One Star Reviews by Laura Hankin

 LUCY BURDETTE:  Laura Hankin's books are perfect summer reading, so if you haven't read her yet, you're in for a treat! Welcome Laura!

LAURA HANKIN: I still remember the first one-star review I ever received. It happened almost a decade ago. Back then, I hadn’t yet learned that Goodreads isn’t a particularly healthy place for authors to hang out, so I spent far too much time lurking on the page for my debut novel. With each complimentary review that rolled in, I let myself believe that, despite the book’s small printing and the lack of media attention it had received, I was at the start of a long and healthy career, my talent undeniable!

And then a big, bright one-star review popped up, calling the book “stunningly boring and pedestrian,” plunging me into self-doubt and somehow making me forget every compliment I'd gotten.

It’s amazing how long criticism can stay with us, isn’t it? Why is it so easy to push aside the nice things that people have told you in favor of the mean ones? I’ve received countless five-star reviews in the years since, and yet this is still the only one I can recite word-for-word.

I even made a music video about it for the release of my new book, and some author friends joined in for cameos, because it turns out that we all have a… special attachment to our one-star reviews.

I think sometimes we assume that the people who criticize us are the only ones telling us the truth. Socially, it’s so much easier to make nice. So if someone bothers to criticize us, it must really mean something, right? But the thing is, a critique is only one person’s truth. A gushing compliment might be somebody else’s. Everyone has different taste, different things that bother them, different things they love. So if you try to please every single person, you’ll never do a thing.

Over the years, I’ve found people I trust to give me constructive feedback on my writing — friends, my editor, my agent — and I let their critiques push me to be better. Of course, sometimes it’s difficult to ignore the other critics, like the time I had to walk down the aisle at my friend’s wedding with a man who’d given my book a one-star rating on Goodreads. (We were the maid of honor and best man, so there was no avoiding each other.) But even that criticism turned out to be an unexpected gift. It provided me for the perfect setup for my new novel, ONE-STAR ROMANCE.

How do you deal with criticism? Do you tend to hold onto it, or are you able to let it go pretty easily? And have you ever found criticism to be a good thing?

About ONE-STAR ROMANCE: A struggling writer is forced to walk down the aisle at her best friend's wedding with a man who gave her novel a one-star review in this fresh, emotional romantic comedy. Though this maid of honor and best man would prefer to never see each other again after the reception ends, they're forced together over the course of a decade each time their best friends celebrate a new life milestone. Through housewarmings and christenings, triumphs and tragedies, these two grapple with their own life choices, their changing friendships, and whether your harshest critic can become your perfect match. 

Author bio: Laura Hankin is the author of Happy & You Know It, A Special Place for Women, and The Daydreams. Her musical comedy has been featured in publications like The New York Times and The Washington Post, and she is developing projects for film and TV. She lives in Washington DC, where she once fell off a treadmill twice in one day.

Treadmills, and the Stories We Tell About Ourselves @LauraHankin

LUCY BURDETTE: You will have met today's guest before because I loved her first two books, HAPPY AND YOU KNOW IT and A SPECIAL PLACE FOR WOMEN. She has a new book out this week and we're delighted to have her back--welcome Laura!

 LAURA HANKIN: Recently, during a podcast interview, the host asked me about my author bio. In addition to listing my writing work, my bio also mentions that I once fell off a treadmill twice in one day. As we laughed over the anecdote, I started thinking about the stories we tell about ourselves, and how they change over time.

First, the treadmill details. I was in high school and, as an anxious kid, worried that I wasn’t “well-rounded” enough to get into a good college because I didn’t do a sport. This was me back then, preparing to go on a long walk, the extent of my athletic ability.

But I thought maybe I could learn to run, and join the cross-country team. So after school one day, my friends and I went to the gym, and I tried out a treadmill. A few minutes in, I was feeling good, fantasizing about my sure-to-be-successful running career. And then I tripped over my shoelace.

I grabbed onto the treadmill’s handlebars while the belt dragged me backwards, the machine making a horrific squealing sound. Everyone turned to watch as I finally let go, flying off the back and collapsing in a heap on the gym floor. It was the most embarrassing moment of my life. But I’d read in a magazine that in moments of shame, you should dust yourself off and try again. So, determined, I stood up and got back on that treadmill, ready to show everyone that I wasn’t daunted! 

But I didn’t realize that you couldn’t just step back on to a fast-moving treadmill. I immediately fell off again, at which point the kind older man next to me said, “Maybe you should consider trying something else for a while?”

I went to the locker room and cried. I went back home and cried. I felt completely ashamed about it for weeks, and hoped I’d never have to talk about it again.

But maybe a month or two later, I was getting food with some classmates, and someone asked me about it. And instead of crying or covering my face, I told them. Somehow, it was fun, spinning it all out, including the most ridiculous details, making the listeners laugh. I felt an unexpected power, taking back the story. And now, it’s one of my favorite anecdotes about myself, so much so that I include it in my author bio! 

To be clear, I know that falling off a treadmill (twice!) is no big deal. But it’s an example of how we all go through tough things, and it can help to remind ourselves that someday, our current mess will make a really good story. I feel this way now about some past break-ups, career failures, and so much more. How wonderful, how healing, when you can take something that caused you pain, and tell it to other people to make them laugh, for catharsis, or to help others (and yourself) feel less alone. 

Have you found this to be true in your own life? And do you have any similar “treadmill moments," things you like to talk about now even though they once made you feel bad? If so, I’d love to hear about them in the comments. And thank you to the Jungle Red writers for having me today!

Bio: Laura Hankin is the author of The Daydreams, Happy & You Know It and A Special Place for Women. Her musical comedy has been featured in publications like The New York Times and The Washington Post, and she is developing projects for film and TV. She lives in Washington DC, where she once fell off a treadmill twice in one day.

The Daydreams synopsis: A deliciously entertaining novel about the stars of a popular teen show from the early 2000s—and the reunion special, thirteen years after their scandalous flameout, that will either be their last chance at redemption, or destroy them all for good.

Back in 2004, The Daydreams had it all: a cast of innocent-seeming teenagers acting and singing their hearts out, amazing ratings, and a will-they-or-won’t-they romance that steamed up fan fiction forums. Then, during the live season two finale, it all imploded, leaving everyone scrambling to understand why.

Afterward, the four stars went down very different paths. But now the fans are demanding a reunion special. The stars all have private reasons to come back: forgiveness, revenge, a second chance with a first love. But as they tentatively rediscover the magic of the original show, old secrets threaten to resurface—including the real reason behind their downfall.

Will this reunion be a chance to make things right? Or will it be the biggest mess the world has ever seen? No matter what, the ratings will be wild.

Please Meet Laura Hankin!

LUCY BURDETTE: Some weeks ago, on one of our 'what we're reading' days, I mentioned how much I enjoyed the new novel A SPECIAL PLACE FOR WOMEN. I contacted the author, Laura Hankin, and I'm delighted that she agreed to guest on Jungle Red so you all could meet her too! Welcome Laura!

 LAURA HANKIN: Writing can be a lonely profession. You spend much of your day thinking about made-up people. So I’ve been especially excited to start interacting with real people again now that I’m vaccinated. Hugging friends and family has been wonderful, of course. But I’ve also rediscovered something I hadn’t realized I’d missed: the brief moments of connection with strangers or people I barely know. 

Some might consider these interactions to be a form of much-dreaded small talk. But I think of them as “snacks.” Sure, they don’t nourish you in the same way that time with loved ones does. You don't technically need them. But these moments of bite-sized intimacy can make your life richer, giving it an unexpected flavor, even if only for a little while. 

I’d been looking forward to experiencing all sorts of snack interactions on my book tours, but those got moved online because of the pandemic. (Naturally, I turned my sadness about that into a music video.)  

So now that I’m no longer worried that every stranger I meet might infect me, I’ve been throwing myself back in with gusto. I chat with the man who oversees the repairs and renovations in our building. Somehow, we’ve gotten stuck only talking to each other about toilets (we’ve had one conversation about his experience with fancy toilets at a resort in Thailand, another about his preference for bidets), but I don’t care! I love it!

The other day, a child on the street asked me if trains were cool, I said yes, and we very seriously made “choo-choo” noises at each other for a bit as his dad looked on. A woman outside the coffee shop introduced me to her enormous, elderly golden retriever, telling me all about the dog while he sat sweetly on my foot. I stopped to admire the garden of a house I always love passing on my walks, and another walker stopped too. The house’s owner came outside and, delighted by our interest, invited us to smell all the different flowers while he told us about them. Each of these moments shook me out of my own thoughts, and left me buzzing with admiration for how lovely other humans can be.

Sure, there are moments I’m reminded that not every snack interaction will be good, like the Uber ride I took to get some scary medical tests (spoiler alert: turns out I’m fine!). The driver saw where I was going and decided to spend the whole ride lecturing me about how positive thinking was the only thing that could really cure cancer, and I thought that maybe I'd like to never meet another new human again.

But overall, I’m a big fan of these moments. And, in a way, they help with my writing too. They’re a reminder of just how many stories there are in the world, of how everyone has their own struggles and quirks and joys. I’ve always loved creating expansive worlds in my books, like the clubhouse filled with the NYC elite in A Special Place for Women. My real-world interactions help remind me to have empathy for even the smallest characters in my books. Even if they only have a moment to shine on the page, I could probably write a whole novel about each and every one of them.

Do you enjoy these kinds of "snack" interactions, or do they feel too small-talky? Have you had any in particular (now or pre-pandemic, if you're not yet feeling ready to re-engage with strangers) that stand out to you?

A Special Place for Women synopsis: 

It's a club like no other. Only the most important women receive an invitation. But one daring reporter is about to infiltrate this female-run secret society of self-proclaimed "girlbosses," where the bewitching members may be far more powerful than she ever imagined. A funny, shocking page-turner, A Special Place for Women is one of Good Morning America's Summer Reads picks, and is currently being adapted for television.

Bio:

Laura Hankin is the author of A Special Place for Women and Happy & You Know It. Her musical comedy has been featured in The Washington Post, Funny or Die, and more. She splits her time between NYC, where she has performed off-Broadway and onscreen, and Washington DC, where she once fell off a treadmill twice in one day.

Quick, What One Book are You Reading This Week?

 LUCY BURDETTE: Okay, we are all officially crazed right now--usually we try to take turns! Sorry about the delay...but here's today's question: What are you reading and do you recommend it? Here's mine, A SPECIAL PLACE FOR WOMEN--one young woman, jobless and reeling from grief decides that infiltrating the most exclusive women's club in New York City is a good idea...the writing is great and I'm holding my breath for Jillian. How about you?