Today we’d like to introduce you to Coralyn “Cory” Barton.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I always enjoyed writing and making up stories even as a child. I also loved to read. I would look forward to library day at school, and once I had chosen a book, I would lose myself in the story and pretend I was one of the characters. I still have a bedtime storybook that my grandmother gave me for Christmas. To this day, it is one of my favorite books. I read it to my children when they were young. I remember when I was in high school, I started counseling young children at summer Bible camp. Each night, I would tell stories to my campers, and they didn’t want me to stop. They would beg for “one more story”. When I reached college, I had to write a story for one of my education courses. That story “Peter Proud Peacock” is one of the stories in my book CORY’S TALES. I then started a twenty-year career in Christian Education teaching lower elementary. I continued to write and would share my stories with my students. During those twenty years, I gained an understanding of the needs and challenges children had to face in their daily lives. My role as their teacher was to help their parents in the development of their children. As I look at today’s society and culture, the challenges for parents and their children are great. To me, CORY’S TALES is not merely a book of stories but a tool to help parents instill the Christian principles and values of obedience, self-esteem, kindness, compassion temperament, trust, and faith in their own children’s lives.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
No, it wasn’t a smooth road. There were obstacles to overcome.
Early on, I met a man who was interested in publishing my stories. As I was preparing the number of pages he requested, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Everything was put on hold as I had to have surgery, chemo, and radiation treatments.
When I was able to begin to write again, I fulfilled what was asked of me, but I soon learned the publisher did not have my best interest in mind. Decisions were made that I did not approve of, and I was extremely disappointed and discouraged by the situation. Six years passed, but I did not give up on my dream of having my book published the way I envisioned. Through Divine providence, I found Christian Faith Publishing who took on my book. CORY’S TALES is now in hardcover with full-color pictures created by my award-winning illustrator.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I handwrite all my stories. Bits and pieces at a time and when ideas come to me. At first, I wasn’t sure where I was going with them, and I felt there was something missing to bring them all together. My daughter suggested that I incorporate a couple of children into the stories. That was the missing element. Now my stories became “stories within stories”. The two children in my book are my own two children along with our dog they grew up with. As I stated earlier. I taught for twenty years in Christian Education. Today I work in the corporate world. Because of my husband’s ministry of being a Team Chaplain for professional sports teams, I have had the opportunity to lead classes for the players’ wives and girlfriends, to speak at Christian Education conventions and to speak at ladies’ lunches and retreats.
Today, my husband and I have two grandsons who love to hear the stories and look at the pictures in CORY’S TALES. My prayer is that as they grow up, they will be grounded in Christian principles as I was.
My Dad was a huge influence in my life. He loved my stories, and he always encouraged me to write. He had high hopes that one day I would publish a book. Just as he instilled Christian principles and values in my life, I want my book to help parents do the same for their children.
I am most proud of being able to have fulfilled my dad’s dream for me to have my stories published. To honor my dad, who passed away in 2000, I dedicated CORY’S TALES to him.
What’s next?
I plan to continue to write and have CORY’S TALES become a series. I would also like to record an audio version of CORY’S TALES.
Contact Info:
- Website: Christianfaithpublishing.com/books/?book=corys-tales
- Instagram: corystales
- Facebook: Cory’s Tales: Children’s Stories from God’s Creation
