Ella Parker seems to have everything: great friends, an awesome family and a star position on her high school basketball team. The only thing missing is a boyfriend.That changes once she catches the eye of Sam Cleveland. With Sam by her side Ella has it all. When a drunken night results in an unwanted pregnancy, her perfect life is turned upside down and she’s faced with an impossible decision.
Katherine Frayne has always wanted to be a mother. But with the last results of her in vitro fertilization pointing to chance of a baby, her hopes are dashed. Then her husband Danny suggests they adopt. At first Kat is resistant, but she soon realizes that it may be her only chance at being a mom.
Game Plan is honest and heartbreaking at times. The story follows Ella and Katherine as they both navigate their lives amidst tough decisions that not only affect them, but those they love the most.
Sounds like a great ISU novel, eh fellow librarians?? AND a Canadian author to boot!
Please stay tuned for my upcoming review...
A quick Q and A with Natalie Corbett Sampson
How did you get started in writing?
I don’t remember – I’ve always loved to write things as far back as elementary school. In university I majored in Biology and English – biology for the career that would make some money and English because that’s what I loved. During the process of adopting my daughter I wrote a blog and a lot of Game Plan came out of that – from the experiences I documented there. Originally I wanted to try to publish the blog but in the end it wasn’t relatable enough – putting the experiences into a narrative story made it more complete.
Where do you find your inspiration/ideas?
All over the place! My kids, my own experiences. I love lines in music that carry emotion and impact, and sometimes imagine a whole story growing out of one line. I have found stories by asking ‘what if…?’ Most of the ideas aren’t worth a novel but it only takes one!
What do you normally do when you experience writer's block? Any weird quirky rituals that you'd like to share with your reading audience?
Ugh. I hate blanking! I’ll typically just force myself to get something down; a dialogue, a description of a location, some introspective thought a character might have… eventually the writing will become worthwhile and I can either edit or delete the proceeding parts – it’s much harder to work with a blank page than to try to improve bad writing. Sometimes I just have to walk away. I get worried if I’m not in the mood to approach writing that I may do more harm than good by forcing it – especially if I’m editing something that’s already not too bad.
Favourite author?
Impossible! I can’t list one. I love all sorts of authors. There are some whose books I’ll read just because of the author’s name; Phillipa Gregory, Tish Cohen, Jodi Piccoult, Wally Lamb, Lawrence Hill, Robert Munsch…
If you could give advice to any aspiring writer, what would it be?
I think it’s pretty simple: just write. Don’t write for fame or money or because someone wants you to. You have to want to write and enjoy it, and if you do, then the process is just as valuable as the end result which means if the end result isn’t what you hoped it’s not that big of a deal. I’m so lucky and happy that Game Plan was picked up by a publisher and still can’t believe it’s a ‘real live book’. But if that hadn’t have happened I’d still have my story and the things I gained in the process.
Learn more about Natalie and her new book here -
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/
Twitter: @Nsampson17
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