I loved the book, Hanna’s Ascent by fellow Bedazzled Ink Publishing author Jayna Sheats. That’s the take-away here, but some background first.

Ten years and five books into this publishing episode of my life, I’m appreciative of the authenticity and mission of my publisher, Bedazzled Ink Publishing. Way back when seeking a publisher for My Music Man, I was initially disappointed to – after editing the manuscript as requested by a University Press -be turned down in the end. I’m not embarrassed to admit that, yes, I saw prestige in that then sought publisher. Yet, as I have wizened, I understand that – for me – the mission of a publisher aligning with me and my writing matters most. I have found my publisher to be a bit of a kindred spirit. Too, I feel loyal for their support of me and my work. And no, it’s not always perfect.

My memoir and fiction hint at some of the “why” I appreciate Bedazzled’s mission to “celebrate the unique and under-represented voices of women and books about women.” Chapter 12 of My Music Man is titled “Girl in a Boy’s World.” Within From First Breath to Last, I share, “For a girl like me in a family with four brothers, this double standard made me angry: the older I got, the more gender inequities I uncovered.”

Do I wish I was with a BIG publisher? Perhaps sometimes for a few reasons, but not mostly. Instead, I am grateful my publisher seems to get me and my stories, and is not afraid to help me better understand how to improve my own writing. As I’ve said more than I can remember, I write for me.

And finally, relevant to the reason I’ve posted this blog, I realize how much I have in common with Bedazzled Ink Authors. I enjoy their work! Many of us have strong technical (in addition to writing) backgrounds. Although I’ve also read books of BINK authors I haven’t gotten to know as well, here’s a few of those authors I’ve been fortunate to become friends with.

Nancy Pfeiffer, an Alaska guide and writer (Riding Into the Heart of Patagonia).
Linda Strader, first woman hired on a U.S. Forest Service fire crew (Summers of Fire).
Birgitta Hjalmarson, author of a historical novel placed in Sweden during WWI (Fylgia)
Priya Malholtra, a journalist and author (Women of a Certain Age)
Elyse Fritchel, an epidemiologist who recently released a children’s book about disease tracking (The Disease Detective)

These, though, are just a few of dozens of Bedazzled Ink Authors and Books. I heartily encourage you to check them out at: https://www.bedazzledink.com/books.

But finally, I want to introduce you to my newest author friend, Jayna Sheats. I was thrilled to trade notes with her before and after reading Hanna’s Ascent, and to meet virtually. I thought it’d be fun to introduce Jayna and her book to you, a “story of trauma, transformation, and triumph.”

About Hanna’s Ascent: “Seven-year-old Hanna Shelby has one big problem: everyone thinks she’s Johnny Shelby. She’s not only miserable, in 1950s rural Colorado, a boy could get killed acting even a little girlish. So, she buries her doll and tries to fit in. On her twenty-first birthday while working at the embassy in Bonn, Germany, she finds herself teetering on a bridge over the Rhine River. She realizes the risk of not being Hanna is greater than being, and returns to college in the United States presenting as a woman...” (read the full description).

DM: Why did you write Hanna’s Ascent?

JS: In the beginning it was really just a story I told myself to put myself to sleep. Gradually it took hold and became an obsession. I discovered – or uncovered – my passion for creating scenes only gradually. It has been a journey, as they say. “Writing a novel is like driving at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.

DM: What was your hope or goal in publishing Hanna’s Ascent?

JS: I really wanted people to understand the reality of life at a time when not passing gave many observers a dilemma: do I just off the dude directly or have a little fun first? [That’s a quote taken from my “What A Novel Can Teach Us” blog post].

I also wanted to write something that encompassed what I had been so impressed with (and enamored by) in college literature:
“To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour”
(The rest of that poem is largely religious moralizing, in my opinion, but those four lines are among the best expressions of literary and personal aspiration around.) A very specific story can tell that of many people; one scene can describe a thousand others.”

DM: This quote from the blog post linked above, which follows up to the question as to why we need more than facts and memoirs, fully resonated with me.
“We do need all of those, but we need something else: emotion. And while one can write passionately about what an openly transgender person feels as they battle daily the dehumanizing denigration of a hostile society, I think only the immediacy of a narrator, who can speak with sensitivity, honesty, and at the same time detachment, can achieve the raw, uninhibited presence that puts the reader directly in the experience.”

DM: How might you define “success” in it being out in the world?

JS: I would really like to see it talked about in every college class on gender studies. (And correspondingly noted in book clubs.)

DM: What has surprised you the most either in it being out in the world or in the feedback you’ve received?

JS: How hard marketing is. Of course I knew the obstacles for an unknown (and aging) writer, but I still was unprepared for the way people would say they loved it (and even write reviews) yet appear to have done little to actually pass that applause on. Viral marketing has to have a replication factor greater than one! But I have to always return to that adage about the journey of a thousand miles. Or climbing – it’s always just one handhold at a time. Weiter. [German for “Onward;” it’s an important undercurrent in the novel!]

DM: What have you personally gained through writing the book?

JS: A lower budget for makeup: I learned to give up mascara entirely, since I would cry every time I simply went to revise something…(This is actually true!) Many of those scenes (like, all of them?) were very cathartic. And for sure it left me with a passion for doing more.

DM: I think touching people’s emotions is, at least for me, one of the greatest gifts of writing. And, I cried during the reading of Hanna’s Ascent too. I cried also even final editing and re-reading A Map of Her Own during several chapters, but especially in a near final scenes with Celia and her grandmother. (I never wear makeup so I guess my budget was unimpacted.)

The upshot? I highly recommend Hanna’s Ascent as a a powerful and well written read; both emotional and educational. A perfect book group selection, too. And more relevant today than many of us wish.

The breadth and diversity of Bedazzled Ink Authors. Learn more about BINK books.

Other News? Check out my updated spring events and my new Book Group Guide for A Map of Her Own!