Local author is published

'Return to Suicide' is a dream come true

by Ian M. Kennedy
Staff Writer


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Nov. 8, 2001

Submitted photo
The cover of Allison Alexander's first book is a picture taken by her friend, Aimee Keemy-Tisher, of a girl Alexander saw in her daughter's yearbook.


Allison Alexander is living her dream.

The Mount Airy resident has spent the last six years writing, rewriting, soliciting, and promoting her soon-to-be-published, first book "Return to Suicide," a 138-page novella, but almost her entire life has been devoted to the dream of becoming a writer.

"I've been writing since I was a little kid, about six years old," she said, and all of that writing has piled up. In addition to "Suicide," Alexander has six unfinished manuscripts. It wasn't long ago, however, that her first book was stuck without an ending.

"When I figured out the name of the town, I got the ending," she said of removing the book from her pile of unfinished manuscripts. "Somehow, it just finished itself."

"Return to Suicide" is the story of a girl, abandoned by her uncle at an overcrowded orphanage, who befriends a boy while there. It takes place in Depression-era Oklahoma in a town named Suicide, an apt setting for a story described as "dismal."

The story's inspiration came from a picture Alexander saw in one of her father's history books--it is of a girl working in dusty fields during the depression. This picture planted itself on Alexander's psyche, and provided the muse for her writing.

After completing the first draft of the book, Alexander revised and rewrote it many times before she was content with the finished product.

"The original manuscript is completely different than it is now," she remarked.

However, the writing and rewriting did not prove to be the end of the challenge for her.

"The hardest thing for a writer is that you think you're crazy and no one's going to like your work," noted Alexander.

After two years of queries with numerous publishers and agents resulted in rejection letters--all of which she saved--Alexander finally heard the words she was waiting for from Publish America. They agreed to publish her book.

"It's a great feeling when you find out that you're getting published," she noted. "Then it dawns on you that you have to promote yourself." Yet another daunting task for the fledgling author.

Despite the challenges ahead for Alexander, she continues to write what she wants, when she wants, and how she wants, all the while knowing that most writers follow a strict set of rules or a routine. She describes her writing style as "undisciplined," and does not adhere to the popular opinion that writers should write everyday, even if they aren't inspired.

Instead, Alexander chooses to write when she is inspired, be it on the way home from work or at the Renaissance Festival or wherever else the idea hits her. However, when she's been bitten by the creative bug, Alexander's kids know it's time to get off the computer, immediately.

"My kids have always respected my art," she noted, even if it means forgoing time on the computer for an entire weekend while their mother writes away.

Set in a patch of woods surrounded by a checkerboard of farmlands, Alexander's house lies on the outskirts of the 21771 ZIP code and provides its tenant with the type of atmosphere needed for inspiration, relaxation, and, most important, creativity.

"The cliché that (authors) want to live in a cabin and write, that's me," she admitted jokingly. However, it is what she has wanted to do since she was a little girl, the life-long aspiration to become a writer, and in December--when the first shipment of her books arrives for her to see and touch--it will be a reality.

"It's something that you dream of, but you never think it's going to happen," she said. "This has given me the faith that your dreams can come true ."


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