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WORK TITLE: The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: MaisyMak.com
CITY:
STATE: NH
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY:
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: n 2018000571
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/n2018000571
HEADING: Makechnie, Amy
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100 1_ |a Makechnie, Amy
670 __ |a The unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair, 2018: |b ECIP title page (Amy Makechnie)
PERSONAL
Married; children: three girls, one boy.
EDUCATION:Attended Brigham Young University.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and educator. Teacher at a prep school in NH.
WRITINGS
Author of the blog maisymak.
SIDELIGHTS
Amy Makechnie grew up in the American midwest and in college majored in health and human performance with a minor in English. She teaches anatomy and physiology at a prep school. Makechnie began writing around 2007 when she could not get a story out of her mind. Although her first novel was never published, Makechnie told Nina Badzin in an interview for the Nina Badzin – Freelance Writer website: “I don’t see that first novel as a failure. It really was a schooling ground for the craft of writing.” Makechnie went on in the interview to say that her debut novel, The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair, stemmed from her participating in National Novel Writing Month, during which participants write around 1200 words each day. She also noted that the novel was originally written for adults but was substantially changed during rewrites. Makechnie also told Badzin: “I took agent and beta-reader feedback, eventually turning Guinevere into a middle grade novel.”
The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair tells the story of a young girl whose move to her parents’ hometown is part of an attempt to help her mother recover from a traumatic brain injury. Guinevere (Gwyn) St. Clair has moved with her parents, Jed and Vienna, and her sister, Bitty, from New York City to Crow, Iowa. Vienna has lost all of her adult memories after losing oxygen to her brain during a medical emergency. Jed has moved the family back to their hometown in an effort to help her recover. At this point, Vienna can only remember things up to the time she was thirteen years old. Jed, however, who has done research into the brain and neural connections, believes Vienna can regain her memories.
The family moves in with Vienna’s mother, and Gwyn and Bitty try to overcome their culture shock living in a farming community with dirt roads and rows of corn instead of in the exciting New York City. Eventually Gwyn and Bitty make friends with Jimmy and Micah, who live with Gaysie Cutter. It turns out that Gaysie grew up with Jed and Vienna. The three shared a traumatic incident in the form a sledding accident when they were children that caused the death of child. Micah is Gaysie’s son, and Jimmy is a boy she took in after he was abandoned.
Gwyn takes an almost immediate dislike to Gaysie, who is big and loud and always seems on the verge of losing her temper. When a local farmer disappears, Gwyn becomes intent on investigating the disappearance and proving that Gaysie is responsible. “The smart dialogue and flowing description, catching the beauty of corn and cows, highlights the eccentric, yet wholly believable characters,” wrote Booklist Online contributor Ilene Cooper. A Publishers Weekly contributor called The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair “a big-hearted adventure about coming home.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
BookPage, June, 2018, Hannah Lamb, review of The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair, p. 31.
Kirkus Reviews, May 1, 2018, review of The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair.
Publishers Weekly, April 16, 2018, review of The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair, p. 92.
ONLINE
Amy Makechnie website, https://www.amymakechnie.com (September 4, 2018).
Booklist Online, https://www.booklistonline.com/ (June 1, 2018), Ilene Cooper, review of The Unforgettable Guinevere St Clair.
Nina Badzin – Freelance Writer, http://ninabadzin.com/ (May 31, 2018), Nina Bazin, “Giveaway: The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair,” author interview.
Amy Makechnie is the author of The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband and four children. You can visit her at MaisyMak.com.
amy makechnie
I live in the country with four delicious children. Their father brought me here. And is also delicious. I'm a writer, and especially like to tell stories with pictures...which often include the next door neighbors (show donkeys and cows). Welcome to our yard!
About
An interview with Myself.
Hi Amy. I’ve never interviewed you before. This is kind of weird.
It is kind of weird, but get on with it.
Okay Bossypants, I love that family picture! Do you live by the ocean?
I just pretend we do. Especially when it’s -9 degrees outside in New Hampshire. I live in the country with four delicious children. Their dad brought me here and is also delicious.
Delicious? Um, isn’t that TMI? Let’s talk about your neighbors.
Our neighbors are show donkeys and water buffalo. Welcome to the neighborhood!
Thanks, Amy. Your neighborhood sounds…odd. So, what do you do all day?
Like most women, I wear many hats! I consider my work as “mother” the most important work I’ll ever do. I teach Anatomy & Physiology at our local Hogwarts and write novels – which is perfect since I prefer not to ever leave the house. If you’ve got time I could tell you about my latest manuscript.
We don’t have time.
Do you see your children at school?
Yes! But when I call out, “Hey Girlfriend!” across campus they never seem to see me.
I wonder why. Tell me about the man you live with.
I am married to the real Mr. Darcy: stern and glowering on the outside, but behind the scenes oozing with love, lofty ideals, and good works. He just so happens to also look like the Colin Firth version.
Okay, that’s enough. Do you have a favorite child?
We adore them all but still deciding which one to love best. One comes with duct tape, one sings opera, another sleeps in a teepee, and one writes me daily love notes. See? It’s really hard to decide.
Totally get it. Hey, do you like running?
Oh, yes. I love talking pacing and the perfect energy smoothie. I also love to write about my shoes and feet and new goals. Aren’t you glad?
Why Maisymak?
Maisy was my mother’s nickname for me growing up. She called me “Maisy mouse” because I was small, quiet, and ran fast like a little mouse. I like the way it sounds with Mak. Maisymak. That’s all.
Are you a Mormon?
Yes. It’s the best.
Are you a plural wife?
Seriously? I think you need to work on your interviewing skills.
I didn’t mean to offend you. I’m just nosy.
I know, I’m you, remember? Thanks for the interview.
You’re welcome!
GIVEAWAY: The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair
BY NINA BADZIN | MAY 31, 2018 | LITERARY AGENTS, READING, WRITING | 7 COMMENTS
Readers! I want to send you a book from your local bookstore! (Or from mine if you don’t have one.) But I’m choosing the book: It’s the almost-released middle grade novel The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair by Amy Makechnie.
I don’t know Amy, not off-screen anyway. But we became fast friends online years ago (no idea how many!) as two blogging moms of four trying to raise kids with a sense of faith and tradition. For me, that’s Judaism. For Amy, that’s Mormonism. We have lots of other things in common, too, and interesting differences, but I will get to HER BOOK now, which I found original, endearing, and so well-written. I really loved it, and I don’t use the L-word often. I also appreciated the Iowa setting. Yay for the Midwest! It would be great for readers age 8-12, but also for adults.
I asked Amy some questions having to do with her writing process, decisions she’s made about her blog, and about the day she got “the call” from her agent. I think you will find her experience and advice really inspiring!
1. How long have you been working on writing fiction?
In 2007 I had a story in my head that I had to get on the page. It would not leave me alone! Like most first novels, it was really a glorified autobiography. After three months of furiously writing, I thought it was possibly publishable. (Hahahaha! I was gloriously naive.) I edited, rewrote, and queried literary agents for years until it dawned on me that perhaps I should start writing another book. I don’t see that first novel as a failure. It really was a schooling ground for the craft of writing.
2. So, I could have written that first paragraph about myself, right down to the querying frenzy. How long have you been working specifically on this book?
THE UNFORGETTABLE GUINEVERE ST. CLAIR was conceived in November of 2012 for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I highly recommend this exercise. You write about 1200 words every single day in November and by the end of that crazy busy month, you have a 50,000 word draft. It’s likely a terrible draft –BUT YOU HAVE A FIRST DRAFT! The book now, is totally different than that draft. The original was written for adults, had a different title, and major characters who no longer exist. In 2013, I rewrote, edited, and rewrote it again and started querying literary agents once again. Querying is a brutal, time-consuming, soul-sucking endeavor. The rejection rate is ridiculously high, but I started to look at it like a numbers game: the more I queried, the higher the chance of acceptance. I took agent and beta-reader feedback, eventually turning GUINEVERE into a middle grade novel. Almost immediately, I had two interested agents. Amazing.
3. Wow! You’re giving me so much hope. As you know the novel I’m currently working on began during NaNoWriMo. Okay, so I’ve been wondering about your blog and how the novel fit in. At what point in the novel-writing process did you start blogging?
I started blogging in 2008. The need came on suddenly and strongly. It was my “third thing,” which is something that made me happy, filled my emotional tank, and was totally unrelated to marriage and family life. Blogging was low-stakes writing with feedback from people who kind of liked me. If you look at those old posts, you’ll see they are entirely about the funny things my kids did. At that time my four children were nine-years-old and under. Writing was something I could do during nap time. That hour taught me to hustle, and to write quickly without worrying about perfection. Writing a blog helped me hone the craft of writing succinctly and for an audience.
4. I noticed that you didn’t write much about the novel-writing and agent-querying process on your blog. Can you talk a little bit about that decision?
You are right; I have not written a lot about it. I’m not sure exactly why, but I wasn’t sure how it would be received. Would it be gloating? Self-promoting? I felt self-conscious. I should probably write more about it because it really is a grueling process that is also fascinating and fun to read about.
5. I would have been cheering you along every step. I bet all your readers would have, but I get it. It’s nice to have some projects that are totally private. Tell us about the day you heard from your agent that the book sold. Those of us working on novels want to live through you!
Oh my goodness. Just getting the agent? That phone call? It was so thrilling. One of the best days of my life – after so much hard work and being told NO NO NO – finally a YES. I queried GUINEVERE for a couple of years (and was also querying other novels I had been working on.) I queried an agent who said MAYBE, if you rewrite it (this was a different book). I rewrote the book. Agent said, “I really love it…but no.” WHAT?! This happened ALL THE TIME. I queried her again, this time with GUINEVERE. She said, “I think you’ve got something here, but my middle grade list is full. Let me refer you to my colleague.” That was what really opened the door – a referral.
I queried her colleague, Zoe Sandler of ICM. She asked for the full manuscript right away via email. A few days later she sent another email. When I saw her name in my inbox, I snapped shut my computer and shut my eyes, knowing that it was going to be yet another NO. I dropped my head and said, “God, I know it’s a NO. Please help me be able to handle this. Let me be okay.” I opened my eyes, opened the computer and read the email: “I loved your manuscript. Can I give you a call?” I can’t even tell you…. Zoe called me a few days later (a torturous wait!) while I was babysitting adorable twin girls. We spoke for about 40 minutes, and while I was spoon-feeding squash, she finally said the magic words: “I would love to represent you.” We edited again before pitching to about 15 publishers. They all said No. Except for one: Simon and Schuster. They offered me a deal in Feb 2017. I cried. It was such a moment.
6. As a fellow mom of four, I NEED to hear your top three tips for getting the book done.
You GRAB those “free” moments and YOU HOLD ON TIGHT!!! Nap time was SACRED writing time. In the early days I usually had about an hour a day. I grabbed morning and night minutes when I could. It was a bit of an obsession. Motherhood has been helpful in that there has never been any time for “writer’s block.” It’s a job that you have to get done every single day. And it didn’t happen every day, but that was always the goal. Even when I wasn’t writing, plots and characters were swirling in my head. I was always scrawling on paper. I felt a great NEED to make this happen.There was also the great fear of failure. After so many years of NO, I was just going to give up? I felt a stubbornness settle in my heart.
Sitting down every day is still my goal. I carry a notebook everywhere I go. The manuscript is a jealous thing. It needs attention every day. If you give it attention, it will give YOU attention. But if you don’t give it attention, you start to lose the thread and inspiration. It starts to lose interest in YOU.
Every night I look at the day ahead and calendar writing time into the day. It never gets easier, even with all of my kids in school full-time. Something is always pulling you away, begging for your time, whispering that you can’t do it. Make it a priority. Make it something you do EVERY DAY and it will become a habit, something you HAVE to do. Resistance will subside (until tomorrow when it rears its ugly head again!).
7. Do you see a sequel in the future or are you on to other characters?
I don’t see a sequel for GUINEVERE, but I do have a series in mind that I’m itching to get working on. I’m about to pitch my second stand-alone novel to my publisher. Cross your fingers for me. And thanks for having me here, Nina!
TO PRE-ORDER AMY’S BOOK (out on June 12th), look at all of Amy’s options at her site.
TO WIN A COPY THAT I WILL SEND FROM YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE: Leave a comment below by June 6th saying something about this interview, about Amy, about the book’s premise that intrigues you. I will randomly draw a name. Not sure about the store I should contact? Check this link for the best guide and look at the right side of the page.
*Links lead to Indiebound, which pays me a tiny bit as an affiliate at no cost to you, and (barely) helps cover some costs of running the blog. And I say barely, because so many people will order from Amazon anyway. But I feel I am doing my part for bookstores.
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Print Marked Items
Makechnie, Amy: THE
UNFORGETTABLE GUINEVERE ST.
CLAIR
Kirkus Reviews.
(May 1, 2018):
COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Makechnie, Amy THE UNFORGETTABLE GUINEVERE ST. CLAIR Atheneum (Children's Fiction)
$17.99 6, 12 ISBN: 978-1-5344-1446-4
If Scout Finch had had a sister, she would be future "world-famous lawyer" Guinevere St. Clair.
When Guinevere, now 10, was 4, her mother, Vienna, lost all memory of her life after the age of 13, and
now, believing she is 13, often acts like a difficult older sister. Jed, Gwyn's father, has relocated the family
to Crow, Iowa, where he and Vienna grew up, hoping that the familiar surroundings will help her regain her
memory. Iowa is a world away from Gwyn's beloved New York City. People greet one another on the street,
it's always quiet, and it smells like cows. And speaking of cows, Guinevere gets her very own registered
bovine, whom she names Willowdale Princess Deon Dawn. (Sadly, her plan to ride Willowdale like a horse
doesn't work out.) Not long after the St. Clairs arrive, Gaysie Cutter tries to bury Guinevere alive--at least
that's how the imaginative Gwyn sees it. When a local farmer goes missing, Guinevere puts on her lawyer
hat to investigate. She's certain short-fused, unpredictable Gaysie murdered him. She just has to prove it,
but it won't be easy, because it seems as though everyone in seemingly all-white Crow has a secret. With the
same nostalgia-tinged humor as Dead End in Norvelt and A Long Way from Chicago, Makechnie's debut
will have readers in stitches. Gwyn's voice is distinct and likable, carrying readers through the eventful
narrative with ease.
Guinevere St. Clair is indeed 100 percent unforgettable. (Fiction. 8-13)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Makechnie, Amy: THE UNFORGETTABLE GUINEVERE ST. CLAIR." Kirkus Reviews, 1 May 2018.
General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A536571051/ITOF?
u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=390ca7b0. Accessed 31 July 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A536571051
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THE UNFORGETTABLE GUINEVERE
ST. CLAIR
Hannah Lamb
BookPage.
(June 2018): p31.
COPYRIGHT 2018 BookPage
http://bookpage.com/
Full Text:
By Amy Makechnie
Atheneum $17.99, 336 pages ISBN 9781534414464 eBook available Ages 8 to 12
MIDDLE GRADE
From debut author Amy Makechnie comes a small-town romp as remarkable as its titular character.
Guinevere St. Clair has no ordinary life: Her mother can't remember anything after the age of 13. But this
unfortunate situation only seems to have increased Gwyn's spunkiness. So when her father announces that
the family will be moving back to their hometown of Crow, Iowa, in hopes of jogging her mother's memory,
Gwyn embraces the change. But soon she's caught up in a mystery she didn't anticipate and uncovering
secrets from her mother's past that she's not quite sure how to deal with. Ready or not, Gwyn is about to
learn that sometimes tending to feelings, both her own and those of the people around her, is more
important than getting answers.
Makechnie's rural Iowa setting is populated with unique and memorable characters, and she takes on serious
topics with honesty and grace, always balancing the sadness with enough love and laughter to keep hope
alive. And overall, that's what this story is about: maintaining hope for a better future when it seems
impossible. Even if the better future you get doesn't look exactly like the one you had in mind.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Lamb, Hannah. "THE UNFORGETTABLE GUINEVERE ST. CLAIR." BookPage, June 2018, p. 31.
General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A540052037/ITOF?
u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=58cca23e. Accessed 31 July 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A540052037
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The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair
Publishers Weekly.
265.16 (Apr. 16, 2018): p92.
COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair
Amy Makechnie. Atheneum, $17.99 (336p)
ISBN 978-1-5344-1446-4
This spirited and layered debut follows the move of 10-year-old narrator Guinevere (Gwyn), a feisty
aspiring lawyer, from New York to her parents' rural hometown of Crow, Iowa, in the hopes of jarring her
mother's memory. Makechnie sensitively sketches Gwyn's complicated feelings toward Vienna, "formerly
known as my mother," who suffered a traumatic brain injury when Gwyn was four. Now Vienna cannot
remember anything that happened to her since she was 13, and she vacillates between youthful ebullience
and stubborn meanness. For Gwyn, Iowa offers "an exciting and fresh start, like the witness protection
program," and she forms fast friendships with two local boys. She also becomes curious about the
disappearance of a local man and the secrets surrounding her parents' enigmatic friend, Gaysie. Gwyn's
dentist father, obsessed with the brain and devoted to his ailing wife, proves a distracted, preoccupied parent
to Gwyn and her sister Bitty, allowing other memorable characters to take on greater significance.
Ultimately, Makechnie's novel is a big-hearted adventure about coming home. Ages 8-12. Agent: Zoe
Sandler, ICM Partners. (June)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair." Publishers Weekly, 16 Apr. 2018, p. 92. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A536532791/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=61eaf013.
Accessed 31 July 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A536532791
Booklist Review
Books For Youth - Fiction - General Fiction
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Titles similar to The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair
Missing May
Ebook The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair.
Makechnie, Amy (author).
June 2018. 272p. Atheneum, $17.99 (9781534414464); Atheneum, e-book, $17.99 (9781534414488). Grades 5-8.
REVIEW. First published June 1, 2018 (Booklist).
“I was 10 when Gaysie Cutter tried to kill me.” The me here is Gwyn St. Clair, who, along with her first-grade sister, has been moved to Crow, Iowa, by her father, Jed, so their mother, Vienna, can be cared for where they grew up. Vienna, who had a medical emergency, losing oxygen to her brain, has lost many of her memories, but Jed, who reads voraciously about neural connections, thinks she can rediscover them. Gaysie, big, loud, and often one step away from blowing her stack, grew up with Jed and Vienna, and together, they endured a traumatic sledding accident in which another child died. Now, on her ramshackle farm, Gaysie parents her son, Micah, and Jimmy, an abandoned boy. Gwyn is befriended by the boys, but after a traumatic introduction to Gaysie, Gwyn is wary of her. When an elderly farmer goes missing, Gwyn is determined to prove that the volatile Gaysie murdered him. The smart dialogue and flowing description, catching the beauty of corn and cows, highlights the eccentric, yet wholly believable characters. This is part mystery, part study of the human heart, and pierced with rays of hope. Everyone here, adults and children, have lessons they need to learn, and first-time novelist Makechnie offers them those paths in startling ways.
— Ilene Cooper