Follow-up with Lea Tonin!

For those who were not on FanStory last year, a new member by the name of Lea Tonin caught my eye with her absolutely fascinating true story of what she and her two younger sisters had to endure throughout their childhood at the hands of their vicious stepfather and unplugged, complicit mother. I did an interview with her (check out my Portfolio, “Interview with…Lea Tonin"), and now, because of all that’s happened in her life since, I wanted to do a follow-up.

So, Lea!! It's been less than a year since our last interview, and OY!! How your life has changed!!

Hi Rachelle, yes, very much like riding a roller coaster with just one hand on the railing. Take one wild swing, and you could fly off into the abyss!

Hahaha! Now THERE’S a vivid analogy!

Let’s start with the biggest news first: Tell everyone about what happened with Book One of your trilogy: Ghost. And if you understate your accomplishments, be warned here and now that I will initiate my Jewish Mommie Bragging Syndrome on your behalf!!

As you know, I started out on FanStory and met you there. You saw one of the chapters I wrote, entitled "Enough," and sent me many great words of encouragement and advice on where to go once I'd written the remainder.

But I was scared. After I put out that first chapter, I left it sitting there for a while to “marinate.” But then you came along, offered your advice and help and then edited my whole book. So, with that encouragement in hand and my manuscript with my life completely bared on paper, I approached multiple publishing companies. To my hopeful, but very surprised self, McMillan picked me up!

 

They have been an integral part of this process and will continue to be, going forward.  

So amazing, isn’t it? Tell us where all the places are that it’s for sale.

Everywhere. If you google "Ghost by Lea Tonin," it gives you plenty of sites to choose from.

Oy!! It’s the dream of all dreams, isn’t it?

Okay. So, now let's get into the harrowing fallout for you in terms of your family's reactions to this being published. Don't hold back any of the details.

Well, that's a story in and of itself and it will come out in my later books.

It started the way it always did whenever I tried to buck the system or be heard: by claims from my family that everything I was saying was made-up. This was followed by stories concocted by my family that were designed to create doubt about my truthfulness and tarnish my reputation.

Next, I began to receive text messages, emails and weird phone calls that all had pretty much the same thing to say:  "You should be ashamed of yourself, putting your mother in danger like that." Another favorite theme was, "You should kill yourself."

Soon, the death threats started. Almost every day, there were communications from anonymous people popping up in all kinds of places. The publishing date was pushed up by a week because of people’s efforts here in Canada to squelch having it published at all. I don't know who was involved with all that, but I don’t think it takes much imagination to figure it out.

We have a free-trade agreement with The States, so I’m not sure about Canadian publishing laws compared to the US as far as release dates go, but if there is no advantage, then nothing happens. The wheels just keep on turning.

I knew at the time that this would be my family’s push – their “test:” When they brought the storm, would I hold fast or crumble from the onslaught? I’ve had plenty of experience with their storms, so I was anticipating the push and pushed right back.  A week later, I was published.

I’ve always admired your pluck and indomitable spirit, Lea. You are a lesson in tenacity.

But you endured far more than mere threats on your life. You actually suffered through an out-and-out ATTEMPT on it! Let's hear all those truth-is-stranger-than-fiction details.

One late spring morning, I was coming out of a lake campsite where I had pitched a tent and settled in. I was driving out to go undergo dental surgery in town when a vehicle with no plates, a beefy-looking crew cab and a camouflage paint job came by me from the opposite direction. The gruff looking man in the driver’s seat stared right at me then immediately cranked the wheel, which startled me, since it’s a rural road in rural country with just one way in and one way out. As he spun, it made his vehicle skid across both lanes and barred my path. I had no time to brake, so I couldn't help but T-bone him and crunch the front end of my car! 

I was freaking out, trying to understand what was going on and what this person was trying to do. Since there was only one way out, my options were now very limited. Obviously, I had to get out, but how, when I was in the middle of nowhere?

 

He took off down the road ahead of me, so I hurried to get out, too. I followed at what I thought was a safe distance behind him, but at a particularly curvy point in the road, I came around a sharp corner and there he was again – at a complete stop in my lane. Once again, I had no time to stop and forcibly rear-ended his vehicle.

My only hope of escape was to get over the bridge and into town, where the police station was. He attempted to cause sixteen additional collisions, which I was able to avoid, but number seventeen did me in.

He pulled his emergency brake while I was behind again, still trying to keep my distance. But this time when we collided, it totaled my car with me and my dogs in it. My air bags deployed, and I lost consciousness for a few seconds, most likely a result of the whiplash I sustained that jogged my brain and knocked me out.

When I woke up, I could hear people talking and somebody was knocking on my window. I looked up and immediately started to cry. The inside of my car was smoking! It was all around me, and in order to get me out, the first responders had to use the jaws of life! One very nice person on the scene took care of my dogs as I was being put into an ambulance.

I remember saying, “He made me hit him! He made me hit him!” over and over to the police who came into the ambulance to take my statement.

The other driver had left the scene, but there was a dump truck that had come up the hill, just as the camouflage truck was leaving, and it recorded the footage of it on a webcam.

In the hospital, a police officer came to charge me for operating a vehicle in a dangerous manner, and once again, I kept reiterating that the other driver had made me hit him. I couldn't stop.

The charges were finally dropped, thanks to the webcam footage, but my insurance company decreed that rear enders are always at fault, regardless of circumstances.

All the police ever said about my assailant was that he may or may not be affiliated or associated with people from my family.

 

Oh, that’s helpful!!

How absolutely HARROWING!! I’m so sorry you were put through this!

And now? Are you safe yet?

That's a complicated question, one that I’m always wondering about, myself. Currently, I'm being followed every day by four red vehicles, all the same model and same year. Each is occupied by only one person. They position themselves in front of me, on the side of me, behind me. I see them all over, and they don't make it a secret, either. Once, in front of the grocery store, they lined up like ducks, and all of the drivers just sat there  staring at me as I exited with my groceries.

.

I've been receiving death threats from a very popular group demanding cash or they will send people to collect my life instead! They advised me to “Be smart, pay the money and stay alive.”

I’m sure you’ve contacted the police about these invasions. What have they done in response?

Oh, yes. Afterward, I received a phone call, an anonymous one with a private number. The person said, “The family owns the ministry, the ministry owns the government, and the government owns the police. The police own whatever they choose.

So, what I believe is of no consequence. What they believe – well, that’s something else altogether.

Wow!! So infuriating!! And it’s exactly like what you experienced when you were little and sought help from the adults around you and why no one ever interceded on your behalf. I’m so sorry, Lea.

And now, someone has gone into my social media accounts as well as my business pages with my PayPal and my bank accounts. All the information my phone had on it was hijacked, and my roster of fifty thousand followers was destroyed. These were people who counted on me and who now I can no longer help by promoting what I'm trying to do.  It’s all been destroyed by a person (or organization) who has no trouble causing pain. I'm still fighting the mess that was created by this.

Ugh. These people are RELENTLESS!! How do you keep your wits about you with all this happening?

I was thinking about that earlier, but in a slightly different way. I was originally imagining I’d be bombarded with a feeling of fear that would just overtake me. But, instead, I just became angry - no fear, just that instant rage that helped me survive as a child.

Well, it’s certainly served you well your entire life. A lesser person would be sitting in the corner, sucking their thumb and rocking by now, but you choose to double-down and get your Ferocious on, instead! Grr-ARRRR!!!

Do you sleep?

Honestly, not a lot. Two or three nights a week, I don't go to sleep at all. It's a combination of a desire to keep writing and moving these books forward, but some of it is caused by my territorial feelings, too, and the need to be on guard. I always make sure my doors are locked and that things are secure. And I even keep a hatchet in my room.

Oooh! Very Daniel Boone of you!!

You also had to move a vast distance – literally thousands of miles - from where you were a year ago. Give us the story of that life change.

I was getting a lot of pressure from my family and other people. Lies were circulating like flies on a carcass, and it seemed as if everybody had something to say. A lot of it was done behind my back, but some was to my face. Then my family managed to turn my sons against me. They somehow convinced my boys that the stories in my book were all made up and not real in any way. When my sons confronted me, I heard the words my mother and my grandmother used come tumbling out of their mouths. Obviously, I knew where they had come from. It was quite chilling.

I had kept much of my story – and all the things that had happened to me as a child and teenager at the hands of my mother and grandmother - away from my sons. I didn’t want them to know those ugly details, and now I’m not sure they ever will. I know that neither of them has read my book, and at this point, I doubt either of them ever will. It leaves me with no choice but to love them from a distance and hope that, one day, their eyes will open. 

All of this came crashing down on me in the city. Everyone believed the lies they were being fed and turned their backs on me. My mother left me out on the street with nowhere to go, so I had to get out of the valley and away from all that negativity as well as the fear-inducing comments and the terrible things people were saying. The opportunity came up to leave – to just get away from it all without a word – so I took it.

They pulled out all the stops, didn’t they? But obviously, they never learn. It never worked on you when you were young, so of course it wasn’t about to work on you as an adult, either. You always just dig in and come back with renewed strength and singleness-of-purpose. I’ve known you less than a year, and I know that’s how you operate. How is it these people who are related to you don’t, I wonder!! Good grief!

Okay - let’s get onto a happier note here, my love. Describe what it's like to be an INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNIZED, PUBLISHED AUTHOR, replete with agent, publicist, advisor, and scheduled book signings.

Yes, there was a press release about myself and my book. This release went out to every publishing house every television station, every magazine and newspapers all over the world. They even released it among the  psychological community: the doctors who work with mind disorders, and those who explore questions and issues for clinical studies and provide tools for therapists to use! This, along with the press release, happened about a month ago. And as of just two days ago, Google now recognizes me. I'm not sure what that means exactly, but if you google Lea Tonin Author, you will see this come up kind of like a Wikipedia page.

A book-signing tour is a very likely possibility, but the how, where and when has yet to be determined.

One other amazing development is that Pegasus-Elliott-Makenzie in the UK offered me a very lucrative contract! They’re planning to re-do the publication both there and in Europe in a big way. 

Do you feel any different on the inside?

Through this process, a great wave of pain started to lift. I don't have to carry it anymore. I give it out to the world, and everyone takes a small, tiny piece of it so that my heart can grow lighter. Plus, the gift of being believed has finally come to me. Before writing my book, that was always something that was out of reach for me. But now it’s finally come. It’s like I've been holding my breath all these years, and now I can finally let it out.

The thought of what you experienced that way just guts me. The absolute travesty of that was what drew me to your story initially. I’m so glad that you would not give up and that now it’s bringing you peace, Sweet Lea. Your tenacity is the gift you bestow to everyone who reads this book, as well as the two coming down the pike.

So, do people recognize you when they see you out and about?

A few locals yes, but mostly not, and that's okay by me. Everyone in town just calls me “the author.”

How are you doing with the completion of books two and three?

Book two, Spectre, is almost done. I'm currently doing the painstaking task of editing as best as I can, and then I will forward it on for a professional one. Many readers have told me they’re looking forward to it, which always makes me feel so grateful. It’s pretty cool to realize I'm not alone anymore. Then comes book three, Apparition.

Has your "writing process" changed at all with all the status changes? Take us through a "typical" day for you now.

My writing process has not really changed. I still go through the mental exercises every time I set my mind to the task of bringing those memories up. I want to provide enough depth so that it reaches the reader, but not so much that I fall down that rabbit hole again.

I still start each chapter with the present day as a reminder to myself that the things I’ll be writing about are in the past. Then I get in touch with that Little Me, and we talk and come to an understanding that it’s time to pull out another memory. I go back there and talk about those memories, and then I return to the present again and explain how I felt throughout the process. It's a very delicate balance between feeling the emotions and holding oneself back from feeling them too strongly. I don't always get it right. Sometimes, after I've written a chapter, I realize I’ve been weeping without even knowing it.

What’s different now is that I must remain in contact with social media because people want to talk to me about my book. That’s something that’s been compromised because of having been hacked. But I’m handling it.

Also, I'm currently a moderator for a group called Higher Dimension, and I have a YouTube channel, which provides a good place for writers to be seen as well as heard.

.

So I give myself a lot of stuff to do; it keeps me from dwelling on the past.

What do you hope will come from all this exposure about the corrupt social services system in your country (Canada)?

I hope it will reinforce or reengage change within the ministry so that things like this do not happen to young ones anymore. I hope they all not just survive childhood but thrive in it. And if only one person gets something out of what I've written, then I've accomplished what I set out to do.

It's been quite the ride - all starting here on FS! You have become our poster model for Published Author Success Story! Any suggestions or advice to offer those of us who are looking at your meteoric rise and gaping with adulation and wonder?

A very wise person once told me, “Write about what you know; you can't go wrong there." I wondered, “What do I know?” But that was a dumb question because the answer was already there. So I guess I would reiterate that advice: write about what you know. Follow the writing process and allow it to flow as best as you can. Then edit and edit again.

When it comes to publishing companies, make sure you follow their requirements. You will get no's but if you don’t give up, you'll get a yes. It's just a matter of time, so keep persevering. Keep pounding the pavement, and most of all, keep writing. Keep talking. There's always going to be an engaged reader or listener.



These are great nuggets for us to digest. Thank you for having agreed to this follow-up interview even though your schedule is so busy. I knew you would be the kind of person who would never forget where she came from, Lea. You’re every bit as warm and gracious as you were from Day One. I hope you know we are ALL wishing you nothing but the very best, never-ending successes and, more than anything else, PEACE.

Thank you so much. I appreciate your kind words and everyone's kindness and encouragement along the way. I appreciate you all more than you can possibly know. I'm not gone from FanStory yet; I'm just very busy at the moment. I'll be back soon to share book two, Spectre.  And then, as I mentioned, I also have to complete book three, which I want to do with the help of all of you, my fellow FanStorians, because you are so great about providing the best comments and suggestions regarding my work. Without your helpful reviews last year, who knows where I'd be now! Thank you, Everyone, so very much.