Area Author Publishes First Book

Wharton Journal-Spectator

Saturday, August 7, 2010

By Burlon Parsons

B.J. and Adam fell in love as young people and experienced life as a dating couple, married couple and as a family.  Their saga begins in 1960's Louisiana.  Their love for one another continues through college.

The Black couple wed through what was almost an arranged marriage after their college years.

Work, sacrifice, children and business transfers create changes in their lives.  They experienced life at its best and worst - and yet, they live by faith and face life together.

New Wharton author Bertha Abraham paints a tapestry of life - with its highs and lows - in her new book If Only for a Season which came out in early May.

Abraham wrote the fiction novel from January of 2009 and finished it in early March of 2010 for her publishing company Creative House Press.

She is amazed at its reception and it is available locally at Milam Street Cafe, Denise's Alterations and Lorressia's Nail Salon in Wharton or at CreativeHousePress.com and Amazon.com, and goes on sale Aug 14th, after a book signing at Shiloh Book Store in Houston.  The cost of the book is $16.95.

At her first book signing at Willie G's on S. Post Oak in Houston there were around 100 people in attendance and all purchased copies of If Only for a Season.

Abraham is still over whelmed by how her work is being received.

She is originally from Colfax, La., and her love for writing started at an early age.

"As a girl I wrote fictional stories and read them to my mother and she loved it," Abraham said.  "I should have kept them, but now most of them are lost."

Working for more than 30 years as a manager for AT&T, being a wife and mother of three took all the time she could muster as an adult.

A move by her husband brought them to Wharton and the couple bought property here 14 years ago.

Upon retirement, they moved back to Louisiana, but it did not take long for them to realize most of their friends are in Wharton.

Coming back they built a home, she joined the Wharton Garden Club  and also became a master gardener through the program offered in Rosenberg.

"I loved all of that," Abraham said, "But deep down inside I really wanted to write."

She started If Only for a Season in 2009 and finished it in early March of 2010.  "It took me a while because I felt apprehensive a bout putting my thoughts on paper and out in public, " she said.

But God and friends helped her overcome her fears.  God even showed her the way.

"I did not have to seek a publisher.  I had found out to even approach big publishers you have to have an agent and I don't have that much money," she said.  "i prayed a lot about it.  One of my friends told me one of her friends was having a book signing at the George Library in Richmond.  She wanted me to go in her stead and I went."

After the reading of the work of poetry, Abraham introduced herself to the author's publisher.

He asked her to send the first chapter of her book to read.  But she was reluctant.

"I hesitated a week," she explained.  "I had approached three or four small publishers and they all wanted money to publish the work.  More money than I could afford - I was afraid this would turn out the same."

Through the urging of a friend who believes in her, the first chapter was mailed.

She got the call she had prayed for - he would publish the book at his own expense.  Abraham made the necessary changes in the book.

She became her own editor and also handles some of the marketing.

If Only for a Season went to press in April.  It hit the bookshelves in early May.

Now because of it's success, the publisher wants a sequel.  She had hoped to finish that by October, but a computer glitch caused her to lose 203 pages of the manuscript last week.

Now she says she might have to take until December to finish it.

"The publisher wants to have it by January, but now it might take a little longer," she said.

How does Abraham feel about her acceptance as a writer?

This is overwhelming and kind of a shock," she concluded.  "People like my work and I still cannot believe it's happening."

Abraham's dream has made a full circle and now become reality.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If Only for a Season

by Bertha Connally Abraham

Adam and BJ do the unthinkable growing up in the south in the sixties. They enter into an agreement that translate into an arranged marriage, one of convenience. Who would ever imagine an arranged marriage between two young black teens during this turbulent season?  They make a conscious decision to become husband and wife based initially on a verbal contract between the two of them and then enlisted the approval of their parents. Out of a desire to escape a life of poverty Adam and BJ conceive this idea. With the permission and blessings of their parents the marriage becomes a reality.   

They foster powerful and nurturing relationships while wandering from one place to another meshing their lives with the lives of people they encounter on this incredible adventure.  BJ believes that she and Adam descend from a nomadic tribe somewhere in the deep corners of Africa because of their desire to always roam in search of new places and new friends. With this belief so rigidly fixed in her mind BJ accepts each challenge as they arise and develop the courage and strength to triumph over them.  Some storms arrive with punishing gale force winds while others noisy rush in fizzling out unnoticed.  What Adam and BJ learn and take away from these adventures shape and mold them into the unique human beings predestined of God. 

Click here to read what the fan's say about this inspirational book.

Click Here for a Sample Chapter