Today we’d like to introduce you to Donna Casselman.
Hi Donna, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
When the profession I worked in offered opportunities for travel, I took advantage of this and traveled throughout the U.S.A., Canada and Far East. Doing so exposed me to many different geographies, people, cultures and languages and helped me to more appreciate my own home and culture. An avid reader from a young age, I have read many genres but grew to like fantasy and science fiction best. Artistic from a young age, I dabbled in art, played piano and sang for many years, produced and acted in musical theater and ultimately found my passion in writing fiction. As I formulated the concept for the Tales of Narda series, I researched many subjects like herbology, geography, geology, languages, cultures and sailing. I have always worked full time to support a large family, so writing has been, of necessity, a part-time activity. As artificial intelligence tools have become available, I have moved from free hand drawing to AI to create characters and creatures for the book series, some of which can be seen at www.talesofnarda.com.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Time has been the biggest struggle. When I became a single mother, I worked full-time to support my family. I later remarried, but continued to work. Still, I always managed to take time out to write, whether writing articles, creating poetry, writing short stories or working on my novel series, Tales of Narda. I have devoted much of my time to family, work, volunteer work, performing in and producing musical theater, so writing has been a part-time activity. I devote whatever free time I now have to the series. Three of the four books are written, two are published and available on Amazon, the third is in editing. I hope to have the series completed soon.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I have had multiple careers in my life, am still a business consultant but always make time to write. I combined my business knowledge and experience with my love of art to produce events and musical theater for several years before settling into writing the Tales of Narda novel series. I discovered a business and art background made me unique as a producer and believe this combination contributed to my success. I began early: at the age of ten, I earned prizes for selling magazines. As a young teen making, selling and donating craft items I earned awards. By age 18, I entertained family and friends as a classical pianist. As a young single mother, I worked and attended college. I have remained productive throughout life’s challenges so do not find it unusual to be working and writing at this later stage of my life.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
I have always been a risk taker. When I flew to Bangkok, the Vietnam War had just ended and I found the runway lined with soldiers holding machine guns, a daunting scene for a first-time international traveler. When I flew to Manila, the new government had just ended Marshall law and it wasn’t safe to go out alone. Thankfully I had escorts everywhere I traveled. Flying across the world is always a risk. Such travel is commonplace today, but in the 1970’s took 24 hours and many stops to reach a destination. And although I had contacts in all of the places I worked, I found myself alone much of the time too, so filled the time by reading. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to travel abroad, for it opened up my world and the experience helped me to discover the wonderful world of fantasy adventure and ignite my imagination to write my Tales of Narda series.
Pricing:
- $0 to $37.99
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.talesofnarda.com
- Instagram: talesofnarda
- Youtube: Tales of Narda
