Turning the Page: Lee Bukowski

As I look back, I’m not sure exactly how it happened. I sat at my kitchen counter drinking coffee one Saturday morning and had an epiphany. I’d like to say I saw the Blessed Mother in the swirls of cream in my mug, but it wasn’t anything that dramatic. After raising my two daughters and teaching seventh grade English and writing for fifteen years, I simply decided it was time. I was finally going to write that novel. 

Though I’d spent years teaching students how to write essays and stories, I wasn’t naïve enough to think writing a novel could be done in a weekend or over summer break. I had an idea for a women’s fiction story, but I knew I lacked the proper training and skill set to turn it into a manuscript. Writing is a grueling process. It’s not for the faint of heart. American writer Dorothy Parker’s words reverberated in my head: “If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second greatest favor you can do for them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they’re happy.”

I finished my coffee and began researching master’s degree programs in fiction writing. As I expected, there were no such programs within driving distance of my house, and it wasn’t feasible to pack up and move to parts unknown to pursue a higher degree. I applied to online institutions offering accredited distance-learning programs for non-traditional students, in my case, a middle-aged woman taking a leap of faith. Okay, not exactly a move-to-Paris-to-journal-in-a-café-by-the-Seine leap of faith, but a jump just the same. I was accepted to Southern New Hampshire University’s MFA in English/Creative Writing program, and it was off to the races.

What I loved most about SNHU’s program was that the thesis at the end of twelve courses was to write the first 30,000 words of a novel. I’d had the idea for A Week of Warm Weather for years, so this was a goal that, though somewhat terrifying, motivated me. From my talented professors and rigorous courses, I gained valuable knowledge about the art of fiction writing. Working full-time, it took two years to complete the program, but finally it was time to begin writing my novel. I resigned from my teaching job and devoted all my time to completing my thesis and then finishing my manuscript.

I was fortunate to have a community of faculty and peer editors at SNHU. I wrote, deleted, rewrote, deleted some more, rearranged, and started over countless times. But rather than getting discouraged, I dug in more after every setback. I mused about my characters’ story lines when I was stopped at red lights. I listened to conversations in the grocery store checkout line to get tips on authentic dialogue. I fell asleep at night racking my brain about how to move a scene forward and rushed to my desk immediately upon awakening to scribble notes. Many were the days I thought, I can’t do this. Who am I kidding? I’m no good at it. I can get a job selling shoes. That’s something I know about.

But I kept at it and finished my thesis. Pumped at reaching this milestone, I plowed ahead and twelve months later finished the first draft of A Week of Warm Weather. As I typed the last word, I half-expected a swell of music or thunderous applause. Instead, I realized that I was nowhere near finished. Next came feedback from beta readers, edits, revisions, more feedback, more edits, more revisions, and then the dreaded querying of agents at traditional publishing houses.

Here’s something I’ve learned: If you want to simulate the feeling of querying agents, shave your head with a cheese grater or chew aluminum foil with silver fillings in your teeth. I queried hundreds of agents. After all, my book had a great premise—A young wife and mother appears to have it all, but when her husband’s mysterious behavior awakens her buried childhood trauma, she must decide which is more costly: keeping his secrets or revealing them. I know, right? Fantastic! What agent wouldn’t want to represent this gem? As it turns out, all of them. Don’t get me wrong; I got some positive feedback. I got some lovely rejections. Some I actually considered framing. Several agents were intrigued and asked for sample chapters. Even more said they liked the idea, but “it’s not what I’m looking for at this time.” Still others said my writing was solid, but their dance cards were full. And then there were those who simply said, “Thanks, but no thanks.” The rejections piled up.

After almost a year of this masochistic behavior, a family friend in the publicity business told me about hybrid publishing. I had never heard of such an animal. I thought authors either self-published or were represented by an agent at a traditional publishing house, and at the end of it all hoped to avoid being spit out at the bottom of the book industry. I researched the hybrid publishing model, and it appealed to me because it’s author-centered; authors maintain control over their work but have the guidance and support of a publishing team, and in some cases traditional distribution to get the work into traditional markets. I began querying hybrid publishers and soon had a few express interest.

Among them was She Writes Press, an independent mission-driven, community-oriented, female-run company. Brooke Warner, the publisher, accepted my manuscript, and here I am, ready to launch my debut women’s fiction novel in June 2022.

Looking back, I feel like I had been writing A Week of Warm Weather in my head for years before I typed a single word. Not surprisingly, I am an avid reader. Though I mix in memoirs from time to time, I read almost exclusively fiction, particularly women’s fiction. Women’s fiction explores subjects women can relate to in their real lives. Women relate to the characters, often seeing a bit of themselves or someone they know within the pages. The writing is intentional, often layered in meaning. Women’s fiction addresses moral and social dilemmas that mirror the readers’ own experiences. 

A Week of Warm Weather explores the result of childhood trauma on an adult woman named Tessa. She buried that trauma, almost to the point of erasure. She knows she feels unsafe in the world. She knows she finds it hard to trust people. She knows she goes to extraordinary lengths to please people. She knows she craves order, even perfection. Most of all, she knows she fears abandonment. What she doesn’t know is that all of it is a result of her buried trauma. 

An adult life rife with moral and social dilemmas added the life experience necessary to give to my story layers. In writing Tessa, I learned a lot about myself. She gave voice to the feelings I’d buried in my own life. She forced me to uncover and face the motives behind my own choices and behaviors. She took shape. She grew. And I evolved right along with her. Her challenges led her to self-discovery, and she led me to mine. Our characters have a way of doing that, don’t they?

—

Born and raised in a large family in eastern Pennsylvania, Lee Bukowski has always had an interest in reading, writing, and storytelling. She holds a BA in English and Secondary Education from Millersville University and taught seventh grade English and writing for fifteen years. In 2017, she obtained an MFA in English and Creative Writing from Southern New Hampshire University. Currently, she teaches writing at the college level and freelances as a proofreader and editor. When she’s not teaching or writing, she loves reading and traveling, especially visiting her grown daughters in Boston and Fort Lauderdale. A Week of Warm Weather is her debut novel. Lee lives with her husband in Reading, PA.

A WEEK OF WARM WEATHER

Tessa Cordelia appears to have it all—a loving husband who’s just opened a dental practice, a beautiful baby girl, a big house in the suburbs, and a large, supportive family. But when her husband’s reckless choices resurrect a trauma from her childhood, she must decide which is more costly: keeping his secrets or revealing them. He manipulates Tessa into believing his career and their happiness depend on her silence. She feels like she’s losing her mind. Is her husband’s habit so awful? In many ways, he’s an ideal husband; should she let him have this one thing? Determined to maintain the lie that she’s living the perfect life, Tess lies to everyone she knows—except for CeCe, a woman new to the area whom she’s just befriended. But after confiding in her, Tessa learns that CeCe has an explosive secret of her own, and her world is further upended.

A gripping, nuanced exploration of the havoc addiction can wreak on a family, A Week of Warm Weather is the story of a woman who has to figure out how much she is willing to lose in order to find herself.

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Tags: featured, women writers

Category: On Writing