"That's how I got down to writing my life story. That's been ever since I''ve been married, going on 18 years. I always need to take that annual trip down South because that seems to be a flow for me."
      Lucille's interview is more like a talk between writers, interspersed from time to  time with loud fits of laughter. She likes to tell a story. For instance,  while race was a factor in Lucille's life, growing up around 67th Street on Chicago';s south side, she really wasn't aware of it  as a kid.  "My brother and I often talk about the fact we thought we  lived in an all Black neighborhood," Lucille related.  "As we grew up and looked back, we said,  "You know, so and so wasn't  Black. He was Asian. So and so wasn't Black. He was biracial. So and  so was Native American. But in our neighborhood, you   didn't really make those distinctions. So we just thought everyone was Black, just different shades of Black or had a different pronunciation  of their name."
      And then, there are the lessons learned that  don't necessarily adhere to moralistic tales. "I was bullied      ferociously for two years during first and second grade," Lucille  recalled.  "The two girls who bullied me the most were Toni Jones and Juanita Vanoy who ended up marrying Michael Jordan when she grew up. I guess you can be a difficult kid and still grow up to find happiness.  It's not always true that those kinds of kids get their whatever."
      Lucille has always had a fascination with stories. During one period of her life she was into love stories, a lot of them.  "I  figured I could write one of them and just started writing it,"  Lucille said.  "At first, I just started writing it from the perspective of the love stories I had read, you know, the guy swoops in and saves the girl. I think parts of my personality and my experience started  to filter in. And I think my writing was just shaped by that."
      While Lucille was an oral storyteller, she found out that it takes more skills to  put it on paper. And what may be interesting to one person may not be interesting to another.  "When I had written my life story, I showed it to a professor," Lucille said.  "I said, "You really need to read the whole thing because I need to have a feel for what I have or what I don't have here. He read it and he said  'So?'  Here I am thinking I have all of these interesting life stories and I wrote them down. But then I realized they needed to be in a storytelling format."
      Lucille took some courses and attended literary workshops  to hone her skills. After two years, she thought she had completed her  novel. She showed it to one of the UW-Extension staff. Lucille was told she had something there, but it wasn't done with it yet. Lucille spent the next four years perfecting her story.
       It's hard to describe  "Love Changes."  It follows the lives of five central characters over the course of several decades. Each of them is searching for love and the  "truth" in their lives. Each is on a spiritual journey. Each is      groping for the meaning of their lives.
      The central character in "Love Changes" is Momma Rose, the archetypical Black grandmother.  "In my husband's family, there are two grandmothers," Lucille said.   "Momma Evans is this wise, Christian, dominant figure in his family.   You come into her presence and it felt like you were in the presence of God. She would tell you things about your life. It was almost a fearful  thing to come into her presence; at least for me it was  'Is she going to know something?' Then, my husband had this grandmother on  his father's side who is this very sweet, petite woman. She had the''  sweetest spirit you can imagine. And I have a grandmother on my  father's side who is very dominant. You couldn't be around her   unless you did it her way. So, I think this Momma Rose is a combination of those grandmother types that I have had personal experience with and what I perceive to be that grandmother type in the Black community. She knows a lot. She's wise and kind. And in this character, she seems intrusive 'at times, but really, everything she tells you is to benefit you and to help you along. And she doesn't like to just come out and give you the whole picture. She gives you tidbits to make you realize things along the way."
      The book also deals with the transformation of one of the characters from racist bigot to a caring human being. "When people  are confronted with something that doesn't meet their stereotype, are  they able to say  'Maybe I was wrong,'" Lucille said.  "'Maybe I should think about this in a different  way.'"
      And in some ways, it is about a personal journey with God.  "I didn't set out to make it a Christian novel at  all,"  Lucille said.  "But things came into play. When I started writing the novel, I think I was kind of far from God. Spiritually, I had replaced Him with other things. And that was being revealed to me through  the process of writing a novel.  As I was writing it, more of my relationship with God started coming into play and it just got into the novel."
      And most obviously, the story is about love: love of self,  love of others,  and love of God. And while Lucille didn't set out to write a Christian novel, one of the messages in the novel is that love does  emanate from God.  "I really wanted to bring out the message that you can be passionate and Christian at the same time," Lucille said.
      "Love Changes" is a thought provoking, easy reading journey into the issues of love, relationships, and truth.
      This fall,  "Love Changes" can be purchased at A mazon.com or at Lucille's website,  www. sherrylucille.com. It will also be available at local booksellers.
Sherry Lucille to publish her first novel  "Love Changes"
Journey's end
By Jonathan Gramling
     For Sherry Lucille, it's been a long journey that is soon to be over -- at least for now. Six years ago, she set out to write a novel. This fall,  "Love Changes" hits the stands. But  for Lucille, the story started a long time ago.
       Lucille is a natural-born storyteller. When she and her husband John take their annual pilgrimage to Mississippi, Lucille has pen and notebook in hand.  "I write stuff  about my life and how I'm feeling," Lucille said during an  interview at The Capital City Hues.
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