Elaine Cougler is the award-winning author of historical novels about the lives of settlers in the Thirteen Colonies who remained loyal to Britain during the American Revolution. She uses the backdrop of the conflict for page-turning fictional tales where the main characters face torn loyalties, danger, and personal conflicts. Her Loyalist trilogy comprises The Loyalist’s Wife, The Loyalist’s Luck and The Loyalist Legacy, all available on Amazon, Kobo, and Audible. Her latest book is The Loyalist’s Daughter, the prequel to her Loyalist trilogy.
Elaine also wrote the Amazon #1 Bestseller The Man Behind the Marathons: How Ron Calhoun Helped Terry Fox and Other Heroes Make Millions for Charity. Byron native, Ronald G. Calhoun, was the chair of the Canadian Cancer Society team who managed the Marathon of Hope, Terry Fox’s run in 1980. Ron also managed the Jesse’s Journey walk across Ontario and later across Canada, as well as Steve Fonyo’s Journey for Lives and the blind Ken McColm’s Incredible Journey across Canada. Ron’s honours are many and well deserved. Elaine is delighted and humbled to be the author of this important book, a different kind of Canadian history.
Elaine leads writing workshops and speaks about her books to many groups. Through her website she blogs about the writing and reading world and more. She lives in Ontario with her husband. They have two grown children.
Links:
Elaine can be found on YouTube and LinkedIn and through the following links: @ElaineCougler www.elainecougler.com http://www.facebook.com/ElaineCouglerAuthor
Today I’m interviewed on Charlene Jones’ wonderful Soul Sciences site via a podcast. Charlene interviewed me at her home north of Toronto late last spring when The Loyalist Legacywas nearing the end of its journey to publication. Of course today the book is out, the launch parties are in full swing, and this blog tour is finishing its second week of a three-week stint. Click on this link for the podcast itself and on this one to go to Charlene’s wonderful website. Sit back, put your feet up and listen to two women talk about writing, The Loyalist Legacy, life and our place in life.
This finishes up week two of The Loyalist Legacy Blog Tour. One More Week! Watch for the last day surprise!
November is launch month for The Loyalist Legacy, the third in my Loyalist Trilogy and what a month it has turned out to be. Our thoughts are on our American neighbors to the south and the most vitriolic and divisive election any of us can ever remember. No matter whose side you’re on, this was a dirty fight and it was hard to see dignity and even honesty go out the window.
And it’s the time of year when we specifically remember those who served that we who have come after might live our lives in freedom.
Of course almost my every waking thought is on my book launch with personal appearances, book signings and speaking engagements, and my three-week book tour all over the Internet. Yesterday I did a newspaper interview here in my hometown after two major events on the weekend. So much fun! Meeting people who love historical fiction in general and my Loyalist trilogy in particular is pretty darn rewarding.
As I drove home after one of these events I thought about the connection between my latest book (the Loyalist Legacy), November 11th and Remembrance Day, and this pivotal American election.
Five Items to Make Us Feel Better This November
Though our history is relatively short it is full of catastrophic events which could have ended Canada. Wars, rebellions and civil disobedience are part of our past and yet here we are. My Loyalist trilogy is a testament to the efforts of individuals fighting for a good life here.
Canada suffered through the 1837 Rebellion in Upper and Lower Canada (Ontario and Quebec) yet managed to survive and become one of the best countries in which to live today. William and Catherine Garner, the real couple whose names I borrowed in The Loyalist Legacy, were there for that rebellion and survived.
Reading fiction and particularly historical fiction lets us imagine things that may have happened in the past from which our ancestors recovered. We see the strength in ordinary people when faced with disheartening and even terrifying events going on all around. We can recover.
One of the things my daughter started me writing with her is a gratitude journal. Every day we try to write 3 things for which we are grateful and it helps me to focus on the good in my life as well as have a wonderful view into just who my daughter is. We pick each other up with that journal and we remember how lucky we are.
In The Loyalist Legacy the difficulties of being settlers in an unsettled land, of fighting to save children from disease with no healthcare, and of seeing one’s neighbors divided over just how to solve political and social problems every day–those difficulties seem so much larger than ours just at this moment. There is a bigger picture. Perhaps we can all focus on it while we strive to build a better world.
When the first book in my Loyalist trilogy was published, I was ecstatic. The cover was fabulous, the paper quality excellent, and everything else seemed just what this perfectionist wanted. The bubble floated along with me in it until, little by little, snippets of doubt crept into my mind. Oh, my readers mentioned over and over their excitement, their sleepless nights, their need for the next book just as soon as I could get it written. In fact, readers have been all that I could expect and much more.
The Loyalist’s Wife 2nd edition cover.
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Still, a few things bothered me. I’d missed checking the chapter headings and numbered them incorrectly. That was a relatively simple fix and that’s why the printer sends a proof copy. Then, as I did numerous public readings, I found the odd error. Horrors! The worst one was using the wrong name for one of my characters, an error which I discovered right in the middle of a public reading. Luckily my performance genes took over and my audience never knew. But I did. The worst was finding sections where the writing was just not what I am capable of and I hated those bits. Did I mention I’m a perfectionist?
This past spring and summer, I upped my author game by recording this first book for an audio book and that led to a perfect opportunity to go back and fix all those things which bugged me, and more. As I prepared each chapter for the recording sessions, I made changes in the text. Then when I was reading for the two hour recording sessions I always had a pen in hand. A large squiggly black thing in the margin was quick to put in as I was reading and, once home, I made the correction needed. This was a fabulous way to check my own work. Reading aloud makes me notice every little word and if it doesn’t read well, it’s probably not written well. Now I’m a convert for proofreading aloud. This is particularly good for dialogue bits and the dialogue tags with them.
At the same time as I was recording and editing the 2nd edition of The Loyalist’s Wife, my third in the trilogy, The Loyalist Legacy, was in the review process and I had cover decisions to make. Even though I loved the first cover for Wife, the thought of a trilogy sold as a set made me think about making the books similar. The second book, The Loyalist’s Luck, had such a striking cover I directed my cover artist to use it as a model for the third. While she was at it, she suggested the artwork above for the first one. I loved the idea and what you see above is the updated cover for the second edition. It cost me a bit of money but not nearly so much as you might think. Well worth it.
Here’s the full updated cover for The Loyalist’s Luck. I’ve added the other two covers on the back as well as extra words on the front for all three. (The second book of The Loyalist Trilogy on this one.)
Notice the number at the top of the spine. I love that! My three books will look great sitting together on my wonderful readers’ bookshelves, don’t you think? Because I made significant changes to the interior and to the cover of the first book, I chose to give it the second edition label on the inside title page. You’ll still be able to buy the first one online for a while but for my speaking and signing engagements, once those are gone I won’t order more. Get ’em while they last!
I have used the cover for the third book here. It will be launching in November with a three-week blog tour weekdays Nov. 7-25. More about all of that later. For today I just wanted to suggest to other authors that doing a second edition is not as difficult as you might imagine and when I received my print copies a couple of days ago, they pleased and excited me just as much as the first one did about three and a half years ago.
Cover Reveal for The Loyalist Legacy coming in November!
I’ll be looking for new editions from other authors from now on!
Today’s post comes to me courtesy of a very special little boy who visits quite often. The last time he was here we bought this costume for him for Halloween and he just had to try it out. I was interested in what happened once he was behind the knight’s helmet with the visor down and his very own sword and shield in hand. He launched into sword play! He needed no prodding or showing what to do. Somehow a knight lunged forth as I clicked my camera.
For Halloween this knight’s costume will have black pants added but he may have to push the helmet open so he can see as he wanders the streets looking for damsels in distress. Or candy.
This all got me thinking about how easily accessible imagination can be, given the right prompts. Isn’t that what we writers do? With the right word pictures we transport our audience wherever we want faster than a charging stallion carrying a knight to the joust.
And we keep the moment going long enough to hook the reader into our stories. The imagination is a spectacular aid for authors. If we didn’t have it, or if our readers didn’t have it, imagine how dull reading would be. And imagine how boring a new costume would be for my grandson.
Here’s a seven-year-old boy anxious to dress up on a very hot day in August because his imagination has been tweaked. How can writers make sure that happens every time someone cracks open one of our books?
7 Ways to Spark the Imagination:
Take it out for a walk. Your imagination, that is. Look at the world all around and think of options that might be or could have been. Use your brain to take you into imaginary worlds. The sky is not the limit; it is the wide open door for us.
Find moments to sit quietly and let your brain do its thing. In the doctor’s office imagine the individual stories of those around you: that mother with the whiny baby, the whiskered old man with the rheumy eyes, the woman with her long legs crossed so tightly.
Actually go for a walk and clear your mind.
Sign up for a curated news feed and, when it comes into your InBox every day, play the what if game. What if that oil spill happened right off the coast where loggerhead turtles have been laying their eggs for generations? What if your wife didn’t come home tonight? What if you broke your leg skiing with Trump? Well, maybe that’s a lot far-fetched.
Go to Tim Horton’s or Dunkin’ Donuts and just stop, look and listen. Make sure you don’t get caught eavesdropping, although that might make a great story, too.
Talk to everyone: the rushing young man in the coffee lineup, the lady beside you getting her hair coloured for the 40th time, the snarly man whose truck smacked into you and who told you it was your fault.
Especially talk to the little boy who comes to visit and brings you all sorts of things: shells, flowers (weeds), and even a quarter because you’ve done that for him.
Back to the original question. Do children thrive on imagination? Yes, they do, if only we look, listen, and learn from them. I’m taking a page from my grandson’s book. I wonder if he’ll write one some day?
Today I welcome two wonderful writers to my blog–Mary K. Tod and Helen Hollick–both of whom write delicious historical fiction among other things. Mary has a new book just launched so that is the prime subject today but I’m going to point you to a post she did on Helen’s chock-full blog. It’s kind of like putting chocolate sauce on fresh raspberries. Check out both of these authors. You won’t be disappointed.
Now for some of my personal links to them: Last year at the Historical Novel Society Conference in Denver, Colorado, I stepped onto the elevator and a very pleasant voice said, “Are you Elaine Cougler?” Someone recognized me! So much fun. And that someone was Mary K. Tod. What a delightful happenstance!
At the same conference I met the esteemed author Helen Hollick who wrote earlier in the year from the HNS to tell me my first two historicals had been favorably reviewed online under the HNS banner. Hats and all Helen made quite a splash at the conference and her blog is fantastic.
Writing Superheroes–from a conference a couple of years ago.
Yesterday I got to spend some time over on a different website where Maria Grace has created a dream of a site. She included me in her series about author superheroes, a thrill to be sure. I’ve linked to the interview here and urge you to click over and feast on her creativity. A fabulous idea for author interviews!
Have you ever wanted to sit on the sidelines and watch history unfold before your very eyes? Or perhaps you’ve wanted to be part of it, experiencing first-hand the sweat and the swirling smoke after a firing? Well, you can do either of these things. Re-enactors are a welcoming and friendly group and one has even invited me to take part in one of their weekends, even offering to share her tent with me.
These pictures of an event at Fort Erie earlier in the season come through a bit of a circuitous route from a diligent re-enactor, Ryan, who is a member of two units. He belongs to a naval unit (Simcoe Squadron) and an infantry unit (British Indian Department). And he will be at Fanshawe Pioneer Village for Fanshawe 1812: The Invasion of Upper Canada days August 27 and 28. He has generously shared these pictures taken by Meagan Ashleigh-Moeyaert and Steve Zronik (Laughing Devil Photography). Enjoy!
by Meagan Ashleigh-Moeyaert
by Meagan Ashleigh-Moeyaert
by Steve Zronik, Laughing Devil Photography
by Steve Zronik, Laughing Devil Photography
by Steve Zronik, Laughing Devil Photography
And here’s Ryan keeping watch at the end of the day. Thanks so much to the photographers and to Ryan Moore who made this post possible. Be sure to see the re-enactors at Fanshawe the last weekend in August. I’ll be there!
Here’s a great post about the new book out by a whole list of authors. Cryssa Bazos is a 17th century enthusiast but writes this post highlighting this book about what might have happened in 1066 in an alternate reality. Check out 1066 Turned Upside Down. It’s next on my list of books I simply must read. Click through and Enjoy!
Jean Little and her sister who assisted in Jean’s presentation.
This past June I was lucky enough to attend a writers’ conference in downtown Toronto, Ontario. Such a plethora of choice sessions to attend made my two days there very interesting but the best for me was going to hear Jean Little give the Margaret Laurence Lecture which is always entitled “A Writer’s Life”.
I knew this would be interesting as Jean Little’s writing helped send me on my own writing journey. I well remember sitting on my back porch and finishing Listen For the Singing, one of Little’s books I read for a Children’s Literature course I was taking at the time. As I closed the book the tears came and I remember wishing so hard that I could write that well that I couldn’t stop crying. You see, Jean Little is almost blind but has risen to the top of her profession. What an icon she is.
Now the second thing which made me want to attend Little’s lecture was the name of the Canadian author whose name graces the event. Margaret Laurence. As a young stay-at-home-mother searching the local library for books, I found Laurence’s Jest of God. And my mother lent me her copy of The Fire Dwellers. Both of these books seemed to reach right into my soul and know what I was thinking and feeling. The first is about a single school teacher in the Canadian prairies and her sad struggle to find a life and to recognize who she is. The second deals with her sister suffering through a less than perfect marriage in Vancouver, both sisters shaped by their prairie upbringing with an undertaker father and the down sides of living in a small town. I could relate to all of this even though my own story is nothing like these.
With every new book that Laurence produced, I went further into my own coming of adult age. The woman just seemed to pick topics so current and so poignant that they touched me. Later I was lucky enough to teach The Stone Angel to my senior English classes, and the story of Morag Gunn came to life in The Diviners. Laurence wrote several other novels and many short stories but The Stone Angel is the one for which she is revered even though it was, at one point, removed from school curricula as a result of extremist book banning actions.
It took me a lot of years to find the exact right combination of life circumstances to reach out and become a writer myself but these two women certainly egged me on. When my son asked me if there was anything I wished I had done in my life so far, I said, “Write a novel.” It just popped out. He replied with all the reasons he thought the timing was perfect. “If not now, when?” he asked.
Have you ever wanted to write a book or to meet published authors face-to-face? On Civic Holiday, Monday, August 1, 2016, you are invited to meet 6 London area authors, face-to-face, and peruse their books at a fabulous event hosted by Chapters, Wellington Road, and the London Writers Society.
You Are Invited
What: The London Writers Society Inaugural Authors Day. Six featured local authors will speak about their writing and be available for book signings.
When: Civic Holiday Monday (Aug. 1) from noon to 3:00 p.m.
Where: The Chapters Book Store, 1037 Wellington Road, London, Ontario (519) 685-1008
Who:Six local authors whose storytelling and writing matches that of best selling authors. Featured authors will be:
Pat Brown, prolific author of gritty detective mysteries and historical fiction.
Elaine Cougler, award-winning author of an historical fiction trilogy based on the Loyalists.
Colin Forbes, writer of a thought-provoking autobiography about his work as a physician on four continents.
Rita Hartley, author of a compelling memoir about trekking back from loss to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro.
John Matsui, award-winning writer who’s won critical acclaim for his urban fantasies and thrillers.
Aldous Richards, author of acclaimed sci-fi literature
Why: Fans around the world know these talented writers. The London Writers Society wants to introduce their works to a wider local audience.
What reviewers are saying about:
KRONOS DUET by Aldous Richards- “it will leave you breathless.”
LATE BITE by John Matsui- “Kept me up all night.”
LONG CLIMB BACK by Rita Hartley- “Clever and witty and inspiring throughout.”
FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART by Dr. Colin Forbes- “(Forbes is) deserving of the word – humanitarian.”
THE LOYALIST’S WIFE by Elaine Cougler- “Her storytelling ability is awesome.”
L.A. HEAT by Pat Brown- “Brutal, Thrilling, Romantic and HOT.”
So now you have all the info. Here’s the blatant promotion part: Please come and say hi to these six authors. We’ll be delighted to chat with you and tell you all our tricks. You can see how extraordinarily different we all are. You can even buy our books! 🙂
November is launch month for The Loyalist Legacy, the third in my Loyalist Trilogy and what a month it has turned out to be. Our thoughts are on our American neighbors to the south and the most vitriolic and divisive election any of us can ever remember. No matter whose side you’re on, this was a dirty fight and it was hard to see dignity and even honesty go out the window.
Now the second thing which made me want to attend Little’s lecture was the name of the Canadian author whose name graces the event. Margaret Laurence. As a young stay-at-home-mother searching the local library for books, I found Laurence’s Jest of God. And my mother lent me her copy of The Fire Dwellers. Both of these books seemed to reach right into my soul and know what I was thinking and feeling. The first is about a single school teacher in the Canadian prairies and her sad struggle to find a life and to recognize who she is. The second deals with her sister suffering through a less than perfect marriage in Vancouver, both sisters shaped by their prairie upbringing with an undertaker father and the down sides of living in a small town. I could relate to all of this even though my own story is nothing like these.