Laurel Osterkamp’s The Side Project is a love story—but not just between two people. It’s also a love letter to storytelling itself, and to the complicated lives we lead behind the narratives we tell.
For Rylee, life in Bemidji, Minnesota, feels like a long pause. She once imagined herself in California, publishing her own work and chasing creative dreams. Instead, she’s held in place by the past—caring for her younger brother and holding tightly to her father’s unfinished novel. Carson, her former boyfriend, made a clean break a decade ago when fatherhood came early and unexpectedly. When they’re reunited in a fiction-writing class and paired as partners, it reopens more than old memories. What starts as a way to mine their pasts for literary material becomes something riskier—a “side project” that draws emotional lines too blurred to follow. As they create stories together, they must navigate their own unresolved truths and ask whether some endings can—or should—be rewritten.
Guest Post by Laurel Osterkamp:
How My Grad School Experience Influenced The Side Project
When The Side Project opens, it’s Rylee’s first day of her graduate creative writing program. She’s frustrated to still be in Bemidji, rather than at USC with her on-again/off-again boyfriend Jack, who’s a darling in literary fiction circles. She hides the truth from him, that she writes and self-publishes romance novels. Because that’s just not something you admit to people who are serious about writing literary fiction.
Like Rylee, I had already self-published several novels when I began my MFA program. Also like Rylee, I didn’t share that information with my classmates. I wasn’t actively keeping it a secret, but part of me was nervous that they’d judge me for it.
So, Rylee becomes torn between seeking validation and following her own path. One of the stories she writes for class is something I came up with while in grad school. And it just might be my favorite thing I ever wrote.
The story is called “You and Jane.” It’s written in second person, as if the reader is a modern-day, parallel universe Charlotte Bronte. She and her husband are receiving genetic counseling because she’s pregnant, and Charlotte (who everyone refers to as Jane, as in Jane Eyre), must reveal her family’s incredible history. The whole thing grows more and more absurd. I was inspired by David Barthelme’s “The School,” an absurdist short story that I read for another grad school class.
Anyway, when I shared the story with the rest of the class, some people loved it. Others did not. It wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I liked to think it was a nice hybrid of literary and genre fiction. Accessible and funny, yet unique.
And, I got it published! You can read “You and Jane” here, in Abandon Literary Journal.
Let me tell you, getting short fiction published in a reputable literary journal is almost as difficult as finding a publisher for your novel. I’d sent out “You and Jane” to a lot of places, and received a couple of really nice, personal rejections. Months later, when I finally received the acceptance from Abandon, I squeaked with joy. My son was in the room, and he thought I’d received bad news!
By that time, I was already done with my graduate program. The same was true for when I found a publisher for The Side Project. But it was really fun, incorporating “You and Jane” into my novel. Like I could let go of my need for validation.
Spoiler alert: by the end of The Side Project, Rylee also releases that need, but she does it in a much grander way than I ever did.
The best part? Letting your protagonist learn from your experiences is an awesome experience in itself!
Osterkamp writes contemporary fiction that’s character-first and emotionally grounded, capturing the quiet transformation that can come from grief, heartbreak, and unexpected connection. Her bestselling books, including Beautiful Little Furies, are celebrated for their wit, intelligence, and heart. A Minneapolis native, Laurel juggles writing with teaching, motherhood, and negotiating domestic peace treaties between family members and their finicky cats. Her work resonates with readers who believe that fiction isn’t just entertainment—it’s a mirror, and sometimes, a second chance. Learn more at laurellit.com and follow her at@ laurel_osterkamp.
