Our second profile this month features award winning author, Jacquelyn Mitchard, whose first novel The Deep End of the Ocean was made into a movie featuring Michelle Pfeiffer and Brenda Strong. Paula and I had the pleasure of interviewing Jackie for Mom Writer’s Talk Radio and what struck me was how down to earth she was. While we were all chatting, we were all just mom writers who shared the same troubles – trying to be a mom and juggle a writing career. Not only does she offer insight into how she handles everything, she also shows how hard she works to be the writer she is today. And she did it all while raising seven kids. That doesn’t leave much room for excuses, now does it?

MWLM: How do you juggle being a mom and a published author?

JM: The short answer is "not very well." The kids' needs come first; my husband's second, our families after that, and well... writing is my job and my love, but it's not the most important thing in my life. On the other hand, my husband stays home so that I can do it at all, and we are very, very organized – with a folder for each kid that contains everything from summer camps to social security numbers. Last Sunday, I was sitting with two of the kids on my lap watching a documentary about tigers, and I thought, now this is something I like! I can't tell you how seldom I do that.

MWLM: Do you have a specific writing style? Are you very structured or do you just let the story take on a life of its own?

JM: VERY structured. I start with a detailed idea, which I propose to the publisher even before I start detailed research. If I get a go-ahead, I decide (generally) on a name for the book, a starting place, character, a general length, a general story, a conclusion... before I start really in-depth research, such as travel and interviews. If I let the characters do as they pleased, they'd just pop open a bag of Doritos and some soda pop and veg out. I need to be, as my son Dan said when he was a kid, "the boss of them," and they don't become "real" to me and bring me marvelous free insights – the way my friends' characters do.

MWLM: When did you first consider yourself a writer?

JM: I first considered myself a writer when I was 19 and got my first newspaper job – I was even a fiction writer, because I said I was at 23. As for an "author," I'm still a little queasy about proclaiming that, but I guess I will, this last being my seventh novel. It just sounds so august...

MWLM: Do you write based on a schedule?

JM: I do EVERYTHING based on a schedule. Write from 8-10, mostly business correspondence. Work out from 10-11. Write from 11-3 p.m. Start dinner. Wrestle with every issue from homework to homophobia from 6-8. Write, if need be, from 8 until infinity. I take Sundays off. And I've left out laundry, the administration of kisses, bottles, antibiotics and band-aids, and alphabetizing the library, which I do in fits. I'm up to "G" for William Gibson.

MWLM: Do you ever get writer’s block? And if so, how do you overcome it?

JM: I have never had writer's block. I think of it as a luxury that a mom of seven doesn't have.

MWLM: What is one piece of advice you would give to a mom writer?

JM: BE VERY ORGANIZED. Make a schedule that includes TIME FOR YOU AND FRIENDS in it, so you don't begin to resent your writing. I would schedule in hobbies (if I had any) and time for those as well. This helps me approach my writing as I would approach a lover, with anticipation and delight. I wish I had the wit to have a hobby, actually, like rock climbing or fly fishing or something. I have a friend who does the Iditerod. I have one who seeks out haunted commercial venues. I have one who knits and "boils" wool and one who raises pygmy goats. All of these are successful writers, but my only real hobby is watching "Law and Order." Fortunately, it's possible to do that at almost any time of the day or night. I'd also counsel the mom writer to make time for reading, a substantial amount of reading. I'm absolute gobsmacked by the number of writers I know who say they don't have time to read. Why do they expect anyone else to do so?

Alana Morales, has a degree in Psychology and is a certified teacher.  She taught high school English for six years before staying home with her two children and becoming a freelance writer. Her syndicated column Family Business, which is about being a WAHM, appears on over 13 online sites as well as her local newspaper. Her first book, Domestically Challenged, is due out in 2006 with Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing, Inc. You can read more of Alana’s work and get information about her book at AlanaMorales.com.