensable person done thing amended than me. But each of america were unneurotic erstwhile this worldly was each getting cooked. I cognize we each worked hard. Are you and Julie going to travel retired successful the aforesaid season?

JCH: I anticipation so!

AG: Is our work affecting you guys?

JC: Yeah, person you been nervous?

JCH: Oh, it’s truthful overmuch amusive erstwhile it’s not happening to you. None of the anxiety.

XJW: Yeah, it’s way much fun!

JC: Really?

XJW: It makes maine consciousness similar it is imaginable for maine to decorativeness penning the 2nd book. Watching you 3 bash it, it wasn’t similar I got the spark and I conscionable abruptly rushed the extremity of this book. It takes time.

“This was a assemblage of friends that, adjacent if I hadn’t finished my 2nd book, I would inactive beryllium truly grateful for.”

JC: No, it’s a slog for everybody.

JCH: We would ever speech precise organically astir problems that we’re having successful our books that we wanted to solve, but it ever felt similar we were conscionable gathering up arsenic friends. And we met up truthful overmuch extracurricular of doing pomodoros too. A batch of times we would spell consecutive to blessed hr aft writing, oregon we would devour meal together, oregon we would spell to literate events together. There’s truthful overmuch we cognize astir each other, similar having to instrumentality attraction of kids, household stuff, trying to get jobs, dating, moving connected screenplays, going connected transportation meetings oregon each of the different things that travel up. Being a writer is conscionable a tiny portion of the full picture, to me, of our precise affluent and precise nourishing friendship.

XJW: One happening you guys taught me, which I wouldn’t person learned extracurricular of this, was erstwhile Jean got her leafage proofs back, you were really having amusive doing your leafage proofs astatine pomodoros. I ever thought leafage proofs were axenic torture. And past you guys were making it truthful fun, successful a bully mood. That’s the past portion of editing the publication earlier it comes out, you’re not expected to deliberation of it arsenic the worst chore ever. When we were moving together, I was ever successful a bully mood. I’m going to get done this chore. And then, you know, person a drink.

JC: Oh, yes, having treats successful immoderate mode is good.

JCH: How did we commencement making Little Dom’s our main penning office? Because we started astatine Alcove, and we tried different places.

AF: On the weekends Julie brought her kids there, I brought excavation there. So it wasn’t similar we were conscionable determination during weekdays, working. And conscionable talking to the radical who enactment there, Danny, Laura, Noah, Emily. And besides ever being, like, if you request maine to move, archer maine to get the f— retired of here. Not being entitled to the space. Because, I mean, we should admit that it’s not what you’re expected to beryllium doing, opening your laptop astatine a restaurant!

AG: I deliberation they were charmed by the information that we were each friends, too.

JCH: OK, past question. What has been your favourite portion of this pomodoro penning acquisition and being successful this group?

JC: The sheer pleasance of making up stories astir radical portion sitting determination with different radical who are truthful bully astatine making up stories is conscionable truthful fun.

AG: This was the archetypal person radical that I had successful L.A. That’s truly important. Some radical don’t person that, a radical of friends that they tin bent retired with regularly. Like, I person a batch of friends, present and there. But this was a assemblage of friends that, adjacent if I hadn’t finished my 2nd book, I would inactive beryllium truly grateful for.

AF: I deliberation the happening that made maine recognize however overmuch amusive pomodoros felt similar is erstwhile I had to truly fell to decorativeness the book. I was like, oh, this is hell! I wrote truthful galore thousands of words, but I’m conscionable unsocial astatine home, making my backmost hurt, hunched implicit my desk. But I conscionable needed to spell a small feral.

XJW: I consciousness similar I couldn’t person imagined different mode to reemerge into the world, aft the pandemic. Everything was there, relationship and ma proposal and making Friday nighttime plans, and we could riff disconnected of each different and speech astir everything. All my favourite things. Even if thing other was going well, I had this space.

Jean Chen Ho is the writer of “Fiona and Jane.” She was calved successful Taiwan and lives successful Los Angeles.