Last week, local author Carolyn Twede Frank spoke to a crowd at the Oneida County Library about her writing career and some of her many works of fiction and “semi-fiction”.  Frank began writing in earnest in 2006, and first found herself published in 2012.  As a result of publishing “way too many” of her first book, “Promises,” she routinely hands out copies to her audiences on author nights.

Frank is the author of a number of series which are quite popular among many groups of readers.  The Quantum Faith series is a faith-based historical series about teens who travel through books rather than time.  The Tree boy series deal with comic super powers.  The Gathering is a dystopian, “pre-apocalyptic” work.  The “Hitler Dilemma” and “Trapped in East Germany” are companion novels based on the true stories of a couple growing up in Germany before they met each other.

She has written a number of works in the Western/Historical Romance genre for Covenant books, which should be familiar to most LDS readers.  The publisher wanted her to limit herself to one book a year, but she felt that she had much more than that in her, and this led to her creating her own publishing company, Sweet Bee Publishing.  As a self-published writer, she has been able to hire her daughter to do her social media and edit her works.  While she doesn’t love doing her own self-promotion, she finds that her reviews have increased.

Frank has recently been drawn to write contemporary romance.  She believes that “writing clean romance that is driven by plot gives readers a choice.”  Along with that, she is enjoying the freedom that comes with self-publishing.

Frank finds inspiration for stories everywhere.  She has based stories on true events, memories, and lore.  A conversation with a neighbor about his Hereford cows inspired her to write a new series based on the history of the presence of Herefords in the U.S.

She has also written a book inspired by her “unlovable chicken Beatrice.”  She mentioned to the audience that it wasn’t until her chicken was sick and she had to take care of it that she learned to love it.  This eventually became a version of the plot of “To Be a Gentleman.”

Her newest project is a book based on true events surrounding a fort in Utah that failed because the settlers became too caught up in the money they were making trading with the different Native American tribes.  The working title in “The Edge of Wilderness.”

Frank is now trying to turn her books into audio books.  She noted that her experience as a puppeteer was very helpful with developing different voices.  Those who missed the event can find Frank’s books on a variety of platforms, including Amazon, and at the library itself.

Refreshments for the event were provided by Shani Nimer.