Charlotte Woollard loves it when her books take twists and turns.
The author of several books -- published and in the works -- is a left-brained numbers person with a business degree.
She has a demanding career as a manager at the Department of Human Services in Bentonville.
But the Pea Ridge resident loves to close her office door at lunch time, take out her laptop from home and write to her heart's delight. The creative mode switches on and her work takes on a twist of its own.
As an author, Woollard often knows how a character will develop, how the storyline will unravel itself.
Other times, she lets the story and its characters take on their own paths, and she's very pleasantly surprised how things turn out.
"(Sometimes I think) I wasn't expecting that to happen!"
Either way, Woollard is enthusiastic that her books provide a good, solid message.
Take, for instance, her first book. The main character has a heart condition and is weak, but doesn't let that -- or anything else for that matter -- slow her down.
"My books offer hope," she said. "That anybody can do anything through Christ."
The author finds writing a real outlet, which is intriguing since Woollard admits she's a number girl by day.
As a younger student, Woollard didn't particularly like writing in school and still, at times, hesitates to describe herself as "creative."
Yet many -- including her husband -- are glad she has taken a pen in hand, so to speak, to create interesting stories for the younger set.
Writing came as a thought that popped in her mind and had some staying power when her husband, Mark, brought home books that his junior high reading and English students were reading.
For lack of something to do, Woollard thought she would read them, just to see what young adults were taking in.
That sparked something inside.
As a reader, Woollard didn't particularly like a certain twist, or how the plot unfolded, or the realism of the plot.
She finds the issue of spiritual warfare intriguing and felt she could write her own take on it.
She also thought some of the teenage books didn't seem very moral, and began to think she could write something better.
"I wanted to write from a good girl's perspective," she said.
She set to work, writing on her lunchbreak and in spare moments, sometimes including weekends.
With her laptop handy, she could pen her book while her husband watched football, so they could still be in the same room and spend time together.
She wrote, edited, and released her first book, "The Enemy's Table" through a self-publishing option with Amazon in 2013.
With 376 pages in the first book, it took a while to format the book for print. She even had a gentleman in London design the cover.
A short description online markets her book as a romance between Beryl Wesley and Holden Henry that is complicated by secrets, rumors and a mysterious dark figure. Wesley has to make a tough decision, choosing romance -- or her own livelihood.
Once book sales came flooding in for "The Enemy's Table," Woollard continued to have more book ideas. The author she felt she had unwritten business so she began to write a second book, "Death's Shadow," which she's currently finishing up with an editing process.
She's also now halfway through on a third book, penning that one in her spare time. That book, about vampires, was inspired by trips to New Orleans.
Her husband categorizes her books as a "popular reading" genre, similar to the Twilight series, but says her take is more identifiable to the characters, with a lack of super heroes and easier to relate to.
"I couldn't be more proud of her," he said.
Her first book was labeled in the "Young Adult" category, but she plans to label the book in the Christian category, with a preface that life isn't perfect and Christians do make bad decisions.
However, she hopes her books provide her readers entertainment, with lessons sprinkled throughout.
With a dog, three children in college and two grandchildren, the Woollards stay busy with work and family.
Still, the ideas for more books continue to come to her. She's inspired by the stories that need to be written, so she finds time to carve out minutes here and there, to pen the next story that's swirling in her mind.
"Writing is the easy part," she said. With so much creative mojo, the author lets the story leap off the page.
"Sometimes, I think, 'I had no idea it was going to be like this,'" she said, smiling.
To order, "The Enemy's Table," visit www.Amazon.com.
Community on 04/12/2017