Yesterday I posted a review of Work For Hire by Margo Karasek. Today, we are all lucky enough to have a guest post from Margo herself.
So, here you go…
The core of the story in Work for Hire is very much about children. Tekla, the book’s protagonist, takes on a job tutoring two teens in order to make ends meet. Of course, the book first took shape in my head when I was a carefree, single, barely twenty-something year-old young woman freshly out in the world—you know, that magical time in life when I thought I had everything figured out; when I thought I knew it all. So when I decided Tekla should work as a tutor slash nanny, I thought, piece of cake. What could be easier to write about than babysitting a bunch of kids?
And then (insert drum roll here please!) I got married and had children of my own and realized I knew absolutely nothing about anything, especially when it came to children. There’s just something about becoming a parent that cuts the legs out from underneath even the most secure person.
I could spend this whole post telling you stories about how my writing life changed completely after I had kids: about the sleepless nights with a baby in my arms as I frantically tried to type on the computer or all the writing deadlines I had to miss because my son ended up in the hospital with a severe nut allergy. But (aside from those two examples, of course) I won’t, because we all know—or eventually will learn—how difficult it is to be a working parent (and here, I include all those moms and dads working both outside the home and within, because stay-at-home parenting is more than a full-time job!).
Still, becoming a parent myself did something to me—the writer—something that went beyond the logistical difficulties of the everyday, something that touched my very creative essence. You see, when I started working out the plot of Work for Hire I was very much in Tekla’s head. I saw the developing events from her point of view: the young adult who is struggling to make her mark on the world. Tekla takes on the job of tutoring not because she has any great affinity for or understanding of kids, but because they are a means to a desired end—her making money and being able to survive. The personalities of the two kids she tutored—Gemma and Xander—were in a way incidental to my plot. I, as the writer, never gave their plight that much thought.
But becoming a parent changed my perspective. As I watched my own children grow, I started thinking more and more about those two characters. I guess, you could say, I really started to understand what drove Gemma and Xander to behave the way they did (you know, the spoiled, tantrum throwing kids who are desperately seeking attention). I started seeing elements of my own children’s behavior in their actions. And so I had to go back to my story to rewrite, because I had to give Gemma and Xander and honest voice too. Better still, I really started liking these two admittedly difficult children, so much so that their plight stayed on my mind long past the last sentence of Work for Hire.
I’ve been mulling over Gemma and Xander’s fate. Would they be able to get past their issues, the total emotional neglect by their parents, as adults? I certainly hoped so, and with the power of a writer, I decided to make that hope a reality. For my next project, you see, I decided to tackle Gemma’s story. I wanted to see her as a young woman just starting out in the world, sort of like Tekla in the beginning of Work for Hire. How would she handle similar roadblocks to full-blown adulthood? The results, so far, have been pleasantly surprising. Who’d have thunk it? Certainly not the single, childless, me. But, boy, am I glad I did, because Gemma’s story is turning out to be quite the read.
Oh yeah!! If you read my review, you would know that one thing that was weighing on me was not knowing what happened to Gemma and Xander. I am super excited to know that Margo will be addressing that in her next book. I, for one, am excited to see what is in store for Gemma. Because, like Margo, I took a liking to those spoiled kids!
Thanks Margo for stopping by ToBeThode today. I can’t wait to see what you have coming up!
Samantha says
What a great post!