Making your dreams come true with Karen Bell

"Walking With Elephants" by Karen Bell

Genre: Contemporary women's fiction and humor

Synopsis: 

Suze Hall is at a crossroads. Her nemesis at work, Wanda, has been promoted and now will be her boss. Her husband, Bob, is leaving her and the three kids for a six-month sabbatical down under. To top it off, her best friend, Marcia, is missing in action--playing footsie with some new boyfriend!

Adding to this disaster stew, David, the gorgeous hunk who broke her young-girl's heart has coincidentally popped back into her life and has something she desperately needs to keep her job.

Walking with Elephants, a lighthearted slice-of-life story, brings to the table the serious work/family issues facing women today. It explores the modern dichotomy of a workplace that is filled with homemakers who still must cook, clean, carpool on nights and weekends, shop for prom dresses, and "create" the holidays—such as Suze. But it also is filled with women who have the same drive as men, have no family responsibilities, and will do what ever it takes to get ahead.  

So step into the shoes of Suze Hall and commiserate over workplace politics, titillate your sexual fantasies, ride the wave of a working mother, and fall-down laughing.

The cover is a symbol of the message of empowerment of women. The protagonist, Suze, writes and essay at the end of the novel suggesting a paradigm shift from the patriarchal societies that have been in place for centuries to a matriarchy, such as is found in nature. Like elephants, hence the title.

  -- Reviewer said it's like Bridget Jones meets Erma Bombeck

Making your dreams come true --

When I first started working as a mother of three kids, I thought it was a great opportunity to start a career after my kids were kinda grown and in school. I discovered there are a lot of mean girls and bullies in the work place and sometimes I dreaded going in. I tried to keep to myself because interactions were difficult. But sometimes projects had to be shared and I found a lot of sabotage and just plain nasty stuff to make me miss my deadlines. In defense, I taught myself how to use a lot of publishing software and that has held me in good stead since my publisher has gone out of business and I have taken over. Being a female who grew up in the 50's and 60's, I remember how few women worked outside the home, even in Brooklyn, NY.  Now women have very short  bonding time with their babies and they are back to work after just a few weeks. When I came upon a  woman pumping her breast in the ladies room, I thought how crazy that she is not nursing her baby right now. Other countries have one to two years for maternity leave, much more civilized. 

I decided that if I were going to write a book, this topic concerning the viper's nest of the workplace, the adjustment of families where there are new babies, and the role of women to embrace careers and still be the main go-to person for everything in the home needs to be an area for discussion. 

Alas, the publishing world did not even give my book a chance until ten years after I wrote it. By then, there were several books on that topic. In fact, one has been made into a movie. 

I am proud of my accomplishment to stick to my goal of getting my book published, of seeing my dream come true and to hold my book in my hands. I am also thrilled that I am now retired and I do not deal with horrible daily grind of the workplace. I would hope that  women would become better mates at work, and had hoped my book would inspire that. I am still waiting.

Karen S. Bell

 

Author Bio --

Walking with Elephants is Karen Bell’s first novel, although she is not new to writing. After earning a graduate degree in mass communication she spent 15 years as an editor and writer of business materials. She says, “Inspiration for this novel came from my direct contact with the joys of Corporate America and the balancing act that comes with being a working mother.” Currently, Ms. Bell resides in Ponte Vedra, Fl with her husband and photos of her children, granddaughters, and grandson who live everywhere BUT Ponte Vedra, Fl