“Love Interrupted” by Gina Daniel of Breda, who writes under the name Bernadette Jewell, has been available online since November and will be officially released Saturday.
"My inspiration for writing the book is the message that you should never give up on life and love, that no matter what happens you can always work through it."
Gina Daniel's trying to stay grounded about sales for her first published novel.
Sure, the Breda woman says, she hopes "Love Interrupted," a fictional romance, is a literary hit.
But Daniel's already accomplished her goal.
Daniel, whose pen name is Bernadette Jewell, says the book was her own labor of love, and she's just happy just to have it published.
"I've been wanting to write since I was 18," said Daniel, a Carroll native who graduated from Kuemper Catholic High School in 1994.
"Over the years in my head I came up with these different characters, what they'd look like and do. It finally just came together."
"Love Interrupted" is about a young woman, Christy. When the story begins, Christy's thinking about ending her life.
"She's in a lot of pain from love and everything else that's gone on," said Daniel. "She wants to end it, but she first goes back and thinks about how she got this way. That's the story. You follow Christy through her life, and at the end you catch up to her and find out" whether she commits suicide.
"It's a romantic tragedy, really. You see a lot of different people that came in and out of her life and how Christy had a lot of heartache."
So what does Christy decide?
"You're going to have to read the book," said Daniel.
Although "Love Interrupted" has been on sale at various online stores since November, its official release date is Saturday.
Released by Publish America, the 226-page paperback retails for $24.95.
"Love Interrupted" was writing interrupted for Daniel, a daughter of Gene and Karen Pawletzki of Carroll who's worked at American Home Shield for 14 years. It took the married mother of five four years to write it.
"I wrote my ideas down in a notebook for about a year, then when I decided on the storyline I began typing on the computer," she said.
Weekends, days off, whenever she could find time, Daniel, who has five daughters aged 5 to 13, was working the keyboard.
She submitted an outline and excerpts to several publishers before being signed by Publish America.
The book was finished in September.
"I haven't been paid anything yet," Daniel says with a laugh, explaining that what money she earns from "Love Interrupted" will come from royalties.
It'd be nice to make money from the novel, but, Daniel says, her goal was to just get it published.
"We'll see how it goes," she added.
"It's exciting, but I'm just trying to stay calm, not get my hopes up too high."
Daniel's an avid reader who lists horror author Stephen King as her favorite.
"I've read everything from King to romance novels," she said. "I do like the suspense and gore."
No violence or thrills in "Love Interrupted," however.
"My inspiration for writing the book," Daniel said, "is the message that you should never give up on life and love, that no matter what happens you can always work through it."
Daniel's already working on a second novel, a different fictional story in a different setting. She hopes to have that done in about a year.
