JAYNE WELCOMES SHERRYL WOODS
Jayne, here, to welcome author Sherryl Woods to RWQ. If you haven't had a chance to try one of Sherryl's books, you don't know what you're missing! She writes wonderful stories of women dealing with the kinds of issues that every woman understands intuitively are the most valuable things in the world: relationships, families and friends. The underlying theme in her work is the importance of community and it is certainly at the heart of her terrific new release, MENDING FENCES.
I'll let Sherryl tell you a little about her book:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Finding a community where you are
If any of you have moved around a lot or changed jobs frequently, I suspect you've discovered the importance of community, a word I equate in many ways with a circle of friends as well as with a place. This blog is one community, and I am so grateful to Jayne and all the other wonderful authors on here for letting me stop by.
My own experience with the importance of community goes back to childhood, when I actually grew up in Northern Virginia in a large apartment complex which also housed my grandparents a few doors away, two of my mother's brothers and their wives and kids in other apartments and two great-aunts in yet another unit. I suppose it was a bit like growing up on a commune way before any of us knew what those were. What I do remember is that neither my cousins nor I could get away with misbehaving without some adult in the family noticing and reporting back to our parents. Or, in the case of my grandfather, calling us in for a stern lecture. My cousins Billy and Jimmy got more of those than I did. Even they will admit that.
At any rate, from that time on I had a healthy respect for family ties and community. And yet, I grew up and moved away as so many of us have. I built a life in Ohio, then later in Florida and even now split my time between two communities -- one in Florida and another in the Virginia town where I spent summers as a child. No matter where I am, though, I need that circle of friends and I also like writing about the same thing in my books.
Whether it's the three lifelong friends who appeared in my Sweet Magnolias series from MIRA Books last winter or the next-door neighbors in my latest book, Mending Fences, in stores now, friendships and community are at the core of many of my stories. In Mending Fences, however, that friendship is severly tested.
Marcie Carter and Emily Dobbs have shared joy and heartache over the back fence. They've vacationed together, planned backyard barbeques for the neighborhood. And their kids have been best friends as well. All of that is suddenly put to a test when Marcie's son, Evan, is accused of date rape. Emily is as stunned as Marcie by the charges, but as the investigation unfolds, she realizes that Evan has become a boy she hardly recognizes. And, far worse, she is forced to face the terrible possibility that her own daughter might have been one of his victims. Complicating matters is her attraction to the detective who is trying to see Evan convicted for his crime.
As these two strong women face the rifts in their own marriages and the devastating secrets around them, their friendship somehow endures. In some ways, it is Dani, Emily's daughter, who shows them the way to forgiveness. I hope you'll enjoy meeting these wonderful women as they try to move forward with their lives, even as they wrestle with issues that no mother should ever have to face.
As I wrote Mending Fences, I wanted to create an online community for women to talk about the issues that are important to them. You can find find this community on my website, www.sherrylwoods.com or you can go there directly at www.JustBetweenFriendsblog.com. Stop by when you can. Share a comment on any of the topics that have been posted so far or contact us to suggest a topic that matters to you. If you'd like to write a blog entry, let us know that as well. All of the information for doing that is on the site. I hope you can join us at this virtual backyard fence and share your ideas. And, like all good communities, I hope we'll make you feel welcome.
Sherryl Woods
I'll let Sherryl tell you a little about her book:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Finding a community where you areIf any of you have moved around a lot or changed jobs frequently, I suspect you've discovered the importance of community, a word I equate in many ways with a circle of friends as well as with a place. This blog is one community, and I am so grateful to Jayne and all the other wonderful authors on here for letting me stop by.
My own experience with the importance of community goes back to childhood, when I actually grew up in Northern Virginia in a large apartment complex which also housed my grandparents a few doors away, two of my mother's brothers and their wives and kids in other apartments and two great-aunts in yet another unit. I suppose it was a bit like growing up on a commune way before any of us knew what those were. What I do remember is that neither my cousins nor I could get away with misbehaving without some adult in the family noticing and reporting back to our parents. Or, in the case of my grandfather, calling us in for a stern lecture. My cousins Billy and Jimmy got more of those than I did. Even they will admit that.
At any rate, from that time on I had a healthy respect for family ties and community. And yet, I grew up and moved away as so many of us have. I built a life in Ohio, then later in Florida and even now split my time between two communities -- one in Florida and another in the Virginia town where I spent summers as a child. No matter where I am, though, I need that circle of friends and I also like writing about the same thing in my books.
Whether it's the three lifelong friends who appeared in my Sweet Magnolias series from MIRA Books last winter or the next-door neighbors in my latest book, Mending Fences, in stores now, friendships and community are at the core of many of my stories. In Mending Fences, however, that friendship is severly tested.
Marcie Carter and Emily Dobbs have shared joy and heartache over the back fence. They've vacationed together, planned backyard barbeques for the neighborhood. And their kids have been best friends as well. All of that is suddenly put to a test when Marcie's son, Evan, is accused of date rape. Emily is as stunned as Marcie by the charges, but as the investigation unfolds, she realizes that Evan has become a boy she hardly recognizes. And, far worse, she is forced to face the terrible possibility that her own daughter might have been one of his victims. Complicating matters is her attraction to the detective who is trying to see Evan convicted for his crime.
As these two strong women face the rifts in their own marriages and the devastating secrets around them, their friendship somehow endures. In some ways, it is Dani, Emily's daughter, who shows them the way to forgiveness. I hope you'll enjoy meeting these wonderful women as they try to move forward with their lives, even as they wrestle with issues that no mother should ever have to face.
As I wrote Mending Fences, I wanted to create an online community for women to talk about the issues that are important to them. You can find find this community on my website, www.sherrylwoods.com or you can go there directly at www.JustBetweenFriendsblog.com. Stop by when you can. Share a comment on any of the topics that have been posted so far or contact us to suggest a topic that matters to you. If you'd like to write a blog entry, let us know that as well. All of the information for doing that is on the site. I hope you can join us at this virtual backyard fence and share your ideas. And, like all good communities, I hope we'll make you feel welcome.
Sherryl Woods
 |  |  |
posted at 9:09 PM
