Drumroll, please … presenting an inspirational debut novel written by a male author.  How about that. Welcome to the party, Jake Smith. I enjoy watching baseball, particularly this time of year on the cusp of the World Series (a shout out to those long-suffering Royals fans!). As you can see from the endorsements,  back cover copy, and Jake’s own explanation about what inspired Wish, this is so much more than a book about baseball. It’s about hope, love and perseverance and the power of doing good in the face of the hard stuff of life.

Praise for Wish:

“Wish pulled at my heartstrings like few books ever have. It’s a poignant reminder that life, like any great game, is less about the final score and more about how we play. Baseball fan or not, you’ll find something to love.”
—Kevin Milne, author of One Good Thing

“A delightful, remarkable debut novel, Wish reveals the power of faith and love in the most difficult of times. But it is more a story of hope than heartbreak. I recommend it highly.”
—Dan Walsh, bestselling author of The Unfinished Gift

Book Blurb:

James McConnell’s one wish is that his nine-year-old son will finally be healthy enough to play a game of catch. Then he and his wife, Emily, receive news they’ve dreaded: Aaron’s cancer has relapsed.

As the family steels themselves for a draining treatment regimen in yet another hospital, Aaron receives the gift of a lifetime—a personal visit from one of his favorite professional baseball players—and the chance to make a bold request, his wish: to see his dad play in one major league game.

A former college standout, James fears he doesn’t have the talent it takes, even for one game, and that he’ll miss what could be Aaron’s precious last weeks. Yet how can he refuse his dying son’s wish?

Poignant and triumphant, Wish is the story of a father’s love, a family’s perseverance, and the miracles that can happen when you believe in the impossible.

Five Questions with Jake Smith:

What was the inspiration for your novel?

Wish started off with a single image: a young father, not unlike myself, standing alone in the middle of a major league baseball field, in uniform, under the lights, listening to the crowd. I didn’t know how he got to that point, only that he was there for a pretty important reason. About the time I kept fixating on this image, I was watching a Detroit Tigers game with my family, and one of our favorite players hit a home run. As the player rounded the bases, he was quite emotional, and the announcers went on to explain how earlier in the day the player had visited a children’s hospital and a special friend who had autographed his arm. Wish grew from there – my young father ended up on the field because of a wish made by his ill son. As soon as I thought of that, I thought that if the book were successful and found a publishing home, we might be able to use it to do some good, which is exactly what we’ve done: donating proceeds to children’s hospitals, and motivating people to sign up for the national bone marrow registry.

If you could have dinner with three people (living or dead), who would you choose and why?

I’m going to cheat on this one a bit: Instead of one dinner with three people, I’ll give you three different dinners with one person each.

#1: Homemade pizza with my grandfather. My grandpa was known for his homemade pizzas, and when he passed away, I sort of unofficially took over the reins, piecing together his unique recipe from family members. I never told my mom I was doing this, and one time, home from college, with the recipe mastered, I made these pizzas for Mom and Dad while they were out. By the time she came home, the entire house smelled like my grandpa’s pizzas. So, I would love for my grandpa to taste my version of his family-famous pizza. And I really, really miss him.

#2: A local Caribbean dinner with my wife. Because that would mean we were in the Caribbean and finally on the honeymoon we still haven’t taken (17 years and counting).

#3: Any sort of a meal with Jesus. I’m not sure I really need to explain that one.

Okay, the opposite: one dinner with three people. That would be a dinner with my three kids – from the future, when each one of them is 40 years old. I’d love to be able to tell them how much fun I’m having right now with their younger selves (12, 10, and 7) – and how much they drive me crazy sometimes! And it would be awesome to see the kinds of people they would have grown into without having to wait nearly 30 years to find out. (And maybe, based on what I learned, I might give them different advice right now!)

 In terms of writing a novel, are you a plotter or a pantser? Or a hybrid combo?

Sort of a hybrid, but more plotter. I have a pretty organized way of approaching a new book – notes, research, a brief general plot outline, then an expanded plot outline where I see where the chapter breaks are. Then I outline an individual chapter and write that chapter. But so much happens during the writing process, and then again during the individual chapter’s editing and revising process – new threads and characters emerge, things I hadn’t planned on just naturally happen – that I have to go back and tweak the plot. Many times.

 What can your readers expect from you in the future? Prequel, sequel, novella, etc.

I’m working on the second book right now – the plotting is mostly all done, three chapters are in my agent’s hands, and research and writing continues. It’s not a sequel or prequel, but in the same genre of family, Christian, inspirational fiction – “fiction with a mission” my publisher likes to call it, like Wish.

 Please share one piece of advice for aspiring writers you wish you’d known before you started this writing journey.

That writing the book is the easy part! Editing and revising, while difficult, is so extremely necessary; in fact, that’s where the real writing takes place. The other thing I wish I’d known – well, I guess I always knew it, but I really didn’t believe it… but I do now – is that when an agent says he or she “really has to love” the book to agree to represent it, it’s not just a line. In the course of my many rejections for Wish, I lost count of the number of times I rolled my eyes when I saw the line, “I liked it but just didn’t love it.” Once I got my agent and witnessed the amount of work he put in to both the book and to my career, I saw how an agent really does have to love the books they represent.

 Jake Smith is an author and magazine editor who lives in Traverse City, Michigan, with his wife, Vickie, their three children, and a Labrador  retriever. A former assistant high school baseball coach and All-State shortstop, Jake now spends his time on the field helping coach his kids’  youth baseball teams.Wish is Jake’s debut novel, and he hopes it will help support children’s hospitals, patient and family foundations, and  participation in the National Marrow Donor Program.

Wish is available now at Amazon, B&N, and various other retailers. You can connect with Jake via his website. He has an excellent post about the importance of developing an editing process, which I found quite helpful. Thanks for participating in 31 days of debut authors, Jake. Congratulations again on the release of Wish.