Christal Cooper – 704 Words
Sabine
Chennault’s
“Leap Of Faith”
Sabina Chennault always had the
desire to be a writer, ever since she was a little girl living in a small and
friendly village in Germany called Herborn, about 50 miles north of Frankfurt.
“I have
always loved to write. When I was in
school the teachers used to complain that I would write way too much on
open-ended stories. I think I never
managed less than 30 pages.”
While
raising a family, working in the work force, Sabine continued to dream of being
a writer, and was constantly being told that her writing dream would never come
true. Her response was to enroll in a
writing class in 2008. It was during one
of her on-line writing classes that her novel “A Leap Of Faith” was conceived. The assignment was for her to choose only
five of twenty words to build a story.
“I chose tree, faith, teenager,
conflict, and red. I turned in the story
and my instructor told me that I needed to turn that into a chapter book and submit
it for publication. I did. The ideas
were in my head and they just had to come out on paper.”
In “A Leap Of Faith” a
Pixie teenager named Faith and a human teenager named Sam meet and develop a
strong friendship despite their differences.
“Both strongly believe that
cultures can live in harmony and help each other but because of preconceived
notions their families won’t agree. Through
persistence and strong motivation they both make their point.”
Her writing adventure
soon included her daughter Samantha, who did all the illustrations of the book
“A Leap of Faith.” Eight months later
she had the book in her hands.
With her newfound
identity as a writer she continues to write prolifically, and her inspiration
in writing has grown since she moved from Arizona to Washington State in
September 2013. It is in the Pacific
Northwest’s rainy season she is at her most creative.
“I really work best on cloudy, rainy days, and I get plenty of them up here.”
Sabine
also finds that if she has a well-balanced structure she tends to write more
and more effectively. She gets up every
morning by at least 6 a.m.; feeds her puppies, lets them out of the house,
prepares her husband’s breakfasts, lunches, and snacks; cleans the dishes;
makes the beds; does marathon training; lets the puppies in for naps; and
showers. It is only then, finally, she
is able to write – and she writes for at least three hours.
When she writes at home
her inspiration is what she sees outside of her window: the trees, morning fog, busy bees, birds, and
the dogs playing.
She
usually goes to the local Starbucks to write, where she finds most of her
inspiration.
“It’s an awesome place to
write, even though it can be noisy, that doesn’t bother me at all. I can write and watch people. Doing that has actually given me ideas for
various characters.”
The sequel “Sam and the
Pixie – Finding Faith” is much more deeper than the first book, and features
her daughter Samantha as the cover model for the jacket cover.
“One of the oldest Pixies isn't
happy with the connection to humans and has horrible plans to stop the
connection from taking hold. It carries a message for believing in your own
beauty and not falling prey to what our society has claimed as beauty.”
The book is making
positive impacts in many places, especially at a high school in California
where former school counselor Janet had nothing but the best to say about the
impact of the book on her students. Here
is an excerpt from the review she wrote:
“Many of the students I have
live in a chaotic urban world of dysfunction... not all, but the majority do.
Ms. Goldman's latest book “Sam and the Pixie:
Finding Faith” has sparked conversations with students who have never
talked about what goes on in their own world. After reading this book they open
up about feeling lonely, feeling like an outcast from their own family. They
begin to understand what it means to have friends from outside their culture or
"Neighborhood borders", and it's OK to do so. And they are sharing
their dreams and the paths they need to follow to get there.”
PHOTO DESCRIPTION AND
COPYRIGHT INFO
Photo 1
Sabine G Chennault.
Copyright granted by
Sabine G Chennault.
Photo 2
Sabine in the fall of
1962 being held by her Uncle.
Copyright granted by
Sabine G Chennault
Photo 3
Sabine on her first day
of school, wearing a dress her mother made for her for the occasion.
Copyright
granted by Sabine G Chennault.
Photo 4
Sabine with her children
(from left to right) Jennifer, Jesse, and Samantha.
May of 2008
May of 2008
Copyright granted by
Sabine G Chennault.
Photo 5
Image of chapter 5 from
“A Leap of Faith”
Photo 6
Image of the Table of
Contents from “A Leap of Faith”
Photo 7
Jacket cover of “A
Leap of Faith” kindle edition
Photo 8
Sabine holding “A
Leap of Faith”
Copyright
granted by Sabine G Chennault.
Photo 9
Mountain Hood just
before a heavy rain.
Attributed to Sabine G
Chennault
Copyright granted by
Sabine G Chennault.
Photo 11
Sabine with her puppies
in February of 2014.
Copyright granted by
Sabine G Chennault.
Photo 12
Sabine, husband Lance,
with their puppies on February 23, 2014.
Copyright granted by
Sabine G Chennault.
Photo 13
One of the many views
from Sabine’s window.
Attributed to Sabine G
Chennault
Copyright granted by
Sabine G Chennault.
Photo 14
Samantha and Sabine on
Sabine wedding day, April 20, 2013.
Copyright granted by
Sabine G Chennault.
Photo 15
Front Jacket cover of
“Sam and Pixie – Finding Faith”
Photo 16
Back jacket cover of ““Sam
and Pixie – Finding Faith”
Photo 17
Box full of copies of “Sam
and Pixie – Finding Faith”
Copyright granted by
Sabine G Chennault.
Photo 18
Sabine and Lance at Arch
Cape Beach on March 15, 2014.
Copyright granted by
Sabine G Chennault.
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