'Your Story' Chapter 5 author: Tale is 'just pure love'

Kelly Urban, The Tribune-Democrat, Johnstown, Pa.
·2 min read

Dec. 24—Cathy Cicero believes The Tribune-Democrat's "Your Story" has a lot of heart.

"I love the story about the family and the little boy with the dog," said the Munster Township resident who submitted the winning fifth and final chapter of the reader-written serial. "It's just pure love. There's a lot of love in the family and in the story."

Cicero said she enjoyed that the story was a continuation of last year's holiday tale.

"It made it a series, and you cared about the characters," she said. "A whole year went by in everyone's lives. If you read a lot, you love stories that continue, so this was the next chapter in this little family's life."

Cicero has contributed a few chapters to the annual competition and had one selected as a winner last year.

"I'm thrilled and humbled to be chosen because the stories are all so good," she said. "The talent in the area is amazing. It showcases talent from people who normally don't write or share what they write."

Cicero said Chapter 4 left the door open with many possibilities on how the story could end.

"Once I sat down and started, it just kind of fell together," she said. "All of the chapters this year were amazing and they really connected, so where one person left off, there were so many opportunities for someone to pick it up and run with it. Everybody took a different spin."

When approaching the final chapter, Cicero said, there had to be a happy ending.

"It's a Christmas story, and we all want it to be happy and a sign of hope," she said. "In this story, there was sadness because the little girl was hurt, and David and Christy had tragedy in their life, but even with the difficulties in life you still need to have hope."

Cicero said she wrote the final chapter the night before the deadline.

"I tweaked it in the morning, but I sent it off because the more you look at it, the more you'll change," she said. "I told my husband I was writing it and I gave him the gist of what it was, but I didn't share it with other family members, so it'll be a surprise when they see it."

Cicero hopes to see "Your Story" continue.

"It's something that involves readers and connects the community," she said. "It's great to see people in your community writing and you're happy for them and excited that they get to share their craft."