I am from the small town of Downsville, NY
which is located in the Catskill Mountains.
I have lived in several rural towns in New York, Massachusetts,
Connecticut and West Virginia before moving to Huttonsville, WV in 1976. My father was a drilling and blasting
superintendent for road construction, but once my sisters and I started getting
married, him and mom made WV their permanent home. My parents were my first examples of
love. No matter where dad went, we
stayed together. We are a very close
knit family. My roots are deeply planted in West Virginia and I considered Huttonsville
to be home.
My husband Kenny and I have
been married for thirty seven wonderful years. I am a proud mother of two grown sons, Kevin
and Eric Gladwell. I have always worked outside of home, but
never let that interfere with family life.
My family is very important to me and I love them very much. They are my life.
 |
| Deborah Thompson Gladwell |
I am a Sunday school teacher
and have been very active serving the Lord for twenty seven years.
1. What do you write?
Christian
Children Stories, Poetry
2.
Why do you
write?
I enjoy writing, which I never thought I would say. I used to hate after summer break, when my
English teacher always asked us to write an essay about what we did over summer
vacation. My mind would go blank and I
would always complain, “I did nothing, absolutely nothing.” Writing back then was a real struggle for
me.
As an adult, I find writing to
be a learning tool geared toward me. I
say this because I research topics I want to write about. I find the goal of writing makes studying the
bible fun for me. It doesn’t seem like
something I have to do, but something I enjoy doing, a hidden bonus.
My ultimate goal is to write
stories that reach and teach about the bible and life in an enjoyable way.
3. For whom do you write?
At first it was for me (I have many poems
about my family), and then it developed into for others. For many years I was in charge of our church
bulletin and if I couldn’t find a poem I liked, I just wrote one myself. This is as far as my writing went until I
decided to write short teaching stories for my Sunday school class. These stories always included questions about
the lesson. Each week I printed a copy
for my students and then we read and answered questions together. I usually insert some humor into my stories
or questions. I just like humor and I find so do my students.
Then gradually these lessons evolved
into series of stories. This is how my
first published book “The Adventures of Shy Spy Time Traveler” came about.
4. By whom are you inspired?
I’m
inspired by God. As I said earlier,
writing was always a struggle for me until I started using writing as a tool to
study the bible. It then expanded to
encouraging friends and family with poetry and then a method to teach my Sunday
school class and now has evolved into a book that children enjoy on all levels.
5 .Can you
share your current writing ?
My book is an excellent tool to teach about Moses, the ten
plagues of Egypt and parting of the Red Sea, but it also has some of Shy’s dog
buddies hilarious antics. Here is an
excerpt from The Adventures of Shy Spy Time Traveler.
Shy and Stinky decided to go for a short walk along the
river edge. They were having a truly wonderful time catching up on what was new
in their lives. Of course, Shy couldn’t tell his pal about his time-traveling
spy business, even though he really wanted to. As they walked, Shy, thought
about how much he missed spending time with his friend. It caught him by
surprise when Stinky suddenly took off.
“It’s that funny-looking cat again. Come on! Let’s catch
him!” Stinky barked in excitement as he ran out of sight.
Shy’s eyes almost popped out of his head when he saw
Stinky’s funny-looking cat. The creature was black with a white stripe that
went from his head to the end of his bushy tail. “Stop, Stinky, stop!” Shy
warned as he ran trying to catch up with his friend, but his warning fell on
deaf ears.
“Here kitty, kitty, kitty…Come to daddy,” Stinky barked as
he continued his chase.
“Stinky, please stop!” Shy panted. “I have something
important to tell you. Just stop for a minute, and listen to me.”
“Can’t we can talk later? I have to catch that weird pussy
cat,” Stinky said as he continued to chase after the creature.
“That’s what I need to talk to you about. It’s not a…Oh
my!” Shy gasped as he came to a screeching stop and turned and ran in the
opposite direction. “Run away, Stinky, run away!”
Unfortunately, Stinky did not heed the warning. He thought
the critter was surrendering. It had stopped, and all Stinky could see was its
raised tail. “It’s surrendering. See it is waving his tail in defeat.” Stinky
barely got the words out of his mouth when the creature sprayed him with the
most awful-smelling perfume he had ever smelled. “Oh my, what is that smell? It
is downright sickening,” Stinky cried and howled in distress.
“Man, Stinky, your name truly suits you today. You Stink!”
Shy said while holding his nose.
“I don’t know what happened!” Stinky cried. “I didn’t know
cats could do that! I’m out of the cat-chasing business forever!”
“Cats can’t spray, you silly. That was not a cat, Stinky.
You should have listened to me!”
“Yes, it was!” Stinky argued. “I saw one just like it the
other day in the distance, and Dirty Harold said, ‘There goes a stinking
polecat.’ I guess I know what he meant by stinking. This is awful, just awful…I
can’t stand this smell!”
“Stinky, a polecat is another name for skunk! Don’t you know
anything?”
“A Skunk! A polecat is
a skunk? Whatever am I going to do to
get rid of this terrible odor? I’m sick,” Stinky complained as his face turned
a greenish-sick color.
“Sorry, ole buddy, but you’re stuck with that smell for a
while. I have to go home before I get sick. I suggest that you find your
master. Maybe he can help you.”
“Okay, I got to run,” Stinky yipped as he ran toward his
home to find his master.
6. Give five pieces of advice
to a new writer?
1) Write about what you
know. I find as I get older and wiser, I
have a much broader span of knowledge than I ever imagined (family, friends,
bible, etc.).
2) Let your imagination flow
don’t try to be too technical about everything.
3) If you enjoy it, others
probably will too.
4) Try it out on someone, (a
friend or in my case - my class). Gauge
their reactions.
5) Don’t be like me. It took me years to get up the courage to
submit a book. Remember nothing
ventured, nothing gained.
7. Give five pieces of advice to a reader?
1) Read what you like. It is
relaxing.
2) Read something clean, wholesome and spiritual. It’s good for your soul. I think this world would be a better place to
live if our minds weren’t filled with murder, lust etc.
3) Just because something is clean, wholesome or spiritual doesn’t mean
it is boring.
4) Read something educational and expand your mind.
5) Reading if done right can be like going to the movies only you never
leave your house.
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