THANK YOU!

When a book of mine goes out into the world, I can’t help but have a lot of emotions. Leading the way, today, as TRUE NORTH finds its way into the hands of readers, I want to talk about gratitude. When I put pen to paper, when I start that brainstorming/planning/falling-in-love-with-characters part of the process, I also dream. I envision what it is that my main character might want to say with their story. What is their arc? What’s at stake for them? And how do they change? And what might this be saying to the young readers who stumble upon this book?

I hope and I dream, always, that what I want to say through my characters comes through. I want my vision to be clearly executed. So when an editor “gets” your novel, it’s a gift. It’s not only a seal of approval, in that you did what you set out to do, but it’s more than that. It’s an invitation to focus on and embolden your themes and perfect your manuscript. It’s an invitation to teamwork, and when you have a great editor, you get to see your manuscript transform into what you always thought it could be. Instead of just a kernel of the truth you were hinting at, you get at the whole shebang. Your manuscript, your theme, your vision, becomes REALIZED.

Great editors do this.
TRUSTING TRUE NORTH has a great editor. So today on TRUE’s book birthday, I want to say a loud and emphatic THANK YOU to Lisa Mangum. TRUE’s story is a triumph, it’s timely, and it’s a testimony to the power of empathy.

And I thank you, Lisa Mangum, for helping TRUE go from pretty good to something … exquisite. Something that seems to live and exist on its own, outside of me. It’s taken on its own energy. TRUE is a force. I’m so proud for her to be out in the world.

THANK YOU!