New Release Spotlight — FINDING LIGHT IN A LOST YEAR by Carin Fahr Shulusky
Roni Wright thought she had everything; huge home, successful husband, kids, and a brilliant career. That is until the worse pandemic in 100 years swept away the shallow façade of her life and she nearly lost it all.
This is the story of how a broken family navigated the most difficult year of their lives and found hope in the middle of so much loss. You will recognize many of the things that nearly broke us all as we struggled with pandemic restrictions and the new normal. But you will cheer as they work their way out of darkness into a better world.
Published by: Fossil Creek Press
Publication Date: May 2022
Number of Pages: 170
ISBN: 978-1-7362417-2-1
Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble Read an excerpt:April 2020 – When It Rains, It PoursOn April 1, I picked up my calendar, as I did at the beginning of every month—usually to see what we had coming up and to schedule more—and started crossing off everything. I had already crossed off the March trip to Paris. Now I crossed off this month’s planned trip to the banking conference in San Francisco. I slashed through the conference in New York. And with a little more pain, I crossed off the two Broadway shows to which I had tickets. An old college girlfriend was going to go with me to one and Dan the other. Broadway closed. New York closed. All crossed off, as was the St. Louis Symphony concert to which we had tickets. Canceled. Hockey, canceled. Three birthday parties, canceled. My appointment at the nail salon, canceled. Hairdresser, canceled. Canceled, canceled, canceled. April was looking so gloomy.The only exercise I was getting was walking through one of our beautiful parks with the kids. Sometimes, we took bikes and rode a trail. But with April came gloom and rain and even that little bit of escape became impossible. Then the St. Louis County Executive closed all county parks. We were now required to wear a mask if we were out in public, especially indoors, and to stay six feet apart wherever we were. The gloom was growing daily. My life had no order. We were in free fall.On April 9, we got a big shot in the arm, as it were, when $2,400 appeared in our checking account—a gift from the U.S. government. Officially the money was part of the Economic Impact Payment, but the payments were more often called stimulus checks. We just called it salvation. Like many families, we weren’t sure how we would make ends meet. This money was a gift from heaven—or the government, depending on your point of view.By the second week of April, our school district was making an effort at learning. They asked parents to pick up “home learning packets” from the school. When I drove up to the school, someone handed me the packet for our kids’ grade levels. But when I got home, there was little explanation about the work. It was terribly disorganized and made little sense to me. Katlin wanted to learn more, and Oliver wanted to learn less. I just wanted more alcohol. Lots more. I decided hard times called for hard alcohol. Wine was OK now with lunch, but by dinner time, I needed a cocktail.I set up a place in the basement family room for the kids to study. I tried hard to make Oliver work on letters and sight words. He would work with me for maybe thirty minutes, then he’d start disrupting everything I did. He’d rip papers and run away. Meanwhile, Katlin was trying to figure out her lessons with great frustration. She didn’t know what was wanted of her, and I couldn’t figure it out either. Oliver did everything in his considerable ability to disrupt our efforts. Most sessions ended with all three of us crying.Not only was I failing at trying to teach my kids, I was failing at keeping them out of Nathan’s living room office. Every time Oliver ran away from me, he ran right into one of Nathan’s meetings. No order. No peace. No joy.—Excerpt from Finding Light in a Lost Year by Carin Fahr Shulusky. Copyright 2022 by Carin Fahr Shulusky. Reproduced with permission from Carin Fahr Shulusky. All rights reserved.Interview with Carin Fahr Shulusky
What was the inspiration behind this story?
I was having a conversation with friends about how the lock down affected the lives of people who went to the office everyday and spent little time at home. I talked to several people who had to find a way to work from home. They discussed the difficulties of suddenly having children, they have little seen during the week now under foot as they tried to continue to work from home. One friend said he missed the conversations around the water cooler and all the office intrigue. That set fire to my creative process and I’d wake up with more and more ideas of how to make this into a book. I had actually started another book, but set it aside because I thought this more timely.
Tell us about your main character.
The main character is Veronica (Roni) Wright. She’s a very successful and focused travel professional. She manages the St. Louis office of an international incentive travel company. She is married to a successful architect and they have two school age children with a nanny. The pandemic reveals that their marriage is more rocky than either would admit. Roni speaks three languages fluently with a working knowledge of others. As her job requires, she traveled around the world, before the pandemic, that is. The pandemic affects her life profoundly, nearly destroying all her family relations. She has to re-invent herself completely to help her children study remotely, run a household, repair her marriage, and find a new career, meanwhile navigating the worst pandemic in a 100 years.
Your main character is planning a vacation. Where is she going?
As a world traveler, Roni probably would have picked a four-star resort in Japan, before Covid. With the options limited to the extreme by the pandemic, she has to find a way to safely take her family on a vacation within driving distance. This experience I “borrowed” from my niece who found a rented house on a lake for a family get-away.
Were you surprised by the behavior of any of your characters or the direction of your plot at any point while writing?
I wrote this book during Covid and discovered new Covid-based experiences as I wrote. Some of my character’s experiences were taken from my observations of how friends and family handled the Covid life restrictions. As I encountered new experiences, I went back and added them to the story.
How long did it take you to write this book?
It took me about a year to write this book.
How did you come up with the title?
My first title was My Lost Year, but as first reviews came in, some said the hope that the characters found in the pandemic was more central to the story than the title indicated. My characters did find light in this very dark time, leading me to the new title, Finding Light in a Lost Year.
Tell us about your cover art and how it pertains to your story.
The cover art was created by Janic Schoultz Mudd.Her work is in galleries all over the midwest. I’ve known Janice for at least ten years and always loved her art. We met at church and kept in touch.I bought one of her pieces at a charity auction. They’re very expensive. I called her and asked her to create the art for my first book and she was thrilled. As soon as she read Finding Light in a Lost Year she agreed to create the art for this book as well. I hope she will provide cover art for all my books. We are each other’s biggest fans.
Of all the books out there, why should readers choose this one?
There are very few books about the Covid experience. No novels that I know of. This book will provide memories for many people about their Covid experiences, so good, some not so good. But it is a shared life experience for all people around the world and well worth revisiting and remembering. I”m hoping some years from now, people will take the book back off the shelf and tell their children and grandchildren, this is what the pandemic felt like.
Fiction can often provide powerful life lessons. What message do you hope readers get from your book?
The underlying theme of this book is hope through faith. Just when you think Roni and her family are beyond saving, they find faith, and through faith hope. That is what I want people to take away, the ability to find a light in the darkest days.
When you first begin writing a new book, is your main focus on the characters or the plot?
The plot comes first. The story drives the characters, but once I know where the story is going, I spend days “playing” with character names and identity.
Why do you write within your chosen genre?
I’ve tried writing other genres, but I’ve found when I stick with things I know, I’m a better writer. Most of my writing comes from somewhere in my collective experiences.
What do you find the easiest to write: the beginning, middle, or end? Why?
Definitely the end. My first book, In the Middle, I just couldn’t find the right words for the end. I put it on a shelf for nearly a year. A luncheon conversation gave me the idea for the end and I finished it in a week. There were parts of Finding LIght in a Lost Year that were so soul wrenching I had to step away for a week or more and get my bearings. I had only a vague idea of the end when I started, but it became clear as I wrote.
What inspires you?
The drama of life inspires me. I think I’ve become a pretty good observer of the human condition. Life is often more interesting than fiction.
If you could go back to any place and time in history, where would you go and why?
That’s easy. 1904 World’s Fair. I would love to see that. Of course, I would want to be wealthy.
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Riding my bike down the Greenway along the Meramac River on a beautiful day. Doesn’t get much better than that.
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Riding my bike down the Greenway along the Meramac River on a beautiful day. Doesn’t get much better than that.
What is your favorite childhood memory?
Camping with my family on the river.
A weekend camping in the woods or in a luxury hotel with a spa?
Now that I’m too old for camping, a luxury hotel appeals more.
If your personality were a color, what would it be?
Bright orange
What book(s) have most influenced you?
Jane Austen taught me to love reading.
What is your favorite cartoon character?
Mighty Mouse. I’m old
Are you a morning or night person?
Morning. I’m old
What is your favorite TV show?
Modern Family. Even the reruns I’ve seen many times make me laugh.
If you were to place yourself as a character in a novel, would the story be Mystery/Suspense, Fantasy, or Romance?
Definitely romance
Do you prefer summer or winter?
Summer
Are you an introvert or extrovert?
extrovert.
Do you prefer the country or the city?
That’s too hard. I love visiting cities. They have so much to offer, but the beauty of nature is in the country.
Are you spontaneous or are you a planner?
Planner, to the distraction of my family.
What is your favorite rainy-day activity?
Writing
Do you prefer cats or dogs?
I love dogs. All dogs. But I like cats too.
What is your favorite food? Least favorite?
Ice cream. I don’t have any least favorite.
What personality traits do you most admire in others?
Kindness, gentleness and patience.
Some people believe we can tell a lot about a person by the books on their shelves. Share 3 titles from your bookshelf and tell us what you think they say about you.
About the AuthorJane Austen. All of them
Harry Potter. All of them
Killer Angels and others by Michael or Jeffery Shaara
Amelia Peabody by Elizabeth Peters. All of them
Carin Fahr Shulusky was born and raised in west St. Louis County. She attended the University of Missouri, Columbia, where she received a B.J (Bachelor of Journalism). After college she worked in advertising for GE and Monsanto. She was the first professional woman in her division of each. After 25 years in Marketing, she created her own firm, Marketing Alliance. She was president of Marketing Alliance, from 2002 – 2014. She is a past-president of the Business Marketing Association of St. Louis. Carin Fahr is married to Richard Shulusky. They have two grown children and one marvelous granddaughter. Grandma Carin has a life long love of cooking, even writing her own cookbook. In 2014 Carin retired to devote full time to writing. Her first book, In the Middle was inspired by her own battle to care for her beloved mother, Dorothy Fahr. Many of the stories Carrie Young’s mother tells her in In the Middle came from Carin’s mother. Carin is a lifelong member of, Pathfinder Church in Ellisville, Missouri, where she volunteers in early childhood.
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