OCCUPATION: A substitute teacher in Murrieta

“We’re all huge fans of ‘I Love Lucy’ in this family,” Fairchild said, “and we have all the DVDs.” To learn more about the author, visit Oh, and the name of the title character? Amazon also offers the Kindle version for downloading. “In Search of Lucy” can be purchased online at the Amazon and Barnes & Noble websites in paperback. They have two children, Matthew, 15, and Keeley, 13. A physical education and health sciences teacher at Heritage High School in Menifee, he was chosen as 2011 Teacher of the Year by the Perris Union High School District. Her husband, Doug, is an educator as well. Her second novel, “Vigil Annie,” a thriller set in Detroit, is being reviewed by Amazon for a possible contract. “You need to get to know social media (Facebook, Twitter and the rest) if you self-publish.” A professional editor also is very important.įairchild, who has a journalism degree from San Diego State University, is a substitute teacher, mostly in the Murrieta Unified School District. Some characters just “popped in,” including Chad, a teenager who joined Lucy and others on the road trip to see her sister.Īfter the book was finished, Fairchild took a deep breath and asked herself, “Now what?” She knew little about publishing or how to market her book, and recommends that budding authors learn as much as they can about the business end. “I had a general idea early on how it would end,” she said, but her characters developed as she wrote. Fairchild’s goal was much less ambitious. That attracted AmazonEncore, a publishing arm of Amazon, which contracted with Fairchild to re-release the book early this year in both Kindle and paperback with a redesigned cover and professional editing.Īmong Kindle eBooks, “In Search of Lucy” is in the top 10 on the fiction/drama best seller list, a remarkable achievement for a first-time author. Completed in just under a year, “In Search of Lucy” was self-published on Amazon Kindle in early 2011 and attracted a number of positive reviews. The book has succeeded beyond her imagination. “Maybe some of the personality and sarcasm, and wanting to help people in need,” she said. A medical emergency that brings them together unmasks years of resentment and anger that is resolved only at the end of the 299-page book.įairchild, 42, is sometimes asked how much of Lucy is Lia. “In Search of Lucy” follows the physical and emotional odyssey of 30-year-old Lucy Lang, whose dysfunctional family includes an alcoholic mother and an ungrateful half-sister, all three living far from each other. Lia Fairchild of Murrieta is one of those rare writers who not only finished her first novel but is actually receiving checks from the publisher.

In Search of Lucy by Lia Fairchild