The Sister Solution: A Guest Post by Trudi Trueit
I'm SO excited to have a fellow Aladdin M!x author on my blog today. Trudi was one of my favorite Aladdin M!x authors before I was published by that imprint...and now we're publisher sisters! Speaking of sisters...Trudi is here today to talk to us about the complexities of sisterhood. It goes perfectly with the theme of her new book, The Sister Solution, which is on sale now!
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Sisters
by Trudi Trueit
As a girl, I read Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women again and again. Not only because I closely identified with Jo’s fierce determination to be a writer, but also because the book so accurately expressed the true nature of sisterhood, which can be summed up in one word: complicated. Let’s make that two words: very complicated. Jo, Meg, Amy, and Beth laughed and played, huffed and squabbled, nurtured and comforted, fought and forgave, just the way my older sister and I did. One moment my sister and I could be quarreling about whose turn it was to use the curling iron and the next we were uncontrollably giggling over a secret joke at the dinner table. We could play competitive games for hours, but one wrong word said at the wrong time could bring either one of us to tears. Sisterhood is a powerful thing—an enigmatic, glorious, agonizing, powerful thing.
So it’s no wonder writing a story about two young sisters, who are complete opposites, trying to navigate their relationship was a bit daunting. The Sister Solution brewed in my head for a long time before I started writing it. I mean, how do you package up the crazy kaleidoscope of sisterhood into one book? When I was ready to write, I decided to tell the story from thirteen-year-old Sammi’s (the older sister) point of view. However, I hadn’t written more than a few chapters when Sammi’s little sister, Jorgianna, 11, tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Excuse me, but that’s not how it happened.” That’s when I realized I was going to have to do what every parent does, and give each sister equal time (or as equal as I could given the constraints of the job) to tell her side of the story.
As I wrote, I realized there was one other thing I needed to do for the sake of sisters everywhere, and that was not to allow the novel to sink into cliché territory. I didn’t want to portray Sammi and Jorgianna in the way I’ve seen sisters characterized too often in books, movies, and television as mean, vindictive, one dimensional characters. You know the drill, Sister A steal’s Sister B’s—fill in the blank—boyfriend, husband, dream job, life, etc. Why is one sister always pitted against the other anyway? Instead, I wanted to pit the world against them. I wanted Sammi and Jorgianna to learn to become a team, to figure out how to hold onto one another when everything around them was conspiring to pull them apart. Sammi and Jorgianna learn to brave the strong winds of life’s tornado and come out stronger individuals and closer sisters.
I can’t say I understand the mysterious and powerful nature of sisterhood any more fully after writing The Sister Solution, but I can say I have learned not to take it for granted. Like Jo in Little Women, I have discovered, “I could never love anyone as I love my sister.”
Blurb:
The Sister Solution is the story of two sisters, who are complete opposites, and their longing to understand and connect with one another. Thirteen-year-old Sammi is a soft-spoken, practical thinker, while eleven-year-old Jorgianna is a free-spirited, fun-loving artist. When Jorgianna gets bumped up two grades to join her sister in the eighth grade, it’s a tough blow to Sammi’s ego, as well as her social life (especially when Jorgianna gets accepted into the popular crowd that Sammi has been dying to join). Sammi’s “solution” to handling this infringement into her world is to create a contract with Jorgianna, stipulating that they won’t talk, text, or acknowledge each other in any way, while at school. Of course, this move backfires in ways she never predicted and it isn’t long before she’s backpedaling to keep everything from falling apart.
Bio:
Trudi Trueit knew she’d found her life’s passion after writing (and directing) her first play in fourth grade. Since then, she’s been a newspaper journalist, television news reporter and anchor, media specialist, freelance writer, and is now a children’s book author. She has published more than forty fiction and nonfiction titles for young readers and lives near Seattle, Washington.
Contact info:
Website | Facebook | Amazon | Twitter | Goodreads
-----------------------------------------------------------
Sisters
by Trudi Trueit
As a girl, I read Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women again and again. Not only because I closely identified with Jo’s fierce determination to be a writer, but also because the book so accurately expressed the true nature of sisterhood, which can be summed up in one word: complicated. Let’s make that two words: very complicated. Jo, Meg, Amy, and Beth laughed and played, huffed and squabbled, nurtured and comforted, fought and forgave, just the way my older sister and I did. One moment my sister and I could be quarreling about whose turn it was to use the curling iron and the next we were uncontrollably giggling over a secret joke at the dinner table. We could play competitive games for hours, but one wrong word said at the wrong time could bring either one of us to tears. Sisterhood is a powerful thing—an enigmatic, glorious, agonizing, powerful thing.
So it’s no wonder writing a story about two young sisters, who are complete opposites, trying to navigate their relationship was a bit daunting. The Sister Solution brewed in my head for a long time before I started writing it. I mean, how do you package up the crazy kaleidoscope of sisterhood into one book? When I was ready to write, I decided to tell the story from thirteen-year-old Sammi’s (the older sister) point of view. However, I hadn’t written more than a few chapters when Sammi’s little sister, Jorgianna, 11, tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Excuse me, but that’s not how it happened.” That’s when I realized I was going to have to do what every parent does, and give each sister equal time (or as equal as I could given the constraints of the job) to tell her side of the story.
As I wrote, I realized there was one other thing I needed to do for the sake of sisters everywhere, and that was not to allow the novel to sink into cliché territory. I didn’t want to portray Sammi and Jorgianna in the way I’ve seen sisters characterized too often in books, movies, and television as mean, vindictive, one dimensional characters. You know the drill, Sister A steal’s Sister B’s—fill in the blank—boyfriend, husband, dream job, life, etc. Why is one sister always pitted against the other anyway? Instead, I wanted to pit the world against them. I wanted Sammi and Jorgianna to learn to become a team, to figure out how to hold onto one another when everything around them was conspiring to pull them apart. Sammi and Jorgianna learn to brave the strong winds of life’s tornado and come out stronger individuals and closer sisters.
I can’t say I understand the mysterious and powerful nature of sisterhood any more fully after writing The Sister Solution, but I can say I have learned not to take it for granted. Like Jo in Little Women, I have discovered, “I could never love anyone as I love my sister.”
Blurb:
The Sister Solution is the story of two sisters, who are complete opposites, and their longing to understand and connect with one another. Thirteen-year-old Sammi is a soft-spoken, practical thinker, while eleven-year-old Jorgianna is a free-spirited, fun-loving artist. When Jorgianna gets bumped up two grades to join her sister in the eighth grade, it’s a tough blow to Sammi’s ego, as well as her social life (especially when Jorgianna gets accepted into the popular crowd that Sammi has been dying to join). Sammi’s “solution” to handling this infringement into her world is to create a contract with Jorgianna, stipulating that they won’t talk, text, or acknowledge each other in any way, while at school. Of course, this move backfires in ways she never predicted and it isn’t long before she’s backpedaling to keep everything from falling apart.
Bio:
Trudi Trueit knew she’d found her life’s passion after writing (and directing) her first play in fourth grade. Since then, she’s been a newspaper journalist, television news reporter and anchor, media specialist, freelance writer, and is now a children’s book author. She has published more than forty fiction and nonfiction titles for young readers and lives near Seattle, Washington.
Contact info:
Website | Facebook | Amazon | Twitter | Goodreads
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