Shorter is Harder

Page Proofs

Synopses slay me. Honestly? I'd rather write War and Peace than draft a 250-word summary of my latest book.

Choosing the important details and figuring out what to leave on the editing room floor (sorry: that's a metaphor from the pre-digital age, back when we cut tape with a razor blade) is sooooo hard.

So I'm in awe of the publishing pros who have brought my books into the world and SUMMARIZED them brilliantly, in promotional materials and book jackets and ... most recently ... the back-of-the-galley copy.

How to Build a Heart is at that "galley" stage, stepping tentatively out into the world (is it unfortunate that Mary Shelley's Creature from Frankenstein just popped into my head?) with a shiny new cover and a few residual typos. Galleys are basically pre-publication advertising in book form, and while I'm pretty sure THIS cover (coming Friday!!!!!) won't change, in the past I've had galleys with covers that ultimately changed or ... in the case of Jersey Tomatoes ... no cover at all.

I'm incredibly grateful for all the folks at Algonquin Young Readers who are working with me on this latest novel. There have been moments when I've felt they understood my characters better than I did!  Here's what you'll find on the back of the galley for How to Build a Heart:

        All Izzy Crawford wants is to feel like she really belongs somewhere.

Her father, a Marine, died in Iraq six years ago, and Izzy’s moved to a new town nearly every year since, far from the help of her extended family in North Carolina and Puerto Rico. 

When Izzy’s hardworking mom moves their small family to Virginia in Izzy’s junior year, all her dreams start clicking into place. She likes her new school — even if she is careful to keep her scholarship-student status hidden from her well-to-do classmates and her new boyfriend. And best of all: Izzy’s family has been selected by Habitat for Humanity to build and move into a brand-new house. Izzy is this close to the community and permanence she’s been searching for, until all the secret pieces of her life begin to collide.

How to Build a Heart is the story of Izzy’s journey to find her place in the world and her discovery that the choices we make and the people we love ultimately define us and bring us home.