I am beginning to hear comments about the book. I have heard reports of people reading the book and then passing it on to someone else to read. From a financial standpoint, I would rather that people buy the book than borrow it, but I want people to read the book, even if they never give me one red cent. I think that a book that is good enough to read and pass on is good enough to recommend to others. Those recommendations may eventually result in book sales.
Some of the people who have read the book are beginning to ask questions. I will try to answer them hear without ruining the book for those of you who have not yet read the book.
- Where is the town that is mentioned in the book?
- Geographically, it is about where Cape Girardeau, Missouri is, but the town does not exist. This is why I chose not to name the town in the book. I took some liberties to describe a town that is like what I think Cape Girardeau might be if there were some changes made to the downtown area and it was about 20% larger. While I primarily based the town on Cape Girardeau, the mental picture I have also incorporates some features from other towns in Missouri, such as Poplar Bluff. The next book in the series will take a closer look at one of the churches mentioned in Searching for Mom. Because this is a fictional town, the church is also fictional and should not be assumed to be like one of the churches located in Cape Girardeau, Poplar Bluff or any other town in Missouri. It is best to think of the town, the people, the churches, the school to be completely fictional even though they happen to be located in about the place where Cape Girardeau is located in the real world.
- Did you have a particular teacher in mind when you developed the Mrs. Gordon character?
- One of my family members has already mentioned a possibility. My response was that if it had been her I would have made Mrs. Gordon much worse. I did not have any particular person in mind when I developed the character. I did draw upon some experiences that I had in school. One of the things that I hoped to get across in the book was that Mrs. Gordon is not a bad teacher. Mrs. Gordon is an excellent teacher. Kids and parents like her very much, but she does not know how to deal with Sara. In the book, we do not get to see what is going through Mrs. Gordon’s head. We only see the situation from Sara’s point of view. From Sara’s point of view, Mrs. Gordon is trying to make things difficult. From Mrs. Gordon’s point of view, she has a room full of kids and it is hard to keep up with the needs of each one. In that group of kids is Sara, who ignores her at times and goes out of her way to make things difficult. Mrs. Gordon knows it is a problem and she does not want it to be this way, but Sara frustrates her and brings out the worst in her.
- Why did you choose the Arch as way to identify Saint Louis?
- People who live in Saint Louis or who visit frequently would be able to recognize the city based on other landmarks. Something about the buildings tells a person that he is in Saint Louis. It is a unique city, but many of the people who will read the book are not familiar with the area. Even so, most people are aware that the Gateway Arch is located in Saint Louis. If they know nothing else about Saint Louis, they know about the Arch and they have seen pictures.