Below is an indie author interview with Corlet Dawn, author of Bee’s Flowers, a women’s fiction novel. What I found interesting about Corlet is that when she isn’t writing, she’s an ER nurse. Her job has shaped her worldview and helped her to craft her fictional characters. It just goes to show that we all have stories to tell, real or not. You just need the discipline to write it and the courage to publish it. Check out my interview with Corlet Dawn below.
About the author
Name: Corlet Boelman
Pen Name: Corlet Dawn
Book Title: Bee’s Flowers: Book One
Genre: fiction, contemporary fiction, women’s fiction, general fiction
Book summary
Have you ever taken the time to ponder the different reasons a person could be purchasing flowers? Could it be for love, loss, apology? Welcome to Bee’s Flowers where the customer’s and owner’s lives intertwine.
Book excerpt
“What is this mom?” Marie asked as they all cozied up next to each other on the couch.
“We will just have to see,” Rachel said as she turned to the first page where there were a variety of pictures of the family at the park this last summer before Chad deployed. Cut-out pictures of daisies were glued all over the page. There was a piece of paper with Chad’s handwriting that said: Daisy- purity, true love, new beginnings. Rachel let another few tears run down her cheeks as she turned to the second page.
“That is so cute!” Marie exclaimed while Stella stared at the pictures of all of them together.
Rachel started laughing at the next page, it was one of her favorite photos of the girls. They had been at a water park that day, and towards the end of the day, the girls had grown impatient with each other. They had all had a great time, but by the time they took the picture the girls were equally exhausted and irritated with each other, so they had sat back-to-back to rest against each other with their towels on. Both girls had identical glares on their sun-kissed faces as they stared at the camera.
“That day was so fun,” Stella said as she fingered the photo of her and her sister at the water park. In her head, Rachel thought about how neither girl looked like they were having fun by the end of the day but decided to let it slide, happy that she chose to remember the good parts of the day.
Review excerpts
“This book focuses on 4 primary stories, 2 of them are the Bee sisters and owners of the flower shop, and the others are customers that become friends. Each family is dealing with challenges that are told in a very real and touching way—I cried more than once, and felt very drawn in to the characters and their stories. I’m excited to watch the career of this talented new author.” – Danielle Vernelson
Cute story, with a touching message. Beautifully written. – Camille De Mott
Talking Shop
What is the central theme or message of your story? What do you want readers to take away from it?
The central theme of Bee’s Flowers is the flower shop, Bee’s Flowers. It brings to light the different reasons people may purchase flowers: love, loss, anger, apology, appreciation. I hope that people walk away from all of the different character’s stories with some laughter and tears, and to contemplate why someone is buying flowers the next time they are in a flower shop.
How have you promoted your books? What has worked best? What has failed?
I work as a nurse in a hospital, so word of mouth worked really well. I have sold more than I ever thought I would. But self-promotion has its challenges. I am so happy people have the ability to self publish these days, but it is hard to compete with such a large market. I have gone from being in the top 100 for contemporary fiction to 200,000. It is always waxing and waning. Posting the same information to the same group of people isn’t effective so I am constantly trying to branch out and figure out new ways to get out there.
What is your day job? How, in any way, does it relate to your life as a writer?
I am a nurse. I work part time as a pre-op/post-op nurse. Also, I work in a level two trauma center as an emergency room nurse. We work long shifts which helps create more days off and more writing time. I also think in my job I get to tune in to human emotions which helps a lot with writing.
How well do you handle criticism, either while writing, editing, or reviews? Do you ever use that criticism to change your story?
I came at the writing game knowing my book wouldn’t be for everyone which is okay, I wrote it for myself. My first criticism took place on Twitter by someone who asked for a free copy of the book and five minutes later posted a one star review. I have tried not to let it bother me, but it is hard when you either get unfair criticism, or someone leaves a review with low stars but doesn’t say why. I am constantly trying to be a better writer. But I have to remind myself that despite criticism I have to write like I would write, not someone else.
How do you autograph your books?
I always sign my books with “Welcome to Bee’s,” and a drawing of a flower.
‘What If’ Scenarios
If your book ever becomes a movie, and you get final say over the cast, which actors would you hire to play your characters?
If my book became a movie, I would want Rachel McAdams to play Rachel and Jennifer Lawrence to play Stacia. They would be the perfect Bee sisters.
A wealthy reader buys 100 copies of your book and tells you to hand them out to anyone you wish. Who do you give them to?
I would want to give my 100 books away to people who looked like they were missing something. A lonely person on the bus, a homeless person, residents at a nursing home, patients with no family/visitors. Situations like that always pull at my heart strings and life is all about the little things.
Your favorite character that you’ve written comes to life for one day. What do you do together for 24 hours?
I would have to hang out with the Bee sisters and have a dance party. We would have a blast together!
You’re given $10,000 to spend on marketing for your book. How do you spend it?
If I were given $10,000 for marketing, I would try to be smart and spread it out. I would do some book ads and stuff like that while focusing on finishing the second book so when that came out I could try to piggyback the advertising.
Your book becomes a best seller. What do you do next?
If my book became a bestseller I would write A LOT more, still moonlight as a nurse, and travel while writing. I want to see the world!
Buy it!
Buy a copy of Bee’s Flowers here, and help support local bookstores! This is an affiliate link, and I will earn a commission on any sales.
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Love the premise of this book, wounds like it would be a wonderful read to pay it forward.