She Googled Bears, Wrote A Novel, And Accidentally Made Her Husband Cry

We dive into courageous reinvention with Dr. Kari Borgmann, tracing how a lifetime in accounting turned into a trilogy about love, loss, and second chances. Craft, fear, and practical writing habits meet hope, research, and a surprising new ghost romance set in Ireland.

• moving from accounting career to authorship
• channeling fear and grief into story
• reinvention in midlife and identity shifts
• writing process between plotting and discovery
• building a trilogy with a planned ending
• editing for clarity, depth and sensory detail
• the power of support in long marriages
• new project: Irish ghost mystery romance
• where to buy books and upcoming events

Please go give those books a five-star review when you read them! https://amzn.to/4rTeTW3

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Guest Introduction
• 2:35 From Accounting To Authorship
• 4:55 Writing Through Fear And Loss
• 9:55 Reinvention And Midlife Creativity
• 13:50 Process, Plotting, And Craft
• 18:30 Building A Trilogy With Closure
• 22:30 Editing Mindset And Reader Experience
• 27:10 Support, Honesty, And Motivation

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Every conversation tells a story, and the best ones begin with honesty, courage, and a little curiosity. That's where Elsa Kurt comes in. She's an author, podcaster, and independent media personality. And this is where she brings real life to the table. Authors, thinkers, creators, leaders, everyday folks with extraordinary journeys. Sit down, we dig in, we talk about what matters, what's messy, what's beautiful, and what just might inspire you to look at the world a little differently. So pour a couple of something good. Settle back and join it. This is Elsa Kurt Interviews, which has to be everyone's welcome.

SPEAKER_01: 0:39

Oh well, hey my friends. Welcome back for another episode of Elsa Kurt Interviews. This is one of my absolute favorite things to do. Today is no different. I get to interview a wonderful author and lovely woman, and it's going to be such a great chat. Here is a little bit about Dr. Carrie Boardman.

SPEAKER_00: 0:58

Today we're visiting with someone who has lived enough life, gathered enough wisdom, and bravely stepped into an entirely new chapter of storytelling. Dr. Carrie Boardman spent 30 years of accounting, earned more degrees than most people collect coffee boxes. And after 44 years of marriage, we decided that it's time to tackle a new adventure. And rediscovering who we are when life ends up being a colour. Carrie reminds us that we adventure is just powerful. It's powerful. Let's welcome her to the show.

SPEAKER_02: 1:32

Oh my goodness. Well, welcome to the show. It's so nice to meet you. How are you today? I'm very fine. Thank you so much for hosting me. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01: 1:42

Oh, it is absolutely my pleasure. I get to do the most, one of the most fun things in the world to me, which is just talk author stuff and book stuff. So this is this is such a joy for me. So uh let's talk about you. I want to talk about, so we we, you know, we heard in the intro, guys, that um you were so three decades in accounting, you have five degrees, which um I have zero. I have zero degrees. Okay. So I right? I mean, but I I'm already bowled over and awed and impressed just by that, just the tenacity of of doing the work to get all that. So that alone is great. It's literally like a full, rich life that you're you're living. And I would love to know like what was the moment that you thought, you know what, now it's time to tackle this next huge endeavor, which is writing and publishing a book. More than one, but we'll start with the one. Tell me a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_03: 2:37

Uh well, uh, about 2018, I had um this idea rattling around in my brain, amongst other things, you know, finishing my doctorate. And I I needed to take a break from school for a little bit. And it was in there. So I just sat in my office one morning, even before going to work, and I just started of what could happen. But what really drove it is um I've always had a fear of losing my husband. And we have been married for 44 years, and I thought, what might that be like if I mean we were a little more mature, what if? And let's set a character who actually goes through that and let's set some challenges she might face, then falling in love again and what that might be like, but you know, not um, oh, he passed away, so let's go out on the market immediately. Um, just things like that. And I just started writing and the ideas just started pouring in, and I would write and write and write. And first I didn't even tell my husband. And um he said, What are you doing? I see, I see you're researching bears. What are you researching bears for? Because he's attached to my my Google. And I said, Well, kind of writing a book. Why aren't you finishing your your schoolwork? Because I need a break, and I have I need some brain candy, I need some brain electrolytes going on in there. So I started finishing up the book and then I printed it and I let him read it. And he said, Well, it's it's kind of our story, isn't it? I said, Yeah, kind of.

SPEAKER_01: 4:16

Yeah, was it was so two-part question. Was it hard for you to write in that you had to put yourself in this devastatingly emotional state of losing your husband who you love and adore and don't want to lose, of course. So you you have to put yourself in that emotional state. Tell me a little bit about what that was like and what was it like for your husband reading it? Because it it has to be so emotional to write that.

SPEAKER_03: 4:42

It it is emotional. Um, so even though I'm an accountant and I have a very analytical mind, I also have a very artistic mind. Uh, I'm not the typical accountant. Um years and years ago, this is probably 30 years ago. I I wasn't even working anywhere. I was staying at home, staying home, stay at home mom. And I saw Oprah Winfrey, and she was interviewing Stephen King. And she said, Where do you come up with these ideas? And he said, I start with something somebody fears, take a fear. And at the time it was about pet cemetery. And he said, People fear losing their children. Right. Fear for any parent. Yes. And he said, and I take that and I build a story around it. For me, it was losing him. And I almost did lose him in January. Um he was within hours of passing. Oh my goodness. And he's doing better. But um, so now I I can I can feel those emotions sat in that hospital and relate it to what I was writing about as she came to realization her husband is gone. The emotions were mirroring. So I I can put myself in that situation, I can feel it, I can channel that energy and then into the writing. And um, I mean, I was never a victim of child abuse, but the male protagonist of the story was. So I had to mentally put myself into that situation. Sure. What might those feelings be like?

SPEAKER_01: 6:23

Right.

SPEAKER_03: 6:24

So that's how I channel that into the storyline.

SPEAKER_01: 6:27

That's brilliant. I love that. And you know, and the whole, and then it goes on to the reinventing yourself. So it's, you know, it's this long, long time marriage. And, you know, for anyone who has experienced it or imagined, and I am like you, I have to be honest. I I do, and I think it's just the woman brain. Like if they're 10 minutes late and you haven't heard one, you think the worst. You know, we we always imagine the worst. And so it it leads you down always that path of thinking if they pass away, if they're gone, you know, and all of those things. So that's so relatable to have those thoughts and fears on a regular basis. Uh, it's just what we do, right? So yeah, um, but then your character has to essentially reinvent herself. Walk walk me through a little bit of how you envision that and and a little bit of you know what she had to do without giving away, of course, too much of the story. That's hard. I don't want to tell you the ending. What happened? No, no, can't tell us.

SPEAKER_03: 7:23

Um so I'm in kind of that stage right now too, reinventing myself. I'm not working anywhere. Um I'm I'm thinking about going back to work. So I've put some resumes out, but I'm at a stage of life that I want another challenge, another not to not know what I've always known. If it's a little wordy, but I hope that makes sense. It makes perfect sense. Yeah, to explore that creative side in my brain, um, to get those stories that I may only have a sentence of it, uh something, a word pops into my head and and then I play on that for a little bit just to allow that creativity to come out and not go, yeah, get back there in the brain for a while. You be quiet, creative side. I don't want to tell that creative side to be quiet anymore. Yeah, check that out.

SPEAKER_01: 8:22

Yeah, it you know, and again, I I I want to use the word relatable. It's such I think that's what's so compelling about your book, your storytelling, that it's so relatable to the female experience. And I'm not trying to discount the guys, guys, if you're watching, as you know, we're not putting you down. We're just we're talking about us right now, okay? Um, but this is so relatable to the female female experience. Um, you mentioned that you were a stay-at-home mom, so that was a huge chunk of your identity. I was as well. So that is also very relatable. Um, you know, and as a stay-at-home mom, that is for a very long time your identity. You are mom, mommy for so long. And then they hit that age range. It's not that they never that they stop needing you, the needs change. And then it does come to that point. You're like, okay, well, well, who am I? And and who am I in this incarnation of my life? And, you know, you can either look at it as uh something terrifying and troubling to have have to reinvent yourself, or something exciting and challenging. So I I love kind of hearing your perspective on that. That for you, you were like, okay, what is the next challenge? What is the next endeavor thing that I'm going to do? And and I think that's really inspiring to other women who are maybe at or getting to that crossroads of their life. Do you do you feel like you put some of that element um or maybe a lot of that that mindset into the storyline? I think so.

SPEAKER_03: 9:50

Um, I mean, I relate her fears. Um, so she's she's asked, so I set the character, she's a professor at a local university. I don't name the school or anything. Um and the dean calls her in and says, Hey, um, I got a favor. And she he wants her to uproot, go to Iowa, take this one-year assignment to help a business, and she's an accountant. I said her as an accountant, right about what you know. I said her as an accountant, and you know, he talks her into it basically. She fights it, but she goes. And I think, even at my stage of life, of saying, you know what, change is possible, no matter how old we are. And as human beings, we don't like change. It's cognitive dissonance. We don't like it. We want things nice and status quo. And then we become bored, right?

SPEAKER_01: 10:53

Yeah, it's so true. That's absolutely true. Yeah, and and to walk through that journey is um it's hard, it's hard because there's so many emotions that come with it. So when you're you're seeing that on paper, and I would imagine too, as you're writing it out, did you find as you were writing, because it sounds like uh I have two terms, I didn't coin them, but there's two terms for types of writers. There's plotters and pantsers. I don't know if you've ever heard those terms, but plotters will no? Okay, so plotters will outline everything, you know, they'll have it all like sketched out and organized, and they'll do all of the things before they've even written a sentence. And pants will literally just sit down, fly by the sea of their pants, and just write. I'm a pantser, so I just sit down and start writing, and whatever comes out comes out. And I'm usually surprised by it. Where do you where do you find yourself in the in that?

SPEAKER_03: 11:41

I'm a happy medium one. Oh, balance more than you. I start, I have an outline, and it might be just one sentence, but it's kind of the chronological order of where I want things to go. And then I fill in the gaps. And that's how I'm a processor, and then it's a pantser. And I'll just be typing along and going, oh, that'd be a good idea. Oh, I could and then I could. So the creative process, it just feeds, it's a nice domino effect.

SPEAKER_01: 12:15

I love that. I love that you're able to have that balance too, that that two-sided brain where I think I just I I always lean towards. It must be so nice to be so balanced. Oh, it's just wonderful. You should live in my brain. Aren't our brains so fun? Our brains are so fun. Now, so this this first book, it's book one of a trilogy. Did you know, did you know that this was like right from the get-go? Did you know this was going to have the scope that it has?

SPEAKER_03: 12:46

Yes.

unknown: 12:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_03: 12:48

Because I knew when I wrote it, because one year is obviously just one year, a time span. Then I thought, you know, I could take that, I could add another year and the new joys and the new challenges that they come across and um, you know, things that could happen. But how am I going to close that out? Am I going to leave them at the end of a second year and just say, oh, thanks, you know, thanks for reading by.

SPEAKER_00: 13:12

Right.

SPEAKER_03: 13:13

Somehow it has to have closure to it. And I already know how I want to end the third book. In fact, I have that little piece written already. So I have the end of number three done, nothing above it other than the outline.

SPEAKER_01: 13:28

I'm I'm so impressed. I'm still, I I have a it's like a six-book series, and there's a seventh book in the works, and I have no idea what's going to happen with it. I have no idea what the end's going to be. I'm like, I'm just waiting to find out. I love that you know already. Because I ironically, I do love to know the ending. One, because I don't I don't like to be sad. I'm a I'm a big crybaby. So I'm like, is the is the ending gonna be sad? I need to know right now if it's gonna be sad because I can't read it if it's gonna be a sad.

SPEAKER_03: 13:54

Now this one's not gonna be sad, but you are going to be surprised.

SPEAKER_01: 13:58

Oh, much better. I do like surprises. I do like to be surprised, so that's awesome. Oh tell me a little bit about the actual writing process itself. Um, what what it what would you find say you found the easiest of it and the most challenging part of it?

SPEAKER_03: 14:17

The most challenging for me is letting go of it. It's almost like your infant and you want to hand over this precious baby to a stranger and say, tell me how beautiful my baby is. And then hope they come back with, yes, it's a beautiful baby, and and not get some genetic anomalies going on, don't you? Um so that's the hardest part for me. The easiest part is going back and reading what I've written.

unknown: 14:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 14:49

And then kind of comparing it. I mean, you can see I have a whole library behind me, and that's only maybe a tenth of what I have as far as books. And that includes textbooks and novels and research journals and things. So reading that and comparing my writing with theirs, you know, well-published authors, and going, you know, I think mine's pretty good. Uh in comparison with that. Um I mean, I have several favorite authors in, and I look at that and going, am I adding enough depth? Am I adding enough richness? Am I keeping the narrative easy enough to read and follow? Am I adding too much detail? Am I adding enough detail? Can the person read my book and feel what it's like to sit in that church? And have I described it enough, what it feels like to sit in there? Or um at that farmhouse? Because it's it's kind of based on uh uh an old farm and an old farmhouse. You know, can you feel it?

SPEAKER_01: 15:58

You actually have uh you have a good editor's brain too, uh, to be able to look at it. I that's the analytical side of you, right? That's like that that numbers, accounting, you know, what is that, right brain or left brain? I don't even know which side is which. Thank you. Um, so that's really beneficial that you're able to look at it, to take that step back and look at it critically, basically, and look for those key points. And and another thing that you said that is such important uh advice, really, for aspiring authors is to uh, you know, and I remember this learning this from my favorite authors too, and they all said the same thing. Like read, read, read, read, and read everything, you know, not just one type of uh um book or or literature or whatever it is, like read nonfiction, read fiction, read, you know, all the genres, because the more you read, the more you start to intuitively understand the process and the and the elements of a story and and what makes for a good story. So um it's so important and it's so I I love hearing other authors basically say that, you know, tell people like, yeah, this is how I do it, this is what you need to do. And you know, and then the other great advice, I and I'm sure you'll agree, you've either told it, I'm sure, or you've heard it, which is, you know, when people say, you know, how do you how do you get started? How do you write a book? Well, you start writing and you just start. Just start. Just start. Yeah. And I I want to go back if you don't mind. I'm just curious. Um, you said that you surprised your husband with this book. Was he completely shell-shocked that you were writing a book, or was he kind of like, yeah, that tracks?

SPEAKER_03: 17:40

He was more like, yeah, that tracks. Uh I mean, we have been together 45 years, uh, married 44. We'll be married 45 years next May. Um, so I mean, he's followed me through, you know, oh, I want to go to school. Okay. I want to go to some more school. Okay. Yeah. So um, and he's been so supportive um with this publishing process. That's wonderful. And and getting going on it. And, you know, um, he's just always been there. He's he's like one of my best friends, and I can talk to him. I, you know, I can come home and I can I can vet those frustrations. I can come out and go, oh, I wrote something really, really good. Um, and he actually purchased a book off of Amazon. He went out and bought it. He goes, Well, you know, if nothing else, we will get, you know, a little bit of the money back from it. That is so he he read it, but he read it in 2019.

unknown: 18:38

Okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_03: 18:39

So I've been refining and refinishing since then. So he bought it and he said, Well, okay, tell me what you think. Not as your wife, as you know, oh, I just picked this book up. He goes, It's good, it's a good story. I would, I will definitely read volume two, not because it's you, Carrie, but because I kind of like the story.

SPEAKER_01: 18:58

Ah, that's so awesome. And that's huge because when you're in a a long-term healthy relationship like that, they are gonna let you know. They will tell you. They'll be like, Listen, I I love you. I'm gonna say this as gently as I can, but you know, so they will tell you the truth. So that is uh so reassuring for you specifically to hear that from the person whose opinion actually matters the most and that you trust, you know. That's such a huge thing. So I'm so I'm so glad for you because it's it's so important to have somebody in your corner that believes in you and that encourages you. And even if it's somebody that doesn't really get it or understand, because I I'm an anomaly to all of my family, you know, all of my friends. I'm the only one doing the things that I'm doing in my lane. So it's so weird, but they're all so incredibly supportive. And they're like, I don't know what the heck you're doing, but you know, we're we're gonna cheer you on the the whole way, and and that is so huge. So it is um, you know, I so for anybody watching, if you don't have anybody in your corner cheering you on, Carrie and I are cheering you on, just so you know. We're cheering you all on, right? Like you got this, you can do it. Oh, and it's it's just so important. And and I, you know, like I kind of touched on earlier with you, um the fact that you're writing a book or have written a book like this or in writing a series like this, um, I I again I think it's so inspiring because yes, it's fiction, um, but it does offer that that hope and that resiliency and and that reminder that you know you can overcome the the hardest things in your life and you can actually come out on the other side of it um changed, yes, of course, but but also stronger and still live this really rich, full life. So, you know, it's and I I kind of love that that even in fiction, you can relay those messages. It's beautiful.

SPEAKER_03: 20:41

Yeah, and I have a lot of reality in there too. And it is fiction, um, but there's a lot of reality, daily challenges that you know a lot of us face.

SPEAKER_01: 20:53

Right. Yeah, absolutely. All right, now tell me a little bit. I know you I know because we talked beforehand, um, you have a whole bunch of other things in the works too, of course, with this, but uh give give everybody a little idea of what else uh to be looking for down the road with you.

SPEAKER_03: 21:08

Well, so one of my other books, which I don't really have a good title for just yet, uh uh the title that I'm going with right now is called A Forgotten Soul. And it's uh a man who was born in 1780 and he's killed in 1810. He is murdered, and his soul stays here on earth, and he's a ghost. And he knows that his only way to get to heaven, he's he's seen the glorious lights, he's heard the angels singing, is to figure out who murdered him. And um so the house that he's had built in Ireland, it is set in Ireland. Um it's passed down to other people buy it, it's passed down family generations. Well, it ends up with a woman who's age appropriate. She's housed in New York, she never knew her biological father, her mother would never tell her. Well, as it turns out, he was an inheritor of this house in Ireland. But his brother never had any children. So they said, Okay, we'll leave it to your daughter. We won't tell her, we'll just let it be a surprise when the will is read. Okay. Well, so she turns up at this house, and no one has been able to see this ghost in almost 200 years. And she can.

SPEAKER_01: 22:32

Oh, oh, this is gonna be so good. Can you hurry up and publish this, please? No pressure, no pressure.

SPEAKER_03: 22:39

Come on, lady, come on. I'm a fast typist, I really, really am. Um uh, but it it turns out they also become romantically involved.

SPEAKER_02: 22:51

Oop cool.

SPEAKER_03: 22:52

So she has she can have a physical connection with him as well. So they do solve his murder, he's gonna move on, and then she's left. Oh so there we have that, uh, you know, the love of a lifetime, a very passionate relationship, emotionally, physically passionate, and she's left to figure out what to do.

SPEAKER_01: 23:15

Oh wow, I'm already visualizing the the Netflix series. Wouldn't that be cool? Let's see. This would be the leading lady. Right? I know. Start you have to start like visualizing the whole thing. I love that sounds so intriguing and so cool that you're you're able to essentially like genre hop because it's different, very different uh lanes to be writing historical, historical fiction is really hard. I'm afraid to tackle it because I'm just I'm just not a big researcher. Um and you know, that I got going for me. Yes, I why does that not surprise me?

SPEAKER_03: 23:49

It doesn't.

SPEAKER_01: 23:49

I love it. I love it. It's so awesome. Um, do me a favor, tell everyone where they can find your books. And if you're doing any book tours or anything like that, feel free to throw those out there as well.

SPEAKER_03: 24:00

So my books right now are available on Amazon. You can search by my name, and I'm gonna give you one caution though. My last name has two N's on the end of it. So be sure and type in B-O-R-G-M-A-N-N, and it should populate on Amazon and on Barnes and Noble. Uh, book volume two is supposed to come out today of one year. We'll also be available on Barnes and Noble and Amazon for right now. I do have a live book signing coming up in December at Barnes and Noble. I don't have the location just yet or the timing of the event, but you can look on my website. Um, I'm sorry, not on my website, which is not quite ready to go, on my Facebook page, which is just Carrie Boardman. You can also look at me under Carrie Gist Bordman, and that middle name is G-I-S-T, just like the word gist. I love it. You can find it either there, I'll have it posted on both sides. I am on Instagram, and I have been invited to exhibit at the International Book Fair in London. Excuse me, Miss. Yes, which is March 10th, 11th, and 12th. My daughter is super excited because I'm taking her with me. That's so awesome. She gets to be your assistant for the week. Yes, yes. That's wonderful.

SPEAKER_01: 25:17

How many moms get to take their daughter to London for Yeah, you rank as the coolest mom right now. That's pretty awesome. Yeah, yeah, you definitely are ranking there.

SPEAKER_03: 25:28

And then also Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't interrupt you. No, no, no, go right ahead, please. I am also going to have an exhibit in Reader's Digest. We're gonna do uh a snippet of me and a snippet of the book. I haven't determined which uh snippet of the book I want to put in there just yet because I want a teaser, you know, something to hook somebody in. But those are the things that are upcoming. And I'm hoping uh the second book, which is called A Second Year, uh, will be out by spring.

SPEAKER_01: 25:59

Wow. Oh so you are one busy, busy woman. And I love that. I love that for you. That is so fantastic. And guys, we will put, I will put out all of the the links and everything you need. Everything we just discussed will be in our show notes. So you'll be able to just click right on it, go right over to and get it. And and I always try to remember to tell everyone, please go give those books a five-star review when you read them, you know, because that that helps the authors. And it really, like we always say, it's not about us, it's about other readers. So it lets other readers know, hey, this is a great book. I really enjoyed it. You should read it too. And so you're helping out the reading community by giving them those five-star reviews. So make sure you guys do that when you read the book. Uh, Carrie, this was such a joy to talk to you. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day and sharing all of this with us. And I can't wait to share this interview with everyone. This was so much fun. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03: 26:50

Thank you so much, Alsa. I appreciate it probably more than you even know. And it was so nice to talk to you and to meet you and to share ideas. I have just really enjoyed myself.

SPEAKER_01: 27:01

Good. I'm so glad. Thank you very much. And we will talk soon. And you're gonna have to come back for the the next book. So I've just gotta have to have you back. We could talk about it. How fun will that be? Absolutely. And then the third one, and the fourth. Yes, yes, and then the 10th and the 11th. We know we're nowhere near done. I know. Oh, wonderful. All right, guys, thank you so much for joining us. We'll see you in the next episode. Take care.

SPEAKER_00: 27:22

From small town love stories to battles of truth and loyalty. Also Kurt's books follow the same heartbeat. Ordinary people facing extraordinary moments. You'll find romance, drama, second chapter, behind the microphone, it's multiple channels, file, healthcare.