Carma Gagne Chan was born in California and schooled in Utah as a middle child in a big family. She has four brothers and three sisters. Her parents owned two popular Chinese-American restaurants in St. George, Utah, first Jon-Jon’s Cafe and later The Ricksha. Carma began writing at age twelve and never stopped. She prefers to be an independent author. She is neurodivergent, learning mainly by abstract thinking, curiosity and intuition. She wrote a science fiction series for young readers, though she herself was never a fan of scifi books. Ideas come to her out of nowhere and compel creative writing. She has no choice. Ignoring the idea does not work. Fearing what people might think does not deter. Wishing she wasn't born this way doesn't stop it.
If she could be anything else, she would like to be an astronaut or a forest ranger! If she could do anything she wanted, she would go to a universe where she could befriend Vincent Van Gogh. If she could work in any national park, she would choose the Redwoods of Northern California.
Though raised in Utah by Mormons, she is not religious and is unaffiliated. She is most attracted to zen buddhism, minimalism, and simplicity. The forest is her happy place. Especially the Hoh rainforest in the Pacific northwest.
People ask if Carma is her given name - yes, it is. Her mother had a friend in kindergarten whose name was Carma, she wore French braids and was very pretty. Her mother says Carma was her most beautiful baby. She had no knowledge of the doctrine of karma. Carma learned about that when John Lennon's song, Instant Karma, played on the radio. The name has been a trip to have, especially when people react with alarm (as if they have a guilty conscience?)
Though very down to earth, in her youth she was quiet adventurous - she did something she had wanted to do since age fourteen, that her mother would not let her do - on her 25th birthday, Carma went skydiving. She jumped out of an airplane and says free-falling is an unforgettable blast!
She has gone snow skiing on many mountains - Salt Lake City, Mammoth, Tahoe, and Whistler, BC.
She learned to play banjo and acoustic guitar at age sixteen. In her early twenties, Carma performed as lead vocalist in a hard rock band named Raucous Rogue (stage name Renae Mercy Bridgewater). They were a cover band that played songs by Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Heart, Pat Benatar, Judas Priest, and AC/DC.
She joined a Jesus People commune at age 16. Dropped out of high school, passed a GED test with flying colors, and went apple picking with friends in Malott, Washington. She has also worked as a chicken picker, cook, waitress, secretary, and research assistant. Carma has lived in California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Washington states. She has visited Canada, Mexico, London and Cork, Ireland (her favorite). She wants to do more traveling and is eager to visit Argentina (Iguazu Falls), Norway (northern lights), Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, New Zealand, Peru (Machu Picchu), and Zimbabwe (Victoria Falls).
All of Carma's books and screenplays were written in spare time, evenings and weekends, while working full-time Monday-Friday 8-to-5 as an executive assistant for tech companies (Oracle and Red Hat). Though she is pleased enough with what she has been able to accomplish as a part-time indie author, she is eager to retire in 2025 and focus on writing something special that has been brewing for years. Stay tuned.
Read more
Read less
