Reasons for Waking

Karen was so excited for the day when she would finish her first novel, Reasons for Waking, and see it in print. Unfortunately, she passed away before the book was published. However, as Karen worked on her book over the span of a few years, she wrote many notes filled with information and tidbits about herself, her book, and the writing process that she thought might be useful at a later date. She saved everything in a “book” folder on her computer.

We had several family dogs when we were growing up, but we all knew they were really Karen’s dogs. She was the dog lover of the family and the one who convinced our parents that we needed a family pet.

When we were growing up, our dad was in the Navy, so we moved around every few years. There were six kids in our family so it meant doubling up on bedrooms wherever we happened to live. Karen and I were the two oldest siblings and always shared a bedroom.

Karen and I attended Girl Scouts together when we were growing up!  We would work diligently to earn those badges and sew them on our sashes. We were so proud of ourselves!! And we also had the opportunity to attend girl scout camp.

Karen would have loved having a real horse but that was not practical in a family of 6 kids that moved around every few years. So, being the practical person Karen was, she transferred her love of animals to dogs.  Dogs were something that she COULD talk Mom and Dad into.

The Middle School years are always an awkward age! Those were the years when Karen and I developed a love of music. Or was it a love of the teen idols who sang the songs?? Our favorite heartthrobs were the Monkees!!  

Karen’s first love as a child was reading.  She always had a book in her hands and would much rather be reading than talking. 

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.