Noting the success of author/lawyer John Grisham in spotlighting his profession in fiction, C.M. Nevill thought it was about time real estate took the dramatic stage of the action-adventure novel. His first book, Due Diligence, 
follows the trail of Sam Reid, a struggling newbie real estate professional in Houston, as he unwittingly becomes involved with an international drug cartel.
Nevill, a residential salesperson with Jim Stewart, REALTORS®, in Waco, Texas, talked with us about finding the inspiration and time to write, the difficulties of publishing a first novel, and how aspiring authors in real estate can follow his lead into the literary world.
Due Diligence is an action-adventure novel, but the story is still firmly entwined in Texas real estate. How much do you draw on your everyday life to craft Sam Reid’s world?
Nevill: I have a really wild imagination, and it’s very easy now in today’s world to actually get involved in just about anything you want to by getting on the web. You can pretty much find out any information that you want simply by Googling. And, so as far as my own personal involvement in the story, maybe a few little odds and ends, but mainly it’s just creative imagination.
How did you get started?
Nevill: Real estate really comes first in my life, and in real estate you sometimes have some down time. A lot of people go out and they play golf or tennis or fish or something like that. But I like to read. And it just occurred to me that, you know, a lot of this reading that I do, I could probably get involved in writing too.
From reading John Grisham, he involves lawyers in a lot of things, and I thought, “Well, we ought to be able to come up with something that would involve a young real estate agent.” And so, my creative juices just started coming together. Continue reading »
By Erica Christoffer, Multimedia Web Producer, REALTOR® Magazine
Moving is an event that involves the entire family. It’s an exciting new stage in life, but it can also cause some anxiety, especially for children.
A real estate practitioner serves as a guide, advocate, and educator to clients making their way through the home buying process. Anna Parille says she takes that to heart.
A REALTOR® with William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty in Ridgefield, Conn., Parille has written a children’s book, Teddy & His Magical Paw: A New Home for the Honeypies (AuthorHouse, 2010), to help children embrace the new beginning a home purchase can bring. “When a child is stressed, it really stresses the parent. It’s a domino effect,” says Parille, who ran a nursery school for 20 years before entering real estate in 2005. “I thought maybe I can help everyone out there experiencing this.”
Her book introduces children to a REALTOR®, Miss Annie, and her special puppy named Teddy, and walks the reader though the journey of the Honeypie family as they look for a new home. “Being a REALTOR®, I’ve worked with clients whose children don’t want to move and leave their bedroom, their friends, and their school,” says Parille. “The goal of this book is to alleviate some of that fear.” Continue reading »
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