March 10, 2006 edition of The Sedalia Democrat, Sedalia, MO

by Ron Jennings

Sometimes all it takes is a little nudge---or, in author Cindy Bauer's case, a direct challenge. Mrs. Bauer, 48, had always loved to write and kept mentioning that someday she would like to do a novel. But that day never came.

Finally, her older sister, Debra, asked her "Will I still be alive when you write this book?" That was in late 2004. On Sept. 18, 2005, Mrs. Bauer submitted "Chasing Memories" to Publish America. Three days later, she signed a contract.

A prologue explains that Laura Thompson's husband, Steven, was killed by a drunk driver, destroying the idyllic life they shared with their young daughter, Annie. As the novel begins two years later, mother and daughter are still working to get their lives back in order. Then, while clearing a neighbor's driveway of snow, Laura is seriously injured in an accident.

This time, instead of losing her husband, she loses her memory. She doesn't recognize Annie or recall her past. With the help of her daughter, her friend, Susan, and others, Laura strives to emerge from the fog of amnesia and reclaim her life.

"At first, I was going to call my novel 'The Memory Box,' because I have a great big one in which I keep mementos to remind me of special people in my life," she said. "I changed it to 'Chasing Memories' because 'The Memory Box' had already been taken."

Her heroine has a similar box, but it is put to a different purpose---one that she could never have foreseen. The book is the first in a planned trilogy, with the second novel scheduled to be released by the end of the year. Her sister, whose nagging question triggered it all, is Mrs. Bauer's editor and confidant.

"We don't have any kids, so I counted on (Debra's) help when it came to Annie," she said. Mrs. Bauer and her husband, Robert, lived in Sedalia from 1986 to 1987. They moved there from Phoenix to be close to her mother, a Warsaw resident who was dying of colon cancer.

Following her mother's death in 1988 her husband became a truck driver, and she went on the road with him. In 1990, they moved to Clinton, where Mrs. Bauer worked first for a nursing home and then for 11 years at the Rival Manufacturing Co. She has designed pages for The Clinton Daily Democrat since 2003.

The book retails for $19.95 and is available from several sources listed on her Web site, cindybauerbooks.com.

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