Seriously, this is how it's done. I was literally just writing, minding my own business, which is precisely what I do, and my mind decided that Nick Posh needed to be even more colorful than I assumed. Oh, and by colorful, I mean literally; the guy's pigment is dark, smooth, and downright gorgeous. He's half-Native. He's the son of a Scottish immigrant, I knew that much going into the book, but I decided that along the way, his father, Albert, would meet and marry a downright gorgeous Cherokee woman (older than himself), and he just couldn't live without her. They meet, marry, and make a baby -- in that order. Nick Posh will have a few of the characteristics of a man I knew and loved in 1984; Dennis.
Now, if any of you know Dennis, please let me know where I can find the man because he all but fell off the face of the Earth in 1984, leaving me absolutely heartbroken. I was told by a good reliable source that Dennis was a material witness in a case that the Oklahoma Bureau of Investigations was working on (this was before we met). He had been needed in taking down a rather large operation. He was placed in witness protection, and I never saw him again. Before he left me, he managed to not only pay my rent for three months in advance, he saw to it that my food pantry was stocked, my refrigerator too, my utilities were paid, and he wrote me a note explaining that he couldn't explain, but that because he knew we were both Christians, our time apart would be temporary.
I didn't start out thinking about Denny when I wrote the first few chapters of the book. Still, as I wrote and needed to come up with a verifiable backstory, I wanted to include the history of my state, Oklahoma. You can't really do that without mentioning the Trail of Tears, the differences between the Native tribes that were present before the others arrived, and some of the conflicts which led to the state becoming the state with the most registered Native Americans in the United States. I can say plainly, that I don't have a drop of Native blood in my body, a fact that I don't relish. I was born here. My grandfather was born here! I did give Nick Posh my grandfather's birthday on November 19, 1890. (Little winks like that are in all of my books, actually.)
Where Dennis was/is Choctaw and Chickasaw, as well as being half Irish on his mother's side, my detective Nick is half Cherokee and half Scottish. His mother, Ama Deercreek, had given birth many years before Nick was born to a boy she called Charles Inola or Nola, and he'll make an appearance when it's time to bring him around. Today's surprise actually took me by the horns and threw me around the room. I had no idea where this was going to lead. Still, due to the many adventures of several Natives in both the criminal world and law enforcement world in my home state, there will be a few mentions of real and fictional events, which will all line up with the historical events taking place in the book. FUN TIMES ahead as I forge through Wikipedia and old Oklahoma history books to find bits and pieces to fit here and there. Think oil in the early part of the 20th Century! Think Land Runs!!
OK, so, Chapter 4 is done, and tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo! I will write Chapter 5 on that day for sure. I think I'll carry on and get Chapters 6 and 7 chiseled out as well so I can be up and running Saturday, with an agenda to write all day if I can. I want to be finished with this book in about 3 weeks so I can get it tweaked, fluffed, and stuffed. I won't publish it yet. I have to be working for that to happen. If I do end up staying off work the entire summer long, I'm hoping I can crank out Murder Book, 1211, Of Kilted Love, Pinball (the sequel to Murder Book), and my 2nd poetry book. It's an ambitious goal for sure, but I can do it. I may throw Stollen in there for grins and giggles, too. (Both Stollen and 1211 are just fiction novels; one is funny, and one is serious.) I have many sides.
For now, have a blessed one.
Photo Credit: Ebay.com
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