My name is Corey Schaffer, and I was asked by author Jennifer Sienes to share a little about myself. You might say I’m a figment of her imagination, and I suppose you’d be right. The truth is we’ve been on this journey together for more than ten years, so she just might know me better than she does you. I play a significant role in her novel, Illusions, which will be released on April 28th.
I’m got quite sure what she wants me to share, so I’ll just start with the easy stuff. My full name is Coraline Renee Schaffer, but no one calls me Coraline except my father, and it’s usually in a tone that brooks no argument. You’d think I could reach the ripe old age of forty and not still feel like a child always being reprimanded in his presence, but you’d be wrong. He walks into a room and I morph into a pre-teen.
That may be why I have such a soft spot for my son, Michael. He and my husband Paul seem to bump heads more often than not, and I usually end up being the buffer. Okay, to be completely honest, I always end up being the buffer. Michael is more like me than he is his dad. Most people wouldn’t know that, though. I’ve learned to stuff a lot. I’m a stuffer and Paul’s more of an exploder. Do you know what I mean? I just want peace, so I don’t say anything that may cause an argument. Paul, on the other hand, lets everyone know when he’s disappointed in them.
Don’t get me wrong, Paul’s a good man. He’s a good husband and father. But I think living in a fishbowl all these years is starting to get to him. Placerville is a small town—not Mayberry small, but small enough that being a pastor here comes with everyone being up in your business. So, when Michael messes up (and believe me, he does) Paul gets a lot of heat from people who feel like he’s incapable of pastoring a church when he can’t even control his son.
Michael is fifteen. He has a great heart and keeps me laughing. I have a hard time being upset with him for long, because he can usually charm his way out of trouble. Taylor, our seventeen-year-old daughter, is closer to her dad. She’s always been a Daddy’s Girl. I think it’s partly because she can’t relate to me as well as she does Paul. And maybe, (I’m speculating here) it’s because she doesn’t have a lot of respect for me. I’m just a glorified housewife.
I kind of understand Taylor’s attitude, because when I was her age, I felt the same about my own mom, which is one reason I was determined to have a career. I grew up in Clarendon Hills, Illinois, which is a suburb of Chicago. Mom was a housewife and my father ran an insurance company in Chicago. He’s a take-charge kind of guy where Mom is more heart and soul. I have so much more admiration for her now than I did growing up. Kids can be pretty clueless when it comes to their parents. My father and my older brother Brian never got along well. They make Paul and Michael look like something from a 50s’ sitcom by comparison. Brian escaped to Japan years ago, and only makes the occasional appearance.
I guess I got off track. Sorry. Back to my determination to have a career. I attended Wheaton College, which isn’t far from where I grew up. It’s a Christian college with an amazing liberal arts program. My best friend, Tricia, also went there, but for a business degree. We were joined at the hip from the time we were in elementary school. She now lives in Carmel, and I’m fairly certain she moved out to California to be closer to me, but that’s a whole other story, and I’m rambling enough as it is.
I met Paul at Wheaton College—he was a year ahead of me and was getting his degree in biblical theology. We got married the summer I graduated, and before I could find a teaching job, I was pregnant. In Paul’s mind, mothering and teaching don’t mix. I’ve done a lot of substitute teaching, but Paul seems to think that working outside of the home with a “real” job shows him in an unfavorable light with his congregants. I could argue, but if you remember I said earlier that I’m a stuffer. So, now instead of doing what I’ve dreamt of doing since high school, I’m running the women’s ministry at the church. Not really in my wheelhouse (I think that’s the expression everyone’s using these days) but I can’t seem to make Paul understand how important teaching is to me. I guess I want something for myself. Something that isn’t attached to being a wife or mom.
Don’t get me wrong, I love being a mother. My kids are probably the best thing I’ve ever done in my life. But now that they’re in high school, women’s ministry just isn’t enough for me. Taylor graduates soon, and she’ll be off to college. Maybe once the kids are out of the house… until then, I’m doing what I can to make the best of a less-than-perfect situation. I really shouldn’t complain. My life is good. There are no surprises and no dramas. I should just count my blessings, because in a blink of an eye, things can certainly change.
Illusions is now available for pre-order. The ebook is only .99 until the paperback becomes available on April 28th. If you pre-order the ebook, you will also receive the novelette Gilded Cage, a prequel to Illusions, as a pre-order gift. If you prefer to have the paperback copy, Gilded Cage will be included with it. Once you pre-order the ebook, be sure to fill out the necessary form to receive your pre-order gift.
