CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) – Donna F. Kennedy did not initially envision herself as an author. It wasn’t a matter of crafting a plot, or a complicated through-line. She simply put words onto paper, and the story flowed out.

Ahead of a book signing at The Literary in Champaign, Kennedy stopped by on the Morning Show to talk about her semi-autobiographical novels, “The Truth” and “The Whole Truth”.

What is semi-autobiographical novel you may ask?

It’s when the author puts their own real life experiences into works of fiction. In this case, Kennedy wanted to write a memoir, but she didn’t have all the facts that she needed. So instead, she took what she knew and crafted a world around her experiences.

“I describe it as a dark center covered in a candy coated romance,” Kennedy said. “It’s a lot of truth, but I didn’t want it to be totally factual. So nothing is exactly as it happened, but most of it’s true.”

“The Truth” centers around woman named Dahlia. She is a best selling author of a thriller called “Tell All”. Things escalate when she finds out people are not happy she’s “telling all”.

“The Whole Truth” focusses more on the mystery going on within the world.

The book mirrors Kennedy’s life, as well as her mother’s. As a United States Air Force veteran, Kennedy has travelled all over the world. So when she retired, she and her husband, who also retired from the military, moved to Rantoul to settle down.

“My kids loved it here. My kids went to school here for a while. It was nice. It was real nice. I enjoyed it.”

If you want to meet Donna F. Kennedy, she is hosting a signing at The Literary in Champaign on Sunday, March 19th at 3pm.