THE LITTLE CITY FIVE: Jo Piazza

1.What are your favorite books from childhood/teen/adult years?
Everything Judy Blume ever wrote. I still re-read all of the Fudge books sometimes when I need a pick me up. I was an obsessive Nancy Drew fan until I discovered the dark and dirty world of VC Andrews at age 12. You can never undo what Flowers in the Attic does to a pre-pubescent girl’s brain. As a grown-up, I read anything and everything. When I'm writing I read one book a week to keep me focused. I recently went on a Margaret Atwood kick after re-reading Handmaidens Tale. I'm working my way through her entire body of work right now which is both delightful and convincing me the dystopian future is close at hand.

2. What do you think of when you hear “Hoboken”?
Frank Sinatra, of course! Also, Little City Books because I don't know much about Hoboken, but my friend is constantly posting photos from the adorable kid's part of the store.

3. Do you ever read books over and over? Which ones?
Re-reading books from childhood feels like comfort food. I go back to Laura Ingalls Wilder over and over again.

4. Your new book is called How To Be Married. If you had to give newlyweds just one piece of advice, what would it be?
Create your own life outside the marriage. Too many people think that when you get married, you morph into one person. That's bullshit and it's dangerous. You need to cultivate a strong life, community and identity outside of your marriage in order to keep your marriage strong. Plus, it’ll help you maintain your sanity when times get tough.

5.  Being an author is harder than people think. Can you tell us how you stay motivated to write? If someone thinks they have a book in them, what should they do?
It's hard! I always say it is one of the loneliest things to do, except maybe tollbooth operator or scientist in the Arctic. You live in your head most of the time as a writer and sometimes your head is a f----d up place to be.
My biggest thing is discipline. I forced myself to write part of my book every single day, no matter what. Right now I'm working on a new novel and most days I'll write five pages. Even if they're terrible I write them. And I don't look at them right away. There's always something usable in there. But more than that, writing becomes a habit. If you take a few days off the manuscript starts to become this demon that you're terrified of meeting in the morning.