by Courtney Pierce
As a baby boomer, I’ve maintained my idealistic view of the
world and the belief that one person can initiate change for the good. It must
be my combination of dogged determination and Peter Pan Syndrome. I blink, wide-eyed
like a child, when we humans make bonehead moves that benefit the few and
devastate the many. That makes no sense! What are we thinking?
Beneath the humorous and emotional prose in every one of my
books lurks a theme of charity. Serious adult problems are met with an
adolescent response and humor. My characters charge ahead, creating no end of
trouble for themselves to reach a goal that benefits someone else. In my first trilogy series,
Stitches, Brushes, and Riffs, a boomer
couple unravels the question “What would you do today if you had the chance to
be immortal at the end of natural life?” My characters make that decision over
three books and – no spoilers – become inspired to make their mark on the world with a touch of magic. They accomplish their mission
through what they love: art, music, and animals.
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| David Castillo Dominici |
In my current series, The
Executrix, three middle-age sisters stumble into their charitable
aspirations after their mother dies. Each sister makes a mess of their
benevolent path in their own way, but when they come together they’re unstoppable
at honoring their mother’s memory, transforming an unruly poodle into a service
dog, and helping an elderly mobster reconcile his life by writing his memoir. The
fun continues in the sequel Indigo Lake,
which if I can stop laughing will be out by the end of the year.
None of us wants to fade away. We want to leave something
behind to say “I was here.” Through the gift of story, my goal is to make
readers laugh, cry, and to whip up endorphins that inspire. Charity starts
with empathy, whether for a character, a cause, or a connection to something
bigger than ourselves. Then it must become tangible. For some, a donation of
money or a trip to Goodwill completes the circle. For others, charity can be as
simple as holding the door open for a stranger or taking a second trip around the
block to search for a neighbor’s missing tabby cat.
I wrote a short story last year called The Nest for the Windree Press Christrmas anthology A Gift of Christmas, which was based on
my husband’s and my deep love of animals. The inspiration for the story came
from a true incident of our finding a baby owl temporarily blinded from hitting
a window. While I fictionalized the tale with magical realism and characters
from my Stitches series, the real process
of nursing the bird back to health was magical truth. After leaving a healthy
donation to the kind vets who helped us, we walked on air for weeks. The bird
was finally released back into the wild with our hearts lifting its wings.
Small gestures can generate big returns.
Courtney Pierce is a fiction writer living in Oregon with her
husband of thirty-six years and bossy cat. She enjoys writing for baby boomers.
Her novels are filled with heart, humor, and mystery. Courtney has studied
craft and storytelling with best-selling author Jennifer Lauck at the Attic
Institute and has completed the Hawthorne Fellows Program for writing and
publishing. She is also a board member of the Northwest Independent
Writers Association.
In Courtney's latest novel, The
Executrix, three middle-aged sisters come together after the death of
their mother, and the manuscript they find in her safe will test the thickness of
sibling blood. While Mom’s prose makes her larger in death than in life, it is the
elderly neighbor and his unruly standard poodle who inspire the story that will
change the sisters' future.
Visit Courtney's website at www.courtney-pierce.com. Her books can
be purchased at Windtree Press, Amazon, Barnes and
Noble, Kobo Books, and at several independent bookstores in the Portland area.
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