About Charise Olson/Leo Colson

 

Hello. Thank you for stopping by.

Whether you’re here to know a bit more about Charise or Leo, this is the place. We’re one and the same. I write contemporary fiction under my own name– Charise Olson. And I write historical fiction under the pen name, Leo Colson.

So, about me: I’m back in Texas after quite a few years in California. I also lived in Costa Rica for a while.

Which means I can say “you guys” and “y’all” interchangeably with a semi-reliable use of “usted”.

My salaried jobs have been primarily in social and community services. I have made a living with “real” words as a business, curriculum, and grant writer.

I wrote my first novel many years ago when I sat down at the keyboard to “just get it out of my head”, and because I had no cable. My writing life has been filled with ideas, plans, dreams, obstacles, resistance, encouragement, success, and failure. But I keep writing “to get it out of my head.”

Okay, but how did Leo Colson come about?

I was living in the Santa Cruz Mountains and got very into the show Boardwalk Empire (it’s old now, but was so good).

And as I drove past the shuttered Brookdale Lodge pretty much every day, I thought what a great show it would make, its history, ghosts, and legends are…well, legendary. And one thing led to another and I started writing historical fiction. My historical fiction is so different from my women’s fiction that I went with a pen name to keep the genres as separate as possible. 

I chose the name Leo in tribute to one of my Grandpas who had some writerly leanings of his own and was an avid reader. Grandpa Leo was one of the most encouraging people in my life. I’d like to think he’d enjoy having his name used and reading this genre of my writing effort.

I didn’t have any plans to write historical fiction after that one project, but before I was finished with The Roaring Redwoods, I had an idea for a new project. So, as of now, I do plan to write both– as long as the ideas keep showing up.

 Five Random Facts

1. I have a “texture thing” with food.  Mushrooms for instance. Hard no on fungi. Guanabana fruit is another– I like the flavor, but not that texture. I do eat sushi, but not sashimi which I think of as attractive bait. I also don’t like things that change texture once in your mouth. So that gum with flavored gel in the middle? Ugh. {Shudder}

2. I love going to thrift stores and estate sales. Part of it is the savings and environmental benefit, but also because I am mystified by all the things there and often ponder the backstory. I have a similar fascination with the dump.

3.  I once owned alpacas. I have never owned a reptile. I am mostly a dog person, but don’t tell my cat. I want to have rabbits again. You know the cliche about old ladies with cats? That’s going to be with a rabbit.

4. I wear something one of The Grandmas gave me or inspired me to give myself every single day. I was blessed in the Grandparent department. Both my mother and father’s parents were important influences in my life.

5.  When I’m 80 I plan to start smoking again. Maybe a pipe like my Grandpa. I love smoking- it’s just the killing you part that is such a downer. I figure, by 80– what have I got to lose? Though I will have the rabbits to thnk of…