Bustle Book Club
The author ofThe Golden Statemade writing her second novel feel like a vacation.
That was so nice.
I think thats when the book started getting a little bit sexier, more travel-centric.
I wrote more about being out in the world.
The result wasMobility,a Jonathan Franzen-esque social novel about climate change thats way more fun than it sounds.
The book follows Bunny Glenn: foreign service brat, calorie counter, misbehaving wedding guest.
Despite her best efforts to avoid politics, politics comes for her.
Below, Kiesling talks cabin life, researching the oil and gas industry, and writing advice to ignore.
Two of them had a composting toilet, and one of them had a porta potty.
The porta potty I really dont recommend.
It was in the woods, and it was really dark, and it was so creepy.
I just peed in that.
I was too scared in the night to go and pee in the porta potty.
I slept in a treehouse-feeling loft.
And it was very cozy and the bathroom was inside and not composting.
It was definitely my favorite one.
The thing to do is you get prepared food from the grocery store or a box of fast-food chicken.
And bread that you’ve got the option to just tear off.
Theres no cooking in cabin life.
There were a lot of videos, like little anniversary presentations, that I could find online.
I read a lot of peoples LinkedIn profiles and read a lot of job listings.
I was interested in a family business because that felt meatier.
But thats also the time that I started writing just for fun and as a hobby.
So I was thinking OK, well what if I didnt have that?
With Bunny, I looked to the parts of myself that I take a stab at discourage from flourishing.
I think a lot of that is the apathy and willful not-knowing about stuff.
But, you know, its not.
Its generally known as the butt in the chair school of thought.
Its good to have that in place so that you set yourself up for success.
But also say: OK, well this is what you want to do.
You feel this calling.
Its really important to you.
Where are the things that you’re able to tweak to make it more possible for yourself?
Because thats also important, especially if the commitments you have are caregiving ones.
You need help from other people, whether its a co-parent or a family member or a friend.
Sometimes its hard to be like Oh, Im working on this thing.
I dont really know what its going to be, and its, like, art.
But you have to do that.
You have to take it seriously for yourself in order for anyone else to take it seriously.
