Bankrate: It sounds as if you might have learned that the hard way.

Picoult: As a young and naive author, I had an accountant who thought he was doing the right thing. And just the way he filed the tax return was actually not right, given the way the income flowed in, and I wound up having to pay all these taxes and penalties. That was sort of a wakeup call that I needed someone who was aware of my business. That was like my second or third book.

Bankrate: How much did it cost you?

Picoult: I don't remember. It was a few years after the fact when the IRS caught up with it and said, "Oh, guess what? You screwed up." Then we got socked with a fine. It wasn't a huge amount of money because I wasn't making a huge amount of money at all, but it was still really shocking because I had done the right thing; I went to a professional. And this guy still didn't really get it, and why would he? I mean, how many authors are you going to deal with in the course of your tax career?

The other thing that is really tricky is, my books are published in about 40 countries now, and so when we get tax returns and tax income, I think you pay all kinds of foreign exchange rate taxes, all these bizarre things that occur. I can't even think about how fat my tax return is, because it has so many complicated issues. I could never do it myself. I basically take all my stuff, give it to my dad, God bless him, who organizes it, then he in turn passes it to my accountant. I go on tour and I'm gone for like three months, so there has to be a place where I can stop and sign the papers before we send it all out with the check. But I'm not complaining.

Bankrate: You are about to embark on a new style of writing, correct?

Picoult: Funny you should mention that. I am currently writing five issues of "Wonder Woman" for DC Comics. It is really cool. When I was writing "The Tenth Circle," there was a graphic novel embedded in it and someone at DC Comics read it and liked it and wrote me an e-mail and asked, "Would I be interested in doing this?" To be honest, I had like no time to do it, and when I was having dinner that night with my family, my kids said, "Are you kidding? You have to write 'Wonder Woman!'" So I wound up writing five issues of it. It's been very challenging and very fun and hugely different from what I do for my real job.

Bankrate: We can't think of a better choice. You're a natural for that because ...

Picoult: I am Wonder Woman! (laughs) That's what I keep telling my editor. It's funny. We started out talking about my being the ultimate hockey mom artist, and culturally, when we talk about being Wonder Woman, it's for these women who manage to do it all: Take care of themselves, their family, their career, juggle all those balls in the air. That's what the word has come to mean. So in a way I'm joking, but yeah, I am Wonder Woman; that's what I do for a living. It's been really fun to write her. She's a great character. I think she's been underwritten. I'm only the second female to ever write her, which seems like a total no-brainer. It's been really, really great.