BOOK: Blue Lake by Carol Ann Kauffman

Blue Lake is the first novel I wrote. That was back in 2010 and 2011. When I finished it, I immediately started Belterra, the prequel in a way. The writing went smooth and easy. These were the days my husband was still working while I was already retired. Long expanses of us disturbed writing were very conducive to churning out long novels. 

Marketing, however, was a completely different animal. Those were the days of sending query letters by mail to the big publishing houses with a short sample. And waiting. And waiting. Sometimes somebody asked for more. A few asked for the whole book. Months and months would pass before they finally got around to saying, “I loved the story and the connection between Richard and Nicole, but …”

I even framed two of the letters, one from Elizabeth Barrett and one from Loretta Banks, telling me they loved my work, not to give up, they were sure I would find an agent, and so forth and so on. 

I wasn’t getting any younger in the meantime. Then I found Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing. Now you can say what you want about Amazon, but their view for kindle was fantastic. Put all the books ever written in one place, make them reasonably priced, and digital so storage is not a problem, and make them available to everybody who wants to buy them. As a person who made four piles of books four feet high and put a tablecloth and a vase of flowers on top, this appealed to me.

Over the last ten years and thirty books, I have published books through smaller publishing houses. At the time, it was a giant, thrilling experience. But  if you want control over your work, if you want to okay the artwork for the cover, then Kindle Direct Publishing is the way to go.

You will still need to find a good editor that you are comfortable with, and a cover artist who doesn’t get her feelings hurt when you want to change something.

Blue Lake is the story of a young, British actor who falls in love with an older American widow while working on a film at an Albuquerque, New Mexico studio. 

“The love Nicole and Richard share is strong and has survived many lifetimes, but never without sacrifice and heartache. Some call it reincarnation. Some call it fate. But whatever it is, it keeps them apart until they're ready to jump in and help each other on this amazing journey called life.

This time Fate rubs her hands together with glee and laughs as she plays a cruel joke on them by placing them on different continents, twenty years apart.

Nicole was born in Ohio. She doesn't remember her past life. She had a career, got married, and was later widowed. Richard entered life twenty years later in the UK and became an actor. But fate cannot keep them apart. What they have is more than love, more than attraction, or devotion. They are eternal soulmates.

When they finally do meet in Albuquerque, they remember their love and feel overwhelming joy, but the twenty-year age difference plants the painful thorns of doubt, worry, and fear. Their unlikely but undeniable love pulls them closer and closer, while careers, family, and other relationships push them farther and farther apart.

The ten-year period they spend together in this lifetime takes them on many exciting adventures from beautiful New Mexico, across the Atlantic to England, Ireland, Italy, and Aruba. Nicole and Richard have an incredibly strong connection, but they must face not only happiness and joy but the dark side of life and love as well.

Come. Start the adventure with Richard and Nicole, where everything changes, but love remains the same.
Are you ready? Jump!”

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