Welcome to Are We There Yet "Behind the Scenes"

I started writing my memoir on the night of my 75th birthday, October 25, 2023, the night of the Maine's first mass shooting in nearby Lewiston. It was a stormy night in more ways than one and I couldn't sleep. So got up and  started writing. Finding writing both cathartic and calming, I didn't stop for almost three years. Being finished and holding my first published book feels a little bit like giving birth - you labor through the writing, editing, proofreading, cover design and graphics - until the book feels like a part of you. It's not easy to send this book out into the world and yet it is so exciting. 

I'm a mom, wife, retired teacher (and author!) who lives with my husband, Hank, in a little red house near the sea in Southern Maine. I grew up in Connecticut in the 1950’s and 1960’s, the oldest of the self-proclaimed four “Stunning Smith Sisters,” whose stories I share in this memoir. A retired teacher, I have fond memories of special times at Russell Sage College, where I was a proud Blue Angel, Class of '69. I also attended the University of Massachusetts and the University of Southern Maine, pushing myself to complete degrees in English, Special Education, and Educational Leadership. 

 

My sisters and I experienced iconic childhood adventures in Connecticut. During the long rides up old Route 1 to Maine for summer vacations, we joined in a cacaphony of   ̈Are We There Yets ̈ from the back seat of Dad's'59 Impala. Teen-age summers at Wells Beach were so magical that once we finally got there, we never wanted to leave.  Some of our madcap adventures will make you laugh and others will likely make you cry, but they are stories to which many women of our generation will likely relate.

We came of age when abortion was illegal, when a woman couldn’t get a credit card without a husband to co-sign, when sexual harassment was thought of as “a joke”. Some of us found our voices during the Civil Rights movement, the Beatles, and Vietnam. We've loved and been betrayed, faced down cancer and epilepsy, fallen and gotten back up, cried a bit and laughed a lot. 

It's scary to put our lives out there for you to read about but it's also exciting. Laugh or cry, I hope you'll enjoy Are We There Yet?. It will be availabel on Amazon and Barnes & Noble (fpr purchase or download to Kindle) on May 6th. You can also order hard copies from me - or pick them up if you're nearby. Happy reading! I'd love to hear from you!

                                             L. to R.  Cheryl, two cousins, Nancy and Andi