Former Lady Razorback basketball player releases "Love, Ocean"
Mary DeLoney
Issue date: 2/27/09 Section: Lifestyles
"I wanted to be the voice of this generation," said Celia Anderson, a former Lady Razorbacks basketball player, Northwest Arkansas Community College teacher and author of the recently published novel, "Love, Ocean." "Too often this generation is misunderstood and stereotyped in negative ways. I believe that this is a generation of optimists who believe that the sky is the limit."
"Love, Ocean" is the first book of a series following a junior in high school named Ocean Renee Sims. It follows her journey from being forced to leave her hometown in New Orleans because of Hurricane Katrina to resettling in Little Rock, Ark. Ocean has to deal with her father being overseas fighting the war in Iraq, her relationship with her boyfriend who plans to play football at Louisiana State University and her relationship with her aunt Shelia, a former alcoholic.
The novel took Anderson about two years to complete.
"I want my readers to really feel what it was like to be a part of Hurricane Katrina," Anderson said. Although the characters from the novel are not modeled after anyone she knows, "they are still very real people in today's society," she said.
Anderson has "four outlines that are all part of the same theory," she said. The second novel, tentatively titled "Daddy's Home" is about Ocean's father returning home from the war and explores the topic of post-traumatic stress syndrome. The third novel is to be titled "Freshman Year" and will follow Ocean during her first year of college life. The fourth novel, "Political Passion," follows the presidential campaign of Barack Obama and Ocean's involvement in it.
"'Love, Ocean' is like my second child," Anderson said. "I am happy that I was able to write something positive. It is so easy to write books that are negative, but it is another thing to go against the grain and write for the greater good."
A motto that Anderson lives by is "do what you love and the money will come."
"I am so much more fulfilled writing a story that I love," Anderson said. "Had I written it reversed, just for sales, I would not be as happy. The passion I have for my story is shown through every single page."
"I value differences," she said. If there were one thing she could change about the world it would be to "give everyone an even playing field. There are a lot of unprivileged people, not just in our country but internationally. While living in Greece, I met a lot of brilliant writers who are unable to pursue their dreams as I have." Anderson said she hopes that her "writing can help to change" this about the world.
Anderson will be in Fayetteville 5:30 p.m. today at the Fayetteville Visitors Bureau to read from her book and sign copies. She will return to Fayetteville April 17 to April 19 for the Black Alumni Reunion on the UA campus.
Since releasing her novel, Anderson said that she "now realizes that dreams really and truly do come true."
"Love, Ocean" is the first book of a series following a junior in high school named Ocean Renee Sims. It follows her journey from being forced to leave her hometown in New Orleans because of Hurricane Katrina to resettling in Little Rock, Ark. Ocean has to deal with her father being overseas fighting the war in Iraq, her relationship with her boyfriend who plans to play football at Louisiana State University and her relationship with her aunt Shelia, a former alcoholic.
The novel took Anderson about two years to complete.
"I want my readers to really feel what it was like to be a part of Hurricane Katrina," Anderson said. Although the characters from the novel are not modeled after anyone she knows, "they are still very real people in today's society," she said.
Anderson has "four outlines that are all part of the same theory," she said. The second novel, tentatively titled "Daddy's Home" is about Ocean's father returning home from the war and explores the topic of post-traumatic stress syndrome. The third novel is to be titled "Freshman Year" and will follow Ocean during her first year of college life. The fourth novel, "Political Passion," follows the presidential campaign of Barack Obama and Ocean's involvement in it.
"'Love, Ocean' is like my second child," Anderson said. "I am happy that I was able to write something positive. It is so easy to write books that are negative, but it is another thing to go against the grain and write for the greater good."
A motto that Anderson lives by is "do what you love and the money will come."
"I am so much more fulfilled writing a story that I love," Anderson said. "Had I written it reversed, just for sales, I would not be as happy. The passion I have for my story is shown through every single page."
"I value differences," she said. If there were one thing she could change about the world it would be to "give everyone an even playing field. There are a lot of unprivileged people, not just in our country but internationally. While living in Greece, I met a lot of brilliant writers who are unable to pursue their dreams as I have." Anderson said she hopes that her "writing can help to change" this about the world.
Anderson will be in Fayetteville 5:30 p.m. today at the Fayetteville Visitors Bureau to read from her book and sign copies. She will return to Fayetteville April 17 to April 19 for the Black Alumni Reunion on the UA campus.
Since releasing her novel, Anderson said that she "now realizes that dreams really and truly do come true."
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