'Willow Rose Series' author Ann Marie Jameson

This week’s guest blogger is Pam Villagran, who writes the Willow Rose Series under the pen name of Ann Marie Jameson.

Hello, fellow book lovers and addicts! I am here to confess my own book addiction, but alas, not only am I addicted to reading books, I am also addicted to writing them. Before I tell you about my literary addictions, though, let me introduce myself to you.

I am a lifelong Louisiana native. I was born in New Orleans but grew up in Monroe. I moved back to the New Orleans area in 1986 when my first husband took a job in South Louisiana. The move proved to be difficult on my already strained marriage, and within a few years, I found myself divorced and alone with three young boys to raise. In 1994, I married my current husband, and between us, we are the proud parents of four grown sons, who with “a little help from their wives,” have blessed us with eight amazing grandchildren. In 2005, my husband and I moved to Ruston so that I could take care of my elderly parents. In 2010, I retired from my career as a special education teacher, and in 2015, after both of my parents’ deaths, my husband and I moved back to the New Orleans area.

My mother’s family originally came from France and settled in Natchitoches. My father’s family also came from France but passed through Canada before settling in Cottonport. Therefore, I proudly consider myself to be of “Cajun” French heritage.

Like the main character, Mary LeBlanc, in my three-book series, I come from a very large family of eight children, five girls and three boys, of which I am the second in line. When I was about ten years old, my mother introduced me to authors Laura Ingalls Wilder and Louisa May Alcott. Somewhere along the way of reading through all of the books in the “Little House on the Prairie” series and the “Little Women and Little Men” series, I reached the point of no return. I had hopelessly plunged into the deep abyss of an addiction to books, and my downward spiral was only a matter of time.

My addiction escalated into the seductive world of writing during my junior year of high school when my English teacher gave the class an assignment to write a short story. In writing my very first story, I discovered the awesome power of being the sole arbitrator in determining every aspect of the narrative. I could pick whoever I wanted to be the hero, or heroin, or villain in my story. I could make my characters be and do whatever I wanted them to be and do. I could make them as nice or as mean as I wanted. I could make them rich, or poor, or in between. I could make them successful or not successful. I could make the setting wherever I wanted it to be. I could develop the storyline in which direction I wanted it to go and could make it end any way I wanted it to end. I held the ultimate power, and as everyone knows, power is intoxicating.

Drawing from my experiences as a young mother and a teacher, I began writing short stories for children in the late 1990s. The stories usually had themes that centered around life lessons to help children develop good judgment skills. In 2003, I self-published one of my stories as a children’s book titled “Why Did I Have to Be Born Last?” Its theme centered around bullying and anger management. Unfortunately, the book was not very successful which shook my self-confidence and caused me to question my abilities as a writer. After that, I only used my writing skills for practical purposes, but my burning desire to write creatively and my secret dream of becoming an accomplished author stayed with me. I just kept them well hidden, buried deep inside my heart.

It was not until 2016, at the incessant urging of one of my sisters, that I tentatively decided to dive into the realm of creative writing again, but this time I aimed even higher. I set my sights on the insane goal of writing a full-fledged novel. My first fictional adult book, “A Bed of Roses,” was the end result of that monumental effort. In September of that year, I self-published the book in both paperback and digital versions. The book met with moderate success which gave my fragile ego a significant boost. As more and more women read “A Bed of Roses,” I began to get numerous inquiries about when the sequel would be available. Spurred on by the interest in the book and the heady feelings of success, I self-published “Belle Rose” in October of 2017 and began referring to the two-book series as my “Willow Rose Series.”

I chose that name because the books center around a large “Cajun” family from Natchitoches who are bound together by their love for their inherited land. The property, which was originally part of the Willow Rose Plantation, has been in their family for several generations.

I was a little disappointed that “Bell Rose” did not do quite as well as “A Bed of Roses,” but by then I was hooked and could not stop writing about the characters I had created as they had become “real” in my mind. I began writing my third novel, “Petite Rose,” at the beginning of 2018. That summer, a fellow author friend of mine suggested I submit my manuscript for “Petite Rose” to a publishing company that had published some of her work. At first I was reluctant to do so because I did not want to give up creative control of my story. Plus, I thought they would not be interested in publishing the third book in a series when they were not the publishers of the first two books. In the end, though, I decided to take the risk as I thought it would give me more prestige as an author if I was picked up by a traditional publishing company. To my surprise, the company accepted my manuscript. They will be releasing “Petite Rose” in May of this year.

Many people have asked me if I plan to write a fourth book for my “Willow Rose” series. This is a difficult question for me to answer as I am not sure what I will do. My first reaction is to say that I will not be writing a fourth book because writing a novel is an all-consuming undertaking. It requires intense focus and hundreds of hours of meticulous writing, rewriting and editing, and that’s only the beginning. After you go through the painstaking second phase of writing, which is getting your book published, and it is finally released, expect to put in twice as much time in the third and final phase, which is promoting your work. You will need to take advantage of every social media avenue you can possibly get on. You will have to set up various events for book signings and Q and A sessions, then drive to those events, sometimes hundreds of miles. The promoting phase never ends because every person you meet could be a potential customer.

Despite all the endless hours you put into writing, publishing and promoting your book, do not expect to make money for your efforts. Unless you are a very accomplished and/or well-known author, you will be lucky if you can even recoup your out-of-pocket expenses. Nevertheless, just like any true alcoholic will tell you, it is very hard to resist the innate temptations of your addictions. Therefore, I can’t say with any degree of certainty that I will not fall off the wagon and jump down the “rabbit hole” once again, for the power of controlling the narrative and the lives of each of my characters is an enticing draw that is almost too hard to resist.

Visit Anne Marie Jameson’s website here: www.authorannmariejameson.vpweb.com. Check out her Facebook page here.

Louisiana Book News is written by award-winning author Chere Dastugue Coen, who writes Louisiana romances and mysteries under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Her first book in each series is FREE to download as an ebook, including "Emilie," book one of The Cajun Series, "Ticket to Paradise," book one of The Cajun Embassy series and "A Ghost of a Chance," the first Viola Valentine mystery.