July 27, 2020
What elements from your life are woven into your latest book?
Spoiler alerts ahead!
Harmony Duprie isn’t me. The more of her stories I write, the more that becomes clear. But there are pieces of my life in her character.
Let’s start with a few things about her that are totally not me.
I didn’t want to go anywhere that required getting on a plane. Flying freaked me out.
I’d never had a bad experience on a plane—at least not that I can remember. But there’s something about hurtling through the sky at thirty thousand feet trapped in a tin can without a parachute that bothered me. If Eli lived on the West Coast, our relationship would have been doomed before it started. At least his place in Florida was within driving distance of Oak Grove.
from The Baron’s Cufflinks
Anyone who knows me in real life knows that I have no fear of flying. I used to travel for a job. I once made three trips from Florida to California in the same month. (A different place each time.)
But there are other parts of my life that Harmony echoes. Once upon a time, I wanted to be a librarian. I actually got to be a librarian for a while. But life happened to both of us, and she became an internet researcher while my life headed a very different direction.
The apartment that Harmony lives in? It’s modeled after the apartment on the third floor of a house an aunt and uncle owned. I never got to go there because they had the same renter the whole time I was growing up. So I created Harmony’s setup based on my interpretation of what it might have looked like. In fact, visiting Oak Grove is like visiting the town I grew up in.
Then there’s Harmony’s take on Florida.
Scotty handed my phone back. “We’ve been keeping an eye on the weather. If we don’t get out of here in the next few days, we’ll be stuck when the next system moves in. And our job here is done.”
“Besides,” Lando said. “I’m tired of the cold and snow. I’m ready to get back to sunshine and sandy beaches.”
“And tourists and mosquitos,” I joked, hiding my dismay.
“You can come play tourist any time. If Eli is gone, I’ll kick out my roommate and you can stay with me. I’ll take you to all the fun places he won’t. Like coleslaw wrestling.”
“Are you kidding me? Coleslaw wrestling?”
“Yeah. Women in skimpy bikinis fighting in a kid’s swimming pool filled with coleslaw. I bet you could beat any of ’em.”
He was right. Eli would never take me there.
from The Contessa’s Brooch
Harmony picks on Florida often. Like me. As I say, I lived there too long. Throw in hurricanes and humidity, and you have all the major reasons I don’t live there anymore.
Here’s the big spoiler alert. If you don’t want to read it, scroll to the bottom.
In the next Harmony mystery, I take her out of Oak Grove and plunk her down in the middle of Florida. Where she has to deal with all the above…maybe. I haven’t decided about the hurricane yet.
I felt like the Bandit in the Cannonball Run, except I headed south instead of West. I made the drive to Florida in eleven hours when it should have taken fourteen spread over two days. Partly because I started while it was still dark and missed rush hour traffic through Pittsburgh. Partly because I stuck as much as possible to the interstates and didn’t do any sightseeing along country roads going through West Virginia. Partly because I didn’t run afoul of any officers of the law.
Dolores helped, sensing my urgency. Each time I pressed the gas pedal, she responded with a growl of joy. And I swear she used less fuel than normal, because I didn’t have to make as many stops as expected to refill her tank.
Coming soon, The Ranger’s Dogtags
And that’s another way Harmony and I are different. I would never speed. Never.
There’s plenty more ways Harmony has borrowed from my life, but that’s enough for now. Let’s head over and see what parts of their own lives the other authors on this hop incorporate into their stories. Just follow the links below. (And don’t forget to leave a comment, if you are so inclined.)
Until next time, stay safe!
July 27, 2020
What elements from your life are woven into your latest book?
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from her, and grinned. He was all alpha male. The short buzz cut made it hard to tell, but she thought his hair was brown to match his eyes. His broad shoulders strained the seams of the tailored light blue cotton shirt he wore, and his chest appeared to be all muscle, no fat. He had a strong face, and stubble on his chin. She avoided the urge to scan the rest of his body. Dot caught a glimpse of a second man, almost as good-looking, seated in the passenger’s side of the jeep. Another day, another time she might flirt with the guys, but not today, not now.
I giggled as Lando adjusted the support stockings. They hid the thick bandages he had wrapped each leg with to make them appear fatter. “Luckily it’s getting chilly outside,” he said, handing me a heavy sweater. “The more layers of clothing you wear the less you resemble yourself.”
Well, not entirely. I cut it way back. The original is too long to include here, as it was an entire chapter and more. The final version only included Harmony, Eli, three bad guys, and the one person of questionable intent. Harmony still got to throw her stiletto heel at a bad guy. It promptly got lost in a drainage ditch. (If anyone is interested, the revised scene is part of The Baron’s Cufflinks.)
direction than I planned to go. When I wrote Wolves’ Knight, I had a love interest all planned out for Tasha. Big, burly, good looking, the perfect match. I even wrote the beginnings of a love scene. That’s when Tasha rebelled.
For example, my first cover didn’t have a picture of a man’s naked chest. None of my covers have. In my opinion, they are overdone and boring. I also made my main character a woman instead of a man. In a paranormal, wolf-shifter story with a strong romantic element, that’s not playing by the ‘rules.’ I can’t claim it as a true romance because it contains no sex scenes. 