Interview with Author Judith Schneider

Formerly a research organic chemist, Judith Burnett Schneider's first published work was a chapter in a book on plastics recycling. She had always dreamed of writing, but it wasn't until after the birth of her first child that she embarked on her writing career. She has written essays, greeting cards, articles and books; has hosted workshops and taught classes both online and at her local community college. She is the coauthor, with Mary Jo Rulnick, of The Frantic Woman's Guide to Life and Write Well & Sell: Self-publishing Made Simple. Here's what Judith had to tell Writer's Break.

How did you get your start as a writer?

Along with my childhood desire to become a writer (I wrote my first book in second grade and stored it in a wall-papered shoe box), I also longed to be a scientist. I worked as a Research Organic Chemist for a Fortune 500 company for several years out of graduate school. I designed and improved formulations for paintable car hoods, microwave dishware, and other polymer (plastic) applications. That said, my first publication appeared in the Journal of Liquid Chromatography (likely decorating coffee tables throughout America, huh?). During that time, a colleague was writing a book called Plastics Recycling and said he was having trouble finding an expert in Acrylics. Itching to get involved with the project, I said, "I'll become one." And I did. It took me 9 months to write the 17-page chapter, but it was worth it. At the same time, I had become pregnant and delivered my first child. With that, I decided to stay home to raise my children and begin a long-awaited career in writing. I wrote and published essays, greeting cards, articles, and then graduated to books.

How did you come to collaborate?

Mary Jo and I met through a mutual friend about 10 years ago. We were members of the same critique group and, way back then, I noticed something. While we were two very different women bringing separate strengths to the table, we shared the same work ethic and the same goal: To become successful published writers. We fueled each other's creativity and forged ahead writing separate works as we went. We self-published how-to books on writing, taught classes both online and live at the local community college. We lectured together and separately at conferences throughout the region. In addition, we hosted writing workshops and critiquing weekend retreats. Finally, we put our heads together to come up with a project that would appeal to a wide range of readers. The result: The Frantic Woman's Guide to Life.

How did you agree on what to write? i.e. what tips really work, what doesn't, what to include, etc.?

One day, we were preparing brochures for one of our writing retreats while in the playroom of a local fast food restaurant. We folded, labeled, stapled, and then rescued my son from the roof of the playhouse. A woman approached us and asked, "How can you accomplish so much?" It wasn't the first time we'd heard that. he inquiry forced us to take a closer look at what advice we had to offer other busy women. And from there, the seed for The Frantic Woman's Guide to Life was planted.

While working on the project, we'd meet at a local restaurant or doughnut shop approximately 30 minutes' drive from each of our homes (we live an hour apart). We met every day, sometimes six days a week, to meet the deadline for the book. We began brainstorming a detailed outline and fully discussed the importance, uniqueness, application, and presentation of every tip we featured. If one of us didn't feel comfortable with a particular bit of advice, it would be scratched.

We worked particularly well together, with ideas from one of us sparking more from the other. Because the book is written in a month-by-month format, we started at both ends of the calendar, one of us working from January and one from December. We'd criss-cross in the middle and keep going, editing and expanding as we went. We worked through the text four times in this manner, building it from a detailed outline to a 102,000-word manuscript.

We did such a thorough job of editing that our editor at Warner read through the manuscript and sent it right on to the copy editor. (Most manuscripts bounce back and forth between editor and author several times before going on to be copyedited. So our hard work paid off.)

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