A lovely conversation with Jennifer E. Smith, author of The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, The Geography of You and Me, and Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between, and her most recent novel, Windfall. She talks about the teacher who made all the difference, and some key questions, like: are we all always writing the same story? And can you be an optimist and believe in fate?

Jennifer E Smith Show Notes

Lauren Graham

Mary Higgins Clark

John Grisham

The Babysitters' Club by Ann M. Martin

Saddle Club by Bonnie Bryant

Black Stallion by Walter Farley

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

Frederick Busch

Elizabeth Strout

Justin Cronin

Ha Jin

Amanda "Blinky" Urban at ICM (agent)

Toni Morrison

Haruki Murakami

Donna Tartt

E. L. Doctorow

Cormac McCarthy

Jennifer Egan

Kazuo Ishiguro

Richard Ford

Anna Quindlen

The Keep by Jennifer Eagan

The Lay of the Land by Richard Ford

Jennifer Joel (Jenn's agent)

Looking for Alaska by John Green

Sarah Dessen

Emily Meehan (editor)

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

The Privileges by Jonathan Dee

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Maurene Goo (listen to her First Draft interviews here and here)

Sliding Doors (movie)

Julie Buxbaum (listen to her First Draft interview here)