Kiara L'Alegriya Houdis has spent her career writing for the stage.

She earned a Tony nomination for In The Heights and a Pulitzer for her play, Water by the Spoonful.

Now, at 48 years old, she's publishing

her first novel, The White Hot. It follows a story of a young mom, April Soto, who sets out on a

journey of self-discovery. And it is, to be fully transparent, my favorite book that I read this

year. Hira and I talk about the beauty of having a first when you are mid-career, where fear

showed up in her earlier writing, and as she ages, her life is getting smaller, but a creative

freedom keeps growing. Hi, friend.

Hello.

I am so excited for this conversation.

Me too.

Second time on.

Second time on.

It's a limited club, second timers.

I asked back because I love what you do and how you engage the conversation.

And I loved this book. Tell me how April Soto came to you.

April Soto. How did she come to me?

It's hard to pinpoint the moment of inspiration, but she started emerging around 2012.

I was listening to Alonis Morissette's album, Jagged Little Pill. The thing that I liked about that album was, it had been around forever, but I wasn't that familiar with it.

This musician, she's very

rock and roll. She's very rebellious. She's angry. She's horny. She's funny. She's curious about God.

I liked all those things mixed together. And I think April Soto kind of bounced out of that

...