On her , Martha Woodroof offers the following whirlwind summary of her career journey: 鈥淣PR freelancer, WMRA public radio person, restaurateur, essayist, country music jock, college dropout, TV talk show host, newspaper dogsbody, constant gardener, railroad crew hotelier, grad school dropout, failed car salesperson, and now 鈥� NOVELIST!鈥�
That last one merited all caps from her keyboard because she admits the page was 鈥渂egun in blatant celebration of St. Martin鈥檚 Press for publishing my novel SMALL BLESSINGS on July 15th, 2014!鈥� is her debut novel, published when she was in her mid-60s.
Woodroof will read from her work and talk about writing, her calling to write, her creative process and other topics when she comes to 草莓社区鈥檚 Common Grounds coffee house at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 4. A time for Q&A will follow. The event is part of EMU鈥檚 , sponsored by the language and literature department.
, professor of English and chair of the language and literature department, said he has enjoyed reading Small Blessings. 鈥淲hat I love about the novel is the light that Woodroof shines on the goodness in two of her main characters, both of whom have the ability to call forth the goodness in others,鈥� Medley said.聽鈥淗er novel seems to me a rebuke to contemporary cynicism about human nature.鈥�
Shenandoah Valley residents likely know Woodroof best for her work at , the Harrisonburg station from which she recently retired. She has also written for National Public Radio and the Virginia Foundation for Humanities Radio Features bureau, published essays in several major newspapers, and wrote an earlier non-fiction book based on her recovery from substance abuse, . Woodroof says on that she loves words because of 鈥渢heir power to tell other people鈥檚 stories.鈥�
Woodroof was born in Greensboro, North Carolina, but eventually found her way to Virginia by way of New England and Texas. She attended the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, where she says she became 鈥渁 grad school dropout.” Now she and her husband call the Shenandoah Valley home, where their 鈥�.鈥�
Small Blessings is set in a Southern college town, but Woodroof told NPR鈥檚 Scott Simon in that it isn鈥檛 based on Charlottesville or any other specific town. Only the story鈥檚 bookstore, drawn from a college bookstore where she once worked, comes from an actual place.
The characters are what drew in , assistant professor of English at EMU.
鈥淎ll of her characters are flawed and, somehow, lovable,鈥� Beachy said. 鈥淚 suppose it is because she, as the author, loves them. I was intrigued by how many parts of the plot and the lives of the characters were driven by addiction鈥攎ost obviously to alcohol, but also to the ways they think about themselves. The book as a whole is a great illustration of the ways addiction arises out of loneliness, and how community can create an opposite, positive pull.鈥�
An of Small Blessings said, 鈥淭his book is a charmer: quirky, clear-hearted and effervescent.鈥� By all indications, the same could be said of Woodroof herself. Find out for yourself at this first-of-the-semester installment of Writers Read. The event is free (donations accepted) and open to the public.