By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
Gracie the Chihuahua mix is the star of Sarah Tiell’s first children’s book.
The Bowling Green first-time author has been writing stories since she was five years old; however, she started thinking about and writing “The Adventures of Gracie” about four years ago. Only now is she ready to introduce her beloved Gracie to young readers.
“Gracie and the Big Birthday Surprise,” is the first in Tiell’s Gracie series that she said has at least 20 more themed books, and maybe as many as 40.
Gracie is more than just a pet, Tiell said. “She is a special needs dog for my 14-year-old daughter Makenzie.”
Because Makenzie has special needs, Gracie is her dog to calm her when she gets frustrated or to detect when she has a seizure. “All of it without any training,” Tiell said. “She just seemed to sense whatever was needed.”
Gracie is seven years old, with arthritis and other health issues, so the first book and the subsequent stories are a tribute to a dog well loved.
She plans to host a book launch from 2 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 7 at the First United Methodist Church, 1526 E. Wooster St., Bowling Green. The event is free and open to the public. There will be food, games, and door prizes. Makenzie will read the book aloud as part of the festivities. They will also give away swag bags filled with candy and birthday party items “since it’s a birthday book,” Tiell said.
The backstory
Writing was always an outlet for Tiell. Encouraged by her grandmother to write about all the things she was feeling about her home issues, Tiell’s writing was her saving grace and the tool that helped her grandmother understand what was going on at home for the five-year-old Tiell.
“I kept a journal, but I also wrote little stories and kept them separate from the journal,” she recalled. “That’s all I ever wanted to do. I spent every waking moment that I could writing to avoid dealing with people and participating. I sat in the back of the class in my own little world just writing.”
A middle school teacher told her she could go far if she “put some discipline into it.” A high school teacher who was a writer told her how much she liked Tiell’s writing. “So, I just kept writing, then writing professionally, always with writing children’s books in the back of my mind because I was always around children,” she said.
She had the four books written but got stymied when she couldn’t figure out how to move forward to get them illustrated and published.
A chance encounter with actress and author Jenny McCarthy gave Tiell the motivation to stop procrastinating and take the next steps.
“Because she wrote books, I asked her how to do it. Her response, “Well, a lot of late nights, a lot of hard work, and a lot of tears.’” Tiell said. “When I got home, I decided if Jenny can do it, then I can do it. I buckled down, went into my filing cabinet where I kept all my writings, and went through to see what I could get out first. Gracie was the first one ready.”
She still couldn’t afford an illustrator for now, so she turned to artificial intelligence to create the artwork for the first book.
With at least 20 planned in this series, and a handful more in a series she called “Dr. Chaos,” about a mad scientist and his experiments, “it’s going to be quite an adventure for the next several years,” she said. She plans to launch the Dr. Chaos series next spring.
One of the next books will be “Gracie and the Missing Egg Roll. “Gracie loves egg rolls, so a book about her love of egg rolls is planned,” she said. “This is a dog who lived through eating laundry detergent pods when she was a puppy, so she really is special to us,” Tiell said. “She’s not active anymore; she just enjoys the cuddles.”
If Tiell has success with her books, she wants to put some money to good use and help people in need who can’t afford medications; it’s a scenario she lived for many years, she said. “We are financially stable, so for now, I can smile when I see my name on the cover of my book.”
