Interview with novelist Carol Vorvain

Carol Vorvain is an Australian fiction writer who lives in Melbourne, a city famous for having all four seasons in a day. A lawyer and mediator by training, Carol writes uplifting, touching stories about people from all over the world. Her characters are funny and witty while exploring life choices and the power of intention, change and passion.

She loves to travel, share a laugh, and dream with her eyes wide open in her beautiful rose garden.

Welcome, Carol. Please tell us about your current release, When Dreams Are Calling. What inspired you to write this book?

We all need encouragement. We all need humor. The more the merrier. And a well-written book always does the trick. Books have healing, magic powers. Books are our best friends, our mentors, our refuge. I wanted to write a book that will make people smile with every turn of the page, while slowly restoring their faith in the power of their own dreams. And this is how When Dreams are Calling was born.

Inspired by a true story, the novel follows the journey of Dora, the adorable, a witty young woman who chases her dreams across continents, from Europe to America, then to Asia, and finally, to the far away shores of Australia.

The readers see the changes she goes through, the price she pays for following her dreams, but also the rewards she gets on the way. Her life is a roller coaster and her plan is nothing more than the confidence that everything will work out for the best.

The story is filled with magical words of wisdom that I hope will inspire and delight the readers, while making them reflect on the beauty of friendship, lust, love and kindness.

Excerpt from A Rose in Amsterdam:

Whenever I need inspiration and courage, I travel: for a few days, for a few weeks, for a few months, for whatever it takes.

I travel to confront and forget my old worries, fears, and even hopes and forge new ones, to shed my own skin and let a new layer take over, to find the answers I am looking for, the path which I lost.

I travel because when I travel I feel life is beautiful.

Sometimes I go far away, to meet cultures different than my own, to learn words I can barely pronounce. Other times, I miss home, I miss Europe.

Europe is my old friend, my beloved mother, my ideal lover. It’s my refuge, my escape from the storms, my place to rejoice and to rest.

And now, after I quit my job and I was unsure of what I wanted to do next, it was time for me to pay it a visit. A long three months visit.

Like always, I did not know if I would find in Europe whatever answers I was looking for, but something told me I had to go. Jessica’s mourning process was also taking a toll on her and so, she decided to join me for the first two weeks.

“Wake up, sleepy head!” Jessica screamed at me.

“Just go away! I was dreaming.”

“Like it wouldn’t be enough you dream during the day, now you have to dream during the night too! What were you dreaming about?”

“We were renting a small house with a boat beside the river in Giethoorn, the Venice of Holland. After a delicious breakfast in an open-air cafe on the shores of the Bosphorus, we went hiking around Lake Como in Italy, then straight into the Ice Caves in Austria. We spent the afternoon swimming and watching the sunset over the wineries in Corniglia, Cinque Terre, listening to the loud, lively Italians. We went for lunch in Salzburg to have a garlic soup and then to a Parisian fancy cafe which serves a delicious beef tartar. We spent the night on a boat in Monaco, and fell asleep caressed by the waves crashing on the shore.”

“Wow! Weren’t we busy? You got the first bit almost right.”

“What do you mean?” I said, trying hard to wake up while my head was spinning. Then, I saw on the table some cheese with figs and mustard.

“Welcome to Amsterdam! Welcome to free love, to avant-garde music and art, to Cannabis Cup and intriguing sex shops, to red cubicles and flamboyant women, to narrow canals and gay pride,” Jessica exclaimed turning on the twenty-four-seven unlimited porn channel. “We arrived yesterday morning and you have slept almost twenty four hours. It must have been the jet lag! But now that you’re finally awake, you’d better stay like that! As long as I’m here, we’ll have a blast!”

For the next two weeks, we roamed the streets of Amsterdam, waking up before the roosters and collapsing late at night with a new list with must sees for the following day.

“I know why all those people are happy here! It’s the pills!” she told me one day, happy like a baby finally catching Santa in the act.  

“The contraception pills, you mean?” I made fun of her statement.

“Those too. But look here, miracle pills!” she pointed to a store displaying hundreds of pills colorfully packed. “Wow! That’s a lot of pills! Let’s go in! We might need a few!”

“Knowing which one is the one for us will be tricky though!”

What exciting story are you working on next?

I never ‘work’ on a story. I escape together with the story. For now, I plan to tour S America at the end of the year, a place very close to my heart. And I am sure, the story will follow soon after.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I see writing as a very beautiful and special gift. You are born a writer, you do not become one, whether you like it or not, whether you will decide to publish or not, whether you will become famous or not. If writing brings you joy and peace, if it’s a constant in your life, then you are a writer.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?

I am a lawyer and mediator by training. My schedule is always pretty hectic, but I always find some time to write. They say you always find time for the things and people you really love. It’s true.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

My best ideas always come either when I am biking or when I am watching National Geographic. So, I guess I tend to do a lot of those while I am writing a new novel.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A person who will touch the heart of millions of others. The fairy position was already taken. But I always hope for a fairy assistant opening.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

“Words have power, dreams have power, we have power” is the motif of my book. Believe in it. It always works for me.  

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Thanks for stopping by today, Carol!