Sing me to Sleep

Watch the Trailer

Then a quiet tragedy happened within their famous boys’ choir that showed the love, grace, and depth of the Amabile family. That inspired me to pitch this story to Lexa and start writing. We kicked the plot back and forth until we came up with something we both were excited about. They gave me the green light on the project the end of August 2008.

Boy, was I nervous. I only had a few months to write the whole novel. STORM took me forever to write and revise and revise and revise. Could I do justice to this story with such a short window for my creative process? I started writing in September--didn’t do anything else all month. By the end of the month, I had a draft. I still don’t know how I did that. Inspiration and perspiration, I guess. I worked night and day on it, but I know I had a lot of help from unseen hands.

I was worried it was awful, so I sent the draft to friends and some critical readers whose loved ones inspired it for critique. While I waited for their valuable feedback, I researched a lot. Then I revised a couple of times. By Thanksgiving, I had a polished draft I could send to Lexa. She cried when she read it. She asked me to make a very few changes to strengthen the novel, and it was done and off to the copy editors just as STORM was debuting last spring (2009).

So, what is SING ME TO SLEEP about?

Beth, a tall, ugly girl survives high school in Port, Michigan, north of Detroit, by keeping her head down and hanging out with her best friend since pre-school, Scott, short, nerdy, fellow outcast. Her escape is singing.

Beth turns from beast to beauty (with the help of a pushy girl in her choir and a high-tech makeover) when she lands the solo spot in her all girls choir. Her mad vocal skills propel the choir into the international spotlight. They go to the Choral Olympics in Lausanne, Switzerland, where Beth meets the star soloist, Derek, from the Amabile Boy’s Choir--right across the border back home. He puts the moves on her, and she falls hard for him. (That part is soooo romantic.) Derek is perfect--except for a troubling secret he won’t ever explain to Beth.

When she gets home, faithful, loyal Scott is there. He’s finally growing, filling out, almost as much of a babe as Derek. Beth is into Derek, but she’s torn up over how her relationship with him hurts Scott. She cares about him, too. And then Derek’s behavior gets more and more erratic. And Beth gets more and more unsure of what she should do.

Beth writes lyrics and Derek composes music. Beth’s lyrics are sprinkled through the novel, so there is a poetic element to SING ME TO SLEEP. I was excited to be able to do that since so many of my readers loved Leesie’s poetry in TAKEN BY STORM.

You’re listening to a beautiful Amabile Youth Singer soprano, Shayna Follington, and the combined Amabile men’s choirs (a hundred guys sernading you!) perform the culminating song, “Beth’s Song.” Enjoy this tease. You’ll soon be able to download the complete track from iTunes. Huge thanks to the brilliant composer Harriet Bushman, and everyone at Amabile--especially Conductor Carol Beynon and the versatile Mary Margaret Farrow!

SING ME TO SLEEP will launch March 4, 2010. Check out our first review! You’ll also get to see some of the sights and meet some of the people who inspired SING. Then watch our YouTube trailer, find links to all reviews currently available, catch up on my Blog Tour, and enter one of the many SING ME TO SLEEP giveaways.

Page soundtrack:
“Beth’s Song,”
from SING ME TO SLEEP
(Harriet Bushman, composer)
performed by Shayna Follington
of the Amabile Youth Singers with
the Amabile Young Men’s Ensemble
and Primus: The Men’s Choir.
Coming soon to iTunes!

CHAPTER ONE SNEAK PREVIEW

READ THE REVIEWS!