Doublewide | Ann Goethals: Writer

The Doublewide

Preorders are open!

Candy Schein has always kept her head down—life’s easier when no one’s looking. But when she finds a mystic blue doublewide, oversized and on sale, she sees a chance at something more. To claim it, she’ll have to face the world: mortgages, permits, small talk, and asking for help.

The Doublewide is a quiet love story—about home, self-reliance, and the unexpected opening of a heart.

"Like a literary genie, Goethals breathes such life into The Doublewide's heroine Candy that her hope and dreams become yours--and you must devour the whole story to discover if she can possibly fulfill them."

- Gail Siegel

Short Stories

Nothing fancy, nothing experimental: just narrative composed with a sharp eye focused on the frequently passed over.

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Personal Essays

Creative non-fiction? memoir? reflection? fictionalized non-fiction? Definitions change: the point here is to convey the truth about living in a world of cataclysmic change.

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Ever more evidence that making, living, breathing, sharing art will save our souls. This from the Puntadas del Alma exhibit at the #museumofmexicanartchicago a collective of women who have joined together to "share stories and create quilts."
The methods are mixed, the boundaries are crossed, the beads and buttons and stitches and fabrics are sewn together to make worlds. Don't miss it.
#chicagoquilters #pilsentreasures

New Substack post: “Losing The Doublewide”
I lost 27,000+ words of my novel. Ninety pages. Gone in a frantic click.

But in the loss, I found something.
I found out how much I cared about the story.
I found out I still wanted to tell it.
And that’s where the real rewrite begins.

Read the full post here → [https://anngoethalsauthor.substack.com/p/losing-the-doublewide]
(link also in bio)

#LosingTheDoublewide #WhatIFound #WritingThroughLoss #SubstackWriter #StartAgain #NovelInProgress #WritersOfInstagram #AnnGoethals #TheDoublewide #DigitalDisaster #WritingCommunity

✨COMING SOON ON SUBSTACK✨
In my frenzied “select/delete/select/delete” rampage to free up Google Drive storage… I deleted it.
The book.
My novel.
Gone.

27,000+ words.
90 pages.
Years of work.
All because I didn’t want to pay $1.99/month for extra storage.

Post drops soon: grief, rage, and the weird calm that comes when you realize you might have to write the whole damn thing again.

#writinglife #novelwriting #authorfail #googlefail #lostmanuscript #amwriting #substackwriter #writingdrama #digitaldecluttergonewrong

New Substack post: “This Guy I Saw Last Weekend”
I was marching in Chicago—“No Kings” signs overhead, a crowd full of grief and grit. Then I saw him. Not him exactly, but Marcos—a character from my upcoming novel, Sheltering in Place—standing in the flesh.

Marcos first appeared in The Doublewide, but in this next book, his story expands: a CNA, a son of migrant farmworkers, someone who never had the luxury of “sheltering in place.”

This piece is about the people we protest for—and the stories we write to protect them. Fiction and reality blur here. But the stakes are real.

📖 Read it on Substack - link in bio
🛠️ And meet Marcos before the book drops.

#newbookalert #shelteringinplace #thedoublewide #fictionfromreality #writingasresistance #proteststories #immigrantrights #labornarratives #substackessay #anngoethals #activistfiction #marchmemoir #writingcommunity

Here’s a snippet from “The Doublewide”, available for preorders today! Link in bio 💫

#thedoublewide #bookrelease #preorder #indieauthor #booktok #missionpointpress #courage

🚨PREORDERS ARE OPEN🚨

Candy Schein had always kept to the middle row—quiet, unseen, undisturbed. She learned early that the world found fat girls funny, so she stopped talking to it. Head down, shoulders low—it was easier that way. No pinching waistbands, no sharp edges.

Then she saw the mystic blue doublewide. Oversized, discounted, and stunning—it was, improbably, perfect.

But claiming the home means stepping into the world: mortgages, permits, contractors, small talk. It means asking for help—and sometimes, meeting someone’s gaze.

The Doublewide is a love story. A story about home. About making a life. And, to Candy’s surprise, about a man.

📖Preorder link is in bio

#thedoublewide #bookpreorder #indieauthor #homeiswhereyourheartis❤️ #doublewidedreams #bookswithbackbone #fixerupperfeels #notyourtypicallovestory

🌟IT’S HERE!🌟
The cover is OUT in the world and I couldn’t be more thrilled to finally share it with you! 🤩

This story means so much to me and I’m excited to share more about it in the upcoming weeks.

You can preorder the book today! Link in bio 🔗

#indieauthor #booklaunch #coverreveal #missionpointpress #bookstoread #newbookalert #newbookrelease #womensfictionauthor #comingsoon

⏳ COUNTDOWN: 2 DAYS TO GO ⌛️ #

We’re getting so close…the cover unveiling is just around the corner! June 5th is the day — TOMORROW — can you guess the vibe? Drop your predictions below 👇 ✨#booktok #coverreveal #booklovers #authorlife #northernmichigan #countdown #novelwriting #somethingspecial #countdowntojune5 #creativewriting

✨COVER REVEAL COUNTDOWN✨
It’s almost time to share something I’ve been so excited about — the book cover for my novel “The Doublewide”! In just 3 days (June 5th), the full reveal drops.
Mark your calendars, tell a friend, and stay tuned. This one’s special 💫
#coverreveal #booklovers #countdown #novelwriting #authorlife #booktok

. Stella is in doomed-to-fail-and-not-graduate percentage range:56%….

Read my latest post on Substack. Link in bio.

Some dreams are built with courage and community. Others? With Good Wi-Fi and 3AM Googling. 💻

Read my latest blog post! 🌟 Link available in IG bio or on my website.

#googling #fictionthatfeelsreal #howtobeahuman #introvertlife #author #authorlife #blogpost #writingprocess

And here we go!!!! Please follow me on my FB author site as well so we can get this party started! And thanks for all the love and support as I make my way into 21st century publishing!

#doublewide #northernmichigan #booktok #bookstagram #missionpointpress

On his third or fourth trip to the podium at the Oscars, Sean Baker made a plea for INDEPENDENTS (not a typo). Independent cinema, bookstores, publishers, artists, thinkers, creators. The world is filled with creatives and to produce/publish/survive in this brave (hmm increasingly skittish maybe?) new world, we need to find new paths, new roads, new ways to get out there. Let's redefine going low. Let's call it local, neighborhood, community.

So, I'm just getting up to speed (at the Medicare MPH mind you) on social media and how to navigate this crazy world and this pops into my feed (feed? stream? river? cataract?) Bear with me.

Head to my website if you want to hear some radio love:
https://panngoe.wixsite.com/ann-goethals--writer

some springtime dreaming #northernmichigan

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The Doublewide

Preorders are open!

"Like a literary genie, Goethals breathes such life into The Doublewide's heroine Candy that her hope and dreams become yours--and you must devour the whole story to discover if she can possibly fulfill them."

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