C.C. Aune's Blog
September 3, 2016
Welcome!
Hello fellow book lovers! I'm CC Aune, and welcome to my author page on Goodreads. I hope to address any subjects that relate to my novel THE ILL-KEPT OATH, as well as draw some connections between OATH and other novels.
First, a little something about me. I've been writing stories since I was a small child. I was an early reader--from the age of two--and by the time I approached middle school I was devouring books at a rate of two per day. At age 13, I switched to reading adult fiction and nonfiction, the heftier the better, including Michener, Uris, Asimov, Bradbury, and Tolkien. I was never particular about genre--I went through phases, consuming spy thrillers, Christie mysteries, historical fiction, fantasy, and sci fi. In high school, I was exposed to a terrific range of classic literature, from the Greeks and Romans through Beowulf, Chaucer, Shakespeare, with a deep immersion in British and American novels, plays, and short stories.
By 14, I had begun to write short novels in bound notebooks, legal pads, on leftover computer paper, and in the margins of homework. My first efforts were what we now call fan fiction, some of it based on the Star Wars oeuvre. In addition, I completed an original sci fi series before I was 16.
College came along, and I spent little time on my writing. I did not study English Literature or Journalism, which in retrospect was an enormous mistake. Around age 25, I revisited my sci fi series, transcribing it into an early Macintosh computer. But it felt immature to me, as well it should, being composed by a 14-15 year old.
Life got in the way. I made a brief stab at writing a thriller in the late 1990s, but it languished. Life got more in the way. I absorbed myself with studying genealogy, and through early internet sources I came across a call for essays for a genealogy book. I submitted a piece, thinking I'd never hear about it, and next thing I knew I was published in a companion book to PBS's 2000 TV series called In Search of Our Ancestors.
A year or so later, I mentioned this essay in passing to someone who recommended me to a suburban Chicago newspaper. Soon, I had a twice-monthly human interest column, with the occasional long feature story. I wrote this column for 3 years before life got in the way yet again.
In the meantime, I had begun to write a novel. Words exploded from my fingertips, perhaps close to a million during a four year period. I had no idea what to do with this stuff. Frankly, I had no idea how to write a novel!
So I set out to learn, and then I went back and crafted some of the material into a proper novel. Today's version of OATH is the culmination of a hard-fought journey for me. To actually hold the physical book in my hands blows me away. I hope you all will enjoy reading about Josephine and Prudence as much as I enjoyed writing about them. They are my kick-ass heroines, a bit yin and yang, both made of heart and brains, both fighting the male-centric system, and yet each saddled with individual flaws.
I promise there is much more to come from the Talisman Keepers!
Cheers,
CC
First, a little something about me. I've been writing stories since I was a small child. I was an early reader--from the age of two--and by the time I approached middle school I was devouring books at a rate of two per day. At age 13, I switched to reading adult fiction and nonfiction, the heftier the better, including Michener, Uris, Asimov, Bradbury, and Tolkien. I was never particular about genre--I went through phases, consuming spy thrillers, Christie mysteries, historical fiction, fantasy, and sci fi. In high school, I was exposed to a terrific range of classic literature, from the Greeks and Romans through Beowulf, Chaucer, Shakespeare, with a deep immersion in British and American novels, plays, and short stories.
By 14, I had begun to write short novels in bound notebooks, legal pads, on leftover computer paper, and in the margins of homework. My first efforts were what we now call fan fiction, some of it based on the Star Wars oeuvre. In addition, I completed an original sci fi series before I was 16.
College came along, and I spent little time on my writing. I did not study English Literature or Journalism, which in retrospect was an enormous mistake. Around age 25, I revisited my sci fi series, transcribing it into an early Macintosh computer. But it felt immature to me, as well it should, being composed by a 14-15 year old.
Life got in the way. I made a brief stab at writing a thriller in the late 1990s, but it languished. Life got more in the way. I absorbed myself with studying genealogy, and through early internet sources I came across a call for essays for a genealogy book. I submitted a piece, thinking I'd never hear about it, and next thing I knew I was published in a companion book to PBS's 2000 TV series called In Search of Our Ancestors.
A year or so later, I mentioned this essay in passing to someone who recommended me to a suburban Chicago newspaper. Soon, I had a twice-monthly human interest column, with the occasional long feature story. I wrote this column for 3 years before life got in the way yet again.
In the meantime, I had begun to write a novel. Words exploded from my fingertips, perhaps close to a million during a four year period. I had no idea what to do with this stuff. Frankly, I had no idea how to write a novel!
So I set out to learn, and then I went back and crafted some of the material into a proper novel. Today's version of OATH is the culmination of a hard-fought journey for me. To actually hold the physical book in my hands blows me away. I hope you all will enjoy reading about Josephine and Prudence as much as I enjoyed writing about them. They are my kick-ass heroines, a bit yin and yang, both made of heart and brains, both fighting the male-centric system, and yet each saddled with individual flaws.
I promise there is much more to come from the Talisman Keepers!
Cheers,
CC
