What is one thing most people don’t know about you?
My husband says I’m a vegetarian who doesn’t like vegetables (not quite true). I’m a pescatarian (vegetarian who eats fish and dairy). I’m not a fan of kale or beets but love potatoes (especially potato chips)!
What was the original inspiration or spark for your story?
I wanted to tell a story about today’s brave teens who are making a choice to change their future from a gloomy one that they did not create to a brighter one that includes all the good they are entitled to.
PJ’s story is a story of a very brave girl winning out against the eco anxiety that is paralyzing her and “those like her.” But many teens are seeing that they must be the ones to bring about a change, and some are learning that if they really try to make a change, they certainly can overcome the obstacles placed in their way no matter how scary they are or no matter how big.
Why did you title this book A Dispelling of Darkness?
The darkness in this novel is the cruel power working to destroy PJ and her world. PJ’s story is about how the feeling of powerlessness allows this evil to succeed. But there is in the novel a power working for good! It guards and guides PJ and the other young chosen ones of this story in their fight to banish the evil power. It is a force for good, LOVE, and it is Magical and very Powerful!
Do you plan on writing a second novel?
I am working on a sequel in the A Dispelling of Darkness trilogy which focuses on the struggles of PJ’s friend Colin as he searches for clues to the mystery surrounding his father’s disappearance.
The “At the same moment” sketches paint moving pictures but seem to interrupt PJ’s personal story. What was your reason for including them?
I see them not as distractions but as disruptions in PJ’s everyday life. They are brief accounts of great personal suffering at the hands of environmental crime both of animals and people. They are sad and terrifying warnings of the evil that surrounds PJ and show the urgent need for her to wake up her sleeping world to the growing dangers to her precious planet and thus to herself. You can find one “At the same moment” sketch here in the For Readers section.
Did you have a process in choosing the placement of these sketches?
Yes, their seemingly random appearance does model the way we all are constantly shown the need for help of the many victims of environmental crime. PJ’s attempt to deal with the dangers of environmental degradation that leads to her inaction in the beginning of her journey models the way all of us cope at one time or another with the feeling they should . . . do something.
What about the criminals, the bullies, her stuttering, the way her dad is distant, and her fear she can’t succeed? Do you see these elements as just part of a subplot? Don’t they seem small problems in the face of the destruction of her planet?
No. I see all these challenges as requiring a brave response. She is battling all that life hands teens today in addition to the power that threatens her planet’s environmental collapse. That shows great courage!