Local author Nicole Copeland getting set to release her first non-fiction book

Brundidge native Nicole Copeland will be releasing the third book that she’s authored this February, called “Biscuits, Babies and Baptists.” 

Copeland described the book as part memoir, part family stories and part “random musings.” 

“The biggest thing is I didn’t want it to be like a lot of memoirs, where it’s so linear,” she said. “I’m not some kind of celebrity, so who wants to read just about my life? I decided to do it almost like short stories put together. I took stories from the people that shaped me, my school years, the people that were important to me, the setbacks and push throughs and all the funny stuff. I wanted to do it in a way that people wouldn’t get bored reading it.”

Copeland said there would be stories about many of the people that came through her life, like the first friend she ever made.

“The first friend I ever made in school is one of the nephews of Rep. John Lewis,” she said with a smile. “Here you have South Alabama, this little black boy and this little white girl and they become friends on the first day of school and 45 years later, we’re still friends. His wife, I call her my soul sister, is my go-to.” 

Copeland said that her book also describes the changes that go on all around us. 

“It shows how much things change, even in just this area,” she continued. “When I was little going to town get groceries was a big day. Now, everyone goes out and eats at a restaurant every day and may go to WalMart multiple times in a day or have their groceries delivered. It’s all different. I never thought some of the stores that came to Troy would come here. It shows even in small towns change happens over time.” 

Copeland said also wanted to keep the memories of her family alive through her stories.

“All my babies have of a lot of the family is stories,” she said. “It’s keeping my grandmama and my dad alive because they’re gone now. My babies and grand babies will never get to meet them but they’ll get to know them because I’m leaving this for them. All these different people in Pike County that have impacted me, whether alive or not, they’ll always be alive on that page. That’s something I get to leave for them.” 

Copeland previous published two books, “Ragamuffin” and “Beautifully Haunted,” both stories in her “Broken Doll Series.” This new work will be her first foray into non-fiction, however.

“It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time but I kept waiting because I didn’t feel like I was ready,” she said of doing her first non-fiction book. “After this last major illness, where I was in the ICU and being told by the nurse when I finally came to that they lost me a few times, it just sort of hit me that I’m ready now. 

“I’ve gone through all of these things; a car wreck where a trooper told me I probably shouldn’t have lived through it and a massive three-year fight to be able to walk again. Maybe there is a reason I’m still here and maybe that reason is for my daughter or my grand baby to say, ‘She kept all of these other people alive through her words.’ So, I think it was just time.” 

Copeland will release “Biscuits, Babies and Baptists” via Amazon in mid-February but will also premier the book at the Second Annual Opelika Book Festival on Feb. 22. 

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