Another Lucy Moment - Lunch

This proves I don't have writer's block because my mind is in constant whirl, often causing me not to focus on the task at hand.  So there I was serving my husband his lunch.  Mmm - Crockpot chicken drizzled in BBQ sauce, three bean salad and a third bowl, which I don't actually remember putting in front of him.
 
When he calmly asked, 'Is this cat food?', (not sure of the punctuation here, but that's what my book editor corrects), I stopped mid-stride on my way back to the kitchen and returned to look down into said bowl. By jingo, it was! 
 
Had I been paying attention  and not thinking of the book signing I was to attend that afternoon on our pretty Victorian downtown Centre Street then segueing into the phrasing for the end of chapter 21 in Mark of a Man, I'm sure I would have served him the dog's food he prefers.  

Returning Iowa Friends

At a recent book signing, I was pleased to see Joan and Donna from Winterset, Iowa.  They are already GOODBYE LIErs and are anxious to read Mark of a Man, #3 in my Amelia Island's Goodbye Lie trilogy.  Stay tuned, girls...



Joan and Donna

Making the Mark- Character Names

As I've said before, I like to use different, old-fashioned sounding names for players in my Amelia Island's Goodbye Lie Trilogy, set in the 1880s in Florida.  BUT, they must be universally pronounceable so all readers are thinking the same name as the story unfolds.

I have three new background characters in Mark of a Man, volume #3 in the series. (Each novel stands alone.)

Juniata- first name of the secretary for the fictional Dunnigan family's Aqua Verdi Passenger Line company.  I saw an old graduation announcement from Juniata College near Altoona in Pennsylvania. There is a Juniata river in central Pennsylvania, too.  I like the flow of the sound of the four syllables when I say the name.

Jency- first name of a Dunnigan character by marriage.  Her involvement promotes much angst from misunderstanding...  I recently heard someone talking about their relative by this name. Different and old-timey sounding, I think.

Perpetua- first name of a baby in Mark of a Man.  I changed the baby's original name to this, but won't tell you what that original name was lest I hurt someone's feelings who has that name.  I heard Perpetua while watching the History Channel.  She was a Christian martyr who died in the Roman Coliseum for not renouncing her faith.  While the name carries a rich pedigree, I thought, why not give it to the baby because this saint was, after all, once a baby, too. It's a beautiful name.  Here is a link with interesting facts about Saint Perpetua. - http://saintperpetua.com/Groups/1000004967/Saint_Perpetua/Perpetua_The_Martyr/Perpetua_The_Martyr.aspx

The sources of my characters' names are random.  I don't seek the names.  They jump to within my hearing and what a joy it is for me as I stop, listen and adopt them into my fictional family of characters.

Goodbye Lie Diaries - Breelan

2012
Fernandina Beach, Florida

Jane Marie writes:  I saw on Facebook that it's National Brothers Week. If you have a brother, like I do, then you are truly blessed. What a great idea to tell the world you love your brother, but more importantly to tell your brother!  Love you tons, Bobby. We're proud to claim you as an honorable man and sailor who is the patriarch of our Harkins family.

Bob aka Bobby Harkins

***

1880s

Fernandina, Florida

 

Breelan Dunnigan writes:  National Brothers Week sounds wonderful to me. I have a baby brother. He is my one and only brother and his name is Jack Patrick Dunnigan.  He is grown now and likes us to call him Pat, so we mostly do.  Having no one to compare him with, he is a good brother, I think.  Yes, he's a scrapper and is often in trouble, but he also always fesses up, even if he isn't the culprit. Why he took the blame for me when I ate the last fried chicken leg Peeper was saving for herself.  Had it been Aunt Noreen's chicken leg, she would have been all over him. Not Peeper. She loves Pat so much, it was like he had done her a favor.  She thanked him "fer akeepin' her from gettin' a belly ache from the grease of it." I think Pat just might surprise everyone and do great things some day. We can always hope so, anyway. 



 

Jack Patrick aka Pat Dunnigan

                                                              
(Breelan and Pat Dunnigan and Peeper are players in the historical Amelia Island Goodbye Lie Trilogy set in 1880s Florida. - www.GraciousJaneMarie.com )

Making the Mark- Atlantic Telegraph Cable

Yes, dear readers, I'm still researching and double checking my facts for the upcoming Amelia Island's Mark of a Man, book #3 in my Amelia Island's Goodbye Lie trilogy.  When will I make an end??? Hopefully sooner than later.  What I found interesting today was that the first transatlantic telegraph cable was completed 1866 and it is sometimes called the Victorian Internet!

Being unschooled in this matter, I wonder how many spools of cable one ship could hold?  How many supply ships would have to feed the main ship laying the cable?  How was the weather? How deep did it have to go to rest on the ocean's floor? ( 2 miles deep) How long was cable across the Atlantic? ( some 2000 miles long.)  How much research was done to find the best path across the ocean? You can find some of these answers at http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-transatlantic-telegraph-cable-completed and http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F20E11F638551B7493C4A91783D85F4C8584F9. This is only some of the info out there just waiting to be read.

It is fascinating questions like this that take me from my mission, which is to complete the final edit of Mark of a Man.  Please believe me when I say I woke on my story every day because I love doing it!  And, most of all, please be patient.  Thank you!