As the Writers Juggle...Episode #7 - Jessica Burkhart

Hi, welcome to another episode of "As the Writers Juggle," in which we ask writers to share their tips on the writing life. While many of our previous guests have written about juggling full- or part-time jobs with their writing careers, this week's guest, Jessica Burkhart, jumped into her full-time writing career right out of college--a brave move indeed! Now 22, she says she started freelancing at 14 to feed her lip gloss addiction. (And if you know how well fiction-writing pays, you'll know that earning enough to buy lip gloss is pretty impressive!) Her first two middle grade novels, TAKE THE REINS and CHASING BLUE (CANTERWOOD CREST), are available now and are the first installments in a series of eight. Visit Jess online at her Website or the Canterwood Crest series Website .


Q: When did you decide to take the plunge? Was there a deciding moment that convinced you it was time to strike out as a full-time writer?

Jessica: I went right from college to writing full-time. I'd wavered between being a full-time writer and going to grad school, but ultimately decided to take the big step and be a full-time writer. The intense pub schedule that I'm on with books coming out bi-monthly would have made it a little difficult to juggle both. :)

Q: A book every two months--now that's impressive, especially to someone like me who writes excrutiatingly slowly. What hurdles have you had to overcome?

Jessica: Since I got the book deal, I've had to deal with a few negative comments about my age. I've had a couple of people say that I haven't worked hard enough or long enough to "earn" a book deal. They have the misconception that I sat down, wrote a book and got an agent in a week. Um, no! I freelanced for five years before I wrote Take the Reins. My rejection pile is ENORMOUS and that doesn't even count the e-mailed rejections or editors who never responded. It didn't happen overnight. Trust me.

Q: (Looking at own rejection pile...) Oh, I trust you on that--been there, done that (though at a much, much older and more decrepit point in my life...)!

Tell us a little about your writing routine. You must be pretty disciplined to work under such tight deadlines.

Jessica: When I'm working on a draft, I try to hit at least 2000 words a day. When that's done, I can move onto something else, but I must hit that goal. So, if I want to play around on the Internet and work, it'll take me that much longer to meet my word count. The mind games of, "Oooh! When I reach my word count, I'm technically done for the day" works well for me and it keeps me from procrastinating too much. On my best days, I can average 3500-4000 words a day. I usually write seven to eight hours a day when I'm in crazy-draft mode to meet my deadline.

Q: That's something like 15 pages a day. I'm impressed! And then you have to go out and sell those books, too. About how many hours a week do you spend on book promotion?

Jessica: Wow. I honestly don't even know. If I had to ballpark it, maybe 12-16 hours a week. I count blogging, vlogging, doing interviews, visiting local stores, responding to e-mail, seeking horse blogs, etc. I try to keep up a steady stream of promotion and not do everything in a week and then disappear.

Q: Okay, so what's the secret to staying so organized? Can you describe an average day for us?

Jessica: Okay!

Average day: 6:30-7am-Up and I stumble to my laptop and turn it on. I check Facebook, read e-mails and browse LiveJournal. I start typing by eight and work until The View comes on. That's my cue to get away from the desk, move around and have that second cup of coffee and/or soda depending on the day.

I take a break for lunch and catch up on blogs. After lunch, it's back to writing, editing, checking copyedits or doing promo.

I take my next break around 3pm and shut down my now overheated laptop. I usually watch General Hospital (hello, it's awesome!), look at my calendar, make a list of things to do and work on editing any printed drafts that I have.

I'm back on my computer at four (with Oprah on in the background) and work 'til dinner. I'll take a couple of hours to chill and read or go outside.

After that, I keep going until ten or eleven depending on where I am with my deadline. If I'm being super-obsessed with work, I'll take printed pages to bed and work on them 'til midnight. If I'm feeling good about my pace, I'll read until eleven-thirty or so and then pass out.

Q: Yeah, I'd pass out, too--that's a pretty full day! But it's good to see that you schedule regular breaks. Do you have a favorite time or place for writing?

Jessica: I do my best writing in early afternoon. I'm too fuzzy in the morning, so I really get going around 10am. I love writing in my room, but I get sleepy on my bed. So, I'm usually in the living room--either on the floor or on the couch.

Q: How do you keep from losing your momentum?

Jessica: It's just in me not to stop. I want to be a writer for the rest of my life and I'm only just getting started. I use the goals and dreams I have for myself to propel my writing. It motivates me to sit at my desk for hours.

Q: Do you ever get blocked? What do you do to get unstuck?

Jessica: I've never had writer's block (thankfully!), but I have had times when I've been too excited or distracted with something going on in my life that I just can't write. So, I don't try to force it. I take a day off to address whatever is going on with me and then I'm back at it. I don't want to waste all day sitting at my laptop if I just can't work.

Q: Is there anything that comes between you and your writing?

Jessica: I don't have kids or another job, so I write full-time. Perhaps the biggest hang up is dealing with family drama and I'm slowly learning how to pull back from that.

Q: Ah, family drama! I don't think any of us can escape that.

What helps motivate you and keep you on track? Are you self-motivated or do you need outside naggers to help?

Jessica: No naggers necessary! *grin* I've always been pretty good with motivating myself. I love being my own boss and I don't need someone telling me to write.. And I've said before that a couple of people from NYC would show up at my doorstep and threaten to take away my favorite thing-my lip gloss collection--if I didn't meet my deadline. So that keeps me typing away! ;)

Q: (Filing note to self on Jessica's lip-gloss addiction for possible blackmail use at a later date...)

How do you deal with distractions?

Jessica: E-mail is definitely my biggest distraction. Instead of refreshing my inbox every five minutes, I log into MSN and read the new message alerts as they come in. When I do that, I can either choose to go read the new email or ignore it and check later. That seems to work for me.

Q: You sound pretty driven. Do you feel you have enough time for non-writing hobbies or activities?

Jessica: I do have enough time, but I'm being a neurotic workaholic writer and I'm not giving myself much time for outside hobbies. I will soon, but right now I'm trying to focus fully on my career. I'm just getting started and I want to do the best job I can.

Q: What advice would you give to others struggling with writing and time management issues?

Jessica: Treat your writing as a job and not a hobby. Make it that important and encourage your family/friends to realize how serious you are about writing. Whatever it takes to make time to write, do it.

Hmmmm....that might be a tough one for me, since I have a hard time treating my JOB like a JOB, never mind my writing ;) (Only kidding, boss, agent & publisher!!)

Thanks so much Jessica. Oh, and about that lip gloss addiction? Check out Lip Balm Anonymous. They even have a 12-step program. And I don't think they're joking...

As the Writers Juggle...Episode #6 - Ellen Jensen Abbott

Hi, welcome to another episode of "As the Writers Juggle," in which we ask writers to share their tips on balancing work, family, and the writing life. This week's guest is Ellen Jensen Abbott, author of the soon-to-be-released fantasy novel Watersmeet and member of the Class of 2k9.

Here's what Ellen has to say about how she juggles her roles as high-school teacher, mom, and writer:

Ellen: I feel like I have at least three full-time jobs. For pay, I teach high school English at a boarding school. I have a full-time teaching load (four sections of English, two preparations), but I do not do dorm-duty, coaching or weekend duty—required of full-time faculty—which means that I am technically 80% employed. Anyone who grades English essays knows that there is rarely such thing as "part time."

Then I am the mother of two children, 9 and 12. My husband works full-time, so since I am "part-time" and have a slightly more flexible schedule, doctors' appointments, hair cuts, snow-days or sick days with the kids all fall to me. Then there's car pool, sports, piano lessons, church choir, etc. It may not sound like it, but our children are actually LESS scheduled than many of today's children. We also have a family dinner every night and try to do real hands-on parenting. Full-time job #2.

Full-time job #3: book promotion/writing. (Wait—I think that's two jobs!) My debut YA fantasy novel, Watersmeet, comes out in April 2009 (Marshall Cavendish). Of course, this is a dream come true. I started writing YA fantasy about ten years ago, submitted one MS and received a positive rejection (a term only writers seem to get!) and then wrote this one. I knew that writers were largely responsible for their own publicity, but I didn't know that in any real way. Major learning curve. I can finagle my way around the web but I really didn’t know much about blogs, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc—which is of course where so much book promotion now occurs. And being new to book promotion in general, I don't know which of ninety-seven directions to put my energy in.

And then there's writing. That's why I got into this, right? Because I love writing? It is a true struggle to find the time for this. The promotion stuff seems so immediately necessary. Grading papers, prepping my classes for tomorrow—also necessary. Feeding, bathing the children—pretty damn necessary. That leaves writing where? (Let's not even get into couple time! Thank goodness I'm married to a saint!)

I was hopelessly floundering in the "finding time to write" department, and even though it was killing my soul, I couldn't seem to snap out of it. Then I got a deadline. Deadlines are magic. My editor strongly suggested I get the first three chapters of my option book to her by June 1—and suddenly, I am finding more time. And—oh, God—I love it! I don't need much time. When my kids were little, I trained myself to grab what time I could. The fact is, I will never have a span of several hours on a daily basis to write—or at least not in the foreseeable future. I knew that unless I learned to write in 45-minute chunks, I would be scuttling my dreams before they got going. Don't get me wrong—I love those long chunks! But I can survive on an hour a day—or even every other day. Giving myself that bite-sized time-span is key. It doesn't work for me to say I need to write one page or 1000 words. I prefer time parameters. So when I see some time coming and feel all the different projects vying for that time, I say, "Ellen, you are just going to write for an hour. You can afford an hour." And often I do have to stop after an hour, but at least I put it in.

I know it's a cliché, but for me, writing is a lot like exercise—hard to get going and so fabulous once you get started. After a few days of writing regularly, I sit down at my computer and feel a grin spreading across my face. When my hour is up, I leave myself a note in the text to remind me where I was headed so I can jump right back in. With only an hour, I don't have time to gaze into space and try to recapture my train of thought, or reread. In fact, that's why regular writing is so important for me. It takes too much time to go back and remember who had just said what to whom. It's critical to be able to get swept into the stream of the narrative again. To go back to the exercise analogy, leaving myself those notes is like beginning a run at the top of a hill. It gives me an easy start so I'm warmed up when I start in on new ideas. I also resist revision of what I just wrote. I love revising—it's the inventing that's work—so given the choice, I'll revise—and my hour will be gone and I won't have moved forward. In first drafts, I can circle back to the first chapters twenty to thirty times trying to get them just right when what I really need to do is find out what happens to my characters later, who they become, what their challenges will be.

Finding a place to write is another problem. While my family understands that one of my jobs is writing, it is very confusing for them to see me at home. If I'm there, why can't I help with math homework? Oooh and aaah over a new drawing? Throw in that load of laundry or empty the dishwasher? I used to write on the dining room table, thinking that it would help to be in the midst of things. I'm not sure why I thought that was a good idea—it was just frustrating for all of us. It helps somewhat when I go behind a closed door, but really its better when I leave the house. I love Panera: good food, good background music, free Wifi, English breakfast tea, fireplace—so I usually head there. I also live across the street from a university library which works for me, too, but tea is critical and the librarians frown at that!

In terms of housework, my family has a cleaning session every weekend. My husband and I both like things relatively neat and clean so unfortunately "letting the housework go" does not really work for us. (I once heard Donna Jo Napoli say the following: "You can eat off my kitchen floor…(pause, pause)…for weeks and weeks without going hungry!" I aspire to this but it seems a constitutional impossibility.) We had to let our housekeeper go to save money so we instituted the family cleaning. One week, we do the upstairs, next week the downstairs. We each pick a room to do and go to it. If someone finishes their room first, they go help someone else. We can stop after two hours, even if we're not done, but we usually finish all we set out to do in an hour and a half. The kids grumble far less than you might think. They feel good about pitching in for the family well-being, and they have learned how to clean. We do need to rotate rooms so that the nine-year old doesn't do the same room week after week (!), but my twelve-year-old out-cleans me most of the time. And my husband should open a service.

In exchange for keeping up with the cleaning, I've given up exercise. I love exercise—as you can tell from above, I was an avid runner—but as so many authors on your site have said, something has to give! A hip injury took me out of running and I never found another sport that I feel the same way about. Still, I know how important exercise is. I have not given it up forever. I just realized that beating myself up daily for not exercising was not good either. So, for now, I don't exercise. And I'm okay with that.

I have two hobbies: I knit and I ski. I knit during faculty meeting or on car rides (to skiing!) so I don't knit much, but I love working with yarn. I seem to knit baby gifts almost exclusively these days. (I'm 43! When will my friends stop having babies?) Skiing is something we do as a family—every weekend that we can. (And as we live in PA, this is no mean feat!) The skiing is a struggle; almost every Friday night I decide there is no way I can do it. Too much work! But we've made this commitment and it is so good for the family, that I grit my teeth and go—and love it. I'm away from my computer, my desk, my ungraded papers. I'm in the fresh air with my kids and in a beautiful setting. I come back refreshed and ready to face the next week. And the ski season only lasts for thee and a half months, so it works.

So that's how I am currently making it work—only it doesn't work that well. My epiphany about this came one weekend when my daughter and I were walking out of square dance at her school. I had been loathe to go—I could have been writing!—but she was so excited about it, I agreed. And it was really fun. I'm a pretty extroverted person so I can throw myself into those kinds of things. As we were walking out, she said, "Mommy, you're so much fun when you're not working—but you have to work all the time!" Knife in the belly. The next morning, my husband stormed out of the house to pick up our son at some event. As he left, I asked him what was wrong and he said, "I hate our schedule!" As I stood in the shower—where I get all my best epiphanies—I thought over my options. It had always seemed so muddy before, but suddenly, with perfect clarity I said: "I have to quit my job." In the end, we decided it was best to cut my teaching responsibilities in half—but this will still require some significant lifestyle changes, the most significant being that my children will have to change schools. The switch will be challenging for them, but it's clear to me that we will all gain by having me available for the family in a real way. (I'm not going back to cleaning the house by myself, though!) Thankfully, no one ever suggested that I should give up my writing.

Now the challenge is to get to June—when I can cut back—and then to September when the kids face the reality of a new school. They'll be some bumps, but I continue to feel that this is the right thing to do—for my family, for my marriage and for my books.

Thanks, Ellen! Readers, be sure to check out Ellen's blog, especially this great post about the power of living in the story world of our favorite books.

Upcoming events for June

Okay, I'm a bad blogger--I should be updating once a week or more, not once a month. But that's because April and May have just been insanely busy months, with readings and book-signings in East Longmeadow, Concord, Worcester, North Easton, Barre, Amherst, Northampton, and Springfield. Add to that a new job as Circuit Rider for Preservation Massachusetts (no, a horse doesn't go with it), and I've barely had time to breathe, let alone blog. A HUGE thank-you to the host libraries, bookstores, and clubs, to friends and family who came out to support me, and to these authors who joined me at several events:

Historian Rusty Clark, author of the Stories Carved in Stone book series about gravestone carvers in Massachusetts and Connecticut

Teen author Amanda Butcher, author of the fantasy novel Lark and the Magic Pencil (this high-school freshman girl totally blew me away with her poise, self-confidence, and articulate presentation)

Fellow Class of 2k8 author Marissa Doyle, whose Bewitching Season combines historical fiction, romance, and magic and is just a total delight

Contemporary author Judith Jaeger, whose The Secret Thief was a favorite of my monthly book group

YA/middle-grade author Michelle D. Kwasney, whose books Itch and Baby Blue follow two girls through difficult situations

YA/middle-grade author D. Dina Friedman, whose book Escaping into the Night explores a facet of World War II history that was previously unknown to me, and whose book Playing Dad's Song shows how a boy copes with his father's death.

Great company, indeed! If you haven't read their books, I recommend them!

Upcoming Events
June looks as though it'll be nearly as busy as April and May, with at least one event a week. I hope some of you New England readers can join me! I'm especially looking forward to returning to my old stomping grounds at Old Sturbridge Village on June 28.

1 Jun 2008: Online interview
Authorlink.com

6 Jun 2008, 9:30 a.m.: Presentation for Worcester students (open to general public as well)
Worcester Public Library
3 Salem Street
Worcester, MA 01608
508-799-1655

6 Jun 2008, 7:00 p.m.: Book signing
Barnes & Noble Booksellers
541 D Lincoln Street
Worcester, MA 01605
tel: (508) 853-2236
fax: (508) 853-9527
crm2172@bn.com

14 Jun 2008, noon-1:30 p.m.: Panel discussion on writing with Class of 2k8 writer Marissa Doyle (author of Bewitching Season), short-story writer and teacher Nancy Gardner, poet Teresa Cader, children's writer Mitali Perkins (First Daughter and Rickshaw Girl), mystery writers Catherine Cairns and Leslie Wheeler (author of Murder at Plimoth Plantation and Murder at Gettysburg), and me
Cary Memorial Library
1874 Massachusetts Avenue
Lexington, MA 02420
For more information, contact Catherine Sibert
Or call the library at 781-862-6288

21 Jun 2008, noon-3 p.m.: Book sales and signing
June Strawberry Social
Ramapogue Historical Society
West Springfield, MA

28 Jun 2008, 3:00 p.m.: Book signing and discussion
Old Sturbridge Village
Old Sturbridge Village Road (off Route 20)
Sturbridge, MA

I've also been woefully negligent in congratulating my Class of 2k8 colleagues whose books have been released in April and May, and whose books are sitting in a stack in my office screaming "Read us! Read us!" Make sure you check out these titles:

Shift by Jennifer Bradbury: Best friends go on a cross-country bike trip, but only one returns.

Bewitching Season by Marissa Doyle: While making their debuts in 1837 London a pair of twin witches rescue the soon-to-be Queen Victoria from a dastardly plot...when they're not looking for Lord Right.

Braless in Wonderland by Debbie Reed Fischer: Allee Rosen falls down the rabbit hole and lands in the fab lane when she gets snapped up by modeling agents and whisked away to glamorous South Beach. Will the model life go to her head?

The Lucky Place by Zu Vincent: When you look at growing up through Cassie’s eyes, you see it differently.

The Magic Thief by Sarah Prineas: Take the magic and run!

Read My Lips by Teri Brown: Serena is a a deaf skater chick who uses her amazing lip-reading ability to infiltrate the popular crowd, take down a secret sorority and tame the school rebel.

La Petite Four by Regina Scott: Lady Emily Southwell and her three dearest friends plan to take London by storm until they run afoul of a dashing young lord who may have more up his sleeve than a nicely muscled arm.

Book trailer and stuff for May

Check out this nifty book trailer for A Difficult Boy. The video was created by Madison Meyer of M² Productions and Joseph M. Barker, the love of my life (with a little teeny bit of input from yours truly):



"Inisheer," the absolutely gorgeous background music on this video, is played by multi-talented Irish musician Sharon Hussey, who graciously gave me permission to use her recording of this lovely Thomas Walsh compostion. See this Folk World article for the story behind the tune.

The images of the indenture document, Mr. Lyman, the man on the hay cart, and the 19th-century town common are used courtesy of the local history archives of the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum. All other images are from istockphoto.

May is going to be a busy month! Not only am I starting a new job as a Circuit Rider for Preservation Massachusetts (sounds like I should have a horse to do this!), I'm going to be doing a whole bunch of book gigs. Here's my schedule:

Week of 4 May 2008: Online interview
Trainspotting Reads Teen Book Reviews

5 May 2008, 6:00 pm: Book signing and discussion
Hosted by: ICC Seniors Group monthly meeting
Immaculate Conception Church of Indian Orchard
25 Parker Street
Indian Orchard, MA

6 May 2008, 6:30 pm: I'll be with Judith Jaeger, author of The Secret Thief for a book signing and discussionMerriam-Gilbert Public Library
3 West Main Street
West Brookfield, MA

17 May 2008, 11:00 am: Book signing and discussion
Woods Memorial Library
19 Pleasant Street
Barre, MA

20 May 2008, 6:30 p.m.:
I'll be with Judith Jaeger, (The Secret Thief) and Class of 2k8 author Marissa Doyle, (Bewitching Season) for a book signing and discussion
Ames Free Library
15 Barrows Street
North Easton, MA 02356
508-238-2000

28 May 2008, 7:00 pm: One event - four writers! Join D. Dina Friedman (author of Escaping into the Night and Playing Dad's Song), Judith Jaeger (author of The Secret Thief), Michelle D. Kwasney (author of Baby Blue and Itch), and me for a book signing and discussion
East Longmeadow Public Library
60 Center Square
East Longmeadow, MA

Whew! But it'll be fun! I'll be with some really great writers, all with different styles and stories. If you can't come to any of our events, check out the links to my colleagues' web sites and their books for some great reading.

Is that cool or what?

My book is real and in my hands!! Is that cool or what? A little more than a week ago, boxes of books materialized on my front porch--real ones, with my name on the cover! 3 weeks ahead of schedule! And they're in bookstores even as I write this. (Well, I hope they're in bookstores--I still haven't seen any personally. On Friday the only bookstore I found that carried it had sold out--a good sign. So if anyone out there has an actual sighting of A Difficult Boy on an actual bookstore shelf, please let me know!) I've been running around so frantically trying to set up and publicize signings that I haven't even had time to blog about it until now. And next week, I actually get my first radio gig!

On Monday, April 7, 1:00 pm (Eastern Standard Time), Dennis Picard, Director of Storrowton Village, and I will be guests on "Shooting from the Hip," Vincent Dowling's radio show on Valley Free Radio, 103.3 FM, Northampton, Mass. Those of you not in the Northampton area can listen at the station's website, which has a live mp3 stream. (The show will be repeated next Monday at 1 pm, so you even get a second chance.) I haven't met Vincent Dowling yet, but from his c.v. and what Dennis tells me, he's a pretty formidable talent. An actor and director and writer, he is former Artistic Director of The Abbey Theatre, Ireland's National Theatre. If that's not impressive enough to have me quaking in my boots, I don't know what is--especially since one of my main characters is Irish. Will my character be credible to a native Irishman? Will Mr. Dowling say "How dare you have the audacity to write about Irish characters, you...you...you, French-Canadian!!"

Actually, Dennis reassures me that Mr. Dowling is quite nice and that this should be a fun time. But I'm very, VERY glad and grateful that Dennis will be there to run interference, should I get a case of the "um-um-um-ummmms." One of my former co-workers from Old Sturbridge Village, Dennis is a fabulous resource on just about anything historical--he did me the great favor of reading my manuscript when it was still in the 700-page very rough draft stage and catching me if I screwed up my details. (I only hope I didn't add new errors in the final edits.) I swear this man has a photographic memory! He was recently featured on Nova's "Absolute Zero" episode, which you can see online. Look for "Chapter 3: The Ice Trade" and click on the link to the video (he's near the end of the clip). Dennis is the fellow being interviewed about the 19th-century ice trade. At that time, New England ponds were supplying ice to customers around the world. Imagine--ice from Massachusetts being used in India or China or the Caribbean. Is that cool or what?

March 2k8 Launches

Welcome to the book world the Class of 2k8's March launches, Jody Feldman's The Gollywhopper Games and Elizabeth C. Bunce's A Curse Dark as Gold, two very different stories about young people trying to salvage a family legacy.

In The Gollywhopper Games, young Gil Goodson hopes to redeem his family's good name after his dad was falsely accused of embezzling from the Golly Toy Company. If Gil wins the Gollywhopper Games, he'll show the world that Goodsons aren't cheaters, and will win enough money to help his family make a new start far away from the cloud of scandal hanging over them. Gil's an engaging young hero with a quick wit, a friendly personality, and a tenacious determination to make good. Readers can solve the Gollywhopper Game puzzles along with Gil--they're challenging enough to be fun, but not so difficult that you feel like putting your eye out with your pencil. Great for puzzle-lovers, punsters, and fans of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory--and for you adult readers, the writing and characterization are MILES ahead of that recent best-selling puzzle book The DaVinci Code!

A Curse Dark as Gold is a fascinating re-telling of the Rumplestiltskin fairy tale. Young Charlotte Miller struggles to keep her family's woolen mill running after the death of her father. Charlotte is a practical young woman. She doesn’t believe in curses or magic until a series of weird and inexplicable disasters force her to rely on a mysterious little man who can spin straw into gold. All her instincts tell her to turn him away, but Charlotte feels responsible for the townspeople who depend on the mill for their livelihood. It's not just her own income at stake; Charlotte won't relegate her neighbors and friends to poverty. Meanwhile, she has to contend with an uncle who seems bound and determined to bankrupt her. Everything comes to a head when Charlotte realizes that to save her mill, her friends, her family, and her infant son, she must figure out how to right an ancient wrong. When the story's villain’s secrets are finally revealed, their heartbreaking stories make them as sympathetic as the main characters. A great read, but keep a box of kleenex handy!

Find out more at the Class of 2k8 web site, or on our Class of 2k8 blog, where Elizabeth will be guest-blogging all week.

What's your Mushroom Factor?

Those of you who’ve ever taken up a home renovation project are probably familiar with the “mushroom factor” – you decide to fix that leaky faucet, then you discover that the leak has been going on so long that the counter has rotted out beneath it and the floor is getting kind of mushy. So you start tearing that out and you see that the genius who put the sink in decided that it was okay to cut a huge hole in a support beam to run the pipe through and now oops—the beam’s starting to crack. So you open up a little more and—oh, my God!—the mice have gotten in and are chewing your electrical wires and your house is a bonfire just waiting to happen….

Well, I’ve realized that the same thing seems to be happening with my research on the historical novel I’m working on. The last one wasn’t too mushroomy, because it developed around information I’d already gathered during the course of working at Old Sturbridge Village. But for this one, I had to send my characters on a road trip, so now I’ve got to find out about: transportation, inns and taverns, every person/business they encounter along the way (with, of course, period-appropriate names, occupations, tools, clothes, etc., etc.). Plus I have to pick out a route for them and find out about the towns along the route. Then one of my characters decided to work on the railroad, another stubbornly insists on taking up with a prostitute (I told him this was a YA book, and he said “Well, that would be the ‘adult’ part, wouldn’t it?"), a third is getting embroiled in a child custody dispute, and somehow a circus with a conjuror, jugglers, singers, and six dancing ponies have been thrown into the mix. Whew! I can see myself researching this until doomsday and never getting all the details I’ll need to make it right!

So my question for you writers out there is—does your writing have a “mushroom factor,” too? What is it and how do you handle it?

Class of 2k8 first release!

Big things are in store for Liz Gallagher, the Class of 2k8’s first baby to be officially launched. Her debut novel, The Opposite of Invisible (from Wendy Lamb Books) hits the shelves today. Way to go, Liz!!! Liz's book follows a Seattle teenager as she wrestles with the difference between a crush and love, and love and best friendship--I can't wait for my copy to hit my mailbox. Check out this excerpt at the Class of 2k8 website. Or go to Liz's web page for more details. Liz will be featured all week on the Class of 2k8 blog, letting us know how it feels to be a first-time author with her dream come true.