Kay Smith-Blum: My Writing Journey
My tale begins with rejection. My personal tally for the three manuscripts I have written since 2016 includes 68 rejections but one in particular was pivotal. On April 22, 2022, seasoned literary agent, Kevan Lyon, from whom I had “won” a First-Pages review via the WFWA auction, advised me in a very kind and empathetic way that my second manuscript should not be my debut (for reasons I will maybe go into another day).
Within days of our exchange, I had a dream about a mane of red hair floating on water, but the mass of hair didn’t seem to be wet. I noted every detail I could remember in my dream journal.
A few days later, a news alert appeared on my iPhone. The update on a leaking waste tank at the Hanford Nuclear Plant stated that the first report of the leak had been on my birthday the prior year: April 30th, 2021. A Google search, just below the CBS News blurb on the leak, revealed a link to the Centers of for Disease Control and Prevention, citing the dangers of releases from 1944 through 1957 which I bookmarked because I was late for an appointment.
Back in the PNW, I began listening to intermittent podcasts of Andrew Huberman and Lex Fridman (great fodder for characters and scene building). I also began attending the WFWA Histfic Affinity group meetings
One day in June, I ran into a long-time friend and business associate whose mother had been suffering from breast cancer. She’d had a double mastectomy, but her daughter said her prognosis was good.
I responded, “I’m just so sorry you’re having to go through this.”
And my friend said, “Well, you know, that’s what happens when you live near The Area.”
When I looked at her blankly, she said, “You know, Hanford.” Her words literally sent a chill down my spine and down the research rabbit hole I went.
I created three different Word docs: Hanford specific, Richland specific, and Washington, Oregon border, including the Columbia River and adjoining coast-specific. During a birthday extended week-long celebration in Carmel-by-the-Sea I dived into research every morning for 4 to 5 hours and counterbalanced with clear-the-cobweb lap swims in the afternoon. By mid-May 2022 I was knee-deep in ideas for a story but no exacts in terms of plot points or main characters when I ran into another pal. Somehow, it came up that he’d been born and raised in Richland. So I asked, “Did you ever refer to Hanford as The Area?”
And he replied, “Oh yes, and The Area picked up my Dad’s urine off the front porch every month, and scanned his boots with a pencil-like thing.”
That was the beginning of Ralph Hinson in TANGLES who would serve my story in many ways.
Mary, the female narrator of the late 1947-1951 timeline came into being as I listened to oral testimonies of various female former Hanford employees, many of whom were secretaries, at the Atomic Heritage Foundation and the Hanford History Project. Luke’s voice, the male narrator of the 1963-64 timeline, derived from the feature stories in the Spokesman-Review (Spokane) on one of the original whistleblowers, Tom Bailie. Tom, a local boy, started mapping all the farm families along his farm-to-market road with cancer.
“Something’s wrong,” Tom said, over and over in the face of continual government denial—for decades.
Proving I could be more than one thing at a time, I signed up to help on the WFWA auction and solicited agents to donate services. At the same time, I began making a list of agents that I might query with my new manuscript (yet untitled). I had a distinct sense this was not typical historical fiction. Multiple beta readers mentioned the mystery and suspense aspects of the MS, and two spoke about how dialogue-driven the story was. Another said the level of authenticity was almost visceral.
That last comment resonated as I wanted the reader to feel like I had felt every time I unearthed another horrific accident or poor-quality animal birth due to the radioactive elements in the environment during the Cold War.
I queried 32 agents and 13 small presses. Only 2 agents requested my full MS and both rejected me along with all the others who actually responded—but 8 of the small presses requested the full and I received multiple offers for publication.
When I got my very first trade review from Jo Niederhoff, a seasoned reader for the San Francisco Book Review, she wrote this: “TANGLES doesn’t feel like the historical fiction I’ve been reading lately…it feels like so much more.”
I believe as writers we all come to the sweet spot of our journey. TANGLES is that for me. I found my voice in the hope and the horrors of birthing the nuclear age. Being able to share this little-known story for the last three months has been a pleasure that would not have been possible without the supportive writers in the greater community. Critique groups of many years now vetted all my first drafts; other WFWA and PNWA members did copious beta reads; one wonderful writer (a former English teacher) did a final grammatical read and found 200 comma errors. I am forever grateful for this literary community who give so generously of their time and expertise.
As I move through the world as a published author, giving book talks and leading craft discussions, I hope to pay it forward. Please reach out, tell me about your journey—and if you do read TANGLES, please, send me your thoughts!
Kay Smith-Blum, a former fashionista, chaired Seattle’s first marketing campaign as a downtown business owner. She served as Seattle School Board President, a publicly elected position, between 2009 and 2013. An avid gardener, Smith-Blum founded Environmental Endeavors, the first greenhouse program in Seattle Public Elementary Schools. A fan of mid-20th-century history, Smith-Blum has penned two other manuscripts set in Texas, but the recent upheaval over leaking waste tanks at the Hanford Nuclear site compelled Smith-Blum, to write the little-known story in a way that would educate and entertain readers.
A meticulous researcher, she is redefining historical fiction with her debut novel, TANGLES, named Book of the Year in the 2024 Literary Global Book Awards, Best Debut Fiction by the American Writing Awards for 2024, and Best Cross-Genre novel of 2024 by the Independent Press Awards. It was also awarded the bronze medal in the Reader’s Choice Awards for Best Adult Book 2024 and the Steinbeck Literary category at the Historical Fiction Company. Smith-Blum’s published short works may be found in multiple literary journals.
A companion short story to TANGLES is included in the 2024 award-winning anthology, Feisty Deeds which Smith-Blum co-edited. Named the Western WA Woman Business Owner of 2013, Smith-Blum has lived in Washington State for four decades. A sunrise writer, she works out her writer’s block in her sons’ gardens and the nearest lap pool. For more info see www.kaysmith-blum.com
TANGLES
“In a well-crafted debut, Smith-Blum provides the reader a ringside seat to the birth of the nuclear age…a beautifully written, important story…Tangles packs a punch and hits close to home.” –Robert Dugoni, New York Times bestselling author of The Tracy Crosswhite Series
Oppenheimer was just the beginning.
When a harpooned whale offers proof the Hanford Nuclear Reservation is endangering all life in the Columbia River Basin, Luke Hinson, a brash young scientist, seizes the chance to avenge his father’s death but a thyroid cancer diagnosis derails Luke’s research. Between treatments, he dives back in, making enemies at every turn. On an overnight trek, Luke discovers evidence that Mary, his former neighbor, embarked on the same treacherous trail, and her disappearance, a decade prior, may be tied to Hanford’s harmful practices mired in government-mandated secrecy.
A love story wrapped in a mystery, this stunning Cold War home-front tale reveals the devastating costs of the birth of the nuclear age, and celebrates the quiet courage of wronged women, the fierce determination of fatherless sons, and the limitless power of the individual.
Tangles is a genre-defying must-read for our time.
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Category: On Writing
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