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In 2016, a library media specialist named Wendy Scalfaro from Syracuse, New York contacted me. Weâd never met, but she had read Hello?, my first young adult (YA) novel, and wanted me to come speak at her school. When she couldnât cover all my expenses, she hoped instead to arrange a book signing for me at a local bookstore. Â
Saying yes to something can literally alter your life.
It wasn’t an easy âyesâ because my husband was freelancing then and clients didnât always pay on time. We were stretched thin. I said yes anyway.Â
Fast-forward to April 4th, 2017. I have no other word to describe that day but âmiraculous.âÂ
Wendy had arranged for me to speak at an independent bookstore in Oswego, New York that day. The weather was horrendous. Torrential rain. The 45-minute drive became 90 minutes. I kept thinking, Why this bookstore? There had to be at least a dozen others that were more conveniently located.
I arrived in Oswego super early and planned to spend the afternoon before the event in a coffee shop. Unfortunately, the shop closed at 11 am. I keep kosher, so a restaurant wasnât an option. My need for caffeine led me to a grocery store but the parking lot was flooded. I was wearing knitted Ugg boots and didnât want to spend the next five hours with wet feet, so I decided to wait out the rain.Â
To pass the time, I went on Facebook, and that’s when I saw the headline in my news feed: two teens in upstate New York were refusing to do a school assignment about the Holocaust, a position paper where they had to support Nazi perspectives of exterminating Jews. I clicked on the link and, to my shock, the teens lived in Oswego. What were the chances?
The author with Wendy Scalfaro, the library media specialist whose phone call started Lizaâs beshert chain of events.
I read the story and then the comments. People actually supported of this assignment! I was horrified. And I was awestruck by the two brave teens, Jordan April and Archer Shurtliff. They were determined to have the assignment cancelled. (I later learned that of the 75 students in the course, they were the only two who pushed backâand that was in the five years the debate had been assigned.)Â Â Â
I had to meet these incredible teens. But I wasnât speaking at any schools; it wouldnât be possible. So, I thought Iâd buy two copies of Hello? and ask the bookstore owner if heâd send them to Jordan and Archer with a note from me.
Thatâs not what happened. Instead, I took four steps into the bookstore, looked up and there was Jordan April.Â
She worked there.
âOh, my goodness,â I exclaimed. âItâs the world-famous Jordan!â She looked at me and said, âHow do you know who I am?â I showed her on my phone that Iâd been reading all about her. I said, âI think what you did is amazing.â And she burst into tears.
The bookstore owner came over to me and whispered, âYou have no idea how much this means for her to hear you say that.â Thatâs when I knew that this incredible series of events had happened for a reason. I had to write a book about Jordan and Archer and their protest.
Except I was through writing books. Just the night before, Iâd received my 60th-plus rejection for a manuscript Iâd spent six years working on. I was done. I saw it as a clear sign to give up on writing, especially another novel. That, however, wasnât meant to be. I was meant to be in Oswego. I was meant to write my book, The Assignment.Â
It was beshert.
The Assignment is Liza Wiemerâs fourth book. She writes a monthly kidlit column for The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle and was named one of âThe Top 100 People Positively Influencing Jewish Life, 2021â by The Algemeiner. A University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate, Liza lives in Milwaukee with her husband, Jim. They have two married sons and two grandchildren. Learn more about her and her work at lizawiemer.com
Top photo: Liza and Jordan April, who with her friend Archer Shurtliff inspired Lizaâs YA novel, The Assignment, on April 4, 2017 at the Riverâs End Bookstore in Oswego, New York.
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One thought on “Beshert | I Was Done Writing Books. I Thought.”
A fabulous, well written story about standing up and standing tall.
Couldnât put it down.
Bravo!