I am so excited to be with you at the “Authors” Lounge today.  My book “The Wedding This Summer” is about a granddaughter’s relationship with her elderly grandmother.

So far, I think “The Wedding This Summer” is the best book that I have written. It touches many people on so many levels. In this story my protagonist, Secret Bell, is a beaming future bride. She can’t wait to introduce her handsome fiancée’ to the woman who raised her, her grandmother, Hattie Bell Ruffins. However, the grandmother has to tell her granddaughter that she is dying.

Hattie is lively, funny, outspoken and full of life. How could she be dying?  Facing her own mortality and with the support of her family, Hattie asks Secret to help her fulfill her bucket list before it is too late. Now Secret is faced with planning her dream wedding and fulfilling her grandmother’s bucket list at the same time.   Now Secret has to imagine a world without the most important woman in her life.

Secret has to rely on her faith to help her deal with her grandmother’s future death and she also needs strength to move forward with her new life.

I had so much inspiration to write this book.  An unlikely event placed the seed for this book in my mind long before it was written.  Some years ago, my mother needed one of her daughters to accompany her to her 50^th high school class reunion. None of us wanted to go, but both of my sisters voted me to accompany our mother.

I was the only one who was on a leave of absence from my job at the time.   I thought it would be boring to attend a reunion with 68-year-olds. To my surprise, I watched these women laugh and giggled together just like my friends and I.

They talked about their friends, grandkids, memories, and hopes and dreams.  I was surprised that they still had hopes and dreams at their age.

They had so much life to live.  I realized at that moment, that laughter, love, desire, does not end at any age.  I began to write the story about an elderly lady who was outspoken, lively, funny, and who loved her family.

The next part you may find hard to believe, but I attest it is true.  My mother inspired the first half of my novel; However, my husband’s grandmother inspired the second half of the story.  I was nearly done with my novel when circumstances arose that made myself and my husband full-time caretakers of his elderly grandmother.

Suddenly, we had to move her into our home.  Due to an accidental fall, we discovered her cancer through an x-ray.

We didn’t know that she had terminal multiple myeloma and a very short time to live.   She was placed on hospice, in our home, and had a peaceful transition. During those nine months we had a great time and we fulfilled her bucket list, which was just a few things.  I wouldn’t have changed a thing

I walked into her room as she was taking her last breath, I sang, held her hand, and watched her transition into a peaceful place.  Going through that experience added a depth to my story that I could never have imagined.  I had already written my ending when this happened.  It seems that some parts of my book had come to life.

For this book, my target audience is all those who love their family.

I want to inspire all those who have aging parents and grandparents. I want this book “The Wedding This Summer” to help people realize that our elderly population is still valuable to our society.  They are needed, loved, and have so much information to share with the world. I also wanted to shine light on how important the relationship is between grandparents and grandchildren.

They do share a bond and I wanted to give a cheer to all the grandparents who have been placed in the position of having to raise their grandchildren. If you love your family, you will love this book. Also, I love weddings and the wedding in this book is breathtaking.

I‘m in the process of writing a screen play for this book.

Hoping that it will be a full movie that brings joy to millions of people.  I would love to see my characters on screen and the vision come to life. The prequel to this book is called, “By This Time Next Year.” It focuses on our protagonist, Secret Bell, and how she was forced to continue her life after the murder of her first husband.  I wrote the screen play to that one and it is in development.  I am very excited.

The Wedding This Summer is the fourth book that I have published. Writing from experience and my characters are born from the people that I have encountered.  As a survivor of a kidnapping and sexual assault, I see myself as an overcomer of life’s trauma. I am a former Mental Health Crisis Case Manager, Child Abuse Investigator, Foster Home Worker, and much more.  My father was a pastor, so I grew up helping people and seeing so many different families.  I hope to create thought provoking situations through my characters. I hope to bring hope and maybe some laughter through different real-life situations.

You can find all my books at this website and amazon.