"Write the Tree Book" - The Girl and the Grove Turns One

“Write the tree book.”

The Girl and the Grove turns one today, and that statement is one that sticks to me whenever I think about the little novel that could and almost didn’t. It was a novel that was impossibly hard to write, after working on two manuscripts that are (probably) forever shelved.

My dear wife Nena has pushed me, ever since we got together, to write about what’s personal. It was something that scared me. The idea of writing about adoption and identity terrified me. And every time I told her about this story I had kicking around, she’d say the same thing.

“Write the tree book.”

The story of an adoptee wrestling with identity, and the idea that, all those “what ifs” that adopted kids like myself sometimes kicked around, maybe could be magic. I was tired of not seeing it in the books I read.

We deserved to be magic.

Well, that little tree book is one today, and it’s really here because of her. That and Welcome Home, my adoption themed anthology, for that matter.

To any writer friends reading this, find someone who supports you with a reckless abandon, and doesn’t just lift you up, but pushes you to be your best creative self. Not saying you have to find a romantic partner. Maybe this person is a friend, a fellow writer, a critique partner.

That belief and support will take you far.

Believe me.

I have short stories in two anthologies coming soon, Color Outside the Lines by Sangu Mandanna (Soho Teen, November!) and Body Talk by Kelly Jensen (Algonquin, 2020), and both talk about adoption. I don’t think I’d have had the courage to write what I did, without her saying the same thing again and again.

“Write the tree book.”

Now, to celebrate The Girl and the Grove turning one, I’d like to gift a few copies out to teachers with classroom libraries and/or high school librarians, who would like a copy for students to take out and borrow. I realize it’s May and the school year is winding down, but hey, May is when the book came out.

Interested in a copy? Sign up for my newsletter (it doesn’t go out often, I swear) and send me an email (ericsmithrocks at gmail dot com) with you and your school’s information. I’ll pick TWENTY SCHOOLS to get a copy.

Thanks for celebrating with me. And thank you Nena, for making me brave.

And of course, to my agen Dawn Frederick for not giving up, and Mari, Megan, and the whole team at Flux, for bringing this book to life.