‘Maggie Mae Figures it Out’

Life doesn’t go as anticipated, and that’s the premise of Missy Moore’s first novel, “Maggie Mae Figures it Out.”

The Novel

In “Maggie Mae Figures it Out,” it is 1945 and the war is ending. Summer is upon 10-year-old Maggie Cooper, but she can’t completely look forward to it as she grieves her mother’s death, things with her father are not the same and she can’t seem to have any feelings for her baby sister. To top it all off, her sister follows her around wherever she goes. Maggie Mae has some bad times when Evelyn and her children show up. But, despite some hard times, Maggie’s sisters, cousins and friends help her laugh through them.

Figuring it out

Moore grew up and went to school in Greenfield and later Creston. After graduating, she took a year off before going to Black Hawk College for secretarial school. When Moore was 26 years old, she went back to Black Hawk, then to Southern New Hampshire University, where she completed a Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Literature in 2009. Moore then went on to obtain a Master’s degree in creative writing at National University. Moore and her husband Brian have lived in Las Vegas, Quad Cities, and Nebraska. The Moores decided to return to Creston to be closer to family.

Writing

Moore began writing while attending high school in Greenfield. The school had a program called “Artists and Residents” which had various workshops that introduced participants to different artistic mediums. Moore was drawn to the writing workshops and began writing poetry. Moore wrote poetry through her entry into college, where she entered a creative writing program. It was through this program that Moore found the desire to explore writing beyond poetry.

Inspiration

While living in Creston, Moore revisited books she had read in her youth and found inspiration from one of her favorite children’s book authors – Judy Blume. Several of these stories took place in the late 1940s, but Moore said most books of this kind did not explore conscientious objectivity and the adversity that results from it. Moore decided that it was time to write her first novel.

Moore’s novel is about a ten-year-old girl in 1945 who has to deal with her life changing rapidly and not always in the way she wants. The main character Maggie Mae Cooper is met with various challenges with her changing family life. Moore said that the novel touches on the topic of grief and growing up while moving on.

“The central message in my book is that life changes and you can’t just stop it,” Moore said. “You have to learn to deal with that and keep going.”

The novel is intended for children between the ages of nine and 12.

Road to publishing

Moore had heard that she needed a literary agent to be able to publish her novel. After sending her material to eight different agents, no one would pick her up. On a Facebook group for authors, she expressed her frustrations. It was there someone recommended that she try “Simply Inspired Words Publishing.” Moore sent them her book and after some correspondence, Moore was offered a contract for “Maggie Mae Figures it Out.”

“Maggie Mae Figures it Out,” is available on Amazon and Kindle as well as on the Barnes and Noble website.