Once in a while, I have to sit back and count my blessings. Among them is a daughter who doesn’t mind if I bend her ear to listen to a scene I wrote. Her feedback is so helpful, and her responses are genuinely what I worked for.
I’m also grateful for wherever it is I get my inspiration for characters (there are several theories to consider). For the current work-in-progress (WIP), I’ve looked up settler and long-time Shenandoah Valley folk to borrow their surnames. They just fit.
When I started this crazy adventure story back in my late teens, I had no idea that a real family named “Owen” (no s) actually settled just across the mountain from where I plopped down my characters in Colorado Territory. I didn’t know that fact until thirty-some years later. I had no idea that the surname “Owen” was that of several Confederate soldiers who originated from the Shenandoah Valley. I had no idea I would eventually write about the American Civil War as it impacted MY Owen family.
Blind luck? Serendipity? Whatever I owe this whole shebang to, it’s very special to me, and I’m grateful for the experience.
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