Walk Worthy Press: Church Folk

Author Testimony

"I am a native of St. Louis, Missouri, born in 1957, and an only child with so many cousins, I rarely had time to be lonely. I have wanted to write stories since I was nine years old, when I told my father that I wanted to write books and stories for a living.

Needless to say, my father, a hardworking postal worker, was a bit concerned about how his baby would pay rent, a mortgage, buy a car, and etc., with these stories. Seems like being a writer, especially one who wrote stories and novels, just wasn't a profession that looked available to little black girls in the 1960s. So, I put that dream on hold, wrote from my heart, got good grades and earned graduate and undergraduate degrees in several areas, thinking that being a writer was something that may not have been for me.

But with any calling, the pull, the heartfelt desire and yearning to do it, never goes away. And that writing bug always bit every now a then, making me want to take a class in college, writing a story in my spare time and looking for any and every way to make a way out of no way to write myself a novel.

And when I finally got the courage to write my first novel, it was my father who inspired me to do so. You see, when he died at 59, he never lived out his dreams. And to honor his memory, I decided in the summer of 1994 to live out mine. It was that year, roughly four months after his death, that my first novel, Church Folk came into being.

Why Church Folk? Well, I have always loved going to church, even as a little girl--would cry on those Sundays when we couldn't go. And I always thought that life in the church--all of it, good and not so good--was fascinating. I always loved church stories and the culture of the African American church was wonderful....it had everything a child could want or need....and every kind of black person in it known to man.

So why not Church Folk....why not bring that wonderful world I loved so much to life. And I set the story in the early 1960s because a part of me wanted to relive those years and to experience on paper the warmth, the love of God, the laughter and tears, and the praise of the Lord...as I remembered it from childhood. I also wanted to bring to life women and men who were like my parents and grandparents and to capture their experiences.

I guess, it would be hard for me not to write about the black church....would be hard for me not to write from the perspective of one who loves the Lord...one who cherishes having Jesus in my life...as my guide, my comfort, who blesses me with and understands my quirky sense of humor, who blesses me with these stories that come from deep inside of my heart and spirit.

Seems like this is my calling and when I finally answered it, I felt a tremendous peace and coming home within. I am thankful to be blessed in such a way. And I want all of my stories to have laughter, bring black church folks to life in the best way, and the warmth of God's spirit and love. I don't think my stories will ever be too serious because one gift the Lord gave me was that of laughter through my writing...and it gives me tremendous joy to share that part of me with a reader. I am truly thankful for it in every way.

Do I know the Lord? Yep, yes I do....and He has always been with me...and I know I can go to Him for everything...including my next story. This road to getting Church Folk written and published has been long, had joys, laughter and tears. Many a day I prayed for God to let this book get published. And now I can only pray that what I write will bless others with laughter and joy that can only come from the Lord.

This is just a fraction of my testimony because God has done so much more for me than bless me with stories. But I thought that this part of my testimony would give you some knowledge of who I am and why I write this way"

Michele Andrea Bowen

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