A Belated Nod

MY DAD, JOE

Since I missed saluting Father’s Day, I thought I’d give a shout-out to my favorite dad! Of course, it’s my very own, who passed away over thirty years ago. Although it’s been a long time, I can still see his smile and hear his laughter. Joseph Emile Herpin, “Joe” to his friends, and “Emile” to family, had the best sense of humor and kindest heart of anyone I have ever known. He was a great father, a good friend to hundreds, and someone who would, and without a moment’s hesitation, give you the shirt off his back.

In my newest novel, RELATIVE CONSEQUENCES, the protagonist, Jesse Blanchard Tate, has a father, Elijah Blanchard, who resembles my own. I couldn’t help it. That gentle man, hard-working man, and loving man somehow became a character depiction in my story. It just felt right. Although I allowed Eli Blanchard to exhibit his own personal flaws, I believe the character’s heart never wavered even at the end of the story.

Last month in my June Blog, “A Row of Ducks & Katherine Nichols,” I described a few things I do to prepare when writing a novel. Not everyone does this, but I’ve found a groove doing the work.

It was number 4 on the list – profiling each character using a Character Personality Worksheet, sparking my imagination while introducing me to who they are, their likes and dislikes, their negatives and positives, etc. This step is time-consuming, but necessary before I can really write the story. Sure, I’ve made scribbles and notes in gobs of notebooks, but before I can put them together and make sense of anything, I create my characters.

On that note, Elijah Blanchard’s Personality Worksheet ended up looking very similar to what Joe Herpin’s would have looked like. Except for one or two important items on the list. Now, unless you’ve read RELATIVE CONSEQUENCES, you won’t know what those items are. If you have read the book, then you know what I mean. Therefore, I guess you’ll have to read it to find out. J

In my August blog, I will dive into Jessy’s childhood friend, Rita May McAfee Rhodes’, and her character worksheet. In Relative Consequences, I consider her a semi-antagonist.

ARE YOU READING THIS SUMMER?

In the upcoming issue of my brand-new newsletter, Jody’s Journal, set to debut on August 26, 2022, one of the sections will include a review of a summer beach book that I am currently reading – Murder on Edisto by C. Hope Clark. I’ve always enjoyed mysteries in the summer whether reading on the beach or just hanging around in air conditioning. I plan on finishing this author’s entire Edisto series before September.

The author, C. Hope Clark, adores mystery, both reading and writing them. She hopes to write until her last breath and continues all three of her mystery series.

In late fall, she expects Book 9 in the Edisto Island Mysteries to be released, tentatively titled BADGE OF EDISTO. It is a crossover, meaning the protagonists of the different series meet each other; in this case, Carolina Slade comes to Edisto and assists Callie Morgan in a new investigation.

She’s been writing fulltime for 19 years, having taken an early retirement from the US Department of Agriculture where she learned to talk the talk of Carolina Slade, an agricultural investigator and star of her first series.

When she isn’t writing novels, she is coaching other writers through her FundsforWriters.com site and newsletter, the latter which goes out weekly reaching 23,000 readers. Her site has been chosen by Writer’s Digest for its 101 Best Websites for Writers for 21 years, and she often appears in their podcasts and publications.

She is married to a retired federal agent, whom she met on an actual bribery investigation with USDA. Known for writing daily, she often sits on the back porch overlooking Lake Murray in central SC to edit her stories, her federal agent at her side making sure she gets the technical aspects correct, a dachshund in each lap, and maybe a bourbon in hand.

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Don’t forget to check out my book, RELATIVE CONSEQUENCES, on the following sites: