Forcing myself to fix the flaws in this novel stretched me farther and made me a better writer than I had thought possible. You don’t learn to be a good carpenter by building several bad houses – you learn by building a good one.
A compelling set up is important, but the real pleasure of Henry’s book is the constant surprise of the character. It’s an increasingly rare experience not to see every turn of plot and logic coming around the page, and the ability to sell the reader on the character’s logic without shortchanging them on surprise is no small feat. Sara J. Henry pulled it off. -Jedidiah Ayres, "Dogpaddle"
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| Sara looking professorial |
Sara was kind enough to give me an ARC (advanced reader copy) and I finished it just last week. Okay -so she didn't just GIVE me a copy. She heckled and teased and egged me on until I was obsessed with winning a copy. But I got one doggone it! She's got a bit of an evil streak in her...The rest of her review is over at Clattering Keys.
But here’s the thing about writing: it’s a great equalizer. Anyone can do it. You can do it. Your neighbor can do it. Your grandmother can do it. If you have paper and pencil, you can do it. You don’t need classes or an advanced degree or even a how-to book (although there are plenty of those around). A computer is required at some point, but the cheapest and oldest of models, the kind you find in the giveaway pile at the local library, will do the job.And Learning to Swim is reviewed by Joanne McNeal at A Worn Path:
Although Troy's story is full of mystery and suspense, Learning to Swim is far from your typical straight-to-paperback thriller sold in airport newsstands or in the checkout aisle at your local drug store. Rather, it's a hybrid I call the literary mystery: part smart, well-written fiction/ part mystery novel.
Author Sara J. Henry has adeptly interwoven a highly gripping kidnapping mystery with the fascinating character study of a woman forced by extreme circumstances to reevaluate everything she thought she knew to be true about herself. Henry’s relaxed, engaging writing style makes for a comfortable read, as if you were returning to the author well into a series instead of it being a debut novel. Similarly, Troy Chance is a familiar, genuinely likable character one can very easily picture actually knowing in real life; there’s no unbelievable heroine as expert marksman, fifth degree black belt, nerves of steel, looks of a supermodel all rolled into one going on here. Quite simply, Learning to Swim is a gem of a debut, and it’s nice to know another book featuring Troy is already in the works.
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| Hey, it was a camera phone. |
Typically when you have a writer trying to relate a story from the thoughts of the main character, you end up with a slow moving dialogue, and the storyline can quickly get lost in the swirly fog of unnecessary mental banter. But in this book, I began to anxiously await another peek into Troy’s thoughts because her thoughts and notions are so common to all of us. And it’s this ability to connect with Troy that made this book so powerful.And there's a free signed copy of Learning to Swim to be had - just leave a comment over there to enter. Ends soon!
Word of mouth is still the best tool for selling books. This is how people found new authors for more than a century. Someone says, "I've read this. It's good. I think you'd like it. Here, you can borrow it." Someone takes the book away, reads it, and goes, Ah, I have a new author.So if you're an ebook fan, and want to read, head to the Tyrus Books site. I'll recommend my friend Reed's Innocent Monster. Get it, read it, love it, and then buy Reed's backlist. That's how, well, writers get to keep writing books.
THE QC REPORT:
One afternoon, Daughter was studying with her math tutor and I was doing what I do when she’s being tutored, which is find horoscopes online and choose to believe the ones which tell me next month will be very profitable for Leos. After her hour was up, she walked out looking ashen. I assumed this had something to do with polynomials. As it usually happens, I was painfully mistaken. - "A Home for the Fleas, A Hive for the Buzzing Bees"
CARRYING A CAT BY THE TAIL:So click on the post titles, and read on.
The kids had a half day of school today, which means the school only required them to be in school for two hours. It takes an hour and a half to get them ready and fed for school and then an hour of driving to drop them off, and then another hour of driving when I pick them up. ... You can imagine my dismay when I heard what the kids would be studying... nothing. They were going to be watching movies or going to a presentation by the Beta Club. - "Can There Be a Better Time?"
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| Clare Toohey |
Much of the story takes place in Canada, where people do not habitually blather their secrets and wear their hearts on their sleeves. Perhaps it would be easier for Troy to know whom to trust if they did, but as taken aback as she is by her willingness to risk herself for this strange boy, I was surprised more by what things she was willing to hide from herself. It's an interesting tale with characters I don't encounter everyday and who simply aren't laid out before the reader as settled questions.
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| Sara & Teresa, LATFOB |
T: There is, as there must be, a dog in your novel. How important is the dog and why isn't it a beagle?Teresa's also doing a giveaway of one signed hardcover copy of Learning to Swim - but if you prefer, you can win a Kindle version (easier to ship and all that) - just go leave a comment on her blog. And note that Teresa's the author of the best "the dog and I both had cancer" memoir you'll ever get to read, and I can't wait to get to do a giveaway here. Or to go harass her and Seamus on book tours.
S: It’s not a beagle because it is modeled after the best dog in the world, my now-deceased German Shepherd-golden retriever mix named Tiger. I still remember the ad I answered to find her: Mother pure-bred golden retriever – father traveling man. Six of the pups clearly had a German shepherd father, four had a black lab father. Oops! But now Tiger will live on forever, in this novel and the sequels.
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| Steph's first novel |
This is the first paragraph of a brilliant book by a wonderful writer and friend, Sara J Henry. I had the pleasure of reading this book when it was a manuscript, and let me tell you, it's pretty fantastic.To participate, leave a comment on Steph's blog, and if you tweet or post about it on your blog, you get an extra entry. Contest ends Feb. 20, but I think that's Feb. 19 in the U.S.
And you don’t force yourself to do things that don’t fit. T-shirts, bookmarks, gifts – not my thing. Amy King just ran a chainsaw haiku contest – not my thing. Blog tours and book giveaways, that I can do.
While standing on the deck of the Lake Champlain ferry bound for Vermont, Troy Chance sees a small boy tossed over the side of a ferry going the opposite direction. Without thinking, she jumps to his rescue, setting off a chain of events that see her embroiled in a kidnapping plot with tendrils in the Adirondacks and Vermont as well as Ottawa and Montreal.OK, he said it, not me!
Download an excerpt of Sara J. Henry’s Learning to Swim.
“It’s the best first chapter I’ve ever read.” —Reed Farrel Coleman, award-winning author of Innocent Monster
How long did it take you to write this book?So go visit The Green Bathtub, and comment for a chance to win.
About seven months – the first time. Then I had to learn to rewrite, which at first involved a lot of staring at the pages.
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| Sara, in Vermont |
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| The real Tiger dog |
If you could go back in time and tell yourself something you know now that you wish you would've known during the writing and editing phase of this book, what would that advice be?For the rest of the interview and the giveaway, go visit Margo Kelly's blog. Giveaway runs until midnight (I assume EST), Feb. 10. So go, go, go! (This is for a once-read advance reader's copy.)
That you can do it, even if you feel that your brain is going to break and this seems that it must be the stupidest book ever written. I’ll quote my friend Michael Robotham here: “It's like sleeping in a two-man tent with your best friend for a year. And it doesn't matter how good a friend they are, you're just so sick of them by the end of that process...” Although I’ve heard him tell the story when it’s a beautiful woman in the tent.
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| Shown here with Barry's permission - but this photo is copyright! |
"... Fresh setting, well-realized characters, cleanly written, with a mysterious and suspenseful story - just what I was looking for." - Daniel Woodrell, award-winning author of The Death of Sweet Mister and Winter's Bone
Did you catch that? WINTER'S BONE! The man who wrote maybe one of the most interesting thrillers I've read in years thinks Sara's book is great. He's right.To enter, all you have to do is enter a comment on Quinn's blog. That's it. It runs until 3 pm CST next Monday. I'll sign the book to whomever you want.
