MANCHESTER – There may be some similarities between township high school journalism teacher Jill Ocone and the lead character of her new book “Enduring the Waves” but there are more differences.
Ocone, of Point Pleasant, shared her thoughts with The Manchester Times about the writing process and how the discipline of being a veteran teacher helped her unravel the plot of her book. She was also inspired by her trips to Ireland which serves as the backdrop of the book.
The novel concerns Kelly Lynch, who is Waterville High School’s newest English teacher. She befriends fellow educator and James Joyce enthusiast Shannon Moran.
While Kelly grapples with deep scars from her past, she struggles to balance her active life as a teacher and her stagnant marriage to shiftless alcoholic Wayne Coopersmith. Shannon’s encouragement resurrects Kelly’s passion for writing, while Kelly inspires Shannon to pursue her lifelong dream of studying in Dublin, Ireland.
After two devastating events fracture Kelly’s life, she searches for meaning in her grief by following a trail of mysterious clues that guide her from the New Jersey shore to Dublin. Sparks ignite – both in her heart and in her long-dormant creativity – while on the Emerald Isle.
Lynch returns home to the Jersey Shore having endured the waves in her past, present, and future and ready to pursue her true calling.
“It is a fictional book. I am not the main character but there might be some similarities,” Ocone said. “As a writer you get ideas all the time.”
“I had traveled to Ireland in August 2014. I had lost a good friend of mine and when I was there, I thought I saw her three times in the crowd which was kind of interesting. I let it sit and then I started to see these signs pointing me to go back to Dublin – which I did three more times without any idea of what I was doing there. What I ended up doing there was for the book that came out of my experiences.”
She said, “Kelly Lynch is an English teacher. I’m an English teacher, so I don’t want people to say this is me, it is not. Kelly Lynch is completely fabricated. There are some loose similarities to things and events. When I was over in Dublin, I was wandering around taking in the sights and took some notes down on what I saw.”
The author said the chapters involving Dublin “were accurate descriptions of what I experienced when it comes down to describing the setting. The story is fictional. I had a symbol that guided me and it was in a dream I had and I didn’t know what it meant.”
Ocone now has that symbol tattooed on her arm. “When the book got published, I said I would get that tattooed on me because I didn’t know what it was when I had it in my dream. There was a message in the dream about writing something, and what I found out is that it is a triskelion and it has various meanings.”
“It can mean father, son, holy spirit; or mother, maiden, crone; and it can also mean past, present, future; or life, death and rebirth. That is how I incorporated it into my book. Part one of the book is the past or life, and part two is the present or death, and part three is the future or rebirth. It all goes down to this symbol and the whole idea is that you can restart your life at any point,” Ocone said.
“It is also to value the moment you are currently in and the value of the present moment which people really don’t understand and even I have to get a little better on, savoring the moment for what it is,” she added.
As to writing her book, Ocone said, “it has been quite a journey.”
“My close friends and family members have said ‘oh wow it is a real book,’” she said. “I am happy with the feedback.”
“I would get to school early and write about 45 minutes every morning and then at night I would edit and go over it. It was easier for me to edit at night than to write after a full day at school. My students have been aware of what I have been doing and in my acknowledgements there are three former students that are mentioned,” Ocone said.
For more information about “Enduring The Waves” visit the author’s website, jillocone.com
