Mindy McGinnis was just a young child playing outside when a tornado came roaring in her small Ohio hometown.
Thankfully, she and her family found shelter, but the F4 tornado brought lots of damage. “Everyone has a tornado story,” she said.
Add in a long-buried murder mystery on top of a tornado story, and you have the start of an interesting plot for a novel. Thus, a book is born.
McGinnis, author of “A Long Stretch of Bad Days,” which involves a devastating tornado and a murder mystery, spoke about the inspiration for that book and others during a recent visit to McHenry Community High School.
McGinnis met with sophomore English classes as well as any other students interested in hearing about McGinnis’ journey to becoming an author. The 10-year journey was full of writing, rewriting and pitching her books.
“You will fail. That’s part of it,” she told students. “Like anything, you have to keep doing it.”
She encouraged students to think of their own stories when writing. She also encouraged them to do a lot of reading to become better writers.
McGinnis said she typically spends at least a year researching her idea before writing her book. Then there’s another year through the editorial process to make it into a book.
Visit McGinnis’ website for more information about her and her books.