My YA Sports Novel "Swim Season" is Now Available in Audiobook!

photo by stokkete via Adobe Stock

I love audiobooks, so much so that all of my books and short stories find their way to Audible. Today I am thrilled to announce that Swim Season finally landed on its own Audible bookshelf. 

Quick blurb: Swim Season is the fast-paced, drama driven story of Olympic hopeful Aerin Keane, starting senior year in her third high school and trying NOT to win. But can she hide her natural talent and competitive streak? Especially with a 50,000-dollar scholarship on the line?

Narrated and produced by the talented Evelyn Eibhlin through ACX (Audiobook Creation Exchange), it clocks in at 14 hours and 43 minutes of action and drama. With a cast of almost 20 active characters, Evelyn had a big task on her hands, but I suspected she was up to it, and did she ever deliver! She's given each of the main characters their own distinctive voices and infused the story with the emotions and tensions I imagined when I wrote it. If she sounds familiar, you may have listened to her on books 1 and 2 in my Daisy Hunter series, also on Audible. I have an interview with her at the end of this post. 

For those interested in reviewing the audiobook I have free download codes, courtesy of ACX. Please email me at mariannesciucco@gmail.com and I'll send you one asap.  

Find Swim Season on Audible (on sale right now for 7.49) and Amazon (free with an Audible trial.) It's Whispersync for Voice enabled, allowing you to switch seamlessly from reading with your Kindle app or tablet to listening. And the Kindle version is just 99 cents right now in my Back to School/Back to the Pool eBook sale. Regular price: 2.99. Get it here.

Write What You Know and Then Some - Researching My Young Adult Novel Swim Season

My daughter had been swimming for five years when I came up with the idea to write a novel about girls’ varsity swimming. Sitting on those cold, hard bleachers season after season gave me more than a sore you-know-what. It sparked my imagination, creating a story line and cast of characters that would show in written form what high school swimming is like for these girls. As I wrote the story, they were always at the heart of it. I wrote it for them. And I wanted it to be as accurate and realistic as possible.

 

In many ways, writing Swim Season was natural and easy. Through many autumns, I’d watched my daughter and her team swim their hearts out, beside parents rooting for their own swimmers. In the beginning, I knew next to nothing about the sport, about swim meets. But as the years went on, I learned. 

I learned simple things, like the order of events. Try finding your kid on a pool deck swarming with dozens of young swimmers in caps and goggles when you’re not sure which event it is, or whether your child is swimming in it or not. Impossible. 

I chaperoned the waiting rooms where dozens of youngsters waited for their next event. Try to keep all that adrenaline in check.

 

I volunteered to time the races, and stood at the blocks, race after race, helping to make things run smoothly, making sure the right kid was in the right lane.

I helped out at the concession stand, serving up bagels and cream cheese.

I was involved with the fundraising activities, Picture Day, and put together the program for Senior Night for a number of years. 

I went to 99 percent of the meets with my husband (we missed one when it was an hour away from our home on a week night.) 

Most of my daughters’ friends were swimmers, so I got to know several of them up close and personal. They were an intelligent, ambitious, fantastic set of young women. When my book was criticized by a critique partner because the characters seemed “too smart,” I responded with, “Well, those are the girls I know.” The team had the highest GPA of all athletic teams at the high school year after year. Yes, swimmers are smart.

I took advantage of coaches I knew personally (and some I didn’t) to pick their brains, try out the story’s premise for believability, and tweak the details. Many thanks go to the following New York State coaches: Frank Woodward, Middletown High School; Justin Wright, Monroe-Woodbury High School; Jeremy Cuebas, Minisink Valley High School; and Danielle Lindner, former coach for Mount Saint Mary College, in Newburgh.

Early in the process, I sent out a tweet on Twitter, asking swimmers to complete a questionnaire for a new book about varsity swimming. Almost a dozen young swimmers – girls and boys -  responded, and we started dialogues that provided great background for my story. Some of them went on to become beta readers. All of them were thrilled at the idea of a book about them, about their sport.

As a reader, when the answers weren’t so simple I resorted to books. Michael Phelps’ biography No Limits: The Will to Succeed, with Alan Abrahamson, was more than worth its cost. Likewise, Amanda Beard’s memoir In the Water They Can't See You Cry gave me insight into how to build an Olympic silver medalist. Instruction books, such as Terry Laughlin’s Total Immersion, with John Delves, and Tracey McFarlane’s Mirande’s Championship Swimming with Kathlene Bissell, taught me the fine-tuning of technique. The Champion’s Mind: How Great Athletes Think, Train, and Thrive, by Jim Afremow, PhD, was instrumental in creating Aerin’s mental game. For inspiration I turned to Swimmers: Courage and Triumph by Larry Thomson.

Then there was the time when I decided to swim the race at the heart of my story. For a while I was taking Aquasize classes at my local YMCA. One day I got the idea to try to swim 500 yards. I wanted to see if I could do it, how long it would take, and how I would feel during and afterwards. I have never swum competitively, although I have always loved to swim and am capable of doing the freestyle. My first 500 clocked in at 30 minutes. I stopped after every length to catch my breath and chat with the other ladies in the Aquasize class. I kept at it, though, and after a few weeks managed to complete the 500 in 16 minutes, which was phenomenal for me. Of course, the time to beat in Swim Season is 4:52.50, which, for me, was in never never land. But, as a middle-aged woman with below-average fitness, I was proud of my achievement. In the end, unfortunately, it exacerbated my repetitive strain injuries and I had to give it up.

Writing Swim Season was an endeavor born of many resources, personal and professional. It’s recommended that we write what we know. I knew a lot about competitive swimming as a Swim Mom, but that was not enough to compose this story. I needed to reach out to many others - swimmers, coaches, parents, Olympians, and a psychologist – to nail the details. All of this, I believe, leads to a more credible, believable story with depth. 

Swim Season is available in paperback and Kindle on Amazon.

New Release: Olympic Swim Film "Touch the Wall"

Once again I veer away from my mission to promote self publishing, indie authors, and their books to spotlight something different. As I prepare to publish my epic swim novel Swim Season, I plan to take a break to watch this documentary about two swimmers as they prepare for the 2012 London Olympics. One is a veteran at these events and the other is a first-timer. After a successful nation-wide theatrical run, the beloved swim film Touch the Wall is now available on iTunes, Amazon, and other digital platforms. Grab it and watch! I'm waiting for my own champion swimmer to come home from school for the summer so we can watch it together.

Touch the Wall, by Grant Barbeito & Christo Brock, stars the teen-aged Missy Franklin as she prepared for her triumphant first Olympics. The film details her relationship with multiple Olympic Medalist Kara Lynn Joyce, a seasoned pro who came to swim with Missy in the altitude of Denver in 2011. At those 2012 games, Missy won 4 gold medals and broke two world records.

Watch the film trailer:

Since the film’s release, the two women have taken different paths. Kara retired after London, and continues in the swim world as a teacher and coach. Missy returned to school and swam collegiately at Berkeley for two years. She passed up millions in endorsement income to swim on a college team, and that choice paid off in 2015 when Berkeley won the NCAA division I female swimming championship.

Missy turned professional after that championship, and returned home to Denver, Colorado to train with her former coach Todd Schmitz. Armed with a sizzling smile and a keen intellect, she’s one of the world’s most sought-after pitchwomen, and endorses Visa, Wheaties, Speedo, Minute-Maid, and GoPro.

The Missy Franklin/Kara Lynn Joyce film has screened more than 500 times in the last 18 months to swim clubs, women’s groups, and Olympic fans across the country. And though DVDs have been available since September, the film just came to digital. Accompanying the digital release on iTunes are four Extra Movies – short behind-the- scenes movies of Missy and Kara talking about their experiences in the film. Those movies are a smaller part of the larger Special Edition due out later this year.

Get it on iTunes!

And Amazon! 

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Reviews

“Unintentionally revolutionary​ in its celebration of female physical and emotional strength​.​ ”

 – The Mary Sue

“A unique lesson in the dance between competition and collaboration​."

 – ​ The Denver Post