"I can’t imagine a life
where I'm not writing,
dreaming and
imagining."

Hi, I'm Cecilia...

Hi, I’m Cecilia Carelse. I’m a science fiction author, novel navigator, and creative writing facilitator.

I help female dreamers make novel writing a part of their life and avoid all FECC*-ing distractions.

*Female Expected Conformance Culture shows up in women as self-doubt and hesitation in believing that they can start their writing journey and write a novel.

I want your wise and wild self to create your novel until you get to ‘The End’. Come, let’s do this.

For 10+ years, I got ready to support you...

  • Published my science fiction novel ‘The Alien Eve’.
  • Had poetry and short fiction included in two anthologies: Hammered Glass & Word Weavers: A First Anthology.
  • Received a Regional Bursary (Literature) residency award for the Tyrone Guthrie Centre.
  • Trained through the Two Roads program & Cert. in Creative Writing with Suzanne Power and John MacKenna at Maynooth University (Kilkenny campus).
  • Experienced facilitator for creative and novel writer groups.
  • Love learning – taken courses at the Irish Writers Centre, Waterford Writers Weekend, and with the Arts Office of Waterford City & County Council.
  • Have five novels in progress. Two are 3rd stage edits and three are first drafts (some bits revised).
  • This is my writing journey. This is my novel journey. This is my whole novel life.

This is also me**...

**Love me a good bullet point list!!

My Life

  • Multi-culture, multi-country, multi-whatever-other-labels woman.
  • Single mum to (grown-up) son.
  • I’m Irish and British. Living in Ireland. Have also lived in England, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, and Sudan.
  • Had the privilege of visiting and staying in 30+ other countries.

My (other) Work

  • Reared on science by my parents so I got an Engineering degree and worked for over 17 years in Manufacturing + Quality.
  • First business was a professional photographer.
  • Been a Digital Marketing Executive, Artwork for a textbook, Waitress, Catering Assistant, Factory worker.

My Soul

  • Love walking – trails, hills, mountains, by the sea, rivers, streams, exploring, navigating, anywhere.
  • Love plants, mushrooms, trees. Nature has me in awe.
  • Read so much, mostly speculative fiction and non-fiction. Love the feel of a book in my hand.

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The newsletters have inspiration for your writer journey and an occasional update on mine.

from the blog

A Writer's Life

Welcome to the new website!

I finally moved my website from WordPress.com to WordPress.org. The difference between .com and .org is that the site is self-hosted and I can install

The Writer

Getting started as a writer

Or what I know now that I wish I knew then (and what I’m still learning) as a writer. 1. Believe Many new writers don’t

First Draft

Character, Situation, and Plot

Building a story is more than Character or Plot. At the heart of it is the Situation that the main character is in before a