Posted: Saturday, March 16, 2013 11:53 pm
By Brooke VanCleave St. Joseph News-Press |0 comments
Julie Casey is a woman of many talents.
The Union Star, Mo., resident is a former teacher, a wife, a home schooling mother, a historical re-enactor, a wildlife rehabilitator, a herpetological society officer and manager of numerous websites. About three years ago, she added published author to the list.
“I’d been thinking about all these ideas for years and years and years, and I thought, ‘Well, I might as well get them down on paper,’ and so I made them into a book,” Ms. Casey says of her decision to start writing.
Her first book, “Stop Beating the Dead Horse,” is a nonfiction exploration of problems within the public school system and how they could be resolved. Her second is a short humorous novella called “In Daddy’s Hands.” Both of these books were self-published through a free online publishing service.
Ms. Casey’s third book will be published in April. Titled “How I Became a Teenage Survivalist,” it follows the story of a rural Missouri teenager and his family as they cope with the effects of a solar superstorm that has knocked out the world’s power grids. However, she assures readers that this post-apocalyptic tale is different from others in the science fiction genre.
By Brooke VanCleave St. Joseph News-Press |0 comments
Julie Casey is a woman of many talents.
The Union Star, Mo., resident is a former teacher, a wife, a home schooling mother, a historical re-enactor, a wildlife rehabilitator, a herpetological society officer and manager of numerous websites. About three years ago, she added published author to the list.
“I’d been thinking about all these ideas for years and years and years, and I thought, ‘Well, I might as well get them down on paper,’ and so I made them into a book,” Ms. Casey says of her decision to start writing.
Her first book, “Stop Beating the Dead Horse,” is a nonfiction exploration of problems within the public school system and how they could be resolved. Her second is a short humorous novella called “In Daddy’s Hands.” Both of these books were self-published through a free online publishing service.
Ms. Casey’s third book will be published in April. Titled “How I Became a Teenage Survivalist,” it follows the story of a rural Missouri teenager and his family as they cope with the effects of a solar superstorm that has knocked out the world’s power grids. However, she assures readers that this post-apocalyptic tale is different from others in the science fiction genre.
“I was just thinking about how post-apocalyptic novels are usually so sad and just like, the world is gonna be terrible,” Ms. Casey says. “And in my novel, terrible things happen, but overall it’s a positive thing, you know — we can go on, we can work together, we can get through it.”
Survivalism is the practice of fending for oneself in the wilderness without electricity or modern technology. Although she doesn’t consider herself a survivalist, Ms. Casey says many people called preppers practice a form of survivalism by preparing their families for the chance that a catastrophic event could happen soon.
The idea for the book started with a national writing event Ms. Casey participated in during November 2011. National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, is an annual event encouraging participants to complete a novel between Nov. 1 and Nov. 30. She says it only took her 22 days to finish the story.
“This one just kind of flowed out of me like it had been in there ready to be put down on paper. I don’t know where it came from. I’d wake up every morning and have no idea where it was going, put my fingers on the keyboard and it just flowed out,” she says.
She says she did a lot of research to ensure that the events taking place in the story could potentially happen in real life, and that she represented those events truthfully.
“If the power grid is down, life is going to be really hard. There would be no communication, no medicine, no manufacturing, no way to keep our society afloat,” she says. Despite all this, her characters find a way to keep positive and thrive.
Once published, readers can purchase the novel through online retailers like Amazon and Barnes and Noble, and Ms. Casey hopes it will eventually fill local bookstore and library shelves.
Ms. Casey is available to give presentations about writing and publishing to school groups, libraries and other organizations. To learn more about her life, her writings or to schedule a presentation, visit www.teenagesurvivalist.com or contact her at www.julielcasey.com.
Read more here: Local Author Set to Publish Third Book
Survivalism is the practice of fending for oneself in the wilderness without electricity or modern technology. Although she doesn’t consider herself a survivalist, Ms. Casey says many people called preppers practice a form of survivalism by preparing their families for the chance that a catastrophic event could happen soon.
The idea for the book started with a national writing event Ms. Casey participated in during November 2011. National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, is an annual event encouraging participants to complete a novel between Nov. 1 and Nov. 30. She says it only took her 22 days to finish the story.
“This one just kind of flowed out of me like it had been in there ready to be put down on paper. I don’t know where it came from. I’d wake up every morning and have no idea where it was going, put my fingers on the keyboard and it just flowed out,” she says.
She says she did a lot of research to ensure that the events taking place in the story could potentially happen in real life, and that she represented those events truthfully.
“If the power grid is down, life is going to be really hard. There would be no communication, no medicine, no manufacturing, no way to keep our society afloat,” she says. Despite all this, her characters find a way to keep positive and thrive.
Once published, readers can purchase the novel through online retailers like Amazon and Barnes and Noble, and Ms. Casey hopes it will eventually fill local bookstore and library shelves.
Ms. Casey is available to give presentations about writing and publishing to school groups, libraries and other organizations. To learn more about her life, her writings or to schedule a presentation, visit www.teenagesurvivalist.com or contact her at www.julielcasey.com.
Read more here: Local Author Set to Publish Third Book
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