Interview with novelist Barbara Casey

Novelist Barbara Casey chats with me about her new paranormal book, Shyla’s Initiative.

As Barbara does her virtual book tour, she will be giving away a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too!

Bio:
Originally from Kane, Illinois, author/agent/publisher Barbara Casey attended the University of North Carolina, N.C. State University, and N.C. Wesleyan College where she received a BA degree, summa cum laude, with a double major in English and history.  In 1978 she left her position as Director of Public Relations and Vice President of Development at North Carolina Wesleyan College to write full time and develop her own manuscript evaluation and editorial service.  In 1995 she established the Barbara Casey Agency and since that time has represented authors from the United States, Great Britain, Canada, and Japan. In 2014, she became a partner with Strategic Media Books, an independent nonfiction publisher of true crime, where she oversees acquisitions, day-to-day operations, and book production.

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.

Welcome, Barbara. Please tell us about your current release.
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.

This is the situation Shyla finds herself in when she leaves her home in West Palm Beach and drives to Naples where she teaches a writing course each summer. 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.

What inspired you to write this book?
In Shyla’s Initiative I write about what Shyla experienced when she first visited a Botanica. That was based on my own experience when I lived in Florida several years ago and it was one of the things that inspired me to write this book.

Excerpt from Shyla’s Initiative:
According to the map, the street where the botanica was located shouldn’t be too hard to find. When she did find it, she was surprised at how innocuous it looked, positioned in a small strip shopping center between a dry cleaners and a Hispanic grocery. The word “Botanica” was painted in black on a small white board nailed above the door.

Upon entering the shop, her immediate reaction was to the variety of scents, at once strange and yet familiar. It was then that she noticed the confusion of colorful objects and shapes around her. Shelves heavy with candles, statues and other merchandise made crisscross pathways from the front of the shop to the back. Along the way tarot cards were offered in three languages: Spanish, English and French. Special soaps promised love, money, power, and the fulfillment of other desires.

Seventy-nine-cent perfumes in half-ounce bottles offered the fulfillment of other wishes. Herbs and flowers, both dried and fresh, were either stuck in water-filled containers or hanging from overhead rods. Mint, peppermint, lavender, rosemary, chamomile, rue, sage, pennyroyal, licorice, lovage, wormwood, feverfew, lemon balm—Shyla recognized them all. She pinched the dried lavender between her thumb and forefinger and smelled its calming aroma.

Carved wooden figures of all sizes were everywhere. Shyla gently fondled the colorful ilekes that were hanging on a nearby wall, enjoying the sensation on her fingers. They were the beads sanctified by the Santerian priest or priestess and believed to protect the wearer against evil. Then, in the farthest-most corner, Shyla paused in front of a large black cauldron. She knew what was in it before she even looked. The scented aerosol sprays and burning candles almost masked the stench of the decomposing goat’s head. Almost.

As though to answer her unspoken question, she heard someone say, “There is no evil in this place.” Shyla turned toward the man standing behind her. “I have been waiting for your visit.” The man, dressed in white, spoke to Shyla in Spanish. He must have come from the back of the shop, for Shyla hadn’t seen him when she arrived. “Come this way, please.” He smiled at Shyla and led her to a small room behind a drawn curtain. He motioned for Shyla to sit in the single wooden straight-back chair that was pushed to one side. The man then removed a brown leather box from a nearby table and sat on the floor, cross-legged. When he opened the lid on the box, Shyla could see several cowrie shells—sixteen in all. The man smiled at her again and then tossed the shells onto the floor. “The shells speak to me,” he said quietly. “They will give me the answers you seek.” Then he counted the shells that had landed face up. Again he smiled.

Several minutes later, wearing a strand of white ileke beads—purity of spirit, Shyla left the shop and walked back outside into the bright sunshine.

What exciting project are you working on next?
In addition to writing novels, I also write nonfiction. One of my nonfiction books—Kathryn Kelly, The Moll Behind Machine Gun Kelly—has just been optioned for film, and I have been working with the producer to move that project forward. Also, I wrote a young adult mystery/fantasy series—The F.I.G. Mysteries—that I completed last year with Book 5. The publisher of that series has asked me to write another series with different characters and story lines, so that is keeping me busy.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I have always loved to write, but I think when my first book was published was when I actually considered myself a writer. That book is out of print now, but since then I have gone on to write close to two dozen award-winning books which have been published. Five of those books and The F.I.G. Mysteries have been optioned for film.

Do you write full-time? If so, what’s your workday like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
I do write full-time, and my day usually starts at 4 in the morning. I have three loving and inquisitive rescue cats that I take care of first, after I have gotten ready for the day. Then I go right to my office and start working. I try to take care of any personal things I need to do and my emails and texts, but once I have that finished, I start writing. Mornings are my best time, and usually I will have a sheet of paper with handwritten notes of things to include on whatever book I am working on. These are things I thought of after I went to bed the night before.

I am not much of a breakfast person, so I usually drink one cup of coffee, and then take a break around 11 for an early lunch. I try to go outside and work in my flower beds for thirty minutes or so every day, because it seems to refocus my mind. After that I usually try to work for another hour or two before I shut down. I don’t like to push beyond that, because I know my writing won’t be as sharp if I do.

Every writer has their own method of writing, but I have found that having a fixed routine works best for me. The other thing is, I always have classical music playing in the background when I am writing. It keeps me inspired, and it is a signal to the cats that I am writing.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
Quite often, when I am just starting to form an idea for a new book, I will read a lot of poetry. I’m not sure why, but when I do, it seems to define the idea so that I know where I want to start and where I want to end.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
My father was an officer in the Marine Corps, so we moved every two or three years. I was exposed to so many different places and people, I don’t think I ever nailed down one single thing I wanted to do or be. Even when I attended the university, I wanted to take every subject that I had the slightest interest in and not just focus on one major. I think all of that was preparing me to be a writer.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
I just want to thank you for hosting and interviewing me, and for your interest in Shyla’s Initiative. And if you or any of your readers get a chance to read Shyla’s Initiative, or any of my other books, I would love to hear from you. The subject and belief of soul transference has been in different cultures ever since there were records kept. It is certainly interesting, and I hope readers will find it entertaining as well in Shyla’s Initiative.