Local author Judy Perez is releasing her first children’s book of short stories Saturday, April 24.
Murphy – A local author has set the date to publish her first children’s book, Give Me a Dream, on Saturday, April 24 available online at all major book retailers.
Judy Perez moved to Murphy with her husband, Dennis, in 2019 after falling in love with the area.
“We have been coming to North Carolina for 25 years for vacation and have always loved it,” Perez said.
Perez worked as a secretary with two large churches in Florida and as an administrative assistant in Hospice. She has enjoyed writing since she was a teenager and self-published a book previously that had a lot of her early poetry in it.
“Writing is my voice,” she said. “It is a gift I need to use.”
Perez wrote, produced and recorded songs for four of her grandchildren in their honor. When her last grandchild came into the world, she didn’t have a song come to her.
“One night, I was at my daughter’s house and she was putting my granddaughter to bed,” Perez said. “She told my granddaughter she was going to give her a dream, something nice to think about before she went to sleep.”
Perez got a spark of creativity when she heard the idea about giving a child a dream before bed.
“The little stories in the book bubbled out of me in a very short time,” she said.
Perez presented the dedicated book to her grandchild Callum, who lives in Florida, on his most recent visit over spring break.
There is a short story within the book titled, “Callum’s Old Stump,” but Perez made sure that each grandchild had a story within the pages. She said the book took about five years to complete because of the move to Murphy and publishing process.
Perez said she had a lot of good networking with other authors, as well as a lot of research on social media and attending workshops to learn about publishing her book. She is a former member of the National League of American Pen Women as well as a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators as well as other writing groups.
For details about Perez and her new book, visit Give Me a Dream on Facebook.