{"id":676,"date":"2009-04-08T10:48:00","date_gmt":"2009-04-08T10:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ceceliadowdy.com\/blog\/2009\/04\/featured-in-the-local-paper-of-my-hometown.html"},"modified":"2009-04-08T10:48:00","modified_gmt":"2009-04-08T10:48:00","slug":"featured-in-local-paper-of-my-hometown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ceceliadowdy.com\/blog\/2009\/04\/featured-in-local-paper-of-my-hometown\/","title":{"rendered":"Featured In The Local Paper Of My Hometown"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322271173139993874\"<\/a>
I was featured in the local paper of my old hometown, Northeast Maryland. The paper is the Cecil Whig<\/a>. The article was published today. Here’s the full text of the article:<\/p>\n

Here’s the full text of the story:
Local author set to release fifth novel
By Rebecca Sewald
rsewald@cecilwhig.com
Published: Tuesday, April 7, 2009 7:05 PM CDT<\/strong>By day, 42-year-old Cecelia Dowdy spends her time crunching numbers as an accountant in the Washington, D.C.-area. But by night, the former Cecil County resident can often be found engrossed in a fictional world of romantic interludes, where good always triumphs and happy endings are a must.<\/p>\n

In her spare time, between tending to her 3-year-old son and spending time with her husband of five years, Dowdy writes fiction stories, several of which have been published.<\/p>\n

\u201cI write Christian romance fiction,\u201d the Greenbelt, Md. woman said. \u201cThe stories always involve a man and a woman meeting and falling in love, and there\u2019s always a faith journey.\u201d
Most recently published is her novel, \u201cMilk Money,\u201d which was released in January and inspired by a visit to a Cecil County farm.<\/p>\n

The book tells the story of a young woman, Emily, who is left to tend to the family dairy farm after her father suddenly passes away. The task seems manageable until the day Franklin Reese, a certified public accountant, arrives to audit the business. It\u2019s not long before Franklin falls for Emily, but he must come face-to-face with his own personal issues before he\u2019s able to win her heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe book itself is not set in Cecil County \u2013 it\u2019s set in Monkton (Md.) \u2013 but I did go to a dairy farm in Cecil County during my research for the book,\u201d Dowdy said. \u201cI had to go there to get a better feel for dairy farming. They showed me how to milk cows and all the other things they have to do. It\u2019s grueling work.\u201d<\/p>\n

As always, Dowdy\u2019s story offers an inspirational message to readers, this time demonstrating faith as a means of overcoming addiction.<\/p>\n

\u201cFranklin, the accountant, is an alcoholic, and as the story goes on, he learns to beat the addiction. \u2026 He doesn\u2019t know Jesus, but he ends up going to a church-sponsored alcoholic support group. He actually ends up finding Jesus in the story, which helps to give him the faith to overcome the addiction,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Dowdy, a 1984 graduate of North East High School, is awaiting the release of her fifth novel, \u201cBittersweet Memories,\u201d which is set to hit bookstore shelves in June.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat book is set in Maryland, also,\u201d she said. \u201cThe heroine (Karen) is engaged to a fianc\u00e9 (Lionel) that isn\u2019t very nice \u2013 he\u2019s stealing money from the church, which causes a big uproar.\u201d<\/p>\n

But when Karen returns home to Annapolis to live with her mother, she meets handsome plumber Keith Baxter, who just happens to be her new neighbor. Keith grows smitten with the girl next door but must face his troubled past before he can move forward.<\/p>\n

Other books Dowdy has had published include \u201cJohn\u2019s Quest,\u201d \u201cFirst Mates\u201d and \u201cPromises to Keep.\u201d The author has also produced more than 30 short stories, which have been published nationally in multiple women\u2019s magazines.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have always loved to read books. That was my favorite pastime. I think I feed a lot off that,\u201d Dowdy said.<\/p>\n

She was 28 years old when she first began having serious thoughts of writing a book.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was at work on a lunch break, and I didn\u2019t have a book to read, so what I did was start writing, and I\u2019ve been writing ever since,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Though it took her more than five years to get her first book published, she never gave up on writing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like creating the characters and their issues and helping them work through them by their faith in God so that everything is fine in the end,\u201d Dowdy said.<\/p>\n

As a result of her stories, the author has received a large amount of positive feedback from readers, several of them revealing that her books have strengthened their faith.<\/p>\n

Dowdy said she plans to continue writing in the future and hopes to one day make it a fulltime career.<\/p>\n

For those aspiring writers out there, she has one word of advice: write.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoin a professional writers\u2019 group that meets regularly either online or in person. Ask for advice and write,\u201d she said. \u201cSome people say they want to write a book, but they don\u2019t do it. You have to actually sit your butt in the chair and write. It\u2019s easier said than done, but it\u2019s just what you have to do if you\u2019re serious about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

For additional information about Cecelia Dowdy or to purchase one her books, visit her Web site at www.ceceliadowdy.com. <\/em><\/p>\n

~Cecelia Dowdy~<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was featured in the local paper of my old hometown, Northeast Maryland. The paper is the Cecil Whig. The article was published today. Here’s the full text of the article: Here’s the full text of the story:Local author set to release fifth novelBy Rebecca Sewaldrsewald@cecilwhig.comPublished: Tuesday, April 7, 2009 7:05 PM CDTBy day, 42-year-old […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,39,28,35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-african-american-novels","category-author-interviews","category-barbour-publishing","category-cecelia-dowdys-books"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paovYP-aU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ceceliadowdy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ceceliadowdy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ceceliadowdy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ceceliadowdy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ceceliadowdy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/ceceliadowdy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ceceliadowdy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ceceliadowdy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ceceliadowdy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}