Back in 1996, Bill Clinton was re-elected, the Sundance Channel debuted, Tom Holland was born, and I had my very first experience writing to the end of a draft of a novel.
Nothing ever happened with that book other than it got me my first agent. I put it aside and wrote two more unpublished books and got a new agent before selling Story of a Girl in 2005. I wrote nine more books, including one with a collaborator, and more or less forgot that first book existed.
Recently, a cousin sent me a scan of some manuscript pages he’d found that I’d sent my Aunt Betty Lou, a kindred spirit and fellow writer, back then. She passed away last year, and had saved it all this time. I’d sent it to her with a letter, dated August 12, 1996. I had visited her and my other aunts in North Carolina that year, and…well, I’ll let 1996 Sara tell it:
What followed were the pages of a YA book manuscript about a mysterious guitar showing up on the doorstep of a girl with an alcoholic father. A Song Called Home is also about a girl and a guitar and an alcoholic dad. This is an idea that has followed me around for 25 years, clearly, and yet in the writing of Song, the memory of that first book had been completely erased until my cousin sent me that email.
I think all writers know the feeling of having an idea that you haven’t found the right form for yet, or that you’re not good enough to write yet. Rarely do we get to see it laid out in evidentiary documents, and even we do have the evidence, revisiting our writer selves from a quarter-century ago is not an everyday affair. I’m interested in the 26-year-old I was. I can see how connected she was to this new identity as “writer,” but I also know she couldn’t imagine past that first book, let along what she’d be up to in 2022.
The final form of the girl and the guitar is my tenth book, my first middle-grade novel, and—after some supply-chain delays—it’s officially on sale March 15. Along with the great trade reviews, it was recently featured in the New York Times. The review is excellent but does include a plot revelation readers might rather be surprised by, so I made a handily redacted version of it that you can read via Google Drive here if you like.
As far as the shipping delay, I think if this were my first or second book rather than my tenth, I’d be a lot more down about the situation. Every book release comes with its own hiccups, and at least it’s not at the bottom of the ocean! My publisher and I have decided to go forward with my 3/1 virtual event with author and friend Corey Ann Haydu (who also writes about dysfunctional families in her own beautiful way).
Meanwhile, if keeping track of my moving publication date is all a bit much, but you know you want the book, why not place a pre-order right now?
Upcoming Events
This is only what I have scheduled right now, but I expect to be doing a few more things in the coming weeks and months.
🖥️ Virtual Everywhere - March 1 - 5 p.m. Pacific/6 Mountain/7 Central/8 Eastern. Free, but registration is required.
Corey Ann Haydu (Eventown, One Jar of Magic, Lawless Spaces) and I will be talking about writing MG vs YA, girl characters with complex inner lives, and writing about family dysfunction. You can order a signed and personalized copy of A Song Called Home via this event, to be shipped as soon as it’s in.
🌁 Live in SF! - March 13 - 2 p.m. - Books Inc. Opera Plaza
I will be doing a live, in-person event with National Book Award WINNER Malinda Lo on Sunday the 13th, 2 p.m., at Books Inc. Opera Plaza, to celebrate the paperback release of her groundbreaking novel. We’ll talk about writing books set in San Francisco, among many other things. Mark your calendars and I hope to see you there. (And even though that’s a couple of days ahead of my new publication date, my publisher is 99.99% sure we will have copies of A Song Called Home at that event.)
✈️ And now, I’m about to go on my first real vacation in two years. The cat sitter has been secured and is in possession of Mr. Donut’s dossier. I’m meeting my husband at an undisclosed location and will be doing my utmost to not work or think about books and publishing for almost an entire week. Okay, maybe a few Instagram posts.
When I get back, you’ll get more than the usual amount of mail from this account in March as I’ll send out a few event reminders and updates. I hope you are well and starting to feel some spring in your world.
Pretty cool about the irony of life. Been reading you and following your career since Story of a Girl. It is really sweet seeing where you are now. Glad your book is actually here, finally. Good to see you’re doing well.