High Five with Jo Piazza
The bestselling author of The Sicilian Inheritance on five things she can’t live without.
Each month, I ask an author I love to share five recommendations they have for other writers, whatever is the wind beneath their wings when they sit down to write. This month I reached out to bestselling author
because I knew her sixth book was about to be released. The Sicilian Inheritance has been hailed as one of the most anticipated books of 2024 and the book of the summer. It’s a twisty-turny adventure and murder mystery filled with delicious food and wine, gorgeous scenery and intriguing characters. It comes out April 2nd (be sure to pre-order on Bookshop) and I can't wait for you all to read it. Also, you should all definitely subscribe to her Substack, Over the Influence, here:
1. Oak Essentials Balm
I am not an expensive face stuff person. I am a "use whatever is in the house" person unless I go to Europe and I get the good (but inexpensive French pharmacy face lotions and oils). But Oak Street by Jenni Kayne sent me a face balm to try out recently and I fell madly in love. I looked like a glowy twenty-something who just had amazing sex and got a raise in the same day. I used it so fast but then my friend Casey got me another pot because she is my gifting soulmate so I don't need to worry about running out and I can continue to glow like an oversexed 25 year old.
The Finlay Donovan Series
My friend Flannery owns a bookshop in Virginia called Bluebird Bookstop and sometimes she sends me books she thinks I will love. She got me started on the Finlay series from Elle Cosimano and I am hooked, so hooked that I am driving to Virginia to be at the launch of Elle's latest Finlay installment. The book is sexy and sassy and just pure fun. It follows Finlay, a recent divorcee and a mom of two young kids, as she gets wrapped up in a murder for hire plot with the local mafia. That's all you need to know to start. That and it will have you snort laughing on every other page. I love Flannery at Bluebird so much that she is doing all of my signed and personalized pre-orders for The Sicilian Inheritance through her shop.
3. Watching TV
I have this problem. I don’t let myself properly relax. There is so much to do right now with this book launch (and I feel like so much falls on me) that I have divided myself into two modes, work or parent. And if I am doing anything else I feel like I’m failing. I know I need to stop. I need to try to build in time to relax. Even when I work out I’m on my phone pitching stories about the book or posting social media about it. I have actually put watching TV on my to do list. I know that sounds crazy but I’m in a phase where if it isn’t on my to do list I’m not gonna do it. Right now I’m watching an easy breezy sitcom called Ghosts about an NY couple that moves into an upstate B and B haunted by quirky ghosts. It’s a hoot and the episodes are short and sweet and silly. I’m also watching The Last Thing He Ever Told Me (I adored the book by Laura Dave) so that I can relax into the gorgeous vistas of Sausalito houseboats and Jennifer Garner’s beach waves.
4. Katie Parla's Food of the Italian Islands
I’m currently cooking my way through Katie Parla’s Food of the Italian Islands. When I was writing Sicilian Inheritance I was hungry all the time. The book is filled with so much incredible Italian food and I got the bug for cooking more and more of it. Katie is a foodie and a chef and an author and a tour guide based in Rome and I want to try to book a restaurant tour with her when I’m there in a couple of weeks. Her Instagram is super swoony and her podcast will transport you to Italy. All of her recipes are perfection and I am trying to do them justice.
5. Saltete
Speaking of being transported, one of my greatest pleasures is planning trips. I used to be a travel journalist which means I planned trips for work for other people. Now I want someone else to do the labor for me. One of my dearest friends Regan Stephens has launched a new platform for travel planning and itineraries called Saltete that takes all of the guesswork out of traveling to a new city. It is also very travel porny and such an incredible departure from the spam that many travel magazines and websites put out these days.
Photo by Andrea Cipriani Mecchi
Jo is the national and international bestselling author of We Are Not Like Them, You Were Always Mine, Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win, The Knockoff and How to Be Married. Her work has been published in ten languages in twelve countries and four of her books have been optioned for film and television. Jo's podcasts have garnered more than twenty-five million downloads and regularly top podcast charts. An editor, columnist and travel writer, her work has also appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, New York magazine, Marie Claire, Glamour and many other publications. She lives in Philly with her husband, Nick Aster and three feral children.
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Summer is not for being chained to your desk. Which is why I created Self Guided Summer, your chance to get the accountability, community and cheerleading every writer needs in a way that fits into your own schedule. There will be no mandatory classes. Instead, each Sunday you’ll receive an email in your inbox from me with inspirational prompts, musings on craft and a magical mystery box of optional readings and listenings to guide your practice for the week.
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Plant the seeds for the story you’ve been meaning to tell with me this spring. This interactive, 12-week workshop is for those who are just getting started, are early in the process, or are stuck and aren’t sure how to navigate the road ahead.
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Writers need to pitch editors to get their work noticed, but the skills needed to pitch an essay or article are vastly different than those needed to write one. In this four week class, we will learn the basics of pitching from how to know what editors are looking for to how to know which publications will be the best fit for your work. You will also have the opportunity to pitch your idea to a panel of editors in the final week of class and hear feedback about what works/what doesn’t from an insider’s perspective.
