Kristy Woodson Harvey's "Dear Carolina"

Kristy Woodson Harvey holds a degree in journalism and mass communications from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a master’s in English from East Carolina University.

Here she dreamcasts an adaptation of her debut novel, Dear Carolina:

I’ll be honest. “Who would play the characters in Dear Carolina if it was made into a movie?” has been one of my most feared and most avoided questions of the publication process. Mostly, probably, because it’s a question that has forced me to face a harsh realization: I’m no longer cool. I used to read every People magazine and watch every new film that came out and at least channel surf by Entertainment Tonight. But now? I guess with a three-year-old and squeezing in writing time, I’ve somehow become way less attuned to Hollywood’s best and brightest.

But I decided that it’s time to quit avoiding the question and, instead, embrace it! Who wouldn’t, after all, want to see her work come to life on the big screen?

Khaki, the adoptive mother in Dear Carolina, is a Southern woman through and through. She’s glamorous when she’s working in her role as NYC interior designer, relaxed when she has her hands in the dirt on her NC farm and most at home in her most important life’s role: mother. She knows how to chase big dreams, she’s found success, but she’s never forgotten where she came from. So, it seemed just right to “pretend cast” another NC girl, who has lived a life somewhat similar to Khaki’s, to play her in the film: Jaime Pressly. She’s run the gamut in the characters she has played, but now, as a mother herself, I think she would fully embrace the heart that needs to be put into this film.

And, for her leading man, Graham? Chris Hemsworth. Yeah, I might not read People every week, but who in her right mind would miss the Sexiest Man Alive? Perfectly unshaven and a family man himself, Hemsworth would be an amazing Graham. And I just know he would nail that Southern accent.

But the big question remains: Who will play Jodi, the birth mother? She has lived hard but maintains such a sense of vulnerability about her. Life has dealt her a tough hand, but, even still, she has so much hope. I guess I’ll have to leave that one up to the real casting crew if Dear Carolina ever gets made into a film!

Visit Kristy Woodson Harvey's website.

--Marshal Zeringue