“Oh, how I wished I could’ve told her what had happened. How I wished I could’ve let go and allowed the tears to spill. But I knew that if I had cried, Mama would’ve asked me what the matter was. And if I had told her the truth, she would’ve said that I was lying. And if she thought that I was lying . . . well, you know the rest.
Still, I wonder . . . did she know?
Did anyone know?
Didn’t everyone know?”
Lucy Green Eyes is based on the true-life story of Merlene McDaniel as told from her eyes growing up in the segregated South. Although Merlene spends much of her early years dodging the stinging switches of an overly-strict grandmother, yearning for the embrace of a part-time mother, hoping for a smile from an oncoming stranger, or running from dirty old men, her inner strength allows her to ride on the wings of endless hope, and we can’t help but ride along.
Targeted Age Group:
All and Any age
What Advice Would You Give Aspiring Writers?
Seriously, don’t PLAN writing. Just DO it. Let it flow out of your spirit. BLEED your thoughts onto paper. And finally, don’t let anyone’s judgements stop you from doing what you love.
Author Bio:
I was born in South Carolina but moved to New York when I was three years old. I went to Professional Children’s School in NYC where I was exposed to the arts. Although I loved writing from the time that I was eight years old, the passion was fueled after I got into high school and college where I majored in it.
Once I was old enough to hold a pencil correctly, I began writing stories about having a baby sister that I so badly yearned for. I’d write every night before bed until one day my mom told my older brother and me that she was going to have a baby. We were both beyond ecstatic, although my brother cried when we learned that the baby was a girl. I screamed for joy because I finally had my sister. Then about a year later, my mom gave us a little brother. Four years after that, we got another baby sister and two years later, another sister. Moral of the story: Be careful what you write for.
What Inspired You to Write Your Book?The book is about my mother, Merlene Benjamin, who had been abused and molested as a child. She used to talk about growing up in the South in the 1940s and fifties, and one day I decided to take serious notes because I though that her story would make a good book. She has also admitted that my writing the book was therapeutic because she was able to disclose things that she’d held inside for her entire life.
I decided to write Lucy Green Eyes in the first-person, as though I were Merlene herself, as oppose to third-person. I felt that it would’ve been more personable this way, and I believe it worked. So far, the book has received a 4.7 out of 5 stars on Amazon. But, whatever the rating, I hope that people will read the book and judge it for themselves. It would be well worth the ride.
Website(s)
Author Home Page Link
Link To Buy Book On Amazon
Link to Book on Barnes and Noble
Link to Book for sale via other sites
Social Media:
https://www.facebook.com/paulette.benjamin.5?ref=tn_tnmn
