How Jenny Jackson wrote a best-selling novel while her kids were in the bath

Two decades ago, Jenny Jackson put aside her own writing dreams to become a book editor-but now her debut novel, Pineapple Street, is a New York Times best seller and a Good Morning America book-club pick, and has already been optioned for TV. The wildest part? She wrote it in four months, while holding down her job and raising a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old. She also managed to talk to TIME as part of our series on how parenting shapes the people who shape the world; find more at time.com/parent-files

- CHARLOTTE ALTER

You've said that writing a novel was something you thought was out of the question for you, given your career as an editor. How did adding motherhood on top of that affect your perception of what was possible?

For some reason, having kids made me realize that my job was really solid. And I didn't need to operate every single day like I was fighting for my career. Once I realized that I might have a little flexibility, then that sort of just gave me a longer leash to run. Writing the book came from a place of not feeling so afraid.

Can you tell me a little bit about how the writing actually happened?