Hickory Trail - A project update

Hickory Trail's cover alongside
copies of Brookwood Road and Elm Street
In late October, I am going to publish my third and final book in the Memories of a Home series. The book, Hickory Trail, continues the story of main character Frank Wilcox and the Wilcox family.

  • In Brookwood Road (2014), Frank and his brothers Jack and Wayne grow up on the family hog farm in south Acorn County in north Georgia during the 1960s and 1970s. The book ends with the family leaving the farm, moving 10 miles north to a subdivision in the town of Acorn. The move coincides with Frank entering high school.
  • In Elm Street (2016), readers follow Frank and his close friends through the first eight years of school at the Acorn Primary and Junior High schools. Many of Frank's closest friends were his friends from birth, through church, and Kindergarten. It's a book of friendship and adventure.
  • Hickory Trail will follow Frank through four years of high school, working at the local newspaper, and his family's move from the farm to the new subdivision. It's all against the backdrop of the late 1970s when America's economy was suffering and waves of the 60s cultural revolution were shaping attitudes about sex, drugs, and rock and roll - for good and bad.
Hickory Trail is on schedule for its October release. I should have it back from the line-by-line editor mid-July. That editing process takes about two months and has already involved rewriting or updating five chapters - or about 12,500 of the total 98,000 words.

My review of the line-by-line editing will take about three weeks. Then, my Vicki and I will read through it and I'll make those corrections. By around Labor Day, I will send it to three proof-readers, whose job is to have fun, read the book, and note glaring mistakes or errors. Hopefully those errors will be minimal.

I'm anxiously awaiting formal approval to use some music lyrics in the book. I work with Hal Leonard Publishing for these approvals. I've requested to use some period lyrics from songs by Bob Seger, Aerosmith, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Eagles, Foghat, and even McCartney-Lennon. We'll see how that works out.

At the same time all this improvement of the text is happening, I'm working with Graham Publishing in Colorado. They are helping with cover design and will ultimately upload the book to the publishing company. That's when it will be available on Amazon and other places.

Hickory Trail has been a really fun book to write because its themes are a little more adult. Frank is growing up, but he remains wide-eyed, cautious, and sometimes just too damn serious. I believe readers will be able to step back into their own high school experiences - first jobs, first loves, first cars, and first risk-taking. There's definitely the innocence of youth, still in the teenage years, but there's also the larger world calling out, "Come and see! Come and explore!"

I think readers will laugh and maybe cry some, too. Mostly, I think we'll all have fun together.

All the books are written as fiction but based on memories of my own life.

If you haven't read Brookwood Road or Elm Street, they are available on Amazon. You can also buy autographed copies by mail from me. My store site accepts all credit cards. In Lexington, SC, the books are available at Kitty's Hallmark. In Cumming, GA, they are available at Parson's Gifts, Another Chapter Bookstore, and at Heavenly Dove Gifts. Thank you!

Comments

  1. JeffersonLadyJune 28, 2018 at 10:06 AM

    I am waiting on the edge of my chair in excited anticipation of Hickory Trail!

    ReplyDelete

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