Former Ironton resident Carol Blankenship Cook recently completed her fifth book, “Why Didn’t Someone Tell Me?” It is scheduled for release in Texas.

The book is a compilation of short stories geared toward women and based on Cook’s life, which she described as tripping clumsily through marriage, parenthood and divorce, while attempting to age gracefully.”

After the book’s release, Cook will have signings in Texas, Tennessee and California and is working on a date to schedule a signing in Ohio. Ninety days after release, the book will be available as an e-book on Amazon.com.

In addition to “Why Didn’t Someone Tell Me?” Cook has written four books of poetry and is now working on her second book of short stories titled, “What Happened?”

Cook said she started writing when she was 10 years old after making friends a 4-H camp.

“Before goodbyes were made when camp ended, we promised to write,” Cook said. “And we did. I had five pen pals until age 16, then turned to journal writing.”

Cook continued keep journals, even after she married, and attended community college writing classes, workshops for writers and sold her work to magazines and newspapers.

“I used notes to write poetry and vignettes on people I met, events and places I traveled, publishing them where ever I could,” Cook said. “I often included poetry and short stories in the hundreds of letters I sent, over the course of 25 years, to my absent military husband. It wasn’t until my later years, once my children were grown and the burden of career lifted, that I became serious about writing and publishing.”

Cook attended Lawrence and Scioto County schools, graduating from Glenwood High School in New Boston. Her family, sister and cousins, live in the Lawrence and Scioto County areas. She now resides in Granbury, Texas, with her husband.