Mrs Lee Anne Wonnacott’s big day
I sat down with my first cup of coffee early one recent morning and opened my Yahoo Mail to see what surprises it might have received overnight. Good thing I had reinforced my Folgers with a Jameson Irish Whiskey inhaler! There, before me, in a nutshell, I realized that a major marketing milestone had developed quite unexpectedly for my friend, Lee Anne Wonnacott, author of extraordinary Western romance novels. The first of those words was his own, a single two-syllable gleeful expression, centered in the body of the email with lots of white space around it; You couldn’t help but feel like it might jump off the page of joy right at you! Lee Anne caught my attention with her happy exclamation like a lark now before me:
Look!
For a split second, he was stunned by that simple display of emotion. Then I quickly saw its meaning directly below in an email that she had forwarded from a prestigious literary group, Book of the day, who quite succinctly, but forcefully, advised Mrs Wonnacott:
From: Book of the day
Subject: Nick Stolter – Lee Anne Wonnacott
His book is scheduled for: March 8, 2016.
See you in the frontPage!
He had no idea that he had submitted one of his e-books to this prestigious literary group for review and consideration. But that’s her nature: simple and ambitious, as well as bold and daring.
I put the enigmatic Mrs. Wonnacott over a year and a half ago. I thought she was a nice and hardworking lady, mother of several children and grandmother of many more. By reading her short autobiographies that the authors submit to Amazon, I learned that she had endured a tragedy in her life. In his own words: A friend sat me on the front steps in 1991, kissed me on the cheek, and said he’d be coming back from there. I’m still waiting.
That was the time period of the first Iraq war. As a Vietnam War veteran (although not grammatically correct according to some, I always use the capital V) and as a career Marine I read between the lines. I still don’t know the full story of her loss, we never discussed it, but I guess the love of her life, the father of her children, went to the Gulf War and never returned. He often refers to me as “My favorite marine!” I think it’s therapeutic that I do. Maybe I’m a substitute for the “Marine”, if it was even a Marine, she lost.
I was mortified one day (about three or four months after we met) when I was browsing Amazon in search of books only to find her name as the author of several books published in e-book format of a genre known as “Western Romance. novels “. When I calmed down, I wanted to crawl under my desk. All this time I had been bragging to her nonstop, it seemed, and to anyone else I could, about my involvement in writing and publishing Colonel Jim Bathurst’s nonfiction account of his thirty-six-year career as an infant. United States Navy. He had asked for my help, so I voluntarily assumed the responsibilities of editor for what turned out to be one of the greatest learning adventures of my life.
I’m not ashamed to stand tall telling the good, the bad, and the ugly of Jim Bathurst and my long journey in the evolution of a 562-page, 200,000-word account of his rather unique career. But imagine the effect on my hot air balloon when I found out that my wife “Zane Gray” had already published over a dozen books, which were selling quite well, thank you, especially in Japan. Talk about a deflating experience!
I once again took over the “editor” designation, but now for Ms. Wonnacott, although frankly I have yet to make a tiny difference in her writing career. It has the most unique method of compiling 200,000 words of vivid and eye-catching verse in what ultimately results in a riveting tale of the old west, complete with gun fights, bar fights, and even cat fights in moments of jealousy between women. from the range competing for the few single jeans available.
His books chronicle the most manly phase in our country’s history, the days when he fastened his .45 caliber pistol and settled disputes on the streets in “High Noon,” most often with deadly consequences. And it does it all with a seemingly effortless device – perhaps the most animated imagination you’ve ever had. Her astonishingly innate talent for capturing the essence of what she must have been like in the daily struggle for survival in the Old West during the period of the early to mid-19th century sets her apart from other writers of such novels. .
When I first met Lee Anne Wonnacott, and after having read some of her work and realized that she was an accomplished novelist, I wanted to be a part of propelling her over the remaining walls that were preventing her from achieving such status. Romantic writers like Danielle Steel, whose many books are on the shelves at Barnes & Noble.
In fact, one night after a great deal of time at Chili’s Grill & Bar (I love their pork ribs!), Professionally attended by bartender extraordinaire Caeser, where I consumed an equally prodigious amount of that wonderful “Boston lager”. “, Samuel. Adams, each glass accompanied by full shots of Jameson Irish whiskey, I walked her to our local Barnes & Noble on the pretext of buying a book or two on some mundane aspect of publishing. She agreed to accompany me there. What she didn’t know was that she’d done a shop survey before to determine where the Danielle Steel books were. She is one of the most prolific romance novel writers to date.
Once we got to the store, a short walk from Chili’s, I escorted Ms. Wonnacott on a circular path to Steel’s book section on the pretext of looking for the books we needed. As we approached Danielle’s location, I positioned Lee Anne in such a way that she would face the vast array of works from that acclaimed collection of writers head-on. Then I exclaimed enthusiastically, aptly fed by the Jamesons, “Oh look! Talk about the devil!” as I pointed out the Steel books by filling the shelves by a length of at least eight feet at eye level, the main height for any product in the retail business. Then I shocked Lee Anne to the core. I started moving Steel’s books from their current place, placing them three to four feet lower on the shelf, even onto the lower shelves, leaving a void where they had been.
She looked at me scared, then quickly checked to see if there were any store clerks in sight. Then he asked in a low but frantic tone of voice, “What are you doing?” I replied coldly, “I’m going to relocate some of Danielle’s books so that by next fall they have room for yours.”
Needless to say, Ms. Wonnacott thought I had lost it, that the Jamesons had pushed me off the cliffs that I usually kept on the edge of anyway due to my PTSD diagnosis, and quirks with the that all writers and editors are naturally distressed.
My little joke was intended to boost her confidence and actually make her more aware of the talent she possessed. Lee Anne is a modest, refreshing lady. She regards writing as her therapy and does it “for myself.” And that’s fine, for her.
However, I have a responsibility to be a part of their fight. My newfound creed is: “I’m not Mr. Good Guy! I’m an editor, damn it!” That came from lessons learned during my previous stint as editor of We’ll All Die as Marines: A Marine’s Journey from Private to Colonel.
Despite my somewhat sloppy approach to my prestigious appointment as editor once again, Lee Anne affirmed my stature as an officer by listing my name with hers in perhaps the largest bookstore in the world: Amazon. And where could it be more public? So much so that together with one of his novels, Nick Stolter, In receiving the honor of being named “Book of the Day,” I now have the ultimate responsibility and heavy burden of fulfilling one of the promises I made to her when I first became involved with her writing career. I knew then, almost immediately, that I had infinitely more talent than e-book publishing could show, and that I deserved financial and personal recognition for it, in a manner befitting Danielle Steel. Or even, to some extent, Stephen King.
My promise to Lee Anne Wonnacott, always half-joking, was that I would have her, within a year, as a guest author on a major television show that is known for supporting worthwhile beginning writers.. One thing Lee Anne loves to do is laugh. If that promise doesn’t do anything else, it makes her laugh out loud each and every time I tell her about her intermediate destiny on the road to fame and fortune. Appearing on any top national television show to discuss a newly published book brings a beginning author out of the shadows and unquestionably improves his name recognition among the reading public by a significant amount. Fortune, up to a point, follows more frequently. While Lee Anne always finds humor in my promise of television fame to her, I see a glint in her eyes that betrays her thoughts. What if–
I feel like she cares more about the fortune aspect of becoming a bestselling author than the celebrity that goes with her. He has grandchildren whom he loves very much. I have the intuition that, deep in her heart, she is determined to satisfy her and her war victim. friends (your description of your relationship) long-time vision of raising a family and keeping them well. Some dreams never die!
Postscript: The day after Lee Anne was informed by email of the acclaim for her book, on March 4, 2016, Book of the Day chose Stephen King’s book, “11/22/63,” as its award-winning literary work. that day. That says something about the stature it bestowed on Ms. Lee Anne Wonnacott – she beat King if only for one day! Watch her on TV, soon.