By ALANA RAYMAN
Author Jane Bedard, who grew up in the Beach, has taken her experience of transitioning from a working mom to a stay-at-home mom and turned it into the book There’s No Place Like Home.
Bedard, who has a B.A. in English, loved working as a copywriter but felt she could never find the time she wanted to commit to her passions and her family.
It was then that she decided to quit her job to be a full-time stay-at-home mom.
“People would ask me what do you do with your time, or what do you do with all that time on your hands,” said Bedard.
She used some of that time to write There’s No Place Like Home.
“The best feeling is when I get feedback from the readers at book clubs and they relate to my story by telling their own,” said Bedard.
She has deep roots in the community, having grown up in the Beach, attended Malvern Collegiate and been a member of many sports clubs. She now lives in Pelham in the Niagara region.
Bedard also loves doing outdoor activities with her husband and two boys.
“The Beach is a great place for a story to take place as it’s such a vibrant community, with lots of friends you grow up with. I didn’t have a lot of time to research and it was my first story. They always say write what you know, so I choose the most relatable thing,” said Bedard.
Her family were a huge inspiration for the book. “My family has always been very funny and as a society, we look for the funny in everything,” she said.
Bedard looks back at growing up in the Beach with fondness. She said the Beach is “a really great neighbourhood that was a tight-knit, small community. I knew everybody and you would walk down the street and say ‘Hi.’”
Bedard also has experience teaching elementary school English and French, and advised that you can learn a lot from your students and your kids.
“They are a fun and engaging bunch, you have to keep them motivated. I’ve always been very passionate about language, reading and books. It’s a very rewarding career,” she said.
There’s No Place Like Home is a self-published book available through Book City and online at https://books.friesenpress.com/sto
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