Q&A with Tim Quigley

When did you first realize that you wanted to be a writer?

I first aspired to write in my teenage years when I really developed a love for reading on my own, aside from school assignments. I devoured all of Stephen King’s early works and lo ved the horror, mystery, and suspense genres.  However, I was introduced to the classics as part of my studies, and the masters of the short story really caught my attention: O’Henry, Jackson, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, etc.  I was enthralled by these slices of life, captured like poignant Polaroid snap shots that, despite their brevity, immersed the reader in captivating tales with remarkably complex characters.

As a writer who has been praised for your short stories, what do you think makes a good one?

A good story is one that takes the reader somewhere they have never been, even if that is only a glimpse beneath the surface of a place with which they are quite familiar.  Perhaps this is a peek into the mind of a person who is contemplating something we have all thought or of which we are already aware, but the writer brings us to another level of awareness.

Tell me about your latest, Kissing the Hag? I've read you are currently working on a film adaption?

Hag actually came from two short stories that I was working on: one was about this kid who was living in the city and there was an old alcoholic woman who lived in the neighborhood whom everyone regarded as crazy because she was always talking about angels, and to them when she was drunk and on the streets.  He was fascinated, and would talk to her, and about her angels, all the time…  Then there was another story with this guy who was working the graveyard shift at a shelter.  His life had come to a standstill via some existential crisis, I wasn’t sure what, and he got it moving again through his experience on one particular night.  Both stories were at a crossroads and lacked something, so I made the old alcoholic woman a bag lady at the shelter.  I still needed the crisis, and I ruminated over a divorce or death of a parent, but neither had ever happened to me.  My brother had taken his life but I felt that using that would be exploiting something that was deeply personal and painful, until another more experienced and wiser writer told me to “Exploit with a vengeance!  It’s what writers do.  We use what know.  Exploit away, my friend.”  But I did not want it to be an autobiography, either, so I had the protagonist learn lessons that I already knew.  I didn’t do anything that he does in the book such as leaving his job and cutting himself off from friends and family, but I did work the nightshift in a shelter when I was in undergrad in the 1980’s, and my brother did kill himself.  But my life did not come to a standstill at that time.  Instead, I was catapulted forward.  And this also gave me distance from him as a character, and a wider perspective.

Everyone has a story. Are your stories personally inspired or if not, what inspires each one written?

Usually, my stories are rooted in some sort of actual observation or experience.  I am moved by a particular event or internal response that speaks to me as a revelation of sorts.  These always seem to tap me on the shoulder and beg to be turned into a “moment’ in fiction: one of those times when the surface is lifted and we get a peak beneath…

Who is your favorite author and what is it that strikes you about their work?

I have too many to name a favorite, but gravitate toward literary fiction.  Aside from some of the classic writers I mentioned earlier, I am a big fan of Michael Cunningham, David Leavitt, and David Sedaris.  They are all of my generation.   The first two simply write exceptionally well; Cunningham is a magician with prose, and Leavitt is a master at lifting back that proverbial curtain on average American lives.   Sedaris is so very talented as well, but he makes me laugh out loud wherever I am reading his work. 

What do you like to read when you aren't writing?

Pretty much the same, though I am a news junkie.  I used to subscribe to a few magazines and newspapers, but now I get everything online and on my smartphone.

What advice would you give aspiring writers?

Write.  Just write.  And share your work with other writers instead of sticking it in a folder and wondering for months, or even years, if it is any good.  It is important for writers to listen to every reader, but other writers are paramount for the caliber of feedback to take back to your desk for revisions.   And remember that revising your work is not a punishment, but part of the process.  The best ideas usually come from revision.  

About the Author

Timothy Quigley’s award-winning stories have appeared in the Chariton Review, Line Zero Journal of Art and Literature, La Ostra Magazine, Writer’s World as well as online publications. He is a script writer for CIDLabs LLC and is currently working on two short films: one animated, and the other a live action adapted from his short fiction. His novella, Kissing the Hag, was released by Pixel Hall Press in November 2015.

He lives in Salem, Massachusetts and teaches writing at Salem State University and Wentworth Institute in Boston

Connect with Timothy: Website | Twitter | Linkedin

Q&A with Daire St. Denis, Sweet Seduction

What are five words that describe your writing process?

Erratic, Daydreamy, Morning (ish), Manic, Plantster (half plotter, half pantster) 
 
Which would you rather do: Never write another story or never read another book?

Oh man. This is such a hard question! I guess technically, if I write another book and then read what I’ve written, I’ve read another book too… There have been times when I’ve read one of my old files and honestly have no recollection of writing it so I have no idea what’s going to happen next. It’s like I’m reading someone else’s work.  I think that’s normal for writers. Or I’m losing my mind. Either way…I don’t think I answered this question.

How important are names to you in your books? Do you choose the names based on liking the way it sounds or the meaning?

Names are very important and I try to choose them carefully. Often it is the combination of sounds and meanings and I’ve been known to peruse baby naming websites and etymology websites to find names. Other times the names just come, almost like the character shouts it at me, “This is my name, so there!”

Are you spring, summer, fall, or winter?

Please share why. Summer, all the way! I love summer activities, love the long hours of daylight, I love the feel of sunshine on my skin (as long as it doesn’t burn). I love sitting out on patios and sipping wine, going for long walks. Ahhh. The weird thing is, I live in a cold climate. My five year plan is to spend part of the winter in a warmer climate. We’ll see how that pans out…but I’m learning Spanish, just in case!

Is there a certain type of scene that's harder for you to write than others? Love? Action? Racy?

I like writing all scenes, but I do have to be in the right mood for the scene. For example, racy love scenes are really hard to write when my house is full of kids, who are shouting and arguing and barging in at inopportune times, reading over my shoulder and asking me what certain words mean... If I’m struggling with a scene (for whatever reason) I usually try to get myself in the mood by listening to appropriate music, maybe having a glass of wine and chilling out, letting the scene unfold naturally. If it still doesn’t come, it might mean I’m forcing it and I need to go back and figure out what the characters would do, which may not be what I want them to do as the author. 

What was your favorite scene to write in Sweet Seduction? Why?

Oh, my favorite scene was the boxing scene between the hero and heroine. The heroine (Daisy) is really upset with the hero (Jamie) and makes an off-the-cuff remark about wanting to smack him. He takes her back to his private boxing club where he teaches her how to punch him properly. During the course of the ‘lesson’ Daisy’s anger morphs into another equally passionate emotion and, well, the two them get even hotter and sweatier…ahem. 

If you had your own talk show, who would your first three guests be?

If I had a talk show my first guest would be Jane Austen. I’m a big fan of Jane’s books and I’d love to sit and talk writing as well as find out what life was like for her as there is very little biographical information about her. My second guest would be Ellen Degeneres because I think she is smart, funny and incredibly savvy. She could fill me in on this whole talk show gig and then I’d prank her like she pranks so many of her guests! My third guest would be David Bowie. I love how he reinvented himself over and over again and then found privacy when he needed it. I think I could learn so much from all three of these individuals.

What did you find most useful in learning to write?  

What was least useful or most destructive? The most useful thing I found when I was learning to write was joining writing groups. I learned so much from my fellow writers: from information about the craft of writing to industry trends. Most importantly, writing groups held me accountable for my writing schedule particularly in the early days before I had any real publishing deadlines. The least useful thing I did was get some of my early work over-critiqued. Having a good, solid critique partner(s) is essential but in this instance, there was so much conflicting advice, it became debilitating and I ended up questioning everything I wrote instead of trusting myself and my process.

What are you working on now? What is your next project?

I’m working on the third book in my Seduction series, called A Christmas Seduction which features some of the characters from Sweet Seduction, and the sequel, Big Sky Seduction. As the title implies, it will be released December 2016 and I’m very excited about it!

Obsession by Christina E. Pilz

(Image: OliverAsksForMore. Source Link

My obsession, since the age of seven or so, has been with workhouses and I’m not sure why. I mean, you wouldn’t ever want to end up there, as workhouses are always, nearly always, nasty, dark, and grim. And damp. And they don’t feed you very much. You get one thin blanket, and maybe a pillow if you’re lucky. Any yard where you might get some fresh air is covered with cinders or gravel or simply dirt.

Well, all of this has to do with the novel by Charles Dickens called Oliver Twist, which has to do with orphans and pickpockets and the gritty, grimy world of workhouses and the muddy streets of Victorian London.

My obsession stems from my early exposure to that story when I saw a movie version of it once, long ago. Since then I’ve seen pretty much every version that has ever been made, which I’m not embarrassed to admit, since I’ve already admitted I’m obsessed.

Here is the lad, Oliver Twist himself, asking for more. Spoiler: He will not get it.

Soon my obsession about Oliver Twist turned into my desire to write more about him and his little life, and, indeed, perhaps sad to say, I wanted to get him back inside of a workhouse to see what made him tick. Putting him back there would show me how he survived it the first time, and whether he learned anything along the way. And maybe I just wanted to torture him a little bit, because I had a feeling that he would come out on top, in spite of me.

(Image: Map of Axminster. Source Link

So I started writing my Oliver & Jack series with an eye towards that workhouse experience. Even as I wrote the first two books in that series, I was picking out workhouses and determining the best (that is to say worst) series of events ever to befall a parish boy. The result was

First up, location. At the end of book two in the Oliver & Jack series, Oliver and Jack were in Lyme Regis, which is a nice place to be. So I had them arrested and thrown into the nearest workhouse, which just so happened to be located in Axminster. Isn’t that a great name? It’s got such a sharp-edged ring to it, don’t you think?

This map is from 1887, but the town won’t have changed all that much from 1846, which is when the story takes place.

Toward the bottom of the map you’ll see, very plainly marked, a structure called Axminster Union Workhouse. I studied that workhouse, trying to determine what it might look like at ground level. So I went online because, as you see, I’m obsessed.

(Image: AxminsterUnionWorkhouse. Source Link 

Well, as luck would have it, the square workhouse with four internal sections is one of the main types of workhouses that they built, and is generally referred to as the square plan. It was designed by a gentleman called Sam Kempthorn and was meant to hold around 300 paupers.

So I probably could have left it at that, since nobody reading my book would actually ever have been inside of a workhouse. But no, I staggered on, bowed under with the weight of my obsession.

Here is a drawing of the exterior of the Sam Kempthorn Square Plan Workhouse. Doesn’t it look grim?

But wait, there’s more! I found some floor plans, so not only could I imagine the color and texture of the exterior, I could also trace little lines in my head as to how my characters walked from room to room. Here’s an image of the ground floor (aka the first floor in the US). 

And, even better, I got an image of the first floor (aka the second floor in the US) where they slept.

Do you see the rabbit hole I’ve now gone down? I’m deep in the weeds of details that won’t make any difference to the reader or their enjoyment of the story. But to me, it’s this type of obsession that tells me I’m writing about the right kind of thing, and telling the story that moves me. Which hopefully means that it will move the reader as well.

(Image: AxminsterGroundFloor. Source Link

(Image: SquarePlanExterior. Source Link

Here’s the cover of my most recent obsession:

Do you have an obsession? Something that won’t let you sleep at night and makes you think about it all the time?

About the Author

Christina was born in Waco, Texas in 1962. After living on a variety of air force bases, in 1972 her Dad retired and the family moved to Boulder, Colorado. There amidst the clear, dry air of the high plains, as the moss started to grow beneath her feet, her love for historical fiction began with a classroom reading of Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

She attended a variety of community colleges (Tacoma Community College) and state universities (UNC-Greeley, CU-Boulder, CU-Denver), and finally found her career in technical writing, which, between layoffs, she has been doing for 18 years. During that time, her love for historical fiction and old-fashioned objects, ideas, and eras has never waned.

In addition to writing, her interests include road trips around the U.S. and frequent flights to England, where she eats fish and chips, drinks hard cider, and listens to the voices in the pub around her. She also loves coffee shops, mountain sunsets, prairie storms, and the smell of lavender. She is a staunch supporter of the Oxford comma.

Connect with Christina: WEBSITE | BLOG | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | GOODREADS | PINTEREST

The 3 Biggest Mistakes That I’ve Made (so far) as a Health & Wellness Practitioner by Gabrielle Pelicci, Ph. D

I had my first client in 2001 while I was still in massage school. It was in the living-room of the dusty apartment of my neighbor on the big purple massage table that I carted along with me. I remember being terrified that my massage routine wouldn’t be long enough to fill the entire 60 minutes (it was—but barely). Despite my initial jitters (and thanks to my very grateful new client), I discovered that I loved doing massage. I kept at it and, quickly realizing that I wanted to learn a lot more about health and wellness so I signed up for as many workshops and trainings as I could in nutrition, energy medicine, yoga, meditation and more.

Flash forward several certifications and 15 years later, and I still love health and wellness. While I realize that in the grand scheme of things, 15 years isn’t really all that long, I sometimes cringe when I think back on some of the things I did as I was building my business. And while a lot of these “embarrassments” are just plain silly (flinging panties from the freshly laundered massage sheets onto a clients floor or showing up soaking wet to teach yoga after an unexpected downpour) there are some bigger lessons there, too.

Here are 3 mistakes that I’ve made during my career and, eventually, learned a lot from. Maybe you’ll learn something from them as well (even if it’s just “Thank God. Someone else did/thought/said that thing, too!”)

Ignoring the Money

Since I first started my practice, I’ve been much more interested in serving people than making a million dollars. I really wanted to help people heal, teach them how to take care of their mind and body, guide them on a healing journey to overcome pain and limitations.   For a long time, I thought that it was “good enough” if my clients were happy – even if I was giving my services away for free. I assumed that money would come “sometime” in the future – and luckily I’ve always had enough money to live comfortably – but I didn’t have any profit plan or revenue model. I didn’t even know what those phrases meant until a few years ago.

It was actually my own frustrations with feeling undervalued and burnt-out after a decade of making the same income that inspired me to take money a lot more seriously. I started reading all the business books and listening to all the podcasts that I could get my hands on – especially the ones about start-ups and entrepreneurs – and paying more attention to the flow of money in and out of my life. When I asked myself, “What’s my relationship to money?” I discovered a lot of limiting beliefs about what I was “worth” and what I “deserved” to be paid. I especially struggled with taking full accountability for my finances and not blaming my difficulties on anyone else.

I believe that too many health and wellness professionals get discouraged because they love what they do, but they aren’t making a good living doing it. I believe that all health and wellness professionals can create purposeful and profitable holistic businesses with the right tools and support. I believe that the health of your bank account is just as important as the health of your body, mind and spirit. And I believe that money and healing are not mutually exclusive but rather interconnected and interdependent – just look at Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to see that our basic security has to be in place before we can do the higher work of transformation.

Being a Hobbyist instead of a Professional

Between 2009 and 2014, I made over 500 YouTube vlogs.   They were interesting and entertaining. I talked about every aspect of health and wellness that I was studying and practicing. I accumulated more than half-a-million views on my channel. BUT it was never anything more than a hobby.

The videos weren’t integrated into my business. They didn’t generate any extra income for me. They didn’t lead to speaking engagements, press coverage or anything that would have given my business more exposure.   They didn’t even open up doors for teaching, presenting or publishing. At the end of the day, it was fun for me and the few hundred people who were regularly watching, but it wasn’t the best use of my time, energy and creativity. Still, it was hard to give it up because it was so enjoyable. I had so much passion for the topics and I really wanted to share what I was learning. Eventually (and thankfully), I stopped. I decided that I needed to channel that passion, energy and creativity into products that could actually make a difference – not only for the viewers – but also for me.

Instead of vlogging everyday, I used those extra hours for writing articles that could be published, building online classes that could be taken and creating videos with specific information that supported my products and services. I still feel the same excitement and joy when I hit “publish” but now I have the added benefit of knowing that I am also shifting from hobbyist to professional.

I believe that too many health and wellness professionals waste time doing things that are fun but don’t make sense for their career. I believe that all health and wellness professionals can channel their passion and creativity into products and services that support the health of their business and bank account. And I believe that taking ourselves more seriously (while still having fun) is how we will make others take us more seriously, too.

Too much Learning and not enough Doing

Aside from my trainings in Massage Therapy, Kundalini Yoga, Jivamukti Yoga, Healing Touch and Mindfulness Meditation, I also have a Ph.D. in Transformative Studies. Want to know a super-easy way to avoid the difficulty of running a business? Stay in school.   Keep enrolling in as many programs as you can so that you are always learning instead of doing. Keep finding things about yourself that you need to improve and then seek out books, teachers, therapists, videos, and so on to help you work on those issues.

For a looooong time, I had the feeling that I wasn’t “ready” to [fill in the blank]. I wasn’t ready to be a teacher. I wasn’t ready to write a book. I wasn’t ready to make more money. I wasn’t ready to be on TV. I kept waiting for the “ready” feeling but it never came. So I got sick of waiting and I just started doing all of those things anyway – even though I didn’t feel “ready.”   I taught the classes, wrote the book, pitched the proposals, got the TV gig. And even while I was doing it, I suffered a twinge of the imposter complex. I wondered, “Who am I to be up here professing my knowledge?”

This kind of thinking is sooooo last year. This is not the time to be playing small, making excuses, avoiding our work, succumbing to procrastination or self-doubt. This is the time to get shit done. There are too many people who are suffering and struggling for us to be staring at ourselves in the mirror wondering when we are going to look and feel like the expert that we are.   I don’t care if you know 2 more things than me about nutrition, than you can teach me something. And we have to OWN that and we have to stop with the self-absorbed worry about what others will think or what mistakes we might make. You will make mistakes – that’s what this whole article is about – my mistakes. But who cares! If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing anything.

I believe that too many health and wellness professionals are hiding behind a book, a computer or some other excuse for why they are not “ready” to do the work. I believe that all health and wellness professionals need to be more brave, more determined, and more assertive about bringing their gifts to the world.   I believe the world needs our gifts now more than ever – we need people who can raise consciousness, mend brokenness, guide people from the darkness to light, be role models for a happy, healthy life.  And I believe that running your own holistic business can be one of the most liberating, amazing, rewarding, lucrative experiences out there—and it doesn’t have to be complicated or intimidating or costly.

You don’t have to do it perfectly. You just have to do it.

About the Author

Dr. Gabby is a leading expert on Holistic Medicine and TV Host at Miami-based Health & Wellness Channel.  Dr. Gabby has traveled to 40 countries, worked with thousands of clients – including celebrities and high profile people – and has more than a decade of teaching experience under her belt at top universities in Mind-Body Medicine and Holistic Health. Dr. Gabby’s expertise is regularly featured in National and Local Media such as MSNBC, The New York Post, and the Huffington Post. Dr. Gabby is the Founder of Women in Wellness Career Training, a one-of-a-kind course and community designed to empower and inform you about how to build a purposeful and profitable holistic business.

Connect with Gabby: Website | Facebook | Twitter

About the Book

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You started your health and wellness practice because you love what you do, have a passion for helping others, and you wanted to make a positive impact in the world.  But as good as all that sounds, passion is not enough to make you truly successful.

The opportunities for Health and Wellness Professionals are better today than ever before but many programs and teacher trainings do not prepare you to start, market, and grow a successful business.  

Does this sound like you? 

•    You want to attract more clients or customers
•    You feel stuck and don’t know how to move to the next level of your business
•    You work very hard, but don’t earn what you want
•    You see others being successful and wonder how they do it 

Blissful Business: A Gorgeous Guide to Creating Your Dream Career in Health and Wellness is a step-by-step manual to help you achieve your career goals. 

This book will help you: 
Get clear about your vision and mission
Create purposeful and profitable one-on-one sessions
Use teaching, presenting and publishing to attract loyal customers
Master Personal Branding, PR, and Social Media 

If you're ready to fulfill your destiny by building a purposeful and profitable holistic business, then you’ve found the right book.   You’ll read several real-life examples of Health & Wellness students who completed the exercises in this book and discovered how to define success on their own terms. 

This book is perfect for you if you are a massage therapist, health coach, yoga instructor, personal trainer, energy healer or heart-centered entrepreneur. 

You have already invested so much time and money to get an education. Now get the expert support that you need to build a successful career in the Health & Wellness industry. 

Q&A with Maia Chance, Beauty, Beast, and Belladonna

Describe Beauty, Beast, and Belladonna in 140 characters or less. 

Beauty, Beast, and Belladonna is a fun, adventurous, and romantic historical mystery set in a secret-riddled French chateau in 1867.

What is your idea of perfect happiness? 

Happiness for me is spending time outside somewhere beautiful, with my husband, kids, and dog.

What’s your favorite part of Ophelia’s quirky personality? 

I like the way Ophelia compensates in creative and gutsy ways for her lack of a good formal education.  She’s smart and resourceful and she uses her unusual skill set—farm girl, circus performer, actress—to help solve the mystery.

Which living person do you most admire? 

My husband, actually.  He is an unusually gifted person who overcame significant disadvantages and obstacles to get where he is today.  And he gives the best pep-talks!

What inspired you to marry fairytales and mystery? 

I was searching for something that hadn’t been done yet, and I was reading a lot of fairy tale criticism for school at the time.  It sounded like a deliciously fun project, so I plunged in.

Is there a type of scene that's harder for you to write than others? Love? Action? Racy?  

Dialogue definitely comes more easily for me.  I find action scenes more challenging—I’m paranoid that they’ll get bogged down.  (So if I can, I add dialogue to my action scenes!)

What do you consider the most overrated virtue? 
Sticking to strict schedules.  I don’t like to keep people waiting, but there is something to be said for giving yourself creative or restful wiggle-room during the day.

Which of the characters in this novel do you feel the most drawn to?

 I became more attached to Professor Penrose in this book.  He’s more vulnerable and at a loss than in the previous two books—and more deeply in love.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?  

Oh, my.  Probably dozens.  I seem to like “buzz” a lot for some reason.  I’m deleting it all the time.

Can you describe for us your process for naming characters? 

For historical American characters I use census records.  I collect names from cemeteries whenever I visit one, and I often borrow names from literature.  Since my books have lots of characters, I try to give them all distinctive names that hint at their personalities, to help the reader keep everyone sorted in their mind. 

Who are your favorite writers? 

Agatha Christie, P.G. Wodehouse, Edith Wharton and Theodor Adorno.

Who is your most loved hero of fiction? 

Indiana Jones.

Which talent would you most like to have? 

It would be ecstasy to be a really, really great opera singer.

You're hosting a dinner party, which five authors (dead or alive) would you invite? 

P. G. Wodehouse would probably be the life of any party.  Also, Agatha Christie, Edgar Allan Poe, Shakespeare, and F. Scott Fitzgerald.  There would be lots of drinking at this party.  Maybe some arguments.  No strip poker though.

Do you have a favorite time period in literature? 

Not really.  Because of my English degrees I have read very widely, and I have favorites from every era.  And every era has its stultifying boring authors, too.

What is the best reaction over a book that you’ve ever gotten from a fan? 

Fans who say my book gave them pure pleasure—that’s happened a few times—make me so happy.  It’s my aim to give people something to read that’s a pleasurable and absorbing diversion from Real Life.  Real Life is hard.

Where would you most like to live? 

A place with lots of trees where I could do all my daily activities and errands on foot.  I’m working on it.

Which historical figure do you most identify with? 

No one specific, but I often think of the female writers over the centuries who kept at their stories even when they had screaming kids and the dinner to cook and a really messy house piling up around them.  They did it, and so can I.

What are you working on next?

 I just completed a humorous contemporary mystery that does not yet have a publisher, and I’m working on a historical fantasy adventure with a co-author.  After that, the next thing will be book #3 of the Discreet Retrieval Agency series.

Using Jefferson’s Letters in America’s First Daughter by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie

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We are absolutely thrilled to be celebrating the release of our new book, America’s First Daughter, which portrays the relationship between Martha “Patsy” Jefferson Randolph and her famous father, Thomas Jefferson, and explores the sacrifices Patsy made and the lies she told to protect him, his legacy, and the new nation he founded. In writing this book, primary sources—and particularly Jefferson’s body of 18,000 letters—formed the foundation of the book, and we thought we’d tell you more about that today.

The letters of a person, especially of one whose business has been chiefly transacted by letters, form the only full and genuine journal of his life.

These words come from one of Jefferson’s own letters very much informed our approach to writing America’s First Daughter. One important way we made use of Jefferson’s letter was in the dialog of the book. As much as possible, we wanted Jefferson’s words to be his own. Fortunately, his opinions on many things survive, so we had plenty of material to pull from. The challenge, of course, was reading through all those letters to find what we needed. Where letters didn’t exist, we were able to discern a lot about the cadence and patterns of his speech by having immersed ourselves so deeply in his writing, so we were able to create what we hope was authentic dialog by our third president.

Another way we made use of Jefferson’s letters was in providing the framework for the book. One challenge of writing a book that spans sixty years and draws from a massive body of source material is figuring out how to fit everything in, or deciding what to cut or condense and where to skip time. History itself provided a guide for handling this question, because Patsy and her children edited Jefferson’s papers after his death. Since we know that not all of Jefferson’s letters survived (despite there being 18,000 that did!), we know some were destroyed.

We answered the questions of How? and By whom? by positing that Patsy herself destroyed his letters with a very particular purpose in mind—protecting Jefferson and defining his legacy. In the prologue, the reader finds Patsy sitting down to the task of going through his letters. Throughout the book, new letters that she’s reading provide the background for new scenes and chapters, thereby allowing us to skip time as defined by actual letters from Jefferson himself. Doing this not only gave us our framework for the book, but also an argument for Patsy’s historical significance in shaping her father’s legacy.

Letters also became important in an unexpected way—after we’d finished writing and revising the book, Monticello announced the discovery of a new set of letters to and from Patsy from her years in Paris. We were thrilled! Our editor readily agreed to let us go back into the manuscript to incorporate material from the new letters, allowing us to more deeply explore Patsy’s female friendships and many suitors—including a very intriguing duke!

We also hope that including excerpts from letters of the period will give readers an even more immersive experience into the incredible revolutionary era in which Patsy and her father lived. As authors, we wanted to be faithful to the characters, their words, and their world, and in reading widely and deeply in the existing sources we hope we have achieved that.

Thanks for reading,

Stephanie and Laura

About America’s First Daughter

In a compelling, richly researched novel that draws from thousands of letters and original sources, bestselling authors Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie tell the fascinating, untold story of Thomas Jefferson’s eldest daughter, Martha “Patsy” Jefferson Randolph—a woman who kept the secrets of our most enigmatic founding father and shaped an American legacy.

From her earliest days, Patsy Jefferson knows that though her father loves his family dearly, his devotion to his country runs deeper still. As Thomas Jefferson’s oldest daughter, she becomes his helpmate, protector, and constant companion in the wake of her mother’s death, traveling with him when he becomes American minister to France.

It is in Paris, at the glittering court and among the first tumultuous days of revolution, that fifteen-year-old Patsy learns about her father’s troubling liaison with Sally Hemings, a slave girl her own age. Meanwhile, Patsy has fallen in love—with her father’s protégé William Short, a staunch abolitionist and ambitious diplomat. Torn between love, principles, and the bonds of family, Patsy questions whether she can choose a life as William’s wife and still be a devoted daughter.

Her choice will follow her in the years to come, to Virginia farmland, Monticello, and even the White House. And as scandal, tragedy, and poverty threaten her family, Patsy must decide how much she will sacrifice to protect her father's reputation, in the process defining not just his political legacy, but that of the nation he founded.

Advanced Praise for America’s First Daughter

“America’s First Daughter brings a turbulent era to vivid life. All the conflicts and complexities of the Early Republic are mirrored in Patsy’s story. It’s breathlessly exciting and heartbreaking by turns-a personal and political page-turner.” (Donna Thorland, author of The Turncoat)

“Painstakingly researched, beautifully hewn, compulsively readable -- this enlightening literary journey takes us from Monticello to revolutionary Paris to the Jefferson White House, revealing remarkable historical details, dark family secrets, and bringing to life the colorful cast of characters who conceived of our new nation. A must read.” (Allison Pataki, New York Times bestselling author of The Accidental Empress)

About the Authors:

Stephanie Dray is an award-winning, bestselling and two-time RITA award nominated author of historical women’s fiction. Her critically acclaimed series about Cleopatra’s daughter has been translated into eight different languages and won NJRW's Golden Leaf. As Stephanie Draven, she is a national bestselling author of genre fiction and American-set historical women's fiction. She is a frequent panelist and presenter at national writing conventions and lives near the nation's capital. Before she became a novelist, she was a lawyer, a game designer, and a teacher. Now she uses the stories of women in history to inspire the young women of today.

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Laura Kamoie has always been fascinated by the people, stories, and physical presence of the past, which led her to a lifetime of historical and archaeological study and training. She holds a doctoral degree in early American history from The College of William and Mary, published two non-fiction books on early America, and most recently held the position of Associate Professor of History at the U.S. Naval Academy before transitioning to a full-time career writing genre fiction as the New York Times bestselling author, Laura Kaye. Her debut historical novel, America's First Daughter, co-authored with Stephanie Dray, allowed her the exciting opportunity to combine her love of history with her passion for storytelling. Laura lives among the colonial charm of Annapolis, Maryland with her husband and two daughters.

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