Ground Control

So, I wrote a somewhat-science-fiction-but-mostly-women's-fiction book about a woman who travels to Mars.

It's not hard science fiction (though the science checks out), and I honestly never wanted to write a story that involved a spaceship. In fact, I was embarrassed about it for quite a while.

This is how it happened:

Ground Control grew out of a single idea (as all stories do). I had recently moved across the Atlantic, following my husband for his job, and frankly, I wasn't happy. I wasn't happy about moving, about leaving friends, family, career, my house... and I was trying to give myself a shake, to say, Get over yourself, because people move all the time, and it wasn't forever. I was able to go home for a visit, to stay in touch over technology... so I should really just stop feeling sorry for myself.

But what about, fifty, eighty, one hundred years ago, when people would embark on a move like this, from which they would never return. There are so few 'Goodbye forevers' in today's world, and I wanted to write about one of those. My choices, then, were to change everything, set it in the past, or send Sarah to a place that she literally couldn't get back from. And, after a little bit of preliminary research, yep, Mars.

Again, I didn't want to write science fiction. I couldn't tell friends what I was working on without wrinkling my nose and waving my hands around when I said 'spaceship' or 'Mars.' But, the story grew. The research panned out, and the science in the book (most of it) is actually fairly accurate (and even interesting to some people!). I was much more excited about plant pathology than space travel, which says something about me, but I'm not sure what.

Anyhoo, the story took over, the characters did what they wanted to do, even if they wanted to be cold, selfish, detached... I really had no control of any of this. This is also probably a metaphor for my life. But my characters came to life, and helped build a story that I hope resonates with people: 'trailing spouses' who tag along on someone else's ambitions, children of military members who picked up and moved every few years, and anyone who's questioned who they are, where they're going, and what they want to do with their lives.

There's something to be said for just letting it happen, but then again, we all need to find our own direction in life, whatever it is.

And that's how I wrote this book.