Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s “Pop Culture Happy Hour,” wants to be clear that her third novel, Back After This, is not inspired by anyone she knows in real life. Well, except for the dog. “The Great Dane [Buddy] in the book is based on a real Great Dane that went to my dog’s day care who looks exactly like how the dog is described: giant black-and-white Great Dane and has a bandanna that says ‘Not a horse,’ ” she says, giving a shoutout to Buddy’s real-life inspiration, Jude.
As Back After This opens, podcast producer Cecily Foster has been dreaming of hosting her own show for ages. Her boss, Toby, has an idea that could be the key to bringing in revenue and staving off impending layoffs. The catch: It’s a dating show, and Cecily will be a host, but she’ll be paired with influencer-turned-dating coach Eliza Cassidy, who will set her up on a series of 20 blind dates, all of which will be recounted on-air. If Cecily plays ball, Toby will give her the chance to pitch a project she actually wants to host. But Eliza’s dating experiment might be doomed, as Cecily keeps running into the very cute Will and his dog, Buddy.
“My idea was to write the absolute most rom-com rom-com . . .”
“My idea was to write the absolute most rom-com rom-com, which is why it has these kinds of chance meetings,” Holmes explains. She cites the movie Serendipity, starring John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale, with its unbelievable chance encounters, and, naturally, the Nora Ephron classics. “The odds that these people would be in this position and bump into each other in the ways that they do are all very unlikely. But it’s amazing how much you will forgive when you like the characters and want good things for them.” (This writer was tempted to derail the conversation completely in favor of talking about favorite romantic comedies. Holmes also plugs the show Starstruck, about a regular woman who meets a movie star, in case any further recommendations are needed.)
There’s a cozy, anecdotal quality to Back After This, in which no one even comes close to being a truly Machiavellian villain. Instead, Holmes says she chooses to write about the way things are difficult even for people who are genuinely trying. Cecily’s boss and her jerk of an ex-boyfriend may do things that are at odds with Cecily’s goals, but their actions stem from trying to protect their own livelihoods and foster their careers. “And honestly, it’s less about those people than it is about people who try [but still] make errors, because that’s how an overwhelming majority of people are,” Holmes notes. Her characters feel very much like people you know: some acquaintance of your sister’s with a fascinating job, a best friend trying to determine the next step in their career or the cute neighbor down the street with the friendliest dog. How those people figure stuff out, how they move through their day-to-day moments, is what Holmes is most interested in.
While Eliza’s selections for the 20 first dates make sense on paper, very few grab Cecily’s attention enough to warrant a second one. “I think those dates are dealt with fairly quickly because they don’t make a huge impression on her,” Holmes explains. “If you’ve ever been on a so-so date . . . you struggle after the fact to remember the details because it’s all just small talk unless it sparks in some way.” Holmes admits she isn’t a huge believer in this kind of matchmaking, and that’s reflected in Cecily, who finds the setting of parameters, the guidance of a complete stranger and the revolving door of mediocre first dates to be lacking in the passion and spontaneity that she prefers.
But Cecily’s biggest relationship, the one that looms even larger than her 20 dates and connection with Will, is the one she has with her job. She loves her work in audio production, but she’s consistently held back by the fact, as Holmes puts it, that she’s just too good at the position she’s in, and her boss couldn’t possibly lose her by promoting her. “On the one hand, she’s really revered at her job, but she also has no ability to choose what she’s going to do,” Holmes says. “It’s something that many people have seen and experienced, and it causes people to have a fracture at a job that they love because there’s nowhere for them to go here.”
Holmes explains that Back After This and its evolution was partly inspired by news of a round of layoffs at her own company and how she thought about work and its role in people’s lives and identity. Both Cecily and Will (who is a photographer but also works as a waiter) struggle with how integral their jobs have become to their identities. Separating from a workplace or career path that is really enjoyable, but cannot offer you the growth or opportunities you need, can feel just as bad as a breakup. “I have a particular hope that people who are in this extraordinarily difficult environment for media jobs feel like I understood some of that insecurity,” Holmes says, “and some of that feeling of your work is not your worth and your job is not the same thing as your work anyway.”
“I feel like I have writing down to something that terrifies me slightly less than it did when I started doing it.”
Despite having a third novel hitting shelves, Holmes laughs at the thought of having mastered the art of crafting, writing and editing. “I feel like I have writing down to something that terrifies me slightly less than it did when I started doing it. I do think I have reached a point where I’m a little better than I used to be at believing that I will eventually get it to come together,” she says, adding that she’s the kind of writer that will do several—and this is stressed—big plot changes while editing. Holmes reveals that in the first iteration of Back After This, the podcast with Eliza never even got made and the book focused more on the pre-launch preparation. “Do I have it down to a science? Absolutely not. I am a little better at not freaking out in the middle when I don’t know how we’re going to fix it,” she says, though quickly follows up with a laugh, “I don’t know. I’m probably lying and I’ll still freak out.”
While Holmes’ novels so far have skewed toward romance, a genre label that she welcomes with open arms, she describes her current writing project as more of a family story. “I think it will be fun . . . if I can figure it out,” she adds. Her readers trust and know she will, however many freak-outs aside. They are eager to take comfort in the little pockets and slices of life of her characters as, despite whatever difficulties they may face, they still find the courage to try.
Photo of Linda Holmes by Cassidy DuHon.
