Author Charlene Wexler’s Short Story ‘Into the Woods’ Published

CHICAGO - Feb. 10, 2014 - PRLog -- A woman goes looking for a lost cat in the woods near her home, and sees the environment with new eyes as the familiar becomes suddenly strange to her.

         Author Charlene Wexler’s essay on the subject, Into the Woods has been published on the British website Short Funny Cats Playing, http://www.guy-sports.com/humor/pictures/picture_cats_playing.htm#Into_the_Woods.

         Into the Woods details what happens when a woman’s attempt to find her cat is interrupted by a fox, coyotes, a doe, and twilight.

         “The familiar can become unfamiliar very quickly,” Wexler said. “A walk in the woods can become frightening when you hear unfamiliar sounds as nightfall envelops you in darkness. But this story shows that one’s fright can become amusement in a second, and all’s well that ends well.”

         Wexler is known for short fiction and essays that examine life, love, and the tragedy and comedy of the human condition. Whether she is tackling fiction or essays, Wexler writes from the heart.

Native Chicagoan Wexler is a graduate of the University of Illinois. She has worked as a teacher and dental office bookkeeper and as “a wife, mom, and grandmother,” she said. In recent years, Wexler’s lifelong passion for writing has led her to write two books, numerous essays, and fiction.

Her work has appeared in several publications, including North Shore Magazine, the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry’s Vision magazine, Alpha Omegan magazine, and the Gazette newspaper of Chicago.

On the Web, Char’s work appears on nearly a dozen websites.

         Her first novel, Murder on Skid Row, received an Apex Award of Excellence from Communications Concepts in 2010. Wexler’s short story "Abracadabra Magic" received a "Very Highly Commended" rating in the AuthorsDen.com Tom Howard Prose Contest, 2009.

         Published as an e-book on Smashwords by Dailey Swan Publishing in November 2012, Milk and Oranges, Wexler’s second book, is a collection of fiction and essays. With a keen eye for detail and a way of looking at the world a bit sideways, Wexler’s writings in Milk and Oranges entertain while they make you think.

For Milk and Oranges, Wexler won a Grand Award in the 2012 Apex Awards competition sponsored by the writing and journalism think tank Communications Concepts of Springfield, VA, and a Bronze Award in the Women’s Issues Category in the eLit Book Awards competition sponsored by the publishing services firm Jenkins Group Inc. of Traverse City, MI.

         “I have always used writing as therapy,” Wexler said. “Now I have the time and opportunity to pursue it as a career.”

         Wexler is active with the Alpha Omega Dental Fraternity, the Authors Marketing Group, the Chicago Writers Association, Children’s Memorial Hospital philanthropy, Lungevity (an organization that fights lung cancer), the McHenry Bicycle Club, the Museum of Science and Industry, the National Council of Jewish Women, the Richmond IL Book Club, the Jewish United Fund, and the University of Illinois Alumni Association.

         She and her husband, dentist Dr. Sam Wexler, live in Richmond, IL. Her son, dentist Dr. Mike Wexler, daughter-in-law, and three granddaughters, live in Arizona.

         Her advice for other aspiring writers—even grandmothers like herself—is to “follow your dream. You can do it, and it’s never too late.”

         Into the Woods is accompanied on the Funny Cats Playing by the photograph Darkening Woods by photo artist Anne Nordhaus-Bike.

Wexler is available for writing assignments. E-mail info@charlenewexler.com, or call William S. Bike at ANB Communications at (773) 229-0024.