New Scholarship Demands a Rewrite

After several weeks of deliberation, I have decided that I'm going to rewrite my book series, "So Faithful a Heart" to reflect the most recent scholarship and discoveries concerning my main character, Nancy Storace, that have come to light in the past few months. It's going to require a complete reworking of many of the main plot points in the first book, and some additional information added to the second book. I've also decided that instead of dividing it up into two books in one volume (as it is now), I'm going to make it one book divided into three parts. My goal with this rewrite is to make more of the impact that her experience as a survivor of domestic violence and sexual abuse had upon her life, career, and relationships and how she not only survived the trauma but triumphed over it in an age when the lasting physical and emotional damage that domestic violence wrecks upon a person's life was even less understood than it is today. And although Mozart will still remain a central character in the story, I'm taking "The Love Story of Nancy Storace & Wolfgang Mozart" out of the subtitle and making the focus of the book about Nancy's personal journey and less focused on the relationships with the men in her life. I rewrote the first chapter tonight. I'm hoping to have it completed by the end of the summer and ready to publish by the end of the year.

There have been some fascinating new discoveries and scholarship surrounding the loss of her voice and the cantata that was composed for her in celebration of her return to the stage after the loss of her voice. And because of my experience as a vocal pedagogue, as well as my work in the field of domestic violence/sexual assault, I have unearthed a reason for the loss of her voice that has eluded historians. I'm the first to make the connection between her experience as a victim of domestic

violence and the loss of her voice as well as the permanent damage that she sustained to it, as well as other physical and emotional scars that plagued her for the rest of her life. I want my novelized account of her life to reflect these new discoveries and connections.

I will be dedicating this rewrite to all the survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault throughout history, as well as to my colleagues at the center/shelter for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, where I now serve as the sexual assault advocate/educator.

So Faithful a Heart: Book III, A Prequel

When I finished the second book of the So Faithful a Heart series, I thought the story was finished, until someone came to me recently and asked when I was going to write the book about Nancy's childhood. The first book began in 1783, when Nancy was seventeen years old and getting ready to go to Vienna, where she had been hired as the prima buffa of Emperor Joseph II's new Italian Opera company. It wasn't long after I published it, that a friend came to me and asked if I was going to write a second book about the rest of Nancy's life. Out of that was born book II, When Love Won't Die, and I believed then, that it was truly finished.

Now I have been challenged to write a prequel, turning the two-book series into a trilogy. I've decided that it will begin in the summer of 1765, just before the Mozarts, who traveled to London in 1764 with young Wolfgang and his sister, Nannerl, leave to return to their home in Salzburg. Eight-year-old Wolfgang meets Stefano Storace who gives him lessons in the bass violin and is so impressed with the Mozart children that he decides that he will raise three-year-old Stephen and his then unborn child (Ann), in the same manner as Leopold Mozart raised his two "wonder children". The story will follow Nancy through her early years and her first Italian tour up until 1783, just before she leaves for Vienna, as well as following Mozart through his travels in Italy as an adolescent, his courtship and breakup with Aloysia Weber, and his courtship with Aloysia's younger sister, Constanze. All of this will serve as a lead-up to their meeting upon Nancy's arrival in the Austrian capital city and Mozart's desire to compose an opera for her that will make the Viennese stand up and take notice.


In this book I will introduce several new characters including, the young English musical prodigy, Thomas Linley, Stephen and Nancy Storace's Italian father, Stefano, Mozart's older sister, Nannerl, and their father, Leopold Mozart, as well as reintroduce the reader to Nancy's dear friend, Michael Kelly.

I'll keep you up with the developments! This may prove to be the most challenging and exciting book yet!

Of Press Kits, Photo Shoots, Sell Sheets & Sequels

This week has been exciting and at the same time confusing and exhausting. Over the last several days my partner S.K. Waller and I have been learning some of the ins and outs of marketing a book and we've been trying to implement some of the things we've learned. One of the most important things we've discovered is that a Press Kit is absolutely essential for the successful marketing of a book and without one, an author can never hope for their work to take off. So, with that in mind, and realizing that it could cost thousands of dollars to put together a professional Press Kit, Steph, (who has done this kind of thing before with her own music career), put together both of our Press Kits in less than a week complete with professional quality photos, Press Releases, Sell Sheets, Title Sheets, and all the other things that are needed for a successful press kit. She is now offering her services professionally at Alla Breve Books for any author (or soon-to-be author) in need of a professional Press Kit, at very reasonable rates.

In the meantime, I've been working on the sequel to So Faithful a Heart: The Love Story of Nancy Storace & Wolfgang Mozart, which is entitled So Faithful a Heart: When Love Won't Die. I've finished the outline and am now writing the synopsis and doing a little more background research. This novel covers the period between 1791 and 1817, and encompasses a different time in history than the first book, most importantly, the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon, so the setting has changed just a bit. Mozart is every bit as much a part of this story as in the first book, but his presence is felt as a "ghost" (figuratively speaking), that haunts Nancy's memories and her life and threatens to come between her and her other relationships. It promises to be every bit as compelling a story as the first and I'm extremely excited about it!

So Faithful a Heart: When Love Won't Die

Yes, that's what it says; I'm writing the sequel to So Faithful a Heart: The Love Story of Nancy Storace & Wolfgang Mozart. It's the rest of the story beginning from the point of Mozart's death until Nancy's death twenty-six years later. Filled with all the longing, tenderness, and passion of the original story, When Love Won't Die tells how Nancy goes on, all the while trying to forget her love for Mozart but discovering that no matter how much she throws herself into her career, or even into the arms of other lovers, the love she shared with him keeps coming back to haunt her.

Projected release is late summer of 2011.

The Video Trailers

Introducing the new video trailers for So Faithful a Heart: The Love Story of Nancy Storace & Wolfgang Mozart.