Author Spotlight: Jo Ann Plante

Welcome to the Author Spotlight post. Each week I will feature a different author and share a little about them, their writing and their success. If you are a blogger and/or author and would like to be considered for the Author Spotlight, please contact me for more information.

joeannplante

Q: Tell the readers a little about yourself and your book.

Jo Ann has a Bachelor of Arts degree in French and has always enjoyed French-Canadian culture. She spent many vacations traveling throughout the Canadian provinces.

She has written training manuals, procedure manuals, and other types of writing projects for various companies. She also worked for an internet gaming company, where she wrote test scripts for software development. She became proficient in technical writing during her time there.

While working for the local hospital, she wrote an essay on why the hospital was a great place for women to work. The essay was chosen and the hospital won the “Spotlight Award on Benefits” from the Rhode Island Commission on Women.

After joining an administrative professionals group, she wrote articles for the group website as well as the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce website.

She later became a virtual assistant owning her own business and specializing in writing projects.

Her articles have appeared in the Coventry Courier newspaper and she writes tea room reviews.

She lives in Coventry, Rhode Island and when she’s not writing a story or reading a book, she loves to go camping, hiking, going to tea, and traveling. Quebec and Maine are her favorite place.

When I decided to write my book, I had to pick a genre and sub-category. I chose Christian fiction and romance. While some readers may be turned off by the genre of Christian fiction, it is not preachy. Christian fiction is just good stories with decent morals and values. It is stories without sex, violence, or extreme behavior.

When I’m not writing or reading, I practice yoga, go walking, camping, and going to tea rooms.

Short Description of Book

Yvon Evelon, an electrician from Quebec and Maryse Melançon from the United States are thrown together for a
day and decide to use each other to fulfill their own dreams. Through Divine intervention and a series of misunderstandings and revelations, the couple falls in love.

They face several challenges throughout their lives, but remain confident that God has a plan for them. After many ups and downs, they both realize that God’s plan is the best plan for their lives. Through their faith, they have received more than they could have imagined.

Long Description of Book

When Yvon Evelon, an electrician from Quebec and Maryse Melançon from the US, meet through one of Yvon’s relatives, they are reluctantly thrown together for a day and each secretly decide to use each other to fulfill their own dreams. Through Divine intervention and a series of misunderstandings and revelations, the couple falls in love.

Yvon’s job requires them to move to northern Quebec, where the company he works for is building a huge power plant and creating a town for its workers. Maryse is not happy, but Yvon tells her that with the money he will make, they can buy anything they want.

The move does not go smoothly and soon, Maryse feels trapped in this northern wilderness. As the townspeople try to acclimate to this new life, alcoholism, and loneliness creep in and there is concern for everyone’s well-being.

After the suicide of Madame Jacquemin, who assisted all of the families to relocate, the townspeople decide they need to build their own church and need a permanent priest. Madame Prévost is delegated to write to the Bishop of Quebec City and ask him to send them a permanent priest.

Meanwhile, Father Pierre in Valleyfield, is not happy at his parish. He comes from humble beginnings and loves the outdoors. Valleyfield is a wealthy parish and Father Pierre has a crisis of faith. After nearly leaving the priesthood, Father Pierre is re-assigned to Laverdure, where the townspeople are waiting for him. He is well accepted and starts a new life.

Maryse and Yvon reach their breaking point, have an argument, and then the accident, which changes their lives forever. Maryse is told she will never conceive. After the accident, it is a long road to recovery, but Alain’s adopted daughter, Suzette, comes to the rescue.

The LaPensees visit them after Maryse returns home from the hospital. Suzette explains that adoption is a good thing, but Maryse is not so sure Yvon will go along with it. After some emotional discussions between Alain and Maryse and Maryse and Yvon, the Evelons decide to adopt a baby. Happiness is short-lived, because now the adoption process begins. Madame Detruire is the investigating agent and she is no pushover.

After several stressful interviews and months of waiting, the Evelons are able to adopt, but they must take a child that the agency finds suitable due to their location. They adopt a six month old baby boy, half-white half-First Nation. His name is Penote (Pen-oh-tay). They love him so much. Penote is a good boy. They feel they are so blessed and they agree to adopt more children.

They go onto adopt three more children, a boy and two girls, each one different than the others and all of them sent by God. By now, Yvon and Maryse are saving for college for their children and Yvon decides not to adopt any more children. Maryse disagrees. They remember what happened, when they argued long ago, so they agree to adopt one more child. He is a boy. They now have three boys and two girls.

When they think their family is complete, they get the surprise of their lives. They find out that Maryse is pregnant. She delivers a healthy baby girl, Alice, in spite of many doctors saying it would never happen.

They’ve come full circle from wanting only what they wanted out of life to sharing and living for each other and the rest of their family. Divine intervention is a theme throughout this story. The ups and downs are God’s way of showing them that giving of themselves brings them more joy and happiness than they ever expected.

www.JoAnnPlante.com

Twitter: @Write4yu2

Email: JoAnn.Plante@yahoo.com

Amazon: Everyone Evelon

Q: How long have you been writing and how did you get started?

I started writing notes to my Dad at age 7. He worked long hours, so I wrote notes and put them in his lunchbox. He really enjoyed reading my notes and poems. I always did very well with writing assignments and as a teenager, I kept a diary.

When I got to college, I took a short story course. For the final exam, each student had to write a short story. I wrote a story about a house and family through the eyes of a tree in the yard. I got an A+ on the final and the professor told me, I should pursue a career in writing. I should have listened to him.

Instead, I had to take a “real” job earning money, so I became an administrative professional. I sought out every opportunity to write something – anything. I wrote training manuals, how-do manuals, took meeting notes, etc. I wrote correspondence letters to irate customers and actually enjoyed that process.

I also joined the International Association of Administrative Professionals. As a member, I had the opportunity to write articles for the association that were posted on the association website. I also wrote articles on behalf of the association for the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce website.

This experience made me realize that I have a natural ability as a writer and I should start using my talent. It’s something I’ve always enjoyed doing and I do it well and get recognized for the quality of my work. I’m creative, so I had this story bouncing around in my head for some time.

One day, I decided to start writing it down on paper. Although I couldn’t see the whole story in my mind, once I started writing, the words just flowed. Over the next few months, I wrote the entire story during my one-hour lunch break.

I went over it several times before sending it to a copy editor. I let a few close friends read it and they think it’s a good story – a page turner. I didn’t have much money to invest in publishing my story, so I found a company and decided to go with them. The process was easy. They walked me through everything and in May 2014, my story “Everyone Evelon” became available as an e-book on 14 different retail sites.

Q: What is the main focus or purpose of your book?

I hope my book will reach out to anyone disillusioned about God and God’s plan for us. My story begins with a young couple, who fall in love and moves to Quebec for the husband’s job. There are many adjustments and the story follows this couple through the ups and downs of married life. It takes the reader into the hearts and minds of each character and shows how honesty plays a great role in our lives.

After an accident, the couple’s chances of having children are nil, but with Diving intervention and honest communication between husband and wife, their dream of a family is realized. Adoption is the answer, but again, there are many challenges to face.

Once the couple realizes that this is what God wants for them, everything else in their lives becomes easier to bear and actually they receive more in life than they ever imagined. This is not a sugary-sweet story. This couple could be your friends, neighbors, co-workers or even someone from your community. Many people face these problems each day. It’s not what the problems are that are important, but how you face them. This story explores the problems and solutions they face and how they resolve them.

Did I also mention that the local priest, Father Pierre, is having a crisis of faith? Yes, even priests experience the same ups and downs that married couples face. I hope you will read this story and find out how all of them cope with their problems.

Q: What is the most meaningful or inspiring part of being a writer?

It’s not about seeing my name on a page or online, it’s getting my message out to the readers. The message in my book “Everyone Evelon” is about facing problems with help from God. It’s about not having your own agenda, but realizing that God created you for a higher purpose. You have to let go and follow God’s plan. If you do, you will experience more than you could have ever imagined. If you don’t follow God’s plan, you will suffer dissatisfaction and disappointment, because you will not be doing what you were meant to do.

I want my readers to find hope, when things go bad. I want them to have faith in themselves and God that things will work out for the best. I want them to trust God and trust each other and work toward resolving their problems. Be open to all options and communicate with others, so everyone will know what the others are thinking.

My readers need to know that they can have their dream, but in the way that God wants them to have it. Since I started writing every day, my life has changed in many ways. Maybe not financially, but I am a more complete person, because I am doing what I’m supposed to be doing.

Q: What’s on the horizon for you and your writing?

As I continue to work as a virtual assistant, I find time to write on a daily basis. I have 2 blogs: “My Virtual Assistant Blog” which deals with different aspects of my virtual assistant business and “Read, Write, Delight, Indeed!” my other blog that deals with my writing and my book. I alternate between the two. It gives readers the chance to read my blogs and get back to me with any questions.

As every good writer knows, you always need to have another story in the works. My next story is in draft form, but is completely written. The story is about a young woman working and wanting more out of life.

She is a good, decent person and lives a good Christian life. After part of her town is flooded, she receives news she can’t believe. She has to make a decision that will either change her life or leave her with regret for the rest of her life.

She makes her choice and her life is never the same. She gets to experience a whole new side to life and meets some interesting people along the way. Again, the message is that God leads us where he wants us and not always where we want to go.

This story is full of love, compassion, confusion, miscommunication, but in the end, trust in God resolves the issues and brings everyone closer together.