Gail Priest's Blog, page 4
September 8, 2014
Rewirement Instead of Retirement
Rewirement Instead of Retirement
I recently retired after nearly twenty-seven years as a public education teacher of theatre arts, speech, and English, with a three year stint as a guidance counselor. Around year thirteen, I took a break from public education and worked as an actor and director for ten years. Then I became a college adjunct professor in a theatre department before returning to full-time teaching in a high school performing arts program, which I did for the final eight years of my teaching career. I’ve reinvented myself several times during my career.
Since I formally retired from teaching this past June, people ask how I’m enjoying retirement, like I’m bouncing grandchildren (don’t have any) on my knee and playing cards with my girlfriends. I smile and say, it’s not retirement, it’s rewirement. This was a term my dear friend Patricia Osborne shared with me. She works as a Life Coach and helps people navigate transitions in their lives, among many other things. You can find out more about what Patt does at her website www.adventurecoach.com. When I told her how I disliked the term retirement, she said, “You’re not retiring, you’re rewiring.” That term immediately felt right.
Now I am rewiring myself as a full-time writer. I’ve been writing for many years-three plays, a screenplay and two novels. It was always something I managed to do during the summers, holidays and snow days. Now, it’s what I do. Well, I haven’t quite figured it out. Between editing and launching my second novel, marketing both novels, learning how to use social media to promote my career, posting on Facebook and Twitter, starting a newsletter, struggling with my website, and beginning the third novel, which involves a good deal of research, I’m working as much as ever.
It’s a very exciting time. I do miss my students, but we manage to keep in touch. I’m finding that I have a love/hate relationship with the fact that I make my own schedule. That’s been the biggest challenge for me in these early days of rewirement. But over-all, I’m very happy and content. Thanks to a very supportive husband, great friends and loyal readers, I am on my way to the next chapter of my life.
Annie Crow Knoll: SUNSET
Annie Crow Knoll: Sunset
Return to Annie Crow Knoll . . . a place where people come to restore their spirits, heal their pain and reclaim their lives.
Nate Bidwell blamed his mother Annie for his parents’ divorce. Buried hurts and resentments between mother and son make Nate reluctant to risk his heart when his childhood friend Beth Ann offers him her own. Instead, he allows himself to fall in love with the fragile and dependent June, and Annie’s opposition to their marriage reignites years of unresolved conflict with her only child. Nate swears that he will never return to Annie Crow Knoll, his family home on the Chesapeake Bay. Instead, he opens his dream restaurant in Manhattan and tirelessly works to build his career as a chef.
When near-tragedy strikes their lives, though, Nate is forced to return to the one place he hopes may save his wife: Anne Crow Knoll. There, surrounded by the love and support of his mother, their friend Packard and Beth Ann, Nate and June face their doubts and fears about themselves, their marriage and their future. In the beauty of this Chesapeake community, they find hope and healing.
Annie Crow Knoll: SUNRISE
Annie Crow Knoll-Sunrise is the story of a place where people come to restore their spirits, heal their pain and reclaim their lives.
Annie is a determined young woman who is left to run her family’s property after the death of her parents. Managing fourteen summer cottages with only the help of a family friend, she struggles to survive on her own. When she meets Drew, a young college professor, Annie thinks she’s finally found a love she can trust.
But years of conflict and pain destroy their bond and leave Annie alone again, unless she can find lasting peace and passion in the most unlikely arms.
In this family saga, love, loss and history twine together the people whose lives are changed by Annie’s determination and the magic of her knoll nestled along the head-waters of the Chesapeake Bay.
August 28, 2014
Cover #Reveal for Annie Crow Knoll: SUNSET

Return to Annie Crow Knoll. . . a place where people come to restore their spirits, heal their pain and reclaim their lives.
Nate Bidwell blamed his mother Annie for his parents’ divorce. Buried hurts and resentments between mother and son make Nate reluctant to risk his heart when his childhood friend Beth Ann offers him her own. Instead, he allows himself to fall in love with the fragile and dependent June, and Annie’s opposition to their marriage reignites years of unresolved conflict with her only child. Nate swears that he will never return to Annie Crow Knoll, his family home on the Chesapeake Bay. Instead, he opens his dream restaurant in Manhattan and tirelessly works to build his career as a chef.
When near-tragedy strikes their lives, though, Nate is forced to return to the one place he hopes may save his wife: Anne Crow Knoll. There, surrounded by the love and support of his mother, their friend Packard and Beth Ann, Nate and June face their doubts and fears about
themselves, their marriage and their future. In the beauty of this Chesapeake community, they find hope and healing.
Annie Crow Knoll: Sunset will be released on September 14th. . .
Pre-order your copy NOW at a special 99 cent introductory price
Amazon, iBooks and Smashwords
And don’t miss the beginning of Annie’s story in
Annie Crow Knoll: Sunrise
Available at Amazon, iBooks, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords and Kobo
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Gail Priest lives in New Jersey and summers in Maryland on the Chesapeake Bay with her husband and their cockatiel. In addition to writing novels, plays and screenplays, she loves theater, reading, birding and being out in nature.
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August 9, 2014
Full Moon Kayak Trip
August 19, 2013
ANNIE CROW KNOLL: SUNRISE Promotion and Giveaway Tour!
Annie Crow Knoll-Sunrise is the story of a place where people come to restore their spirits, heal their pain and reclaim their lives.
Annie is a determined young woman who is left to run her family’s property after the death of her parents. Managing fourteen summer cottages with only the help of a family friend, she struggles to survive on her own. When she meets Drew, a young college professor, Annie thinks she’s finally found a love she can trust.
But years of conflict and pain destroy their bond and leave Annie alone again, unless she can find lasting peace and passion in the most unlikely arms.
In this family saga, love, loss and history twine together the people whose lives are changed by Annie’s determination and the magic of her knoll nestled along the head-waters of the Chesapeake Bay.
Purchase – AMAZON/BN/SMASHWORDS/PAPERBACK
Gail Priest lives in New Jersey and summers in Maryland on the Chesapeake Bay with her husband and their cockatiel. In addition to writing novels, plays and screenplays, she teaches and directs in a high school performing arts program. She loves theatre, reading, birding and being out in nature
Follow Gail Priest on Facebook / Blog / Literary Addicts / Goodreads
We are giving away 5 swag packs (water bottles, key-chains, and bookmarks)
Follow the Tour
Annie Crow Knoll: Sunrise Characters and Setting
This is my first blog ever, and the fact that it’s on my author website is a dream come true. So welcome!
Readers have remarked on the significance of the setting for Annie Crow Knoll: Sunrise. When I am writing, the characters’ environment and how they are responding to it gives me a lot of information. Sometimes I see the characters in a particular setting (Packard’s Schoolhouse Studio, down on the dock, in a particular cottage) and then I wait to see what they are doing and hear what they are saying to each other. Other times, I hear the characters talking, and I have to wait to see where they are or I have to decide the best place to put them for this conversation. The setting affects what they are doing while they talk. I see them like I would characters in a movie or on a stage setting.
As an actor and a director, a character’s environment is a very important choice to utilize. For example, if I’m acting in a role and the setting is a kitchen, I might play with my silverware if my character is anxious or embarrassed. I could grab a dish towel and snap it playfully at another character to flirt or to joke around. I might make a cup of tea to soothe myself or to soothe the other character. Because I work this way as an actor, I see my characters like this. I place them in an environment so I can discover things they’ll use in that setting to support what they’re saying, feeling, and experiencing.
For example, when Packard is painting and someone enters his School House Studio, he may respond to that other person with his paint brush. He could keep painting. He could stop painting and clean the brush. He might drop the brush right on the floor. These choices give the reader a good deal of information. Also the reader can feel more a part of the environment and understand the characters by seeing how they respond, in this particular story, to the Knoll and the bay and the birds. We know right away that Grace and Annie are going to connect because they both have pet birds, and Grace is immediately ready to look for owls with Annie.
I’m so glad that you checked out my website and this blog. I hope you enjoy the book!