Ask the Author: Carlene Havel
Answered Questions (8)
Carlene Havel
Initially, we were work friends. Our friendship grew outside the office and just kept on going. At one point, we shared an office for 2-3 years. It was a converted barracks unit, just the right size for two desks and some bookcases. We kept casual visitors to a minimum by playing opera music, which Sharon and I enjoy. Apparently, not everyone does!
Carlene Havel
You can get dressed now, but don't leave yet. The radiologist wants to speak with you.
Carlene Havel
I've heard good things about Ingram Spark, but I've never used them. Most of my sales are ebooks. When I want printed books (paperbacks) I order them through Amazon/KDP. There's no minimum order, and I find the prices very reasonable. You will have to pay shipping, of course, making it less economical to order in small batches. I don't have pictures, which may be a difference that matters for printing.
Carlene Havel
If I ever encounter writer's block, I'll try to remember to take notes and let you know.
Carlene Havel
As I read through the familiar verses from the second chapter of Luke, the shepherds abiding in the fields captured my imagination. How amazed they were to receive Christ’s birth announcement from an angelic choir. What joy and hope they must have felt as they ran to the stable in Bethlehem. How did others react to their story afterwards? Was it possible people thought the shepherds drank too much wine? Or simply fabricated a fantastic story? And what if one of the shepherds had a child, a baby boy, who happened to be in Bethlehem when the soldiers came looking for the Christ child? A character took shape, a disappointed idealist, a man whose life and dreams were shattered early in his life. But suppose, after years of bitterness, this man was given another chance to believe? Maybe in his old age he and his wife were unexpectedly given another child to raise. What if…
Carlene Havel
Maybe not the best thing, but it's right up there: that look on someone's face just before you hear, "YOU wrote a book??"
Carlene Havel
Self-publishing and small presses make this a great time to be an author. It's important to listen to criticism, but equally important not to let rejections corrupt your inner vision. Never give up on your dreams.
Carlene Havel
I just finished a manuscript, and am ready to dig into the next one. I'm torn between several projects, leaning toward a romantic comedy involving a summer cruise. Other contenders are a memoir about my grandfather's remarkable life and the story of a slave girl living in the Roman Empire in the first century.
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