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Welcome to day 18 of the Writer Mama Every Day In May Book Giveaway! Today we will be giving away two books to two winners. Please help me welcome too incredibly interesting women, Marci Nault and Barbara Claypole White!

Introducing Marci Nault

Marci Nault hails from a small town in Massachusetts. Today she can be found figure skating, salsa dancing, hiking and wine tasting around her home in California. Marci is the founder of a motivational website that encourages visitors to follow their improbable dreams. Her story about attempting to complete 101 of her biggest dreams has been featured in newspapers and magazines nationwide, and she regularly speaks on the subject on radio stations in both the United States and Canada. The Lake House, is her debut novel. Learn more at www.marcinault.com.

Learn about The Lake House from Simon & Schuster May 2013

Achingly tender, yet filled with laughter, The Lake House brings to life the wide range of human emotions and the difficult journey from heartbreak to healing.

VICTORIA ROSE. Fifty years before, a group of teenage friends promised each other never to leave their idyllic lakeside town. But the call of Hollywood and a bigger life was too strong for Victoria . . . and she alone broke that pledge. Now she has come home, intent on making peace with her demons, even if her former friends shut her out. Haunted by tragedy, she longs to find solace with her childhood sweetheart, but even this tender man may be unable to forgive and forget.

HEATHER BREGMAN. At twenty-eight, after years as a globe-trotting columnist, she’s abandoned her controlling fiancé and their glamorous city life to build one on her own terms. Lulled by a Victorian house and a gorgeous locale, she’s determined to make the little community her home. But the residents, fearful of change and outsiders, will stop at nothing to sabotage her dreams of lakeside tranquility.

As Victoria and Heather become unlikely friends, their mutual struggle to find acceptance—with their neighbors and in their own hearts—explores the chance events that shape a community and offer the opportunity to start again.

I asked Marci three questions about our giveaway’s theme topic, self-expression:

1. Is self-expression an important part of your life today, why or why not?

As a young woman I felt like there were four of me: the person I was to please my family; the persona I took on to fit in with my friends; the perfect student; and the person I became when I was alone lost in my imagination. For most of my life I wanted to be the fourth person, but I didn’t know how. I was taught to make everyone else happy first and that my worth was how I took care of others. I was incredibly shy and viewed criticism as failure; I had to be perfect for everyone.

When my life blew up in 2008, I decided to make a list of dreams; things I wanted to do; places I wanted to see; changes I wanted in me. I think through the list I was looking for a way to become that fourth person in the world. Three of my items out of 101 dreams were: to be imperfect; to communicate without need or expectation; to fall in love with life, the world, and myself. Out of the 90 dreams that have come true these three were some of the hardest. But something magical happened when I began to pursue my dreams. I found confidence and I was able to be comfortable in my own skin. I stood up for myself and I no longer let people walk all over me. More than that I was able to express myself more easily.

As my debut novel, The Lake House, goes out into the world I’ve had the chance, through questions like these, to realize why I wrote the story I did. The Lake House is about two women from different generations who pursue their dreams but in the process become outcasts with those they love. I think I was expressing my fear that if I went after the life I really desired and became that fourth person that I would no longer be accepted by those I loved. Thankfully, it turns out I was wrong.

2. What does self-expression mean to you and how do you do it in the world?

Self-expression means showing the world who I really am without barriers. Sometimes it feels a little like standing naked in front of the world. I created my blog, 101 Dreams Come True, to express all the emotions that took place while I was pursuing my dreams with everything I had. So many people believed that I was a trust fund baby or had a rich boyfriend as they watched me travel the world and try all sorts of different activities. But the truth was that I was alone, determined, scared, and without a safety net. I thought if I could express those feelings, explore them through my writing, I would understand my own journey better and help others to pursue their dreams.

I also love to salsa dance and figure skate. Through these two sports I feel free. There’s something about movement that releases all thoughts and allows the spirit to come through.

When I get to talk to women about my journey and my novel, I get to express the joy and the confidence and all that’s changed by realizing I was worth having my dreams.

Lastly, when I write I’m taken away. I love to describe settings because I get to express the way I see the world. It makes me look a little bit deeper at my surroundings – to taste, touch, feel, smell, and engross myself in this amazing world.

3. How does your self-expression impact the world—your family, your friends, your readers, and everyone else?

I’ve had letters come in from all over the world from people who’ve decided to change their lives and pursue their dreams because of the blog. When I speak to women about self-worth and giving to themselves, there’s a wonderful communication that opens and book readings turn into slumber-type parties. I believe by showing the world that dreams are possible even if you’re not rich or if you’re single that it opens the possibility for others to do it as well.

As for the novel, one of the first people who read it realized he was still in love with a woman he’d left and they got back together. So many women have told me that they curled up with my book and it took them to a way of life that they didn’t realize they desperately needed and it caused them to reconnect with family members or their community.

My family is very private and I think at first it was hard for them to have me blatantly putting myself out there, but they’ve been nothing but supportive. Even if some extended family members roll their eyes and shake their heads at the way I live my life.

Introducing Barbara Claypole White

Barbara Claypole White writes love stories about damaged people.

She grew up in rural England with dreams of becoming a novelist, but after a detour through women’s and medieval history at York University, landed a job in London fashion. One day her boss sent her to New York, and she fell in love with an American professor who followed her around JFK Airport. Eighteen months later she was a faculty spouse, freelance writer, and marketing director in a small Midwest college town. She also started writing her first novel.

After her husband was offered a distinguished professorship at UNC Chapel Hill, Barbara moved to the North Carolina forest and became a stay-at-home mom and a woodland gardener—factors that would shape her writing voice. She returned to her manuscript and slammed into another detour: her young son developed obsessive-compulsive disorder.

From that moment, fascination with mental illness framed her life. She ditched her first novel and began writing the manuscript that would become The Unfinished Garden (Harlequin MIRA, 2012). She also joined a nonfiction project for parents of children with invisible disabilities and blogs through the highs and lows of OCD at www.easytolovebut.com.  (Her son is now an award-winning teen poet, lyricist, and indie rock musician.)

Her second novel, The In-between Hour, will be published in January 2014.

You can find her on Facebook or at barbaraclaypolewhite.com.

Learn about The Unfinished Garden

James Nealy is haunted by irrational fears and inescapable compulsions. A successful software developer, he’s thrown himself into a new goal—to finally conquer the noise in his mind. And he has a plan. He’ll confront his darkest fears and build something beautiful: a garden. When he meets Tilly Silverberg, he knows she holds the key…even if she doesn’t think so.

After her husband’s death, gardening became Tilly’s livelihood and her salvation. Her thriving North Carolina business and her young son, Isaac, are the excuses she needs to hide from the world. So when oddly attractive, incredibly tenacious James demands that she take him on as a client, her answer is a flat no.

When a family emergency lures Tilly back to England, she’s secretly glad. With Isaac in tow, she retreats to her childhood village, which has always stayed obligingly the same. Until now. Her best friend is keeping secrets. Her mother is plotting. Her first love is unexpectedly, temptingly available. And then James appears on her doorstep.

Away from home, James and Tilly forge an unlikely bond, tenuous at first but taking root every day. And as they work to build a garden together, something begins to blossom between them—despite all the reasons against it.

I asked Barbara three questions about our giveaway’s theme topic, self-expression:

1. Is self-expression an important part of your life today, why or why not?

I’ve always been emotionally wide-open, and I’ve always celebrated the individual. However, when my young son was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), I had to rethink the boundaries between public and private. I had a strong desire to protect the family, but I also needed to speak up and become an advocate. I have always believed that hiding mental illness brings only shame.

My son is about to graduate from high school as an award-winning teen poet and indie rock musician. We both use writing as therapy; we both believe art can make a difference; and we have both found our voices. I can’t imagine how we would move through the darkness of mental illness if we kept things hidden. My son talks about pulling back the rug to reveal the dirt beneath. I feel that way when I talk, blog, or write about OCD.

2. What does self-expression mean to you and how do you do it in the world?

I hope to create believable characters whose struggles can start a dialogue off the page. The hero of my debut novel, The Unfinished Garden, has battled OCD for most of his life. I wasn’t trying to make a statement about OCD with my beloved James. I wanted only to show readers the courage it takes to live with a diagnosis of mental illness, the courage it takes to be open about struggles with that diagnosis, and the courage it takes to fight back.

At book clubs, I often answer questions about the stereotypes James contradicts. Even if readers come to those meetings believing all people with OCD are hand washers, they leave knowing the truth: that OCD is a highly individualized anxiety disorder. It manifests differently in everyone.

3. How does your self-expression impact the world—your family, your friends, your readers, and everyone else?

We have the best group therapy conversations at the book clubs I visit! I’m also thrilled when readers contact me to share their own stories of battling mental illness. We all need support systems. Sharing is good, people! It keeps us emotionally healthy.

And Now, Your Turn…

You remember how this works right?

Please read the complete rules at least once!

I ask you a question.

You answer in the comments for your chance to win a book each day.

Please just respond once, even if you make a typo.

Answer in the comments in 50-200 words (no less and no more to qualify to win one of today’s books).

Do you have any quirks? List them in an accepting way.

Ready, set, comment! I will hold the drawing tomorrow and post the results here in my blog.

Thanks for participating in the Writer Mama Every-Day-In-May Book Giveaway!

And thanks for spreading the word. We will be giving away great books by wonderful women authors all month.

View the complete list of authors and books.

View the giveaway Pinterest board.

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