October 2014
On Sale: October 9, 2014
Featuring: Joy
336 pages ISBN: 1940296722 EAN: 9781940296722 Kindle: B00NW0NJ4E Paperback / e-Book Add to Wish List
One of my earliest memories is of my mom filling up a box with old clothes and
telling me we were giving them to someone who needed them more. All through my
growing up years I saw Mom’s charitable example playing out over and over, even
though she didn’t have much to give. She was a small town Girl Scout leader,
helped organize chili supper fundraisers, was part of the booster club for both
the band and the football team, and even ran a pageant that gave small town
girls a reason to dream of things like college and a career.
These are the kinds of charitable things small town women do, so when I created
the main Southern character for my recent novel, I knew she had to be
philanthropic – small town style. In WAKING UP
JOY, Joy Talley wakes up from a coma with a need to face her troubled past,
but also a deep aspiration to be a better person. Up until her coma, Joy is
living a predictable, mundane life. She doesn’t have a man, she has secrets her
family doesn’t know about, and she feels stuck in a rut with her life. This has
to change, so along with finding romance and facing her secrets, she looks for a
new purpose in the form of helping others.
Joy doesn’t have any money, but after some soul searching she settles on a
charity that her late mother was involved in. Inspired by her mother’s
charitable heart, she resurrects fundraising for The Tulip House for Girls, a
home that meets the needs of girls who are displaced due to some hard knocks.
Joy understands hard knocks, so she throws all of her energy into planning
events to raise money for the home - and of course the events must include food,
just as they did when I was a kid.
Like my character, Joy Talley, I was inspired by my own mom to participate in
charities as an adult, so naturally I borrowed this aspect of my life for the
novel. While Joy’s charitable heart isn’t the only focus of WAKING UP
JOY, it is an important part of her character and gives us a better picture
of who she is. She is a woman who dreams of finding joy, and she must do so by
looking outside of herself.
Joy’s heart makes her character more real. It makes her more like us.
When adored town spinster Joy Talley ends up in a coma after a peculiar
accident, she is surprised and incensed to hear what is being said in her
hospital room, including plans for her funeral. When she finally wakes, her
well-meaning, but bossy, brothers and sisters dismiss her claims, thinking her
accident has knocked her off her rocker, but Joy has never felt better, and is
determined to set the past right.
Now Joy must face her darkest secret and risk reopening wounds caused by an old
flame who rejected her more than twenty years ago. But taking risks brings
change, as well as a new, younger man into Joy’s life, making her feel like a
teenager again. Suddenly Joy’s once humdrum life is anything but boring and
routine and the future beckons, exhilarating and bright.
Since both of my Parents are now gone, I'll never know the answer, but as a teenager, I had an urge to do volunteer work, and ran my ideas past my Parents. All I ever heard from them was no, and they always shot down my ideas, making me hurt, and full of outrage!! It has taken me decades, but now that I'm on my own and married, I am using my knitting needles to make a change for people in need. I made a batch of scarves for the WWII veterans, and plan on making some items for a charity in my area, to donate in my Mother's name, to keep her name alive. She passed away from Alzheimer's disease 12 years ago. I also volunteer to teach a knitting and crochet class. Your book sounds good, and reached out to me the first time I saw it. I already put it on my TBR list, and hope to start reading it sometime this Spring. If not, it will be early Summer the latest. Reading is a great escape, but a bit hard to do at the moment, with my knitting class in the middle of a bit project. Congratulations on your latest book, which I know will do well!! (Peggy Roberson 10:26am May 1, 2015)
I find such an wonderful information here give instructions to my writers so they also learn and implement this. Auction Management Software (Craig Stephens 5:14pm May 1, 2015)
Peggy, your story is an inspiration to me. Wow. Thank you for sharing! (Tina Forkner 7:01pm May 1, 2015)
My mother was also a Girl Scout Leader and my father helped in the church. I saw in the church bulletin about a group that make prayer shawls and so I am now doing that and it makes me feed good to help. that make prayer shawls and so I am now doing that and it makes me feed good to help. I have always volunteered as well as my husband. When I was in nursing school about 60 years ago, we were told never to discuss in front of a patient even if they were unconscious because they can hear. Sounds like a caring book. Thanks. (Leona Olson 9:02am May 2, 2015)
Leona, did you step out of Spavinaw Junction, the small town in my book? :-) Sounds like you and my mom would get along. And I'm glad to hear about your nursing school experience. It's good to know that I didn't miss the mark. Have a happy weekend! (Tina Forkner 6:53pm May 2, 2015)
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