Victoriaville resident Nicole Calouette recently launched her first book. Entitled “When the seasons speak to us”, it invites the reader to take a new look at the elements around them.
In a telephone interview, Nicole explained that she had had this project in mind for a long time. “I wrote the first lines in 2009,” she says. But it was when she stopped working in a residence for seniors, in May 2023, that she really started writing. This resulted in the book that she now presents on her own account thanks to the support of Carnets de Dame Plume.
“When the Seasons Speak to Us” is intended to be an accessible book, focusing on personal growth. “Our observations often bear truth. To check its extent, we just need to stop a little,” she explains. She wanted to offer a book that was easy to read and aimed at everyone. “I want to give another image of life than just watching it go by,” she hopes. Nicole wants to tell people, with her book, that we often look far away for what is in front of our eyes, like the seasons or nature for example.
When writing this book, the author was inspired by life in general, but also by thoughts and images that she took care to note down on small pieces of paper over the years. She then sorted these papers, according to the themes she addresses in her book.
“I have always loved observing life and the people I meet. Over the last 16 years, I have had the privilege of working and sharing my daily life with seniors. It was first of all by thinking of them that this project was born,” she confides.
The whole process surrounding this publication was a discovery for Nicole who compares it to a pregnancy, then a birth. “We have an idea that transforms and grows. Then the book comes into the world and we have to find a name for it, like for a newborn,” she exemplifies. Moments filled with excitement and fear, but which respond to a need to share with others. Moreover, having enjoyed seeing her words come to life on paper, Nicole does not rule out writing another book if she gets the inspiration. Now retired, however, she wants to give herself time to integrate the first and see how far it will go.
“It took 45 years before life brought me back to books,” she says, noting that in high school, she had thought about studying literature, but had branched off into another field. “Life reveals to us step by step where we should go, but we don’t always listen to it,” she laments.
“When the seasons speak to us” is available on the website lessaisonsdelavie.com, at Buropro Citation, at La Feuille enchantée, at the flash boutique at the Hôtel-Dieu d’Arthabaska and at L’Inspiration.
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