Step by Step
As I’m working through A Year with the Harrisons (formerly American Homeschooler) to get it ready for publication, I’m struck by how much time has passed. Over 8 years, in fact, and I wrote bits of the story before. This is really an early book that I’m publishing to give it some finality. I didn't quite trust the popularity this book acquired and sidelined the story for a while until I could figure out what was going on. It was nice to get so much interest—people were actively following it on my FB page each week as I posted and unlike many times the reception was overall great. I had loads of likes and comments, even online book signings for Facets of Fantasy, which was published right before.
Since this story had prominent young women who had been homeschooled—my background—it was natural to have a few questions about whether this was based on my experiences. I always laughed because it wasn’t at all. Anyone who knew my parents and sisters would think resemblance to the flamboyant Harrisons was ridiculous. Of course, people might be curious about that and that seemed harmless. But I never did put my finger on what was going on with that little explosion about AH and something about it bothered me.
So, strange though it might seem in the face of so many requests for prints and exclamations about the book, I retired it. Let it disappear for a while. Many of the followers were personal acquaintances on FB, so maybe I felt it was getting too close to those real relationships. Making me more of a curiosity being stared at by friends than a serious writer who had written a real book. And I’ve never been sorry I put it aside until I could present it to an audience with more distance between me and the readers.
The more I’ve published other books and seen reactions to them, the more I’ve felt sure there was something about all that AH stuff. I hadn’t realized how much I’d grown to dislike the story. When I opened it again, I was surprised to find it wasn’t all that bad. I’m giving it a polish and some trimming, and soon it should be published. Now I’ve had some years pass, it should be okay for the story to return.
And there will more updates.
Since this story had prominent young women who had been homeschooled—my background—it was natural to have a few questions about whether this was based on my experiences. I always laughed because it wasn’t at all. Anyone who knew my parents and sisters would think resemblance to the flamboyant Harrisons was ridiculous. Of course, people might be curious about that and that seemed harmless. But I never did put my finger on what was going on with that little explosion about AH and something about it bothered me.
So, strange though it might seem in the face of so many requests for prints and exclamations about the book, I retired it. Let it disappear for a while. Many of the followers were personal acquaintances on FB, so maybe I felt it was getting too close to those real relationships. Making me more of a curiosity being stared at by friends than a serious writer who had written a real book. And I’ve never been sorry I put it aside until I could present it to an audience with more distance between me and the readers.
The more I’ve published other books and seen reactions to them, the more I’ve felt sure there was something about all that AH stuff. I hadn’t realized how much I’d grown to dislike the story. When I opened it again, I was surprised to find it wasn’t all that bad. I’m giving it a polish and some trimming, and soon it should be published. Now I’ve had some years pass, it should be okay for the story to return.
And there will more updates.
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