Blog Archives

When a Name Becomes a Character

3/28/2020

I chose the name Vivian for the heroine in Compromised into Marriage because I thought it had an elegant sound. It could be Vivianne or Vyvian. But I picked the common spelling of Vivian because I wanted the readers to feel she was someone they might know.

For the hero, his name became Everleigh...because that just seemed to fit him. Someone who was going to be there for...ever.

And, Ella Etta's name was first mentioned by my husband when his family tree was being discussed. I didn't ask for the specific year his relative was alive, but it wouldn't surprise me if it is authentic to the time frame of the story.

Hope you enjoy the characters as much as I did, except I hope you hate the women who stepped in front of the carriage. And, I hope you like Vivian's damage control!

Daniel Defoe's Eye Witness Account

3/25/2020

I searched online to find A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe,

People started dying of a "distemper" or "Spotted Fever".

Many people left town, and Defoe was uncertain whether he should leave or not. He was unmarried, but considered that he had a family of servants and his business to look after.

When he half-decided to go, he realized there wasn't transport available. No horses to rent or buy. His married brother was leaving and implored Defoe to go as well. At one point, the servant Defoe had been planning to travel with took matters into his own hands. He left without Defoe. Finally, Defoe decided he should stay, a decision he regretted when he was in the midst of the sickness unfolding around him.

He also noted that theft from the unoccupied houses of people who'd fled wasn't unheard of. And, he realized that other people tried to profit from the disaster by selling medicinal concoctions.

In one area, women and children weren't allowed to attend the funerals of people dying of the plague. Trustworthy people were appointed to check out the residences where illnesses were suspected. If confirmed, the houses were to be shut up for a month, with the occupants inside, and two watchmen outside.

One watchman worked during the night. The other during the day. If they had to leave their post, they were to lock the door. They had padlocks. These watchmen were also responsible to get necessities for the people inside, either from their own pocket, or financial assistance would be provided. (Think houses with windows, and people inside not always voluntarily confined.)

The people in the houses were contained for a month, and after everyone was deemed well, they were not allowed to sell any belongings of a deceased person for another month, and only then after the items had been treated with smoke and perfume.

—I had to stop reading at this point.. The version I was reading was a scanned version of an original copy, and not easily studied. Later, I found the Project Gutenberg copy which is clear and well-done, and I've included a link below. (If you're not familiar with Project Gutenberg and you're confined to your house, now is a good time to check it out.)

My takeaway from the book is that people 370 years ago, although unaware of germs, were little different than we are. Some were in such terror that they tricked the watchmen so they could escape their houses, with possible fatal results to their friends who might shelter them.

Another takeaway is our extreme good fortune to have more resources and knowledge than people had in the past.

Gulp...then later I discovered the eyewitness account by the author couldn't be correct. He wasn't born at the time. Yet, nothing has been proven in error, and it's thought he used the information from his uncle's journals.

But please form your own opinion. Check out Project Gutenberg for a contemporary account of events of a plague in a previous era.
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/376/376-h/376-h.htm

Red Lipstick and an Attitude

3/20/2020

In my early childhood, my mother had a friend I did not like. I didn't like her. She had a boisterous laugh that you couldn't ignore, and perhaps a rowdy sense of humor.

She was the kind of woman who, if she didn't like that her husband was out at a tavern well into the wee hours of the night, would get dressed, put on her best earrings and brightest lipstick and go to the bar. She plopped herself down...not necessarily beside him. But with her laughter to the rafters, she could command the attention of the others there. Her quiet husband decided that perhaps it wasn't a good idea staying out later than he should have.

Over the years, my opinion of the woman mellowed greatly. I learned more about life and saw why my mother chose the other woman as a friend. The woman was hard-working, generous, kind to people she trusted, ready to stand up for herself when she believed she was cheated. And, yes, she had a laugh that rang loud, but she respected my mother's gentle spirit and toned it down around her.

And at her core, she had values that meant something.

That's a pretty good friend.

In some ways, my character Ella Etta is based on this spirit. A person who can spit in the wind and yet has an inner core of integrity...although Ella Etta's ethics are far worse than my mother's friend. Ella Etta might con a person out of a few dollars.

It was fun writing about her, and bringing a character to life that my mother's friend might like...although I think she would say, "She's too quiet."

Ella Etta Gets Her Day

3/17/2020

Compromised into Marriage is released today in the US, and I'm thrilled about it!! I really enjoyed writing the secondary character of the cantankerous older woman in the story, and of course, I had to do a huge amount of research for that! It was so time consuming!

I'm pleased Ella Etta gets to be in this story, and I'm planning future books with her in them. After all, she's a woman who believes she knows best for everyone in her family. And, she makes a good pot of soup...a skill I have never mastered.

Hope the story brings a smile to your face!

Compromised Into Marriage-The Outlaw

3/14/2020

If you read my previous post about outlaws, you'll possibly guess I grew up in an area that took its time having a police force.

As a child, I lived in a home without a phone. There was no calling for immediate help. Finally, the nearby town did get law enforcement, but my home was out of his jurisdiction. We could, if we went to the neighbor's house, about a quarter mile away, use their phone to call the highway patrol or county sheriff. You didn't expect a quick response at that time. For an ambulance, the wait was expected to be about thirty minutes, and they might have trouble locating the house because the mailboxes were the closest hope to an address, and sometimes the letters were faded.

For me, the character of Alexandria in Compromised into Marriage is an outlaw just inside the law. She's not the heroine by any means. She's the one you have to watch out for, the fly in the ointment, and the one who would strike first, and cry foul loudest when she didn't get her way.

Yet, she did have a more than fair ending. In fact, she would have considered it an acceptable ending. A losing moment when she realizes the game is over, and now her goal is not to let anyone win.

But, if she received what she considered an acceptable ending when she exits the story, then it was equally as important for me for the heroine to have a happy ending. She did. Happiness is the way to ruin a just-inside-the-law outlaw's day. Go for it!

Outlaws on the Move

3/7/2020

While at the Woolaroc Museum and Wildlife preserve in Oklahoma, this sign surprised me. But I should have known...

I'd once heard the story of a banker who'd been robbed. I didn't know him but I knew his wife who was kind to me when I was a child. She was well-loved, and the banker seemed well respected—even by the robber.

Someone else told me that the robber had claimed the banker was very calm and didn't get nervous, even at gun point.

I hope the robber met a bad end, although I suspect he didn't. I'd heard he'd hidden out not far from my childhood home.

This sign...is not terribly far from my childhood home.

Perhaps there was some truth to the lore.

Another bit of lore was that this area hosted an annual gathering of cowboys, retired lawmen and retired outlaws.

Supposedly, at the end of the feast, the outlaws, if still wanted by the authorities, were given a day of amnesty at the end for them to head back to their hiding spots.

If both the lawmen and outlaws were retired, that would hardly have been necessary but it makes a better story.