In My Mother's Words
by Linda S. Thompson
(Chandler, Arizona, USA)
Fran's Story - The 90 Year Journey of a Kansas Farm Girl
In 1994, my then 78-year-old mother made the decision to retire from her third career in Denver, CO and relocate to Chandler, AZ to spend the remainder of her life sharing a home with me. After moving into our new home, getting tired of volunteer work, having finished her garden to her satisfaction, she became bored. I asked her to write her life story for me - not because I ever dreamed of publishing it, but because I wanted to know "the rest of the story..."
She would hand write parts of it and when I came home from work, I'd type it into my computer and add questions or comments to the effect of "need more information." The manuscript took about 2 years to complete and I was happy. We set it aside and never looked back.
A few years later, much to the surprise of both of us, I became a professional speaker and author. I didn't think about the manuscript I had until after her passing in early 2006, at the age of 90. As I was cleaning house one day, I ran across the box with the old diskettes of the manuscript, along with her hand written copy.
At that time, I had self-published two non-fiction books, Planning for Tomorrow, and A Caregiver's Journey. I had set a goal for myself to publish 5 books in five years, and I was half way into year three with no outline for book 3. I was, after all, still in recovery from the loss of my dear mother and best friend who had been my roommate for 12 years.
It brought me a great deal of comfort to re-read the manuscript and, although I had no idea what results to expect from a quasi-autobiography, I decided to publish her story as my third book. I wrote the first and the last chapter, and sent it off to my editor with the explicit instructions that she could do whatever she wanted to the first and last chapter. But, the middle could be edited for spelling and punctuation only as this was, after all, my mother's words. I put the finishing touches on the manuscript and sent it off to the printer on the one-year anniversary of Mother's passing. I felt a sense of peace for that entire day - not at all what I had been expecting. I titled it, Fran's Story - The 90 Year Journey of a Kansas Farm Girl.
When I received the first printing, I sent a copy off to my publicist. She loved it. Because Mama had been a quilter all her life, the art of quilting is woven throughout the book and the cover is a photo of the last quilt Mama made. Sally, my publicist, sent it off to a local quilt shop and they fell in love with it. One thing led to another and Fran's Story has been well-received in several quilt shops across the country. (It helps to have a sister who is a professional quilter, quilt shop owner, and author of quilting books.)
Every time I do a book signing, see Fran's Story on a quilt shop shelf, or get an order for a copy of the book, I feel a sense of warmth, knowing that Mama is very happy with what happened to her labors. I've been told by many that Mama was a very gifted writer and had the ability to put the reader into the time and place she is writing about. Fran's story is a life story, but it is also a written history about what life was like before electricity, refrigerators, the Internet.
For authors, my advice would be to keep an open mind. You never know where your book will take you. The last place in the world I would have ever thought about marketing Fran's Story would have been a quilt shop, because I did not inherit the talent for, or the love of, the art. In 2007, Fran's Story outsold my two other books, much to my great surprise. I've been told I should submit it for a "made for TV" movie, and at some point, I plan to do just that.
Visit Linda's site, Life Path Solutions.
