This week's Book of the Week is Mr. Congeniality. I'll be posting the links and excerpt tomorrow, but today I thought I'd share with you the letter I wrote to readers when the book was published in 2002. People often ask writers where we get our ideas. In fact, next to how much money we make, it's probably the most-asked question we encounter. So here's a little about the idea for Mr. Congeniality.
July 2002
Dear Reader,
One of the questions that authors
are frequently asked is where we get ideas for the stories we write. As a
reader myself, I’m always fascinated to hear about those snippets of
conversation, moments glimpsed from the train or the car, stories on the
evening news, and songs on the radio that spark other imaginations and turn
into the seeds from which stories grow.
Mr.
Congeniality got
its start about three years ago. I was half-heartedly watching a cooking show
on television, trying to take my mind off the fact that I had to pay bills. I
don’t remember what was on the menu or even which show it was. But I do
remember glancing up once to see a chef (who was quite obviously from the city)
standing along the bank of a stream in the mountains of the American West.
As I watched, the chef began
pulling tin containers, linen napkins, and assorted trinkets from a saddle
bag--things she’d hauled up the mountainside by horseback so she could create
an artistic arrangement of hors d’oeuvres
along the trail. By the time she cheerfully assured her viewing audience that
presentation is vitally important even in the mountains, my bills were
forgotten, Annie Holladay had come to life, and Dean Sheffield had crept into
the shadows of my mind.
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| Photo from Unsplash |
I’ve been visiting Annie and Dean
off-and-on ever since that day. They weren’t always the easiest couple to work
with. In fact, they were frustratingly uncooperative at times, and I officially
gave up writing their story several months ago, making a solemn vow never to
look at it or think of it again. The very next morning I was standing in line
at the bank when Dean perched on my shoulder and began whispering the secrets
I’d been searching so hard to find on my own.
Mr. Congeniality is a story about forgiving and
healing, about loving and laughing, about letting go and hanging on. It’s about
life with teenagers and all the joy—and occasional pain—that comes with the
territory. I hope you’ll enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.
~Sherry
I dedicated this book to my male cousins because I'm lucky enough to have the best cousins around. So once again, this is for you,
Gary,
Ted, Bart
Tony,
Ray
Carter (Jeff),
Chris, Jay, Todd
Blaine,
Brad, Garth
Clay,
Clint, Blake
Mike,
Steve and Sam
Thanks for a lifetime
of laughter and memories!
