Hey there — I'm Karlene.
I spent far too many years listening to fear without realizing that’s what I was listening to.
I'm an author, but I’m also a wife, a mom, and a mormor — which means I’ve had plenty of real-world testing ground for everything I write about.
I didn't accidentally stumble upon this subject from the outside looking in. I came face to face with it the hard way — through my own life patterns, my own blind spots, and more than a few moments where I had to ask myself the same question I now ask readers:
The answer to that one little question is a reckoning.
My first book, Clean Beauty for the Mind, explored the weight of toxic words — the unbidden ones that come from outside of us, then settle way too deeply inside.
But KILL SWITCH goes even deeper. It looks at the fear we generate ourselves — those thoughts that seem a lot like wisdom, caution, or even responsibility. The problem is, they're steering us into directions we probably never meant to go.
Both books came from the same realization: the thoughts we live under will eventually affect the way we live.
I love to write through stories — because that's how I think. Honestly, it's how I remember anything that actually sticks.
The ideas in KILL SWITCH aren't neat little perfect formulas that magically appeared out of thin air. They were forged in the middle of very real life — through moments that seemed small at first, but ended up meaning far more than I realized at the time.
A thread of faith runs throughout this book, as an honest reflection of what’s grounded me through some very challenging seasons.
Believe me, I'm not writing from a place of having it all figured out. I'm writing from a place of having lived this, questioned it hard, and found something far better on the other side.
Friend, if you've landed here, I have a feeling you're looking for something more than just another 'highlight-and-forget-it' read.