On my website you will see a few quotes from various readers about my Loyalist trilogy and I’d like to talk about one of those today. A friend of mine knows a lot about history in general and much more about the Rebellion history of Norwich; she and I spent time bicycling around that area many years ago with our young mothers’ group. No matter where we went this friend would point out places and tell the history. It was all fascinating.
With The Loyalist Legacy, I brought the Garners into my part of Ontario. I was very careful about my facts. When my friend wrote me the comment below I was so pleased I just had to put it up on my website:
“I was delighted with the way you handled the Norwich Rebellion in the last Loyalist book, Elaine, and have heard many positive comments about it.” Marie A.
I feel historical fiction can have lots of fiction in it but the details of actual history just have to be correct. Marie checked my facts as I’d written them and I checked over and over with reference books as well.
The fiction comes with adding fictional characters, places, details, and events. I remembered my daughter talking about a house where she cleaned for an old lady. One day the lady moved the kitchen table and pulled back a rug to reveal a door in the floor. She pulled it up and asked my daughter to go down and retrieve something for her. Beth took one look at the deep, dark hole with a rickety ladder leading down into the abyss and visions of that door slamming down over her flashed through her mind. My normally very compliant daughter just was not going down there. That scene was still in my mind when I wrote the story of two black former slaves at the time of the Rebellion of 1837. You’ll find that story near the end of The Loyalist Legacy.
The Garner family in the Loyalist trilogy are fictional even though they are based on and often named for my ancestors. I’ve had to decide what they might have looked like but draw on things I know about my father’s family to flesh them out. Someone has a widow’s peak and someone else has a prominent chin dimple. These family traits helped me give character to the fictional family. I’m not sure anyone in my family has ever said anything about the resemblance to my dad but it’s been fun for me.
I know my father told a story of a native woman coming to visit one of my ancestors, leaving her papoose on the porch while the two talked inside, and the child being carried off by a wild animal–bear or lynx, I’m not sure, as my cousin told me two different versions of the story. I decided to use the lynx because of the sly nature of cats and, believe it or not, the appeal of a lynx’s strange pointed tufts on its ear tips.
In the second book of the trilogy, The Loyalist’s Luck, I brought in the historical fact of the burning of Newark (present-day Niagara-on-the-Lake) but I also added a wonderfully sad story I discovered in my research. The residents had been given one hour to retrieve what they could from their homes before the Americans burned the town. This was in December, 1813, a very cold and snowy time of year in the Niagara peninsula. I found a story of an old lady, sick and unable to leave her bed, who was carried out into the street to watch as the Canadian Volunteers (siding with the Americans) burned her house to the ground. Through that old lady I was able to make my readers feel the absolute pain of war.
Another decision that just seemed to push itself into my mind was having Robert Garner, fictional brother of William, decide to sever off small sections of his land right where the present-day village of Thorndale is located, north of London, Ontario. Interestingly a relative of mine named Robert Garner did donate that land in the second part of the nineteenth century for municipal purposes and today there are playing fields and community buildings there. My niece’s house is actually located on the land donated by our relative. This has little to do with the plot of the book or even with the characters but it helped me add a layer of feeling that otherwise might not have been there as Robert suffered through his wife’s illness. I hope it helps my readers empathize with these characters who could very well have been real.
We never really know what facts or nuances from our own past will pop up in our writing. For me they are most pleasing. They make the story really my own. No one else could have written what I’ve written. There is an extra layer of richness that I feel each and every time I read from my work for audiences near and far. And there’s a connection to my family and my memories. If only history in school could have been taught from the point of view of the people involved instead of the memorize-the-six-reasons-for-whatever method.
Click on the books below for great historical stories:
For today’s post I bring you a little bit of history and a little bit of real people’s stories. I’ve chosen to give personalities to William and Catherine (Cain) Garner, my great great great grandparents and to interview them. I’ve given them the ability to see into the future, you’ll notice, for I think these stalwart Loyalists who settled in Upper Canada have a lot to say about how we Canadians got here today, having just celebrated our sesquicentennial (150 years).
I’ve come to know William and Catherine having used their names, their situation, family tales, and the characteristics of my own father in writing my trilogy, especially in the second and third books. In the picture at left William is seated with Catherine to his right. The other two are their son, William, and his wife, Rosabella (Cass) Garner. The first William never got to see Confederation in 1867 when Canada was formed but Catherine did. This family settled in Nissouri township on a 200 acre farm which straddled the Thames River.
William and Catherine were there when most people traveled by an old Indian trail which crisscrossed their land. Why? The roads marked out on the township maps were in varying states of disrepair relying as they did on the settlers to maintain the road along their acreages. There were just not enough settlers to have this be a viable way to keep up the roads. I wonder how we would like this system today? Aren’t we glad we have public works organizations? Makes you think taxes actually help us.
Ouch! Catherine just pinched me and William is glowering as he must have when he saw the condition of the so-called roads in Nissouri Township. We had better get started.
Elaine: I am most pleased to meet both of you even though the situation is very strange for all of us. What was it like moving away from Niagara and all of your family after the war was over in 1812?
William: Tough, it was. We both suffered a lot. I was part of the militia for about nine months during the war. Did you know that?
E: I did. I’ve read about some of those battles you must have been in. Can you tell me any details?
Catherine: First I need to say how sick I felt at leaving my parents’ graves and my little Catt’s. No one to say a prayer over them, pull the weeds around the piles of stones.
W: Hush, Catherine. Think of more pleasant times. Remember that barn raising on the lot south of us? We danced all night on the pounded earth. There’s a good girl. A smile.
E: Did you have a lot of times like that? I mean the dancing and partying.
C: No, not really. Mostly we worked from sunup to sundown and sometimes into the wee hours.
W: Sundays, though. We tried to rest on Sundays.
E: I heard about the Chippewa Indians. We call them Natives or First Nations people now, by the way. Do you have any stories about them?
W: The British conquered them. Put them on reserved lands and expected them to stay there. Not just the Chippewas. Mohawks and the others, what you now call Six Nations. All of them were given lands of their own.
E: We’re facing the consequences of that now.
C: I should tell her about that Indian woman, do you think, William?
W: That was a terrible thing.
C: It was a fine spring day. She came to visit with her little one–papoose–she called him. All wrapped up and tied on a board to sleep…..Oh, this part is hard. We left him on the front veranda. In the fresh air, you see.
E: What happened?
C: We were inside, my two china teacups on the table….smiling, talking. As women do.
Chippewa Indians Genealogy: FamilySearch Wiki
W: You’ll have to tell it, Catherine.
C: The baby. Screaming. So loud I can hear it now….we ran out and watched a lynx jump off the porch and run away…looked for the baby. Only the board and the broken strings. Blood. Lots of blood. On the porch, the grass. And silence. No baby screams now.
W: Here now. Don’t cry. It’s all in the past.
E: Um, I…William, what did you think of the Family Compact?
W: The what?….Oh, I remember. A bunch of privileged sons of–
C: William!
W. They had all the power and used it to feather their own nests. Gave the perks to their sons and cousins. Kept it all to their families. Made us so angry…some talked about overthrowing the government. The British! Others tried going to England and pleading. No good. Finally, rebellion. That was after I was gone but Catherine told me about it. Robert was part of it.
E: Who is Robert? Your son?
C: One of them. A good boy, too. Didn’t deserve to be hounded after that fiasco in Norwich. Those rebels never even got further than 10 miles before they turned back.
E: What do you mean, hounded?
W: Terrorized the little village looking for those whose names they found on a list. Most escaped. Others stood trial. A few died because of it.
C: That was such a bad business. Robert made it home but spent the rest of his days looking behind him.
E: What do you think when you look at us now a hundred and fifty years since Canada was born. Do you have any feelings?
C: I’m glad Canada turned out so well. For everyone. But especially for our family. William, we started something, didn’t we?
W: Yes, my dear. We surely did….and it was good.
E: Well, this has been fabulous, meeting my relatives, getting to know you–you’re real people. And, William, I can see my Dad in you. You would have liked him. Thank you both.
W: Just remember we’re looking down on you all.
C: No nasty tricks, no drinking or missing church. We’ll be watching.
E: So, there we have it. Two stalwart people. My relatives. I hope I get to meet them again.
The whole trilogy with these and many other characters is available on Amazon. Just double click on the book cover below.
“…ordinary people somehow finding the inner resources to shape new lives and a new country.”
It’s Ten Years!!! Since Day One of My Loyalist Trilogy Writing Journey.
The time seems to have sprouted little white wings and just flown. From that day when my son said to me “If not now, when?” and gave me the oomph I needed to start writing the trilogy, I’ve never had to wonder what to do next. Always more ideas of my own and more suggestions from others made my days way too short to get it all done.
Please join with me and celebrate!
Look Back:
Over that ten years a trilogy came to life, one that touches the history of my family and the families of other Loyalists here in Canada. The books are in print format, e-book format, and even an audio book of the first one is almost ready to made its debut. I learned how to do so many things connected with writing and publishing, all of it fun and all of it from really helpful and knowledgeable people. I am so grateful for all those along the way, many of whom are still in my Contact list, thank goodness. A special thanks to all those who’ve invited me to speak at events where I could sell my books. You are the best!
Look Ahead:
Everyone has been wondering what is in the works for me now and I’ve been a little cagey about my answer. I could write more about the Loyalists, perhaps down East either where my husband’s family originated or further East in the Atlantic provinces where most of the Loyalists escaping during the American Revolution landed. I will be getting my audio book of The Loyalist’s Wife, 2nd ed., out very soon. I am currently learning more about writing a screen treatment and script for my Loyalist trilogy. (Wouldn’t it be fun to see John and Lucy on the big screen?) And I am definitely exploring writing a book about my writing journey with a view to helping other writers. I have in mind that this will be an e-book only, at this point, but you never know.
The really big news? I’m currently working with a coach to extend my reach as a writer and speaker beyond where I have taken these things on my own. This is huge and I had to do a lot of soul-searching before shelling out the money.
Giveaway:
To thank my readers, today I am offering a free e-copy of the second edition of The Loyalist’s Wife, complete with new cover and a few changes, to all who comment below. I’ll contact you and ask for your email. Then I’ll send you the epub or pdf copy of that beautiful book. You can read it on your computer, your iPad or perhaps other reader (not sure about that). So make sure you write a nice comment below!
Also I’ve reduced the price of that book in e-book format on Amazon where you can order it for $2.99 and it will go right to your Kindle. Their rules wouldn’t let me put the price any lower. Sorry.
Both of these specials are only available until April 5 when my next post goes up. Take action! Send your friends to my site. This is a limited time offer. Afterwards it’ll be back to $4.99 US$ on Amazon.
Don’t forget to sign up for both my twice monthly newsletter and to receive notice in your InBox of my weekly blog posts. And if you’re a writer or a reader, don’t forget to write reviews, especially for my latest book, The Loyalist Legacy, on Goodreads and Amazon. You can put the same review in both places.
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey. My writing friends, my beta readers, my lifelong friends and family–all of you are part of what makes me who I am so that I can write. You are a joy which touches my very soul.
Okay. Now the mushy stuff is over!
So after somewhere around 3650 days of writing professionally and this small celebration, I’m still moving forward and I hope you’ll all come with me. Don’t forget to write a comment and win a free e-book!
The Loyalist’s Wife, The Loyalist’s Luck, The Loyalist Legacy
Of course we all know about the Ides of March, forever popularized by Shakespeare in his play, Julius Caesar, but there’s much more to think about for us mere mortal writers!
3 Striking Events Which Occurred on this date:
The Ides of March was Caesar’s death day and as such was a turning point in Rome’s history. The Republic was over. Hundreds of years later Shakespeare’s play immortalized both Caesar and “Beware the Ides of March.”
Czar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate his throne in Russia on this date in 1917 bringing about the start of events which led to the Communist takeover in the U.S.S.R.
On this date in 1939, Germany occupied Czechoslovakia as the Second World War began to ramp up.
We could go on and on with examples of bad things which happened on March 15 (check out the link above for a few), but the point is without the wily William Shakespeare, the Ides of March just wouldn’t be a “thing”. We wouldn’t be making lists of happenings on this date because such an antiquated expression would have passed into near oblivion along with Caesar’s language–Latin–and his death date, too.
But a writer over four hundred years ago chose to have his whole play revolve around “Beware the Ides of March”. Because his writing was so erudite yet spoke to the people all those years ago and amazingly still does today we know about the word “Ides” and its place in the Roman calendar in Caesar’s time. Pretty cool.
What a lesson in word choice for us writers! Think about it. If Caesar’s line had been “Beware March 15th!” would it have had the same punch? Would it have pricked our curiosity and made us wonder just what it meant? No. We would have understood immediately and moved from that line to the next.
Instead, our brains stop and notice that expression. Many of us immediately look for its meaning but even those who don’t realize it’s something different. It’s part of the supernatural aura of a soothsayer or person who understands the supernatural who is warning Caesar. We notice.
We writers need to chose our words with the same thoughts about just what difference our choices can make to our stories. Even those who are not writers in the professional sense can make the same magic by picking words not just because they’re easy or because everyone else uses them, but rather because they underline our points, they invoke emotional responses and they stick a notion to our readers’ subconscious mind where it can be nurtured and grow. Oh, words can be so powerful!
As you read through this excerpt from the back cover of The Loyalist Legacy, pick out the words–verbs mostly–that have the most effect in painting the story. I think there are three or four that show the fear and futility of William and Catherine’s uncertain situation.
After the crushing end of the War of 1812, William and Catherine Garner find their allotted two hundred acres in Nissouri Township by following the Thames River into the wild heart of Upper Canada. On their valuable land straddling the river, dense forest, wild beasts, displaced Natives, and pesky neighbors daily challenge them. The political atmosphere laced with greed and corruption threatens to undermine all of the new settlers’ hopes and plans. William knows he cannot take his family back to Niagara but he longs to check on his parents from whom he has heard nothing for two years. Leaving Catherine and their children, he hurries back along the Governor’s Road toward the turn-off to Fort Erie, hoping to return home in time for spring planting.
Here is my list. Did you choose them? Others? crushing, allotted, wild, laced, threatens, longs, hoping.
This isn’t a right or wrong quiz but as writers we must look at each word we use and make sure it has the appropriate connotation for the feelings we are looking to create in our readers. “Fat” has a negative connotation and “plump” is more positive. They both describe the same condition but one is more palatable.
So today as you go about your busy life, think about Shakespeare and his word choice. Worked for him, why not for the rest of us? And beware the Ides of March!
The Loyalist’s Wife, The Loyalist’s Luck, The Loyalist Legacy
“Write a novel.” I answered my son’s question immediately surprising myself with my words.
“You’re 60 years old. You’re in perfect health, you have all that English background, you’ve read all your life, you have the time, and you have the computer skills. If not now, when?” My son took his eyes off the road for a moment to fix his blue eyes on me.
I don’t remember exactly what happened then but a week later when my husband and I arrived in Hilton Head, South Carolina, for a holiday, one of my first stops was to the local bookstore where I bought a book about writing and selling a first novel and I was off and running.
And now, here I am almost 10 years later with my historical fiction Loyalist trilogy out there in the world in various formats, an audio book soon to be released, and a book for writers about writing close to being announced. It’s been a tough but rewarding ten years for me who never wanted to retire and play cards every afternoon while wondering what part of my body would next fall apart.
It’s been mostly a terrific experience to spend most of every weekday writing, editing, marketing, and doing all the other necessities which have made my life so interesting. Hundreds of new people have enriched my life, most of them in the writing business themselves, and all of them willing to share and help me along the way.
As I celebrate this milestone I’m very aware that I could not have done this without the help of many people. Of course, my son, Kevin, whom I mentioned in the first lines of this post and my daughter, Beth, who keeps my brain ticking with new ideas and who is a great sounding board for my own ideas, are top of the list. My husband, Ron, joins them there as a ready listener to my ideas, my plans, my troubles and always encourages me to go farther. He has fueled my ambition. My sister, Linda, gone now, always kept my off-site flash drive safely in her kitchen cupboard and my brother Ross whose own achievements and then early death fueled my drive to succeed while I still could.
There have been a few missteps along the way but thanks to great and constant support from my peeps, I’ve found the way to go on. The biggest problem was when I joined an online group of great people whose mission was to help authors get published and editors and agents find worthy clients. For reasons which are not going to be aired here, I gradually sunk lower and lower as I struggled to work in that environment but I finally realized I not only could leave the group and go on but absolutely had to for my own sake. When my husband said to me in the kindest of words that I did not have to continue with my book, I took stock. He did me such a favor because I realized I had to go on for myself. I dumped that group, walked away from three prospective agents and a senior editor with Penguin in New York, and have never looked back.
Writing and finding a measure of success has given this second part of my life more meaning than I could ever have imagined. Because I’m so thankful to so many for helping me, I’ve decided to have a celebration with my online friends and those I’m so fortunate to know in person. I’m picking March 29th for my celebration blog post. I’ll have giveaways, reading suggestions, messages from other author friends about their writing and a grand prize of the whole trilogy, bound and beautiful, for some lucky person. Keep checking back here and on my twice monthly newsletters for more information. And invite your reading and writing friends to join in the fun.
Check back next week for more exciting news about March 29. Help me celebrate!
Think a moment. What is one thing you would never do? You probably have quite a list, if you’re anything like me, but for our purposes as authors we need to pick the one thing our characters would never do. And then make them do it. This lets our readers empathize with our characters in a very personal way.
Lucy is a good person. A city girl from Boston, she married John and took up farming with him with great enthusiasm. When he leaves her to fight for the British and do it all herself, she manages nicely. Until the revolution catches up to her. She escapes to Niagara where she and John eventually raise their family to adulthood. John is thrown into prison for no legal reason and Lucy sees him disintegrate before her very eyes. Will this good, strong woman take the only step she can and help to break John out?
“In here,” she said, the lantern streaking into the outer room where her sons held the jailer between them, his eyes wide. Robert held the man’s one arm twisted around behind and from the side William gripped him around the neck, his hand clamped over the frightened fellow’s mouth. The man whom she had bribed with many meals these last months gasped for air. John pulled himself up against the bars and Lucy rushed to him.
Aaron brushed past her in the tight space. “Let me,” he said. He slipped John’s arm over his shoulder and followed Lucy from the cell. William and Robert pushed the jailer in but before they could tie a neckerchief over his mouth, the man shouted. “I can help you.” He twisted away from William’s hand. “A back way.”
“Wait,” Lucy said. William dropped the neckerchief.
The jailer quickly blurted out the whereabouts of the secret stairs that led to a tunnel opening near the lake. They soon decided to send Aaron out to move the wagon while William tied the jailer up for his own safety and locked him in the cell.
Lucy turned back to the jailer. “We will never forget this, sir. You are a kind man.”
His mouth gagged, the man nodded and Lucy hurried after her sons who now supported their father. She held the lantern as high as she could but her short reach didn’t light the three ahead. A few feet into the darkness they stopped to allow her to go first with the lantern, then followed on her heels. She stumbled and skirted rocks and boulders—the way was certainly not smooth—and prayed the jailer had told the truth as she walked farther and farther into the black. Water dripped more and more from the ceiling. Were they under the river now? Surely not.
But at her feet water about an inch deep soon had her skirts sopping and her shoes drenched. To make matters worse, she couldn’t see the rocks but stumbled along splashing herself with every step.
“Mama. Take my arm.” Robert moved up beside her and she passed him the lantern. She could hear William’s labored breathing and John’s huffing and puffing but couldn’t look back. Her heavy skirts slowed her pace but she clung to Robert’s arm and ignored the spidery webs clinging to her hair. The water deepened. Her legs were cold and stiff. Robert held tight. They staggered on together. Just when she was sure she could not take another step she glanced up. “Light.” She tried to point ahead.
“Yes,” Robert whispered. “Just a little farther.”
The tunnel sloped upward and, as the light grew brighter, they left the water behind. First out of the hole, Lucy watched as Robert turned back to help William tug their father, blinking, up into the sunshine. Aaron pulled her to the waiting wagon, and parted the hay to reveal a hiding place. She crawled inside, John came after and then her sons. They were almost blind in the shadowy half-light, brown with the sun filtered through the layered hay. A bright spot of light opened where they had crawled in and Aaron shoved a jug of water toward them. “Godspeed,” he whispered and was gone. She prayed his part in this would never be known. The wagon lurched and they were off, the three escapees and her, now just as guilty in the eyes of the law as her men, and whoever was driving the wagon.
–The Loyalist Legacy #3 in the Loyalist Trilogy.
What is the effect of this plot device on the reader? Does this scene make our readers think of something in their own life that went against their beliefs? If it does, I have helped my readers personalize the event.
Lucy’s son, William, having fought in the War of 1812 and carried his brother’s dead body back home, never wants to go to war again. He puts up with all kinds of trouble from the Family Compact, even turning against his remaining brother. He knows Robert is right. Their situation is untenable. But he will not join the rebels with Robert.
“Why can’t you see Robert’s side for once, William?”
“He’s going to get himself killed, that’s why.” He looked across the table. “Don’t you think I know he is right on so many of these points?”
“Then why don’t you tell him?” Catherine resisted the urge to reach for her husband. Instead she kept her tone strong and her words stronger. “He’s your brother. Can’t you see how hard all of this is for him?”
“For him? What about me? I had to watch Thomas die right beside me fighting those Americans, ride all night to take his body to my parents, and watch my mother wrap her arms around his mangled body. I tried to free my father and landed in jail with him, escaped with my parents inside a load of straw where every breath filled our lungs with chaff and our heads with terror. I watched him die simply because he wrote letters to help others fight for justice against that Family Compact. Oh, yes. I know.” He reached for her hands. “But I want peace. For you, for our children And now for our grandchild.”
She watched his green eyes fill up and understood, finally, his pain, but she had to go on. “But peace at what price? He only asked you to join a lodge.”
He jumped to his feet, eyes blazing. “Only? It’s another way to cross Strachan and the rest of them. Don’t you think I know that?”
–The Loyalist Legacy #3 in the Loyalist Trilogy.
The one thing William never wants to do is fight in another war but as rebellion comes closer and closer his choices shrink. Again, I put him in that position where he has to chose and in so doing I’ve heightened the tension to the breaking point in the novel. We can all identify with his situation, making the climax believable for us as readers.
The Loyalist’s Wife, The Loyalist’s Luck, The Loyalist Legacy
One of the gifts I received for Christmas shows yet again how closely my husband is tuned in to my writing life. He knows that having just launched the third in my Loyalist trilogy, I am working even harder on marketing. After all, what good is writing a great series if few people know about it?
While my next writing project is simmering in my mind, I’m going to step up my already busy book marketing life. My husband bought me this book: Online Marketing for Busy Authors. (Click to see it on Amazon.)
I have yet to crack this book open but soon!
Now I have a closet full of books on writing and even a few on marketing. The first book I read on the subject linked writing and selling right in the title so I know how important the selling part is to a writer’s career. And before I open Burke’s book I’m going to list my own marketing methods to date:
Talk about your writing whenever you can. So many people will be thrilled that you’ve included them in your writing inner circle. (Of course, you don’t want to become annoying!) Believe it or not, having published books seems to give a writer the right to call herself an author and most people respect that.
Get on as many social media outlets as you can handle comfortably and keep them up to date. I use Facebook, both my main page and my author page, sometimes I do ads on these; Twitter; Pinterest; and, to a lesser extent, LinkedIn. I’m planning to step up my YouTube game in 2017 and post regular videos.
Look for speaking gigs that relate to the subject matter of your book. Historical and Loyalist groups are delighted to hear about my Loyalist trilogy. Elementary schools would be excited to get in children’s book authors. Those with non-fiction books can look for their peeps among those who need/want their books about dog-grooming, lifestyle suggestions, or dating advice.
Offer to do special presentations where your book is most suited. Last summer I did a July 1st (Canada Day) table at a wonderful museum in London. For that I did special games for kids that related to the history at the museum and in my books. Of course the woman who wanted to dumb my games down for her kids by giving them the answers kind of missed the point.
Make it your goal to do at least one thing to market yourself and your books EVERY DAY. This keeps you on top of your marketing game and increases your chances of the world finding out about your books. It also results in all kinds of people knowing you. Just a few days ago I received a lovely thank you letter from a couple who subscribe to my twice monthly newsletter telling me how much they enjoy it and wishing me Merry Christmas. I so appreciated that both for the kindness it showed and for the feedback on what I am doing.
Here is a link to some blog posts related to this topic which will show you my journey along the marketing road. On that blog I really talk about my writing journey to publication and beyond so there may be other things there that interest budding writers. Whatever your interest I hope the articles help you. Meanwhile I am going to push on with marketing my Loyalist trilogy. For this morning? I’m going to go down my list of previous speaking venues and see if there is somewhere I might seek a return gig now that it’s almost four years since I’ve been to some of them. Happy New Year!
The Loyalist’s Wife, The Loyalist’s Luck, The Loyalist Legacy
Knowing that the third book in my Loyalist trilogy was launching in November, my husband and I planned a wonderful cruise for a couple of weeks beforehand. The story is in the pictures:
In Florence, the Ponte Vecchio across the Arno was a photographer’s delight and we had to jostle for position. Well worth it.I couldn’t walk by David’s butt without clicking one for posterity. (Ha Ha) Shied away from the front, though. 😉Street scene from a tour bus in beautiful Barcelona. We had fabulous weather there at the beginning of our trip.Cute little monk parakeets in Barcelona park gardens of King’s summer palace.King’s summer palace fountain in Barcelona.Basilica de la Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, always under construction. Fabulous testament to the absolute need for people to build monuments to their gods. Very beautiful.Of course we saw the leaning tower of Pisa but didn’t know about the beautiful church right beside it. Lovely.High up on the Isle of Capri we could see the shades in the water.And the powerful volcano, Mount Vesuvius, in the distance.The clouds scudded across the azure sky in a perfect picture over the Mediterranean Sea.One of the most beautiful places was Monaco even though it is extremely crowded with buildings and streets built on top of one another.And here rests Princess Grace in the lovely Monaco Cathedral where visitors are welcomed at no charge.
And now we’re back home with wonderful memories of our Mediterranean cruise. The Loyalist Legacy is launched and we can revisit our two week holiday with the pictures and our memories. Just what a good holiday should do for us!
This has been a terrific month for me and my books as number three in the Loyalist trilogy has made its way into the limelight. Last Sunday the last of four book launches took place right here in my home city with lots of people sharing readings and cake with me and my wonderful team. It made me think of all the help I’ve had over this almost 10-year journey and of the kindness shown by so many.
Here’s the cake we ordered for this final event. Dee at the local Dee-Lights Bake Shop went out of her way to design this large facsimile of the new book cover. Fabulous! Both in the rendering of my book cover and in the taste of the cake. Everyone loved it.
A number of people attending were strangers who came out to buy books and meet me. Wasn’t that a surprise! And they came on the day of the first snowfall here. London had too much snow for some to venture out but luckily our town just had a sprinkling.
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This all made me think of the people I’ve met over this almost ten-year journey and how kind and helpful they have been. In the early days of writing the first book in the trilogy I was mostly on my own but, after a year, I had the first draft researched and written and started moving ahead on the journey to publication.
Here are some of the steps along the way:
–Some local writers joined a small group here and four of us continued critiquing each other’s work for about a year. They helped me move to the next step where I attended several writing workshops led by the well-known Brian Henry here in Southern Ontario.
–For about 8 weeks I drove an hour and a half to Oakville for an extreme editing course full of about 20 writers like myself in Brian’s course. We listened to each other’s work, we commented, we rewrote, we agreed, we disagreed and along the way we learned. Several of us are still supportive writing friends today about seven years later.
–A conference I went to in Niagara Falls, Ontario, brought me more writing friends, two or three of whom are moving along their journey as am I. We haven’t necessarily gone the same way but we’ve supported each other the whole time. Tomorrow The Loyalist Legacy and I will be on Sally Moore’s blog and though Sally is in a particularly busy work time just now, she is helping me out. I long for the day when her amazing, well-honed, and extremely interesting books find their way out into the fresh air of the publishing world.
–Another conference I went to was in Vancouver a few years ago and its focus was on using social media and other methods to get our writing out in the world. I loved that conference and starting a new writing blog as soon as I came home, highlighting the lessons I’d learned and those who had taught me. On Becoming a Wordsmith still has loads of helpful articles.
–Through Sally again, I joined WCDR and drove for two or three years once a month for meetings of this forward-thinking and very helpful writing group of around 250 members or so. Their speakers are fabulous. They also have associate memberships for people to join and be on their mailing list to receive loads of helpful information: workshops, book selling events, reading sessions at bars, visiting writers and many more things are part of this organization. The cheaper memberships give a lot of information to people who can’t possibly make the journey to Ajax once a month. They just finished hosting Bookapalooza.
–I joined the London Writers’ Society and spend quite a lot of time with them these days. Having received so much help through critique groups and guest speakers in the past, now I try to help writers who are not as far along in their journey. It’s a pleasure to have answers won over years of searching and moving ahead on the journey. Our current president has raised the level of the group so high that every meeting we have new meetings and will have to find a larger room one of these days. Another group there has stepped up the learning about marketing, specifically getting our names out in the media.
Writing is a pastime, a hobby, a job, a passion, a soul-searching and gut-wrenching activity for most of us in differing levels depending on who we are. One thing is for certain, though. If we want to succeed, we must keep searching, keep learning, and keep writing. Thanks so much to all of those who have helped me along the way!
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.
For today’s post I bring you a little bit of history and a little bit of real people’s stories. I’ve chosen to give personalities to William and Catherine (Cain) Garner, my great great great grandparents and to interview them. I’ve given them the ability to see into the future, you’ll notice, for I think these stalwart Loyalists who settled in Upper Canada have a lot to say about how we Canadians got here today, having just celebrated our sesquicentennial (150 years).
The time seems to have sprouted little white wings and just flown. From that day when my son said to me “If not now, when?” and gave me the oomph I needed to start writing the trilogy, I’ve never had to wonder what to do next. Always more ideas of my own and more suggestions from others made my days way too short to get it all done.
“Is there anything you wish you had done, Mom?”
Think a moment. What is one thing you would never do? You probably have quite a list, if you’re anything like me, but for our purposes as authors we need to pick the one thing our characters would never do. And then make them do it. This lets our readers empathize with our characters in a very personal way.
This has been a terrific month for me and my books as number three in the Loyalist trilogy has made its way into the limelight. Last Sunday the last of four book launches took place right here in my home city with lots of people sharing readings and cake with me and my wonderful team. It made me think of all the help I’ve had over this almost 10-year journey and of the kindness shown by so many.
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.
