(Published on the Legacy Book Press website on April 1, 2024: https://legacybookpress.com/hear-from-new-lbp-author-kathleen-jones/)
“The War on Sarah Morris, the story of a middle-aged woman struggling to stay employed when the company she has faithfully served for twenty-one years tries to bully her out of a job, will be released by Legacy Book Press in May. It’s been a long journey.
I got the idea for the novel in 2016, but I didn’t start writing it until October 2017. Why? Because I had just sold my first novel, Love Is the Punch Line, to Moonshine Cove Publishing, and I had to spend my time completing that novel and publicizing it. In other words, I was juggling two novels at the same time! In fact, since my time was so limited, I couldn’t finish writing the first draft of Sarah Morris until the fall of 2018.
By the fall of 2020, I had completed two more drafts. I wasn’t happy with them, so I decided to seek help. I thought of taking a creative writing course, but I couldn’t; the pandemic had shut down most public spaces. Then I discovered an email-based course, Online Mentor, offered by The University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies. I took the course in early 2021. My online mentor was Marina Endicott, an award-winning Canadian novelist. It was a wise move; Marina’s feedback was very helpful, and she helped me craft a more polished novel.
In September 2021, I started working on my fourth draft with editor Glenda MacFarlane. Glenda did a very thoughtful and detailed substantive edit, followed by a line edit. Once again, I rewrote the entire novel. We worked together for five months—from September 2021 to January 2022—and I learned a lot from her. In early 2022, I hired Britanie Wilson to proofread the latest draft. I began submitting the manuscript in May 2022, and I signed a contract with Jodie Toohey of Legacy Book Press in December 2022.
The novel published in April 2024 was the fifteenth draft. This novel has been a lot of work, but I’m so glad that I stuck with it. For one thing, it helped me hang onto my sanity during the pandemic; it kept my mind occupied during those long months during lockdown when I couldn’t shop, socialize with friends, or eat at a restaurant. And it also served as an outlet for my anger about a number of issues: economic inequality, sexism, age discrimination, bullying in the workplace.
As I said before, it’s been a long journey, and a journey well worth taking.”
The War on Sarah Morris will be published by Legacy Book Press on April 11, 2024. The paperback and ebook will be available from Amazon, Ingram Book Company, Barnes & Noble, and Indigo Books and Music.
Kathleen Jones, The Quirky Novelist 