Category: Family

0 Since You Went Away featured in Military Entrepreneur Magazine’s 2024 Holiday Buying Guide

November 24, 2024
by Nan McCarthy
· Blog · Books · Family · fiction · Military life · News · Publishing · Writing

Support military-connected entrepreneurs this holiday season by purchasing gifts from veteran- and military-spouse owned small businesses.

Did you know that the military-spouse unemployment rate is more than five times the national average? And that military spouses earn 25% less than their civilian counterparts, even though mil-spouses are among the most highly educated professionals in their fields? And when it comes to spouses of veterans, did you know that 70% of veteran caregivers are the veteran’s spouse? What with the challenges involved in finding full-time employment due to frequent PCS moves (along with caregiving and other factors), it may come as no surprise then that 1 in 5 military spouses are self-employed entrepreneurs. Along with nearly one million spouses of active-duty, Reserve, and National Guard service members, there are currently 11.2 million veteran spouses here in the U.S.. And I am proud to be one of them.

Rainwater Press is once again featured in this year’s annual buying guide curated by Military Entrepreneur Magazine and The Rosie Network, showcasing books like the four-part Since You Went Away series along with dozens of other unique products and services created by veterans and military spouses. As in previous years, I am super excited to be included alongside other military-affiliated businesses such as Bold Mariner Brewing Co. (craft beers), The Warrior Within Healing (reiki services), and K9 Salute dog treats (honoring military working dogs).

We all have a choice when it comes to where we shop this holiday season. Buying products featured in Military Entrepreneur Magazine’s annual buying guide is just one way to show your support for our service members, veterans, and their families.

To celebrate our inclusion in this year’s Holiday Buying Guide, all four books in the Since You Went Away series are 25% off, starting now and continuing through the holiday shopping season. (This offer applies to both print and ebooks, at Amazon only.) If you’ve been thinking of buying the series—either for yourself or as a gift—now’s your chance. Prices will never be this low again, as pricing on all Rainwater Press books will increase significantly in 2025 due to rising production costs.

***

Click here to order the Since You Went Away series in either paperback or ebook.

Click here to view the Military Entrepreneur Magazine 2024 Holiday Buying Guide.

about the author:

A former magazine editor and tech journalist, Nan McCarthy founded Rainwater Press in 1992 and began selling her books online in 1995. She is the author of the Chat, Connect, Crash series (fiction), the Since You Went Away series (fiction), Live ’Til I Die (memoir), and Quark Design (non-fiction). Nan and her husband, a veteran who served 29 years in the Marine Corps, live in Kansas City.

about the series:

Set against the backdrop of the Iraq War, Since You Went Away tells the story of a modern-day military family, portraying in intimate detail the effects of a distant war on the families and returning veterans at home. Through letters to her deployed spouse, Emilie Mahoney offers a fly-on-the-wall account of life at home with two teenage boys and the Iraqi combat interpreter who comes to live with them. Readers are drawn from page to page, reading between the lines of the stories Emilie chooses to share with her husband—as well as the secrets that go unsaid.

about The Rosie Network:

The Rosie Network’s mission is to strengthen military families through entrepreneurial programs and support services that empower military spouses and veterans to build self-sufficiency and financial stability.

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4 Mother’s Day Reflections

May 10, 2023
by Nan McCarthy
· Blog · Family · Featured · Parenting

“It’s far too easy, now that my sons are grown, to look back in hindsight and identify all the ways I could have been a better parent—how I could’ve handled various situations differently, or better, if only I’d had the necessary wisdom at the time.”

Nan McCarthy

Before I became a mom I knew pretty specifically the kinds of things I didn’t want to do as a parent, but beyond that my vision of what kind of mom I did want to be was a little less precise. I knew I wanted my children to feel safe and protected. I wanted to shower them with warmth and affection. I wanted them to grow up feeling good about themselves and the world around them. Above all, I wanted them to know that I loved them no matter what—that nothing in this universe could ever cause me to not love them.

The things I knew I didn’t want to do as a parent were, in my mind, more straightforward: I would never call my children names. I would never hit them. I would never degrade them. Give them the silent treatment. Compare them to other people or to each other. Make them feel unloved, or that my love for them was in any way conditional. More than anything, I would do my best to never become addicted to drugs or alcohol or gambling, because I didn’t want my children to grow up living in a state of fear—fear of the next blowup, the next crisis, the next humiliation.

I knew these were things I didn’t want to do as a parent because they are things I experienced as a child. It’s not something I like to dwell on, but it’s a fact I didn’t feel very safe growing up. My mom was not a terrible person—she was dealing with a lot due to my dad’s alcoholism. And I don’t believe my dad was a terrible person either. They were both just two damaged people trying to get through life.

So when it came to raising my own children, I’m at least thankful I didn’t repeat my parents’ mistakes. But let’s face it—that bar was pretty damn low to begin with! And as the saying goes, once I became a parent myself, I made my own, new mistakes. In my efforts to make my children feel safe and protected, I went overboard at times shielding them from life’s challenges and inequities, trying to solve their problems for them when I should have let them figure things out on their own. Other times I wish I was more protective of my sons, wondering if I could have prevented any number of struggles life had in store for them.

Sometimes I put so much pressure on myself to be a good parent I didn’t allow myself the time or mental space to just enjoy being a parent. Don’t get me wrong—we had a lot of fun times as a family. But on a day-to-day level, it’s easy to get so caught up trying to meet your own expectations (and those of others) that you forget to allow yourself to be in the moment. To let the house be messy and instead of cleaning, go outside and make more snow angels or sit on the family room floor and play another round of Hi-Ho Cherry-O.

It’s far too easy, now that my sons are grown, to look back in hindsight and identify all the ways I could have been a better parent—how I could’ve handled various situations differently, or better, if only I’d had the necessary wisdom at the time. It’s hard not to let these types of thoughts crowd out the memories of the things I did right as a parent, the fun times we shared as a family, the myriad ways we supported each other and let our love be the glue that held us together during the difficult times. But I try. It helps to continue making new memories, because having fun together is the best reminder of how much we’ve flourished in spite of our hardships.

Once your children become adults, parenthood presents an entirely new set of challenges. You want them to be independent and self-sufficient, yet you also want to remain close with them emotionally if not geographically. It becomes a balancing act of respecting their need to have their own lives, yet also wanting to feel a part of their lives in a way that’s healthy and fulfilling for everyone.

No matter where you’re at in life, parenthood is a journey into uncharted waters. With new challenges come new mistakes to be made. The good news is that with each new mistake, you get the opportunity to learn and do better. There will come a time when your children no longer need to be parented. But that doesn’t mean they’ll no longer need you. It just means you’ll have to learn new ways of being there for them. I had hoped to have everything figured out by this point in my life. The truth is, I’m still learning.

copyright © 2023 Nan McCarthy

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0 Wondering what to read this July 4th weekend?

July 1, 2021
by Nan McCarthy
· Blog · Family · Military life

Since You Went Away: Part One 25% off (print) & 50% off (ebook)

Most war stories focus on the drama on the battlefield. Since You Went Away shines a light on the battles being fought on the homefront, portraying in intimate detail the effects of a distant war on the families and returning veterans at home. Featuring a deeply human cast of characters and propelled by a plot that accelerates with each turn of the page, McCarthy creates a world that’s eminently relatable to readers both inside and outside the military.

Written by a military spouse (now a vet spouse), this fly-on-the-wall account of a fictional modern-day military family lifts the curtain on the most challenging and emotional period in the lives of those who serve and those who love them: deployment. With jaw-dropping plot twists, McCarthy spins a tale as humorous as it is heartbreaking. Readers will find themselves immediately drawn into the realistic yet entertaining orbit of the Mahoney family, turning pages late into the night.

From now until midnight July 5th, you can purchase Part One of the Since You Went Away series (print) for only $8.20 (normally $10.95 on Amazon & $14.95 in bookstores). Or download the ebook version on Amazon for only $2.99 (normally $5.99).

The story of military life is lived by only a small percentage of Americans. This July 4th, immerse yourself in the lives of the Mahoney family. Find out what military life is really like—not through the eyes of those on the battlefield, but through the eyes of their families back home, who keep watch and wait.

Offer available exclusively on Amazon, through midnight July 5th only.

Click here to order the paperback.

Click here to order the ebook.

about the author:

Nan McCarthy is the author of the Since You Went Away series, the Chat, Connect, Crash series, Live ’Til I Die, and Quark Design. Before her career as a writer, Nan was the editor of an English-language magazine in Japan, the managing editor of a computer-industry magazine in Chicago, and a contributing editor to several design- and technology-related publications. She founded Rainwater Press in 1992 and began selling her books online in 1995. Nan and her husband, a veteran who served 33 years in the Marine Corps, are the proud parents of two adult sons.

Since You Went Away, Part One: Winter

Nan McCarthy

(Rainwater Press, 2017) 172 pages

F I C T I O N

Part Two: Spring, Part Three: Summer, and Part Four: Fall now available!

cover design by David High.

cover art by Larry Jacobsen.

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7 For the Ones Who Startle Easily

January 15, 2021
by Nan McCarthy
· biography/memoir · Blog · Books · Family · Featured · Live ’Til I Die · Parenting

“Nowadays, when I look back on that day my dad died 50 years ago, what strikes me the most is not the memory of my own sadness, but the faces of the people who cared for me.”

Nan McCarthy

My dad died 50 years ago today, January 15, 1971. I was nine years old. I remember walking home from Macarthur elementary school on that cold snowy afternoon in South Holland, Illinois. I was about half a block away from our house when my mom passed me in my dad’s red Chevy Malibu. She slowed the car and waved to me. I’ll never forget her face. She smiled but her eyes were sad.

As I came through the front door I could see my Nana in the family room, crying while she mopped the tiled floor. She paused when she saw me, still holding onto the mop, her cheeks stained with tears. My Papa milled about behind her, hands in his trouser pockets. He was crying too.

I made my way to the kitchen, where my mom and older sister had already gathered. My mom asked my sister and I to have a seat at the kitchen table. She sat across from us and said, “Your dad went to heaven today.” She’d obviously been crying but at this moment she was composed. She delivered the news gently but matter-of-factly. More than anything, she looked exhausted.

Learning of my dad’s death was not a surprise to me. He’d been in and out of hospitals for months, battling alcoholism the last several years of his life—a battle that had most likely begun before I was even born. In the years leading up to his death the battle that raged within our house and within his body was intense, violent, and bloody. Only after I became an adult did I understand my dad was just as much a victim of his addiction as my mom, sister, and I were.

Anyone who has lived with and loved an addict knows the particular, slow-motion horror of watching helplessly as the person you love is destroyed from within. It’s an epic battle that is sometimes won, and oftentimes lost. Thirty years after our dad’s death, as my sister and I took care of our mom while she was dying of cancer, I had the same feeling of watching someone being eaten alive from the inside. The difference between cancer and addiction is that most people find it easier to empathize with the person dying from cancer. It’s harder to empathize when the person suffering from addiction leaves behind a trail of arrest records, restraining orders, DUIs, totaled cars, gambling debts, barroom brawls, damaged careers, lost friendships, broken marriages, domestic violence, traumatized children.

It wasn’t until a therapist explained it to me in my early 30s that I came to realize I had grown up in a war zone. Looking at my childhood through that lens explained a lot of the things I experienced as a young adult—the sleepless nights, the nightmares, the anger that seemed to come out of nowhere, the feeling of not being able to trust my own happiness because I was in a perpetual state of high alert, bracing myself for the inevitable crisis that was most assuredly lurking around the next corner and would rear its ugly head the moment I allowed myself to relax.

The irony that I married a man who served 29 years in the Marine Corps, who deployed to geographic war zones while I continued to work to overcome the fallout of growing up in a familial war zone, has not escaped me. Of the two of us, I’m the one who startles easily, who needs to sit facing the exit in a restaurant, who remains vigilant when I have every reason to sit back and relax. On the upside, I tend to be extraordinarily calm in crisis situations. The ability to focus on practical matters during life’s various emergencies can be handy at times, yet that sense of calm in the eye of the storm also comes at a cost—unlike my husband, who’s very much in touch with his emotions in the moment, it often takes me days, weeks, months, or even years to come to terms with the normal range of emotions stemming from various life events.

Nowadays, when I look back on that day my dad died 50 years ago, what strikes me the most is not the memory of my own sadness, but the faces of the people who cared for me. In their eyes I saw concern, love, grief—not for themselves, but for the two little girls who just lost their dad. Remembering their faces is the thing that makes me cry. I imagine how difficult it must have been for them as parents and grandparents, the worry and responsibility they felt for the impact this day, and the years leading up to this day, would have on the lives of two little girls. Through them, I learned one of the most valuable emotions in life—after hope—is empathy. When bad things happen, it’s hope that propels us to keep getting out of bed every morning when our instinct is to stay burrowed underneath the covers, and empathy that allows us to close our eyes every night to slumber in peace, knowing we are not alone.

I’m 59 now, and still reminding myself to take that deep breath, live in the moment, embrace my own happiness. Because I have a lot to be happy for. Life continues to present us with challenges at every turn, as it does for all of us. And that’s another gift that cold snowy day in 1971 gave me—the knowledge in my bones that each of us is fighting an epic battle, that nothing is permanent, that hope and empathy sustain us.

Ben Johnson

July 25, 1931 — January 15, 1971

copyright © 2021 Nan McCarthy

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1 Since You Went Away, Part Four: Fall

November 13, 2020
by Nan McCarthy
· Books · Family · fiction · Military life · Since You Went Away (Part Four: Fall) · Titles

Since You Went Away, Part Four: Fall
Nan McCarthy
(Rainwater Press, 2020) 308 pages
F I C T I O N

In the spectacular conclusion to her Since You Went Away quartet, Nan McCarthy delivers jaw-dropping plot twists that will keep readers turning pages late into the night. McCarthy deftly weaves multiple plot threads with surprising reveals until the very last page, wrapping up each character’s storyline with a heart-stirring, satisfying finale.

Set against the backdrop of the Iraq war in the year 2008 and featuring a deeply human cast of characters, readers will find themselves immediately drawn into the realistic yet entertaining orbit of the Mahoney family. While most war stories focus on the drama on the battlefield, Since You Went Away shines a light on the battles being fought on the homefront, lifting the curtain on the most challenging and emotional period in the life of a military family: deployment. Suspenseful and surprisingly funny, McCarthy creates a world that’s eminently relatable to readers both inside and outside the military.

Propelled by a plot that accelerates with each book in the series, Since You Went Away portrays in intimate detail the effects of a distant war on the families and returning veterans at home. At once poignant and darkly funny, it is a fly-on-the-wall account of the innermost workings of a military family—their fears and hopes, their struggles and disappointments, their unexpected moments of joy and comfort and laughter.

This is Part Four of a novel released in four parts.

N O W A V A I L A B L E

Click on this link to order the paperback.

Click one of these to order the ebook.

The Since You Went Away series is now available from bookstores, libraries, & other retailers via Ingram distribution. Ask for the book by name at your local bookseller or library.

Due to ongoing technical issues at Barnes & Noble, the nook version of Since You Went Away is not yet available.

about the author:

Nan McCarthy is the author of the Since You Went Away series, Chat, Connect, & Crash, Live ‘Til I Die, and Quark Design. The Chat, Connect & Crash series, originally self-published, was acquired by Simon & Schuster and published in trade paperback in 1998. Nan regained the rights to the series and released new editions in 2014. A former magazine editor & technology writer, Nan founded Rainwater Press in 1992 and began selling her books online in 1995. Nan and her husband, a veteran who served 29 years in the Marine Corps, are the proud parents of two adult sons. Nan wrote Since You Went Away after taking a ten-year break from full-time writing to care for the family during her husband’s frequent military travels.

Cover design & illustration by David J. High, highdzn.com

Interior design by Kevin Callahan, BNGObooks.com + David J. High

Cover art from Shutterstock illustrations by rudall30, Radiocat, Lana_Samcorp, & Kevin Sanderson

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0 Looking for a way to honor veterans & celebrate the Marine Corps Birthday?

November 6, 2020
by Nan McCarthy
· Blog · Family · Military life

Since You Went Away: Part One now 25% off (print) & 50% off (ebook)

Honor our veterans and celebrate the Marine Corps Birthday this year by immersing yourself in the story of a modern-day military family. While most war stories focus on the drama on the battlefield, Since You Went Away shines a light on the battles being fought on the homefront. Suspenseful and surprisingly funny, Nan McCarthy creates a world that’s eminently relatable to readers both inside and outside the military.

From now until midnight November 11th, you can purchase Part One of the Since You Went Away series (print) for only $5.95 (normally $7.95 on Amazon & $14.95 in bookstores). Or download the ebook version on Amazon for only $1.99 (normally $3.99).

Set against the backdrop of the Iraq war in the year 2008, Since You Went Away lifts the curtain on the most challenging and emotional period in the life of a military family: deployment. Featuring jaw-dropping plot twists and a deeply human cast of characters, readers will find themselves immediately drawn into the realistic yet entertaining orbit of the Mahoney family, turning pages late into the night.

This offer is available exclusively on Amazon, through midnight November 11th only. Instead of thanking a veteran on Veterans Day, give yourself a chance to view the world through their eyes—and through the eyes of their families back home, who keep watch and wait.

Click here to order the paperback.

Click here to order the ebook.

about the author:

Nan McCarthy is the author of the Since You Went Away series, Chat, Connect, & Crash, Live ‘Til I Die, and Quark Design. A former magazine editor & tech journalist, Nan founded Rainwater Press in 1992 and began selling her books online in 1995. Nan and her husband, a veteran who served 29 years in the Marine Corps, are the proud parents of two adult sons. Nan wrote Since You Went Away after taking a ten-year break from full-time writing to care for the family during her husband’s frequent military travels.

Cover design by David High.

Cover art by Larry Jacobsen.

Since You Went Away, Part One: Winter
Nan McCarthy
(Rainwater Press, 2017) 172 pages
F I C T I O N
Part Two: Spring and Part Three: Summer now available. Part Four: Fall available later this month!

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2 I’m not a fan of surprise military reunion videos and here’s why

February 6, 2020
by Nan McCarthy
· Blog · Family · Military life

As the spouse of a vet who served 29 years in the Marine Corps, I’m not a fan of surprise deployment reunions, and I’m especially not a fan of surprise reunions that are filmed for public consumption.

Nan McCarthy

A lot of great conversations are happening on social media right now as a result of the surprise reunion at Tuesday night’s State of the Union address. Military spouses are speaking out on Facebook and Twitter and blog posts about their personal experiences with deployment reunions, which can be awkward and uncomfortable and stressful even when they’re not a surprise and / or being filmed on national TV. Just this morning The Washington Post published an article by Alex Horton on this very topic, quoting military spouse Rebekah Sanderlin, whose funny, sad, intimate, and powerful tweets on military reunions have so far received thousands of likes and hundreds of retweets.

As the spouse of a vet who served 29 years in the Marine Corps, and as a writer who’s been closely following issues related to military family life for more than a decade now, I’m happy to see this conversation taking place and gaining traction among the general public. And while I’m not a fan of surprise deployment reunions—and I’m especially not a fan of surprise reunions that are filmed for public consumption—I see only good things coming from the current conversation that’s happening as result of a nationally televised military reunion viewed by millions of Americans. It’s an excellent opportunity to draw the curtain and invite non-military families to learn more about what it’s like to love someone who happens to be in the military.

Surprise reunions are hard on military kids, especially younger ones. During a deployment, according to another Washington Post article by Tara Swords, military kids live in a constant state of heightened anxiety and experience a higher rate of emotional problems compared to their friends from non-military families. Explains child psychologist and retired Army general Stephen Xenakis (as quoted in the above WP article), even if their deployed parent is serving at a relatively safe forward operating base—in a non-combat-capacity—that distinction is difficult for younger kids to grasp. They do grasp that something terrible could happen to their deployed parent. Surprising already anxious kids in front of television cameras—even for a positive moment such as a reunion—only adds to their anxiety.

Surprise reunion videos sugarcoat and romanticize military life. They give the false impression that life magically returns to normal the moment the service member comes home. Yes, reunions are incredibly joyful, but they are also incredibly stressful, even for the adults.

While many veterans and military families adjust pretty well after a deployment, the reality for the military population at large is often darker and scarier than most people realize. Even I was caught off guard by the months-long struggles that ensued after my husband’s last deployment to Iraq in 2008, and he’d been in the military 26 years at that point.

Reunion videos gloss over the fact that once a deployed service member returns, in many cases their challenges are only just beginning. Deployments change people—both the service members and their families. Sometimes these changes are positive, but oftentimes they are not. Military families face higher divorce rates. Many veterans encounter unemployment, homelessness, and mental health issues including suicide (not to mention other serious health challenges as a result of physical injuries, including lost limbs and traumatic brain injury).

I don’t judge military families who like surprise reunions. I don’t judge people who like surprise reunion videos—they make me cry too. I would like to see more education and support for military families and veterans—not only during deployments & homecomings, but after the dust has settled, when service members and the people who love them are struggling to put their lives back together. If you’re interested in learning more about how to support veterans and military families, here are just a few of my favorite charitable organizations with military-related missions: Blue Star Families, Team Rubicon, Semper Fi Fund, Heart of America Stand-down.

On a final note, as Horton makes clear in his Washington Post article, let’s remember and honor the Gold Star Families who’d give anything to see their service member come home, no matter the circumstances.

(These photos were taken in 2008 at the end of my husband’s 2-week leave, midway through his 13-month deployment to Iraq. We were standing in front of our house at zero dark-thirty getting ready to make the dreaded trip back to the airport)

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0 Since You Went Away, Part Three: Summer

September 24, 2019
by Nan McCarthy
· Books · Family · fiction · Military life · Since You Went Away (Part Three: Summer) · Titles

Since You Went Away, Part Three: Summer
Nan McCarthy
(Rainwater Press, 2019) 216 pages
F I C T I O N

School’s out but the Mahoney family’s summer is anything but lazy. As they inch closer to the halfway point of Liam’s year-long deployment to Iraq, tensions heighten each time he goes outside the wire, challenging Emilie’s ability to keep it together. Meanwhile Finn and Rory find themselves in some unorthodox situations, providing comic relief for the makeshift family Emilie has assembled in Liam’s absence.

Wade and Isabel’s marriage is on the rocks again, even as Wade makes strides toward personal recovery with the help of the VA and a strong support network. Aunt Dottie’s boyfriend Joey struggles with retirement as his memories of the Vietnam War and a troubled past resurface. Danger closes in on Fakhir’s family in Baghdad as they anxiously await their visas. Unexpected events prompt Fakhir to confide in Emilie, revealing his secrets one morsel at a time. And when it comes to secrets, Agnes shares some whoppers that blow everyone’s preconceptions to pieces.

Propelled by a plot that accelerates with each turn of the page, Since You Went Away portrays in intimate detail the effects of a distant war on the families and returning veterans at home. At once poignant and darkly funny, it is a fly-on-the-wall account of the innermost workings of a military family—their fears and hopes, their struggles and disappointments, their unexpected moments of joy and comfort and laughter.

This is Part Three of a novel released in four parts.

C O M I N G S O O N: Part Four: Fall.

about the author:

Cover design by David J. High, High Design.

Cover art by GreyLilac (lily pads & flower) + JBOY (dragonflies) / Shutterstock.

Click on this link to order the paperback.

Click one of these to order the ebook.

New! The Since You Went Away series is now available from bookstores, libraries, & other retailers via Ingram distribution. Ask for the book by name at your local bookseller or library.

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1 Since You Went Away, Part Two: Spring

October 28, 2017
by Nan McCarthy
· Books · Family · fiction · Military life · Since You Went Away (Part Two: Spring) · Titles

Since You Went Away, Part Two: Spring
Nan McCarthy
(Rainwater Press, 2017) 226 pages
F I C T I O N

The story continues as winter turns to spring and the Mahoney family faces situations at once heartbreaking and heartwarming. Not yet halfway through Liam’s year-long deployment, Emilie keeps a close eye on news from the Middle East as she attempts to maintain a sense of normalcy for everyone around her. She tries—but doesn’t always succeed—to be both mother and father to Finn and Rory, who must deal with the usual pressures of high school while worrying about their dad’s safety in a war zone.

Meanwhile, Fakhir becomes part of the family, providing comic relief with his language mishaps but still unable to open up about the past he left behind in Baghdad. The family welcomes Lucia into the fold, a would-be high-school dropout whose saucy exterior belies a new-found determination to do whatever it takes to keep her life on track.

Wade carries on the fight to save his marriage to Isabel, all while battling his personal demons and navigating a system ill-prepared to care for its veterans. The quirky and vivacious Aunt Dottie enters the scene with her leisure-suit-wearing boyfriend Joey, a Vietnam veteran devoted to Dottie and her tyrannical Jack Russell Terrier, Jacques.

Set against the backdrop of the Iraq war in the year 2008, Since You Went Away portrays in intimate detail the effects of a distant war on the families and returning veterans at home. With an undercurrent of suspense, it is a fly-on-the-wall account of the innermost workings of a military family—their fears and hopes, their struggles and disappointments, their unexpected moments of joy and comfort and laughter.

This is Part Two of a novel that will be released in four parts.

C O M I N G S O O N: Part Three: Summer.

about the author:

Nan McCarthy is the author of Since You Went Away, Chat, Connect, & Crash, Live ‘Til I Die, and Quark Design. The Chat, Connect & Crash series, originally self-published, was acquired by Simon & Schuster and published in trade paperback in 1998. Nan regained the rights to the series and released new editions in 2014. A former magazine editor & technology writer, Nan founded Rainwater Press in 1992 and began selling her books online in 1995. Nan and her husband, a veteran who served 29 years in the Marine Corps, are the proud parents of two adult sons. Nan wrote Since You Went Away after taking a ten-year break from full-time writing to care for the family during her husband’s frequent military travels.

Cover design by David High.

Cover art by Jut.

Click CreateSpace to order the paperback.

Click one of these to order the ebook.

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2 How I Got the Idea for Since You Went Away

April 12, 2017
by Nan McCarthy
· Blog · Books · Family · fiction · Military life · Publishing · Since You Went Away (Part One: Winter) · Titles · Writing

A lot of people ask writers where we get our ideas. Here’s how I came to write my latest novel, Since You Went Away.

Nan McCarthy

In 2008, my husband was on a year-long deployment to Iraq. Staying home on a Friday night, I happened upon a 1944 film on Turner Classic Movies called Since You Went Away. Produced by David O. Selznick and starring Claudette Colbert, it’s about a mom and two daughters fending for themselves on the homefront while the dad is off serving in World War II. The film is at once poignant, lighthearted, and somber. I immediately fell in love with the story.

Further research led me to the 1943 novel (of the same name) by Margaret Buell Wilder, on which the movie is based. Discovering Wilder had written the book in epistolary form (one of my favorite genres), I couldn’t help but fall even more in love with the story.

My first thought was, why has no one updated this story for modern times? Since You Went Away is an unusual kind of war movie in that it focuses completely on what’s happening with the family back at home. You could say it’s a war story without the war. I loved the idea of creating a modern-day story that gives readers an intimate glimpse of contemporary military family life in a way that’s accessible and—above all—entertaining. That’s what I set about doing when I started writing the four-part series in 2012.

(The entire quartet of the Since You Went Away series is now available via the links below and wherever books are sold.)

Click CreateSpace to order Nan McCarthy’s Since You Went Away (Part One: Winter) in paperback.

Click one of these to order Nan McCarthy’s Since You Went Away (Part One: Winter) in ebook.

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