Featured Interview With Rachelle Chartrand
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, but now live in the most beautiful city in the world – Vancouver, British Columbia. This city was a huge part of my healing journey and is an actual character in my book… Being able to go to the ocean everyday, helps me put anything into perspective.
I have an eclectic teaching background having taught high school physics in Edmonton, ESL in India and South Korea, as well as math and science to at-risk youth, young offenders and autistic children at home in Vancouver.
Now, I am very blessed to be living my dream as a professional screenwriter with many projects at different stages of development.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I actually didn’t come to writing until later in life and most of the reading I did was for research or academic based. My experience with reading and writing in school were not the most positive, I failed almost every essay I wrote and for some reason had an aversion to the literature we were asked to study. I think the only book I actually finished in school was ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’. I was much more interested in math and science, eventually becoming a high school physics teacher.
It was actually after a few years of trying to become an actress that I began writing. I was frustrated with the way females were portrayed in film, and specifically the roles I was going out for, so decided to write a film that had well-rounded female protagonists. I was hooked and haven’t looked back!
‘CHRYSALIS: A Dark and Delicious Diary of Emergence’ is my one year diary of healing, but also chronicles my evolution and emergence as a writer. One of the things I think is interesting is how my writing changes over the course of the book. In the final few months, it actually becomes quite poetic.
Writing ignited my love of reading. Although, it started as research for whatever screenplay I was writing, it has expanded into a major part of my life’s journey.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I read a lot of non-fiction, anything from Eckhart Tolle to Napolean Hill. I love memoirs, as long as they are honest. I can tell within the first few pages whether the author is being authentic. With fiction, I like the story to be rich in theme, with bold characters. I love Paulo Coelho novels.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
~~ Described as ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ meets ‘Bridget Jones’s Diary’ if either woman was a bulimic, alcoholic divorced twice by age thirty-nine, CHRYSALIS chronicles Rachelle’s heart-wrenching, heart-healing metamorphic year. It is a profound and provocative memoir of forgiveness, acceptance and self-love.~~
I am a screenwriter, but the inspiration to write my memoir came in three strikes:
1. A week before my 39th birthday, I had the idea I should write a book about this threshold age. Most of the women in my life were dreading turning 40, but I couldn’t wait. I had just come out of two incredibly hard years filled with divorce, depression and death and was desperate for change. I was home for Christmas and completely unable to connect with any of my loved ones.
2. On the morning of my 39th birthday (December 23, 2011), while doing yoga, I had a vision that when I turned 40 I would turn into a butterfly. Feeling like I was stuck in my ‘caterpillar’ past, which was filled with shame and guilt, I dedicated the year to my emergence. The year I would become a woman.
3. A week later, on New Year’s Day, I declared to the Universe that I was going to make 2012 the Best Year of My Life and promised to follow any guidance it provided me. It whispered back two words: Inspired Ideas. Any idea that came to me through the year, I had to follow… as long as it didn’t hurt anyone else, of course! This commitment is the source of a lot of comedy throughout the year.
‘CHRYSALIS: A Dark and Delicious Diary of Emergence’ is my actual diary of my 39th year.
At the outset, I make an oath to be 100% honest. No matter what came up through the year, it would go in there. No sugar-coating. I was done being a fraud and saw this as an opportunity to free myself. I kept the promise, but to be honest at the time I had no idea the secrets that I would have to reveal and the demons I would need to face.
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