Moving is a process most people dread because it forces us to closely examine what we own and decide what really needs to be packed up, lugged around, then unpacked in a new home. Items we’d been content to let stockpile in a closet become another matter entirely when faced with storing them in boxes upon boxes.
In this episode, thriller author Rob Hart discusses how he went about downsizing twice within a few years after his divorce, and then upon remarriage, each time having to get real about what he took with him. As he says, he had to ask himself, “What do I care about carrying with me into this next phase of my life?”
Hart discusses the nuances of being a published author faced with a multiplying array of copies of his own books, including foreign editions. How do authors store the work that they’ve invested countless hours into? What do they do with all the extra copies they amass?
Hart is also an avid Lego enthusiast, dedicating days at a time to building items like a Lego typewriter, which he likes to display when he’s done, and shares this hobby with his daughter. What’s the draw of building Lego sets, and what’s Hart’s dream Lego purchase?
We also discuss Hart’s research process for his Assassins Anonymous series, whose latest title, Three Hitmen and a Baby, was released this week.
Click on “Transcript” on the top right to read an auto-generated transcript of this episode.
About our guest:
Rob Hart is the author of Three Hitmen and a Baby, The Medusa Protocol, Assassins Anonymous, The Paradox Hotel, The Warehouse, the Ash McKenna crime series, and is the co-author of Scott Free with James Patterson. He’s worked as a book publisher, a reporter, a political communications director, and a commissioner for the city of New York. Hart lives in Jersey City.
Rob Hart on Substack
Instagram: @robwhart1
Finders and Keepers is hosted by Rachel Kramer Bussel and is a production of Open Secrets Magazine. Thank you to Sound Off Network and Dan Schroeder for audio production support. If you like the podcast, we’d greatly appreciate if you’d leave a rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts and tell your friends about it to help us reach new listeners. Want to share your own stuff story, tell us who we should interview next, or share your own most treasured possession? Contact us at findersandkeeperspod@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at speakpipe.com/findersandkeepers
For more about our attachments to our belongings, read the personal essays in the Object-ives and Stuff-ed sections of Open Secrets Magazine at opensecretsmagazine.com, where you can also submit your own essays.
