Just before finishing her second novel, Coal Run, best-selling author Tawni O'Dell took a pause from creating her main character's path and, instead, followed it.

While her character, ex-Penn State football player Ivan Zoschenko, was dealing with returning home 40 years after his dreams of a professional career were shattered, O'Dell was deciding to leave her home in Illinois.

She settled in State College in June with her children, Tirzah, 13, and Connor, 10.

"For me, 'home' is the whole state of Pennsylvania," O'Dell said last night during a "fireside chat" at the University Club to about 50 club members and guests. "Sometimes you have to leave ... to understand that it is your home."

This couldn't be truer for O'Dell, who both grew up in Pennsylvania and now uses the state as the setting for her books.

Ironically, as her character Ivan was trying to find his future while being stuck in the legendary image of his past, the same was happening to O'Dell.

O'Dell's first book, Back Roads, immediately became a huge success after it was picked for Oprah's Book Club in 2000. Within the year, O'Dell was on The Oprah Winfrey Show, in People Magazine and Redbook, and on the best-seller list for nine weeks.

"The media blitz ... was overwhelming," O'Dell said. "But then all of a sudden it just ends. The audience follows Oprah -- not necessarily the author."

O'Dell said being faced with the pressure of having to write another best seller was as hard as she imagined.

"I had readers I didn't want to let down," she said. "When you're faced with that -- creatively speaking -- it is paralyzing."

O'Dell turned to what worked when she was having trouble writing her first book: she wrote what she knew -- not what she thought other people wanted to read.

"The intangible magic that makes a difference between a good book and a great book is when you write from the heart," she said.

As she did in Back Roads, O'Dell used a western Pennsylvania coal-mining town for Coal Run since it reminded her of the towns near where she grew up in Indiana, Pa. .

"I was intrigued with the contrasts of Pennsylvania," O'Dell said. "The beautiful rolling green hills and abandoned coal mines, the natural beauty and industrial blight. [Coal mining] is not just a profession; it's very much a culture of its own, and I thought it was worth telling the world about."

Margie Milgrub, a member of the University Club, said she enjoyed Coal Run mostly because of its familiar setting.

"I particularly enjoyed it because there were so many references to [State College]," she said. "It felt very real."

O'Dell is currently working on a third book involving coal miners set in a fictional Pennsylvania county.

Marilyn Haugh, who organized the chat, said even though O'Dell has seen stardom, it doesn't show.

"She's an absolutely delightful person," Haugh said. "You'd never know she was a recognized author. It was so gracious that she shared her experience."