Why I Write, Take Two

My book editor, Ashleigh Evans, is a former junior high school friend from the 1950s, who I knew as Betty Smith (this was before her career as a performer, hence the name change). We lost touch for many years until one afternoon in the 1970s I was watching my late husband play tennis and a man walked up to me and asked, “Did you used to be Sue Moore?” He was Bill Smith, a local attorney. But I remembered him as Billy, Betty’s annoying kid brother.

I had an opportunity to see Ashleigh not long after that when she was back east and was in our area to visit Bill and his family (she now lives in the San Francisco Bay area). Bill’s daughter, Kristen, has followed in her aunt’s footsteps and is a talented performer who is now on Broadway, her lifelong dream.

But I digress. Ashleigh read my first novel, How I Grew Up, and contacted me to offer her services as copy editor, looking for errors in spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Over the course of nine books she has become much more. She also catches plot holes and advises me when I veer off track, so she has also become my content editor and in a way, my partner. We exchange ideas. I’m very fortunate because she will take the book as I write, a chapter at a time, something very rarely done.

Recently I sent her what is the climactic chapter for my work in progress, The Case of the Toxic Tenor, a murder mystery. When she returned the manuscript with her corrections/changes/comments she remarked in the email: “When you're writing exciting, fast-paced scenes like this, do you tend to type faster and faster?!”

That made me laugh, because I certainly do exactly that. But I do more. The world around me recedes and I am living right there, in that moment, in that place. This particularly scene takes place in 1964 Cincinnati, in the lobby of the Netherland Hilton Hotel. I was in that lobby a number of times when I lived there, and had a vague memory of its elegance, and of the Palm Court Restaurant just off to one side. But this is an intense scene and I needed more. Internet searches provided some great photographs and helped put me there. My remarkable police procedure consultant, retired Major Crimes Detective Lieutenant Stephen Kramer of the Cincinnati Police Department, included detailed narration to accompany photos he sent. I was right there in that lobby, watching the scene unfold as I wrote.

I had an absolute blast.

When I am writing I have the time of my life. And it’s immensely rewarding when I occasionally hear from someone who has enjoyed one of my books, whether through an Amazon review, an email, a note, or a comment in a parking lot (something like “I borrowed one of your books from my neighbor and I just loved it!”). I started writing in May of 2013 and it has become as essential to me as breathing (I know I’ve said that before, but it’s true). I’m sure I’m not that unusual and many other writers share my passion.

Sometimes people ask me how to write. Just do it. Sit down, use your computer, use a pencil and a pad of paper … just put the words down. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It won’t be perfect. Get the story out of your head. You can go back later and fix things. And you will, many, many, many times. But my advice is this: don’t read a bunch of books on “how to write a book.” Just start writing. Even if it’s slow going at first.

Without my computer, the internet, and some incredible people kind enough to generously share their knowledge and expertise about subjects I know little about (Lt. Kramer is a gold mine), I couldn’t write. I know that. And when I look at the nine books I have in print, I’m kind of stunned.

If you have any desire to write, try it. It’s cathartic, it’s escapist, it’s freeing, it’s gratifying and satisfying and fulfilling. Once you get into it, you’ll feel alive in a way you never have before. You’re creating something. Just think of the implications of that. Using your ability to produce something entirely new. Oh, sure, I know similar stories have been told numerous times. But not this exact story, in these exact words.

That’s why I write.

Oh, just in case you’d like to read any of my books, the quickest and easiest place to go is my Amazon author page. You can check out the reviews while you’re there. And if you do read a book … a review is like gold to us indie authors.  

https://www.amazon.com/Susan-Moore-Jordan/e/B00IBZ731U/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1

Families

At a recent Writers’ Conference a literary agent who had looked over part of the novel I hope to release in the spring made this comment: “Memories of Jake has the potential to become a moving family drama.”

When I consider the books I’ve written over these past three and a half years, all of them are about families. How I Grew Up tells the story of the Stewart sisters, three young women who have to put their lives back together after one sister’s estranged husband shoots and kills their parents and another sister’s husband. Eli’s Heart is about a budding romance between a young pianist and a girl he loves which is detoured for a time by his domineering mother. You Are My Song is the story of a young tenor and his wife, and the families of both are an important part of the story. And Jamie’s Children is the story of that tenor’s son and daughter, talented young people who have their own challenges to face.

With Memories of Jake I continue with this theme of family, going back to How I Grew Up and following the sons of the man who murdered their grandparents. What happened to those two boys after that event? They later both serve in the Vietnam War and are deeply affected by it. These may seem like dark themes, and in a way they are, but in all my books I focus on the creativity in the lives of my characters. Music and art help them to face these challenges and heal.

Every family has challenges to deal with, some more difficult than others. And most families have shared memories of happy times as well. The Stewart sisters manage to go on; the two older sisters remarry and have happy lives, the youngest sister pursues her dream of becoming an actress. The pianist’s mother eventually learns to love her daughter-in-law and appreciate the happiness she brings to the man who bears the double burden of musical genius and a serious congenital heart defect. The tenor and his wife suffer a devastating loss and also brilliant success.

These are all stories of people that are, well, ordinary people in many ways. People who laugh, love, weep, rejoice, and find richness in their lives through their creativity.

People my readers tell me they come to love. That is immensely gratifying to me. You might enjoy meeting these people … all my novels are available on Amazon. Winter is a great time to curl up with a good book!

Covers by Tristan Flanagan

All books available on Amazon, paperback and Kindle. 

Links can be found on my website, www.susanmoorejordan.com

Journey With Me Back in Time

Jamie’s Children, my fourth novel, was released on Monday, July 11. The first, How I Grew Up, was released in October of 2013. I’ve been on quite a journey. I’ve learned a lot about the craft of writing, I’ve learned a lot about publishing (especially self-publishing, which is the path I have taken).

Most of all, I have learned how much I love to write.

How I Grew Up, a fictional accounting of an actual event I experienced when I was a high school student in the 1950s, was the genesis for all of this. My work in progress even has its roots in the original novel. So in celebration of releasing novel number four, I am giving away Kindle copies of novel number one, between now and 11 a.m. EDT on Sunday, July 17.

Here’s the Amazon link for the giveaway. It’s a good story. Many people read it in one sitting. It’s the first person accounting of a life-changing experience for an eighteen-year-old girl (my close friend in actuality) who is able to move from tragedy to triumph with the help of her family and friends … and the power of creativity in her life.

There is also a Goodreads Giveaway for three print copies of Jamie’s Children, which is already receiving some wonderful reviews. So I’m including the link for that as well.

My characters have challenges to overcome, and the music in their lives helps them to meet these challenges. The other two novels are Eli’s Heart and You Are My Song.

If you love to meet new characters and come to love them, and if you love music, especially classical music, you will find much to enjoy.

 Link to Amazon giveaway for Kindle edition of How I Grew Up:

https://www.amazon.com/How-Grew-Carousel-Trilogy-Book-ebook/dp/B017WE3GW0/

Link to Goodreads Giveaway for Jamie's Children:

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/194112-jamie-s-children

Jamie Logan and His Children

Jamie Logan made his first appearance in my first novel, How I Grew Up, as a high school senior playing the role of Billy Bigelow in his high school’s production of Carousel. He’s handsome, talented, and a super nice guy, and despite having a long-time sweetheart he has a romance of sorts with his leading lady, Melanie Stewart. Something that often happens in high school productions.

Two books later, and Jamie and Sarah’s marriage has failed, mainly because Sarah wanted to be a bride but not a wife. Jamie, who has an unusually fine tenor voice, has been taking lessons with his former high school music director (that’s quite a story in itself) and is encouraged by that teacher and his parents to go back to college and pursue a career. You Are My Song follows Jamie’s journey as he aspires for a career in opera. Self-doubt, family crises and even a hate crime are stumbling blocks he has to deal with along the way, as well as the rivalry and politics he didn’t expect. Jamie just wants to do what he loves: sing.

Equally important to Jamie is having a family, and he and his wife (and who she is may surprise you. It did me!) have two children, Laura and Niall, both musically gifted in very different ways. Jamie’s Children, to be released July 15, is their story. Each of them has life challenges they strive to overcome in order to be the artists and the people they want to be.

Here’s a brief excerpt from You Are My Song. The Kindle edition of this book will be on sale this coming weekend, July 2-4, for ninety-nine cents. While Jamie’s Children is a standalone book (as is You Are My Song), it’s fun to meet characters in one book and get acquainted with them again in a sequel. The year is 1958.

**********

The final piece for his audition was an aria from Puccini’s opera Tosca, “E lucevan le stelle” (“The stars were shining”). Ed had a portable record player in his studio and he had brought a recording of the opera. He played the recording of the aria for Jamie, first explaining to him a little about the opera and what was happening in the story when the aria was performed.

It was a defining moment for Jamie. Hearing this aria sung with orchestra by the great tenor Giuseppe di Stefano transported him. He thought it was the most beautiful thing he had ever heard in his life. Ed saw the look on Jamie's face and knew Jamie had stepped beyond the limits he had set for himself and had caught a glimpse of an entirely new world.

When the aria ended and Ed turned off the record player, he turned to Jamie, intensely interested in hearing what his student would say.

“I want to do that,” Jamie said immediately, his eyes shining. “I want to sing that aria with an orchestra, standing on a stage. I want to sing opera.”

Ed put the record back in the album sleeve and handed it to Jamie. “Why don’t you take this home with you and listen to the whole opera when you have a chance? The aria I assigned you is wonderful, but the entire opera is full of the same kind of music. Puccini was one of the greatest of all opera composers.”

Jamie took the album eagerly. “Thank you so much, Ed. I’ll sure do that. I can’t wait to hear it. See you next week!”

Ed watched Jamie leave. His whole demeanor had changed since he had walked into Ed’s studio two weeks earlier. His head was high, he walked with purpose. The uncertainty Ed had seen was gone. Hearing di Stefano sing inspired Jamie as nothing else could have; Ed had made a good choice with both the singer and the aria.

Jamie’s entire world had changed in two short weeks. He had a goal. He had a purpose. He no longer felt like a failure. His marriage had been a mistake, but his whole life lay ahead of him.

A life in music.

 You Are My Song on sale July 2-4, Kindle edition, $0.99

http://tinyurl.com/z5d8cde

The CAROUSEL Trilogy

Receiving a new reader review on Amazon is always special, and it was gratifying to find two from the same reader who commented she had read the entire “Carousel” Trilogy!

Here’s more information about what that reader so enjoyed that she gave two of the books 5-Star Reviews.

   

The Carousel Trilogy

How I Grew Up

Eli’s Heart

You Are My Song

by

Susan Moore Jordan

Melanie Stewart, Krissy Porter, Jamie Logan

Three high school friends connected

 by one life-changing event. Each with a story to tell.

How I Grew Up is Melanie’s story. On a February night in 1954, her estranged brother-in-law entered her home with a gun and started shooting. When he left, her mother lay dead, her father was mortally wounded, and another brother-in-law was critically injured. Less than two weeks later, Melanie auditions for her high school’s musical production of Rodgers’ and Hammerstein’s Carousel. How she wins the leading role of Julie Jordan and performs it brilliantly while her involvement in the show helps her begin to heal is a testament to the power of creativity in our lives.

Eli’s Heart is Krissy’s story. Just a few months prior to that Carousel production, for which she played harp in the orchestra, Krissy had met Eli Levin, a boy her own age born with two burdens: a prodigious musical gift and a frightening congenital heart condition. What seemed to be a budding romance between the brilliant young pianist and the girl he fell in love with during that summer was ended by the interference of his family. But Krissy and Eli manage to find their way back to each other some three years later. They marry while still college students when they are both twenty. Their story is one of learning to live a full life despite the odds against them.

  

You Are My Song is the story of Melanie’s leading man in Carousel. Jamie Logan had a voice of unusual beauty and seemed destined to become a singer, but his high school sweetheart didn’t want him to sing. Their marriage ended after two years, shattering Jamie’s self-confidence. Jamie comes to realize music is vital to his life and he returns to college to study opera. With the encouragement of his teachers and his new love, Jamie finds the inner strength to pursue a most difficult path, facing both professional and personal challenges along the way.

  Books in The Carousel Trilogy -- How I Grew Up, Eli’s Heart, and You Are My Song by Susan Moore Jordan are available in paperback on amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and other online bookstores. The e-books are available on Kindle. Learn more: www.susanmoorejordan.com

Three Years Later …Thoughts on Writing

“Writing Rules,” or Writing Rules?

     Every so often someone will ask me something about how I write. First of all, it’s completely hands-on, in my opinion. If you want to write, start writing. All the “how-to” books/blogs/articles/courses out there (and they are endless) don’t mean a thing until you sit yourself down and start trying to put “pen to paper,” so to speak.

     Since I started my life as a writer three years ago I’ve written and self-published three novels and a work of non-fiction, and have another novel ready to prepare for release within the next few weeks. I wrote the first book for my own satisfaction, and was hooked. How I Grew Up was published in late October 2013 … yes, I wrote it quickly, but it was a story that had been simmering for decades.

    Two more novels followed: Eli’s Heart was released about nine months later, followed by You Are My Song in January of 2015. My non-fiction book, which was really the easiest to write since I was recalling events in my life as a director of musical theater for over three decades, was released in November, 2015. “More Fog, Please”: 31 Years Directing Community and High School Musicals made its debut at the top of one of Amazon’s less cluttered categories. Imagine that! I could pretend I was a “best-selling author” for a few weeks!

     That was a serendipity: I was seeking a category I felt the book fit best, and didn’t even look at how many similar works were available on the Amazon site. An example of one of the many things I have learned over the past three years as I’ve sought to improve my craft and understand how to promote and market my books. 

     Which brings me to the title of this blog: Writing Rules, or Writing Rules? Learning more about my craft has introduced me to a maze of rules which many authors today believe need to be observed as they write. Most of these rules make sense and I’ve learned better how to spot obvious errors as I write. Point of view baffled me for a time – I wrote the first book in the first person – but I think I have a better handle on it now. Growing up in the fifties I had the benefit of an education which taught spelling, grammar, and all those good things that seem sometimes lacking today. 

     But while writing rules are helpful in better organizing our thoughts … it seems to me it might be very possible to be so concerned about following rules that we don’t remember what we’re doing is writing. Telling a story, sharing our own excitement with a reader. Looking back at my three novels to date, I see improvement in the craft with each book. But I’ve mentioned before, even though How I Grew Up was the work of a newbie author, I’m proud to present the book as I first wrote it.

     The first person voice, that of an anguished, confused girl of eighteen, rings true. I re-read part of the book recently, thinking I might make some revisions since I feel my skills have improved, and decided the story as told by the protagonist is as it should be. It’s a compelling story which I let her tell. She was eighteen … in many ways, a very young eighteen. Yes, she thinks a lot about the costumes she wears when she performs the role of Julie Jordan in Carousel. That’s what a high school senior does. I wrote the book within months after directing that same show in the spring of 2013, and the girls were excited about their costumes. About the set. About the first time they heard the orchestra.

     In Melanie’s case, a stage kiss turned into to something more, confusing and exciting her. She fell in love with her leading man. I know I’m giving away some things … but there is so much more to this story. She was dealing with a horrific tragedy which happened just before she auditioned for the show. All of this is her story, and I stayed out of her way and let her tell it.

     With each succeeding book, I became more aware of ways to improve my craft as I wrote. But I hope I never worried so much about “writing rules” that I forgot this axiom – writing, telling the story, is what should rule ─ what should be foremost. I read something to this effect not long ago, and it makes great sense to this author.

     A good friend and fellow author has been re-reading some of the classics, and she commented to me that the authors of that era didn’t seem to worry about “writing rules.” They just told great stories that we love to read. When I read a book, even by a contemporary author, I don’t read it to see whether or not they followed all the rules that are out there. I read it to become engrossed in the story, to follow the journey they take me on, to love or hate the people they introduce me to. (Oops, just broke a rule there.) To turn the final page with reluctance because they’ve captured my imagination and I don’t like to say goodbye. 

     My take on all of this? Learn the rules … but don’t be afraid to break them. First and foremost, tell the story with all the love you have for it. Art needs passion if it is to live.

Please visit my author page on Amazon:
http://tinyurl.com/h5mxk3x

A Shooting in a Small Town, Part Two

Excerpt from How I Grew Up

Melanie Stewart's life was blown apart in mere moments one night in January, 1954, when her brother-in-law entered her home and shot and killed three family members. Not even two weeks later she auditioned for her high school's production of Carousel and was cast in the leading role as Julie Jordan, and went onstage only weeks later. Here's another excerpt from How I Grew Up.

**********

     Krissy was one of my closest friends, but I didn’t think she had ever had anything really difficult to have to deal with. Her life was very much the way mine had been before my parents had been murdered. Lena had a lot of responsibility. Her life was not easy. Hearing about all the things she did for her brothers and sisters made me think there was more I should try and do for my nieces and nephews. It was like Krissy was Melanie then, and Lena was Melanie now. I was seeing myself differently; I had to, because my role in my family had changed so much.
     I talked about this with Mrs. Willis. She nodded when I mentioned Lena. “Melanie, how nice that you’ve made a new friend,” she said. I told her about Tony and the talk we had. I didn’t tell her about Jamie, though. I figured that was something better kept to myself.
     Mrs. Willis told me that everything I was dealing with was completely understandable and I shouldn’t be too hard on myself. She told me to be kind to myself and not expect too much. She told me not to be surprised if I had a lot of emotional ups and downs, especially once the play was over. She asked me how Carousel was going, and I was happy to talk with her about that.
     Having Mrs. Willis to talk to was more important to me than I realized. I could not have known how long it would take me to process all the things that had happened to me. It was still hard for me to accept that my parents would never again be part of my life. Sometimes I would be driving on the street where our house was, and almost stop the car to go into my house. For a moment I was back in the past when I had lived there with two loving parents. Then I would realize with a start that I didn’t live there anymore and drive on. I wondered when I would stop doing things like that, because it always made me feel as if there were a hole in my heart.
     Being in the show was what helped me the most, because I could be Julie Jordan for three hours. I really liked being Julie. Rehearsals were my escape.

*****
How I Grew Up is available on Amazon, paperback and Kindle. 

Kindle edition is only $3.99. http://tinyurl.com/z475zav

Carousel, East Stroudsburg H.S. South, 2013

A Shooting in a Small Town, Long Ago

HOW I GREW UP. From tragedy to triumph: a shooting in a small town. A courageous high school girl with a dream.  "A vivid portrait of the depth and breadth of the human spirit  and the lasting bonds which are formed within a creative community, connections that transcend time and place."

Here's a brief excerpt:

**********

There wasn’t any reason for me to go back to school now. It was my senior year and I wouldn’t be able to be on stage for the school musical. I couldn’t hold the tears back, and Mrs. Anderson sat by me and held me and stroked my hair. I had thought things couldn’t get any worse, but they just did. I finally stood and picked up my books and the music, and she took my suitcase. I felt as if my bones were very old, and it was hard to move.

When I got back to Alice’s house I was really surprised to see Mr. Davidson there. He said all the right things, things I had already heard at least a hundred times. Then he sat down with me and said, “Melanie, we’re going to wait until next week to have auditions for the show.” I know I stared at him. I couldn’t believe what he was saying. “You’re an important part of the music program and you deserve to have the opportunity to try out. We’ve spoken to some of your friends and they agree with us. We’ve checked, and we can move the performance dates to a week later. Do you think you might feel up to singing by the end of next week?”

Would I feel up to singing? I had been in the blackest hole in the world, and suddenly Mr. Davidson had dropped down a ladder to help me try to climb out of it. He was sitting, waiting for an answer, and I knew I had to tell him something right away. If I told him no, I couldn’t sing, that would mean there was no chance I could be in the show except maybe in the ensemble. After what had happened, having a lead in the school show should have seemed minor. But it didn’t. It was something I had hoped and dreamed about for months, and now I was being offered the chance that I had just decided was gone.

I had a strong feeling suddenly that Momma was right next to me, telling me to say yes. I turned my head to look at her, but of course I couldn’t see her. But the feeling that she was there was so powerful that I said, “Yes. I’m sure I can. Thank you so much. You can’t imagine how much this means to me.” 

Kindle edition of HOW I GREW UP is only $3.99. http://tinyurl.com/j2cd6av

How I Grew Up

An Inside Look at My First Novel

On May 6, 2013, I was having lunch with my good friend Judy Lawler and whining about the fact I had no summer show to direct for the second year in a row … after directing a summer musical theater production every summer beginning in 1989. In the summer of 2012 I was distracted by having my house burglarized in the middle of the night with me in it, but that’s another story.

Judy said, “Why don’t you write a book?” I think I just looked at her. I’d always wanted to try to do that, but it seemed akin to climbing Mt. Everest, and at the age of seventy-five that was hardly an option. I think I replied that it just seemed too daunting, too huge, too … everything. She replied, “Don’t think so big. Think of one incident.”

Since I had just directed Carousel for the second time with a remarkable group of young performers at East Stroudsburg High School South, my late friend Anita Barker was very much on my mind. In 1954, when she was a senior at Oak Ridge High School (TN) and I was a junior, Anita’s dream of playing Julie Jordan in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s compelling musical drama seemed to have been killed along with both her parents the night her estranged brother-in-law came into her home. He shot and killed not only both her parents, but mortally wounded her other brother-in-law who lingered and died some three months later. Judy had heard the story, as had my young cast, and she suggested I use that. “And,” she said, “write it in the first person.”

Intrigued, I decided to see if I could do this, and sat at the computer that same afternoon to begin. Memories of such an event are vivid, even after nearly sixty years, and as I wrote I uncovered more and more of them. Contacting another friend from my high school years, who had probably been Anita’s best friend, provided a wealth of information. Audrey’s memories were equally vivid and she filled in some blanks.

I have a photo of Anita, undoubtedly a head shot taken during her time at the Pasadena Playhouse a few years later, which sat on my computer as I wrote. I remembered the cadence and timbre of her voice, the way she expressed herself, and I let her tell her story as best I could, trying to stay in her head and out of her way.

The book was finished some four months later and in print in late October. I made some revisions late last summer primarily to tie the book more closely to two which followed: Eli’s Heart in 2014 and You Are My Song in 2015. All three were rooted in that long-ago production of Carousel, so I had produced a (standalone) trilogy without planning it. I just wanted to write How I Grew Up to let Anita’s story of tragedy to triumph be told. After I wrote it, I wanted to hold it in my hands and published through a P.O.D. company. There are many such companies and I found Virtual Bookworm to be reasonably priced and good to work with. But after their two-year ownership of the rights to the e-book ran out, I re-released through CreateSpace, where I had self-published the next two novels.

Over the three years since I began this journey, I have learned a great deal about writing, self-publishing, and marketing. I re-read How I Grew Up recently and think I might have written it somewhat differently if I’d known then what I know now. But in a way, I’m glad I was a novice and wasn’t constrained by rules. The book is written with the voice of an anguished, somewhat naïve, dreamy teenage girl who is knocked down by a terrible tragedy at what should have been an exciting and happy time in her life. I read the book recently with an idea of making more revisions; but the story, in all its raw horror, confusion and eventual healing, allows my character “Melanie” to share with the reader her thoughts and her emotions.  

Anita won the role of Julie Jordan and performed it brilliantly only weeks after she buried her parents. Carousel was sold out every night (I was amazed to read when researching that the ORHS auditorium was built in 1951 to seat fourteen hundred). Audrey recalled, “The whole town tried to be there. There was so much emotion in that room at every performance.” A shooting in a small town was a rare event in the 1950s and the entire town was rocked. To see the youngest Barker girl’s shining courage was very moving. I’ve never forgotten it.

Scene from Carousel, ESHS South, 2013

How I Grew Up is available on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/h2hce7o

The CAROUSEL Trilogy

A Formal Announcement

When I began writing How I Grew Up in May of 2013, I had no thought about following with any other novels. But as I was preparing the book for publication the thought struck me: Krissy’s story was a compelling one and perhaps deserved a book of its own. And as I was finishing Eli’s Heart, I began to wonder about Jamie Logan and what would happen if he could pursue using that superb voice he had been given … hence, You Are My Song.

The books are all “stand alone” reads, but I made some small revisions to How I Grew Up and re-released the book as How I Grew Up (The Carousel Trilogy, Book One) and it is now available on Amazon, as are the other two.

The Carousel Trilogy

How I Grew Up

Eli’s Heart

You Are My Song

 by

Susan Moore Jordan

Melanie Stewart, Krissy Porter, Jamie Logan

three high school friends connected

 by one life-changing event. Each with a story to tell.

How I Grew Up is Melanie’s story. On a February night in 1954, her estranged brother-in-law entered her home with a gun and started shooting. When he left, her mother lay dead, her father mortally wounded, and another brother-in-law critically injured. Less than two weeks later, Melanie auditioned for her high school’s musical production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel. How she won the leading role of Julie Jordan and performed it brilliantly while her involvement in the show helped her begin to heal is a testament to the power of creativity in our lives.

  

Eli’s Heart is Krissy’s story. Just a few months prior to that Carousel production, for which she played harp in the orchestra, Krissy had met Eli Levin, a boy her own age born with two burdens: a prodigious musical gift and a frightening congenital heart condition. What seemed to be a budding romance between the brilliant young pianist and the girl he fell in love with during that summer was ended by the interference of his family. But Krissy and Eli managed to find their way back to each other some three years later. They married while still college students when they were both twenty. Their story is one of learning to live a full life despite the odds against them.

  

You Are My Song is the story of Melanie’s leading man in Carousel. Jamie Logan had a voice of unusual beauty and seemed destined to become a singer, but his high school sweetheart didn’t want him to sing. Their marriage ended after two years, shattering Jamie’s self-confidence. Jamie realized music was vital to his life and returned to college to study opera. With the encouragement of his teachers and his new love, Jamie found the inner strength to pursue a most difficult path, facing both professional and personal challenges along the way.

Books in The Carousel Trilogy -- How I Grew Up, Eli’s Heart, and You Are My Song by Susan Moore Jordan are available in paperback on amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and other online bookstores. The e-books are available on Kindle.

For more information about the author, please visit www.susanmoorejordan.com

YOU ARE MY SONG

About Jamie Logan, Tenor

    The nineteen-fifties. Elvis is wearing “Blue Suede Shoes.” Country music reigns supreme at the Grand Old Opry in Nashville.

     But in a small Tennessee town Jamie Logan ─ a good-hearted young man with a superb tenor voice ─ stars in his high school’s musical theater production and begins an unlikely, almost magical journey that could take him to the pinnacle of the opera world.

   The path is far from simple. Jamie just wants to sing. He is ill-prepared for the jealousy, rivalry and politics he encounters on his way. Family crises and even a hate crime also sidetrack him and threaten to undermine his journey.

    But Jamie has a voice beautiful beyond belief ─ and the love of a woman who inspires him to believe in himself. His desire to sing becomes his reason for being. Will that be enough?

     I introduced Jamie Logan in How I Grew Up; he played opposite Melanie Stewart in their high school production of Carousel. I like my character Jamie. He has a naturally beautiful voice. He has innate musicianship and an ability to learn quickly, and no ego. He’s friendly, generous, outgoing, considerate. Oh, and unusually good-looking. He and Melanie have a strong connection, and they both wonder if they could be in love. But no, Jamie has a jealous girlfriend he later marries, and she doesn’t want him to sing.

     When You Are My Song begins, it’s four years after Jamie’s graduation from high school, and his marriage has failed. I had to laugh at my readers’ reaction to that; two of them commented they weren’t surprised to learn of Jamie’s and Sarah’s divorce. I wasn’t either. I wanted to see what would happen if I allowed Jamie to reconnect with his love of singing.

     

     The best singers don’t just perform. They share their souls with us. Because of the remarkable beauty of the tenor sound, we may feel he does that more intensely.

     Jamie eventually has the tools to pursue a career in opera, but when we first meet him he's a high school senior with a splendid voice and a good heart. Here’s his introduction to the reader in my first book, How I Grew Up, remembering the narrator is Melanie Stewart:

     Alice [Melanie’s sister] was right; Jamie was a very handsome boy. He had very dark hair, but fair skin and startlingly blue eyes. But it was more than that which made him so appealing; Jamie was someone everybody liked. He was friendly and kind, and always had a ready smile. Jamie had a truly beautiful tenor voice and he loved to sing, but he wasn’t conceited about it. When people complimented him on his singing, he always seemed a little surprised. He was just doing something he loved to do, and if people liked hearing him, well, that was great.

     That was Jamie at eighteen. My new book begins when he is twenty-two and follows him through the next seven years of his life, and Jamie goes through a lot in those seven years. You can order You Are My Song, as well as How I Grew Up and Eli’s Heart, in paperback or e-book format on Amazon. People who live here in the Poconos can purchase paperback copies of all my novels at a slightly discounted price at the Pocono Community Theater. I’ve loved writing these books. I hope you enjoy reading them.

You Are My Song,

Here's a link: tinyurl.com/p743ru9

Cover by Tristan Flanagan

Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto

Music: the Most Powerful Force in the Universe

This morning I happened to turn on Turner Classic Movies, my favorite television channel, and caught the end of a 1954 film I remember vividly, Rhapsody. Elizabeth Taylor played an heiress who fancied herself in love with a violinist (Vittorio Gassman) and followed him to a conservatory in Zurich in hopes of marrying him. But a young pianist (John Ericson) falls madly in love with her, and is emotionally distraught when she doesn’t return his affection. He’s preparing for a major concerto performance and in order to help him meet the commitment, she agrees to stay with him. Just before he goes onstage she tells him she’s leaving him for the violinist, assuring him he doesn’t need her. He can play brilliantly whether she’s in his life or not.

She hears the concert and he plays as well as she told him he could; and she realizes she loves him and not the fiddler after all. Happy ending. It’s really not much of a plot, but the music is glorious, and it was filmed when Taylor was probably the most beautiful woman on earth. The piano concerto is possibly the most romantic piece of music ever written, Rachmaninoff’s Second.  

That concerto, and that film, both play a role in my first novel, How I Grew Up. My protagonist Melanie is at the movies when her parents are shot to death by her estranged brother-in-law, and the film she sees is Rhapsody. Melanie’s best friends, Ellen and Krissy, are both musicians and she says to herself she must tell them to see the movie because of the beautiful concerto. Watching the ending today I was pleasantly surprised to realize the entire first movement is played on screen. Or most of it; if there was a cut it was done so skillfully I didn’t notice it. The great Claudio Arrau provided the beautifully performed soundtrack.

Later in the book Krissy hears her own young pianist, Eli Levin, play the same concerto with the local orchestra as a guest artist. Krissy and Melanie live in a town in East Tennessee; Eli lives in New York. Krissy falls in love with Eli when she hears him play Rachmaninoff. It seems their love isn’t meant to be. But Krissy and Eli have their own book, Eli’s Heart. So maybe it is.

The character of Eli Levin is a product of my imagination, but he was inspired by a young pianist I met when we were both fifteen, many decades ago. Samuel Sanders was born with a frightening congenital heart defect, Tetralogy of Fallot, and one of the first things he said to me when I met him was that he didn’t expect to live past thirty. What do you say to a kid who is six months older than you are and makes that casual statement? Sam was a prodigy. He didn’t start playing piano until after he had a surgical procedure in 1947 at the age of nine, and his parents were trying to find a way to keep their baseball loving son occupied. I think everyone was stunned when it was discovered he had this huge talent.

Eventually, Sanders chose to become an accompanist, a collaborating artist rather than a virtuoso. It wasn’t an easy choice for his family to accept. He made a difference in the world of classical music and performed with many notable soloists. And he lived far beyond thirty; he died after a second heart transplant at the age of sixty-two. His life was never easy, though the first heart transplant did give him some good years. 

True story: Sam Sanders played the Rachmaninoff Second Piano Concerto a few months after I met him, and I was in the audience. He was amazing. I’ve never been able to listen to that glorious piece of music without thinking of him.

Both books are available on Amazon. There are links on my website to each book. Local friends: the Pocono Community Theater has paperback copies for purchase at a slightly reduced rate and the books are available whenever the theater is open.

http://www.susanmoorejordan.com/

A Long Ago Shooting

Up From the Ashes

Over a half century ago, when I was a junior at Oak Ridge High School in Tennessee, my close friend Anita Barker’s parents were shot to death by Anita’s estranged brother-in-law.

Oak Ridge was a unique town, established as a part of the Manhattan Project during the Second World War and operated and guarded by the military. After the war, eventually the town became independent but it was still a safe place. Of course, in the nineteen fifties the entire country was very different. What happened when Bob Duke walked into the Barker house and gunned down three people (the third person was Anita’s other brother-in-law, who lingered in agony for several months before succumbing to his horrific wounds) was a terrible shock to the entire town. The three Barker daughters, of whom Anita was the youngest, were orphaned in mere minutes that night.

Anita was a talented girl who aspired to be a singer and actress. The shooting happened the weekend before auditions for the annual high school musical, which was Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel that year. Since she’d had a nice supporting role the year before, Anita was hoping for a lead in her senior year and it seemed she had a good chance to earn one of the three female principal roles.

The directors, primarily the school’s chorus and orchestra teacher, chose to reschedule the auditions so that Anita would have a chance to audition. She won the leading role of Julie Jordan. Seeing how being immersed in the musical drama helped Anita through the most difficult period of her young life – she was eighteen ─ had an impact on me that I only fully realized decades later.

My part in her drama was peripheral. I didn’t have to bury my parents and go on stage some seven weeks later in an emotionally draining role. But my family and I did everything we could for her, all the while feeling helpless. It was a journey she and her sisters had to take by themselves.

I learned only recently the terrible toll those events took on Anita for the rest of her life. She died of breast cancer while in her fifties. I feel sure there was little if any understanding of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder at the time. I doubt Anita received the help she so badly needed. While she had not been home at the time of the shooting, her world was blown apart.

Directing a high school production of Carousel – a musical which deals with life and death ─ in 1994 brought her very much to mind. And a second production two years ago, in the same high school, made me think even more about what she had been through. Each time I directed Carousel I shared Anita’s story with my cast, and it added depth to their performances.

It was that second production that opened my eyes to how much I had been affected by being with her during that experience. I keep saying I wasn’t “directly affected,” but I certainly was changed. I looked at the world differently. I thought more about death and its aftermath, and realized at a very young age how fragile and uncertain life is. People were not supposed to die suddenly and violently while they were still young. Yet I had attended a funeral of two such people, people I had seen only a short time before, when I was barely sixteen.

But at the same time, seeing my friend’s strength and courage bolstered by her participation in Carousel, I also became aware of the healing power of creativity, particularly of music. I think the experience helped me understand beyond question that music was my calling, and it has been my life.

To see the extent to which gun violence has burgeoned in this country during the past decades is saddening and distressing. To think how many young people these days have to deal with these events and their aftermath is – I can’t even find the right word. Horrific. Awful. Unthinkable.

The remarkable group of twenty-first century young men and women I directed in 2013 performed Carousel with love, respect, and skill, moving their audiences at each performance with the beautiful story. Not long after that production, I wrote my first book, How I Grew Up, giving Anita, finally, a voice to tell her story.

From the pages of that first novel came two additional stories of young people who had been part of that Carousel production. I am in the process of making slight revisions in How I Grew Up to tie it more closely to Eli’s Heart and You Are My Song. While the books are stand alone stories, they all began in that brief period when a group of young people shared an intense, life-changing experience. How I Grew Up with be re-released in early November as the first book in “The Carousel Trilogy.” These are coming of age stories of young men and women who face challenges with courage and hope. Music is very much part of their lives – and part of their courage.

 Cover designs by Tristan Flanagan

 www.susanmoorejordan.com

 http://smarturl.it/elih

About Jamie Logan, Tenor

You Are My Song

    The nineteen-fifties. Elvis is wearing “Blue Suede Shoes.” Country music reigns supreme at the Grand Old Opry in Nashville.

     But in a small Tennessee town Jamie Logan ─ a good-hearted young man with a superb tenor voice ─ stars in his high school’s musical theater production and begins an unlikely, almost magical journey that could take him to the pinnacle of the opera world.

   The path is far from simple. Jamie just wants to sing. He is ill-prepared for the jealousy, rivalry and politics he encounters on his way. Family crises and even a hate crime also sidetrack him and threaten to undermine his journey.

    But Jamie has a voice beautiful beyond belief ─ and the love of a woman who inspires him to believe in himself. His desire to sing becomes his reason for being. Will that be enough?

     I introduced Jamie Logan in How I Grew Up; he played opposite Melanie Stewart in their high school production of Carousel. I like my character Jamie. He has a naturally beautiful voice. He has innate musicianship and an ability to learn quickly, and no ego. He’s friendly, generous, outgoing, considerate. Oh, and unusually good-looking. He and Melanie have a strong connection, and they both wonder if they could be in love. But no, Jamie has a jealous girlfriend he later marries, and she doesn’t want him to sing.

     When You Are My Song begins, it’s four years after Jamie’s graduation from high school, and his marriage has failed. I had to laugh at my readers’ reaction to that; two of them commented they weren’t surprised to learn of Jamie’s and Sarah’s divorce. I wasn’t either. I wanted to see what would happen if I allowed Jamie to reconnect with his love of singing.

     Jamie’s lack of ego is unusual in a tenor. It’s a challenge to be a tenor in the world of opera; everyone wants to hear the tenor’s high notes, and if he doesn’t deliver, there are inevitably negative reactions. There’s a reason many of us love the tenor voice. There’s an intensity to the tenor sound; the response to that sound and those high notes is visceral. It’s a thrill to hear a tenor sing high notes with power and beauty.

     Even more, we love to hear a tenor who can not only sing that high C, but hold it forever and play with the dynamics. All of these things are probably contrary to the laws of physics, or medical science, or something. But the poor tenor is stuck with it. Of course, there is so much more to what makes a good tenor ─ a passion for the music he sings; the sensibility to shape a beautiful phrase; the ability to move the audience with the sounds he makes. He must be able to connect with his fellow performers; he must be believable in the role he is portraying.

     The best singers don’t just perform. They share their souls with us. Because of the remarkable beauty of the tenor sound, we may feel he does that more intensely.

     Jamie eventually has the tools to pursue a career in opera, but when we first meet him he's a high school senior with a splendid voice and a good heart. Here’s his introduction to the reader in my first book, How I Grew Up, remembering the narrator is Melanie Stewart:

     Alice [Melanie’s sister] was right; Jamie was a very handsome boy. He had very dark hair, but fair skin and startlingly blue eyes. But it was more than that which made him so appealing; Jamie was someone everybody liked. He was friendly and kind, and always had a ready smile. Jamie had a truly beautiful tenor voice and he loved to sing, but he wasn’t conceited about it. When people complimented him on his singing, he always seemed a little surprised. He was just doing something he loved to do, and if people liked hearing him, well, that was great.

     That was Jamie at eighteen. My new book begins when he is twenty-two and follows him through the next seven years of his life, and Jamie goes through a lot in those seven years. You can order You Are My Song, as well as How I Grew Up and Eli’s Heart, in paperback or e-book format on Amazon. People who live here in the Poconos can purchase paperback copies of all my novels at a slightly discounted price at the Pocono Community Theater. I’ve loved writing these books. I hope you enjoy reading them.

www.susanmoorejordan.com

 Cover design by Tristan Flanagan