The Town Crier: Local News: Pat Lendennie talks about her first book (04/26/11)

Pat Ivey Lendennie of Blytheville, formerly of Manila, is excited to have her first novel, "Warning! A Bonnie Moss Journalistic Adventure," available in print. The book was published under her pen name Anna Shaw and is available in paperback from www.publishamerica.com; www.amazon.com or local book stores including That Book Store and Barnes and Noble.

Author Pat Lendennie and granddaughter, Amy Wendell.

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Lendennie has had poems published but this is her first novel. She is a retired award-winning journalist and photographer for the Blytheville Courier News. She still writes a column for the newspaper. She has also worked as a search-and-rescue canine handler, firefighter, search and rescue volunteer, Red Cross volunteer, county emergency operations deputy coordinator and 911 operator. She and her husband, Steve, live in the Blytheville area. They have two sons, two daughters, and six grandchildren.

Her first novel took six years to write. She knew what she wanted to write and started and stopped due to time as she was working full time with the newspaper.

Health problems with arthritis forced her to stop working full time, but it opened the door for her to write her book -- something she had always wanted to do.

The book is about a small town newspaper reporter, Bonnie Moss, who works for the Dixie Examiner, knows something is not right about construction of the Dixie Sunshine Mall, the first shopping mall to be constructed in the area. Along with her friends Marty Anders, on-air newscaster for the local radio group, and Ephraim Raulph, a mysterious, over-the-hill hippie and jack-of-all-trades who just appeared out of nowhere, Bonnie tries to warn residents in her rural Arkansas community of the impending danger posed by a worsening and strengthening series of earthquakes, while at the same time trying to expose crooked politicians and stop a co-worker she suspects is a dangerously disturbed stalker.

"I have always enjoyed writing," Lendennie said. "I was driven to write about earthquakes. Writing this book was a passion for me. The book is fiction and my characters take on a life of their own."

She said she was surprised to find out how difficult it is to get a book published. She self-published the book at first and then six months later it was picked up by Publish America.

She has plans for her next book and she is sure it will not take as long. She plans to write about the native Americans who were here, the Mound Builders.

Like her first novel, it will require a lot of research.

She is looking forward to the next book, but the first one will always be special.

For more information on the author or the book visit www.plenbooks.com or speak with a media representative at Publish America.