Although she had been writing since she could hold a pencil, Melissa Newman never thought it was anything special. She believed that everyone could create new worlds and new people with the stroke of a pen or a few clicks at the keyboard. It wasn\u2019t until she won her first writing award in the early 90s that she began to suspect this hobby of hers might be worth looking into.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Now, after 20 years as a journalist, one published novel to her credit and another one on the way, Newman is sure she\u2019s doing something special with her talent and truly enjoying every minute of it. Nothing, she said, brings her as much joy as sitting down for eight hours each Sunday to write.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cI learned early in life that success should be measured by happiness, not money or power,\u201d Newman said. \u201cWhen you find that one thing in your life that makes you smile every time\u00a0 you think about it and compels you to thank God for it every day that you\u2019ve been given the ability to do it, then you\u2019ve found your true calling. For me, it\u2019s writing. It always has been.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0Whiskey Creek Press released Newman\u2019s first title, Sister Blackberry, in November. The novel, which began with an idea and an in-depth outline, was stuffed in a drawer not to be rediscovered again for 10 years. When Newman picked it back up and the writing was finished, a publishing contract came quickly.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/melissanewman.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/Melissa-pic-at-gazebo.jpg\" "\\"Melissa")
<\/a>Author Melissa Newman<\/p><\/div>\n
\u201cWhen the publisher contacted me I was thrilled, to say the least,\u201d Newman said. \u201cI have to confess I did shed a few tears of happiness. When I got the contract and the release date I knew this was<\/em> really happening. Then came the editor and then the graphic artist \u2026 it was all very surreal.\u201d<\/p>\n The book begins with the discovery of a dead body and carries readers through three generations of the Garland women of Rayes County. Viola Garland, the family matriarch, makes a decision as a young woman which leads to many decades of heartache for her daughters and granddaughters. As the 87 year-old woman decides to tell the truth, it becomes clear to rest of the family why the secret had to be kept.<\/p>\n Although Rayes County doesn\u2019t exist other than on the pages of Newman\u2019s book and in her imagination, she said she loved the place so much she just couldn\u2019t stand the thought of leaving it behind in her next novel. For that reason, Rayes County, she said, is the setting for her next book and most likely all others to come if her publisher will allow.<\/p>\n \u201cI have travelled a lot over the years and I guess I\u2019ve just taken my favorite parts from everywhere and pieced them all together to make Rayes County,\u201d Newman said. \u201cFor me it\u2019s a perfect place. I just can\u2019t bear to part with it. It would be like moving away and leaving all my family and friends.\u201d<\/p>\n Newman\u2019s characters are fashioned much the same way as her setting \u2013 pieces and parts of hundreds of people to make one character. Some, like Rayes County, she just can\u2019t leave behind, which is why at least one character from Sister Blackberry will end up in House of Cleaving, her next novel to be released fall 2010.<\/p>\n \u201cI created these characters and I want them to continue on,\u201d Newman said. \u201cSo, just like a real small town where everyone knows everyone else, it would be hard for my characters from House of Cleaving to live in Rayes County and not cross paths with the characters from Sister Blackberry.\u201d<\/p>\n Newman, who is the former editor and general manager of the Barbourville Mountain Advocate, is now the Director of Annual Giving and Alumni Relations at Union College, where she earned her bachelor\u2019s degree. She lives in Barbourville with her husband Frank. They have two grown children.<\/p>\n \u00a0Sister Blackberry will be available for purchase in late January online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. For now, readers can get Newman\u2019s book at her Web site www.melissanewman.net<\/a> or at her publisher\u2019s Web site www.whiskeycreekpress.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Newman\u2019s happiness comes from great storytelling \u00a0Barbourville Mountain Advocate 12-9-09 Although she had been writing since she could hold a pencil, Melissa Newman never thought it was anything special. She believed that everyone could create new worlds and new people with the stroke of a pen or a few clicks at the keyboard. It wasn\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":557,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.melissanewman.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/54"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.melissanewman.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.melissanewman.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.melissanewman.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.melissanewman.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.melissanewman.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/54\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1018,"href":"https:\/\/www.melissanewman.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/54\/revisions\/1018"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.melissanewman.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.melissanewman.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}