The Winding Path to a Debut Novel
Written by MVWG Member Tracy Schuldt Helixon
I’ve always wanted to have my own lilac bush. Last year, in the midst of the pandemic, in an act of defiant hope, I mail-ordered one. I pictured it. It would arrive in the mail in full bloom! I would inhale its sweet scent, plant it in the front yard, and enjoy it all season long!
Turns out, I had a lot to learn.
Weeks later, I crouched next to its withered leaves and dry branches, holding a watering hose at its base. It hadn’t exactly grown as I had expected. “If you can just get it to hang on until winter, it will bloom much better in the spring,” my friend Sue had told me. I studied the few remaining green buds, moved the hose even closer to the roots, and hoped she was right.
Seven months later, on a cloudy spring day, I’m sitting on my front porch as I write this. The lilac bush is thriving. The warm breeze carries its sweet, fragrant scent. I savor it.
My assigned topic for this blog post is the publication of my debut novel. I can’t help but see the parallels to that lilac bush.
I’d always wanted to write my own novel. A while ago, while walking on a treadmill in my basement, an idea surfaced. I hopped off the treadmill, grabbed a pen and some paper, jotted it down, stuck it in a drawer, and finished my walk.
I pictured it. I would find hours of uninterrupted time to write! I would finish it in a month or two, find a publisher, and spend the following summer on a book tour with my family.
Turns out, I had a lot to learn.
Several years after that treadmill walk, I had just posted grades after a semester of fully online pandemic teaching and switched over to my personal email. In between the notifications and marketing emails was a note from Winged Publications, a publisher I had sent the manuscript to five months earlier.
“We’d like to offer you a contract,” it said.
I blinked. I read it again. I stood up from my chair and turned in a circle. I read it a third time. Was this really happening?
In February of 2021, nearly sixteen years after that seed of an idea, I held my debut novel, Fields of Promise, in my hands. Like the lilac bush, the process didn’t go quite as expected, and advice from others helped me to grow it into what it was meant to be. In the process, I learned some important lessons about time, coaching, and perspective.
Time
Back when I had that original idea on the treadmill, I was a full-time writing teacher and a mom of a three-year-old and a newborn. A couple years later, baby three arrived. Life was so good, and so full. After the kids went to sleep, I had grading to do, so most of my writing happened during the summers, and even then, it wasn’t always easy to find the time. I wrote at night after the kids went to sleep. I wrote next to the monkeys while my daughter attended Zoo Camp. I escaped to writers’ conferences once or twice a year. One year, when a writers’ conference wasn’t in the budget, I packed up and visited my dad and brother in the Twin Cities for a week. I wrote all day, and we talked in the back yard by the firepit each night.
At one point, about 2/3 of the way through the novel, I got stuck. Nothing that came out on the page seemed good enough. I spent a month writing a few sentences, then deleting them. Finally, I started setting a timer. I made myself write for twenty minutes at a time without deleting anything. Eventually, that strategy moved me forward.
In between my work on the novel, I had a few articles and poems published, and a small press picked up two of my picture book manuscripts. For me, the path to novel writing was not the straight line that I thought it would be, but I thoroughly enjoyed the journey.
Writer to Writer Tip: Don’t give up when life takes over. If you love it, keep at it. Squeeze in five minutes. It counts.
Coaching
One summer, I decided to get serious about finishing the novel and registered for an online novel writing course taught by Christine DeSmet at UW Madison’s Continuing Studies. Anyone who has worked with Christine sings her praises. I tell her that she is like Cinderella’s fairy godmother, Obi Wan Kenobi, and Mr. Miyagi, all wrapped into one. With Christine’s coaching, I wrote my first 100 pages.
Later, I attended a Wisconsin Romance Writers of America conference, where I heard Michael Hauge speak about identity and essence in story structure. His concepts rang true for me and gave me a clear framework for structuring the story.
Throughout the process, I worked with four different critique groups and learned from the insights and perspectives of some wise, creative friends.
Each interaction made me think deeper about my story and its place in the world.
Writer to Writer Tip: Soak up the insights and perspectives of other writers. We have so much to learn from each other!
Perspective
Every once in a while, I figured I should give up. After all, this novel writing thing was taking way longer than I thought it would, and plenty of other people and tasks needed my attention. Was it selfish to write? Would it all turn out to be a colossal waste of time?
My husband knew better. I’ve lost count of the number of times he looked at me in the midst of the stress of full-time teaching and motherhood and said, “You need to go write.”
I’ve learned that when I’m drowning in a sea of stress, writing is like coming up for air. It feeds my spirit and makes me more creative in all other areas of my life.
Writer to Writer Tip: Embrace the process. It’s just as important as the product.
So go ahead! What’s your version of a lilac bush? Whatever it is, I hope you’ll plant it!
Fields of Promise
America, 1890 - After the death of her beloved father, Irish immigrant Katherine Murphy is consumed by one singular goal. She will keep her promise to protect the family and save their Iowa homestead. Worlds away in New York City, Jonathan Schoon’s controlling father has groomed him to take over the family business, a stifling future that gives Jonathan neither peace nor purpose. This summer, he will have one last adventure. During a visit with Uncle Heinrick on the Schoon family farm in Iowa, he plans to make enough memories to last a lifetime. When Katherine meets Jonathan in the town mercantile, she refuses to let the handsome city boy distract from her promise to Da. But when love unfolds, both must make heart-wrenching decisions, all while summer’s clock is ticking.
Fields of Promise is a heartwarming story of family, community, faith, and purpose.
You can purchase your copy here.
Tracy Schuldt Helixon began her writing career at age five, when her parents found her writing all over her little brother. When they asked what she was doing, she said, "Timmy thought he was a piece of paper." To Timmy's relief, Tracy now uses a computer to write. Today, Tracy is an award-winning author and passionate teacher who seeks out creativity, goodness, and chocolate, and can’t stop smiling each time she finds it. Her first picture book, Little Isaac’s Big Adventure (2012), won a Literary Classics International Book Award. Her historical fiction chapter book, Caleb’s Lighthouse (2017), was described by reviewer Rosi Hollinbeck as “an early middle grade book that is about as sweet as they come.” Fields of Promise is her first novel for adults, inspired by her adventures in Ireland and stories from her Irish American family. Learn more at www.tracyhelixon.com .