Photo by Travis Pratt Edith Hemingway, who prefers to be known as Edie, teaches creative writing workshops from her home in Braddock Heights. Her latest book, to be published by Delacorte Press, part of Random House, is “Road to Tater Hill.”

Hemingway's novel, "Road to Tater Hill," is being published by Delacorte Press, the division of Random House devoted to children ages 9 to 12. The book will be available Sept. 8.

Hemingway, 59, co-wrote two young adult Civil War novels in the 1990s with Jacqueline Shields. "This is my first solo novel, so it's a different process," she said.

It was also a long process. Hemingway wrote the plot in 2004 as the thesis for her master's in fine arts degree from Spalding University in Kentucky.

"I see revision as the true meat of writing," she said. "That's where you flesh out the characters and the setting."

The story starts with an autobiographical incident, but very quickly becomes fictional. It is the summer of 1963, and 11-year-old Annie Winters eagerly awaited the birth of her baby sister. The infant, named Mary Kate, was born prematurely and died a day later.

Hemingway and her husband now live in a 1930s log cabin home in Braddock Heights known as Misty Hill Lodge. She grew up in Florida, and spent her childhood summers in the North Carolina mountains with her grandparents, much like Annie does. When she was 11, her mother gave birth to a premature child who died after a day. "I longed for a baby sister," Hemingway said.

The first-person novel diverges from reality here. Annie's mother suffers from depression brought on by the loss of the child. Her grandparents are too busy with their daughter to pay attention to Annie, so she wanders off and befriends a woman who lives in an abandoned house in the mountains.

That summer was also the summer that Jacqueline Kennedy, then first lady, gave birth to a premature son who died a short time later.

For Hemingway, reliving the feelings of an 11-year-old girl was not that hard. "I did reread some of the books I read at that age," she said. "I tried to not just think of the emotions, but the concrete sensory details of when my baby sister died."

The woman Annie befriends plays the mandolin, and Hemingway has been learning to play the instrument. The novel also contains a map of the fictional community where the story takes place, which her mother drew.

Hemingway brought her unfinished manuscript to a regional meeting of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators in 2006. While there, she met an editor and told her she would pay her to critique the novel.

"The editor liked it enough to say, 'When you finish it, please send me the completed manuscript,'" Hemingway said.

Hemingway sent it in 2007. The editor, Michelle Poploff, vice president and editorial director for Delacorte Press, suggested she remove a character, and proposed other changes. Hemingway followed her advice. "I put together a detailed revision plan," she said. Poploff then offered her a book contract.

Hemingway's previous books were with White Mane Publishing, a regional book publisher. Those books have since been picked up by Scholastic Books, and recent sales have been good.

"This is my first solo novel, so it's a different process," Hemingway said.

Hemingway teaches two-hour creative writing workshops at her home, called Misty Hill Lodge Workshops. The rural, woodsy setting is ideal for the creative writing process, she said.

She also teaches creative writing at Frederick and Carroll community colleges.

Hemingway won a writing contest in fourth grade, and wrote an unpublished novel in the 1980s. "I think every writer has an unpublished novel tucked away somewhere," she said.

She likes writing about the preteen years best. "That's the age I fell in love with reading," she said.