Northwood author’s story featured in new “Chicken Soup” book

(Cover Art for  “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Mom Knows Best.”)

By day, Martha Willey works as a library paraprofessional at Northwood schools. By night, she’s a published writer. In the fourth grade, Martha Willey was given an assignment that made her want to be a writer. She was told to write a letter about life as a new settler in the colonies. Willey wrote as if she was writing back to family in England. “I was hooked at that point. I just loved making things up and putting words on paper,” Willey said. Young Adult fiction is Willey’s go-to writing choice, even though most of her published work has been fiction. She enjoys the faster pace of it and the honesty it has. Just like in reality, young adults in books are trying to figure out where their place is in the world. “They tackle a lot of really intense subjects and it’s really interesting to read them,” Willey said. Of the seven anthologies she’s been published in, Willey’s favorite piece so far, “Puzzle Me This”, is in the new “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Mom Knows Best.” In this story, she reminisces on how crossword puzzles, although not her cup of tea, kept her close to her mother. For that, she is grateful to them. This particular story was very special to Willey. After losing her mom about a year ago, it meant a great deal for her to have this story published. “It was a very personal, fun time that we had doing these crossword puzzles,” Willey said. “It was really neat to know that a story about her was going to be published.”