Tune in for Your Book Your Brand Your Business on Monday, June 11 at 5 PM Eastern when Paulette Gaines Wood, bestselling author of The Noble Anthony and His Lady Cleopatra, joins Daria Anne discuss her book and the writing and publishing process.
Paulette’s children’s book has a 5-star rating on Amazon.com:
A powerful cat. Her canine protector. The Wilkinson family will never be the same…since the time of the pharaohs, the English Mastiff Anthony and the Abyssinian Cleopatra have made it their mission to watch over children and their families.
Anthony and Cleopatra could not wait to meet their new family at the Animal Shelter in Bowie, MD, but Michael and Michelle Wilkinson were very confused. They had never seen a bejeweled cat perched on top of a dog’s head before. But when their two boys formed an instant bond with The Big Dog and Michelle found herself captivated by The Cat with the alluring green eyes, they simply had to take them home.
From making new friends both human and animal, to adventures in The Forbidden Catnip Patch, nail biting rescues, or even dressing up for tea parties, The Big Mastiff and His Lovely Lady win over the hearts of all they meet and share with them the wisdom of the ages. But when they find that strangers from their ancient past have followed them to the present time, Cleopatra will have to use her magical powers to protect her Beloved Anthony and The Family they both love. Will it be enough?
The Noble Anthony and His Lady Cleopatra is a heart pounding adventure and magical fantasy tale for children and adults of all ages. If you like dynamic dog and cat duos, with a dash of ancient Egyptian magic, then you will love this exciting tale. The first in a series by Paulette Gaines Wood.
Buy The Noble Anthony and His Lady Cleopatra to start a fun, heartwarming adventure today!
Here’s more about the author in her own words:
Hi, my name is Paulette Gaines Wood and I live in the small city of Bowie, Maryland. According to my family and friends I’ve been A Story Teller all my life. In some cultures The Story Teller is a very honored possession. In some families being a five-year-old “teller of stories” is not always such a good thing.
Though I’ve been able to make up stories, in the good parent accepted way, for most of my life, I didn’t attempt to write down any of my stories until I was in high school.
During my sophomore and junior year in high school, the universe finally cut me some slack and into my life came Mrs. Marion Ross. Mrs. Ross, see even fifty years later I still can’t bring myself to call her Marion, but Mrs. Ross had retired from her career in the publishing industry. I have no idea exactly what she did there, I never thought to ask. But praise God, she decided that what she wanted to do in her retirement was teach English, at Oakcrest High School, in Mays Landing, New Jersey. I really should have a little tape of the Hallelujah Chorus cued to play right now because Marion Ross was the angel I had been waiting on for years, and who’s words would carry and encourage me for many years to come.
She not only made a long list of famous literary names come to life for me, she encouraged to write my stories. Even then, and it’s still the same today, any third grader can out spell me. Mrs. Ross was able to look past all that and into the story itself. Yes, of course she made corrections, she was a teacher, but they were not in red ink, praise God. She talked to me about the developing the story and turning a phrase, and things like content. She said to me, “I can’t be sure just yet, and I can’t make you any promises, but I think that you might just have something here.” For a fifteen year old girl who was not used to hearing a lot of positive things about herself, this was The Voice of The Angels speaking to me. That was life affirming. You know that spot in your high school years book where they ask you to write down your future aspirations and goals? Well, mine says, “To win a Nobel Prize for Literature.” Why not?! Isn’t that what Mrs. Ross had almost kind of sort of said would happen? As far as I was concerned it was pretty much a done deal.
The whole writing, and we won’t even mention the spelling part, was disastrous, embarrassing, and humiliating for me throughout high school.
It wouldn’t be until I was in college I found out I’m dyslexic. That was nice to know but it didn’t solve the problem. I will thank the universe forever for Spell Check but even that can have its drawbacks. Many times Spell Check gives you a list to choose from and for the dyslexic they all look the same. Which is why there was that unfortunate incident with “organism” and “orgasm.” We now know that they are not interchangeable.
For me, writing my stories just didn’t seem like something that was at all doable, so instead I would TELL my stories to my family, friends, and long suffering husband. Sitting at the dining room table or gathered in the family room I would entertain them with stories of “Aries The Green Legged Dog” or “Molly and The Bunny,” “The Great Alexander”, and the longtime favorite, “The Noble Anthony and His Lady Cleopatra.” Yes, most of them were children’s stories about animals, but all the adults seemed to enjoy them too. I kept hearing, “You need to write these down,” and “You need to write a book.”
Then in August of 2016 a wonderful thing happened. I turned 70 years old. It wasn’t so much of an “Ah-ha!” moment as it was a “Oh crap!, if I’m ever going to do anything with these stories it’s now or never,” kind of moment. So I began writing my long time favorite, “The Noble Anthony and His Lady Cleopatra.”
The writing part did not come easy. Now here you might ask, “If writing was so hard, why didn’t you try one of the voice writing programs?” That is a good and honest question. For me, hearing the sound of my own voice was very distracting. I work much better in a quiet room with no background noise or music, listening to the voices in my head (yes, you are allowed to laugh here) tell the story. I would write a few pages and then run to my husband and ask him, “Do you like this? Does this sound good?” As I continued, writing something almost every day, the stories of the English Mastiff, his wife the Abyssinian cat and the family that they lived with in Bowie, Maryland, grew and grew.
After awhile I realized that I needed input beyond that of a good, loyal, and loving husband who wanted to stay out of trouble, and I began to show a few chapters to close family and friends including some kids. Much to my surprise and relief, over all the reactions were very good. The adults seemed to enjoy the stories, the characters, and what to know more about them. In fact, one friend said she felt sad because she didn’t want it end. I told her good, because there were still two more chapters to go. The kids said that they loved the characters and even thought they saw the lessons of valuing friendship, living with the consequences of your actions, understanding that other people have a right to their feeling even when they are different than yours, they didn’t feel that they were being beat over the head with them. They enjoyed the learning. So maybe, there was a little something here that others would enjoy too.
Maybe it was the sound of my biological clock ticking that made me stick to it. Maybe I wanted to leave the universe something to prove that I had been here. I really don’t know. What I do know for sure is that I told a much better story and wrote, with a lot of help and support, a much better book than I would have put out ten or twenty years ago. The Noble Anthony and His Lady Cleopatra was literally 35 years in the making, so maybe I had to grow into my own story. For me, I guess it took that long to have that, “Nothing is going to stop me,” feeling. I used to tell family and friends that if I should have any big success or fame in my life, that I would prefer for it to come later in my life, because I felt that I would appreciate it more then, not take it for granted. OK, it could have come just a LITTLE sooner than this, but it is still amazingly sweet and I am grateful for every single reader and review, both good and bad.
Both the host and her guest invite you to listen and look forward to taking your questions from the live chat room!