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This week on The Resilient Writers Radio Show, Rhonda is joined by Robert Boyle and Joe Cimenti, longtime friends who co-authored Thai Hut Tuesdays—a collection of short, heartfelt stories that’s meant to be both comforting and genuinely funny.
They describe the book as “Chicken Soup for the Soul meets Nate Bargatze”: emotional, relatable, and light enough to make you laugh at the things that once felt overwhelming.
The idea for the book began years ago—around 2006—after Bob and Joe spent decades doing leadership and sales training together. Over and over, they heard the same feedback: people might not remember the bullet points… but they always remembered the stories. That insight became the seed for the book.
What started as a leadership-focused project (and even took on a spiritual angle at one point) eventually evolved into what it needed to be all along: real stories from real life—parenting, marriage, work, mistakes, growth, and the everyday moments that shape us.
The title comes from a weekly ritual: meeting at a restaurant on Tuesdays, with a mix of people across ages, swapping life experiences and wisdom in community. That spirit of connection runs through the whole conversation. Bob (a psychologist in private practice) and Joe (a corporate executive) share how life’s responsibilities didn’t make writing easy—especially with four children each—but they kept returning to the project year after year, recommitting whenever life allowed.
Rhonda also asks about the practical side of co-writing: how did they actually do it? Bob and Joe share that they split the stories (each wrote half), and they also made space for intentional writing retreats—sometimes literally setting up shop in the common area of a Courtyard Marriott, laptops out, writing, talking through drafts, and cheering each other on.
Their collaboration worked because their styles are different—but compatible—and because they built the book around a consistent element: the lesson learned at the end of each story.
A big turning point was getting support from book coach Meg Calvin, who helped the project finally materialize. Bob and Joe talk candidly about how powerful it was to have someone in their corner who could guide them, simplify the publishing process, and help them believe, “Yes—you can do this.”
By the end of the episode, what lingers is the heart of Thai Hut Tuesdays: these are bite-sized, 3–5 minute stories you can pick up when you’re spinning, stressed, or doubting yourself—and come away remembering that so much of what we go through is shared human territory.
