“It can really build a relationship with place for tourists, when you read any novel that’s set in an area you are visiting or a place that you love," she says. "I think it can strengthen the connection for people visiting the park to read work that is based in the surrounding communities.”
Carbo began writing almost 15 years ago, shortly after earning a Masters in English and Linguistics at the University of Montana. At the time, she was teaching as an adjunct professor at Flathead Valley Community College, and she completed two novels that she never published.
Life changes meant that she focused more on raising her son after going through a divorce, and Carbo began working as a technical writer. “I just set writing aside for 10 years,” she explains. “I even told a friend that I was done with writing.” But when she eventually came back to it, writing felt different.