Late in the summer of 2008 my husband and I were watching an
episode of Inside the Actors Studio. Host James Lipton was interviewing Clint
Eastwood. This multi-talented man fascinated us. After the interview was over,
we chatted about how amazing it would be to invite him over for dinner and get
to know him. The obvious problem: how to contact Clint Eastwood? Next obvious
problem: if we could call him on the phone, what would compel him to want to
have dinner with complete strangers? Sidestepping these crucial issues, it
didn’t take long for the plan to evolve. It also didn’t take long to realize
that it would be preferable to go to his house for dinner. After all, he lived
in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California and likely had a better cook than me.
At the same time, I spent the first week my kids were back
in school perfecting my domestic goddess-ness and realized I was as good at it
as I wanted to get. There was something else I wanted to do more – write. I fired
up my laptop and started writing. I didn’t have a strategy, hadn’t jotted down
an outline or done any research. I also had zero contacts and resources. All I
had was plain old-fashion gumption. Honest to Betsy, it never occurred to me
that I couldn’t write a book.
It was also completely obvious to me to borrow from reality
and write a book about encountering a long admired celebrity. Mirroring real
life, there would have to be plenty of twists and turns. However, in the
fantasy world, we can make incredible things happen. I needed people, loads of interesting
and entertaining people who could make such a feat happen!
Let’s face it, we want it all. We want romance. We want to
be a part of a group of friends who grew up and grow old together. We want to
travel. We want to eat good food and drink great wine. We want to wear fabulous
clothes! So, how to get it all in one book?
Charlotte, her BFF’s, a
celebrity, and a handsome Irishman!
I like to think of myself as mostly normal, so I feel
comfortable representing all women,
when I say that we know we’ve found a real friend when we don’t worry about the
state of our house when they stop by. We are really good friends if we’ll
change our clothes in front of each other. We know we are Besties if when we
really mess up, the other person may be really angry, but needs our own special
brand of crazy in order to feel like life is do-able. Oh! And the most
important factor: laughter. All of us want someone we can belly laugh with.
Charlotte, Hillary, Tiziana, Kathleen and Marian are such a
village. These five women have history, have bled for each other, talked each
other in and out of bad and good situations. Let each other be real.
Fortunately for us these vivacious women are scattered around the globe, giving
us the opportunity to travel to exciting places, where they meet up, drink up,
and get into a little trouble.
We also have Des Bannerman, the King of Romantic Comedies in
Charlotte’s Restrained. Des Bannerman
is my vision of a mega star. A decade into his career he is riding the wave of
major-motion picture success. He’s the go to man for chick flicks. Des
Bannerman started out with a really big dream, but has become a little jaded by
all the glitz and glory, and lives a life surrounded by people he trusts, but
doesn’t really get to meet new people, because how does he meet them and who
can he trust?
Pivotal to the story, is Liam Molloy, the Irishman who
steals Charlotte’s heart. Liam has many things going for him; he’s gorgeous (of
course), he’s the source of envy (providing many opportunities for the ladies
to banter about men and “love”), and he has a great sense of humor. To be
honest, I borrowed from reality again, the banter between Charlotte and Liam is
much like mine and my husbands.
What makes a compelling story?
Beneath it all, I believe that we thrive when we know we are
a part of a village. No one person can give us everything we need, BUT when we
have a village we have everything! Friends, lovers, pets, children, frenemies,
co-workers, all provide us with opportunities to grow and love. The most
successful tales take place in the village concept.
To make the village happen in Charlotte’s Restrained, we are blessed with the opportunity to
travel to London, Rome, New York, Dublin, and Saint Tropez. Amongst the many
benefits of all this travel is that we get to see and feel the tempo of life in
different parts of the world – we eat and drink foods that may be new and
unique, we walk down streets ladened with history and float on oceans that are
azure blue.
Me!
I love getting to know authors, most of those that I’ve
reached out to have been amazingly accessible and supportive. You can learn as
much about me as you can stomach at www.celiakennedy.weebly.com
or on Twitter (@KennedyCelia), Facebook (Celia Kennedy, Author). On my website
there are links to my blog WomanReinventsSelf. That’s where you read the good,
the bad and the ugly!
If you look for me on Pinterest (http://www.pinterest.com/celiakennedy)
you will find boards that I have created for Charlotte’s Restrained, Venus
Rising, and my current work-in-progress, Kathleen’s Undressed (a sequel to Charlotte’s Restrained).
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