Behind the Book: The Boy Who Couldn't, Shouldn't, Wouldn't Run

Three events shaped the story of The Boy Who Couldn't Shouldn't Wouldn't Run.

The first was the actual basis for this story before it took several dramatic turns. When we moved from St. Louis to Phoenix, we were pleased to meet some new friends at church who were also originally from St. Louis. In fact, our children attended the same Lutheran High School, but their three children were older than ours so our paths never crossed. However, I knew their son Jack's name because he was emblazoned on the state cross country championship banners that hung in the gym.

As we got to know our new friends, I asked about Jack's running prowess. His dad explained that in early high school, he observed his son sitting around way too much. Because dad was already an avid runner, he decided Jack should get off the couch and join him. Fast forward to Jack developing his talent and being a leader on his high school track and cross country teams, then earning an NCAA Division I scholarship to the University of Missouri. Now married with three children, Jack is still an avid runner.

Behind the Book: Up to Bat for Nana's Place

UPDATE: April 2023

This post features the original book cover for Up to Bat for Nana's Place when first published in 2019. The cover was updated when this book became the first in the Shea Nature Camp Series.

Summertime in our family always included a much-anticipated vacation trip and plenty of St. Louis Cardinals' baseball. The story of Bret Collier and Jami Shea began to take shape during our first family trip to Sanibel Island in Florida when our children were young. As I began to develop the characters and plot, it was easy to imagine the island setting of "Nana's Place" while blending in the fictitious "PSK team" connected to the Boston Red Sox spring training location in nearby Fort Myers.

During our Sanibel trip, our children were in awe of and perhaps a bit wary of a small alligator hanging around our condo complex. We nicknamed the creature "Olly Alligator" and soon the idea of the story's infamous "Humphrey" was born. The bike paths around the island also became an integral part of the story.

With the help of my husband who played college baseball at the University of Missouri-Columbia and who patiently coached our two daughters and son, I perfected my baseball references and weaved in the back story of Carson Wills.

Behind the Book: All Because of Addie Elsewhere

The story of Shannon Stevens, Kelsey Winchester, and mountain woman Addie Elsewhere first began to take shape after a couple of family trips with our three children to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park in the 1990s. On our first trip, we stopped in Norris, Tennessee, to experience the Museum of Appalachia. We wandered through the restored log cabins and outbuildings, learning from the craftsmen and mountain folks as they described the lives of mountain people of the past. The museum was the inspiration for the log cabins and the girls' clubhouse in the old dairy.

I continued to research Appalachian life. I wasn't an expert by any means, but I slowly began to understand the proud history and struggles of people in the area. Like Shannon, I could close my eyes and imagine what it was like to live in a log cabin 100 years ago. Slowly, the storyline of Addie began to take shape.