Sara J. Henry is the author of the novel LEARNING TO SWIM - first in a series - which Daniel Woodrell describes as “an auspicious debut” and Jamie Ford calls “a mesmerizing confluence of mystery, intrigue, and suspense, with undercurrents of deep personal drama.” It’s based in the Adirondacks in upstate New York, where she was a newspaper sports editor, and the sequel is due out in 2012. It is an audio book for Audible.com and was and released in Germany by DTV. It's an Emerging Author pick at Target, and a finalist for the Mary Higgins Clark award.
Sara has a master’s degree in journalism from Carleton University in Ottawa, was an editor at Rodale Books and at Womens Sports & Fitness magazine, and is an alumna of Squaw Valley Writers Conference. She has edited many nonfiction books, worked as a correspondence writing school instructor, written for numerous magazines, and written and cowritten several nonfiction books.
She’s from Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and now lives on a dirt road in southern Vermont with at least one too many dogs.
Note: Bridget (in my lap) passed away this year and my new rescued cattle dog (because one must always have a cattle dog) hasn't posed yet for a "family" photo. She's not as cranky or bossy as Bridget was, but just as quirky, in her own lovely cattle dog way.
IN SARA'S WORDS
Yes, I have at least one too many dogs. All are rescued, except Emma, the blond retriever/Lab mix, who cost $25 and was just over three pounds at age six weeks - the vet said "she may not make it through the weekend." She's the eldest, going on 15. Two of them I have year round, and Emma and Lucy (at left) I have only in the summers. They don't understand writing schedules or deadlines, and think a sunny Vermont day necessitates a long break down at the river. And since there are more of them than of me, they usually prevail.
Which isn't a bad thing.
I've been writing forever (my first "short story" was at age 5, something about a dog biting through my dad's wristwatch when he visited my uncle's junk yard, er, wrecking yard, er, used car facility), and started what I called a newspaper at age 10. I've been a newspaper feature writer and sports editor and magazine and book editor, and wrote parts of a bunch of health and fitness books. But my true love is fiction.
Along the way I've had jobs as a soil scientist, bicycle mechanic, webmaster, and probably a few more I haven't thought of.
I grew up in Oak Ridge, Tennessee (Atomic City USA), graduated from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, and in between took journalism classes at the University of Florida in Gainesville. I got my start writing freelance sports features at the Longview Daily News in Washington State, and lived in Richland, Washington, where I freelanced for the Tri-City Herald.
Like my main character, Troy Chance, I lived in Lake Placid, New York, in a house with a lot of roommates, and worked as sports editor at The Adirondack Daily Enterprise in nearby Saranac Lake, and freelanced for magazines. And had a dog named Tiger.
I'm represented by Barney Karpfinger, who I found from reading the acknowledgement pages in John Lescroart's books (thank you, John) - and consider the decision to spend $1.90 to mail Barney a query letter and sample pages just about the smartest decision I've made in my life. And certainly the best-spent $1.90.
I blog at Sara in Vermont. You can email me here. Or follow me on Twitter. And here's my Facebook author page.