In Episode 66, Kate Stayman-London (author of One to Watch) talks about how The Bachelor / ette franchise inspired her book, diversity in the franchise, and shares her biggest fear before her book came out.

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Highlights

• How Kate got from writing for Hillary Clinton to writing fiction about reality TV.
• The novel Kate thought she was going to write before she ended up writing One to Watch.
• The Bachelor season Kate was watching when she got the idea for the book.
• Kate’s biggest fear about One to Watch before it came out.
• The real life Bachelor incident that caused her to have to take her fictionalized version of something similar out of the book.
• Random House’s legal department’s view of the book.
• What happened when she went on Reality Steve‘s podcast.
• Why Kate chose to focus on body type diversity in One to Watch rather than any of the other types of diversity (racial, sexuality, etc).
• The prejudice overweight women face in daily life.
• What changes Kate would like to see The Bachelor / ette franchise make re: body type diversity (and diversity in general).
• Kate answers listener questions.
• The book Kate feels is One to Watch‘s “big cousin.”

Kate’s Book Recommendations [37:50]

Two OLD Books She Loves

• Chemistry by Weike Wang | Buy from Amazon [38:09]
• The Grisha Series by Leigh Bardugo | Buy from Amazon [39:42]

Two NEW Books She Loves

• Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner | Buy from Amazon [42:16]
• Party of Two by Jasmine Guillory | Buy from Amazon [44:33]

One Book She DIDN’T LOVE

• Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin | Buy from Amazon [46:43]

One NEW RELEASE She’s Excited About

• Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline (Release Date: November 24, 2020) | Buy from Amazon [50:23]

Last 5 Star Book Kate Read [52:06]

• Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid | Buy from Amazon [51:42]

Other Books Mentioned

• One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [2:00]
• It’s Not Okay by Andi Dorfman | Buy from Amazon [9:38]
• Bachelor Nation by Amy Kauffman (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [9:38]
• Shrill by Lindy West | Buy from Amazon [29:29]
• The Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo | Buy from Amazon [39:48]
• Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo | Buy from Amazon [40:03]
• Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo | Buy from Amazon [40:03]
• Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo | Buy from Amazon [40:11]
• Hungry Heart by Jennifer Weiner (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [43:58]
• The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory | Buy from Amazon [41:12]
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson | Buy from Amazon [48:31]
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline | Buy from Amazon [50:32]

Other Links

• Kate’s podcast episode with Reality Steve

About Kate

Website | Instagram | Twitter

Kate is a novelist, screenwriter, and political strategist. She served as lead digital writer for Hillary Rodham Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and has written for notable figures ranging from President Obama and Malala Yousafzai to Anna Wintour and Cher. When not writing or traveling, Kate can be found obsessively ranking Taylor Swift songs, laughing loudly with friends over really good bottles of wine, and of course, watching reality TV. She lives in Los Angeles.

Next Episode

There will not be a new episode next week since the podcast is on a bi-weekly schedule.

The following week, there will be a full length episode featuring Kelly Jensen talking about libraries & COVID (airing September 30).