Raising John by Jennifer Lesher Review, Giveaway and Guest Post

How do you go on living when you have done the unforgivable? How do you love a mother you barely remember? John is an orphan who misses the mother he hardly knew. Robert is the drunk driver who killed her. As the story opens we meet 4-year-old John, who wonders why his mother had to die. Robert wakes up in lockup, expecting to sleep off a blackout and go home, until he learns of the accident he caused.

John grows up under the care of his devoted maternal grandmother, who grapples with guilt over her daughter’s past. Just as John is on the cusp of manhood, he must confront his mother’s death anew and question everything he has come to believe about himself and the people he loves.

Robert is sentenced to 4 years in state prison. His incarceration begins a journey that will have a profound effect on not only himself, but on the life of the boy he orphaned, and on the legacy of the young mother who died.

Raising John was a semi-finalist in the Whidbey Writers Workshop MFA Alumni Association Emerging Writers Contest.

Praise for Hungry For Love by Jennifer Lesher:

“Great story and wonderfully created characters!  I truly enjoyed Hungry for Love and am eager for the next story. The character development was great. I was surprised by how I much I liked and disliked Christina in such a short time; one minute I felt bad for her and the next I thought she got what she deserved. This is a really fun and entertaining read.”- Kristin W, Amazon Reviewer

“Fun + Substance.  Funny and frothy in a “chick lit” kind of way, but with heart, and genuine insight into the main character’s emotional life and journey to self-respect. Well written – I look forward to reading this author’s upcoming work.”- Acorn, Amazon Reviewer

“Hungry for Love was tightly plotted and well-written, an easy but satisfying read.“-Twark Main, Amazon Reviewer

“Captivating Read!  I loved how the author introduces the characters and their histories. Great descriptions of feelings and situations. Can’t wait to read more of this series.”-Sara, Amazon Reviewer

About Jennifer Lesher:

Jennifer Lesher is an author, mountain biker, travel junkie, non-sufferer of fools, and graduate of the School of Hard Knocks. Recently Jennifer left her job in the high-tech industry to pursue certification as an airplane mechanic. She will complete her schooling in the spring of 2015 and, FAA willing, will be certified shortly thereafter. She lives in Seattle, Washington.





Guest Post:

Why and How I Write

Ten years ago, after saying for years that I wanted to write fiction, I decided to make it happen. In 2003 I participated in my first National Novel Writing Month. The point of NaNoWriMo is to force the aspiring writer to throw off the constraints of the internal editor and just write. The goal is to write 50,000 words in the month of November.

I like goals, so I got it done, and in this way I realized that indeed I can write, a lot. I learned how to sneak past my internal editor and just get the words down. I did Nano again in 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008 – and hit 50k in each of the last three attempts. It was in 2008 that I wrote the first chaotic, stream-of-consciousness draft that was to become Raising John. I knew I wanted to write a story about a “what if” situation with a drunk driver. I knew that I wanted to talk about addiction and how it siphons away the ability to truly engage with life. And, I wanted it to be a love letter to children – the children who are given short shrift  because addiction is insatiable in its need for attention.

The first draft had all the elements of the story, but the narrative was a mess, and most of my scenes were told, not shown. After two rounds of major revisions I thought it was ready – beta readers and agents disagreed. Then after another round of revisions, I thought – yes, I have it now. Still, readers and agents disagreed. So, in 2013 I tackled it again, then hired an editor to help me shape the part where readers kept getting stuck and losing interest. The editor was amazing and very persuasive. She had me remove several repetitive scenes about one character and then write quite a few chapters to show the growth of another character I had only told about. The end product of that process is the version of Raising John that I published.

People often ask me where I get my ideas. The short answer is that some of them are pure imagination and some of them come from my life. The plot for Raising John came to me when I thought about my family of origin, then went on to think “what if?” Most of my work is like this – I’ll have a germ of an idea springing from an event or an observation in real life, but then that will spin out into a larger narrative – usually because I went on to think “what if?” Or I encountered a person I didn’t immediately understand and set about trying to figure out how they got that way. The backstory I create for them can become a large part of a narrative.

I have tried a few times to have characters that are almost directly based on me, and they fall flat. Originally Raising John contained some scenes that were more closely taken from real life, and they were the least popular scenes among my beta readers. It’s hard to say why, but I think it’s because when I’m writing about myself, I zero out parts of myself that I take for granted – because I don’t notice these traits any more, I don’t include them in the character, and as a result, the character seems flat to the reader, even if to me, because I mentally fill in the parts I unconsciously leave out of the writing, they remain interesting to me.

Lesson learned – I write what I know, but not exactly what or whom I know.

Another aspect of writing that I wouldn’t have known about if I hadn’t experienced it is how painful it is. I don’t mean physically, I mean the emotional pain. The way I describe it is that I sit for hours, dredging my subconscious, pulling up all matter of unpleasant things. I need to do this, for my writing, and it helps me produce work that resonates deeply with my audience, but geez it’s hard. So hard. Writing is by nature a solitary pursuit. I know this and it fits my temperament, especially during those rainy Seattle months that seem tailor made for long days inside with limitless cups of tea and hot chocolate, and limitless production of words.

It’s not the physical solitude that I mind – it’s the emotional solitude. It’s setting up Freedom to cut off my internet for hours at a time, then going down, into the depths until it seems that I’m the only person left on earth.

It’s hard, but it’s worth it. I used to work for a high-tech company and while I enjoyed my work, if the pay had stopped my work would have stopped too. So far I haven’t earned anything from writing, and yet, I can’t imagine not doing it. 

Website: http://jenniferlesherauthor.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JenniferLesher
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jennlesher
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7579266.Jennifer_Lesher

Buy Raising John: 

Amazon

My Review:
This book reminded me of how precious life is and how your loved ones are usually the ones you hurt the most. It also reminded me that you should never take your loved ones for granted. I liked that the author talked about Mary's life and not just her death. I was hit by two drunk drivers, six months apart and I applaud this author for talking about how people are negatively affected by drivers that get intoxicated and then get behind the wheel. The author also pulled the reader in and I felt bad for these women. They were abused and went through horrible times. I would have liked the driver punished more. The ending made me want to slap Robert. He did not deserve to have what he got, after he did what he did. Snoopy was my favorite character! I also liked the grandmother. Her love for her daughter made her strong enough to raise her grandson. I am giving this book a 3/5. I was given a copy to review, however all opinions are my own.

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