All About: Smiling at Grief by Carol L Dougherty

Jun 21, 2024 | All About the Books

Smiling at Grief

by Carol L Dougherty

Released: Jun 08, 2024

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Why this book and why now?

I spent a lot of time at the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. When I wrote a law school research paper on non-profit theatre I included Stratford and met a lot of people throughout the process. Three of the people became the inspiration for three of my main characters – when I wrote their dialogue in Smiling at Grief, it was as if they played the parts for me.

What is a significant way your book has changed since either the first draft or the way you thought it would turn out when you first had the inspiration?

The first version of Smiling at Grief had Kate as the protagonist, not Pen. I briefly tried having both as co-protagonists, but Pen’s voice eventually took over center stage!

What TV show would your main character(s) most likely binge watch and why?

Pen would binge Prime Suspect – what could be better than hours of Helen Mirren. Pen would likely sit there and take notes!

What’s your main character(s)’s favorite book and why?

Pen’s favorite book is Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. She read it shortly after meeting the black mare outside of Bath, and in her child’s mind, she combined the real mare with the mare of the story and they became one and the same magical horse for her.

What song does your character put on to start your book launch party?

Pen would play “Ghost” from the Indigo Girls Rites of Passage cd. The ghost of Danni plays a major role in the story and this would be Pen’s way to acknowledge that.

Meet Carol L Dougherty

Carol L. Dougherty has worked in professional theatre, Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania, San Francisco Zen Center, and Writers Retreat Workshop as well as several non-profit organizations.

Carol’s latest book, Smiling at Grief: A Sapphic Romance, was inspired by her years of working in the theatre. Although it is not based on any individual, some of the characters were inspired by some of the people she encountered during those years.

Carol spent four years in night school classes while working full time during the day in the athletic department at Duquesne, where her book, How Full of Briers: The Organizational Structure of the Non-Profit Theatre Corporation, began as a research project. She has worked professionally with the Three Rivers Shakespeare Festival, City Theatre Company, and University of Pittsburgh Theatre, and was also Managing Director of the Berkshire Theatre Festival from 1988-1990.

Carol has also published a political thriller, The Santiago Inheritance, a political thriller set in the dying days of the Pinochet regime, as well as updating and co-editing the 2019 edition of 100 Ways to Improve Your Writing, originally written in 1972 by her writing teacher and mentor, the late Gary Provost. She worked with Gary’s widow, Gail Provost Stockwell on the book, and taught Gary’s curriculum at the Writers Retreat Workshop for a number of years after his death. She has continued to run writing workshops and classes in a variety of locations.

Visit Carol’s Website