I'm continuing to go through my novels and share a few thoughts and notes about them on this blog. This week, I'm talking about Three Roads Home. (To enter a contest for a free copy, go to my Facebook page.)
Publication Date:
May, 2003
Where the idea came from:
After writing The Promise Remains and The Watermark, I began work on a third short novel that would cap what I called The Letters Trilogy. The novel was called Somebody.
One Line Synopsis:
Three novellas that deal with love and loss in relation to marriage.
Journey to publication:
I pitched Tyndale House Publishers the third book in my trilogy of love stories centered around letters. Their response was very common in publishing: let's wait and see how the first two books do. Those books did well, but they didn't make me the next Nicholas Sparks. I decided to pitch this story to other publishers, and Waterbrook came back with the idea of making this an omnibus (a collection of three stories connected in some way). I loved the idea since it gave me two more opportunities to write something.
The Response:
This has been my least-selling book ever published. Why? I think for a couple of reasons. Even though Nicholas Sparks was a bestseller with his novels, it was still a stretch having a male writing love stories. It was even more of a stretch to have a collection of three novellas put together. Most people weren't really sure what this book was--short stories?? love stories based on marriage?? If I already had a name, it obviously could have worked, but I was still trying to build an audience.
My Thoughts:
This book is such a window into life as a newlywed for me. The stories are simple and somewhat naive, but like The Promise Remains, that's what I like about them. I tried to do something ambitious with the last story titled "Still Life At Sunset" by having it go backwards chronologically. I have had A LOT of emails from readers asking me to explain that one. Looking back, I realize I tried to pull it off but didn't quite do it. Oh, well. It happens.
Interesting Fact #1:
The acquiring editor for this was Erin Healy, who has gone on to have some great success herself with writing fiction.
Interesting Fact #2:
The publisher at Waterbrook at the time was Don Pape, who is now the publisher at David C. Cook. They're the ones doing my teen supernatural series, The Solitary Tales.
Labels: 15 Weeks Of Giveaways, Three Roads Home
