Corrine Ardoin's Blog

Today I chose the music of Tom Petty to accompany my oft-procrastinated workout regimen. The song, Saving Grace, filled my house and my eyes filled with tears. Tom Petty is dead. He sang of going to the music store for a certain brand of guitar string. Reminded me of my own guitar-playing days I have seen grow more dim in the rearview mirror of my life. I chose to devote myself more to my writing, but grieve the sound of the guitar in my home, my fingers knowing where to move along the strings to make the right sounds at the right time. There is nothing like making music. So much fun.

I found a book on my shelf I forgot to add to my To Read list, On The Trail of William Wallace by David R. Ross. Wow! I've gotta read it! Having Scottish ancestry, on one of my grandmother's side, I thrilled at the dusty find. Then, I learned that David R. Ross died in 2010. Oh, how I cried some more! It was getting messy and disgusting, all the tears and sobbing! Why?

Places I lived where I moved away from. Friends I once had whom I see no more. Activities, jobs, houses, and so forth that I've said goodbye to can pile up in my rearview mirror. But, you know, if you are always looking in the rearview mirror at what you've left behind and your eyes grow blurry with so much crying, you are liable to crash on the road of life. You can't have it both ways, hang on to what's past and look forward to the possibilities ahead.

The best life has to offer is not in the past, though we may learn from it and draw wisdom from the deep pools of sorrow in a life lived fully and passionately. The best life has to offer is within us, all the wisdom, all the memory and vision and hope and dreaming that we can fill ourselves with and express in a life lived in beauty and grace. That is the ultimate challenge. A life of beauty and grace. Not regret. Acceptance.

A Place Called The Way has been selected to receive a Literary Titan Book Award!

According to the Literary Titan website:

"The Literary Titan Book Awards are awarded to books that have astounded and amazed us with unique writing styles, vivid worlds, complex characters, and original ideas. These books deserve extraordinary praise and we are proud to acknowledge the hard work, dedication, and writing talent of these brilliant authors."

A Place Called The Way won in the Silver Award category, which they describe:

"The Literary Titan Silver Award is bestowed on books that expertly deliver complex and thought-provoking concepts. The ease with which ideas are conveyed is a reflection of the author’s talent in exercising fluent, powerful, and appropriate language."

I am so proud of myself, to be honest, after lots of hard work and editing to try and make this book the best I have ever written. Giving out awards is one way to acknowledge the hard work, expertise, devotion, or talent of others. Receiving an award just feels good and lets us know we're doing a good job. I think this third installment in my Pine Valley series is, by far, my best. I just want to thank the good people at Literary Titan for selecting my book for an award. Thank you, so much! Sincerely, Corrine Ardoin A Place Called The Way

The Queen was always there, all my life of 60-plus years. For a girl growing up in Southern California, the Queen represented the fairy tale ending to Cinderella. For a young woman marrying and raising children, the Queen came to represent stoic loyalty to duty, sacrifice, and tradition. She was a role model for millions and, more recently, perhaps, billions.

When I learned of her death, I felt I had lost a mother figure, wondering how would we all get on without her? What will happen without her to guide us, to set the example, and reassure us that we will endure whatever comes our way?

"Long live the King," tells me to look to the new, to let him take the reins and trust that, in all his years, he has learned a thing or two and will lead well. His mother was not my Queen, being an American, nor is Charles my King, but I have come to appreciate the monarchy and its solid adherence to their beautiful traditions, setting the example of honor, duty, and sacrifice.

Seeing the family in procession following the Queen's casket, I admired them for their discipline and respect. Witnessing the long, long lines of people waiting to pay their respects to the Queen, I admired their heartfelt need to go there. For so many to have converged on that place upon our fragile blue planet to pay their respects to one person is a testament to her positive impact upon the entire world.

I tried not to compare America to the British Commonwealth of Nations, the monarchy, but for over a week, I imagined, "What could bring our country together, honorably, out of selflessness, in duty and sacrifice?" Maybe that is something we can all ask ourselves, "How can I serve?" We needn't wait for death, or war, or disaster to be of service. The need for peace in the world is awaiting us all to serve each and every day.

I am currently getting Book Four of my Pine Valley series ready to send my publisher. It's called The Valley of Dreams and continues the story of the small town of Edenville and its residents.

Trying to get it right, to capture the description of a place that is fictitious, tells more about what that place means to me as the author. The town of Edenville has its roots in the original settlement of Pine Way, which is a rural place fading into obscurity. Edenville's residents who remember growing up in Pine Way refuse to let the little town die. In trying to capture their love of that place, I needed to recognize my own love for rural spaces, pathways across fields, orchards with ripening fruit, creeks and woodlands to explore, friends and neighbors whose ancestors settled the area.

I love small towns and rural spaces, where the freeways and leaf blowers, too many dogs and cats, too many barbecues and people in a hurry are what fades away. Rural spaces, where one's ancestors and those of their neighbor's have left traces of their presence. A bucket by a faucet, a kerosene lantern on a nail, a child's treasure stowed away in the corner of a barn, are a few of the many things left behind by those who went before us.

But, there is another thing that was there and still is, waiting for someone to walk its pathways again. It is the quiet, the peaceful atmosphere of trees shedding leaves to blow upon the wind and gather by the trail and the inviting woods where a deer or fox might run toward. Seeing these things, smelling the richness of the green fields of spring and the creeks flowing along the edge of the forest, is a return to our origins, to our beginnings in natural places.

The ancestors call to us upon those autumn winds, sharing their wisdom, reminding us to value our history, our origins, our beginnings, for they contain the seeds by which to grow community and nurture connectionA Place Called The Way.

When I first got published, I needed to get professional reviews to place on the book cover or as editorial reviews as one might see accompanying a book on Amazon. These paid reviews highlight certain aspects of a book, especially for librarians and other professionals in the bookselling world. It can be expensive, first-time authors wonder what's the point to them. However, one day my mind was changed and I have been a proponent of the paid professional book review ever since.

For the first time, after my second book was published, I looked for it on the internet using my cell phone. Usually, I sit at my desk to browse the internet and seek out marketing ideas, etc. But, looking at my books via my cell phone opened up a new world for me, that of the internet and my place in it as an author. Some people may say, well, duh, where have you been? Okay, point taken, but here I am on the internet reaching out to others I have never met, something only the internet can provide.

So, when I work on my website, get a newspaper interview, or check on reviews, I make sure to browse the internet for these using my cell phone. My books are slowly getting around. While I am known in my local area here in California, out in the world of the internet, I am a small voice in a digital wilderness where millions of authors compete for readers. That is why paying professionals to review, to edit, to offer feedback on small potatoes authors like myself is worth it. Maybe reading the following review by Book Review Directory will show you what I mean. They have offered their viewpoint of my book, A Place Called The Way. It is a point of view I appreciate. To read what others think of my work, not just praise, but that they truly got the story I was conveying to readers, is truly satisfying.

From Book Review Directory:
A Place Called the Way is the third installment in Corrine Ardoin’s Pine Valley series and delves deeper into the story of the people that settled in the fictional town of Pine Valley. It depicts the challenges of living and growing up in rural America in the 1950s, as the characters navigate around issues of class, race, and gender in order to establish a life for themselves and their families, one that is filled with love, meaning, and purpose.

It is not overstating it to say that the scope of this book is massive. It is perhaps necessary to read the first two books in the series to fully appreciate the extent of the story being told here. In addition, whether by accident or design, the use of flashbacks and a non-linear timeline, alongside multiple character points of view, added an extra layer of complexity to the plotting which subsequently had a knock-on effect on pacing and characterization.

The interruptions to the present timeline in order to explain something that happened in the past sometimes affected the forward momentum of the narrative. The shift of perspective from one character to another in a seemingly random fashion resulted in some loss of distinction between character voices, something that is so fundamental in character-driven books like these where individual arcs and journeys are essential threads to the wider story tapestry that the author is trying to weave.

Fortunately, the story was strong enough to carry the weight of any misstep. A Place Called the Way is historical fiction steeped in realism, brimming with easily recognizable issues and themes relevant to the reader’s of today. Human follies, suffering, and transformation are timeless. Regardless of period, setting, or geography, tales of love, lust, betrayal, and the limitless capacity one person has to hurt another resonates with all of us.

For example, the book often comes back to the exploration of what it means to be a woman living in a society whose views on gender roles are so limiting and restrictive. Conversely, there is also an equal exploration of the effects of certain types of masculinity and how it can have far-reaching effects all the way up to maturity and adulthood. Some of the scenes are graphic and harrowing, and it is worth noting that some readers might prefer a trigger warning.

However, in not shying away from discussing difficult subjects such as race, sexuality, gender, and self-harm, the book opens the way for healthy discussion and discourse. Rather than being gratuitous and exploitative, the powerfully emotive chapters of the last part of the book are fundamental to reaching the conclusion of this evocative story.

At its core, A Place Called the Way is a multi-generational study and examination of humanity in all its glory and frailty, bringing to mind classics like The Joy Luck Club and One Hundred Years of Solitude. With the stroke of a pen, the author exposes the murkiness behind the façade we present to the world and the struggles underneath the surface that threatens to pull us under. Riveting, with a raw quality that is deeply affecting, it will surely have readers rapidly turning pages to find out what happens next.
A Place Called The Way

This past weekend, the Fourth of July holiday, my husband and I enjoyed some retreat time at the Krishnamurti Center in Ojai, California. What a wonderful and peaceful place it is. Something about his words take you inward and paying attention to what's going on within yourself.

Jiddu Krishnamurti was a very humble man, had a definite gift for placing people's problems back into their own lap, as an offering to them to grow and mature. It is empowering, but also so real, to be given the opportunity and safe space to take a look at oneself, whether anger, addictions, or relationship issues.

Krishnamurti lived in Ojai for a good portion of his life and his legacy of writings is a library in itself. I came away with the question, "Am I writing what I need to say?" Am I honoring this life and my purpose?
A Place Called The Way

D. Donovan of Midwest Book Review had this to say about my new novel, A Place Called The Way:

"Berto Mendoza was a poet. Catching the milk cow was not in his interest, but, if he wanted cream in his coffee that morning, it was a necessity."

Through Berto's eyes and the eyes of characters affected by a small town's growth and spiritual foundations, a story emerges which is anything but the usual staid tale of opportunity and change.

Readers of rural fiction stories, coming-of-age sagas, and Corrine Ardoin's prior books about Pine Valley will find her third book in the series, A Place Called The Way, continues to explore the people who populate this town and grow under its community and promise.

Here, four-year-old Jimmy has already lost his way into a positive life through the abuse of an uncle ("The brown-haired boy swept his hands together, looking on at what he could do, what his small fists could grasp and throw."). Angry at the world, he cultivates his own form of cruelty toward those he can subjugate, cultivating destructive habits toward self and others which are mitigated by the intervention of a wise grandmother and medicine woman, who brings him on a journey of healing and empowerment.

As in the other titles in the Pine Valley series, the overlay is a community that harbors quiet strengths and an unusual healing power that brings many of the damaged Hart family residents into a solution called the Way.

As mother Candelaria Hart and others struggle to understand why the Hart family continually faces struggles and bad luck, from accidents to emotional pain, Jim grows up with angst still alive in his heart: "Jim left the house with his shadow so close, it likely adhered itself to his back. He could not escape it. What lived within himself clung to the fabric of his soul, reaching and grasping, like the paws of some great animal fighting to be free."

It feels unlikely that the Way or its opportunities will ever reach him, but the progression of miracles is just one of the themes A Place Called The Way cultivates, setting it apart from being simply another story of small-town American life.

The ties that bind this community also reach out to embrace the hearts and minds of both prior fans of the Pine Valley stories and newcomers.

As children are born and the town comes together and grows, readers will find the interests, challenges, and evolution of the story's characters blend into a bigger picture of connection and resolution. This makes for an engrossing tale of the Way, how to walk it, and its lasting impact on past, present, and future generations.

The story brings with it a sense of storytelling purpose that links these disparate individuals' lives and eventually arrives at the origins of ill luck in a family, ultimately leading it to the Way.

"The Way is not a word or a place in time, but a feeling, a knowing, a place outside of Time, where Truth awaits, where the life of our destined hopes invites us and brings us to our knees. The Way is not a town that became Pine Way or even Edenville. The Way is what connects us all, one heart, one soul, one life, all One.”

Readers need this story of promise and spiritual growth, and libraries need to not only include it in literary fiction collections about small-town roots, but should point book clubs and discussion groups to its evocative blend of spiritual and social inspection.- D. Donovan, Editor, Donovan's Literary Services, Bookwatch
A Place Called The Way

I received another review of my novel, A Place Called The Way, and wanted to share it with you:

A Place Called The Way is the third book in the Pine Valley Series by author Corrine Ardoin. It follows the families of The Way and observes how their lives unfold, how they are born, and how they pass away. This is a story that observes the people of an entire town, mainly spanning the first 70 years of the 20th century. But in this book, one character is focused on a little more than the others: Little Jimmy Hart. Despite his mother, Candelaria’s, attempts to protect him, at a very young age Little Jimmy is severely physically abused by his cruel uncle. From then on, Little Jimmy cannot shake the pulsing anger and tragedy that has cloaked him since that fateful day.

This author does not ignore how the significance of abuse and other trauma can impact one’s mental health for the entirety of their life. Many fiction authors play on drama by creating a larger and more severe tragedy than what Little Jimmy has experienced but would write the effect it had on him as the same. Furthermore, many writers would have created a yearning for revenge in either Little Jimmy or his parents. The fact that Corrine Ardoin does not do this, but instead turns the result of tragedy towards Little Jimmy’s mental and emotional status and his mother’s sorrow, along with other elements of the novel, speaks to the fact that she is a realistic author, able to weave a work of fiction without indulging in any temptation of fantasy.

This novel highlights relationships and community while giving light emphasis on how culture changes with events and time, but more importantly, highlights how the characters themselves change. Historical fiction fans that like stories written from a broad and out-of-focus perspective that encompass many characters over a long period of time, will most certainly enjoy A Place Called The Way and the Pine Valley Series. Review given by Michaela Gordoni for Pacific Book Review

A Place Called The Way

I just received a beautiful review for my book, A Place Called The Way. It was from Independent Book Review.

Quoting portions of the review, the reviewer writes: "A Place Called the Way draws tenderness and truth from a fictional small town."

"Corrine Ardoin delivers another captivating story with A Place Called the Way, the third book in the Pine Valley series. Drawing upon the stories we’ve already encountered in the previous books, this novel delves deeper into the characters’ trials and provides insight into the fictional history of their little town. This third book sustains all the intrigue and compassion of the previous books."

"A Place Called the Way is subtle, intriguing, and filled with hope. This is a beautiful story about how small town life can consume you whole or help you flourish. Ardoin’s writing will have you sympathizing deeply with the characters’ missed opportunities and tasks uncompleted. What an excellent addition to Ardoin’s Pine Valley series for returning and new readers alike."

You can pre-order A Place Called The Way through Black Rose Writing. Use the promo code PREORDER2022 to receive a 15% discount if you purchase prior to July 28, 2022!A Place Called The Way

"A Natural History of the Nipomo Mesa Region"

I began by writing birdwatching guidebooks I had printed and bound at my local print shop. A Natural History of the Nipomo Mesa Region was my first, real, self-published book, thanks to a wonderful organization known as Save the Mesa, who granted me the funds to have my book printed, and the late Bill Denneen, biologist and Nipomo Mesa champion, who provided matching funds. Thanks to them, I was able to complete a five-year project consisting of in-depth research both in the library and in the field.

This simple book is the culmination of exhaustive research into university and historical archives, plus bird, plant, insect, and mammal identification field research within the pre-described area I termed, "The Nipomo Mesa Region." It is located on the Central Coast of California.

I am very proud of this book. It exemplifies the passion and commitment required to document not only a historical landscape, but a landscape that has been altered forever due to agriculture, development, climate change, and land use practices.

This book is an excellent field guide, small enough to tuck in a day pack, yet easy to read and to make notes in its margins. Readers can check out the endnotes, a book in themselves when read separately. A Natural History of the Nipomo Mesa Region