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What’s
in a Theme, Pt. 1
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be
stuck on a deserted island? I thought about that cliché dinner table question
when I was writing Hearts in Exile. Loralee is left exiled on an island in Chapter
One, and though she’s NOT alone, she feels isolated and terrified, stripped
away from the life she knew to face a completely unfamiliar world.
As I wrote Sir Robert’s story, I realized the
deserted island theme was emerging again. No, he’s not left stranded on an
island—well, at least not for a decade like Loralee. But, his exile from the
life he knew came just as hard and just as unexpected when his parents died
like so many others in the Great Plague. He too, came close to dying, and had
it not been for Loralee, he would have been a goner.
And that’s where his exile truly began. Stripped
away from his everyday life of modest means, he finds himself with no other
feasible choice than to be recruited into a group of other orphans, all to be
trained as paladins. He really didn’t want that life, didn’t ask for it, just
as Loralee didn’t deserve her exile.
Yet, they both survived. She with sheer will and the
help of her loving adoptive dragon “parents”, Xaxony and Kershar. And he with
uncommon physical resilience and Loralee’s encouragement.
Sure, they struggled with fear and battled emotions
that sometimes overwhelmed them. But, they didn’t flop on the ground, cry
“Mercy!”, and go crazy. Not even Tom Hanks crazy.
I admired them both the farther I got into the story.
And I wished that I could be like them. To face my challenges and fears head on
without cringing in fear and self-doubt, because more than once I’ve been
exiled, too.
When my grandmother succumbed to Alzheimer’s, when I
left home for college, when I transferred from that college to attend another
when I got married, when I left work to have our first child, when we moved six
weeks after her arrival to a completely new town, when my mother died in 2003, and
when we moved again seven years and two more kids later to another new town.
Through all these changes, I’ve felt isolated at
some point, bereft of the things I’d come to know. Each time, I felt the rug
pulled from beneath my feet, and it took quite a while for me to right myself
and grow accustomed to the new world I’d been thrown into. I’m still crawling
around on the ground from our last move and from the new world of merging
writing and motherhood.
But, now I realize that after every past moment of
exile, I DID eventually claw my way back to my feet. Yes, it took a long time,
but I did persevere. I did adapt to the new world. I finally found my place in
it, though it wasn’t as easy and smooth as others might have found their
groove.
So, I guess Loralee and Sir Robert aren’t so much
better than me after all. That’s what I have to remember when I fear that I’ll
never get off the deserted island of change and back into the contentment of
adaptation. I have to remember that Loralee and Sir Robert’s story really has
mimicked my own life. They got back on their feet after every one of life’s
upsets. And so did I. And so I will again…eventually.
***Tour-Wide Drawing***
Entries as of 7/19/13: 9
Buy one copy (print or electronic) of Hearts in Exile at Melange Books, Amazon, B&N, Smashwords, or All Romance E-Books, and you'll be entered into a drawing to win this BIG prize pack:
$10 Amazon Gift Card, Dragon Necklace, I ♥ Dragons Tote Bag, This Gal (or Guy) Loves Dragons T-shirt, Hearts in Exile Notebook, and set of three signed playlist postcards.
$10 Amazon Gift Card, Dragon Necklace, I ♥ Dragons Tote Bag, This Gal (or Guy) Loves Dragons T-shirt, Hearts in Exile Notebook, and set of three signed playlist postcards.
To enter, just purchase a copy of Hearts in Exile from any of the online retailers above, and email your receipt (or confirmation code) to ME at: mystiparker@yahoo.com. Drawing to be held on August 1, and it's open worldwide!!!
Here are the links where you can find Hearts in Exile:
Melange Books (Print, PDF, & HTML): http://www.melange-books.com/authors/mystiparker/heartsinexile.html
Amazon (Kindle): http://www.amazon.com/Hearts-in-Exile-Tallenmere-ebook/dp/B00DEJZ8UG/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_t_1_YS4D
B&N (Nook): http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hearts-in-exile-mysti-parker/1115836058?ean=2940044592223
Smashwords (all e-formats): http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/326723
All Romance E-Books (PDF & HTML): https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-heartsinexile-1225822-153.html
Have I ever felt exiled? I don't think so. But isolated or separated from the greater world, yes. When I returned from my deployment, 2006-2007, I felt different. Not alone or anything. Just different from the rest of the world who scurried about with their lives, worried about this or that, compared to the past year of living in the desert, assigned to a battalion whose Soldiers went into Iraq every day, and that lost two Soldiers Killed In Action, including one from my company, and suffered Soldiers wounded in combat. And, no misunderstanding here, I never experienced combat myself. Yet, when I returned, for awhile I felt separated from the rest of the world. I guess that might fit your question of ever having felt exiled. Maybe. Good luck with the tour!
ReplyDeleteStan
SS Hampton, Sr., author
It's harder to feel cutoff or exiled, or even alone in today's world. I think back to my first trip to England just after my college graduation. Friends were to arrive two days later, but there I was in a strange new place, knowing no one. But even then, I guess, my ability to make the most of being alone allowed me to cope, to wander the streets of the suburb where our student hostel was. Since then, I love to explore new places on foot, get to know them and observe the people who live there. All in all, it was a good experience.
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