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Although the Demontange Saga is fiction, St. Lucia is a real place with a wonderful story of its own. We are psychotherapists with an intimate knowledge of psychological processes and motivations. The columns in this section provide insight into the settings, culture and characters in our works as well as perceptions about the writing process... We want to share this material and our perceptions with other authors but believe that many of our readers will find these columns of interest as well.
Recently we took back all our rights to A Dream Across Time and are now self publishing the Demontagne Saga. It is very gratifying to have the entire publishing process under our control.
If you would like to see what we have been up to and to see some of what we are dealing with as we move to self publish, go to our blog at http://letmedigress.blogspot.com. We want it to be interactive so join in. The columns from the Author to Author section will also appear in the blog.
At the end of the latest column, you'll find clicks for past columns.
Column 15
Every Woman Knows This Story
In June A Circle of Dreams comes out. It is the second book in the Demontagne saga. While it is again set in St. Lucia and Martinique and the settings are exotic, to the modern woman it will be a very familiar story in so many ways.
Jamie, our heroine, must contend with a life where on the surface she has it all. The loving husband she always wanted, a successful career and three darling children. And even aside from the threat from the past, she is beset by the demands of having it all. To me as a psychotherapist, this is a very old story.
In my practice I had recognized that women were coming to my office for therapy about the time they reached thirty. Naturally most of the symptoms were related to either depression or anxiety. But what was striking was that these women were not neurotic. A major component of their distress was the stage of their lives. Gail Sheehy had illustrated this in her book Passages. But when I looked at the popular culture I could see the other major part of the problem. There was relentless pressure coming from the media in which a woman was portrayed as being capable of having "it all". Marriage, career, family. Perfection of all kinds.
In my blog I did a review of Amy Scheibe's wonderful book What Do You Do All Day? I resonated to the book precisely because it reflected what I had found in my practice. And it was done with humor and beautifully conveyed the conflict and ambivalence felt by women as they attempt to juggle the demands of "it all".
Romance books often are satisfying because there is a happy ending. And in the movies the couple sails off into the sunset and they live happily ever after. Then reality settles in. It is called life. We are happy for Jamie at the end of A Dream Across Time as she marries Andre. It is so satisfying. But the first book turns into a saga precisely because that is how life is.
The question always is what are the problems? Not if they occur. But when and where and what do we do about them. Does Jamie abandon her career? Do the children get shortchanged? Does the marriage go under? All of these things are possible. The true art in living our complex lives today is to set the priorities and get perspective on what is essential and what is inessential. In What Do You Do All Day? the heroine reaches the conclusion I saw time and time again. Perspective, acceptance and balance.
As Jamie struggles with her own pressures she feels the distress in her marriage. Even the best marriage is vulnerable. When we are in distress we may lose the foundation of our life. A lost job, financial problems, even a sick child can end in marital disaster. The reader will see in A Circle of Dreams how our heroine struggles to maintain her compass and her foundation. And the reader will see how other women come to help her.
Past Columns
Column 1 - St. Lucia
Column 2 - Jamie Elliott
Column 3 - Andre Demontagne
Column 4 - Paul and Danielle
Column 5 - Marcus Deroche
Column 6 - Bertille Deroche
Column 7 - What It's Like Living in the Tropics, Part 1
Column 8 - What It's Like Living in the Tropics, Part 2
Column 9 - Taylor, Clarisse and Barbara
Column 10 - How Does Our Writing Partnership Work?
Column 11 - Goal, Motivation, Conflict and Creativity
Column 12 - Family Life is a Saga
Column 13 - Toward A Circle of Dreams; I don't believe in ghosts.
Column 14 - A Book Walked in the Door
Column 15 - Every Woman Knows This Story
Column 16 - The Bridge
Column 17 - Why the Mystical Element in A Dream Across Time?
Column 18 - Gaia and myth in the Demontagne Saga
Column 19 - Carl Jung, Mythology and the Demontagne Saga
Column 20 - Carl Jung's Concepts in the Demontagne Saga
Column 21 - Martinique
Column 22 – Janine-Yvette Demontange (Yvie)
Column 23 – Anne-Clarisse Demontagne (Lissa)
Column 24 - Philippe Diamant Demontagne (Philippe)
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