"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.
Start your Whole Novel Life.
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My newsletters have inspiration for your writer journey.
from the blog
Recognising our writing journey
I was making slides for one of my workshops called ‘Novel Dreamers Do’ and made a slide called ‘Recognise your writing journey’ and it’s about
The first draft is freedom
The first draft is freedom. Let me rephrase that – writing a first draft of a novel can feel freeing. After all, you are free
What if writing a novel is a series of thresholds to cross?
What if life is a series of thresholds we have to cross? Like, one thing happens, and then another thing happens. Or we make one