“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.”