The
Story behind the story
By Catherine T Wilson and
Catherine A Wilson
In 2003
two women with the same name, living 900 kilometres apart, met by accident
online. What happened next was simply amazing!
Catherine
T Wilson:
I
came home to find my email inbox inundated with correspondence from the RWA
(Romantic Writers Association of Aust) but immediately singled out one
response.
Catherine
A Wilson:
A
new inductee to RWA had decided to introduce herself to all the other members via
what she assumed was a chat room-style forum. Unfortunately, she had instead
emailed everyone! Sadly, I can’t recall her name now, but it was certainly eye-catching
and I told her so, comparing my rather boring and plain moniker to hers. I then
received a rather terse (tongue-in-cheek) reply from a different woman
admonishing me for being so rude about a perfectly beautiful name—Catherine Wilson.
Our friendship was born at that very moment.
Both
women had a dream to write.
Cathy A:
I know it’s been said a million
times, ‘I always knew I would be a writer,’ and in my case it is certainly true
but I had to work extremely hard to reach that goal. As a child I struggled to
learn to read and write and I battled my way through school, enduring tedious
remedial classes and endless testing. I may not have been able to record
my thoughts, but it certainly didn’t stop my imagination from running wild. I
spent my time dreaming of the Knights of the Round Table, Camelot, chivalry,
maidens on horseback and deadly jousts!
Finally, at age 15,
I managed to read a complete novel and began recording my own stories,
promising myself that one day I would see my name on the cover. Of course, it took longer than
expected. A career in nursing and the RAAF held me up for a while and marriage
and children took a lot of my time, but in 2003, with everyone at work or
school, I was drawn back to the keyboard.
Cathy
T:
I
was always quite good at writing essays in school but it was a science teacher
that I remember reading my work to the class. It was a test answer in which we
had to describe how white blood cells attack foreign invaders in the body. I
had made mine sound like a pitched medieval battle with the heroic cells nobly
dying for the honour of preserving the kingdom’s health. The teacher was highly
amused. That was high school before my family moved to Queensland and when my
schooling resumed, rather than complete my academic course, I found myself
enrolled in commercial classes so that I could become ‘workforce-ready.’ My ambition
to become a teacher or a pathologist were to be put aside. Such dreams were
simply not affordable in a one-parent family. Instead, I had lessons of
book-keeping but working with numbers was not exactly to my taste (or my forte),
and I hated shorthand. It was like some extraneous language of hieroglyphs, but
at least I did learn to type.
Years
passed and marriage and family entered the scene, and though happy, I still
felt in some way incomplete. I was a ‘jack-of-all-trades’ but ‘master of none’
when all around me people would shine in their own special talent. I wanted to
find that one thing that was singular to me, the one thing that maybe I could
be good at for myself. Then one day, while I was folding kid’s clothes with the
tv on, I watched an interview with a writer and I knew what I was missing. I
had the passion but it needed the pages!
Cathy
A:
I
entered a writing competition in a now extinct Genealogy magazine and was
simply amazed when I won first prize. It was exactly the boost I needed. I then joined RWA and the universe (or
something as powerful and mysterious) allowed Cathy T and I to find each other.
Cathy
T:
I
began a short-story writing course, but it was novel-writing that really
interested me. I was in for the long haul, not the short version. By the time
the children were in high school, I’d written my first novel and entered it
into a writing competition. It won an encouragement award along with a $1,000.00
cheque. Then disaster struck, and I lost two close members of my family; one to
an horrific car accident and only eight weeks later, my mother to illness.
Unprepared for such grief, I could barely lift a pen for weeks, let alone type
passion at a keyboard until that fateful day when a certain email landed in my
inbox. Serendipity – fortunate discoveries by accident or simply destiny?
The
two Catherines discovered uncanny resemblances, not only geographically, but
even down to immediate family members and names of husbands and children.
Forming a strong relationship online, they wrote to each for some 18 months,
helping one another and providing support when difficulties struck.
Cathy
A:
Serendipity!
I have heard that so often. A fortunate stroke of luck! But was it? Cathy T and
I share so many similarities—not just with our backgrounds and birth places or
the structure of our families, but also in circumstance. We have shared so
much, even though we are restricted by distance.
Then in
2005, Cathy T had an idea. She was
musing on how two women, living so far apart, could readily offer comfort and
support to one another when times were tough and, since they both loved
medieval history, Cathy T began to wonder what it would have been like for two
such women in medieval times. How would they have communicated? Could they have communicated? What sort
of support would they be able to provide to each other? How well do really know
someone just through letters?
And
thus, Lions and Lilies—the story of two women living in the tumultuous times of
The Hundred Years War—was born.
Cécile
d’Armagnac—wistful, wayward and passionate—led the indulgent life of a French
noble, never suspecting the family she adored was not her own.
Catherine
Pembroke, a naive novice, abandoned at the Waif’s gate of a nunnery in England,
had never known anything more than life behind the convent walls until she
received a letter from a woman in France proclaiming to be her sister.
And
just as these two women began to write to one another in the 14th
century, in the modern world, Cathy A Wilson and Cathy T Wilson kept their
relationship confined to emails only. They decided to not speak or meet until their
characters did!
Cathy
A:
We
used that tool to enhance the manner in which we wrote. Catherine and Cécile
communicate within ‘The Lily and the Lion,’ by way of letters. Cathy T and I
did likewise, speaking only via email. I did not even know the sound of her
voice! We were exactly as our characters were, all of us discovering, learning,
and building a relationship with each other simply by way of the written word.
And
it worked beautifully.
They
wrote on for two and half books over a period of two years until eventually the
occasion arose when it became necessary to discuss an offer on their first
book. Unlike their troublesome counterparts who were thwarted at every turn to
meet, Cathy A was able to pick up the phone and dial direct to Cathy T. Even
though their sacred covenant had been broken, the first few minutes of
conversation consisted of joyous laughter. Poor Catherine Pembroke and Cécile d’Armagnac
would have to wait a bit longer.
In
2007 the women decided to finally meet and at the same time a Sydney video
producer heard of their story. He decided to film this special meeting,
capturing all the insecurities and excitement on film.
And
then, when a potential publisher suggested a change, Cathy A and Cathy T realised
their 14th century counterparts should also be allowed the same joy
of meeting one another.
The
‘Wilson women’ worked on, finally realising their dream of publication in 2012.
Rewrites
and editing became daily chores and their characters definitely provided plenty
of practise! The medieval sisters were hard to contain and often in perilous
situations.
But by now ‘this team’ had a regime that operated
like clockwork, always allowing for the interference of ‘Madame Fate,’ which was
often! Children were growing up, work schedules were changing and then changing
again.
On
Cathy T’s visits to New South Wales, she and Cathy A began to set up their own
stall at medieval fairs where the books were warmly received.
The
release of ‘The Lily and the Lion’ – Ironfest 2012
 |
Ironfest 2015
 |
Ironfest
2017
And
over the years, they always made some time for fun!
It
was in 2013 that The Lily and the Lion
won its first prize in Chanticleer’s ‘Chatelaine’ Award for Historical Romance.
This was followed the next year by their second book, The Order of the Lily, winning the same category and then their
third book, The Gilded Crown taking
another first place in 2016.
Earlier
this year, The Traitor’s Noose won not
only first prize in Chanticleer’s ‘Chaucer’ Award for ‘Historical Fiction’ but
it took out the grand prize also.
They
travelled to the US to receive their awards and attend a writing workshop
weekend in Bellingham, north of Seattle, stopping in LA on the way home to
visit the Hollywood Walk of Fame, have a coffee with ‘Friends,’ pose with some
other friends, pick up an Oscar, and get their kicks on Route 66!
Hollywood Walk of Fame
Get your kicks on Route 66! (Rolling Stones song)
Of
course, they had to visit Medieval Times …
The
two writers have since enjoyed many visits to each other, often accompanied by
some marketing event or medieval faire,
and
the readership for Lions and Lilies continues to grow steadily.
Cathy
A:
I
have been told that in co-authoring, anything is fraught with danger; that
writers are emotional beings who like to do things their own way. That might be
the case for some, but it certainly is not for Cathy T and me.
Our
biggest downfall? We talk too much! To each other, on the phone. Such is the
strength of our relationship that I know I would not be the writer I am, if not
for Cathy T.
The
secret to our relationship and success – Honesty, Integrity, and Trust.
Cathy A and Cathy T are
currently working on their fifth book, ‘Roar of the Lion,’ in the Lions and
Lilies series. They hope it will be ready for release by December 2019.
Narrative by Catherine T Wilson
The Lily and the
Lion – Book One
In the war between
England and France a medieval adventure begins with a letter. Two sisters,
Cécile and Catherine, enter a world of passion and intrigue, separated as
infants, rediscovered by chance. Can they unravel a mystery and be re-united?
The Order of the
Lily – Book Two
A tale of powerful
alliances, deadly plots and royal secrets. In an age when women held no power,
Cécile and Catherine must rely on the courage of the knights who are assigned
to protect them.
The Gilded Crown – Book Three
A dangerous power
play between kingdoms, each must risk their life to foil a plot that could end
the reign of one king and send another to war. In the darkest of hours, courage
must be found.
The Traitor’s Noose
– Book Four
What is worse than
an unexpected betrayal? Discovering your darkest enemy lies within. When honour
demands the ultimate sacrifice – loyalty, trust, love but you know, in the end,
justice will be a traitor’s noose.
LINKS TO
WHERE BOOKS CAN BE PURCHASED
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See you on your next coffee break!
Take Care,
Mary Anne xxx