Carson author turns ‘Bits and Pieces’ of life into new book

From stories created mostly from class assignments, Carson City resident Judie Walker Hartwick has pieced together her second book, a collection of short stories called “Bits and Pieces.” “About a year ago I started getting out all these stories out and I decided to do something with them,” said Hartwick, who returned to school when her children were adults and graduated from Western Nevada College in 2000.She spent time expanding some of the stories and perfecting others, resulting in 15 stories, “enough to do something with,” she said.“It was very rewarding,” Hartwick said. “When I got done, I just went ‘whew’. I did a lot more than I thought I did.” “Bits and Pieces” is a collection of short-short stores that include both nonfiction biographical stories and fiction.One of the most difficult to write, she said, was the story of her brother Donnie. As a child, he was blinded in one eye in an accident with scissors. He later lost the sight in the other. As a teenager, his sight was temporarily and partially restored by surgery. He permanently lost his sight in his 20s.“It was pretty traumatic for the whole family,” Hartwick said. In the story “I focused on him, his strength and how he dealt with it and overcame.”Other stories reminisce about her courtship with her husband of 56 years, Lee, and special times as a family.One fictional story began as a writing assignment at WNC to “write about something that you could never be.” Hartwick wrote about a stripper.“If you saw me, you’d know I could never be that,” she said.Another fictional story is about a group of older ladies. When the grandson of one disappears, the women go to a carnival looking for him in this mystery/suspense story.Hartwick said “Bits and Pieces” will be published soon, by Publish America, although she does not have a specific date yet. The Maryland-based company also published her 2009 book, “Some Call Her Lizzie.”