A Spotlight on "Just Enough to Play the Part"
Hey there!
Thank you so much for taking the time to subscribe! As my debut novel continues through the editing process, I hope to give you some insight on the people you’ll meet in the world I’ve created.
— Lindsay J. Bennett
How It Started
I love a road trip. To me, it’s magical to see the landscape change and discover beauty in landscapes outside of my hometown. A great album, some snacks, a friend or three for a conversation — it makes for an excellent getaway. Two years into my job, though, I learned that a two hour a day commute does not hold quite the same charm.
As I worked to combat the oppressive quietness that accompanied the early morning and late night drives (many of which were done in darkness), I turned to podcasts. Focusing on new information and storytelling helped me stay engaged while music would let my thoughts wander. While I have about 20 I would rotate through, one of the most inspirational was ‘Offline with Jon Favreau.’ In it, he and his cohost/guests would talk about how connected we are online and yet, how loneliness prevails. Social media, the internet, and smart phones have made maintaining friendships easy despite distance and time constraints. Online friendships people develop can be so rich and fulfilling. So, why are we so isolated? Are we so hyper-focused on curating a perfect version of ourselves that we lose the messy parts that make us real, relatable, dare I say — fun? As I thought about this, I began to wonder what a world would look like where content creators top America’s hierarchy, delivering a idyllic vision of Chicago and American life to the rest of the world.
Where You’ll Be Going
For as long as I can remember, I wanted to live in the city. I wanted to be surrounded by tall buildings, car horns honking, chaos, excitement, fashion, lights. I wanted to meet people with incredible stories and vastly different experiences than my own. What better place to do that than…
Chicago!
(Okay, I bet you thought I was going to say NYC).
Listen, New York, it’s fabulous. Trust me, I love it. But Chicago — especially Chicago in the summer? IN-CRED-IBLE. We have fests, we have music, we have dancing, we have beaches (that’s right, all you non-natives. BEACHES. with SAND. and they are NICE.
Chicago has truly gotten a bad rap in a way I just don’t fully understand. I mean, how can you walk the Riverwalk and not fall in love? The resilience of the people to tolerate -50F and stick it out for those 80F summer days? Inspirational.
There is so much history, so much diversity in our city: the food, the people, the buildings, the neighborhoods.
While ‘Just Enough’ focuses on the north side of the city (River North, Gold Coast, Lincoln Park, Lakeview) it is solely because this is a world with limited access the scope of transportation we have today. In an effort to keep my characters connected, it was important to me that they could easily travel by foot or by bike to work places, homes, each other. If you have not explored Chicago much, there are wonderful places to see on the south and west sides of the city as well. Get out of the Loop and explore!
Who You’ll Be Meeting
I recently had a co-worker tell me that you can’t have multiple best friends. ‘Best’ means ‘one.’ I disagree both in definition and in practice. I think friendships in general can satisfy a lot of different personal needs to receive as well as give. For instance, I think many of us have a friend that may give us the feedback we need (but don’t necessarily want) whereas there may be another friend who fulfill the role of emotional caretaker. There’s the friend you’ll call when you want to wind up at a dance club at 3 AM and the one you’ll call when you want to cuddle up on the couch to watch a good movie on a Friday night in. To define best friendship as ‘only’ certainly seems limiting and unsatisfying.
‘Just Enough’ reflects the complexity of human friendship following this belief. You will join five women: Sage, Harlowe, Amélie, Taryn, and Jamie as they navigate life as career women, mothers, wives, and most of all best friends. You will also meet their children: Fern and Grey as they are guided into adulthood facing challenges their parents never had as teens/young adults.
Stick with me as you learn what makes them unique and wonderful. I hope you grow to love (and despise and admire and worry about and defend and…) them as much as I do. Isn’t that the full life experience after all?
Why Now? 2026.
When I started writing this in 2024, life was slightly different. Most people hadn’t heard of NVIDIA, Anthropic. Chatbot use for therapy was not widely known (I believe the first case I became aware of was due to a lawsuit in 2025). Today, it is easy to get any questions answered. It’s easy to delve into our smartphones to build a connection, even if that connection is with a robot. All of us wonder if we’re enough as a person, a friend, a child, a parent, in our career. As we examine relationships moving forward, what makes them enough to satisfy us? Time? Distance? A mirror that reflects who we are back to us — even if that person isn’t exactly who we want to be or how we want the world to see us? Is having someone support you no matter what with no pushback, no criticisms, only continuous encouragement forward what we need? Can that manipulate us into doing what they want?