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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (April 10, 2019)
Wednesday, April 10, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon 19 Sisters author has sold millions of books By Katy Yoder Correspondent explained. <In books you can peel stuff back. Hopefully, that makes you a bit more kind and gracious to others.= One of her recent books, <Courting Mr. Emerson,= has more of a message than others. <Willow is an outspoken hip- pie personality,= Carlson said. Some readers are offended by her books, but its obvious people like them, too. <My son manages my web- site,= she said. <It9s best that I don9t read my reviews. I find I9ll only remember the one negative out of 15 positive reviews. So I don9t read them anymore.= One important piece of advice Carlson has for aspiring writers is to keep writing. <If you suppress creativity, it can make you sick. It9s much more fun being creative. My husband jokes that if I wasn9t writing books I9d be remodeling the house every month. He says, <go write another book, please!= she said, laughing. There are some exciting developments for Carlson. <Some of my books have been optioned for film.= Carlson is working with Hallmark, and according to them, there will be a movie made from her book <All Summer Long.= Filming will begin late spring in Vancouver. She and her agent are talking with Hallmark about doing more projects. <I have written a couple of scripts for movies and am learn- ing how to do script adaptation,= she said. For Carlson, people9s prob- lems inspire stories. <It can be random. I was sit- ting at a stoplight in Bend and an old Chevy pickup was sit- ting next to me, there was an old woman that looked about 100 years old and in the driver9s seat was this young good-looking guy. That Inspired 8Armando9s Treasure.9= In it Armando ends up saving the entire family. Carlson has written books that tackle tough topics. They9re not easy to write, and the stories they reveal can take their toll on her. She has done 100 teen books on serious issues like human trafficking, drug addiction, and date rape. The books deal with difficult issues, but she knows they must be discussed. After finishing that group of books, she decided to return to Maeve Binchy-type books. <It9s better for me, too,= she said. <Right now, I9m working on a gift book called 8Gathered around the Campfire.9 It9s for travelers or campers who want something fun to read.= With the snow finally reced- ing, the Carlsons will be getting out their motorhome. <It9s the perfect thing to do while I9m doing this camping book,= she said. Her book project is full of old stories from her childhood, camping with her fam- ily. She9s looking for- ward to reminiscing and sharing her stories with even more readers. To learn more about Melody Carlson, visit her website at www. melodycarlson.com. If you research Sisters resi- dent Melody Carlson online, it9s quickly clear she9s a prolific published author. In fact, after writing over 250 books, she and her husband stopped counting. To date, she9s sold over 7.5 mil- lion books 4 and the number is still climbing. She was inspired to write over 20 years ago, after reading a book by Irish novelist Maeve Binchy. The popular writer9s well-crafted descriptions and beloved charac- ters allowed Carlson to escape into the pages for a little while. About a year after reading Binchy, she started writing and hasn9t stopped. Why should she? There are still plenty of ideas and stories wanting to be told. The subject matter can come from anywhere. Magazines, news- papers, even dreams. Like her book <The Christmas Shoppe,= where people visiting an old junk shop have a flashback to their past. That was a vivid dream she turned into a book. Her writing studio is deco- rated with beloved items from a beach house on the Oregon Coast. An antique Underwood typewriter, used when she was a child, sits on the corner of her desk. There9s a wall filled with books she9s written and memen- toes from family and past camp- ing trips. She spends six to eight hours per day working in her studio; usually four to six hours writ- ing and two doing office work. There9s also time for market- ing when a new book comes out. She does interviews for magazines, radio, blogs and Skype. The book market was sag- ging for a while but in the last three years, it9s picked up. <When I was really busy, I did 10 to 12 books per year,= she said sitting at her desk. Now she averages six books per year. <When I started writing, I didn9t have much time, so I squeezed it in when I could and wrote really fast. I9ve been doing it for years, so it9s Insured & Bonded gotten easier. When I come Veteran & Senior Discounts 541-510-7918 into my studio, I can turn off the outside world, escape and just write.= Her books are usually released through Christian publishers. But they9re not always on Christian book- shelves. Her annual Christmas books are considered main- stream. <Some of my books are very Christian and others ANYTIME – ANYDAY are not. Some have a strong WAT E R ★ M O L D ★ F I R E ★ R E C O N S T R U C T I ON inspirational message with hopeful answers that I believe are true and encouraging.= We remediate and restore property from almost If she had to describe the any disastrous event. We work with your insurance essence of her books, she9d company for you. use one word: Grace. Visit Pioneer at bit.ly/water-damage-pros-sisters to learn <Life is complicated more or call 541-604-7272 to schedule services today. CCB# 196157 and many-layered,= she Sisters’ Year-Round Residential & Commercial Window Cleaning PHOTO BY KATY YODER Melody Carlson in her Sisters writing studio, where she writes at a prolific rate. Dr. Thomas R. Rheuben General, Cosmetic, Implant and Family Dentistry ~ Your Dentist in Sisters Since 1993 ~ We are here to help you smile with confi dence! 541-549-0109 | 304 W. Adams Ave. | Sisters Summer Kickoff Thursday, May 16 4 to 7 p.m. at SPRD Come see what SPRD and Sisters Country have to offer this summer! • Bike Park • Camps • Demos • Disc Golf • Events • Partners • Skate Park • Tai Chi • Zumba View SPRD activities & classes, and register online at www.SistersRecreation.com 1750 W. Mckinney Butte Rd. | 541-549-2091 SNO CAP MINI STORAGE Sisters Industrial Park 157 Sisters Park Dr. • 541-549-3575 www.SistersStorage.com • State-of-the-art Security Technology • Sizes from 5x5 to 12x40 • Individual Gate Codes • Long-term Discounts • On-site Manager