I spent the weekend reading and writing because writing is my first passion and I intend for it to succeed as a means of personal support.
Yesterday I worked on a revision of my book about Auguste Chouteau - a short historical novel for youth readers. It is set in the 18th century French Illinois Country across the river from the Bolduc House Museum for which I have served as executive director since 2009. Having lived and breathed and handled the artifacts and archives every day for the past six years I am much more prepared to make the story come alive with authentic details. I'm glad I waited to publish this book until now. Like my other fiction, The Curse of Kaskaskia is about what happens to faith in dysfunctional families when inauthentic or spiritually abusive churchianity is operating. This time the story is about 14 year old Auguste's fears that the church will restore his mother to his abusive father should that man ever return to New Orleans to claim her. It also deals with the anger that is the way to masquerade his fear. The French colonial community at Kaskaskia was filled with diversity - the story involves the Jewish high holy days of Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur, African slaves, Indian slaves, an Osage man and a Taensas woman, Jesuit priests and secular enforcers of the order that evicted the Jesuits from New France. Each culture brings its own wisdom as the parallel story between a teenaged boy and a much older woman unfolds. I realized today that there is another character who would certainly have been involved in the story but who would have lived across the river in Ste. Genevieve. Most of my work on this story has been to strengthen it by the inclusion of my newly gained expertise in the period and its material culture. Next I will weave in Marguerite Valle's perspective and the required scalp dance after the death of Nukonska....
Today, I read about writing and publishing shorter kindle books. I decided to begin a series of short devotionals to self publish on the kindle platform. It is called "Short Meditations on Hymns and Carols". The first book will be based on the legend that the Christmas carol, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" was really a song with a hidden message for Catholic children growing up in England between 1559 and 1829 when it was illegal to be Catholic. It is comprised of 13 short devotionals, one for each day from Christmas Eve through Twelfth Night. I plan to launch it for $0.99 per copy by December 17. It will make a perfect Christmas gift for families as well as for individuals.
Today I also decided to do some other marketing activities in the next two weeks. These will be to complete my author's page on Amazon, work on building a following for my new author's page on Facebook and drastically lower the price of Pastor's Ex-Wife on Kindle. It is very important to me that that book rise in the ratings and become more widely known and read. For that to happen, I need readers who will write honest reviews about it. If you are willing to read and write an honest review for the Pastor's Ex-Wife sale page on Amazon, I am willing to send you a free download of the book. So if you want one, email me at teamlesley@gmail.com and I'll reply with a pdf version of the book.
About Me
- Lesley
- I have discovered that walking a very narrow path leads to broad places of peace, contentment, and provision. I work as a freelance consultant in the areas of cultural heritage, public history and museums, From 2009-2016, I was the executive director of the Bolduc House Museum in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, (now called New France - the OTHER Colonial America, an eighteenth century French colonial historic site and National Historic Landmark.) My PhD is from the University of Leicester's (United Kingdom) Department of Museum Studies. My research looked at the interpretation of diversity at the American Historic House Museum. I also developed and facilitate an inspirational program for Christian grandparents, Gathering Grandparents.
No comments:
Post a Comment