We caught up with the brilliant and insightful D.R. Casselman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi D.R., thanks for joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I have been an artist from a young age, beginning with music and art. When I became a single mother of three young children I had to go to work. Having worked in the computer centers of two colleges I attended, I opted to go into the computer/business world. My initial job required travel to the Far East, where I discovered new cultures, traditions and languages. I also traveled extensively throughout the U.S. and Canada. After leaving that industry, I embarked on a series of projects in the arts, and wrote scripts, performed and produced drama, comedy and musical theater. I have always loved creating writing and found early on that poetry provided an outlet for emotion. To date I have written more than 350 poems. I have always been an avid reader, and when in the Far East, discovered Tolkien’s Hobbit and Lord of the Rings Trilogy and read them. This helped to inspire my own novel series. A fan of Classic, Sci Fi, fantasy, mystery and adventure novels, in reading books by authors whose works I love and admire, I gained some knowledge to help me develop my own writing style, and began a four book fantasy adventure series, Tales of Narda. Though fiction, the story has been greatly influenced by my own experiences in living life and in reading other books.

Could the novel series have been completed sooner? No doubt. But life, family, and more recently the pandemic has made the road to completion more challenging. The first book, Tales of Narda: Road to Andolan launched in the Fall of 2020. The second, Tales of Narda: Paths of Fyr I hope to have out this year, and I am currently writing the third of the four book series.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Though writing the novel series is a welcome creative outlet for me and something I love to do, I nevertheless have continued to this day to work as a consultant in the arts and business world, primarily now in the music industry, and am happy to say I have been able to assist many small businesses to expand over these many years.

I am also proud of having successfully raised three children and assisted in the raising of five grandchildren, the eldest of whom is a successful artist, fine art photographer and film director. His brother is a successful executive in a local business. I have also been happily married to my current husband for over 39 years.

I would love to have people read my fantasy adventure book Tales of Narda: Road to Andolan, which is available on Amazon and also on my website www.talesofnarda.com. I have many devoted fans anxiously awaiting the second book. For some additional insight into me personally, visit drcasselman.co, my current author website.

Have you ever had to pivot?

As was mentioned earlier, when I suddenly became a single mother of 3 young children, I had to find work and make a career for myself. I decided to return to college and there learned a lot about people. But I would say that every experience in my life has made me stronger, more resilient and better able to confront and resolve life’s problems.

The most pivotal time in my life was no doubt when I left U.S. soil to travel abroad, right after the Vietnam war ended. It not only broadened my knowledge of other countries, people, cultures, geography and languages, but aided in forming my opinion about my own country. I returned with a new affinity for the U.S. after seeing the conditions in which so many others lived, and those experiences have remained with me and have no doubt influenced my own story in my novel series.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Aside from being a single mom with 3 young children, working and going to college, which in itself took quite a bit of resilience, when I flew to Bankok, Thailand right after the Vietnam war, the plane landed on a runway lined with soldiers holding machine guns, an interesting introduction to a new country! When I next traveled to Manila, Phillipines, marshal law had just been lifted and I could not go out without an escort. Still, my visits in both places were productive and entertaining. I also worked for many weeks in Hong Kong, taking the local public transportation and one could say these adventures did not come without some risk. However, the risk made the adventure the more memorable and I found throughout all of my travels the majority of people I met and worked with were both kind and hospitable. I will always treasure the memories of the friends I made and left behind.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.talesofnarda.com, drcasselman.co
• Instagram: talesofnarda
• Facebook: talesofnarda
• Other: Barnes & Noble

Image Credits
Creature designs by Nico Photos, cover designs by Len Williams.