Today my guest is Matt Haig, author of the new release How To Stop Time. In this episode we talk about his history as a writer, writing memoir, the inspiration for How To Stop Time, how he chose the time periods in the book, exploring what it means to age and whether living forever would be a good thing, having the film rights acquired by Benedict Cumberbatch, and much more.“The first rule is that you don’t fall in love,’ he said… ‘There are other rules too, but that is the main one. No falling in love. No staying in love. No daydreaming of love. If you stick to this you will just about be okay.'"“A quirky romcom dusted with philosophical observations….A delightfully witty…poignant novel.” —The Washington PostNamed one of the most anticipated books of 2018 by Entertainment Weekly, Esquire,HelloGiggles, and Bustle.Tom Hazard has a dangerous secret. He may look like an ordinary 41-year-old, but owing to a rare condition, he's been alive for centuries. Tom has lived history--performing with Shakespeare, exploring the high seas with Captain Cook, and sharing cocktails with Fitzgerald. Now, he just wants an ordinary life.So Tom moves back his to London, his old home, to become a high school history teacher--the perfect job for someone who has witnessed the city's history first hand. Better yet, a captivating French teacher at his school seems fascinated by him. But the Albatross Society, the secretive group which protects people like Tom, has one rule: Never fall in love. As painful memories of his past and the erratic behavior of the Society's watchful leader threaten to derail his new life and romance, the one thing he can't have just happens to be the one thing that might save him. Tom will have to decide once and for all whether to remain stuck in the past, or finally begin living in the present.How to Stop Time tells a love story across the ages - and for the ages - about a man lost in time, the woman who could save him, and the lifetimes it can take to learn how to live. It is a bighearted, wildly original novel about losing and finding yourself, the inevitability of change, and how with enough time to learn, we just might find happiness.Matt Haig is the author of the internationally bestselling memoir Reasons to Stay Alive, along with five novels, including The Humans and The Radleys, and several award-winning children’s books. His work has been translated into thirty languages. The fictional successor to Reasons to Stay Alive, HOW TO STOP TIME was spawned during Haig’s battle with depression and anxiety, which inspired the creation of his 400-year-old protagonist who experiences a warped sense of time making him “feel like an outsider, hiding an invisible living nightmare, but it also made weeks seem like years.” Thanks to our sponsors:______________________________________________________________________https://youtu.be/euP6w7M6dvg