Author: CL Wells
Located in: Topeka, KS
Submitted: August 25, 2015
Tell us a little about yourself. C.L. Wells is a JANE-OF-ALL-TRADES, with a passion for writing and animals. She lives in Kansas with her family, which includes a fat doggie who is not named Toto and a cat who moonlights as an escape artist. Feel free to ask her about the escape artist. She plans to write about it someday. She would love hearing from you.
What was your motivation behind this project? When I originally wrote about self harm, it was because someone I know and love had a story to tell. I was fascinated by the details she revealed because when I looked at her, I saw this mature beyond her years, intelligent, complex human being. My book is fiction, but 'Krystal's' story is woven into the fabric of it. You won't be able to tell which parts are true and which aren't. That's the way it's meant to be in order for her to represent all the other people out there who are struggling with self-harm.
What do you hope folks will gain from this project? An understanding of how far reaching God's love is and how far our own love can go.
How were you personally impacted by working on this project? Oh my goodness. I was highly impacted. I've followed up with a self harm blog series on my website, theclwells.com. There you'll find interviews I've done with others who are struggling with self harm. Some of their stories are quite heart wrenching, but I can guarantee we all know someone who is self harming or has self harmed in the past, even if you don't know who they are.
Who are your influences, sources of inspiration or favorite authors / artists? I read a plethora of genres. But in the Christian genre I'd have to say Lawana Blackwell and Lisa Tawn Bergren are my top choices. Both of these ladies know how to show God in real life without the reader feeling preached to. A fiction book should be about telling a story and these two do it superbly.
Anything else you'd like readers / listeners to know: I'm currently writing a sequel to Memoirs of a Girl Who Loves God. Self harm will not be a focus in this book, but it will still have love intertwined. I don't write for a specific audience. I go with what's in my heart and God's love is always there.
