One down. Nine to go.
Published books, that is, for Clarkston High School senior Heather Curry.
Curry’s first book “Skipping Stones,” was released by 1st Books Library, Oct. 2. Her goal is to write 10 books before she dies.
“It’s kind of weird,” Curry said, of having a published book. “It hasn’t really hit me that it’s happened.”
Curry has, so far, sold a total of 15 copies.
“It’s always hard to like your own stuff,” she admits. “When I got it published, I thought, well, I want to give it to people, but I don’t want them to read it. I was worried that it would be bad. It’s always nice when people tell me it is good. I think that’s really neat. That’s why I wrote it.”
Others didn’t always have faith in Curry’s abilities. “A lot of people were like, ‘What do you want to be?’ I’d say, ‘Oh, a writer.’ I had a lot of friends say, ‘You don’t truly think you’re ever going to get published do you?’ I was like, ‘Well, I don’t know, I guess not.’”
But Curry has known ever since fifth grade that she wanted to be a writer. It’s simply the process of putting her ideas into words on paper that she feels is “fun.”
Jennifer Stairs, Curry’s language arts teacher, said, “She’s an excellent descriptive writer and you feel like you’re there with her characters. The imagery is so strong.”
She cites a line in the book which reads, “There was a lot of crying and a lot of silence, but eventually the sun rose and light started to fill my room like lemonade in a small glass cup in July.”
“It’s the beauty of lines like that, I think are Heather’s strengths. It’s beautiful imagery that’s not pretentious. It just jumps off the page at you and you’re like, ‘Oh, I get that,’” Stairs said.
Curry, in fact, dedicated the book to Stairs stating the teacher has taught her more in the past few years then anyone could in a lifetime.
“This was a great honor. This is a highlight of my career,” Stairs revealed, who has had students published in writing contests before, but admits Curry is the first novelist. “This is huge. Big time.”
Stairs first had Curry in class in ninth grade. “Freshman year was a hard, hard year for Heather. She missed school a lot; was sick a lot. She was very rambunctious and loud and outgoing. To say three years later, that now she has a book published, I think is a very big accomplishment. I’m really proud of her. ”
Curry sought Stairs’ advice near the beginning of the writing process.
“I was having troubles. When I write, I always think that, you know, I just don’t like it. So I like to let other people read it and see how they react to it.”
“I just told her to keep going,” Stairs said.
She did, and what resulted was “Skipping Stones,” a 174-page, young adult fiction book which follows a young girl, over the course of a summer, and focuses on how she copes with problems at home, which include an alcoholic mother.
Curry doesn’t know exactly where the inspiration came to write this particular story.
“I was just hanging out one night and just started to write. I don’t ever plan out what I’m going to do or think about it, I just write and whatever happens happens.”
She admits some of it is based on moments in her life, and characters from people she has known.
“I think that a lot of things Heather has struggled with comes out in her writing. I know Heather has struggled with a lot of different things, as we all do. And I think she pours that energy into her writing which really makes it shine,” Stairs said.
Curry began writing her book in January 2002, but took a year break, and finished it this June.
Even before completion, she started searching online for a publisher and sent in her manuscript to several. She went with 1st Books because it was “cheaper and faster,” though two other publishers were interested as well.
Curry is already at work on her next story, but her current, “Skipping Stones,” can be purchased online at www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com, or can be ordered at Borders Bookstore.