A preacher's wife forges ahead with long-held dreams, publishing a novel that took 30 years to finish.
By TIM GRANT
Published October 3, 2003
FOREST HILLS - As a preacher's wife for 45 years, Adalena Valdez was always on call, leading committees and attending church functions.
When she wasn't working for the church, she was raising two daughters and maintaining a tidy home in Forest Hills.
But most people outside her family did not know Mrs. Valdez harbored dreams of literary fame.
She was working on a novel she scribbled in longhand on legal pads one or two pages at a time. She wrote late at night when she couldn't sleep or whenever she could manage an hour alone during the day.
"The most challenging thing about writing this book has been finding the time to do it," she said.
After 30 years of persistence and determination, the 84-year-old author recently realized her lifelong dream. She can finally hold her book, the baby she nurtured for three decades, in her hands.
Keturah is the story of a pampered rich girl whose father becomes ill and dies. She is sold into slavery and ends up with the owner of the inn in Bethlehem where Jesus is born.
As the years go by, Keturah hears about his miracles from travelers who visit the inn. Eventually, Keturah meets Jesus and he heals her of a crippling affliction she had since birth, made worse by a beating she received in slavery.
"We've been working on it so long, it has been a part of our lives forever," said Valdez's daughter Laurette Valdez. "It's just always been there."
Laurette Valdez typed and retyped the manuscript for her mother several times over the years long before home computers became commonplace. At one point, she started pasting sentences on pages just so she wouldn't have to retype them.
They finally bought a computer for the book in 1992.
Just as countless people start novels they never finish or college degrees they never complete, Mrs. Valdez undertook both late in life.
At 79, she earned a bachelor's degree from Jacksonville Theological Seminary and was ordained a minister. She says she worked on her bachelor's degree about as long as she spent writing her book.
The idea for the novel started 30 years ago at a church banquet around Christmas. Mrs. Valdez told a made-up story about a young boy named Benji. Her audience loved it.
Over the years she kept adding more elements to the story, expanding it to the 176-page novel it is now. For years it would sit in a tall, slender wooden cabinet in her television room. She would bring it out to work on it awhile, then it would go back. Although at times it may have been out of her sight, it was always close to her heart.
"I felt it was a worthwhile story and I thought it was important to get it out so other people could enjoy it," she said.
Her husband of 63 years, Lawrence Valdez, spent 45 years as a pastor for area churches, most recently North Boulevard Assembly. Together they raised their daughters, Esther and Laurette, in a four-bedroom home on Country Club Drive.
A year ago Lawrence Valdez suffered a stroke, and was later admitted to the Fletcher Avenue Rehabilitation and Care Center.
Mrs. Valdez finished her book in November 2002 and mailed it to 20 publishers. Some of the editors said nice things about the manuscript. But they all rejected it, a common experience among would-be authors.
Mrs. Valdez figured her book might continue to be rejected for years. At her age, she did not want to keep waiting.
So she decided to publish it herself.
"The book has religious overtures to it," she said. "But it's not preachy. It's a story.
"I want people who read this book to gain a more personal awareness of God," she said. "I'm presenting readers a book that has been with me many years, and I hope it will bless them."
Mrs. Valdez said she printed 1,000 books, which cost her about $7,000. She is selling the novel for $8.95.
Although motivated to write it for different reasons, she admits that she has daydreamed a time or two about the trappings of literary success.
"Fame and fortune pops in my mind," she said. "But we've given away about 25 books and sold four. So, I don't see any fame and fortune so far."
To purchase a copy of Keturah call (813) 932-9765.
