“When Kenzi decides to take a whirlwind trip to Italy-to work at an archeological site-she has no way of knowing that she’ll dig up far more than just priceless artifacts. She’ll also unearth a more authentic version of herself. The Treasures We Seek is a warm, thoughtful, and powerfully quiet story of self-actualization. Readers who struggle with prioritizing their own needs instead of everyone else’s will find much to love in this book. So will readers who appreciate breaking out of routines and trying things that are wholly and thrillingly new. The Treasures We Seek shows how letting our insecurities crumble like shards of pottery can be the first step in seeing everything finally come together.” -Stacey Elza, Author of Falling Lessons
From the Publisher: “Architect Kensington Ashbury loves her career and quiet life. Thanks to a rough breakup a year ago she has hunkered down in her comforts-mostly work, books, movies in her living room, and a glass of wine with her besties.
We’re supposed to be happy, though, right? So we should fill our time with what we love … even if it keeps us stuck in our comfort zones.
Luckily, Kenzi’s friend Lauren decides to shake up Kenzi’s world even if she has to throw her on the plane herself. Together, they trek to Castel Gandolfo, Italy, to take part in an archaeological dig, right before Kenzi’s work and family obligations are set to send her screaming for the safety of her couch. (But that’s pretty standard around Christmas, right?)
Together in Italy, they mine the Roman Empire’s past as Kenzi struggles to master her anxiety surrounding the upcoming family holiday and a huge project at work-the new headquarters for designer Divya Shanti.
Will the history buried in the earth help Kenzi make peace with her past and bravely step into a bigger, bolder life?”
More info About the Author: “Cori Wamsley, CEO of Aurora Corialis Publishing, works with business owners who have a transformational story to share and has helped over 200 people become authors. She coaches them to easily write and publish a book for their brand that helps them create a legacy and be seen as an expert while building a relationship with the reader. Many of the books that Cori has helped publish benefit nonprofits, including Alina’s Light, KindLeigh, The Backpack Program, and Young Adult Survivors United. Cori believes that books are a gift that can give beyond words and is proud to work with authors who want to benefit others with their writing efforts.Cori and her clients have been interviewed for a variety of podcasts, TV shows, and publications, including Dr. Phil; The TODAY Show; Tampa, Florida News 9; JET 24 (yourerie.com); The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; The New York Telegraph; Medium; Thrive Global; and more. Cori has 18 years’ experience as a professional writer and editor, including 10 years with the Departments of Energy and Justice and four years as the executive editor of Inspiring Lives Magazine. She also wrote ten fiction books and one nonfiction book and contributed chapters to two anthologies. Cori has been a contributor to multiple publications, including Brainz Magazine and Authority Magazine. She holds a master’s and bachelor’s in English literature and a bachelor’s in biology from West Virginia University. She lives in Pittsburgh, Pa., with her husband and two daughters. When she’s not helping others write and publish their books, she’s working on her next novel.Connect with Cori at auroracorialispublishing.com or on Facebook or Instagram at @CoriWamsley.
Author Site
The Treasures We Seek is a beautiful story. How did you come up with it?
Treasures came together in a completely different way from Braving the Shore, my last book. With Treasures, I felt so inspired to write a love story that was quirky and fun with Kenzi and Logan falling in love over various Christmas activities, but after I had the outline and a couple chapters, I knew something was wrong. I waited. I stayed busy with work and my kids. Then, in the summer of ’22, I was watching a documentary with my husband where we got to see skeletons from prehistoric animals unearthed in Italy. In my brain, I connected that up with all the ruins we saw when we had our honeymoon in Rome, along with a comment a friend from Italy had made. “Every time we start digging to expand the underground [subway], we run into ruins. They are everywhere!” The last piece clicked into place when I recalled a book I had read almost 20 years ago called The First Fossil Hunters, by Adrienne Mayor. She speculated that ancient Greeks and Romans were actually inspired to create myths about creatures like centaurs and griffins because they found bones and didn’t know what they belonged to. Of course they came up with a story to answer their questions!
I pulled out much of the middle of the story—a lot of Christmas activities—and sent Kenzi with her best friend to Rome for a dig instead. That’s where they ran into some really interesting people who love the past and learning about themselves as they find buried treasures. I still let the Kenzi and Logan story play out in the background via email, though.
The relationship between Kenzi and Lauren is remarkable. Did you draw on any of your friendships to create their story?
I have two of the most amazing friends who both challenge and support me in the same way that Lauren does with Kenzi. We’ve all done some inner work, working with coaches and analyzing our thoughts, fears, etc. to help us grow as business owners and as humans, so I kind of rolled all of that wisdom into Lauren.
I wanted Lauren to be someone who has clearly done a lot of healing work but also has work left to do, which is why I showed her becoming upset over something from her past <not spoiling the plot here!> when Kenzi accidentally brings it up. I didn’t want her to be perfect. She’s growing and changing just like Kenzi, but she may be a smidge ahead because she’s focused on it more.
We all get some anxiety around the holidays, especially when we’re tasked with being a host. Tell us about Kenzi’s family dynamics and if you used your own experiences to share her family with us.
Kenzi’s mother is a people pleaser, which I think a lot of women tend toward. She goes out of her way to do things that help others, even if the act of doing those things doesn’t bring her joy. She continues performing those services even if she isn’t thanked and her help isn’t appreciated. Her kids, Kenzi and her brother Declan, saw her modeling this behavior, so it led Kenzi to lean into people pleasing too. Plus, because of Kenzi’s rough breakup, she feels like she can’t “make people happy.” She thinks she ruins things and ruminates on that. It shows up at work when she needs others to approve her projects and on the dig site when she breaks a piece of pottery and freaks out that everyone will be mad at her.
I’ve personally walked on eggshells with my life because of some of the “people pleaser” training I went through when I was young. Always get good grades. Always follow the rules. If someone frowns, get back in line. I believe that we as a culture don’t intend harm with these ideals, but it ends up happening anyway. I try, in my house, to encourage creativity, trying new things and embracing the failure, and giving ourselves grace when we make a mistake. It’s tough being part of the generation that is switching over from judgment to acceptance and understanding and welcoming quirkiness and messiness and vulnerability, but I’m hoping that books like Treasures can help us and those in the generations to follow to keep going, be aware of our behaviors, and be braver.
The research you did was phenomenal! Tell us how you gathered so much information about Italy and archaeology.
The Internet. Really. This book wouldn’t have been possible 30 years ago without multiple trips to the library. Plus, I was able to contact a friend who moved to Italy so she could review the book (which I emailed to her, thanks Internet) to make sure I got all the cultural stuff right. She was a whiz with the food and wine, especially! Every time I had a question, I either searched online for the answer or asked her.
I also read chunks of The First Fossil Hunters to gather information about griffins and what the ancients believed about them. I plumbed every instance of griffins in the book for info that would work for my own. Lena, from the dig site in Treasures, is in love with griffin lore and archaeology, so I used a lot of that information for her soliloquies about them. I loved sharing this information! This is the sort of thing that inspires me and gets me thinking about what things are like for people other than me.
This is your 10th book! Congratulations! Does it get easier – “Been there, done that, I know what do to” or does it get more difficult – “I need to top my last book”?
It’s a little bit of both. I’m at a point now where I practically channel my books, once I have a solid outline that I’ve been playing with in my head for weeks. When I sit down at my desk, I read over the next piece that I’m going to work on and then start typing like I’m watching a movie and describing the scenes as they play in front of me.
My first book was way clunkier because I didn’t have all the techniques that I’ve honed and shared with my clients over the years. I wrote my first book when I was 24, and I’m now 44. A lot has happened since that first chapter!
With Treasures, I found myself comparing it to Braving the Shore because that was my most recent book and I felt like it was the best I had ever written. It was my first novel since having children, my writing had matured so much, and I wasn’t as judgmental of my own work, letting it flow out naturally instead of constantly reading and editing. Plus, in recent years, my journey as an entrepreneur helped me understand my own behaviors and the “why” behind them, so I was able to analyze my characters and give them backstories that would lead to certain lessons that they needed to learn in my books. Braving the Shore was excellent! Could Treasures possibly be excellent too? I would read something I wrote and think it was crap and couldn’t compare to my last book. Then I would let go of my judgment, read it, get excited, and know that it was good. It’s good in a different way, the same way that the beach and mountains are both beautiful.
How does being a publisher help when you’re writing you own books?
I always know who will publish my books! Ha!
Also, I’ve read all my clients’ books over the years, so I’ve learned a ton from their experiences and the stories behind their experiences. When I’m coaching, I have the opportunity to understand a book on a deeper level than most readers are privy to. That in itself has helped me with my writing because I can analyze behavior much better. It keeps me from being locked in my head as much as I used to be with my writing because I think about all the things that I tell my authors to think about. Who is reading this? What have they been through? What are they expecting from this book? Writing fiction is a little different from nonfiction, which I coach and typically publish, but basic tenets of writing a book are the same across the board.
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