By When English professor and author Suzanne Greenberg begins writing, she usually doesn’t know where her work will take her. Unlike some writers, Greenberg takes small glimpses of characters and small moments in scenes to create her stories, which is how she was able to write her new book, “Lesson Plans.”
“Lesson Plans” was called “witty and insightful” in a Reader’s Digest article titled “7 Great Books from Small Presses that are Worth Your Time.” It was also named as the Library Journal Editor’s Spring Pick.
The novel, which will be available on May 13, is centered on the lives of five families who chose to homeschool their children.
Greenberg, a mother of three who did not home school her children, wrote the novel with no intent to make an argument for or against homeschooling.
“As a writer, I am drawn to the gray areas of life,” she said.
Greenberg said she loves the idea of subcultures and groups of people who care intensively about something that others don’t register with.
“Many people care intensively about their children and education, but homeschoolers take things a step further, it seems to me,” Greenberg said.
“Lesson Plans” is set throughout Southern California, including places such as Belmont Heights, Los Altos, Sunset Beach and Laguna Beach.
“Being a parent gave me all the right settings for the book, whether that meant playgrounds, ice skating rinks, parks, zoos or aquariums,” she said.
Greenberg also writes short stories and nonfiction stories.
“Speed-Walk and Other Stories” is a collection of Greenberg’s stories that won the Drue Heinz Prize in 2003, which came with a $15,000 cash prize. “Speed-Walk and Other Stories” became available in paperback in 2013.
Greenberg said that writing a novel is vastly different from her short stories because the plot lines in short stories have to move more quickly.
“In novels, the discipline involves going back to the same characters and story over and over again, taking that leap of faith each day that you are not completely wasting your time,” Greenberg said.
When Greenberg was writing “Speed Walk and Other Stories,” she carefully pieced the stories so that one would lead into the other. She said that in “Lesson Plans,” it was similar having to set up scenes in the book.
Greenberg said it’s not easy to get published and warned future writers to prepare for rejection.
“There are so many factors including serendipity,” Greenberg said. “You need to keep writing and when it comes to publishing, to persevere.”
Greenberg will be signing copies of “Lesson Plans” at Apostrophe Books on Second Street on Sunday May 18, from 1 to 3 p.m.
