Novelist overcomes illiteracy, brain tumor to publish novel
By Meg Hibbert
When Jiffy Day played football for Galax High School, he could barely read and write so he resorted to having to “fight, flee or be funny.” After having a golf-ball size tumor removed from the front lobe of his brain, the Christiansburg resident found the confidence to fulfil his dream of publishing his first novel.
“The Growing Season” takes readers on a nostalgic journey to the magical summer of ’64, from fried chicken gizzards for lunch at Wade’s grocery store and afternoons at Ray’s Restaurant to warm evenings on Delp’s Beach and forbidden love at Pot Rock on the banks of Crooked Creek.
Drugs, drama and deliverance are key elements in “The Growing Season.” A white high school boy experiences the pain of first love with a stunningly beautiful black girl at a time when their relationship was not accepted. Ten years later they meet again when Zach invites his Vietnam War buddy Tim to spend the summer with him learning the dangerous business of raising high-quality marijuana for sale up north. Their friend, Bobby, who has become a Christian, goes through his own spiritual growth season, guided by the grandmother who raised him.
Day, who is now 67, was able to transfer his thoughts into writing by laboriously dictating his novel into a speech-recognition computer program. He describes himself as a story teller, not a writer: “There was no such thing as a learning disability when I went to school. If you could not read or write and were bigger than most of the kids, you had to resort to what I call the three F’s: fight, flee, or be funny, and, sometimes, none of them worked, so I was fighting a whole lot and grew up with the reputation of being a bully. My school years were the worst years of my life. I’m sure you will remember me from high school. I was the one that your mothers and fathers told you to stay away from.”
A reviewer who gave Day a five-star review wrote on Amazon.com: “Jiffy Day takes you back to the drugs, drama, and first love in a season of growing and changing. Zach, a white boy, has fallen in love with Piper, a black girl, in a time and place before this was accepted. Their love story intertwines throughout this story of the growing season: growing love, growing marijuana, and growing relationships.
…If you lived in Southwest Virginia during (the ’60s and ’70s,) you'll recognize places where events took place. If you haven't seen the area, you'll wish to come visit. From the mountains to the fishing holes to the sights and sounds of Zach's hometown, you'll feel a part of the story and won't be able to put the book down.
… Will Zach and Piper get together? Will Bobby find his way down the path his grandmother has pointed out toward Christianity? You'll have to pick up this book to find out.”
EDITORS: For more information or to set up interviews about “The Growing Season,” contact author Jiffy Day at JiffyDay.com, by email at jiffyday@gmail.comor by phone at 540-320-8909.
By Meg Hibbert
When Jiffy Day played football for Galax High School, he could barely read and write so he resorted to having to “fight, flee or be funny.” After having a golf-ball size tumor removed from the front lobe of his brain, the Christiansburg resident found the confidence to fulfil his dream of publishing his first novel.
“The Growing Season” takes readers on a nostalgic journey to the magical summer of ’64, from fried chicken gizzards for lunch at Wade’s grocery store and afternoons at Ray’s Restaurant to warm evenings on Delp’s Beach and forbidden love at Pot Rock on the banks of Crooked Creek.
Drugs, drama and deliverance are key elements in “The Growing Season.” A white high school boy experiences the pain of first love with a stunningly beautiful black girl at a time when their relationship was not accepted. Ten years later they meet again when Zach invites his Vietnam War buddy Tim to spend the summer with him learning the dangerous business of raising high-quality marijuana for sale up north. Their friend, Bobby, who has become a Christian, goes through his own spiritual growth season, guided by the grandmother who raised him.
Day, who is now 67, was able to transfer his thoughts into writing by laboriously dictating his novel into a speech-recognition computer program. He describes himself as a story teller, not a writer: “There was no such thing as a learning disability when I went to school. If you could not read or write and were bigger than most of the kids, you had to resort to what I call the three F’s: fight, flee, or be funny, and, sometimes, none of them worked, so I was fighting a whole lot and grew up with the reputation of being a bully. My school years were the worst years of my life. I’m sure you will remember me from high school. I was the one that your mothers and fathers told you to stay away from.”
A reviewer who gave Day a five-star review wrote on Amazon.com: “Jiffy Day takes you back to the drugs, drama, and first love in a season of growing and changing. Zach, a white boy, has fallen in love with Piper, a black girl, in a time and place before this was accepted. Their love story intertwines throughout this story of the growing season: growing love, growing marijuana, and growing relationships.
…If you lived in Southwest Virginia during (the ’60s and ’70s,) you'll recognize places where events took place. If you haven't seen the area, you'll wish to come visit. From the mountains to the fishing holes to the sights and sounds of Zach's hometown, you'll feel a part of the story and won't be able to put the book down.
… Will Zach and Piper get together? Will Bobby find his way down the path his grandmother has pointed out toward Christianity? You'll have to pick up this book to find out.”
EDITORS: For more information or to set up interviews about “The Growing Season,” contact author Jiffy Day at JiffyDay.com, by email at jiffyday@gmail.comor by phone at 540-320-8909.
Posted: Saturday, January 23, 2016 6:30 am
By Travis Williamstravis.williams@roanoke.com 381-1643
CHRISTIANSBURG — Jiffy Day said he thought God was joking when he experienced a vision in 1970 predicting he would one day be a novelist.
“I didn’t finish ninth grade. I couldn’t read or write,” said the now 67-year-old retiree.
His illiteracy, combined with his hard-nosed nature and habitual marijuana use, left him with little hope of ever fulfilling that dream.
But the diagnosis of a brain tumor three years ago changed that and now Day says his self-published book, “The Growing Season,” marks both the completion of a personal journey and a blessing from a higher power.
“I’m telling you, it’s from God. What I did to deserve it, I don’t know,” Day said.
Prior to dropping out of school, Day attended Galax High School, where he said as a large, illiterate teen, he experienced some of the worst years of his life. Following school he spent time riding in a motorcycle club in Richmond and doing missionary work in Mexico before eventually meeting his wife and settling down in Christiansburg in 1975.
Day said because the job application paperwork was repetitive, he was able to get a position in fabrication with Hubble Lighting and worked there for 28 years.
He said his life took a turn three years ago when he found himself unable to complete sentences while on vacation in North Myrtle Beach. Tests would later reveal Day to have a noncancerous golf ball size tumor on his left frontal lobe and following its removal and after giving up drug use, Day said he finally had the confidence to create his story.
Still unable to read or write, Day began to research other ways to dictate the story he wanted to tell and eventually decided to purchase Dragon speech recognition software, which types words as a user speaks into a microphone.
The only problem was that Day was also very computer illiterate, so he called Best Buy’s technical support team, Geek Squad, and computer technician Josh Gordon came to his aid.
“The extent of his computer knowledge was literally he knew how to turn it on,” Gordon said.
Gordon said he visited Day’s home at least a dozen times during the next year to assist Day with software and computer basics.
He said during that time it was humbling to be able to help Day’s dream of writing a book become a reality.
Speaking into the computer, Day completed hundreds of pages of text, which would eventually be trimmed into the 180-page book that details an interracial romance during the 1960s and ’70s in Southwest Virginia.
Day said he simply stuck to the philosophy “write what you know about,” and included many of the local venues, such as Ray’s Restaurant in Floyd and the Dairy Bar in Galax, he’d grown up with.
It also includes many of the tales either he or his friends experienced during that era.
“The names have been changed to project the guilty,” Day joked.
Meg Hibbert, a former newspaper writer, served as the developing editor for Day’s book and confirmed the author was basically illiterate. She said while “The Growing Season” might not win awards, she thought the project turned out quite well for the first-time author.
“He’s really gifted at capturing the local people of Southwest Virginia, the people and places,” Hibbert said.
Day said he chose to self-publish to give himself more creative freedom with the work and has books for sale in several local stores and through Amazon.com.
Day said he is currently working on a sequel and that he would eventually like to write a third novel to complete a trilogy.
