Sally Deering said she first discovered her passion for the pen after a seventh grade writing assignment at PS No. 4 in West New York, when the encouraging words from a teacher changed her forever.
Deering, now a Weehawken resident, went on to launch an award-winning career as a journalist, nationally syndicated columnist, musical librettist, and a playwright.
It’s a career that would make any mother proud, but it is perhaps Deering’s latest venture that would make her mother happiest the most.
Deering’s first novel, The Apple That Fell from the Orange Tree, tells the tale of a young girl’s journey that began on a cold November night in 1918 when her mother dropped her off at an orphanage.
“When she told me those stories I realized that it was so much a part of her identity.” – Sally Deering
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Though billed as a work of fiction, the novel is inspired by the stories Deering’s mother told her of growing up in a Brooklyn orphanage. Deering’s mother would share the tales when Deering’s family fell on hard times.
“When she told her stories, she would always refer to it as ‘the Home,’ ” Deering wrote in the foreword of her book. “And yet, to me it didn’t sound like a home at all.”
Deering has self-published the book electronically, and it’s available on Amazon for $2.99.
Haunting memories
Although always intrigued by her mother’s life, Deering said it wasn’t until her mother passed away a few years ago that stories of the orphanage began to “haunt” her everywhere.
“When you’re a writer, certain things just draw you out,” said Deering. “The story wants to be told.”
Beginning with the foundation of her mother’s upbringing in the early 1900s, Deering let her imagination do the rest.
In taking creative license, Deering said she also experienced a sense of catharsis by playing out scenarios that may have never happened in her mother’s real life.
“I felt like I was going to some very private places with her,” said Deering. “By writing this book I was able to try and turn around some things in her life that maybe didn’t happen.”
One of those “things” is a storyline involving Charlotte’s mother, Deering’s grandmother. In reality, Deering never met her grandmother, and her mom was left at the orphanage at age 4.
A story that carries on
Just as the upbringing at the orphanage shaped who her mother was as a person, the stories have gone on to shape Deering as well.
“When she told me those stories I realized that it was so much a part of her identity,” she said. “I felt so bad that she had to go through that. It made me angry that people would treat children this way.”
While Deering attempted to balance out the negative of her mother’s life by becoming a more compassionate person, others dealt with the reality behind these fictional stories in different ways.
Deering’s aunt, who had been in the orphanage with Charlotte, had a much different recollection of the orphanage. And a woman Deering met through the Internet whose father had grown up in the same orphanage said her father didn’t want to talk about the orphanage at all.
“There [are] things that happen in people’s lives that break them,” said Deering. “Either you can recover from that and you move on or it’s stuck on you.”
Apparently, the story of Charlotte is one that seems to be sticking with readers. According to Deering, many who read the book wanted to know what happens next, so she began working on a sequel.
The next chapter
Although Deering published the novel herself as an e-book, she still would love to see it in paperback on bookshelves or perhaps adapted into a screenplay.
But for now, she’s happy just to have a way to offer her work to readers.
“In this day and age it’s about getting your work out,” said Deering. “That’s really where you make your connection.”
As for what her mother might say about the fictional novel based on her own life, Deering laughed and replied, “You’re only charging $2.99?!”
“I think she would say thank you,” she continued. “I think she would’ve loved it; it would’ve made her feel good.”
With this tribute to her mother complete, Deering is continuing on her journey with that writing career begun years ago in a West New York classroom.
She recently completed her third play and is currently working on a new book set in 1940s Hollywood.
For more information, visit www.SallyDeering.com.
Lana Rose Diaz can be reached at ldiaz@hudsonreporter.com.