Talking with author Barbara Casey
Tell us about your latest book, who are the main characters and what we can expect when we pick it up.
Shyla’s Initiative revolves around
35-year-old novelist, Shyla Wishon, widowed for several years, and recently
remarried to Carl Cores. Her marriage to Carl doesn’t prove to be what she was
expecting. Even though she tries to make it a success, her overbearing
mother-in-law, the loss of her privacy and writing time because of Carl’s
relatives constantly visiting them in West Palm, Florida, and the hostility of
Carl’s two grown daughters from his previous marriage start to take a toll.
This becomes irreparable after she catches Carl making love to his co-worker
when she stops by his office on her way to Naples, Florida.
Every summer Shyla teaches a writing
course in Naples, and on the way there, with the image of Carl and another
woman flashing through her mind, she is involved in a terrible car accident
where another young woman is killed. What she doesn’t know is that she has been
chosen to become the head priestess for an ancient religion. Since the
beginning of time, this position has been passed down from mother to daughter
until now when it was discovered that the daughter who should inherit the
position is dying. Through soul transference, it is Shyla who will become head
priestess.
In writing about the ancient
religion Regla de Ocha and soul transference, I did a lot of research
that included interviewing Santerian priests, attending a religious ceremony,
and visiting a botanica. It was fascinating, and I walked away knowing I had to
write Shyla’s Initiative.
Taking the story from a concept to a published book is a long and
involved process. How does that usually work for you?
I am fortunate in that
I work primarily with three publishers: one publishes my nonfiction books, one
publishes my fiction, and the third publishes my young adult mystery series.
They have been publishing my work for so long now that we know what to expect
of each other, what is needed, and when. I have a good working relationship
with all three.
Which of your books would you recommend for readers to choose first if
they’re new to you and your books?
Other than The F.I.G. Mysteries, which is my five-book
young adult mystery series, all of my novels and nonfiction are stand alone.
And they are all different. All readers have their own likes and dislikes in
books, so for anyone interested, I would suggest they visit my website at www.barbaracaseyauthor.com
where they can read the descriptions of my books. That way they can decide if
anything in particular interests them.
We are very curious about your writing process. What is a typical
writing day like for you?
I have always been a morning person, so I start usually
around 4 every morning. After I get ready for the day and take care of my three
cats, I am usually in my office and ready to start working by 5 or 5:30. I will
write all morning and stop around 11 for an early lunch since I really don’t
like breakfast that much. Then I usually go putter around outside in my flower
gardens or picking up sticks (there are a lot of trees around my home) for an
hour or so and then go back and work for another couple of hours. I stop
early—usually around 3 or 4, because I know better than push beyond that. My
brain just won’t cooperate. I eat a light supper and then read until 9 or 10
before I turn off the light. It isn’t the most exciting day, but I love to
write, and I love my home, so it works for me.
What trope have you not written yet but want to?
The publisher who publishes The F.I.G. Mysteries has
asked me to write a new series—different characters and storylines from the
F.I.G.s. I am in the process now of writing the first book in that new series,
and it is very different from anything I have written before. It is
challenging, and I hope to be able to get the results I want.
Can you discuss any upcoming projects or books that you're currently
working on? What can readers expect from your future works?
In addition to the new series I am starting, I have just
completed another adult novel that involves AI and once again required a lot of
research. Also, five of my books have been optioned for film. One is already in
development, and I am working with the producer to help move that project
forward. This is a new experience for me, it is exciting just to think about,
and I really am enjoying the entire process.
BLURB:
Thirty-five-year-old novelist, Shyla Wishon, fears
that her life is spinning out of control since her recent marriage to Carl
Cores. First, her overbearing new mother-in-law moves to Florida in order to be
close to her son, followed by a steady stream of visiting relatives who become
a constant intrusion on what was once her time to write. To make matters worse,
Carl’s two grown daughters refuse to have anything to do with her, and even
though Carl has a good job, bills are starting to pile up.
Shyla tries to cheerfully accept the
responsibilities that come with a new marriage and the inevitable adjustments,
but the stress is leaving her with constant migraines, a lack of energy, and,
worst of all, a loss of creativity.
Shyla leaves her home in West Palm Beach to spend
two weeks in Naples where she teaches creative writing each summer at the Ibis
Institute of Writing. When she arrives, her friend, Jayne Sinclare, president
of Ibis, invites Shyla to join her for lunch. Mariela Fanjul, whose family has
just donated $100,000 to the Institute, and the Fanjul family attorney, Terry
Sawyer, who is a big fan of Shyla’s published work, are also invited. Mariela
Fanjul has signed up for Shyla’s course, and is writing a novel based on her
family’s Cuban heritage and their Santerian beliefs.
As Shyla works with Mariela, she becomes entangled
in the ancient Regla de Ocha involving soul transference and animal sacrifice.
It is through these beliefs and a remarkable series of events that eventually
allow Shyla to escape her present life and become a totally new person.
Excerpt One:
As it was in the beginning, it had always been; and so it was now. Four
people, three men and a woman, made their way single file on the stone path
that marked its way through the dense foliage of flowering hibiscus and
oleander, large crotons, and sweet-scented lantana. Some of plantings were
large, some of them small; some of them grew in wild abandon, others in
cultivated rows. The plants had been carefully selected, as had each stone, and
brought together at this place in this form and pattern for the sole purpose of
pleasing the orishas, those emissaries who ruled over every force of nature and
every aspect of human life.
At the end of the path the four people came to a clearing surrounded by
cypress trees, tall and aged. This is where the altar stood. It was that time
of day when things appeared diminished in definition and somewhat muted. Colors
were no longer distinct, having faded into indistinguishable earth tones. Birds
ceased their song, other creatures simply paused as though listening and
waiting for the unfolding events of night; and like the disappearing sun far
off in the horizon, everything was suddenly less visible. It was dusk.
Miguel, because he was the oldest of the three men, spread the white
cloth on the flat stone in front of the altar. Juan lit four white candles, one
candle for each of them. Jesus reverently arranged the special fruits and
vegetables for the ceremony, pausing in silence between placements. Each
offering had been specifically chosen for a particular god. The old woman,
dressed in black with an assortment of colored beads around her neck, remained
in the background, swaying slightly, her head upturned, uttering words in
prayer. Maria Santiago Fanjul was the high priestess of Regla de Ocha, that
most ancient of African religions from which began Santeria. Known simply as
“The Guardian” to those who believed, she and she alone held the sum total of
the knowledge, given to her by her mother, just as her mother had received it
from her mother before her. That was the way it had always been. It was the
only way.
These four had come once again to petition the orishas. Unless they
received an answer to their petition, there would be no more ceremonies, no
more oral traditions to pass down, no more Regla de Ocha. Maria was old; soon
she would pass. According to the traditions of Regla de Ocha it was time for
her to give her knowledge and wisdom—the inheritance—to another female related
to her by blood. It was through this oral transference, the passing of
knowledge from woman to woman, that Regla de Ocha was kept alive, as it had
always been since the beginning of time.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Ms. Casey has written close to two dozen award-winning books of fiction and nonfiction for both young adults and adults. The awards include the National Association of University Women Literary Award, the Sir Walter Raleigh Literary Award, the Independent Publisher Book Award, the Dana Award for Outstanding Novel, the IPPY Best Book for Regional Fiction, the Book Excellence Award, among others. Several of her books have been optioned for major films.
Her award-winning articles, short stories, and poetry for adults have appeared in both national and international publications including the North Carolina Christian Advocate Magazine, The New East Magazine, the Raleigh (N.C.) News and Observer, the Rocky Mount (N.C.) Sunday Telegram, Dog Fancy, ByLine, The Christian Record, Skirt! Magazine, and True Story. A thirty-minute television special which Ms. Casey wrote and coordinated was broadcast on WRAL, Channel 5, in Raleigh, North Carolina. She also received special recognition for her editorial work on the English translations of Albanian children’s stories. Her award-winning science fiction short stories for adults are featured in The Cosmic Unicorn and CrossTime science fiction anthologies. Ms. Casey's essays and other works appear in The Chrysalis Reader, the international literary journal of the Swedenborg Foundation, 221 One-Minute Monologues from Literature (Smith and Kraus Publishers), and A Cup of Comfort (Adams Media Corporation).
Ms.
Casey is a former director of BookFest of the Palm Beaches, Florida, where she
served as guest author and panelist. She
has served as judge for the Pathfinder Literary Awards in Palm Beach and Martin
Counties, Florida, and was the Florida Regional Advisor for the Society of
Children's Book Writers and Illustrators from 1991 through 2003. In 2018 Ms. Casey received the prestigious
Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award and Top Professional Award for
her extensive experience and notable accomplishments in the field of publishing
and other areas. She makes her home on the top of a mountain in northwest
Georgia with three cats who adopted her: Homer, Reese, and Earl Gray - Reese’s
best friend.
http://www.barbaracaseyauthor.com
2 comments:
Thank you for hosting me and your interest in my book SHYLA'S INITIATIVE. I wish you all my best. ~Barbara
Thank you so much for featuring SHYLA'S INITIATIVE today.
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