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Chautona Havig

Chautona Havig

Using story to connect YOU to the Master Storyteller

Ante Up! Pre-Order Is Live!

by Chautona Havig · 8 Comments

What’s the word on Ante Up!?

Well, let’s begin with Ante Up!‘s history.  After all, not everyone has read the series (and you’ll want to before you read this book!)

Once upon a time, a mother in the Mojave Desert wrote a story of a young woman floundering as the “new mom” of eight.  That single, 60K word “book” read like a laundry list of events.  So, this aspiring author took the book in hand and began fleshing out scenes, making things a bit more descriptive, and weaving in subplots. Those original 60K words morphed into two full books (of over 120k words each) and a partial.

Those three books became Amazon bestsellers. The first book alone, in its first promotion, was downloaded once every 3.6 seconds in the first 24 hours.  *thud*.

Readers demanded more, so the author wrote an “almost four years later” kind of segment in another series–Past Forward (Volume 6). It only whetted appetites for more.  So a fourth book was planned.  In the plotting of that fourth book, two other spin-off books were also conceived.  I’d love to tell you the names of them, but the author doesn’t have titles yet.  One concerns Vannie and Laird as they see something suspicious and race to figure it out.  The other has to do with an even older Vannie and the status of her heart.

Then the author began writing. She wanted the best book she could possibly write to finish off what has been such a beloved series. She posted quote memes like this one:

ante up quote meme

And her readers grew nervous.  What happened to Aggie and clan!

She posted hints of coming dates–sent out calls for launch team members. The comments began rolling in. That author panicked. The more people clamored for the book, the more she began to wonder.  “Is it possible for this book to live up to expectations?”  She asked her publicist the question and added, “I feel like no matter what I write, no matter how amazing somehow it turned out to be, it would still be disappointing.”

You see, this author had a similar thing happen with a couple of her favorite authors’ books.  After long breaks of writing, the authors brought out the next book!  She grabbed it and read with eager anticipation.  The books fell flat.  Was it the fault of the book?  It’s entirely possible. But, that author suspected it was the fault of time and anticipation.  Like a mother planning the “best Christmas ever,” that turned out to be just another lovely Christmas with all the mix-ups and hiccoughs it could have, she watched comments, blog posts, and emails with a nervous eye.

A nervous eye and a whisper in her heart.  I don’t want to disappoint them.

But the day came. The book had been uploaded and was ready for pre-orders.  She swallowed her nerves, sent out prayers for understanding, and posted the news!

Caveat.

 

Look, I’m going to be brutally honest.  I am nervous.  If you saw the contents of my inbox, my Facebook messages, my social media feed, you’d understand why.  The anticipation of this book far exceeded my wildest imagination. I usually don’t like to give away spoilers, but I’m going to give away one.  This book is about real people with real flaws and real struggles.  If you want a perfectly happy story of a golden family, I recommend you skip this book.  While that book would have been fun to write, it isn’t the book I feel the Lord led me to explore.  I sat down, looked at  Aggie and the children’s lives, looked at what had happened in the first books, what likely would have happened in the meantime, and wrote from there.  I just hope you’re not too disappointed.  If you are, please forgive me.

For the record, it’s not all pain, despair, and agony!  Just in case you were wondering.  You’ll recognize the same silly moments, the touching ones, the instructive ones, and the “huh?” as well.

ante up quote

 

Just curious.  Am I the only one who has waited a long time for a book and found it disappointing?  If that’s happened to you, do you think it was the book itself or your expectations?

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Filed Under: New Release Tagged With: Aggie's Inheritance

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Comments

  1. Joy Wriston says

    June 5, 2016 at 6:22 am

    First of all, we love your stories because they are real. Every marriage has ups and downs and sometimes terrible crises. If this new book was all happiness and light, I would be disappointed. I like seeing people dealing with the bad stuff and growing in their faith as a result. That’s what makes the story real and the book shareable.

    As far as waiting for a sequel and being disappointed. It happened a few years ago. I loved the first two books and anxiously awaited the third which came out a year or so later. It was so disappointing that I never wanted to re-read the first two again.

    I am greatly anticipating June 28th.

    Reply
  2. Kate says

    June 4, 2016 at 12:44 pm

    I’m excited about the next book! I’ve noticed that books get disappointing when the series is too long because it feels like the author is just stretching the story, but I don’t think four books is too many yet. ; )

    Reply
    • Chautona Havig says

      June 4, 2016 at 10:53 pm

      I seriously struggled with doing it at all for that very reason. I hope that setting this almost 4 years later helps with that.

      Reply
  3. Courtney says

    June 3, 2016 at 9:57 pm

    I think I would be disappointed if this was just a happy story. We went from 0 to 6 kids in a little over three years and I see so many of our stories in Aggie’s. I like the trials as well as the triumphs!

    Reply
  4. Jennifer Bove says

    June 3, 2016 at 6:26 pm

    I pre-ordered. Why do I need to do to get the bonus?

    Reply
    • Chautona Havig says

      June 3, 2016 at 6:48 pm

      send an email to [email protected]! 😀

      Reply
  5. Elizabeth Holt says

    June 3, 2016 at 6:13 pm

    My sweet, precious friend,
    Have you not figured out yet that you have trained your readers well? We love YOU. We love your Jesus. We love the worlds you have created. We are so amused when a character from another series appears in the one we’re reading. We understand that your books tell stories of real people, or we’d like to think so! ;o) Real people have good days and bad, and sometimes they do things we wish they hadn’t done. But your faithful readers can forgive your characters.

    Please don’t feel like you have to live on a pedestal? If you write what God gives you to write, it shouldn’t matter what any of us have to say about it. I pray that your readers will be a blessing to you, and not a burden.

    You are doing a great job, and I love you and your heart. Thank you, Chautona. Well done. Really! <3

    Reply
    • Chautona Havig says

      June 3, 2016 at 6:23 pm

      It’s not really about a pedestal as much as I know how easy it is to build up expectations. This movie is going to be the best thing ever! They took four years to make it. You’ve watched IMDB until your brain types it in your sleep. You cheered when you found out your favorite actors were BACK. Everything was GREAT. Then you watched it. It was “nice.”

      You might have LOVED it if it came out a year or two after the last one, but after all that wait and the eagerness… then it wasn’t mind-blowingly amazing…. THAT is what I’m concerned with. If you saw the comments in my inbox, you’d get why I am a bit nervous.

      Reply

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The Because Fiction Podcast

The Because Fiction Podcast
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Taking the pulse of Christian fiction

Episode 161: A Chat with Christian Women's Fiction Robin W. Pearson
byChautona Havig

Nothing says good, Southern women’s fiction like a feisty granny or a family secret, and Robin W. Pearson’s got you covered on both fronts. Stir in a pot of faith, and well… you’re bound to find a story you’ll never forget. And isn’t that a blessing? Award-winning, bestselling, and aspiring yodler on the other side of the Rockies, Robin writes stories of faith, family, and it sounds like some seriously delicious food.

Note: links may be affiliate links that provide me with a small commission at no extra expense to you.

What’s Better Than a Great Women’s Fiction Novel on a Summer’s Day?

New-to-me (or she was!) women’s fiction author, Robin W. Pearson writes God-centered, family-focused fiction. Robin is a delightful homeschooling mom of seven and if that wasn’t job enough, her debut novel won a Christy award! I mean, that takes some serious skills! Not to mention, it has a killer kick-off synopsis on Amazon. I was hooked from the first paragraph.

Robin says she wants people to see love in her books–how to love well even when we don’t know how. How to see each other as God does.  I think that sounds pretty amazing.

Her debut novel, A Long Time Coming, is more than just a great-sounding book, it really deals with family issues and I’ll just say I fell in love with the narrator of the audio.

The next book, Till I Want No More, rips your heart out with the synopsis, stomps on it, and says, “There. Now what’ll you do about that?  Well, I don’t know what I’ll do, other than read it of course!

And her latest novel?  Oh, my gravy. It released just last week and it’s amazing.  Well, the part I’ve read already is. Walking in Tall Weeds promises to keep your heart on tenterhooks as it takes you through a family’s pain and trauma.  And what more could you want?

Walking in Tall Weeds by Robin W. Pearson

From award-winning author Robin W. Pearson comes a new Southern family drama about one family who discovers their history is only skin-deep and that God’s love is the only family tie that binds.

Paulette and Fred Baldwin find themselves wading through a new season of life in Hickory Grove, North Carolina. Their only son, McKinley, now works hundreds of miles away, and the distance between the husband and wife feels even farther. When their son returns home, his visit dredges up even more conflict between Fred and Paulette.

McKinley makes it no secret that he doesn’t intend to follow in his father’s footsteps at George & Company Fine Furnishings or otherwise. Fred can’t quite bring himself to accept all his son’s choices, yet Paulette is determined McKinley will want for nothing, least of all a mother’s love and attention—which her own skin color cost her as a child. But all her striving leaves Fred on the outside looking in.

Paulette suspects McKinley and Fred are hiding something that could change the whole family. Soon, she’s facing a whirlwind she never saw coming, and the three of them must dig deep to confront the truth. Maybe then they’ll discover that their history is only skin-deep while their faith can take them right to the heart of things.

You can learn more about Robin W. Pearson on her WEBSITE.

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Episode 161: A Chat with Christian Women's Fiction Robin W. Pearson
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