Guiding Light
Young author shares recipe for his 'tasty stew'

By T.J. DeGroat

Jason Boyett, 32, has written about everything from the apocalypse to clever ways to stretch one's resources. He is one of those annoyingly prolific and productive overachievers who is single-handedly driving a stake into the heart of the twentysomething-slacker stereotype.

Boyett's first book, Cheap Ways To..., was published in 2003. Two other books followed that year. In 2005, he began writing Pocket Guide books, including one geared toward twentysomethings. Pocket Guide to Adulthood: 29 Things to Know Before You Hit 30, tackles everything from financial stability to social sophistication. His writing goal: to create books that "mix lots of information, pop culture references, plausibly hip vernacular, and modern spirituality into a tasty stew of highly readable goodness."

HATCH caught up with the busy writer and former creative director to find out about cubicle dwelling, life as a dad and his recipe for success.

HATCH: What made you decide to shift gears, leaving a successful career to create your "tasty stew" for readers?

Boyett: You mean, other than a love for stew? Here's the quick background: I started working in 1999 as a copywriter and graphic designer for the creative services department of a local marketing and communications company. I gradually moved up the chain of command, and by 2003 was the creative director and the manager of the department. My 45-hour weeks turned into 60-hour weeks. At the time, my daughter was three and my son had just been born, and I'd come home to them struggling to put aside my stress and be a decent dad and husband. I didn't always succeed, and I'd go to bed thinking about all the projects I had to work on the next day, wondering how I'd ever get them done. I remember the way my gut always clinched when my work-issued cell phone rang.

Around the same time, through some fortuitous relationships and networking, I got my first book contract and started writing against a deadline. Staying up to work on a book late at night after the kids went to bed wasn't helping matters.

So when I had the chance to take another job -- a much less prestigious one, with fewer benefits and hardly any chance for career advancement -- well, I jumped. The new job was way less stressful. Much more family-centric. Much more flexible, which means it allows me to take small steps toward a full-time writing career while still getting a regular paycheck to make ends meet.

As for the "tasty stew" my readers hopefully enjoy ... well, it's still my side gig. I hope to some day produce enough stew that it becomes my main gig.

HATCH: It seems like everyone thinks they have a book in them. What advice would you give to someone -- especially a young person -- who wants to jump into the book biz?

Boyett: Everyone probably does have a book in them, but that doesn't necessarily mean that book deserves an audience, you know? And that's a valid question to ask if you start thinking about writing a book: Do I have something to say that needs to be heard? Can I contribute something to bookshelves that hasn't been said before, or that says the same old thing but in a new way? If not, then why do you want to write a book? To make money? To be famous? If that's the case, prepare for a little disappointment. Very few writers are able to make a full-time living at it.

Which leads to my first piece of advice: Be realistic about things. It's gonna be hard. It's hard enough to write a book, to come up with an idea and put it into words -- 60,000 words is generally a good place to start -- and arrange those words into coherent thoughts. Then, once you've finished, it's harder still to find someone to publish your book. Very few of us just jump into the business. We scratch and claw our way in, and maybe, if we're lucky, we push hard enough at some point to get a foot in the door. Once that foot's in, it gets a little easier. But put aside all misconceptions that being a writer is this big glamorous thing. It's personally fulfilling. It's occasionally exciting. It's what I want to do. But it's not easy.

Beyond that advice -- which, admittedly, makes me sound like some bitter old curmudgeon, which I'm really really not -- the best thing to do is to write as much as you can and read as much as you can. Reading is a way of studying the craft of writing. Actually writing is how you practice. Both are connected. Once you're committed to studying and writing, you've got to begin networking. You won't get discovered if you just sit at home typing on your computer. You need to meet people -- in-person or virtually, through email or MySpace or wherever. I got my first book published because I decided to be aggressive in introducing myself to people in the industry and pushing myself as a writer. You have to be every bit the marketer pushing a product -- the product is yourself -- to the publishing industry. Go to seminars. Meet agents. Send out manuscripts. Write stuff for online magazines, even if you don't get paid. Get your name out there, and network like your career depends on it, because it does. Unfortunately, getting published is as much about who you know as it is about your talent.

HATCH: Did writing the Pocket Guide to Adulthood help you figure stuff out?

No. I waited until I figured everything out, then I started writing.

Not really. To be honest, about two-thirds of it is stuff I already have a pretty good handle on, like the best way to use credit cards, or the characteristics of a healthy marriage, or how to write a great resume. But there are a few chapters that required some research. For those topics, I knew that they were something I wanted to discuss, but I wasn't quite the expert I wanted to be on those subjects. So I did my best to become an expert. Examples include the chapter about buying groceries -- who knew you could test the ripeness of a watermelon by scratching the rind? -- and the basics of a well-stocked medicine cabinet.

HATCH: What's the most interesting or surprising thing in that book?

The most surprising thing I discovered came as I researched the problem of credit card debt on college campuses. According to Fannie Mae, a top provider of student loans, the average college student possesses six credit cards and is more than $3,200 in debt. Ten percent are at least $10,000 in debt. That's incredible. And a little depressing.


HATCH: Do you think this generation of twentysomethings has gotten an unfair reputation for slackage and boomeranging between independence and their parents' houses?

Yeah, I think our generation does suffer from the slacker stereotype. We're not all living in our parents' houses and spending all day downloading
Arctic Monkeys songs and making MySpace friend requests. But like all stereotypes, there's probably some kernel of accuracy at the base of it.

I'm not a sociologist, but I think there's some real truth behind the idea that we've seen our Baby-Boomer parents work their tails off for a company only to a) get laid off because their salaries are too high and they can be replaced by some kid right out of college who'll work for beans; and b) amass a substantial retirement fund only to see it crash into pieces by some corrupt company; and c) dedicate themselves so much to their jobs that their families suffer. They get divorced. They don't know their kids. They identify themselves by their jobs, and when the job is gone...then what?

As the children of that generation, we've seen the results of a life devoted to "hard work" and, as a result, have adapted what I think is a much more balanced philosophy. Yes, we work hard. But we play hard, too. Our jobs are not the most important things in our lives. Careers are just one piece of what satisfies us. Earlier generations may look at that perspective with some suspicion, and I think that played a role in the development of the "slacker" label. We're as productive as anyone, but we also know when to shut the production off and go home for the day. It's much easier for us to put work aside for a few minutes or for a weekend so we can recharge with something that gives our lives significant meaning. Besides -- wasn't the dot-com boom driven by our generation? Haven't we been the driving force behind the establishment of the Internet? Who led the way in the technology boom of that last few years? Certainly not a bunch of slackers.

HATCH: Can you share a bit about your volunteer work? You seem very involved.

Well, that comes back to balance. Though I don't primarily write for what you might identify as a religious audience, I am a Christian and have been for a long time. And for me, at the core of my faith are the related concepts of grace and mercy and justice and servanthood -- the stuff Jesus talks about in the Gospels. Contrary to my own personal tendencies, life is not all about me. And because I have been blessed in many ways – compared to the rest of the world, being born in the United States is like winning the lottery -- then I feel some obligation to give back.

I'm still a copywriter and designer at heart, so I do a lot of pro bono marketing work for non-profit organizations that do stuff I believe in, like Healing Waters International (www.healingwatersintl.org). My family supports a little girl in Columbia through a great organization called Compassion International. I've gotten to know the guys behind The Glue Network (www.thegluenetwork.com), and love what they're trying to do. Any my brother heads up an inner-city ministry among the urban poor in my hometown and we help support him, too.

My grandparents have always been givers. My family went through a stretch during my teen years when my dad hardly brought any money home from his job as a self-employed architect. We were never in statistical poverty, but there were some very lean years where we had to rely on our extended network of friends and family to take care of us. That was when I learned that the best way to live life is to approach it with open hands -- whether that generosity extends to your money, your talents, or your time. If you've got any of those, share them.

HATCH: How has fatherhood changed your priorities?

Once you have kids, everything changes. You are no longer the focus of your life. Everything starts to revolve around them, from career decisions (can I provide for my family?) to where you live (how are the schools in this neighborhood?) to how you deal with your extended family (balancing holiday time between sets of the kids' grandparents). When they're born, you instantly become the most important person in their world. They become the most important thing in your world. So that's a major priority shift. It's hard, but about the most fulfilling thing I've found. Becoming a daddy is the best thing I've done.

HATCH: What's the next project?

My next book releases June 6. It's called Pocket Guide to the Bible: A Little Book About the Big Book, and it's a return to the irreverence/history/theology combo of Pocket Guide to the Apocalypse. It's an entertaining introduction to the Bible for people who aren't as familiar with it as they pretend to be. Which is, like, all of us, whether we're religious or not. It's a fun book and I'm excited about it.

For more on Boyett, check out his MySpace profile, www.myspace.com/jasonboyett, and while you're their, visit HATCH's, www.myspace.com/hatchmagazine.