Bustle Book Club
WithCentral Places, Cai deploys the familiar Hallmark movie plot to tell a different story.
Delia Cai never viewed herself as someone with main character energy.
One tweet changed that.
I just know shes about to fall in love with someone who owns a Christmas tree farm.
Im the bad city boyfriend, Im the villain here, theCentral Placesauthortells Bustle.
Id never seen myself in that kind of formula.
It’s not even that I watched a ton of Hallmark holiday movies.
Below, Cai reflects on Linsanity,Sex and the CitySeason 2, and her love of ginger.
What was that actually for him?
So it gets into this fictional athlete’s head.
But my honest answer is that I’m readingThe Body Keeps the Scoreright now.
It’s a hard read."
So I just read a little bit before bed.
Somehow, this magical contract was the secret.
I started treating the novel as this freelance project with billable hours.
I set a monthly goal where I was like, This month let’s do 20 hours.
Next month, let’s do 30.
I was logging them on a little Excel sheet billing nobody.
It was really silly.
I would have strep once a year.
It felt amazing and medicinal.
On her preferred working conditions:
My friend got me really into these standing desks from Fully.
I don’t know how people just work on a laptop screen.
That’s crazy to me.
I really love the first two [seasons] I dont know if thats a hot take!
but I think it sours towards the end.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity:
This article was originally published onFeb.
