Last week’s edition: Amy Brown
Dear friends,
If you read last week’s – and very first –Tea With My Famous Friends, you may want to scroll on past this introduction where I explain why I started this series. If you are new here, welcome!
In the few years I’ve been on Substack, I’ve met so many fascinating people. Writers, musicians, authors, poets, journalists, astrologists, tarot card readers – the list goes on. I’ve read endless great newsletters, short stories, political pieces, essays and interviews.
It’s because Alisa Kennedy-Jones reached out to interview me on Substack that I have a book coming out in March next year with Empress Editions, and it’s possibly because Ingrid Haring-Mendes had previously interviewed me on Substack that Alisa came across my work. I don’t know. What I do know is that my confidence has grown thanks to other people’s support and encouragement. I might not have fallen in love with poetry had someone not clicked on the heart and left a sweet comment. It’s hard to find the courage to keep publishing when you feel like you’re simply sending your words into a supermassive black hole. And while most of us on here are by no means famous, many of you whom I see on here regularly are now famous to me. I see your names, read your work, and appreciate how you show up and share your words with the world.
Which is why I would like to introduce you to each other.
Tea With My Famous Friends is a new series on For Fun and Then Some – seven questions, one fabulous Substack person at a time.
I have no agenda, and I don’t know the first thing about algorithms. I got curious. I wanted my questions to be light-hearted and fun to answer, and began reaching out to people I already admire.
This week I am delighted to welcome my fellow Empress Margie Zable-Fisher, whose path to publication will tug at your heartstrings. Bittersweet warm-fuzzies guaranteed.
(Also, I want Margie’s not so pointless talent!!!)
Question 1
If someone walked into a room and your life’s soundtrack was playing, what would it be? Why are those tracks special?
This is such a great question because it brings back so many memories.
I was a young child in the early 1970s, and I loved playing singles on my record player. The ones I remember are “I Think I Love You” by The Partridge Family, “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing,” by Leo Sayer, and “Crocodile Rock,” by Elton John. As a preteen, I remember my friend Denise and I singing the songs from the Grease album.
Around age 12, I became obsessed with roller skating, and Michael Jackson’s songs from his album Off the Wall were often playing at the roller rink.
I had a teenage boyfriend who bought me Pat Benatar’s album Precious Time and I played that often until I broke up with him 😂. I had a high school friend who later became a boyfriend who made me mix tapes, with all kinds of hits from the 1980s.
I was part of the MTV era, so I listened to most of the hits from the 1980s and 1990s.
Today I listen to modern country music, some older country music, classic rock, and music from the 70s and 80s.
Some songs that transport me back to specific events and thoughts include “Crazy for You,” by Madonna, “You Bring Me Joy,” by Anita Baker (our wedding song), and “How Do You Like Me Now?” by Toby Keith.
Question 2:
Is there something you never finished, and does it still haunt you?
No, but I am haunted by all the questions I wish I had asked my mother when she was alive.
Question 3:
Did you ever have a crush on someone who ended up in your work? Would they know it was them, and do you care?
No, but I do have a childhood bully whose name I used in The Cabernet Club. He was a terrible kid, and he’s an obnoxious character in the novel. I have gotten an absurd amount of delight from that. And it reinforces the power that we have as writers. The pen is mightier than the sword.
Question 4:
Do you have an absolutely pointless talent you are extremely proud of?
I have parkdar (parking radar). I can always find a great parking space.
Question 5:
What are you reading, listening to, and watching that you absolutely adore?
I’m constantly reading, listening to music, and watching TV and movies, so that answer changes daily. Today’s answer is I recently read and loved Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth and The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout. As I’m writing this, I’m listening to hits by Dan + Shay, an American country music duo. I love British TV and films, especially dramas, crime shows, and thrillers. If it’s on BritBox, I’ve probably watched and enjoyed it. One of my favorite movies of all time is A Room With a View.
Question 6:
What are you still waiting for?
For The Cabernet Club to become a TV sitcom or movie.
Question 7:
Is there a question I haven’t asked you that you’d like to answer, or something you’d like to talk about? This is your opportunity to be bold and to brag, so don’t hold back!
I’d like to share how The Cabernet Club came to be.
The Cabernet Club was more than 20 years in the making.
My mother, author Rona S. Zable, came up with the idea for the novel more than two decades ago. Over the years, she revised and refined the manuscript, and I became her first reader, offering feedback and encouragement along the way. After she moved to South Florida, she drew inspiration from her own experiences, mine, and stories she heard to create the colorful world of Palmetto Pointe, Banyan Beach, and the women who became The Cabernet Club.
A few days before my mother passed away in February 2023, I made her a promise: I would get her novel published.
At first, I thought I simply needed to make a few edits and find an agent or publisher. I quickly discovered that, although I’d spent more than 20 years as a freelance writer, fiction was an entirely different craft.
I took three months away from my regular writing work to learn everything I could about writing fiction. I listened to podcasts, read books, researched online, hired a developmental editor, and immersed myself in the process. By the time I finished, I had added more than 20,000 words, introduced new characters and plotlines, tightened the timeline, and completely reworked the opening.
It was also a time of profound grief. Many days, I wrote through tears, but working on the novel became a way to honor my mother and keep my promise to her.
Here is the summary of the novel:
Debbie Gordon has six months to get a life.
When her only child and family move away, long-divorced legal secretary Debbie Gordon can finally leave her sleepy New England hometown and retire to Florida. Her helicopter daughter has other ideas, but they finally agree Debbie can use the six months on her lease to make a life in Florida. If not, she must move in with her daughter’s family in Delaware, most likely as their unpaid nanny.
Debbie travels to Florida with high hopes, but her condo community and its residents are not what she expected. Luckily, a chance encounter leads Debbie to a strong new friendship with two women, Maria and Fran.
Helped by her new friends, Debbie navigates the lows and highs of life in South Florida, but the clock is ticking. Will Debbie finally be able to get a life?
After a year of pitching agents and publishers, I found a small, independent press, and The Cabernet Club, co-authored by Rona S. Zable and Margie Zable Fisher, was published in January, 2025.
Shortly before the novel was published, I reconnected with Alisa Kennedy Jones, whom I had interviewed years earlier for an article for Fortune about menopause parties. She read The Cabernet Club, loved it, and generously featured it on her Substack.
A few months later, I learned that Alisa had launched Empress Editions, a publishing house dedicated to books authored by women in midlife. As we talked, it became clear that we shared the same vision for The Cabernet Club and its future.
I decided to move The Cabernet Club to Empress Editions, which will also publish the next two books in the series. It feels like the perfect home for these characters and the stories still to come.
We updated and increased the humor in the Empress Editions version of The Cabernet Club, which I call The Cabernet Club 2.0, and it was published in February, 2026.
Looking back, what began as my mother’s dream became my promise. And that promise not only brought The Cabernet Club into the world—it unexpectedly turned me into a novelist, too.
Margie Zable Fisher
Author of The Cabernet Club, available here
Substack: https://margiezablefisher.substack.com/subscribe
Professional Member, American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA)
https://margiezfisher.com/
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/margiezablefisher/
I hope you enjoyed this week’s Tea With My Famous Friends, and will buy The Cabernet Club for yourself, and for friends you think it will appeal to. I’ve read it and it’s a real treat.
I must also share Alisa Kennedy-Jones newsletter, which I woke up to this morning and immediately felt surrounded by golden light radiating from Alisa’s beautiful, generous heart. Read it to hear all the Empress news, and listen to the rousing Empress Anthem 👑
Hugs,
Francesca xx
Scroll down for more music…
And here is a sneak preview of Emilio Caliente’s new single, Corazón Loco, recorded, live in Barcelona 😎
😎❤️😎❤️😎❤️😎❤️😎❤️😎❤️😎❤️😎❤️😎❤️😎❤️😎
What a terrific exchange and tribute to Margie and Alisa. You are such a love, Francesca!
Thanks so much for this, Francesca!