REALITY OF LIFE, LACK OF DISCIPLINE – OR SOMETHING ELSE?

Posted on September 7, 2012 by Dawn Essegian Lajeunesse

It has been a month since my last posting. Mea culpa.

I’ve felt very guilty, and many times over the last 4 weeks have said to myself, “this weekend I will post a blog entry.” And then I didn’t.

I also haven’t accomplished as much writing, in terms of numbers of pages or word count, that I generally expect of myself. I haven’t even maintained the pace expected by the Writers Digest course I am taking – 10,000 words every three weeks. I’ve managed maybe six or seven thousand on average. The whole reason I signed up for the class, beside the professional critique and editing (and peer feedback), was to push myself to meet that goal. Historically that has been effective – I never missed a deadline and I never fell short of the word count.

Not this time. I didn’t miss deadlines, but I did fall short.

The instructor of my course is quite inspiring. He has a full time job. He has had multiple books published in the last two years alone, one of which (A Haunted Love Story) was turned into not one but two documentaries soon to be televised. He teaches multiple WD courses and turns the assignments – even long ones like in this class – around in 24-48 hours tops, sometimes same day, with detailed comments and recommendations. And he has a family.

I asked him how he does it. He modestly admitted that people ask him that a lot, but that the primary thing was he loves what he does. He doesn’t watch TV or do a lot of social stuff. But the biggest thing is he loves what he does.

I can’t say I love my full time job or commute. But I do love to write. That usually is enough to motivate me to use my limited available time productively. So what is stopping me lately?

So I started a self-analysis.

Problem: I really do have limited time. And since I tend to be a binge writer, if I don’t have large blocks of time available all at once, it is hard for me to get into any cohesive writing for an hour or so. So I tend not to try.
Solution: Retrain my writing habit. Accept that I may not love what I write in an hour, but that doing that every time I have an hour would provide writing I could work on refining on those days when I have more time. Easier said than done. It’s worth a try, but I’m still feeling like something is blocking me from working on Transition.

Problem: Even when I’m not working or commuting, I have conflicting priorities. I know, who doesn’t? So why don’t those conflicting priorities ALWAYS keep me from writing? Why was I super-productive three months ago and now see so many other things around me (that were there three months ago) that take me away from writing?
Solution: Keep searching for the real culprit in my productivity lapse.

And so I have pondered.

Have you watched either of the political conventions?

No, I’m not suffering from flight of ideas – this really is related to my problem.

I can’t stay awake late enough to watch the key speakers, so I taped them and watched them the following day – for both conventions. Last night I watched President Clinton’s speech from the previous night. This morning I watched last nights speakers, including President Obama. As I reflected on the conflicting futures painted by the two parties, I had a “eureka” moment. That’s my problem!!!

Transition is all about what happens between 2017 and 2101. I have much of it mapped out in a timeline. The problem is this: what the country looks like in 2017 is almost totally dependent upon the outcome of this election. Never have two candidates had such opposite approaches to fixing the country’s problems and setting the course for the coming years. So trying to write a story that starts in 2017 is a tremendous risk. The country and world I paint in the novel may be completely different from the reality in just a few years.

My novel could be obsolete even before it is published!

Any of you who, back in the sixties, read the book 1984 probably found the predictions to be quite feasible, if frightening. Obviously, the year 1984 came and went with few, if any of the predictions coming to pass (although some might argue the Big Brother concept). But it didn’t matter to the popularity of the book, which had a good decade or two of circulation and acclaim.

Because all of the political rhetoric has been loud background noise over the past few months, I think my subconscious started pondering the potential limitations of a futuristic story that starts in 2017. But the overwhelming task of re-starting the story in, say, 2032 has kept the subconscious ruminations deeply buried. Essentially, I would have to start over on almost every aspect of the story line. And the researched aspects of technology, science, health, etc – which I thought I could set aside for later – would have to be an integral part of the story right from the opening chapters.

I think it was all more than I could handle, but has been dragged to the surface now and can’t be shoved back down.

So the question remains – what do I do about it? I have one more assignment (10,000 words) due for the writing class. The part of me that has been holding me back says “what’s the point of writing forward when it will all have to be blown up if the time frame is to be changed?”

If I had all the time in the world and could churn this out in six months, maybe it would be worth the risk. I could probably predict in broad terms, based on who is elected, what the state of the nation will be in 2017. I could keep going on the current path and tweak it after the election to address the likely differences. My good friend and writer, Sharon Delaney, says I probably am safe continuing in the direction of my plot, that no matter who is elected, the economy and foreign relations don’t change that dramatically overnight. So even if it takes one to two years to complete, chances are things on a macro level will still be much the same.

I haven’t decided yet what I will do, since the epiphany just came to me this morning. But I have a feeling it will impact on what I accomplish this weekend and next in preparation for submitting my final assignment for the class (and completing another 40-50 pages of the novel).

Uh-oh. Did I just set myself up for another unproductive weekend?

*********************

Meanwhile, consider checking out what I already have on the market. Note that although published “Indy” style, both books were professionally edited and critiqued multiple times before they manifested as print and electronic book options:

Autumn Colors may be purchased for Kindle or in paperback at Amazon, Nook at Barnes & Noble, OR ordered through any bookstore, OR signed copies through my website: www.dawnlajeunesse.com.

In Her Mother’s Shoes is available in paperback as above, plus formatted for Kindle, Nook  and through the Apple iPad bookstore (e-book versions all $2.99!) .

Posted in Autumn Colors, Blogs, Books, In Her Mother's Shoes, Women's Fiction, Writing | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

WHAT REALLY MATTERS?

Posted on August 11, 2012 by Dawn Essegian Lajeunesse

A little over a week ago, my beautiful new Hyundai Santa Fe was totaled in a very scary accident at highway speeds close to 70 mph. Another driver lost control of his vehicle and plowed into the side of my car. I rammed into the guardrails, ricocheted off and hit the same car broadside, then hit the guardrail again before rolling to a stop. I walked away with no more than a stiff neck and a bruised hip from the seatbelt buckle.

I loved that Santa Fe. It was the first time I’d ever bought a vehicle with top of the line features: the Limited, complete with leather seats, upgraded sound system, Bluetooth, heated seats and mirrors – and on and on. It wasn’t a BMW or a Mercedes or even a Lexus. But it was the most luxury I’d ever experienced in a car of my own.

And then it was gone.

It’s a funny thing about how insurance reimburses you for a totaled vehicle. They don’t do it in a way that you can replace exactly what you had. I have a long commute, so I put a lot of miles on my car – I had 27,000 miles at the time of the accident, although the car was less than a year old. But insurance doesn’t pay you replacement value. They pay you as if you were selling the car to someone – and the value drops with that kind of mileage. Why it matters with a totaled car, I had a hard time understanding. But it’s the way it worked.

Don’t get me wrong – my insurance company, Travelers, was wonderful about the whole accident process. They were efficient, kind, and quick. But they had rules about what they’d pay. Those rules are pretty much spelled out in the policy. It’s just the way it is. I never paid much attention, since I’d never had a serious accident and never expected to (does anyone?).

Anyway, once I knew what insurance would pay me after paying the finance company, it was clear that I couldn’t afford to replace my Santa Fe as it was. In fact, if I wanted to maintain or reduce my car payments, I really couldn’t afford a Santa Fe at all.

I was seriously bummed. And angry. I hate having to commute so far. I’m at an age where most of my friends are retired and I want to be (but don’t have a pension that allows me that luxury), so I’m admittedly resentful about that. My luxurious ride was the one thing that made driving to work not only tolerable, but enjoyable. My anger built over several days of searching for a car that was ranked high for safety but was more affordable than what I’d had.

Then I received a phone call from a friend whose wife was just diagnosed with Parkinsons.

He was clearly shattered. As I would be in his shoes.

Something like that puts the ranking of driving a luxurious car way low in the priority of what’s important in life. I’m healthy. I have a husband who is healthy and a wonderful partner in life. I have my sweet Nala, my Border Terrier. We don’t have a lot of money, and I haven’t written a bestseller yet (and may never, especially while I’m working full time and commuting nearly 3 hours/day by car). But eventually I will be retired. Eventually we will be able to tap our retirement funds without worrying about running out if we live a long time. I have the luxury of an “eventually” in my life and marriage. My friend and his wife probably don’t.

So yesterday I set aside all of my misdirected anger and went car shopping. I set a few “must-haves” (All Wheel Drive, high safety ratings, and a few luxuries like Bluetooth and roof racks and heated seats), and added improved gas mileage to increase affordability. I discarded my previous color limitations. By the end of a long day of shopping I was the owner of a white Subaru Impreza. It’s not luxurious. I’m not thrilled with the color. But it was affordable. I won’t get excited every time I climb into it to go for a drive, but based on Consumer Reports, it will serve me well. It’s one of the few small cars that combines all wheel drive with excellent gas mileage (36 mpg highway, which is where most of my commute occurs).

And I got my heated seats (we have VERY cold mornings in the Adirondacks for close to 10 months out of the year), Bluetooth (I don’t use the phone a lot, but my husband likes to check in with me on my nasty commute home – this makes talking on the phone both safe and legal), and roof racks so we can park our canoe up there to head out for our water adventures.

So what really matters in the big scheme of life? Certainly not what car you drive. A lot of other things that used to be on my wanna-have list dropped off also.

We only go around once in this life (okay, so maybe more if you believe in reincarnation). It’s important to weigh what makes your life valuable – is it the toys you accumulate (and that someone has to unload when you die)? Is it having a big house with granite countertops? Don’t think so.

What matters is what we do with the time we have here and our connections with the important people in our lives. What legacy do you want to leave behind – a lot of “stuff” or loving memories?

I think it’s the latter that really matters.

If you haven’t yet checked out In Her Mother’s Shoes,  now’s a good time! Find it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the Apple iPad store. Only $2.99 for e-book versions! Want a signed paperback copy? Find it for $10 on my website.

Posted in In Her Mother's Shoes, Women's Fiction | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

THE VALUE OF PROFESSIONAL AND PEER CRITIQUES OF YOUR WRITING

Posted on July 23, 2012 by Dawn Essegian Lajeunesse

We work hard at our writing. And if we keep working, there’s a good chance we will get better at it. But there’s also the chance of not being objective about something that doesn’t work – perhaps because it is great writing, technically, but maybe doesn’t contribute to the story line or doesn’t add enough page-turning suspense.

That’s where an objective perspective is useful.

Through the years, when I haven’t had time to belong to a “live” critique group, I’ve turned to the on-line options. Some time back I talked about YouWriteOn.com as an option for getting reviews from a wide range of readers, including from other countries. It’s not always easy to take, and each review is just one reader’s opinion. But reviews become more meaningful when several people comment on your submission with similar recommendations. When that kind of pattern develops, you do yourself a favor to pay attention and edit accordingly. Then put it back out there to see if you’ve responded to what they said.

Sometimes, when I want more than just peer reviews, I turn to on-line writing courses. I particularly like the Advanced Novel course at Writers Digest University. I’ve had a few instructors there, and only one not-so-great experience. An advantage to this approach is that you get the professional instructive feedback AND critiques by classmates. Part of the course expectation is that you review the submissions the others in the class post, and they will review yours. In the best of circumstances, with 6-8 classmates, you get the instructor’s professional take plus the perspectives of your reader/colleagues.
Of course, that assumes that all classmates step up to the plate and do their share.

It doesn’t always happen that way. In my current class there are 6 students, and for the first class submission I only received 3 critiques, although I critiqued every posting. That’s a little frustrating. Reading and critiquing around 40 pages for each classmate is time consuming, and sometimes particularly challenging if they write in a genre you actively dislike. But you have to step back away from your personal preferences and read for flow and characterization, and tension, and setting, and so on. You might not like the story line, but you very well may appreciate the writing style and have something to contribute.

In the case of the critiques I did receive – the instructor plus the 3 classmates – there were similarities in comments that I couldn’t ignore. They forced me to face the fact that the entire first chapter contributed nothing, at that stage of the novel. The material may be worth including later, but as the opening chapter it did little to grab the reader’s interest and commitment to reading on. Had I not been open to the pattern of their responses, I very well may have retained an opening chapter that, when submitted to an agent or publisher, would result in a form response: “sorry, not for us.”

As I continue developing The Transition, a much more challenging story than my past work, I can see the value of taking advantage of the peer and professional critique options out there. If you haven’t tried that route, I’d encourage you to consider it.

Meanwhile, consider checking out what I already have on the market. Note that although published “Indy” style, both books were professionally edited and critiqued multiple times before they manifested as print and electronic book options:

Autumn Colors may be purchased for Kindle or in paperback at Amazon, Nook at Barnes & Noble, OR ordered through any bookstore, OR signed copies through my website: www.dawnlajeunesse.com.

In Her Mother’s Shoes is available in paperback as above, plus formatted for Kindle, Nook ($2.99!) and through the Apple iPad bookstore.

Posted in Autumn Colors, Blogs, Book Reviews, Books, In Her Mother's Shoes, Publishing, Self Publishing, Women's Fiction, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

HIGH PRAISE FOR IN HER MOTHER’S SHOES!

Posted on July 9, 2012 by Dawn Essegian Lajeunesse

I’m pleased to announce that In Her Mother’s Shoes is now available in another format – for iPAD! So as of this week you can purchase In Her Mother’s Shoes four ways: Kindle, and Nook, and the iPAD store, directly from your iPAD (with either my name – Dawn Lajeunesse – or the name of the book), each for only $2.99. You can also buy it in paperback for $12.99 through Amazon, and Barnes and Noble, and $9.99 through my website.

In Her Mother’s Shoes has already received 4 and 5 star reviews on Amazon and Barnes and Noble!

Meanwhile, Autumn Colors is going strong. Paperback and ebook versions of Autumn Colors are still available through Amazon and Barnes and Noble, and, of course, through my website. Kirkus called Autumn Colors “… a compelling read.”

 

 

Posted in Autumn Colors, Book Reviews, Books, In Her Mother's Shoes, Women's Fiction | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

LIVING IN THE GREAT OUTDOORS

Posted on June 30, 2012 by Dawn Essegian Lajeunesse

It was a dream hatched in the winter cold.

Visions of camping trips past danced in our heads. We recalled idyllic five to seven day stays on the water-access campsites of Indian Lake, in the heart of the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York State. Days of basking in the sun, reading and writing in total tranquility, evenings paddling in shallow waters watching for wildlife on shore, then sitting by the campfire (NOT making S’mores – never cared for them). Motoring to check out other sites for future visits. Climbing into comfy sleeping bags when our day’s adventures had worn us out. Sleeping the restful sleep of the dead in the quiet and cool night.

Indian is not a heavily populated lake. Much of the shore line is State land. It’s a large lake, but with only two places to launch a boat. Campsites are few and far between. The continuous buzz of high powered motorboats is noticeably absent on such a large lake.

And so it was that we hatched the plan to try camping again, after about a twenty-year hiatus.

We started inspecting our equipment as far back as April, concerned that it may have become home to one or more mouse families. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case. We set the tent up in our yard and left it there for two weeks to air it out (it did smell a bit of mildew). My husband, who works only part time, volunteered to organize all the necessary gear, a major task with so many years past since we’d done this.

My mother-in-law is elderly and frail, so we decided we’d better bring a cell phone, so we could be reachable in the event of an emergency. I decided to leave my computer at home, and opted instead for pen and paper for writing. I’ve done some of my most creative work on camping trips. I was psyched.

Our dog, Nala, loves being outdoors, especially in the woods. So we were confident that she would love camping. She had the woods, the water and us. What more could she possibly want?

We had planned to leave on Monday. By Sunday, we were like two kids who didn’t want to wait another minute. It was a beautiful day – we should be enjoying the great outdoors! So we packed up and left a day early. There was the risk that our reserved campsite wouldn’t be available, and we’d have to set up a temporary site elsewhere. But we decided it was worth it. We left the canoe home to simplify things, planning to use the pontoon boat most of the time anyway.

Alas, our return to camping was a Murphy’s Law disaster.

After the first, quite beautiful day, which we spent setting up our temporary site, the weather was rainy and cold for three straight days, with too much wind to take the boat out even if it appealed to us.

The shoreline at the site was all rocks, despite our being told when we made reservations that it was a site where we could beach the boat. We had to leave it at the boat launch a half mile away.

The campsite was slanted, so every night we slid to the front of the tent.

Campfires were another disaster. Between the wet wood and the swirling winds, the fire was smoky and there was no place to sit where the smoke wouldn’t find us. Nala, the only smart one of the three of us, apparently, went off and sat away from the fire. We tried to force the remembered ambiance, and spent the evening choking on smoke and wiping watery eyes.

Except for her wisdom about the fire, Nala was a bit freaked out, which surprised us. One rainy night I got up to use the outhouse – as usual she followed me, but when we got back she refused to go back into the tent. She plopped down right there in the mud and rain. I had to drag her back to the tent and wipe her down as well as I could with an already damp towel, and try to get her settled down for the rest of the night.

Are we having fun yet?

Oh, yes, and we had no cell service, so we were out of touch with email (not an entirely bad thing) and couldn’t make calls. There was a phone at the ranger station, but it no longer takes coins. So in order for Den to call and check on his mother we had to drive into Indian Lake village and find someplace that sold calling cards.

We were supposed to come home on the fifth day, and day four eventually blossomed into a banner day. But sometime on Wednesday the screen door on the tent stopped zipping. We could live with that, but then the main door zipper came off the track and we couldn’t get it back on. (Hey, the tent is only 35+ years old!) With more rain expected overnight and who knew what creatures were roaming, we decided to pack it in a day early.

Nala literally jumped for joy when we pulled in our driveway. We climbed out of the car only to see we’d lost one of the boots on the bimini top on the pontoon boat. Early in the week we were planning to scout island sites for future trips. We never even made it out onto the lake.

And I doubt it matters, because I don’t think either of us is interested in trying camping again in the foreseeable future!

*******

NOTE: In Her Mother’s Shoes is now available for Kindle, Nook and iPad!

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Shoes and Other Things

Posted on June 15, 2012 by Dawn Essegian Lajeunesse

I’m absolutely thrilled with the way In Her Mother’s Shoes is selling on Amazon and B & N! The e-book versions went up right on schedule, and I’ve been receiving great feedback. Remember, the soft cover is $12.99 on Amazon and B&N, $9.99 on my website (www.dawnlajeunesse.com). Kindle and Nook versions are only $2.99!

Lots of people have commented on the cover for In Her Mother’s Shoes. The background of letters consists of a collection of letters I found in my own mother’s attic – letters exchanged between her and my father and between her and other family and friends during World War II. The novel references the main character’s mother’s love of dancing. The shoes depicted on the cover were found with the boxes of letters – my mother’s dancing shoes!

The story is not autobiographical. But the theme is universal.  In Her Mother’s Shoes explores a woman’s relationships with her family both past and present. How do you stop the passage of destructive behaviors through generation after generation? First you have to recognize the behaviors and their effects. While it contains an element of romance, the focus is on those family dynamics.

Can’t bask in the “glory” of In Her Mother’s Shoes for too long. Meanwhile, I’ve been working on Transition (still not sure about that title). I’m taking one of the WD courses to have it critiqued as I write and ensure a strong beginning. I’m sorry to say the beginning was considered weak and slow by the instructor. And here I was thinking it was my best writing so far! But he pointed out that any book has to have a grab-you opening, and in my case it was a light touch instead of a grab. Ouch. But that’s what I’m paying for in the course (Advanced Novel Writing through Writers’ Digest University, if you are interested). So for the next assignment I’ll be working on the same pages, hopefully making them more effective.

My problem is I always try to start my novels out with a little background. I like books that do that, so I feel grounded as I read them. But apparently that’s not what is commercially successful (could I be the only person liking books like that?). And I did say up front that one of my goals in signing up for the course was to write a novel that would appeal to agents and publishers this time. So Transition’s opening chapters will be re-written with more grab and less soothing touch.

One of these days I will stop caring if my books sell and just write the way I want to!

Nah, ain’t gonna happen. I may not expect to get rich off my books, but I do enjoy the pride of knowing people are buying and enjoying them. Isn’t that how this post started out, after all?

Posted in Blogs, Books, In Her Mother's Shoes, Women's Fiction, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

WHAT’S IN A WEBSITE?

Posted on June 3, 2012 by Dawn Essegian Lajeunesse

I promised myself I would be productive this weekend. I even made a list:

1. Write at least one new chapter of Transition
2. Do an email blast about the release of In Her Mother’s Shoes
3. Watch the science DVD I purchased as research for Transition
4. Update my website

I did everything I could to avoid #4 – which, as it turned out – may have been the best thing I could have done to get the first three done. I’ll admit I also procrastinated a little today by reading one of the 99 cent Kindle books I’d recently downloaded. (It wasn’t the worst one I’d ever read.)

But I dreaded working on the website. Part of the reason – no, most of the reason – is because I just don’t understand how the website works. I purchased a website that allowed me to make changes whenever I wanted – even provided me with written instructions and training videos. And yet, when I get “in there” – those pages behind what the website viewer sees – nothing seems to work as neatly as the instructions and videos imply.

Of course, as I found out today, you can’t just watch the basic page editing videos. You have to watch all the support videos, which are where you find out about things like Pixlr Express, a nifty website that allows you to resize images to fit the space provided. I’ve only once or twice changed pictures, and only on the Home Page, and I managed to size the new picture manually. I tried to ignore the fact that the photo looked distorted, but was reminded every time I saw that Home Page. But with Pixlr Express you can access all kinds of tools to play with the image – even make yourself (or whatever the photo is about) look better – sort of airbrushing for dummies.

You also can’t assume that just because there is text at point A and photos at point B that they will be replaced in exactly the same way when you play with it. Things go haywire when you don’t watch the special positioning video. Geez, I can’t watch videos all day – when would I make the changes if I did?

Earlier this week I cried “uncle” with the Purchase Page – I could figure out how to add the book, but not how to add the links to the right pages on Amazon and B&N, and definitely not how to hook the purchase into Paypal. I’d already succeeded in making changes on the Home Page and color scheme to reflect the In Her Mother’s Shoes cover design. I knew I had to change the purchase page before I sent out the email blast in case someone wanted to buy a signed copy, but I was baffled. Finally, I called the website management company and swallowed my pride and paid them to fix that page after I’d made a mess of it. But I wasn’t about to give in on the rest of the pages – and I certainly wasn’t going to lay out $50 per page to make the relatively simple changes I needed to make.

So this morning, after taking Nala for a power walk to clear my head, I started working on making the necessary changes in the My Books, Biography, and Author Activity Pages. I’m proud to say it worked (alright, embarrassed to admit to it taking nearly 4 hours). By the time I experienced that heady success, I was hunting for reasons to do more, wanting to add more pages, make up stuff just to give myself more opportunities to kick butt on my website pages. Eventually I conceded that I’d changed everything I needed to change and anything else might be overkill (or I might run into problems and lose the euphoria of success).

So if you haven’t been to my website in a while – www.dawnlajeunesse.com– please visit! Sign the guest page while you’re at it! Now that I’ve got the hang of this, I’m ready to tackle just about anything!

And I’d be remiss in my marketing efforts if I didn’t add: after you read the summary and excerpt on the web page, consider purchasing In Her Mother’s Shoes either directly on the website (introductory price of $9.99 – now that the purchase page actually works!) or on Amazon or B&N. Kindle and Nook versions will be available for only $2.99 after June 10th.

Posted in Book Signings, Books, In Her Mother's Shoes, Women's Fiction, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

In Her Mother’s Shoes

Posted on May 26, 2012 by Dawn Essegian Lajeunesse

I’m currently in the midst of doing extensive research for book #3, which is shaping up to be my best book yet (and very different from the first two). BUT, I felt the thrill of holding book #2, In Her Mother’s Shoes, for the first time this week, and I had to share it with all of you.

I’m almost as excited about the cover as I am about the book itself. Unlike with Autumn Colors, where I turned the cover design over to the publisher, the cover for In Her Mother’s Shoes is more personal. The background of letters consists of a collection of letters I found in my own mother’s attic – letters exchanged between her and my father and between her and other family and friends during World War II. The novel references the main character’s mother’s love of dancing. The shoes depicted on the cover were found with the boxes of letters – my mother’s dancing shoes!

The story is not autobiographical. But the theme is universal.  In Her Mother’s Shoes explores a woman’s relationships with her family both past and present. How do you stop the passage of destructive behaviors through generation after generation? First you have to recognize the behaviors and their effects. While it contains an element of romance, the focus is on intergenerational family dynamics.

Here is a brief synopsis:

Author Meredith Fields’ formerly placid suburban existence is shattering, and she’s not entirely unhappy about it. She feels guilty over placing her mother, Katherine, in a nursing home. Her husband, Keith, wants a divorce. She’s emotionally estranged from her children. And her next book is overdue.

As she sorts through her mother’s house before selling, she finds clues to Katherine’s shadowy past. She begins to understand why her mother related so poorly to her children and is shaken by parallels in her relationships with her own children.

When Meredith finds a journal she kept in her twenties, she is reminded of the love she once felt for Keith, and the extent of her loss settles in.  A series of crises forces them to confront their relationship, but will it be enough to put Meredith on the path to mending her shattered family and life?

In Her Mother’s Shoes is available in soft cover from B&N for $8.98 and Amazon for $12.99. The Kindle and Nook versions will be available later in June for $2.99. I’m currently working on getting it set for purchase of signed copies through my website, and hopefully that will be done in a week or so.

Posted in Books, In Her Mother's Shoes, Women's Fiction, Writing | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

BOOKS AND AUTHORS – NOVEL READS

Posted on May 5, 2012 by Dawn Essegian Lajeunesse

Check out Sofia Essen’s new website and blog at http://www.novel-reads.blogspot.com/. She features interviews with authors, book reviews, and her own periodic blog posting. It’s a beautiful site that reflects what must have been hours (days?) of research and effort.

And while you’re at it, consider buying Sofia’s new novel (http://youmeandthebigc.blogspot.com/), Change of Pace. I love a feel-good story with a happy ending. Change of Pace main character, Anna, took me with her on her first real adventure in life. I felt like I was traveling around Crete and making friends with her friends, enjoying the extended vacation. There was just enough mystery with her new boyfriend and tension with her mother to keep me turning the pages to see how it all worked out. Sofia is very skilled at immersing readers in her stories. And at least as important, she is donating 100% of her royalties to Michaela’s Lymphoma Appeal, so not only will you get a great read, you’ll be contributing to a very worthy cause.

So please check out Novel Reads and enjoy! (Of course, my enthusiasm is NOT just because I was one of the authors she interviewed!)

*******

Autumn Colors may be purchased for Kindle or in paperback at Amazon, OR ordered through any bookstore, OR signed copies through my website: www.dawnlajeunesse.com.

In Her Mother’s Shoes will be available in late May/early June at all of the same locations, plus formatted for Kindle and Nook ($2.99!) – more information when the release date is finalized.

Watch for more information about Transition as the story develops. Here is a little teaser that I hope will whet your appetite:

My name is Sarah. In three days I will turn one hundred years old. I was born on the day before the 9/11 attacks at the beginning of the twenty-first century. I am the only surviving member of my generation, notorious for being the first since the early nineteen hundreds to experience a drop in life expectancy.

I felt compelled to share my story so future generations in this great country of ours can better understand how we evolved to where we are now, and at what cost. I’ve spent the past three years researching the key circumstances and events of the last century and their impact on decisions made and our lives here. I lived through it, naturally, but since I saw it through my own personal experience I believed that documentable facts were needed to support and expand on my experiences as described. I was a teacher during the Transition, and I like to think that facilitated my seeing it all from multiple perspectives beyond my own and my family’s, through the eyes and experiences of my students and their parents. Children born during and after the Transition would never know a different life.

There was a story told in my early life that was a warning, of sorts, of the direction our country was taking. It went like this:

“A young foreign exchange student asked his professor: ‘Do you know how to catch wild pigs?’

The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line.

The young man said that it was no joke. ‘You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come everyday to eat the free corn.

When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming. When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence. They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side.

The pigs, which are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat that free corn again.

You then slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd. Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity.”

The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he saw happening in America The government keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as business bailouts, extended unemployment benefits, alternative energy loans and subsidies, tax credits for unearned income, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, farm subsidies, welfare, food stamps, foreign aid, subsidized medical care and drugs, etc. while we continually lose our freedoms, just a little at a time. And the people aren’t happy – not just because of the loss of freedom, but because many come to believe they are not being given enough.” 

This story was intended to raise awareness of the loss of freedoms resulting from increasing government regulation. But it applied equally to how people adapted to the changes during the Transition. The heavy government hand alluded to in the story was lifted, but another hand replaced it.

As my childish awareness of the world around me matured, I thought I had a clear understanding of what was going on and why. I worked hard at trying to remain objective. So much of what happened seemed like business as usual, I, like most, failed to see the pen growing around us. And by the time we did, most of us didn’t really care.

In many ways, life was better than it had ever been – after The Final War, that is. In fact, it was the war, I now see, that allowed the earliest changes to move forward with less public challenge than would otherwise have been the case. But I am getting ahead of myself.

I remember, when I was very young, hearing adults argue about the government and complain about the constant political battles that prevented anything meaningful from getting done that would reverse the downward plunge of our country’s position and respect in the rest of the world.

That ended with a nuclear attack in early 2017.

*******

Posted in Autumn Colors, Blogs, Book Reviews, Books, In Her Mother's Shoes, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

NEW DIRECTIONS

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Dawn Essegian Lajeunesse

I’m way overdue for writing a post, and even this one will be fairly brief. But the reason for my delinquency is legit – or at least I think so!

As mentioned in past posts, when I completed In Her Mother’s Shoes and sent it off to my publisher, I started work on Kiss Petey, a novel that was very different from my first two, with an element of adventure and suspense added to a romantic involvement.

Then, two weeks ago, I woke up with my brain traveling a hundred miles an hour and practically writing a totally new story in my head. Epiphanies like this don’t happen often, at least to me, so I rolled out of bed immediately and started writing (longhand) as fast as I could, trying to capture all the tracks this story seemed to be taking before they flitted from my mind forever. When I was done, I had nearly ten legal size pages (and I write small) with enough detail for me to get started on this new book as soon as my crazy schedule allowed.

While waiting for a dental appointment last week (I was 15 minutes early and he was 45 minutes late, so I had an hour to play with), I wrote a 3-page synopsis and the first chapter. I was so excited, I almost left the dentist office so I could keep working on it! My saner side knew better than to do that, thankfully. And as it turned out, it didn’t matter.
On Saturday I reserved the entire day, starting at 5am, to continue my writing binge. By the time I stopped at 4pm, I had written 32 pages – nearly 10,000 words – and refined the synopsis.

The story line is unlike anything I’ve ever done or even thought of doing. It will require a tremendous amount of research, which I’ve always avoided because of the time required. But my gut tells me it will be worth it.

So what is this mysterious story?

It is a fictional memoir, being written by a woman about to turn 100 in the year 2101. The life story she unveils does include some romance (of course), but much more, it is her perspective on what transpired in her lifetime, the 21st century. My friend, Sharon Delaney, said it sounded like science fiction. If anyone had ever predicted I would write science fiction, I’d have laughed until I exploded. But I suppose it sort of is.

I’m not about to give away all that the main character will share, but I hope it ends up as exciting in writing as it feels in my head.

By the way, the working title, which likely will change, is Transition.

My reason for sharing this, besides pointing out that Kiss Petey is being set aside for now, is to assure everyone that your muse(s) really do work while you are sleeping, and even the most predictable writer (me) can eventually wake one day with an idea for a book that exceeds all your expectations – and very well could take over your life while it is being written!

Write on, friends! If you haven’t yet had your epiphany, I’d be willing to bet it will come. If it could happen to me, it could happen to anyone!

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