Ask the Author: Chele Pedersen Smith
Answered Questions (6)
Chele Pedersen Smith
I wrote The Pearly Gates Phone Company, which is about a mysterious phone call I got from Heaven! It also contains 32 other short anecdotes of blessings, crazy coincidences and mini-miracles.
In the 80s, I did write a story about a mystery that happened to me when I was a 20 year-old college student. I will publish it one day.
In the 80s, I did write a story about a mystery that happened to me when I was a 20 year-old college student. I will publish it one day.
Chele Pedersen Smith
Hogwarts would be cool, but probably scary. I'd have to pal up with Harry, Ron, and Hermoine for protection, and of course, win Dumbledore's favor.
Chele Pedersen Smith
Sharing a smile, her date punched in the coordinates on the GPS, then took her hand as she admired the roses in her lap. The computerized voice led the car to a park, and swerved into a huge flaming BBQ pit, its unhinged mouth swallowing them whole, as Annette looked down and realized the roses were black all along.
Chele Pedersen Smith
We can create our own world. It's like taking imaginary friends a step further! In Behind Frenemy Lines, it started as a chapter by chapter surprise for my husband. When I added backstories and began shaping the star players into solid characters, I carved Lee into someone very likable, but not perfect. Yet, I found him to be just right. I fell in love with him, and wanted him to romance me! I wanted my husband to take cues from Lee.
It's also great therapy. If something happens in my life, especially when I was a budding adult right out of High School, new to experiences, it had a way of worming into my writing. I got fired from a fast food restaurant, but it was a misunderstanding. I was helping the elderly customer decide on a combo meal or single item, but the manager thought I was being slow. I cried on my walk home; it hurt my young feelings! Well, it happened to Sherri, my main character in a teen mystery series, and it helped me deal with the unfair situation.
Being a writer means having a special way of seeing incidents around me. I can turn an ordinary errand, such as potted trees being replaced in our Disney hotel rooms, or automated phone calls from our town power company about a 3 a.m. outage to replace transformers, into suspicious events. Read my book to see how they play out.
It's also great therapy. If something happens in my life, especially when I was a budding adult right out of High School, new to experiences, it had a way of worming into my writing. I got fired from a fast food restaurant, but it was a misunderstanding. I was helping the elderly customer decide on a combo meal or single item, but the manager thought I was being slow. I cried on my walk home; it hurt my young feelings! Well, it happened to Sherri, my main character in a teen mystery series, and it helped me deal with the unfair situation.
Being a writer means having a special way of seeing incidents around me. I can turn an ordinary errand, such as potted trees being replaced in our Disney hotel rooms, or automated phone calls from our town power company about a 3 a.m. outage to replace transformers, into suspicious events. Read my book to see how they play out.
Chele Pedersen Smith
Usually, it starts with real life. Sometimes it's something I've gone through, which is great therapy, like when I got fired from my first job at a fast food restaurant. I was eighteen and hurt because it was unwarranted, just a misconstrued view on the manager's part as I was helping an elderly man figure out the difference between ordering single pieces of fried chicken or a combo meal. The trauma found its way into a Sherri Whitman story, a series I've written since junior high,
Other times it's little happenings that make me suspicious and I imagine what if...
At Disney two years ago, maintenance staff suddenly had to swap out potted trees in each suite. I thought it was odd and would make a great plot. You'll find out what transpires with that in Behind Frenemy Lines...
Other times it's little happenings that make me suspicious and I imagine what if...
At Disney two years ago, maintenance staff suddenly had to swap out potted trees in each suite. I thought it was odd and would make a great plot. You'll find out what transpires with that in Behind Frenemy Lines...
Chele Pedersen Smith
My next book, "The Pearly Gates Phone Company," is a creative non-fiction collection of spiritual shorts, and it's just about to hit the Kindle circuit. I'm in the tedious process of editing through Grammarly. Once it's published electronically, I will have my cover artist Steven adjust for a paperback edition.
Have you had little miracles happen in your life? Maybe even momentous events? About fifteen years ago, I started writing about these awesome, unusual coincidences I experienced, trying to get into a Christian magazine that prints these sort of things. But one by one, they kept shooting me down. This book materialized out of this rejection. One day I noticed my efforts were racking up quite a collection. I polished each one, transforming them with the best makeover my revision OCD could give. Then I wrote a bunch more and asked friends and family if they had any awe-inspiring moments of their own. Several told me their amazing stories and I wrote them in as well. Some are pretty big!
I'm back to fictional novels after Pearly Gates is complete. I have one that is half-done. I was working on it before Behind Frenemy Lines barged into my head and took over. It's pretty juicy too.
Have you had little miracles happen in your life? Maybe even momentous events? About fifteen years ago, I started writing about these awesome, unusual coincidences I experienced, trying to get into a Christian magazine that prints these sort of things. But one by one, they kept shooting me down. This book materialized out of this rejection. One day I noticed my efforts were racking up quite a collection. I polished each one, transforming them with the best makeover my revision OCD could give. Then I wrote a bunch more and asked friends and family if they had any awe-inspiring moments of their own. Several told me their amazing stories and I wrote them in as well. Some are pretty big!
I'm back to fictional novels after Pearly Gates is complete. I have one that is half-done. I was working on it before Behind Frenemy Lines barged into my head and took over. It's pretty juicy too.
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