Pennies from Burger Heaven
by Marcy McKay
Genre: Literary Suspense
Publisher: SkipJack Publishing
Date of Publication: December 28, 2015
# of pages: 340
Eleven-year-old Copper Daniels is homeless and alone. She spends her nights sleeping beneath the cemetery’s Warrior Angel statue for protection, and her days battling the mean streets of Remington, Texas, hell-bent on discovering what happened the night her Mama disappeared. While Copper and her rag-tag group of friends find danger at every corner, two horrors are certain: her Mama’s really missing and someone’s after Copper, too.
In the tradition of The Lovely Bones and Room, Pennies from Burger Heaven tells a dark story through the eyes of a child. With wit and wisdom, Copper Daniels will steal your heart, then break it in two.
Awards for Pennies from Burger Heaven:
*Winner – Writers’ League of Texas: Best Mainstream Novel
*Winner – Frontiers in Writing: Best Mainstream Novel
*Winner – Frontiers in Writing: Best of Show
Praise for Pennies from Burger Heaven
“Against the gritty backdrop of an inner-city ghetto rises the unforgettable voice of eleven-year-old Copper ‘Penny’ Daniels, offering poignant and heartbreaking insights into the horrors and trials of homeless life on the streets, finding heaven where you least expect it, and help in those you never thought to ask.” – A.G. Howard, New York Times Bestselling Author of the Splintered Series
“At once disturbing and exhilarating, heartbreaking and heartwarming, Pennies is the story of an undying love between a mother and daughter. It grabs you by the heartstrings from the start and won’t let you go, even after you’ve read the last word.” – Ken Oder, author of The Closing and Old Wounds to the Heart
“Debut novelist McKay infuses Pennies from Burger Heaven with wit, charm and moxie, so much so that the achingly beautifulness of Copper Daniels’ life sneaks up on you. All of this wrapped around a mystery that is fast-paced and rife with tension, with a satisfying series of twists. Can’t wait for the next Burger Heaven novel.” – Pamela Fagan Hutchins, author of the Katie & Annalise mystery series
Stealing Time
When I started writing Pennies from Burger Heaven (SkipJack Publishing), it was my fourth completed novel. I had two part-time jobs back then. Side note: #1: two part-time jobs is insanity. I would’ve worked less but still made more money with one full-time job.
But, back to me. Our kids were eight and eleven. I would drag my sleepy self to my computer every day by 5 am to write for two hours until the alarm went off at 7 am when my family woke up for the day. The kids went off to school and the adults went off to work.
On top of those guaranteed 14 hours, I’d steal time here and there: eating lunch by my computer, working on a plot problem during carpool, scribbling notes before a conference note. That usually gave me about 16 hours each week.
People think you need to quit your day job, and write full-time to succeed. Not true.
Side note #2: expecting your art to pay the bills can put too much pressure on you and destroy your creativity. Wake up just 30 minutes earlier or stay up that much later. Steal time like I did, and you can squeeze out eight hours per week. That totals 208 hours per year, which is impressive. Do that enough and you’ll complete a novel.
The question is…how much are you willing to struggle for it?
Marcy McKay knew she wanted to write stories the moment she read about Oompa Loompas in the fourth grade. She’s an award-winning short-story author and copywriter, as well as a freelance journalist. Her work has appeared in Writer’s Digest, Accent West, Roots & Wings, The Write Practice, Write to Done, and Positive Writer and Jane Friedman. Marcy lives in Texas with her husband and two teens, who all still like her…most of the time. McKay is a member of the Writers’ League of Texas and the Texas High Plains Writers.
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1/23 The Crazy Booksellers Promo
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2/1 Texas Book-aholic Review
the librarian talks 
What a FUN site you have here! Thanks for spotlighting my novel, Pennies from Burger Heaven, today. You’ve created a wonderful community for folks to talk about books, and I’m all about that!
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