Opening Chapter with Authors Jo Piazza, Sara Goodman Confino, and Soon Wiley

Three upcoming podcast guests on where they've been and where they're going

The Zibby Team, Jo Piazza, and Sara Goodman Confino

Jun 11, 2026

These quotes excerpted from Totally Booked with Zibby interviews are part of the Between Chapters project, inspired by the book. What chapters are you between? How did you get from one chapter to another? Share your story here.

Jo Piazza, The Parisian Heist

What Chapters Are You Between?

I'm out of the baby phase, which I think is really, really interesting because I have been kind of in breeding mode for about ten years. I have a nine-year-old, a six-year-old and a three-year-old, who is now finally much more of a self-sufficient human.

I have never felt so much freedom over my body. They're still touching me all the time, literally trying to, like, climb back inside of me. But at the same time, that baby phase is over and I'm not going back to that.

Seeing the world through my kids’ eyes just sparks so much in my brain.

I feel free — and I feel like I've let go of a lot. And that's amazing because I feel more creative than ever. I talk to so many young women who are really nervous about having kids because they're like, what if I can't still be an artist? What if I can't still be a creative person in the world? I've gotten so much more creative and prolific after becoming a mother because seeing the world through my kids’ eyes just sparks so much in my brain.

To that end, I have new news, which is like breaking news I haven't talked about yet: I am writing a middle grade series.

What Chapters Are You Between?

I left my teaching career. We’re hoping that's a permanent change at this point. It always depends on book sales. And I'm definitely in the mom phase right now. My boys are six and nine years old.

Women are constantly reinventing ourselves. We go from being our own people to suddenly we have jobs and we're that person, and then we get married and we're the wifey person, and then we have kids and we're mom or bruh, as my six-year-old calls me these days. And you kind of get lost in there sometimes.

Is this still me inside this mom shell?

I'm just starting to be like, wait, am I still in here? What do I still like to do? Can I have hobbies? Can I go do things? Is this still me inside this mom shell?

I'm also working and writing full time, and I'm going to have two books out next year, so I am working a lot. It is hard to kind of find time to figure out what that next chapter is going to be. And do I exist outside of my children and writing?

What Chapters Are You Between?

I am transitioning creatively; this book is very different from my first book which was more of a mystery and a self-discovery book about identity. This is a feel-good romantic beach read. Creatively, I'm wondering what my third book will be about. I have some ideas. But when I was working on my second book, I had a couple of different directions that I could go in. And this is the direction that was the most fun for me. It was the one I wanted to keep working on past 80 pages or wherever it is where you usually hit that wall.

I’m trying to figure out how to find time to write while I’m giving her as much attention as I can.

Also, I was writing and finishing this book during the birth of my daughter. So that was also a big change. I'm trying to figure out how to find time to write while I'm giving her as much attention as I can.

What chapter are you in? Share your story here.