Hi, I'm Cherylynn, aka CL Ferrari, author, artist, and photographer.

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I've loved words and writing since my childhood and began writing short stories and poems in elementary school. When my daughter was taking a college course in Creative Writing, I joined her. It was great taking the class together but my big hurdle was staying within the word count.

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Occasional news columns, travel blogs, and magazine articles throughout my life kept my writing needs satisfied, but then some things happened which led to the penning of my first novel. I read two Christian fiction books by Frank E Peretti that made a big impression on me, leaving my imagination and belief structure humming. Then, years later, I was on a grand jury for seven months of gruesome testimony.

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I think we get desensitized with the amount of visual horror and terror we see on TV and in movies. The thing that weighed on me most heavily was the reality of horror. What human beings actually do to other human beings is more awful than can be imagined. The serious CSI and Profiler type scripts aren't pure fiction. People really do those things.

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This left me paralyzed for months after the jury was dismissed, my creative juices stagnated, my normal sparkle for life dimmed to a tiny flicker. And then a brighter light came on. I needed to write. Writing has always been a way for me to release, to extricate myself from the overwhelming emotions. Once that decision was made, the story started to write itself, introducing me to characters as I wrote.

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This story wasn't planned in conventional writing methods, it was given to me, chapter by chapter, event by event. It became too much to deal with at times as I remembered things from the case I heard, so I had to stop, Sometimes for weeks, months, and even years. As of now, the completion of In the Absence of Light has taken nine years, but it was supposed to.

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I feel it expresses all of the things I needed to put out there, the things I believe strongly about the existence of humanity and what lies beyond our five senses. Let it give you food for thought as you are gripped by the story and compelled to continue reading to the very last word.

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The prequel, about the early life of the main character, is already being written, and a sequel is dancing around in my head. Hope you'll continue with me on this literary journey.

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"A book is a magic portal to another dimension."

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Blessings.

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CheryLynn