Names and Dates

When a small orange and white kitten was hanging from our slider screen door in October of 2007, I knew his name immediately. I had always wanted an orange kitty named Marmalade. It was easy to work him into my first book To Love and To Cherish as Pastor Maggie's best buddy when she moves to Cherish, Michigan to pastor her first church. The real Marmalade sits with me every day as I write about his fictional life in the parsonage.

Coming up with names for the many characters who live in Cherish is fun work. Of course, several character's names are actual people in my life. All four of our grandchildren have found their way into Cherish. I'm excited for the expansion of the character of Addie (our granddaughter) in the third book of the series For Richer, For Poorer.

But some of the most fun is coming up with names to fit unnamed characters. I think about the personalities of these people, and then sometimes when I'm out walking or making dinner or feeding the birds, a name pops into my head.

I'm excited to work a new character into To Love and To Cherish before its re-release in December of this year (Pen-L Publishing). This will be someone who will give Maggie a little more to deal with as she tries to get her ministry in order and handle folks like Irena, Redford, and Mrs. Abernathy. I hope you will enjoy meeting Fitch Dervish the Cherish Building Inspector. He makes his return two years later in the fourth book For Better, For Worse. Poor Maggie!

To keep characters under control, I have a notebook in which I keep names, ages, and a few tidbits about all these fine people. I also use a separate calendar to keep record of everyone's actions.

To Love and To Cherish begins on June 1, 2014, the first Sunday in June. This book contains the entire first year of Maggie's life in Cherish.

To Have and To Hold continues in 2015 going from August to October.  Saturday, October 3, 2015 is a very special day!

For Richer, For Poorer picks up where To Have and To Hold leaves off. October 6, 2015. This book takes the reader from Cherish to Ghana in alternate chapters. Actual dates are important because world issues arise in real time. March 28, 2016 (the day after Easter) is where this book ends.

For Better, For Worse picks up on August 22, 2016. We'll see where it ends!

I like keeping these kinds of details written down. I don't know what other writers do, but this works for me. As I explore the backstories of different characters, (thank you to those of you who have asked about certain Cherish folks) I jot down specifics to keep track of who's done what.
Maybe I'm old, or maybe I've finally learned to write important things down. I know I'm unable to go to the grocery store without a list anymore!

These books are important to me. Besides sharing bits and pieces of my own life, I hope stigmas against clergy in general, and women clergy in particular, can be somewhat erased. I hope people who are unimpressed with organized religion can find a pew in these books, and see a group of people learning how to love one another, while trying not to embarrass God too much in the process.

I write this often, but I love going to Loving the Lord Community Church via my computer. I enjoy the characters who come from my fingertips. Saints and sinners all mixed together.

Names and dates are important, but I write from the heart. That's the joy of being a writer.

Now if you'll excuse me, Marmalade and I need to get back to work.

Once Upon a Time

A few weeks ago we joined friends, Pete and Priscilla, on our yearly visit to Stratford, Ontario. For those of you who also make this delightful trek, you may agree with me that to step out of the car in Stratford, is like taking a lovely journey into a time-gone-by. Our bed and breakfast is on a tree-lined street with flowers spilling their colors and fragrances from every garden. Our room is old fashioned with a fluffy bed, antique furniture, and a simple bathroom. The dining room is open and bright due to the large windows. There are bookshelves laden with classic books and trinkets from the different plays that have entertained so many. Fresh brewed coffee, a hot home-cooked breakfast, and freshly baked nighttime cookies add to the enchantment.

I don't want to jinx anything, but I have never met a rude person in Stratford. Ever. People are happy and polite and helpful. I take an hour-long constitutional each morning which brings me face to face with all sorts of folks as we watch swans, geese, and ducks preen, float, and count their young.  There are shops to explore, restaurants to enjoy, and some of the best literature in the world to be acted out on glorious stages for our pleasure.  It's like once upon a time time.

Over the last couple of years I've been told by a few people that my books remind them of Jan Karon's Mitford Series. It is an amazing compliment. Someone also told me they once read the Mitford Series, and that honestly, it was like reading a whole lot of nothing. Good to know. Humbling comments like that hurt a little, but I remember them and try to learn from them.

I love to write about small town life because it's fun and creative. I love to write about what I know and what I have lived as a pastor, wife, mother, daughter and friend. So I write about a sleepy little town called Cherish (based on Chelsea, Michigan), and an amazing church I was called to serve in 2004, The First Congregational Church. It was, and is, a lovely town full of good people, and few naughty ones. Being a pastor ultimately revolves around relationships. I've been invited in to the sacred and profane moments of parishioners lives. I am a keeper of secrets and a sharer of good news. I've baptized and buried babies. I've presided over holy matrimony, and then watched as divorce tore the bond asunder. I've also eaten cake at fiftieth wedding anniversary celebrations. I've held hands with those who made the final step from this life into the next. Ministry is a profound calling. Most of all, I've tried to bring the sacred and profane together in a holy, hopeful dance week after week. Being a pastor informs every word I write in my books.  For me, it's a whole lot of something.

The characters in my books don't swear a lot. I think that's okay. There isn't gratuitous violence. You would want to read another author for that. Maybe my characters have sex, but I don't write about it. My mother reads these books!

For me, to go to Cherish every day is like going to once upon a time time. Everything is not perfect and not everyone is on their best behavior. But somehow goodness keeps getting the upper hand. That's because I believe that to be true in real life. I believe in dark, dank tunnels with a pinprick of light at the far end. I believe we can give one another encouragement to love as easily as a license to hate.  I believe that through all the bumps and scrapes and dangers of life, there is an eternal happy ending.

To be honest, I suspect there may be one or two rude people in Stratford. I imagine there have been more than a few people who have chased the swans, geese, and ducks from time to time.  There's a good chance that other kinds of debauchery exist in this fairy-tale city. But I'll take my chances and keep showing up. I'll believe in the goodness I have witnessed.

And I'll keep on writing, even if some think I write a whole lot of nothing. Even if hopeful, happy endings seem boring and predictable. I like once upon a time time.  And I like happily ever after.

The Pastor Maggie Series - published by Pen-L Publishing (Pen-L.com)

To Love and To Cherish (to be re-released December of 2017 by Pen-L Publishing)
To Have and To Hold (available now at Pen-L Publishing and Amazon.com)
For Richer, For Poorer (to be released November 2017 by Pen-L Publishing and Amazon.com))
For Better, For Worse (to be released in 2018 by Pen-L Publishing and Amazon.com)
In Sickness and In Health (TBD by Pen-L Publishing and Amazon.com)
For as Long as We Both Shall Live (TBD by Pen-L Publishing and Amazon.com)