Char Desbin is known at AHS as the approachable and always friendly secretary behind the front desk, but there is more than meets the eye. Many people do not know that Char has written and published an e-book entitled Cecily: My Life with Angels.

Desbin has had her book in the works for a long time. The entire endeavor of writing her first book was not a quick process.

“The first 16 pages were done within a few months and then I didn’t touch it for four years, and then after that I actually finished it in about six months. So it took almost five years to write the whole book,” Desbin said.

The book is fictional and is about the main character, Cecily who starts the book when she is five and spans until she goes on to college and become a social worker. She must make her way through various foster homes. The beginning of the book is a background focused about Cecily’s parents, Samantha and Ricky. On her journey she must also avoid demons that want her dead, because they know that Cecily will save many lives later. Over the years Cecily has the protection and assistance from two guardian angels that do everything in their power to keep her alive so that she can fulfill her destiny.

Though the work is fictional, Desbin relates to the main character and her story. Desbin grew up and spent time in foster homes from the time that she was two until she graduated.

“It’s made up but a lot of the characters I relate to. Cecily grows up in and out of foster care and I graduated out of foster care,” Desbin said.

Desbin was in out of foster homes throughout her childhood. By the time she had graduated and was moving on to the next stage of her life she had been in a total of seven foster homes. Her childhood wasn’t easy and she is proud for beign able to say that she was one of the few people that graduated.

“The fact that I beat what they call the ‘odds’ was that most kids growing up in foster homes don’t graduate,” Desbin said. “Through all of the things that might happen like being pregnant while in high school and all the other crap that you were about, I beat the odds on that part. It was definitely difficult at times.”

Though she had to work hard in order to not succumb to the stereotype that foster homes have, she learned a lot. She now feels as though she has an insight and can tell when people have a tough home. She is definitely more sympathetic and understanding for those that have had a similar past as she did. The multitude of foster homes had a lasting impact on Desbin and her life.

“The biggest impact is that I don’t take anything for granted like relationships. I learned how to shut down when I was in there, because I didn’t want to get to close to anyone”, Desbin said. “Right when you starting getting close, you seemed to get yanked out and you’re in another foster home. It took me a long time to get over that where I would could easily shut someone out. It did teach me to have compassion.

Her past has inspired her to write. Through everything she has seen she has grown and uses her own past experiences to write.

“Wanting to show that someone who had a horrible childhood like Cecily can overcome. I also strongly believe that everyone has an angel looking out for them and that we aren’t alone,” said Desbin.

When looking for Char’s book online, make sure that you search her pseudonym of Char Kay. When it came time to publish her book to Amazon, she decided to use a different last name.

“I can’t stand the last name Desbin and my last is actually Martin,” said Desbin.

After taking nearly five years to write her first book, Char just wants to get the word out. Everyone that has read Desbin’s book has fallen in love and can’t seem to put it down. If more people knew about her book, then she hopes and believes that more people would go online and find it.

Though it may take some time from now, be on the look out for Desbin to write a sequel to Cecily: My Life with Angels. Desbin says that she doesn’t plan on starting the writing process until she can publish a hard copy of Cecily: My Life With Angels. Her ultimate goal is to be able to self-publish both books as hard copies.