BELWOOD – Frustrated with the attitudes of today’s society, wife and husband Faye and George Chamberlain have co-written an inspirational adventure mystery novel, titled Connections Past.
The book, released Sept. 1, comes as the first of the three-part Jeneva’s Journey series.
“Married 46 years and (working) together for many years made the transition to co-writing a book an easy fit,” Faye said.
“Although it was a challenging task, we enjoyed working together, brainstorming for hours, compromising and analyzing every plot line until we were both satisfied that we had accomplished what we had set out to do.”
Connections Past follows a riveting journey the characters take on the way to their destiny, that will change the world through kindness and caring for others.
CONNECTIONS PAST
The 417-page adventure includes a love triangle, murder, intrigue and mystical events, the pair explained.
There is also a worldwide contest that rewards, not with money, but an opportunity to do something everyone would like to do.
Because the novel’s protagonist is a volunteer with the Big Brother/Big Sister organization, the authors decided to donate a portion of the book sales to the cause, in hopes of changing young lives, Faye explained.
She said they were frustrated with the attitudes of society today and decided to write a book that would send a gentle message, in hopes of changing lives.
Their initial motivation of this four-year project came from four statements on building a kinder society.
“One small act of kindness; the journey may be more important than the destiny … those are the messages that we’re sending,” Faye said.
When asked what it was about the attitudes of society that frustrated them, George said it stems from the challenges of day-to-day conversations and trying to get your point across to people.
“When you’re speaking to someone, it appears that people are formulating some type of a response that relates to their own lives without really listening to what you’re trying to say,” he explained.
“I think that’s primarily where the frustration comes in so it’s hard to get your message across or articulate what you’re thinking about because you can tell when the response comes back from the people so quickly, something barely related to the conversation or the topic of the conversation, you know that your message never was delivered.”
George added by formatting this message into a story, it allowed the opportunity to “soft speak the message,” in a way that people would enjoy.
“Our goal was to weave it into what we think is a clever, fairly well written story that delivers some of the messages that we’d like people to think about and reflect on.”
The couple said most of the feedback they’ve received is that people are understanding the message and for the most part, they seem touched by it in some way or another.
“They understand what we’re thinking, and we’ve had some call backs from people who just want to talk more about what the messaging was in the story,” George explained.
They said although they started with an outline, they ended up with a story that evolved into something quite different than what they initially started out with.
“The messaging stayed consistent throughout the process,” George said. “In the end we wanted it to be a very enjoyable read.”
He noted while the messaging is important, it was also important to write a story they felt people would enjoy.
“I would say that being our first novel, to actually have the novel in your hand that first day is a pretty exciting experience for sure,” George said of completing the novel.
“It’s quite fulfilling and satisfying to get to that point where you’ve got that book in your hand and you’ve got the product of all that four-year work period.”
“The feedback we’ve been getting from people who’ve read it is just well worth the wait,” Faye added. “It makes it all worthwhile, all the hard work.”
With a second book in its early stages, Faye and George said most of their time right now is focused on promoting the book, which is available on Amazon, in the Magic Pebble Bookstore, 153 Geddes St. in Elora, and the Fergus library.
The couple will also be offering a free e-book version of Connections Past on Amazon Books, for three days (Nov. 12, 13, 14) in celebration of World Kindness Day on Nov. 13.
To learn more about the authors and the book, visit chamberlainbooks.com or follow @FayeandGeorgeChamberlain on Facebook.
