Local Author Turns Tragedy Into Lifelong Dream

Karin Centers and her husband have lived in Woodridge for the past six years.

Karin Centers was fresh off an on-the-job injury when her employer informed her she was going to be laid off. Oh, and it was her birthday. And she was set to have major surgery just a few days later.

Later, complications from the injury would force Centers to walk down the aisle of her own wedding in a restrictive knee brace. Two days before the wedding, a blood clot limited her to a wheelchair. She was wheeled down the aisle.

But no matter how bad things got—and believe her, they were bad—Centers always found a way to see the glass half-full.

"When you didn't think things could get any worse, they did," she said, looking back on her experiences. "But we've been through the ringer and back and you have to just find the humor in things."

So jobless and unstable health in tow, Centers set out to accomplish one of her lifelong dreams of writing a book. And she didn't have to look very far for inspiration.

Centers began writing "The Adventures of C.H. Ickens – The Deep Fried Journal," a tale of a chicken that comes to grips with why humans do some of the things they do.

C.H., which stands for Charles Henry, "has things happen to him," that forces the reader to both laugh and cry along with him.

"It teaches you a lesson, yet at the same time it lets you laugh at all the things that are happening," said Centers' husband, Amal Centers.

The knack to find the sense of humor in a situation is a gift Centers, who graduated from and still lives in the area, has used time and again given her circumstances.

Her and her husband are still unemployed, although book sales are helping make ends meet these days. Amal Centers is also a product of a workplace injury—he was seriously injured at his last job, just weeks before he was given a pink slip.

"You have to find a sense of humor in the things that happen otherwise you are just going to cry," Karin Centers said. "And I don't want to cry anymore. And that is kind of the attitude of the book.

"I chose a chicken because I wanted to see what it would be like for someone not from our culture to think about the silly things humans do. Then I thought of why humans are afraid to follow their dreams. And I finally just thought to myself, 'Stop being such a chicken,' and it hit me and I was rolling from there," she said.

"C.H. Ickens" rolled off the presses Sept. 30 and is a 140-page book marked by 20 chapters. Each chapter is relatively short by design, giving readers an easy read.

"I wanted to make it something that was if you are an adult and need a good laugh, it was something you could look at for five minutes in your busy day," Karin Centers said. "But at the same time, there is humor in it for kids and even middle teenagers. It's really aimed at all age groups."

Ultimately, the Centers want to sell enough books to begin giving to charities that have been affected in ways such as their own. Making millions of dollars off the book would be great, Amal Centers said, but really the couple just wants to regain stability in their life and help others.

Karin Centers is already working on follow-up projects to her C.H. Ickens book. She already has a comic strip—titled Chicken Strips—in the works, where two new friends join Charles Henry. The couple is also trying to find a way to make C.H. Ickens into an audio book.

But Karin Centers said she would like to explore some new territory when it comes to writing her second book.

Regardless, she is well on her way—a true "make something out of nothing" story.

"When you don't have any strength left, that is when you realize how strong you really are," she said. "You have more inside of you so don't ever give up."

For more information on Karin Centers or on how to buy the book, visit her website HERE.