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WORD: Interview with 'Confessions of Super Mom' author Melanie Hauser

We don’t know a thing about parenting. When we visit our nephew Stormy and he cries, our intervention involves saying, "None of that." A decade from now our only hope at averting mutiny is to recruit Melanie Hauser, whose debut novel Confessions of Super Mom (Dutton) is now in bookstores across America. WORD’N’BASS.com interviewed the one-time actress, current mother and hotshot author about writing, breaking into the publishing industry and juggling it all with today’s busy lifestyle.

WORD’N’BASS.com: Your debut novel just hit bookstores (on August 22). How’s it feel: nervous, thrilled, the end of madness?

HAUSER: All of the above. Nervous - terrified, actually; because publishing’s such a tough business and you do feel as if you have a very short amount of time to make a big splash. Thrilled, naturally - what’s better than holding the finished copy of your book in your hand? And terribly busy, because kids and laundry don’t much care what’s going on in my life right now.

WORD’N’BASS.com: Let’s go back a bit. When you first started SUPER MOM did you have the feeling this would be your breakout novel?

HAUSER: You know, I kind of did. Although of course with each previous novel I thought that would be the one to sell; you have to think that when you're writing. But I think I finally got how very different and original new authors have to be to break into publishing, when I came up with the idea for SUPER MOM.

WORD’N’BASS.com: I understand you wrote a few books before this one caught on. Are they in the fireplace or do you expect to rework them now that you’re a published author?

HAUSER: One is buried in the back yard. No one shall ever see its terrible face! My first agented novel I think is done, too; I said a lot of the things I wanted to say with it in SUPER MOM. My second agented novel, well, that’s different. I do hope to be able to drag it back out and rework it some day. I think I know what it needs, now. And it’s a very different subject than SUPER MOM.

WORD’N’BASS.com: Do you think your earlier books were good projects that fell in the "great but we don’t know how to market this" heap or was it more like practicing to find your voice?

HAUSER: The first one was definitely a "we don’t know how to market this" novel; some people saw it as literary, others as women’s fiction or chick lit. Still others believed it straddled some line between the two. But also, looking back, I can say in all honesty that while it had some of my best writing in it, it definitely needed some work on the plot. Or actually - it needed one. Plot, that is. The second book, same thing - plot issues. I never really had a problem finding my voice; that was the one thing I was consistently praised for. But plot issues? Oh boy, did I have them!

WORD’N’BASS.com: It sounds like you’ve got a unique voice in SUPER MOM. Tell us the premise and why you think Dutton was so hot on buying it?

HAUSER: Well, you’d have to ask Dutton to find that out! One thing I was also consistently hearing about my two previously-agented novels was "too quiet." Now, I happened to love to read quiet novels, myself. But my agent and I came to the conclusion that today, perhaps, people expect fictional characters to be a bit larger than life.

So that’s what I started with - the desire to create a larger-than-life character, yet still be able to write about the issues that were important to me as a woman of a certain age, a wife, a mother who isn’t really sure how she’ll be defined once her children are on their own. So I had a ‘Eureka!’ moment - How much larger-than-life can you get than a superhero? And the premise was born - a single, divorced woman who’s always been defined by her children - and somewhat looked down upon for that - becomes a superhero after suffering a Horrible Swiffer Accident. She learns to embrace her new powers, while also embracing her strengths as a mother, and look forward to the future, finally - also while battling evil arch-villains and the practical issues facing superheroes today… You know - costume issues, health insurance, corporate sponsorship.

The wonderful thing about Dutton was that they saw the book as I did - women’s fiction. The superhero twist is fun, and definitely a "hook" - but it doesn't define the book. Other publishers had some trouble with that concept, though, particularly thinking that women wouldn’t get the whole superhero thing. I had an offer from another house that wanted to turn it into a mass market mystery series. Which is fine, except that I don’t read mysteries and hadn’t a clue how to write them. Then Dutton swooped in and saved me, and I couldn’t be happier.

WORD’N’BASS.com: What kind of readers do you think CONFESSIONS will appeal to most?

HAUSER: Women. Mothers. Really, I can't see too many men or young college-aged women picking it up, although if they did, I think they’d enjoy it!

WORD’N’BASS.com: I hear Dutton signed you to write a sequel to CONFESSIONS for ’06 publication. Have you encountered the so-called ‘sophomore slump?’

HAUSER: No, not really. It is hard to write the next one but primarily because I allow myself to get very caught up in the excitement and busy-ness of the publication of this book. It’s a lot of fun, and there are a lot of ways to waste your time - you know, like Googling yourself. Constantly. And some days there are a lot of fires to put out, and I’m the kind of writer who really needs to be in a place where the only thing I think about are the characters for my WIP (work-in-progress). I don't necessarily need a lot of time to write, but I definitely need a lot of time to think. And that’s been a bit difficult.

WORD’N’BASS.com: How did you overcome it?

HAUSER: I’ve overcome it, sort of, by scheduling an entire week away from all this in October. A week alone - seven nights - in one of my favorite places in the world, with nothing to do but write. Knowing that is waiting for me has helped me breathe easier, and allow myself to enjoy this time while not constantly beating myself up for not writing as much as I think I should have, on any particular day.

WORD’N’BASS.com: What kind of author do you view yourself as? Women’s fiction, chic lit, literary super hero? You can make up your own title if you want, don’t let me pigeon hole you.

HAUSER: Oh, I hate those titles! You know, if I’m in a room with 20-something single women I’m going to tell them I write chick lit. If I’m in a room with a lot of men, I'll say mainstream fiction. If I’m having coffee with women friends my own age, I'll say women’s fiction. I’m a genre-whore, I suppose.

WORD’N’BASS.com: Do have plans beyond the sequel to SUPER MOM?

HAUSER: Yep! I hope there will be more Super Mom books; I’ve got a vague idea for the third one. The wonderful thing is that I’ve placed my characters in situations - life situations - that really allow for a lot of growth and conflict. Which are always good things to write about. Too, I was about 100 pages into a novel when I sold SUPER MOM, that I had to put away in order to revise and work on the sequel. I’d love to revisit that soon; it’s a wonderful, almost magical, concept that I’m very excited about.

WORD’N’BASS.com: Do you want to give shout-outs to anyone for helping your career take off?

HAUSER: My husband, always. He’s my biggest fan, biggest promoter, biggest helper.

WORD’N’BASS.com: Who’s your agent?

HAUSER: Laura Langlie. (Editor's note: after working at the former agency Kidde, Hoyt & Picard, Langlie established the Laura Langlie Agency in 2001).

WORD’N’BASS.com: How did she help you go from unpublished neophyte to star-in-the-making?

HAUSER: She’s a saint, a friend, a true fan of writers. She never gave up on my writing, even when we went through a lot of rejection together. Not every agent will do that; I speak from experience there. I can’t imagine having written this book without her.

WORD’N’BASS.com: Thanks, Melanie, and good luck with everything.

HAUSER: Thank you! And best of luck to you, too.

 

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