◆
2020
Readers' Favorite GOLD MEDAL winner for Children's Mystery
◆
2020
Moonbeam Children's Book Awards SILVER MEDAL for Pre-Teen - Mature
Issues
One
dead father. One lying mother. One giant secret.
12-year-old
Rocky's father dies suddenly, and he learns the "his heart
stopped" story is bogus. Immediately after the funeral, his
mother sticks the For-Sale sign in the lawn and whisks them out of
town as if living there has become too dangerous. As his trust in his
one remaining parent unravels, Rocky is determined to crack the
secret about how his father really died.
For
Rocky, the road to the truth involves eavesdropping, snooping, and
listening to advice from his dead father who urges him on a risky
journey.
Will
Rocky have to rethink who was the father he thought he knew?
Sometimes it may be better to let a secret stay hidden.
Silver
Daggers Tour Posts for Swallowed by a Secret
How did you start writing?
My path to
writing fiction was not direct or predictable. It began after I retired from a
job that only included nonfiction writing for press releases, grants, op-ed
articles, and testimony on public policy issues. I was president and executive director
for the nonpartisan League of Women Voters of Massachusetts, an organization
dedicated to promoting active participation in our democracy.
My creative writing
journey started with a mysterious occurrence when I found three pennies neatly stacked
on a windowsill during my last sad walk through my mother’s empty apartment. I was
convinced there was a magical and hopeful message in those pennies that would
be perfect for a picture book.
Aware that I
had no clue how to begin this project, I signed up for online courses,
workshops, and conferences to learn the craft. What an eye-opener! There was so
much to learn, and it wasn’t easy, but soon I discovered I couldn’t stop
writing even after receiving some withering comments on a homework assignment. Simply
put, I had found my passion. In the process I decided to put aside the pennies
picture book, because I found my writing voice in middle grade fiction.
Swallowed by a Secret, a middle grade contemporary
mystery, is now published, and I am officially on the wild author’s ride.
What was your
road to publication?
Swallowed by a
Secret’s road to
publication started with a Twitter pitch. It is such a
unique challenge to encapsulate your story in 240 characters, but Twitter pitch
parties offer new writers a fantastic way to be noticed. If an agent, editor, or publisher likes your
pitch, your manuscript will rise to the top of their pile.
I got a couple
of manuscript requests from my pitch and lucked out when an acquisitions editor
from Immortal Works, a small traditional publisher based in Utah, offered
publication. After rereading that email dozens of times, I
replied with a resounding YES!
The staff at Immortal Works are wonderful to
their authors and work hard to promote their books. As an unexpected but lovely
bonus, Immortal Works has a community of authors who generously help each other
in many different ways. Signing with this publisher was simply the best
decision.
P.S. Immortal Works will be publishing the standalone
sequel to Swallowed by a Secret in August 2021. The title of that book
is SPOOKED BY A SUSPICION. It is a middle grade adventure story about coping
with major changes in family situations.
What are
some middle grade books you love?
There are many books I love, but I always put Katherine
Paterson’s classics, The Great Gilly Hopkins and Bridge
to Terabithia at the very top of my list. There is an elegant
simplicity to her writing of these heart-wrenching books that are the epitome
of a page-turner.
Some more recent middle grade novels that
should be on everyone’s to-be-read list are Where the Watermelons Grow by Cindy
Baldwin, Genesis
Begins Again by Alicia D. Williams, and One for the Murphys by Lynda
Mullaly Hunt. These books are full of guts, sorrow, and courage and leave you
crushed when you read the words “The End.” You want to know what is next for
those characters you fell in love with.
How did you come up with the title
of your first novel?
I like titles that give you a peek
into what the book might be about. Sometimes titles are vague or misleading for
me. My middle grade mystery, Swallowed by a Secret, is about how devastating
family secrets can be, even if well-intentioned. The 12-year-old main character
Rocky is determined to learn the truth about how his father really died, no
matter the consequences. And I should mention, I love the alliteration in the
title.
If your book had a candle, what scent would it be?
The scent that would be best to
describe Swallowed by a Secret would be musk because it seems mysterious
to me, hard to know exactly what you are smelling. My book is a mystery about a
12-year-old boy who is determined to learn the truth about how his father
really died when he discovers that the explanation his mother gave him is
bogus.
Where were you born/grew up at?
I was
born in Boston and never lived more than ten miles from that city until 2019. I
even when to college close to home. Anyone who listens to me speak for more
than minute will know that is true, because I am the proud owner of an authentic
Boston accent. There is a short audio clip of my accent in full bloom on my website.
Born
in Boston with the accent to prove it, Risa lived within ten miles of
the city for decades until a recent move to the neighboring Ocean
State.
For many years, Risa worked in a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting active participation in our democracy, with a special focus on voting and elections.
Risa's deep dive into creative writing started with finding three pennies in a neat stack in a completely empty apartment that belonged to her mother. It's a long story.
When not writing, Risa is reading, exercising or doing therapeutic ironing (yes, there is such a thing.)
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