It has been more than a year since our sister, Karen, died of metastatic breast cancer. There are really no words to describe the impact on us. There is a huge hole in each of our hearts. What has helped us deal with our grief is our determination to fulfill our promise to Karen that we would do everything possible to ensure her novel, Reasons for Waking, would be published. We are thrilled to say that we have been successful! Karen’s wonderful novel is now available for the world to read!
When we embarked on this journey, we really had no idea what we were getting into. None of us has publishing experience! But we are all pretty good at getting things done when we put our minds to it! And Karen had already done the hardest part: writing the story, and then finding a publisher. So, we just took it from there…with assistance all along the way from the awesome team at Bold Story Press.
We knew how important it was to Karen to get her novel published, so we had no hesitation about heading down this path. It has not always been easy. The learning curve was (and still is) quite steep! But through teamwork, and each of us contributing our individual strengths, we were able to make it all come together! It has truly been a labor of love for us.
The unexpected benefit of this project has been that the five of us have become even closer! Since we live in five different places, most of our meetings have been over Zoom; after we take care of the business at hand, we shift to talking about Karen, sharing memories about her and our childhood. We often wonder about the inspiration for various scenes or characters in the book. We talk about parts of the story that remind us of Karen, and sometimes we can hear Karen’s voice in what the characters say. We are so sad she is not here to share in the excitement of this moment, but we know that she is watching from above with a smile on her face as the world is discovering her compelling story, her exquisite writing, and her amazing talent for storytelling. We are so proud of her!
We know that reading Reasons for Waking will bring back many memories of Karen to those who knew her well. We invite you to share those memories with others by submitting them here. Whether or not you submit anything, please visit this page occasionally to read others’ remembrances of Karen. We thank you for supporting Karen’s dream, and hope you will continue sharing Reasons for Waking with the world.
The Foster Siblings
3 comments
It is always very strange to read a book written by someone you know well. This was no exception. I was a bit surprised that it was written from a man’s viewpoint. But Karen pulled it off very well. I was not surprised that there was a dog with epilepsy. Karen owned dogs that seized and had also been on a study group for it, so she was very familiar with the problem. I fully expected the dog to jump up on the dining room table, as one of Karen’s dogs had done while visiting her family. I could “hear” Karen’s voice in some of the dialogue.
While I enjoyed the story, I also got a feeling of being “with” Karen again. I am very grateful to her family for fulfilling Karen’s dream of getting the book pubished.
We feel the same way Zippy! We could hear Karen’s voice in her story and felt so close to her!! I know she is smiling right now!!
What a touching story. I’m sure I’m not the only one who read this post and thought, “There’s no way my siblings would be able to work together and pull this off”. You’re 6 amazing people. She’s not gone. She’s here in each one of you in different ways.