Review: The steady growth of a new writer
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 10, 2014
Canadian author Wendiann Proteau launched her first major novel with the publication of AND WHEN though she was far from a beginner author. Looking at her life, really examining it, gave her insights she proceeded to share with a series of seven volumes of self reflective workbooks whose aim was to provide aid to those who like her have reason to question purpose in life - and how to find it. From her notes associated with that series she writes, `Blessed with three siblings and parents who supported my hopes, I was raised in a small Canadian town, in an average middle-class family. I've married, divorced, dated, loved, lost, struggled, worked, succeeded and failed. I really am an everyday type of person. Single at age forty-something, I'm still figuring life out daily. I would define myself as being analytical, a realist and a dreamer, so you can only imagine the confusion that goes on sometimes. The dreamer starts to write fiction thinking of the happily ever after, but then while editing the realist comes out. My analytical side comes from being a go-to person over the years so I've learned to see things from many angles, knowing that circumstances affect us all individually. To be honest, I'd never written more than a grocery list until 2009. It came out of nowhere as I sat at my computer one night following an idea. The `Sit N Do Nothing Hamster Series' is my attempt to bring us all a little closer in this technological world. Using humor, comparison, and pull-quotes, the workbooks of self-discovery are a way to share tidbits of who we are, in the here and now. We are all an accumulation of every moment from birth until now and it's important to share that. The story continues to place difficult hurdles, forcing the characters to veer from their chosen paths. All in all, my life would be nothing without the people who have touched my soul. Friends, family, co-workers, relatives...have all been there through the good and bad. Everything takes hard work and nothing ever comes easy. Well at least not in my life. I firmly believe that karma plays an important role and that it brings us the people we are meant to meet, challenges we have to overcome, lessons we need to learn, and dreams we are meant to reach for.' That excerpt tells us more about the plot  than any summary.For those who have yet to read AND WHEN, Jade Prency is a 40-something big woman, Amazonian and imperfect, and she relies on humor and her ability to help others to find her place in the world, believing tomorrow would always come. After a journey that would challenge even to most resilient of women, in NOW WHAT she has an Internet romance with Brady, and that has its own history. Jade writes a successful book recording the affair and who should return as a ghost form the past but Brady. The question arises, What Now?, and a new journey involving more self discovery  unfolds. As the author compares the difference between male response and female response, she comes up with the following statement, `In life we never have glimpses of the internal though process of others, so I thought to reveal bits of the internal dialogue of my characters.  I turned to friends to help me follow the differences in male to female thinking, so I do hope I've achieved it. The journey is realistic and challenging.  I needed to think of how each person would feel and relied on what I've learned over the years in talking to people about life challenges.  We've been on this earth together 1000 years and yet men and women process differently.  I supposed that is the magic that keeps us forever curious about the opposite sex.'There is growth with this new book NOW WHAT. What had been an entertaining `chick lit' novel (her debut) has now become more psychologically enhanced with deeper excavation of female/male relationships. Her technique of volleying the point of view between female and male shows a more profound attention to character development. Wendiann Proteau is growing. Grady Harp, April 14