AIM: A Review, an ARC Giveaway, and The Hero's Journey

The Backstory

What do you do if you write a book based on a story in "your own backyard" because of an editor's advice (BLUE, Boyds Mills Press, 2006.  The polio epidemic in Hickory, NC) and then the main character keeps talking to you and you want to know what happens next? (COMFORT Calkins Creek, 2009. Anne Fay deals with the effects of polio and her father's return from WWII.)

If your name is Joyce Hostetter and these first two books are award winners, your publisher then asks you to write a prequel to these books starting with the letter "A." And if you're as great a writer as Joyce is, then you imagine the world before BLUE and write Junior Bledsoe's story and name it AIM. 

I've been privileged to be a part of AIM's development from the time that Joyce asked her Facebook friends for suggestions on a book title beginning with "A." (I think she might have already had a title in mind, but it was fun hearing everyone's thoughts.) She bounced story ideas off of me and I read several drafts. Since I have learned so much from Joyce ("less is more when crafting dialogue, internalization and action"); I was honored that Joyce incorporated some of my suggestions into her book. 

As I've done previously, this review uses craft principles I've learned from another writer. This time, I'm drawing from Jillian Sullivan's presentation of The Hero's Journey at Highlights Summer Camp.  

The Review

Hand me that wrench," Pop wiggled his grease-covered fingers. 

I gave it to him, but I wanted real bad to get my hands on his repair job. "I could do this if I had me half a chance," I said. (p. 7) 

 In less than 50 words Joyce brings the reader into the world of Junior Bledsoe: a world full of unmet desires and tension. In this powerful first chapter, many of Junior's conflicts are foreshadowed. At fourteen, he longs to show his father what he is capable of doing, ("Sometimes I wondered if I'd ever get to show him what I could do."); feels the sting of not being as close to him as Ann Fay is with her father who "go together like biscuits and gravy"; reads in the paper about America preparing to go to war; and hears his father poke fun of him for wanting to stay in school. "After the first day, quit. Least you can say you went to high school."

His father's last words as he drives off in the car come back to haunt Junior later: 

"Find yourself a job and take care of your momma." He climbed in the car. "I'll be back before you can say, 'Yankee Doodle Dandy.'" Then he drove off and left me to put the tools away.  

"Yankee Doodle Dandy," I said. And he wasn't even out of the driveway yet. (p. 14)

Junior's father never returns. 

Jillian Sullivan talked about the reluctant hero--the character who is forced on a journey when one way of life ends and another begins. This is an appropriate description of Junior. AIM narrates the grief and anger-filled year of his life when he searches to find out who he is and where he is headed. 

Jillian pointed out that surpassed desires and conflicts can trigger a hero's journey. In Junior's case, his quest to discover himself is prompted by his father's death. But in the process desires and conflicts emerge and he is presented with choices. 

"Choices are made when the character must decide what he will give up in order to move on," Jillian said. "Each of these decisions and choices represents a death to self so that by the end, the character must overcome his ego to make a courageous decision."

For Junior Bledsoe, choices assault him on a variety of levels. How he will respond to sharing his bedroom with his cantankerous grandfather? What will he do when faced with the temptation to skip school or steal a car? What will he have to give up to earn self-respect? Can he be different than the generations of men who've gone before him? 

Jillian said that heroes often cross several thresholds as they overcome trials, confront their own egos, and ultimately make a courageous decision. In this beautiful coming of age story, there is one scene in AIM that I will never forget. In a moment of introspection, Junior crosses one of these mini-thresholds. He has just tried working at the cotton mill and found it much harder than he'd imagined. He comes home and pulls off his shoes and socks because he wants to feel dirt on the bottom of his feet.

Eleanor was already bawling and I knew there was gardening to do. There wouldn't be time for going into the woods. I tended the animals, and on the way back to the house I plopped myself down onto a sweet potato crate under Pop's oak tree. I hadn't managed to rake up the acorns last fall, and one of them had sprouted into a small tree not four feet away. 

It was only six inches high, but it had four perfect leaves and was doing its best to become a real tree. Any other time I would've pulled up a sprout like that. Today, though, I didn't have the heart to destroy it. After all, what if the big oak tree was hit by lightening one day? The seedling would be there to replace it. (p. 239)

Even now, I get teary-eyed over that marvelous piece of introspection and characterization.  

What are you waiting for?

For fans of BLUE and COMFORT, you will be amazed at how AIM's ending is a perfect set-up for BLUE. On the page it appears effortless. But here's a secret: Joyce wrote that chapter first. It gave her a powerful starting point in her mind. From there she created the wonderful story of a boy named Junior Bledsoe, who spends the year after his father's death learning what to aim for. 

If you haven't read BLUE and COMFORT, what are you waiting for? AIM's (Calkins Creek, 2016) pub date is TOMORROW and you can order it here or here. You can download an educators guide for all three books here.

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Last February I shared Joyce's cover reveal and began the giveaway for this ARC. I will add your name to the list of those vying to get their hands on this book if you leave a comment along with your email address, if I don't have it. I already have a long list of contenders, but there's good news--I have TWO ARCs to give away! I'll pick the winners on October 6.

Besides being good friends and critique partners,
Joyce and I co-publish Talking Story. (To sign up, see article in the sidebar)
This was part of a "photo shoot" this summer when we
were getting pictures for the newsletter.
Photo by Linda Phillips

This review was originally published on LitChat.

Where Are They Now? Joyce Hostetter's Cover Reveal + Giveaway

I am pleased to announce a new series of posts following up on my You Heard it Here First series. In these Where Are They Now? posts I'll share follow-up publication news from authors and illustrators I have featured on my blog. 

My first success story comes from North Carolina author Joyce Hostetter, who happens to be my extremely talented writing buddy and co-publisher of Talking Story. I'm honored that she's chosen my blog as her cover reveal for her next book, AIM, scheduled to be published by Boyds Mills Press fall, 2016. Since tomorrow, March 1, marks the 10th anniversary of BLUE's publication, this is a very special occasion for Joyce.

I know some of you won't be able to stand the suspense and will scroll down to see AIM's beautiful cover (caught ya!). Just make sure to come back and read the amazing backstory of how this book was conceived and written in under a year.

Take it away, Joyce! 


CAROL: I know Boyds Mills Press (or was it Carolyn Yoder?) approached you about writing a prequel to Blue and Comfort. Can you tell us a little about that process? What did they ask for?

JOYCE: My editor, Carolyn Yoder, suggested the prequel but the idea was generated in committee—a prequel to begin with the letter A - so we’d have an ABC set. I thought that was the oddest idea ever!! (to start with a letter of the alphabet for a title before I had a story concept) I joked with my hubby that I’d call it Annoyed! Or Aggravated!

Carolyn explained. It was a marketing thing and would look good on bookshelves! Oh. Okay. Who was I to argue with people who know marketing? Or to pass up a chance at a book contract?

I was just getting into the story when Carolyn gave me a specific date to submit the proposal. So, I stopped writing chapters and spent two weeks on an outline.  Thanks to you, Carol for being part of my brainstorming process. Did you actually suggest that Junior Bledsoe could steal a car? I guess it was an okay idea. The committee liked my proposal and offered a contract.  

CAROL: How hard was it to come up with an idea for the prequel? How about the title? Did that come to you early on in the process?

JOYCE: I’d had an idea to write about a protagonist whose father was dead and at his funeral everyone made him out to be a saint. (I’ve been to such funerals!) But my story would reveal the father’s true character.

So I took a seed from Blue in which Ann Fay says that Junior Bledsoe’s father’s heart gave out a few years ago. I decided to explore Junior’s relationship with his dysfunctional father.  As it turned out, his father wasn’t actually a scoundrel.  Few people ever are.  Mostly, they/we are just broken. In AIM, I explored that brokenness and Junior’s response. 

For the title, I started collecting A words. Alligator was out. Allspice was too. I made a list of words that had potential for preceding Blue and Comfort—one that suited Junior Bledsoe. I considered Aspire but it sounded more like a word his school teacher would use. AIM became the obvious choice.

CAROL: What were the challenges of writing a prequel? 

Being consistent from one book to the next—in characters, speech, and small details. If I’d known there would be a prequel I’d have set it up in Blue and Comfort. Ann Fay was fairly self-absorbed in those books. But she did have opinions about Junior Bledsoe.  He knew everything and everybody and when it came to helping people he didn’t know how to say no.  It was a fun challenge for me to portray him at fourteen as opposed to how she saw him at seventeen.

CAROL: What was the most thrilling/exciting/fun part about writing this book?

JOYCE: The publisher asked me for a book.  What’s not to love about that?  For them to offer a contract based on my proposal was a tremendous emotional boost when I especially needed it. Having just spent seven years researching and writing on two “failed” speculative projects, I was grateful for the focus that AIM gave me.

CAROL: I know you had a stiff deadline for AIM. How was this different than Blue or Comfort?

JOYCE: I wrote Blue and Comfort on spec.  My editor put me through multiple revisions before offering contracts. I had lots of time for research.

With AIM, I wrote the first draft in six weeks, revised it (multiple times with beta reader feedback) in another six. I submitted and AIM went into intensive care with my editor probing for depth, clarity and history. I used my beach vacation and every spare minute to revise. The book, from idea to Advanced Reader Copy evolved in ten months. 

I don’t recommend writing a book that quickly. I like more time to research, live with ideas and think about many possibilities. Time enriches a story. But my chapter-by-chapter outline enabled me to write fast.  Somehow, with help from Heaven and my insightful and patient editor, I pulled it off and we now have a great story waiting to make friends with readers.

CAROL: Any thought about a “D” book? 

JOYCE: I’m always Dreaming…  And I do have an idea.  I’m working on a WWI story right now, however. So the potential “D book” is on hold for the moment.

CAROL: And last, but not at all least, can you give my readers a brief summary of the book? 

JOYCE: Junior Bledsoe’s father dies, leaving him and Momma to piece together some respect for the family name. Overwhelmed with extra responsibilities and questions about his family’s dysfunction, Junior makes some unfortunate choices. His mistakes get him into trouble but also enable him to discover new aims for his life.

Here is the wonderful cover!

Since I read one of the early drafts, I can authoritatively say that you will love this book!

GIVEAWAY-- 2022

Welcome to all my new readers who came here via Always in the Middle. I'm glad you found me and hope you'll return- I give away lots of books! 

Astra Publishing has agreed to give away a copy of AIM to one fortunate reader. Please leave your name and email address (or send me an email) and I'll put your name into the giveaway. Share this on social media and tell me what you do, and I'll enter your name twice. Librarians and educators--tell me where you work and your name will go in another time! Giveaway ends Feb 2, 2022 at 6 PM.