Books With Heart

I recently finished a book that was not my cup of tea, but I resisted the impulse to write a bad review. Now that I know firsthand how much work goes into writing and finding a publisher, I feel a kinship with anyone who has embarked on the journey. After all, it's only my opinion. This novel may be exactly what another reader is looking for.

 While plodding through the pages, I wished for some cream and sugar to add to the plot. With a a little more umph, this book could have been great. Here's where it fell short:

 1. The heroine has lost her mother, but I never really felt her pain. I'd be willing to bet the author has never lost her own mother, or conducted in-depth research about that kind of devastating loss.

 2. The plot was predictable. I knew very early on that the teenager would grow to love the father she never knew, and get the attention of the cute boy in the end. Because the stakes were never high enough, or a happy ending really in question, there was no compelling reason to keep reading.

 I think writing a book full of heart is painful. You have to open up a vein and bleed all over the page, but those are the kinds of books that a reader will never forget.

 My favorite book with heart is THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE by Jandy Nelson. What's yours?

My Bio And Headshot

When my publisher asked for a bio and a headshot, I had my husband snap some pictures. I wasn't so pleased with the results and decided to splurge on a professional photographer. Here's the result of my "Christie Brinkley" session.

I'm sure my publisher will edit my bio, but here's what I've written so far: Shannon Hitchcock grew up in rural North Carolina on a 100-acre farm. Her extended family and love of the south are integral to her stories. Shannon’s picture book biography, Overgrown Jack was nominated for the Sue Alexander Most Promising New Work Award. Her writing has been published in Highlights for Children, Cricket, Children’s Writer, and other magazines. Shannon currently lives in Tampa, Florida with her husband and teenaged son. Her first novel, The Ballad of Jessie Pearl, was inspired by a family story. For more information, visit Shannon on the web.

 Having a novel with my name on the cover is a dream come true for me. I plan to revel in every step of the process!

The Ted Hipple Young Adult Literature Collection

On Sunday, I went on a field trip, practically in my own backyard, to the University of South Florida. The fearless leader of our expedition was Dr. Joan Kaywell, founder of The Ted Hipple Young Adult Literature Collection.

Dr. Kaywell started the collection in memory of her mentor, Dr. Ted Hipple. The collection houses autographed first editions of YA literature in addition to manuscripts and ARCS. My favorite part of the tour was looking at the papers donated by YA author, Greg Neri. Greg is also a talented illustrator and his drawings are more interesting than a typed manuscript.

 I was like a kid in a candy store, surrounded by the works of S.E. Hinton, Richard Peck, Alex Flinn, Jacqueline Woodson, and many, many more. When my debut novel, THE BALLAD OF JESSIE PEARL, is published in the winter of 2013, I plan to donate my working papers, editor's notes, manuscript, and a signed copy to the library.

If more middle grade and YA novelists were aware of this collection, it would grow even faster. So spread the word, spread the love of YA literature! To find out more about the Ted Hipple Young Adult Literature Collection, watch this video on YouTube.

WAITING TO FORGET by Sheila Kelly Welch

I always read the Author's Note of a book first because I want to know why an author chose this particular story. The note at the end of WAITING TO FORGET says, "She, (Ms. Welch), and her husband live in Illinois, where they raised five sons and two daughters. Four of the children were adopted when they were of school age." That kind of emotional truth resonates in the story of two children, Angela and T.J. who suffer because their mother is too immature to take care of them.

The mother's primary sin is neglect. She can't be bothered to make sure her children are clean, fed, and safe. But neglect turns to emotional and physical abuse at the hands of their mother's boyfriend.

The turning point in this novel happens when T.J. and Angela are left alone for the weekend. Their only link to their mother is a cell phone that she never bothers to answer.

The story is told in alternating sections between "Then" and "Now." Now takes place in the hospital waiting room where T.J. is waiting for news of Angela. Then tells the story of the abuse and neglect that culminated in her accident. The reader doesn't find out what happened to Angela until near the end of the book. I couldn't put it down until I knew.

WAITING TO FORGET packs an emotional punch. It will leave you thinking long after you finish it.

ONE FOR THE MURPHYS

ONE FOR THE MURPHYS grabbed my heart and never let go! When we first meet twelve-year-old Carley Connors, she's in a social worker's car on her way to foster care. We quickly learn that Carley and her mother have been beaten by her stepfather. Carley has just been released from the hospital and her mother is still unconscious.

The first shocker of this book happens in a flashback. Carly remembers how the beating started. Her mother caught her by the foot and yelled at her stepfather. "Honey, I got her! I got her by the foot!" Carly was betrayed by her own mother.

Carley has a hard time trusting the Murphys, but Mrs. Murphy and her two youngest sons finally work their way into her heart. Just as she is hoping to be adopted by them, the social worker takes Carley to see her mother. What happens next is unexpected, but inevitable.

What sets this novel apart is it's not depressing. Carley is quick-witted, sarcastic, and kind. I found myself, rather than feeling sorry for her, rooting for her to overcome her circumstances.

Kirkus just gave ONE FOR THE MURPHYS a starred review, and for good reason. If you like books that will make you cry, make you laugh, and ultimately make you cheer, then this book is for you.

My Debut Novel!

Set off the fireworks! My debut novel, THE BALLAD OF JESSIE PEARL, will be edited by Stephen Roxburgh and published by namelos!

THE BALLAD OF JESSIE PEARL had a long and winding road from initial idea to contract. It started when my son's eighth grade history teacher at Tampa Prep gave the class an assignment. Mr. Fowler asked the kids to interview family members and record ten family stories. Each story had to take place during a different decade, and the kids had to research what was happening in the U.S. during that time period, and also in the larger world.

One of the stories my son collected called to me. It was the story of Crawley Hennings Wooten, my grandmother's sister. Crawley died when she was 20 years old from tuberculosis. She left behind a ten-month-old baby and a letter planning her own funeral. My grandmother, who was 14 at the time, stepped up and became the baby's mother until his father later remarried. Since my son was 14 at the time of the history assignment, I couldn't help but think about the level of responsibility that had been thrust upon my grandmother as a young girl.

Because nobody is still alive that remembers exactly what happened, I let my imagination run free. I read NC history books, novels set in the 1920's, and memoirs from sanatoriums. I made up characters and asked a lot of "what if" questions. In the final analysis, I used some actual place names like Flint Hill Road, Stony Knoll Church, and Frank Meyers's store, but the rest took place only in my mind.

After writing about 100 pages of JESSIE, I submitted the first chapter for critique at the Florida SCBWI Miami Conference. I was lucky enough to be critiqued by Newbery-winning author, Richard Peck. Mr. Peck asked me to walk him through the rest of the plot. His eyes twinkled and he said in that droll way of his, "You have too many characters auditioning for a part in your novel." I killed some of them off and that made writing the rest of the book much easier.

Author, Joyce Sweeney encouraged me, offered advice, and served as my mentor. My critique partners cheered me on.

Once the novel was complete, I signed with a literary agent. She subbed my manuscript to a small group of editors with no success. Here's a sample of the comments she received:

Henry Holt: "We have a novel forthcoming that has similar themes, in which a girl is rehabilitating at a TB sanatorium (Breathing Room by Marsha Hayles), so the timing isn't right on our end."

Dial BFYR: "My concern is that this is straightforward historical fiction which is just a really tough sell in the market right now."

I became convinced that the novel was good, but not quite good enough. So I signed up for Stephen Roxburgh's Whole Novel Workshop through the Highlights Foundation. Stephen, an experienced editor with more than 30 years in publishing, read my novel in its entirety. In addition, I had three one-on-one sessions with him to discuss it.

Stephen kept working with me in the months that followed. I revised twice more per his comments. In February of 2012, he finally made an offer. I yelled...I screamed...I danced around my kitchen and ran like a crazy woman from room to room!

For every unpublished novelist, there has to be somebody who will open the publishing door and let us in. I will be forever grateful to Stephen for taking that chance on me.

My Cardiac Ablation

I never expected to have a heart problem. I am not overweight, don't smoke, have excellent cholesterol numbers, and hit the gym most days. I'm even one of those annoying people who has given up caffeine for herbal tea. Yet on February 15th, I passed out on my kitchen floor. I've decided to share what happened in case someone else out there may need to see a cardiologist.

It all started in December during a routine gynecological exam. The doctor pressed the stethoscope to my chest, got a puzzled look on her face, and suggested I see my internist for an EKG. "Okay, sure," I mumbled. I figured it was nothing and decided to wait until after the holidays. A couple of weeks later, I woke up in the middle of the night with heart palpitations. I chalked it up to my thyroid medication. After all I never expected to have a heart condition.

About a week went by, and I got into a routine argument with my teenaged son. It was silly, about nothing really, but for the first time I experienced chest pains. I sat down and took a couple of deep breaths. That finally got my attention, and I scheduled an EKG for two days later.

My EKG was abnormal. It showed that my heart was taking an extra beat. Alarmed, my internist sent me to see a cardiologist...that very same day. I had an echo cardiogram which was normal, then blood work which showed no problem. The cardiologist suggested a stress test and from those results made his diagnosis. I had an idiopathic right ventricular outflow tract tachycardia. I'd never even heard of it and asked him to write it down for me. Dr. Syad told me we don't know for sure what causes this condition, but it's more prevalent in women than men, and often presents itself during a woman's 40's or 50's. I fit both of those criteria.

Dr. Syad prescribed a beta blocker called Metoprolol and said we had about a 60% chance that my heartbeat could be regulated with medication. I tried the drug for two weeks and returned for an EKG. Unfortunately, it hadn't helped at all. Dr. Syad decided to change my medication to Flecainide and increase the dosage. If that didn't help then I would be scheduled for an ablation.

Forty-five minutes after taking Flecainide, I felt dizzy. My son hadn't left for school yet and I screamed for him. With his music blaring, I was afraid he hadn't heard me. So I stood up...big mistake. I don't remember exactly what happened next, but when I opened my eyes, my son was standing over me and I was lying on the kitchen floor.

Somehow Alex scooped me up, got me into his car, and drove me to the emergency room at Tampa General.

When the hospital contacted Dr. Syad, he called in a specialist called an electrophysiologist. Enter someone better than any fake doctor on Grey's Anatomy: Dr. Christian Perzanowski. I liked him immediately, but even better, I had confidence that he could help me. Though Dr. Perzanowski calls himself "a lowly electrician for the heart," he specializes in ablations and has performed over 800 of them.

Dr. Perzanowski told me he often sees my condition in women who have had infertility problems. I shared with him that though I hadn't experienced infertility, one of my babies had died from sudden infant death syndrome. It seems this condition is associated with a broken heart.

Dr. Perzanowski performed a cardiac ablation on me. During the procedure, a long, thin flexible tube was put into a blood vessel in my groin, then guided into my heart through the blood vessel. Dr. Perzanowski found two small broken places very close together. He "zapped" the spots with an electrical current.

When Dr. Perzanowski uttered the words "two spots, very close together," tears flooded my eyes. What I hadn't told him was that my heart had been broken twice. Once when my son died, and again when my only sister was killed in an automobile accident. Of course my heart had two broken places. It made perfect sense.

I'm now back home and learning to trust my heart again. Any twinge in my chest is cause for alarm. It will take me a while to relax and move past this episode. I'm nervous, but that seems perfectly natural.