My First Novel: Katherine and Leeann
Angel of Mercy is the first novel I published, but it is not the first novel I wrote. In the last blog, I introduced you to my early, unpublished work. Most of it was written while I was in high school, although a few stories were written either earlier or later.
The oldest work is Katherine and Leeann that I wrote in 1989 when I was 10 years old.
Some background on the story:
- It was written entirely in pencil in a 80 page, coil-less notebook with a pink cover.
- The story is about two sisters in 1848 Ohio. The story takes place in Roscoe Village, an historic Ohio & Erie Canal town in Coshocton. I’ve visited the village twice, both times in elementary school, and the visits were the inspiration for the story. I still have the brochure from that 1989 field trip. Admission was $5 for adults, and $2.50 for children. (In 2021, it’s $11 and $7.)
- The sisters and their siblings were all named after a series of dolls I owned.
- Unlike my later work, I made very few notes before I began writing.
An Excerpt From My First Short Story
The handwritten manuscript of my first short story
I discovered when going through my notebook that I had written a short story before the main story. Here is an excerpt of that. The misspellings, grammatical errors, and run-on sentences I left intact. Hey, I was a 10 year old and wrote like one. No use copyediting my work.
- Moving Away
Boom! Thunder chashed and rain fell hard on the roof but Ma didn’t mind. The straw ticks were in. She, Katherine, 10, and Molly, 8, were scrubbing the bedroom the last room to scrub. Almost everything was washed or cleaned and placed away in the sitting room. That week they had been doing nothing but work for they were going west to Tracy, Dakota spend the winter in a hotel and go west and settle up the land by Silver Lake Pa had rented half a box car for their things he planned to build a tin shop.
The next day was washing day Thay washed every bit of clothing, curtain and bedding was washed, rinced and hung out in the September 1879 day.
An Excerpt From My First Novel
The 1989 brochure for Roscoe Village
Here’s an excerpt from Katherine and Leann, my first novel. It is told entirely in diary entries, as I explained to “readers. in an introduction. “This is the diary given to me Katherine Myger by her Ma on Christmas 1847.”
The first entry:
Saturday, December 25, 1847
Dear Diary,
By this time you are now wondering where you are. You are at my house in Roscoe Village in Ohio. It’s Christmastide you are a gift from Ma. I am Katherine Kate Myger a 11 year old third reader. Well, I must tell you more later.
Truly,
Katherine
(Yeah, I know these are badly written, but I still need to say this: These stories are a work of my imagination and, therefore, is under my copyright. They cannot be used or shared without my written permission.)
Learn More About My Books
I’m a multi-genre author of numerous books. I write contemporary fiction, historical fiction and nonfiction.
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Curious about the WWI Trilogy? Click here to learn more.
Curious about my nonfiction books? Click here to learn more.
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[…] The first story I ever wrote, in 1989, the main characters were named after dolls. The plot follows two sisters in 1848 in an Ohio canal town. Several years later, I attempted to write a sequel, set out west during the Civil War, but it appears unfinished. Next blog, I’ll share excerpts from this first novel. […]