Today Dee411 welcomes Deidre Havrelock who is touring with Orangeberry Book Tours promoting her powerful memoir, Saving Mary: The Possession. Deidre was most gracious and candidly answered some questions for us here at Dee411. So please sit back and relax whilst we introduce you to author, Deidre Havrelock!
Dee411: What inspired you to want to become a writer?
DH: My imagination, plus my mom read a lot. At a young age I wanted to write something for her to read, so I wrote The Bloody Dagger in grade three. I’m sure my story of a guy who hides in the shadows and chops up people impressed her. I know it impressed my teacher, Mrs. Whalen, who asked, “Don’t you have any happy thoughts?” I have a lot of happy thoughts now (so don’t worry).
Dee411: Tell us your most rewarding experience since being published.
DH: Just getting finished…getting the editing done, getting the file uploaded to Amazon—without weird formatting errors. Actually, there are still a few weird formatting errors. But still, I’m happy. Oh, and today my first reviews started coming out. It’s sinking in that people are actually going to read my book—and some of those people will like it! That’s rewarding.
Dee411: If you could jump in to a book, and live in that world.. which would it be?
DH: I Robot, that was a good book. I’d like to live in a world with robots and all those robot logic problems. I’d like to travel in space, too.
Dee411: What is your dream cast for your book?
DH: Hee-hee! That’s a good question. I’d want William Shatner to play my dad and Shirley MacLaine to play the overbearing spiritual leader who kicks me out of meditation group for having bad karma. Oh, and Christian Slater should play my brother, except he’s too old now. We’ll have to dump Christian Slater. Drat!
Dee411: What is your favorite Quote?
DH: “Theology in the hands of the Holy Spirit is a beautiful science.” I don’t know who said it. Although, I think it was St. Hildegard. Email me if you know who said it! But I also like … “Last night I lay in bed looking up at the stars in the sky and I thought to myself, where the heck is the ceiling.”
Dee411: When you were little, what did you want to be when you “grew up”?
DH: I wanted to be a writer and then a lawyer and then I just wanted to party (I sort of lost focus). I used to pray, “Dear God, pleeeeease make me good at just one thing.” I always felt I was exceptionally good at nothing—probably like most of us, I suspect. My husband calls this “The Gift of Insignificant helps.”
Dee411: If a movie was made about your life, who would you want to play the lead role and why?
DH: My book is about me as a kid, but I really don’t have a clue who could play me since Mary-Kate and Ashley are all grown up.
Dee411: How did you know you should become an author?
DH: Surprisingly, it was a few months after my exorcism. I remember having coffee with a co-worker and I said, “I think I’ll write a book…maybe a ‘how-to book’ or a ‘picture book’…how hard can it be?” Ha! Ha! So naïve back then. With the memoir, however, things were different. I was folding clothes and suddenly I envisioned a book floating in the air; it was a book about my family and about my healing. I thought, Am I supposed to write this book? Just then the phone rang. It was my aunt. She said she had heard God speak to her and he said that I was supposed to write a book about my family and my healing. Honestly, that happened! So I started writing. Soon enough, I went back to school to learn how to write.
Dee411: What’s the craziest writing idea you’ve had?
DH: I want to be a screenwriter. That’s a crazy idea. I mean, it seems crazy…especially since I’m in my 40s. I’ve taken screenwriting courses and I’ve written a screenplay. I guess we’ll see what happens.
Dee411: What’s the best advice anyone has ever given you?
DH: The best advice I’ve ever gotten was from a friend who was older and wiser than me. When I complained to her that my children woke up at 7 a.m., filled with mass amounts of energy, and therefore I couldn’t get any writing done, she asked me, “So what are you doing at 5 a.m.? I soon found out that coffee tastes really good at 5 a.m.
Dee411: What are your current literary works? Any sneak peaks?
DH: I’m currently working to finish part two of my memoir Saving Mary: The Deliverance. The story of how I got myself unpossessed. To prepare for this book, I contacted a bunch of my friends from high school including most of the ones who were present the day I became possessed (which happened during a transcendental meditation session). None of them were surprised that I had become possessed on that day. My friend Winston remembers us being told to make an “egg made of pure light” to protect ourselves with (which obviously didn’t work). The first thing my friend Rose said was, “I thought you’d be a Satanist by now.” My friend Doug (who also became obsessed with the spirit world) actually went to the same elementary school as me, and he’s in the picture on the front cover of my book (only he’s to the far left, so you can’t see him); his story of getting out of the occult is probably more fascinating than mine and maybe one day he’ll let me tell it!
Title: Saving Mary: The Possession
Author: Deidre Havrelock
Publisher: Etcetera Press
Release Date: March 30, 2012
Description:
If you’re a fan of supernatural fiction then you will be captivated by this true story about a spiritually sensitive girl and the path that led to her possession. Part one of a two-part series, Saving Mary is the story of a modern-day Mary Magdalene—the woman from whom Jesus cast out seven demons.
Deidre Daily is drawn to anything seemingly spiritual, desperately seeking a spiritual existence. But inside this vibrant girl hides a terrified child who sincerely believes she has married the devil. Through a series of spiritual encounters her fear turns into reality, and she ends up possessed.
Deidre’s fascinating memoir relays her story from childhood to adolescence: invisible eyes leering at her from the corner of her bedroom, horrible nightmares tormenting her, and her desperate attempt to find God—only to end up possessed. It is a candid account of possession from a first-person perspective. This dark memoir brings to light an intricate world of deceitful spirits hell-bent on manipulating and damaging an innocent girl’s life, not only through her dreams, but also through seemingly every-day encounters.
Travel with Deidre into the mysterious world of spirits, ghosts and demons. Awaken yourself to a world that isn’t supposed to exist; a world that’s as intriguing as it is sinister. And then emerge as a new person—invigorated, aware and intent on living in the light. Saving Mary; Not just another story about a girl and her exorcist.
View Trailer:
