Author finds her voice in fiction
VINTON–Judi Ehresman has only lived in Vinton for a couple of years, but she has already claimed it as her own.
“We absolutely love it here,” Ehresman said. “We think Vinton is the friendliest little town, and we really love it.”
Ehresman spent her whole life in Indiana. When her sons moved to the East Coast and had children, however, she and her husband, Richard, found themselves yearning to be closer to their grandchildren. Her oldest son was in Gettysburg, and her youngest son was in Raleigh. When she and her husband looked at a map, Roanoke, Virginia, was right between the two.
Vinton resident Judi Ehresman recently published her first novel, "A Long Road Home." Photo by Kristin Adams
When they bought their home, they knew nothing about Vinton. But if they could do it all over again, knowing what they know now, they would still choose Vinton over any other spot.
While Ehresman has already made plenty of friends in Vinton, many of the residents do not yet know her. They may soon, however. Her first book, “The Long Road Home,” was recently published, and she has several more in the publication process.
Her life as a writer started young. As a little girl, Ehresman found herself re-imagining the endings to real events to turn them into happy ones.
“I didn’t realize, but even back then I was writing fiction,” Ehresman said.
In high school, one of her teacher’s encouraged her to pursue a writing career.
“My teacher said, ‘Judith Nelson, if you do not turn out to be a writer, I am going to be terribly disappointed in you,’” Ehresman remembered.
Writing was only a part-time job until she retired. She spent her life in many different professions: a pastor’s wife, a decorator, an optician, and a financial aid officer at a university. She did freelance writing work for local newspapers, colleges, and churches; but she never had the chance to write full time—at least not until she retired.
“I have always loved to read fiction, and I don’t know why it took me so long to start writing it,” Ehresman said.
Some days, Ehresman said, writing makes her feel beaten down. She knows how the story is going to end, but it is sometimes hard to make the pieces fit.
“It’s like putting together a jigsaw puzzle, really,” Ehresman said.
In writing fiction, the author must not only make the pieces fit, but she must create the pieces.
Ehresman wrote her first book in Indiana, and started her second before moving to Vinton. These two books, along with a third, make up a trilogy of historical Christian fiction which is being published by OakTara Publishers.
The books are set in pre-Civil War Indiana, and deal with issues such as the settling of the mid-West and slavery. Regardless of the unpleasant time period, however, the books all have happy endings.
“I love happy endings. All my stories will have happy endings,” Ehresman said. “What’s the point of reading if it’s just going to drag you down?”
Ehresman chose Christian fiction as her genre because of her deeply ingrained spirituality.
“How can you separate who you are from what you do?” Ehresman said about the Christianity in her novels. “It’s who I am. I don’t know how to not be.”
Christianity must be Ehresman’s niche because her publishers are thrilled.
“As soon as [the editor] read it, she wrote that she loved it and wanted more,” Ehresman said.
She is now under contract for all of the books in the trilogy. The first one, “The Long Road Home,” was just released. The second book, “On the Wings of Grace,” is currently being revised for publication, and the third should be out within the next year. Ehresman recently sent a fourth book to OakTara for possible publication, and she is currently writing a fifth.
Ehresman’s first novel, “The Long Road Home,” can be found on amazon.com. The book can also be found at Family Christian Store at Old Country Plaza.
“Bless his heart,” Ehresman said about the store’s owner, “he has a whole little display there.”
