One of the first people I shared my first novel with (A THEORY OF EXPANDED LOVE ), George Payerle, said something that I will remember for the rest of my life. I had given my manuscript to him to read because I didn’t know if it was any good at all. And I was told that George would know.
George was a writer – who figured in the Canadian writers landscape; he was one of the founders of The Writer’s Union of Canada; he had lots of experience, a lot of writers knew who he was. I didn’t know him personally but I hoped if he gave me the green light – If my story at least had ‘promise’, I could carry on.
The novel contained humorous musings of a twelve year old girl in an enormous Catholic family in 1963, desperate to be noticed. And I had no idea if it qualified as a ‘novel’, or if anyone would be interested in it at all, especially not a guy like George. But he read it – and when he’d finished it, “I have to meet you”. We agreed to share a coffee at The Gumboot.
“I love it!” he gushed. I was flabbergasted. What? He loves it? And then he looked at me directly in the eyes and said: “I don’t think you realize how good this is. It’s very, very good.”
So that was a rush of dopamine!
And it was my start with A THEORY OF EXPANDED LOVE. My start, my beginning – with this story – to connect with readers through the finished work. George Payerle is not with us anymore, and neither is Deborah Hining or Gord Smedley, but these readers – these generous-hearted beings gave me early feedback that I will never forget.
Deborah Hining, award-winning author of SINNER IN PARADISE, was an author with my publisher (at the time), Light Messages who lived in North Carolina; I’d never met her in person. She died last year, but her words of encouragement still echo.
I just finished A Theory of Expanded Love, and thought it was just WONDERFUL!!! My favorite book so far this year, and probably will be for the whole year!”“
Gord Smedley was a local journalist connected on Facebook. “Hicks distills God, love politics and family to their essence through the eyes and ears of Annie, the insouciant centrepiece of an early 60’s fleet of Catholic Navy brats. Yes, I’m a middle-aged, male atheist, but Hicks made me feel for a time that, “Je suis Annie”. I later saw Gord interviewed on CBC TV about his drug use in the middle of the overdose crisis. He visited me during a book signing at Barnes & Noble and both of us felt like super-fans of the other. Later, CBC informed us that Gord had died of an overdose, and by that time, I felt that I had lost a friend.
Every review created a friendship.
Each person who took the time to read my creation, my novel, my book, and opened themselves up with their feedback became people I noticed, paid attention to, felt close to. Many of these reviews you can read here: https://caitlinhicks.com/wordpress/reviews-for-a-theory-of-expanded-love/
| From a review of A THEORY OF EXPANDED LOVE: by Carole Harmon “This is the second edition of this book which was Caitlin Hicks’ debut novel. It won many awards when it was released in 2015. The most auspicious, to my mind, was its inclusion on Book Riot’s 100 Must Read Books About Women & Religion along with many of the world’s most famous novelists: A.S. Byatt, Margaret Atwood, Ann Patchett, Iris Murdoch, Barbara Kingsolver, Toni Morrison, Flannery O’Connor, Zora Neil Hurston, Arundhati Roy, Alice Hoffman…..” |
And now, the 2nd novel featuring that quirky gal, Annie Shea, the one the readers connected to – has just been released. It’s called KENNEDY GIRL; it takes place in that wild year, 1968 in California and I know that no matter how good it is, your reviews will make the difference between the novel being personally discovered and read – and being just another title.
Right now, The Review is all I’ve got.
You’re all I’ve got.
Your review can be the difference in opening the door to being noticed – and read – or putting the book back on the shelf.
You don’t have to love it
You just have to read it
And tell me how it affected you. And then, pay it forward – make your voice be heard on AMAZON and GOODREADS.
For authors, reviews on AMAZON and GOODREADS encourage others to give your book a try. Each review is the big push your book needs to be seen and read and recommended. T H A N K Y O U!
