It's done

I want to thank whoever put this saying on a journal at our local bookstore. I didn't buy the book since I have empty journals waiting for me at home but it struck a cord since I completed my second Stella Page novel this month. This saying describes what I was feeling.

It looks so tiny here considering it has taken up a large chunk of my life and of my wallet this past six months.
The actual book is larger although it stops at page 210. I tried to keep the story going with as few words as possible. A fun read for people with little time for long books but who still want to enjoy a good story. My editor seems to think I have managed to do this so hopefully my readers will also.


Self publishing is not difficult if you use one of the self publishing websites. I use Create Space through Amazon simply because I recognized Amazon! It has worked well for me although I had forgotten a lot of the inner workings from my first experience with Beyond Me.... The biggest challenge is getting the editing done and done well. My two editors for this one were great but it is quite daunting to get your novel back covered in deletes and comments for fixes. As I continue to educate myself on the process as I work inside of it, I am learning that this is what takes place when people write stuff for others.

Hope you get a chance to read it.

In anticipation!

I am almost dizzy with anticipation as I wait for Amazon to put the print copy of my first novel on their site. I did a few changes and took it off of Kindle until this version was ready. This is my first review.

Red City Review:

Mary Sawyer’s Beyond Me...A Principal Mystery begins with a brutal murder that seems to have no clear motive and an unlikely child criminal. As the story unfolds, Stella Page, the diligent principal of Edgewater Middle School, and Kate Barthorpe, a pregnant sergeant in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, become unlikely partners. The two women each do their own special kind of investigatory work to discover how a young indigenous girl named Lillian ended up covered in blood and holding a knife, seemingly the perpetrator of a callous crime. Sawyer’s novel paints a picture of how difficult life can be for individuals living in modern New Brunswick in a First Nations community. She reveals that these people are made to feel less than equal, facing racism and stereotyping on a daily basis. In spite of their trying circumstances, Stella and Kate are strong female characters, both hard working and independent. Through their exhaustive efforts, they solve a murder and help to tear apart some of the stereotypes that exist about gender and race.

         Beyond Me...A Principal Mystery is an exciting novel with well-developed characters that one comes to know and love. The humanness of Sawyer’s characters make sections of the book difficult to read because the novel touches on a number of highly sensitive social issues such as drug abuse, child sexual abuse, and homicide. These topics are difficult to consider and the novel should be read with both mind and heart braced for troublesome but meaningful conflict. Stella and Kate are excellent female role models as they navigate their way through the hardships that come when social work falls short and middle school and murder overlap.

I am going to be completely honest here and tell you that Red City charges for these reviews but that doesn't mean you will get one you like. I did like this one so I am sharing it. Once I get reviewed from other sources I won't have any control as to whether to share it or not.

I have so many moments when I want to go back and redo the whole thing. There are some typos that got by all of us but too late now. I am prepared to take the flak for those as long as I get an honest review of the story itself. Will announce in bold print when it is officially on Amazon. ( hopeful that it will be the end of this week)

“Turning a manuscript into a book is easy; getting the manuscript ready to become a book is hard.” 

― A.P. Fuchs