Susan Tate Ankeny's Blog
July 16, 2020
Seven Weeks to Publication
Full disclosure? I'm new to blogging. And in general I'm more comfortable if asked a question rather than just talking off the cuff. So.... if anyone is reading this (hello?) please throw me a bone- ask me a question. Anything.
I've been asked how and why I started writing The Girl and the Bombardier. First let me say, that I wanted my dad to write it. I felt the story belonged to him and would best be told in his voice. (By the way, I now think I was wrong about that, but more about that later, or another time maybe.)
My first term of college I wrote what is now the first chapter as a short story for a writing class. Many years later, I began to write dad's story. By 2009, Dad had passed away, leaving me his unfinished memoir and photos and letters, and I knew the writing would fall to me. My greatest motivation was to read the story from beginning to end, as I had heard it told aloud by dad in fragments, usually just the dramatic events and his time with Godelieve. I sat down before my computer and had no idea where to start. A lot of research awaited me, but I didn't know that yet. So I pulled out the college short story I'd written many years ago and that's where I began. And Chapter One is my favorite chapter.
I've been asked how and why I started writing The Girl and the Bombardier. First let me say, that I wanted my dad to write it. I felt the story belonged to him and would best be told in his voice. (By the way, I now think I was wrong about that, but more about that later, or another time maybe.)
My first term of college I wrote what is now the first chapter as a short story for a writing class. Many years later, I began to write dad's story. By 2009, Dad had passed away, leaving me his unfinished memoir and photos and letters, and I knew the writing would fall to me. My greatest motivation was to read the story from beginning to end, as I had heard it told aloud by dad in fragments, usually just the dramatic events and his time with Godelieve. I sat down before my computer and had no idea where to start. A lot of research awaited me, but I didn't know that yet. So I pulled out the college short story I'd written many years ago and that's where I began. And Chapter One is my favorite chapter.
June 22, 2020
Eleven Weeks to Publication!
My first book, The Girl and the Bombardier, will be published on September 8th. This project has been a decade in the making, a labor of love that began as an attempt to record my dad's story for my two children that mushroomed into a life changing experience. The story began in France-twice. The first beginning happened many years before I was born when dad jumped from a burning B-17 into northern France. A girl named Godelieve pedaled furiously on her bicycle to reach him before the Nazis. The second beginning happened when I stood in the churchyard where dad landed with Godelieve beside me. Godelieve shared her incredible story of survival and convinced me that there was a much bigger story to tell, an important tale of ordinary people doing extraordinary things just waiting for a new generation.
In this blog I'll share about the making of the story as well as the publication process. Stay tuned!
https://susantateankeny.com
In this blog I'll share about the making of the story as well as the publication process. Stay tuned!
https://susantateankeny.com
Susan Tate Ankeny's Blog
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