Monroe native Phyllis McManus shared her journey writing “Do I Know Me,” reading an excerpt to the Brown Bag Book Club on May 21.
The event was held in the Hampton B. Allen Library’s Privette Room.
McManus is also preparing for a tour for the book, which has been added in the Sneak Previews in the Southern Writers Magazine.
Writing became her therapy after the death of her parents in a car accident in 2002, and several of her writings were influenced by her parents. McManus said writing has helped her a lot with the death of her parents.
“I still have good days, and I still have bad days, but at least I have something now that I can focus on,” she added.
McManus describes how life was with her mom when she had Alzheimer’s.
“It wasn’t real bad, but it was bad enough that we knew where she was headed,” she said.
When she first started writing, McManus related a lot of her books to her mom’s illness due to depression. After a while, she realized she had to start writing about other things because writing about her mom wasn’t helping her.
McManus has authored a half-dozen books.
“I wanted to wait that long, and I did want some things in it that we had to go through with my mama,” she said.
McManus added that she also wanted every book to have a “happily ever after,” because she wanted life to be as happy for everybody that it could be.
“When I wrote it, I wanted it to have a love connection, mystery, secrets, but also to touch base with Alzheimer’s,” McManus said.
She added that she wanted to make sure that readers knew the book wasn’t all about Alzheimer’s.
“I’m excited to be here again,” McManus said. “You all made me feel very confortable; and I appreciate that because I don’t get nervous when I’m with you all.”
McManus won first place in the Union County Writer’s Club poetry competition in 2008 with the poem, “The Edge of Darkness.” This is a poem focusing on Alzheimer’s. She also won an award in 2011 with her short story, “Mama’s Memory Box.” She won first place in fiction short stories for “The Special Gift” in 2015, sponsored by the Union County Writers Club. Also, “Southern Secrets,” her sequel to “The Southern Belle Breakfast Club” has been placed in the Must Read section of Southern Writers Magazine.
Phyllis McManus shares an excerpt from her book at the Brown Bag Book Club.