HOWARD — An Apple Valley author’s story of an inspiring Mount Vernon shop clerk is included in the newest release from the “Chicken Soup” book series, “Chicken Soup for the Shopper’s Soul,” released during the holiday shopping season.

Irma Newland was also published in “Chicken Soup for the Recovering Soul: Daily Inspirations” in 2005, and one of her stories is tentatively scheduled for a “Chicken Soup” book of grandparents’ stories, to be released in 2007. A second story she submitted for the “Shopper’s” book got high marks from the editorial committee and may be included in a second edition.

Newland has been married to the Rev. Donald Newland for 51 years and is retired after 25 years of teaching elementary school and special education. The Rev. Newland is the former pastor of the Utica United Methodist Church, and also served churches in Medina County, Sunbury, Columbiana and Greensburg during his 35-year career. During that time, Irma Newland was a pianist and organist as well as a teacher. She has been the Dilley Funeral Service organist for 10 years and plays piano at Hopewell United Methodist Church, which the Newlands attend.

“I started writing about 10 years ago,” she said, “for my grandchildren. After I had written some children’s stories, I printed a book for them. I tried to get the stories published but it didn’t work, so I took a course on ‘how to get published’ at the Knox County Career Center.”

Brenda Nixon, the course instructor, who has six stories in the “Recovering” book, encouraged her students to submit their work to the editors of the “Chicken Soup” books.

Newland submitted a short piece on darkness and dawn. “Darkness is relentless in conquering everything in its path with negativity and hopelessness,” she wrote. But “Then the dawn quietly breaks through, gently overpowering its opponent .... A new life is born and the dawn is victorious. Darkness retreats with wounded spirit, mourning its loss and wondering how the gentleness of dawn can be so effective.”

Her story for the “Shopper’s” book — the subtitle of which is “Celebrating Bargains, Boutiques & the Perfect Pair of Shoes” — is a true one, set in a Mount Vernon collectibles shop Newland declines to name. It’s the story of Annie, an enthusiastic store clerk with a sunny disposition ... and a disability ... who made a deep impression on Newland. Annie has a knack for customer service, calling out, “Welcome to our store, where every customer is No. 1!” to every new arrival. She also possesses an eye for beauty and an ability to lift Newland’s spirits with her positive thinking and perpetual cheeriness.

Only later did Newland discover that Annie, at age 3, had fallen from the bed of a pickup truck, which had then run over her head. Her tiny skull was crushed and she sustained permanent disabilities.

The knowledge of Annie’s history put her zest for life into a whole new perspective for Newland, who decided to tell the story.

“What courage and character it took for Annie,” Newland wrote, “to undergo a lifetime of physical and emotional healing. Not only is she self-sufficient and independent today [but] Annie quietly advocates for persons with disabilities, serving on a number of committees, often in leadership roles. Now, when I walk into Annie’s store, I see much more than a clerk behind a counter. I remain in awe of her winning smile and enthusiastic attitude, especially when her feet are aching.”

Newland said she received three or four rejection slips as a result of submitting children’s stories to publishers, although she didn’t get discouraged.

“Then someone said my writing mode was more for adults than children. I was a little amazed,” although she took that advice to heart.

Newland continues to write, although she describes herself as undisciplined.

“I write when the spirit moves me,” she said. “I sit in my easy chair with my cup of coffee and write everything out from start to finish in longhand, before I forget. It flows from me to the paper.”

Although she said she’s not a poet, Newland — who has three sons, four grandchildren, three step-grandchildren and five step-great-grandchildren, wrote a poem about her granddaughter’s old teddy bear, rescued from a garage sale. The musical teddy bear plays “Jesus Loves Me” and was a favorite of granddaughter Michelle.

Over the holidays, Newland returned the bear to Michelle — now a junior in high school — with the poem, to remind her that the teddy bear was her friend when she was small and that, as she grew, the bear remained the same.

“If you sit down and turn my key and listen,” the poem goes, “perhaps you can be without a care, just a sweet little girl and a teddy bear.”

Newland plans to continue writing and said she has another children’s book in mind, a work of fiction based on her mother’s girlhood in Hungary and the United States.

“I like fiction better than non-fiction,” said Newland, “because my imagination can go all over the place. I don’t consider myself a professional writer, as such. I’ve only written since 1987, when I retired. But it’s fun. I love it.”