COVINGTON, Ind. —
Marlene Lewis has a ready-made audience for her books. With three grown children and nine grandchildren, she gets plenty of feedback about her children’s and adult books.
Her latest novel, “Follow Your Dream,” came out at the end of November, and it’s getting good reviews from family and friends.
“I really had a lot of fun writing this second one,” she said. “It has a lot of drama.”
“Follow Your Dream” is a sequel to “Imaginary Minds,” both through PublishAmerica.
“Imaginary Minds” tells the story of Marley Wiley, a country girl who has a strong desire to become an author. As Marley and her siblings grow up during the 1950s and ’60s, they face many trials, but through it all, the love in the family remains strong.
In the sequel, Marley is a published author who keeps working on her books while dealing with the events in her life — her mother’s illness, her father’s death, a tornado uprooting the trees in Covey and the centennial celebration in Veeders.
In the book, a producer offers Marley a contract for a movie. In real life, Lewis hopes the two books will be made into movies.
The stories are fiction, but some of the names and places are based on reality. For example, Covey is based on Covington, and Streamtown is another name for Stringtown. She uses family members’ middle names for some of the characters’ names.
Lewis also wrote two books in the “Best Buddies” series — “Jolly and His Friends” and “Jolly Gets a Skateboard.” Each book contains three stories that are geared toward children through second grade.
Jolly is a happy hippo who teaches children lessons through his experiences — such as sharing, wearing a helmet, obeying parents, wearing a seatbelt and simply caring about others.
Dylan Billott, 12, a student at Covington Middle School, has read his grandmother’s children’s books and also “Imaginary Minds.”
In the Jolly books, he said, “I like the way she shows lessons on the themes.”
In the adult book, he likes the plot and the characters, and especially the fact that family members’ names are used. He hasn’t read the new book yet.
“I’d love to write more children’s books,” Lewis said. “I want to write things children can learn from.” She stresses education in her books.
Lewis published the children’s books five years ago through AuthorHouse.
Lewis is helping her husband, David, write his own book, which will be a mystery. He narrates the storyline and she puts it together. She hopes to have it done by the end of the year.
Lewis worked 20 years at Shoe Sensation before retiring two years ago. She also keeps busy selling crafts at farmers’ markets, such as crochet work, magnets, hair ties, notepads and book markers.
The couple has three grown children — Brad Lewis of Georgetown, and Sheryl Neufeld and Cindy Gentille, both of Covington — and nine grandchildren ages 1-16 years.
FYI
Marlene Lewis’ books are available at A Novel Idea in the Village Mall and through http://www.publishamerica.com and http://www.amazon.com. Her children’s books can be found at http://www.authorhouse.com.
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