Unexpected Blessings - Kindle Countdown Deal

A Kindle Countdown deal has started on Unexpected Blessings.  It is currently available for $0.99, and will go up a dollar at a time until the full price of $3.99 is reached.  If you've been waiting to read it - now is a good time.

Unexpected Blessings - Kindle Daily Deal

Saturday Excerpt

Sales have slowed to nothing again, so I thought maybe an excerpt from "Unexpected Blessings" might tempt someone to try it.

Pete kept folding and unfolding a napkin, staring into space, when suddenly Clancy reached over and snapped his fingers right in front of Pete’s face.

“What’s on your mind, little brother?  Something has been bothering you all day?  You want to talk about it?”

Pete put down the napkin and took a sip of his coffee.  

“Yes and no, Bro.  I want advice, but I hate have to admit to you that I’ve been an ass.”

“Whoa!  What did you do?  You’re usually a pretty level, nice kind of guy, even though I hate to puff you up.”

“It’s Cassidy, Bro.  She was all excited because Bessie’s nephew Gil was able to get better rehabilitation tools for her.  It was ‘Gil this’ and ‘Gil that’ every time I talked to her. I started feeling insecure and jealous, and gave Cass the cold shoulder for a few days.  I went to talk to Mom and Dad on Wednesday, and Mom raked me over the coals for being immature, and Dad told me Uncle Vinnie just about ruined his marriage with jealousy.  So, I apologized to Cassidy and explained what had happened, and she told me that maybe we should cool things off, as she didn’t want to be jerked around because I can’t handle my emotions maturely.”

“Man, that sucks, Pete.  I know you really like Cassidy.”

“So, she didn’t totally throw me under the bus, she said we could be friends and we’ll see if I can manage to not be a jerk.  I don’t want to be a jerk. But this jealousy thing is crazy. I never felt like this. Did you and Rosadel ever have a problem with jealousy?  How did you handle it?”

“Pete, me and Rosadel have been together since we were kids, and I was half in love with her before we ever dated.  I’m not even sure how to answer your question. Did it suck when I had to go away to college and leave her here? Yes.  Did I give her Roscoe so that any new ‘friends’ would ask about her dog and she would have to say he was a gift from her boyfriend?  Yes. Did it drive me nuts that her Advanced Biology lab partner senior year was Trent Guidry, who happened to be the quarterback of the football team and headed to LSU as a pre-med major? Yes.  Was it worse when every other phone call was ‘Trent this’ and ‘Trent that’? Oh My God, Yes. But while all that left me feeling insecure, I already really loved Rosadel. As much as I couldn’t imagine my life without her, if she would have been happy with someone else I would have stepped aside.  It might have killed me, but I love her that much.”

“I think I could love Cassidy that much, Clancy, but I’m afraid of getting hurt.”

“You know, Pete, Mom and Dad and Angus all were pretty freaked out when me and Rosadel got serious so fast.  They all thought we were too young. Well, the good thing about being so young is being so sure that everything will be rainbows and puppies.  We grew up together. So I understand you are scared, but I can’t really empathize, because me and Rosadel were too young to be cautious. Hence the triplets in the other room.”

“Did Rosadel ever get jealous?  Or is that something that just never happened in your relationship?”

“Wait a minute.  I guess I didn’t explain myself well enough.  Of course, there were times I was jealous, I just never acted on that jealousy in a way that negatively impacted Rosadel.  Every time I got jealous, I rededicated myself to being the very best man I could be for Rosadel. I turned the insecurity and anger into purpose.  I would be the best thing that could ever happen in her life, no matter if she turned away from that or not. A kid’s thinking, a kid’s confidence, but it got us through.”

“One time Bee Collins was dating a guy who was super jealous, he even resented the time that Bee spent with Rosadel.  Rosie asked me why I never got jealous. It was almost like she felt that I couldn’t really love her if I didn’t get jealous.  So, I told her the truth. I told her that I loved her so much that her happiness was the most important thing to me, and if her being happy didn’t include me, I loved her enough to let her go.  I told her what I just told you, that every time I felt jealous, I would use that emotion to be a better person, so I could be a better partner. She was real quiet for a few minutes, and then she threw her arms around me and kissed the daylights out of me.  I asked her ‘What was that for?’ and she said, ‘Because I love you that much too!’. And that is the only conversation I can recall in our fourteen years together on the subject.”

“Thanks, Clancy.  You’ve really given me a lot to think about.  I’m going to be thirty this year, and I never even thought about falling in love before.  I’ve been happy to go out and have fun. I’ve had girlfriends, but I think both of us always knew that the relationships weren’t going anywhere, we just hung out and had fun till we both moved on.  I had an ‘Ah-Ha’ moment while you were talking. If I want a long term relationship with Cassidy, I have to focus on her, and on the relationship, not on me.”

“Pete, if Cassidy is the right one for you, now that you’ve identified what you need to work on, it should be easy. I’m not saying it won’t take work, because relationships, even the best ones, take work.  But if you feel for Cassidy what I feel for Rosadel when I hold her in my arms, no amount of work is too much to enjoy that feeling for the rest of your life.”

Remembering who I am

I got stuck again last week, unable to move my book forward.  I typed and re-typed and erased and thought.  The thinking was a very smart move.

Because while I was thinking about it, I remembered who I am.

I am a storyteller.  I'm not an author.  I tell character's stories.

And those characters are part of families, and those character's stories become family stories.

And those families live in communities, and those family's stories become community stories.

My world view is people based.  I believe the most important thing we have in life are the people who we interact with and our relationships with them.

Because this is how I see the world; stories that celebrate people and their interactions are the stories I like to read, and the only stories I know how to write.

Every time I forget that and try to write big, I get stuck.

I just need to remember who I am, and listen to my characters, and let them tell their stories and I'll be fine.

Working to finish

I want to finish my historical novel and send away for the copyright before the end of September.  As I'm working on finishing, I'm going back and re-reading sections to make sure I am staying congruent.  This is a passage I read yesterday.

Seamus sat in silence as he tried to swallow past the lump in his throat.  With little Marguerite pressed against his leg, Mignon in his lap with her head pressed to Marguerite’s cheek, Seamus felt an inner peace he had not experienced since his parents had died.  It seemed that although Seamus had turned his back on God, the Good Lord had never turned his back on Seamus, and God had finally found his agent on earth to bring Seamus back home.

I'm very happy so far with where the book is.  I'm looking forward to publishing so that I can see what you think of it too.

Another new experience

This writing is a strange thing.  I get very attached to my characters.  There is a character I am developing right now, and just like all my characters, I am growing more and more fond of him as he participates in the story.

In order for me to create a character, I have to slip into their skin.  I have to think about what motivates them, what makes them happy, what makes them sad.  I have to think about why they make the choices they make, and why they do the things they do.

I have had characters before in my stories that I talked about after they had already died, so there was never the same emotional connection to a living character.  I already know that many of my characters will die in a future story, but so far, all of them will have lived full and long lives.

Not this character.  He will live a very happy and fulfilling life, but it will be a short one.  And the character that is falling in love with him right now will be a heartbroken widow as a young woman.

I never realized how hard it would be to write a character like this, and how hard it would be to write a love story that will end in an untimely death.

I keep getting overwhelmed by sadness as I watch them fall in love.  In order for fiction to work, it has to be believable.  In the mid nineteenth century, many women were widowed young.  To never have that happen in my story is to distort reality, and I don't want to do that.

But I underestimated how much I would fall in love with him at the same time as the character in the story does.  And I already know how much I will grieve with her when he dies.

Finding Myself

I have been joining Facebook author groups, and author online support groups.  I want to feel like part of a community, and I want to understand what others have done to be successful as writers.

What I am discovering is that takes me away from my writing.  That time feels like lost time.   I think I need to focus on my writing for a while, and not worry about what anyone else is doing.

I wrote my first two books simply using what I thought was a good story with good characters, in a style I like to read.

I'm going back to that.  Maybe someday in the future I'll worry more about self-promotion and sales.  Right now, I just want to enjoy the process of telling my stories.

I'm on goodreads!

My books are now on goodreads.com  and I have one four star review.

goodreads - Anne Marie St. Clair

If you are a goodreads user, I'd appreciate a rating.  Thanks!

Books by Anne Marie St. Clair

Anne Marie St. Clair
Average rating 4.00 · 1 rating · 1 reviews · shelved 5 times

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