NOTE: This page under construction. Sorry for the chaos. I will post on the main blog when this book is published.
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Summary: The Second World War was not a time for the faint-of-heart. It was a time in which courage and honor was everything. And ordinary, everyday people faced the duty before them with courage... and became heroes. Follow the lives of five young people and the road that led them to change, adventure, sorrow, love, loss... and victory.
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| Myra Hayes |
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| Robert Hayes |
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| Slight resemblance to Ronnie... 🤔 |
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| Possibly Josh?? |
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| Emma Ruth Stewart |
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| Jerry |
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| Kathryn (Katie) Stewart (same person just a dif pic) |
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| Malcolm (Mac) Stewart |
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| Andy (left) and George (right) inspired by two real life heroes |
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| Rachel Cohen |
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| Michael (Mickey) Stewart |
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| Melissa (Lissie) |
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| Mary |
Just for fun... this is Rob and Myra when they were young (er)
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First off, I apologize. Really I do. I had fully intended to “design” this soldier in pertinent and relevant sentences only…. But then he fairly exploded into being a real person in my head…. and I was left reeling with about two pages worth of him! So he will require some threshing and much sifting, I’m afraid….
ReplyDeleteFeel free to blow away as much chaff as need be😆
He fought/ fights in D-Day. He has a tendency towards seasickness…. So he’s in the army.
23 years old, 6’2-and-3/4”, sturdy, but not really husky. An outdoorsman, by all appearances, and he won’t tell you otherwise…. Unless you ask extremely specific questions! He has dark brown hair, (with slightly fiery tints) green eyes, and a medium sized scar on the right side of his forehead that disappears up into his hairline…. ( it makes him look very striking, which is good, but then, he got it from a fall out of a treehouse at the age of ten, an embarrassingly un-heroic feat he keeps to himself😜 so he’s a bit of a mystery to some folks!)
His full name is Malcom Isaac Scott, after both of his grandfathers. Neither of whom he takes after, so he was nicknamed Mac (Mackie by his Mum) early on. Also “Cat”, by his army buddies, who teased him into revealing his middle name. Cat, as in “I-Saw-An-Angry-Cat”, because he has a flash fuse temper! And those green eyes. And he can see pretty well in the dark. Also because he just never looked much like a Malcom Isaac) Then again, he never stays mad long, his sense of humour generally gets the better of him in fairly short order. He wanted to be a pilot as a boy…. (Actually still does) Oh, but not just any ol’ pilot, he fully intended to be an American Wop May! ( yes, he was trying to fly when he fell out of the treehouse. In a machine he made. But don’t tell anyone, that’s top secret) He was turned down because his eyesight, and told to apply to the army instead.
He CAN be a good leader, but his way of “rallying the troops” is more “c’mon boys, let’s go show ‘em what’s what” approach then “AteeenTION”!! But when he buckles down and sets his mind to something seriously, it’s wise to get out of the way, or else start pitching in! And he mighhht be the slightest bit competitive…. He’s good at making everyone think that they got the long end of the stick, though (; He’s fair n dependable, if a bit unconventional in the bargain! He doesn’t let many people see it, but he has a deeply reflective side, despite all his boyish antics.
Family: He has a sweet, silvery birch-tree of a little mother by the name of Marjorie, who “was standing behind the door when the Scotch got their tempers”, but nevertheless gave him his…. (Did I mention he’s Scottish?)
As well as a bachelor uncle who stepped in to help take care of the family ( because it’s a honey farm, and Cat’s allergic to bee stings) farm when Mr. Scott Sr. died 6 years ago. he’s ineligible for draft because of an old knee injury.
Random facts: he doesn’t believe in making beds, so when he first discovered that regulations insisted on it, he nailed his blanket to the wall so it’d always be right where he wanted it! (Thanks, Little Uncle Izaac ;) Needless to say, this was also frowned upon😄
He abhors coffee.
He occasionally helps out when a medic isn’t available, and as big n rough as his hands look, he has a “butterfly” touch with the wounded….
Wowww... Boy, am I impressed!! I love him 😄 Oh boy do I know about characters becoming real or what!! Emma literally came to life. One day I was writing this normal boring, prosy character that I had invented to suit my needs and she suddenly was just like "You're writing my story all wrong. Let me show you..." And there she was... A living, breathing human being on the page... And so different from who I thought she'd be.
DeleteHe reminds me very much of Coinneach MacKinnon, an MC from a scrapped failure of mine... Yeeesss a Scot!!! I was secretly hoping for a Scot... Alba gu brath!! Ahem. Sorry.
He's got a bit of Ronnie in him too, it seems, and just for that, I'll probably make them army buddies 😄 In fact, you made him so three-d that I'll be including a lot more of him in the story than I originally intended!
So I mentioned a romantic possibility. He's more than perfect for the character I intended him for... Can't wait to start putting them together!!
Laughed so hard over his backstory and nickname 😆 I've been trying to rack up a nickname for Emma to tease Josh with... You make me jealous 😆 Funny coincidence, I've another (extremely minor) character in the book whose first name is Isaac... Isaac Cohen. I didn't mention him earlier because he barely appears in the book. In fact, he's only referenced by another character. He's a Jew.
Can't wait to get your Mac on paper... Honestly, thank you so much!! Love a fresh perspective!! And I've already got ideas swirling through my mind... Including the coffee and Josh is gonna have something to do with that 😆
One tiny detail, and I can come up with that if you don't want to... What state does he hail from?
Phew! To say the least, I’m absolutely thrilled that he fits😅 You are oh-so-very welcome!! I had a total blast with this, as you can probably tell (; (This is hands-down the best character review I’ve ever gotten, so Thank YOU ;)
ReplyDeleteOh yeah😄 It’s crazy, and incredibly amazing, and it feels like they’re as real as we are! Sometimes I get the feeling that they write US almost as much as we write them….
Okay, now you gotta tell me😂 What precisely does Alba gu brath mean? Judging from the way it was used, I’m assuming it’s something good!
I was thinking I should really ask about that! So in all reality, his middle name could be anything😜 I just decided on Isaac because it came with the part about nailing the blanket to the wall in real life😄 and because of Cat, of course (;
Speaking of nicknames, the first thing that popped into my head when I read about your looking for one Emma could use to tease Josh…. Was Josie, oddly enough! Weird, but I thought I’d share anyways😆
Ooh my goodness this is all so exciting…. ( that sentence belongs in a Penny-Basset squeal, but I feel a bit Penny rn😂) * Carefully refraining from pestering you about Miss Amour, but it’s HARD*
I can hardly wait to see how he settles in!! ESPECIALLY about Josh n the coffee (;
Oh yes. I thought of this fact right after I sent the comment….
So in the first place, he was supposed to have grown up in Montana, but then Mac-in-my-head gently but firmly insisted that this was all wrong. He’s from Minnesota, it seems! Anyways, he never did fit into the cowboy mold, so it’s probably just as well.
And hey, if there’s anything I’ve missed, I’d be more than happy to fill it in!
And now that it is very, very late here, and even later there…. I shall leave off and dive under the covers😜 ‘Night!
Alba gu brath is an old Scottish battle cry meaning Long Live Scotland 😄🏴
DeleteOh no, I'm keeping that middle name 😆 Heheh Josie is cute 😆 But not exactly what I need... I'll be puzzling that out for days. Something in the style of MJ calling Peter 'Tiger'..
Anyway. I wanted to ask... If he abhors coffee, does he like tea then? Or cocoa... Cause there's gotta be something...
I'll probably keep bugging you for things every once in awhile from now on... I wrote Mac for the first time this morning and I might show you a piece... He's very much alive in my head, but I've got to straighten him out on paper yet...
Here's a minor idea I got... His father served in WWI and his mother is a war bride from Scotland...??
Okay, I suppose I've got better things to be doing today. But I can't exactly think of any... 🤔 I mean... is there anything more fun than writing? Anyway, I went ahead assuming that Mac likes tea and sketched out a rough draft of a scene. Thought I should share it with you before I go any farther with this character portrayal, but keep in mind that this is a rough draft. Like incredibly rough. So sorry if it's cringe 🤔😆 Man, I've got so much writing and editing to do... the thought of it is exhausting... 😐😑
DeleteWithout further ado... the scene. Which is set during the beginning of the North African Campaign. I removed a few spoilers. 😉
"Feel like I haven't sat down in ages," Josh groaned as he plopped down heavily on the sand. Leaning forward, he carefully settled his battered tin mug of water into the ashes around the fire.
“Feel like I haven’t eaten in ages,” Ronnie pulled out his k-ration, tearing into the box ravenously. “I’m so hungry this stuff almost tastes good.”
“We’ve been in action for weeks now.” Dan lit a cigarette slowly, staring into the flames. “Does that make us battle-hardened soldiers now?”
“S’pose it does.” Mac reached out to touch the mug he had left warming by the fire and jerked his hand back, grimacing. “Too hot.” Using a crumpled, soot-covered handkerchief, he pulled it away from the flames. He fished around in the pocket of his coat, coming up with a rusty tin, opening it as if it held a great treasure.
“What’re you doing, Cat?” Josh looked up as he dumped a packet of coffee into his mug.
“Making tea.”
“Think I heard you wrong, Buddy. What did you say?”
Mac looked up at him, one eyebrow raised in sarcastic surprise.
“Tea. Ever heard of it? Pretty common beverage, enjoyed by millions of people around the world…”
“Hold it, hold it. I know what tea is. Why are you drinking it?”
“Because I like it.”
“So… why aren’t you drinking coffee?”
“Because I hate it.”
Josh’s reply was lost in the laughter that echoed around the campfire. Coffee was considered the most essential part of the monotony that made up the daily rations and the only thing that made said rations digestible. There was hardly a man among them who didn’t drink it every chance he got, taking fullest advantage of every last drop. Mac rolled his eyes, carefully stowing the little tin of tea back in his pocket. He missed the sly wink Josh directed towards Ronnie. Ronnie only grinned, leaning back on his heels as he drank his own coffee.
“Hey Cat, could you quick grab another can of water? This one’s out.”
“Sure, whatever.” Mac pushed his k-ration back into his haversack and rose slowly to his feet, stretching as he pressed his hand to his back and winced. “Man, I could do without another march like that one.”
“They sure like to put us through hell, don’t they?” Dan sighed dramatically at the usual canned spam and dry biscuits in front of him.
“Aw, you ain’t seen nothing yet.” Ken was stretched out to his full length, his chin propped in his hands, a lit cigarette dangling between his fingers. “Just think of what’s going on in Guadalcanal.”
“[Spoiler removed],” Ronnie frowned. “Kinda makes you think… [spoiler removed]…” He broke off, letting his words hang in the air. They were all feeling it. That nameless, obscure feeling of dread that hung heavily over them like a curtain. They couldn’t explain it, they couldn’t describe it. But it was very real.
Mac returned with the can of water, plunking it down in front of Josh.
Delete“If my tea is cold now, I’m holding you personally responsible,” he grinned as he sat down again. Josh did his best to suppress a smirk, bending his head in exaggerated concentration over his canned ham.
“Something funny?” Mac picked up his mug as the others watched him intently, trying to hold back their laughter. As he took a sip, a strange expression crossed his face and he spit it out instantly. The quiet chuckles erupted into boisterous laughter. Grimacing, Mac wiped his mouth on his sleeve and stared into the mug.
“How’s your first taste of real coffee, soldier?” Josh was clutching his stomach from laughing so hard. “You should see the look on your face…”
He never got any further. Mac had jumped up and stepped over the fire, not taking the trouble to walk around it. He grabbed Josh by his collar, dragging him to his feet.
“It was you, wasn’t it?”
“Guilty as charged,” Josh grinned.
“You guys realize what will happen if the sergeant sees you?” Dan called out as Mac tackled Josh to the ground. The others were roaring with laughter as the two tussled in the sand, squashing empty k-ration boxes and scattering helmets and other pieces of equipment left lying around.
“Okay, Cat, I give, I give!” Josh yelled as Mac pinned him down, laughingly
“You ruined a perfectly good cup of tea,” he spoke in mock anger. “Give me three good reasons to let you live.”
“Get off of me first and then I’ll tell you,” Josh groaned. “C’mon. You weigh a thousand pounds.”
“Not until you promise to give me all your chewing gum for a week. And that’s letting you off easy. That tea is worth twice that.”
“Okay, fine, you can have it all.” Josh conceded and Mac let him go. He lay still a moment, panting, still laughing so hard he could hardly catch his breath.
“Did you dump the tea out?” Mac picked up his mug and grimaced at the dark liquid inside.
“Maybe…”
Without another word, Mac walked over to Josh and solemnly poured the coffee on his face.
“That’s it.” Josh scrambled up, wiping his face on his sleeve. “You’ve forfeited your chewing gum. I’ll…”
“Alright, men, break it up.” The sergeant approached the circle. “Better get some rest. It’s late, and we have a lot ahead of us tomorrow.”
Delete😲 Woah….
I don’t know how you did it, Julie…. But you have in some mysterious way managed to capture the exact essence of who Mac is in my head!! Like, even the bits of him I couldn’t find words to write down. And totally made my day in the bargain😄Thank you so so much for the “preview”!
Here is me falling head-over-heels in love with all of them at once…. Because rough draft or no, this is priceless!! Every time I think of Josh’s “Caffeine Caper”, I burst out laughing all over again🤣 I’ll say this, I heartily look forward to getting to know these guys!
Good call on the tea😉 Y’know, I think it’s just coffee he refuses to drink🤔And of chocolate in any shape or form, he’s a fan of the highest degree, so also yes to the cocoa! Actually, as long as it isn’t served in a teacup, he isn’t that particular. (Getting used to having tea unsweetened has been a bit of a learning curve for him though, since he grew up with the whole apiary thing)
Bug away all you like😄 and then again, I definitely don’t want to hog him! Anything you’d rather pick for him yourself, go for it (:
And oh yeah, that’s PERFECT for Mr. and Mrs. Scott!
Oh, good! I'm so glad you liked it 😄 I had just loads of fun writing it too!! Lol, my favorite part is when Mac pours the coffee on Josh's face 😆
DeleteOne of the things I worry about in this book is getting the right balance. I don't intend to glorify or romanticize war, and I'm afraid some scenes will get a bit brutal.😐 (But not too much blood and guts and gore. I can't handle that kind of thing...) I want to be able though to properly balance the awful scenes with moments like this... The soldiers just goofing off on their downtime... Or like Mickey back home becoming obsessed with Der Fuerher's Face and singing it nonstop while marching around and generally driving everyone nuts. 😆
Anyway... A couple of things... Does Mac smoke? Since there was a much different view of smoking in that era and pretty much all the soldiers did... They had cigarettes in the k-rations. So I thought I should ask. Ronnie doesn't smoke, but Josh might, idk. Also, does Mac have any sibs?
P.S. Mac met his girl tonight 😉 I might actually be able to share the scene at some point because of the way it's written... I can safely do it without (major) spoilers.
😆Mine too😄 Justice is served a la Coffee face-wash, free today for all tea-meddle-with-ers!
ReplyDeleteThat’s the hardest part, isn’t it? Keeping it balanced…. I wholeheartedly agree with what you said about the, well, gore of battle, I can’t handle it either😆 But, and I know from your French Revolution stories…. you have a remarkable knack for tactfully portraying scenes like those without diminishing their impact, painting a vivid picture while at the same time not overwhelming the reader with gruesome details…. That was one of the first things that drew me to your writing style!
The in-between scenes are really the glue that holds it all together, aren’t they? Not just the story as a whole, but the men themselves…. I can just picture Mickey😂 and of course I had to go watch Der Fuehrer’s Face now ;)
He’s actually an only child…. But He had an older brother who died in infancy. (Sorry, I’m not trying to be maudlin! It’s just, now Mrs. Scott has started being kinda real too, and….Yeah)
Yes, he does smoke…. Sort of. Only on especially special once-in-a-blue-moon occasions, tho. And then mainly because it’s something that his father did, and with a pipe that also belonged to him…. So it’s more of a fondly kept tradition than a habit! (Maybe he unrolls the cigar, I dunno🤷♀️) He’s not good at keeping track of it though, so he mainly leaves it packed up as a precaution😜
Another thing that will inevitably come up in a camp full of soldiers that I just thought of…. Ahem. So. Mac may on occasion consume alcohol…. but he does not drink. Hang on, that makes no sense😆
I mean, he’s not too strait laced to take it as medicine, or give it as such…. But while he’s not vocal about it, he finds it a bit of an unnecessary-evil otherwise.
🥳Hooray!! This is wonderful news😄 I’d ask for a teensy tiny spoiler…. But seeing as I might get to meet her too, I won’t (: Suffice it to say, I shall be royally anticipating it!
Hm... Good to know! I forgot about those old FR stories... I'm afraid though that D-Day might be a bit harder to read than that. But it's currently not too bad, so I should be okay 😉
ReplyDeleteYes. Definitely. I want readers to get to know the characters so we'll and be so attached to them that they feel like people they know in real life. I'm sure you've noticed, but I'm going for an Anne-of-Ingleside-Rainbow-Valley-Rilla-of-Ingleside feel here...
Ooh! I accidentally just discovered a whole bunch of symbols on this tablet that I didn't know were here!! 😆 Behold:√π€¥¢£^≤≥≠©®✓∆
Ahem. Sorry about that. Lol, Mickey is just adorable. Think of him as your average, all-American raggle-taggle, harum-scarum boy. He loves mud and cowboys and soldiers and pirates, he climbs trees, goes fishing, antagonizes people, and occasionally tries to play hooky. But he's a good kid in spite of all that. Lol! Have you ever seen Der Fuerher's Face before? I love that 😂
Ah. Good to know. I'm starting to get a better picture of Mrs. Scott now too. Ooh, I was going to ask you about drinking! And yeah. That makes sense. Not a drunk, but drinks on rare occasions. I wanted to know because I came across an incident in my research where excited civilians in Europe greet the soldiers with hard cider by way of celebration. I had in mind a scene involving Josh and Mac and...um... Hard cider. So yeah. 😆
Oh no. No spoilers.😆 And I have to be careful or you'll either intentionally or unintentionally trick me into giving something away 😐😆 But yes. You can have that scene. Soon.
Yeah, I imagine so😆 I’ve been reading a few articles on it lately, and wow…. I had a hard time getting out of history-mode and focusing on modern day real life😅 It’s truly riveting, if not exactly a bedtime story!
DeleteNow I’m gonna have to see if my phone has them too😄 never seen some of those before!
Well, from the bit I’ve read so far, it’s working!! Yeah, I did (;
Makes it feel wonderfully familiar, but still so entirely new and thrilling… I love it! I keep being reminded of Jem and Kenneth in particular….
Aha, perfect timing then! So hum…. in that situation, I actually have no idea what he’s likely to do😄 I was just thinking of whiskey and the like…. Hard cider (or wine, or even champagne) never crossed my mind, to tell you the truth! And now I’m admittedly very curious, but I shall steer clear of asking impertinent questions🙃 When it comes to scenes with Josh and Mac, though, I’m all for it (; This Hard Cider sounds like a intriguing component😂
Ooh, Mickey reminds so much of….. someone. From a whole bunch of old Disneys, but I can’t quite put my finger on who exactly…. Huh🤔 This was my first time actually! And I think it’s safe to say it won’t be my last😂 Poor Donald…. What a nightmare to have!
I figured you’d say that😂
Don’t worry, I promise to be good (; No tricking!! Of the intentional sort, anyway. Not sure how to prevent the other kind😜 But I’m warning you here and now…. I look up every historical reference I find!! So as to understand their situation better, but still🧐
You don’t have to rush on my account😜I go a little gung-ho about things that excite me, but I really don’t mean to tease for it🙃
Oh boy. I haven't slept normally in days. I was in tears last night over my research. I'm actually... kind of... sort of... contemplating... watching Saving Private Ryan. With my eyes half-closed, of course. I've watched a couple of scenes already for research and WWII veterans have confirmed that it's the most accurate film out there. They say it doesn't get realer than that. Oh, the things I suffer for my writing!! I do actually want to watch it, but I'm scared half to death. Hacksaw Ridge is another one I thought of, but I'm pretty sure I won't be able to handle that one.
DeleteAw, I'm glad!! Yes, Jem and Kenneth exactly. There's a bit of each of them in both Josh and Ronnie... maybe even a piece in Mac too. 😏 Emma is about one-third each Faith, Nan, and Rilla. I think Katie is more Una, but with a bit of Nan and Rilla too.
Heheh... I'm having fun inventing all kinds of scenes for Josh and Mac (and all the others in their unit too, of course 😁) One of them involves a snowman with Hitler's mustache... but that's all I'm saying 😆 Speaking of which, I found some footage of the Allies discovering the remains of Hitler's bunker after the war has ended. One of them puts on a fake mustache and starts screaming gibberish violently in an absolutely hilarious imitation of Hitler 🤣
I've watched Der Fuerher's Face at least three times since I started research... and I'mma watch it again tonight 😆 Consider it my way of blowing off writing-steam...
Ah, don't worry. I'm gung-ho about sharing my writing 😜 The only reason you're getting this scene now is because it was already written, so I didn't rush. It's rough though. No editing so far... 🤨
So. A little about this excerpt. Remember when I asked you for a character and I said he loses his leg? So this is it. So I'm sorry if it's emotionally rough... 😔 I might have to tweak situations and locations a bit to make it more historically accurate, but Mac has just been shipped back to the USA to a military hospital.
DeleteThe crossing had been a rough and miserable one. It had seemed as if it would never end. Feverish, racked with pain, haunted by flashbacks of the Normandy landings, Mac felt as if he would never again know what it was like to live a normal life. They had told him that his leg was gone, but somehow that had never registered in his mind. He could still feel it as if it was there… burning with the worst pain he had ever felt. He never before had believed that such pain was even possible.
It was strange to be home again. By home, meaning the good ole’ USA. It could be months before he could return to the farm in still far-away Minnesota. They had brought him, along with hundreds of the severely wounded, to a hospital on Staten Island. Nearly two weeks had passed by now since he had landed on the shore of Omaha Beach. He had never dreamed he’d be in the US that soon afterwards. But then, it never had been part of his plan to get his leg blown off.
The hospital was quiet. Too quiet. In spite of the bustle of activity and occasional cries of the wounded, it seemed almost a dead, eerie silence after the explosions and machine gun fire and torpedoes of war. How long had it been since he hadn’t had the constant sounds of shelling in his ears? He couldn’t even remember. Life seemed all strangely blurred together, all his former existence buried beneath the all-consuming clouds of war.
The first night back was the worst he’d had in a long time. Maybe it was the stress of the crossing. The pain was terrible, but he suffered through it as quietly as he could. He grit his teeth, his jaw clenched as beads of sweat broke out on his forehead. His body shook as he fought to keep control. The scenes from that day when hell had become real swirled through his mind over and over. It was as if he was there again. Stumbling over the wet sand, tripping over the bodies of his dead comrades. He could hear the screams of the dying, rivaling the sound of the shelling. Men reached out to him as he passed, begging for help, their eyes haunted. They were blown to pieces, blood dripping from gaping wounds. He cried out in horror, running faster to escape the nightmare. At times, he was trying desperately to help them and yet there was nothing he could do. And at other times, he was a coward, running to hide. Stopping to help no one. He would run and run until he couldn’t run anymore, collapsing to the beach again and again as that awful moment was relived countless times.
Suddenly the scenes began to fade before his eyes, slowly returning to darkness. Someone was speaking to him… a female voice, calm and comforting. He could feel a gentle hand on his forehead, wiping away the perspiration. He gasped for breath, trembling as he focused desperately on her words, whoever she was. In the darkness, he could barely make out the outline of a figure in a white cap bending over him. He couldn’t see her face.
“It’s alright,” she murmured. “You’re safe now. You’re safe.”
“They’re dead,” he whispered wildly. “They’re all dead!”
“It’s alright. It’s over now.” She lay a firm hand on his shoulder, holding him down as he struggled to sit up. He fell back weakly, choking back a sob.
“I saw them die,” he moaned. “They died all around me… they were blown to pieces… blood everywhere… the water was red, the sand was red… I couldn’t help them.”
“Shh. Don’t try to talk about it now. You need to get your rest.”
“Don’t leave me,” he sobbed, reaching out to catch her hand. He gripped it tightly, afraid she would vanish and he would find himself back on the battlefields again. She must be a vision… an angel of some kind.
“I’m here,” she answered softly, gently running her hand along his cheek. “I’ll stay as long as you need me.”
Woah…. Are you really???
ReplyDeleteSaving Private Ryan?!
Methinks that is perhaps one movie best watched after a good night’s sleep! Or a few, just for backup in case you end up needing them…. I’d volunteer to watch it with you, if it would do any good! (Probably with eyes screwed shut 1/2 the time, and streaming the rest, but still!) Because I’m not altogether certain that this is the kind of thing you watch alone😆We could be scared stiff and have nightmares together! Well, simultaneously anyway😜
Eeh, Hacksaw Ridge…. I love the true story, but I didn’t even make it through the preview!!
Oh ho! I am so keeping an eye out for that snowman😆 (and looking up that bunker scene🤣)
Oh yes😰I remember…. Another thing I should have remembered is not to get so attached😭 Which I’ve never been very good at, so excuse me while I wring my handkerchief…. And try not to dwell on Omaha Beach…. Okay, I’m good now. Probably. Or I will be soon😅
And tears aside…. there’s light at the end of the tunnel! or at least a table with a lamp on it…. And wearing a cap! I love her already🥰 I’ll nickname her Nan until I know who she really is, I think! Because even visions must have names….
And now I have a, well, a question. Two questions, actually…. But only answer them if you safely can, kay? #1. Just how much of his leg does he lose? From the knee down? Up?
And #2. Is he 23 now, or 27? I guess it’s all in how old he was when the war began….
He might even have the tiniest glimmering of Walter, I think. Near the innermost growth ring of the tree’s trunk….
I'm still contemplating. I just watched the scene in which the Ryan brothers' mother gets THE telegram... and I'm still wiping away tears. Heheh... you don't have to watch it. I wouldn't make you go through that unless you're fully prepared to do so. 😏 The problem here is that I only have time to watch movies at night. So if I was to watch something like that, it'd prob be after all the sibs were safe in bed and then I wouldn't sleep at all the rest of the night. 😳 So anyway. If you really wanna watch it too, I'm thinking of doing it Friday night. So you can suffer through it on Friday too and we can talk about the horror afterward... 😐
DeleteAh... I watched a few scenes from Hacksaw Ridge too... including the "Let me get one more" scene and I am in awe. I've never seen anything like that in all my life. It's going on my list of greatest movie scenes of all times. Not going through with the full thing though. They say it has more carnage than SPR. How much you wanna bet Seonaid's gonna show up now that we're talking about Hacksaw Ridge? Because of Andrew Garfield, of course 😆 I wonder if she's seen it... 🤔
Aww... sorry for chopping up your soldier 😥 Ooh boy. That's a sentence I never thought I'd say 😳😆 But at least he's not gonna die. About this mystery girl, the soldiers in the ward have nicknamed her "the little angel". I love her too 😄 Yeah, you can call her Nan, and I can go on calling her by her real name which you do not know 😁 Sorry. I'm as bad as Seonaid. 🥴
Just from the knee down. And I was thinking 23 now, meaning he was around 20 when he enlisted. And honestly, if you want me to change anything, let me know! He's your character, after all!! Except the amputation does have to happen. One of the problems with writing is feeling like a merciless monster at times... 😣
Hm. That's good to know! I'll keep a piece of Walter in mind. 😊
Aaaaaand... I just bought a copy of Saving Private Ryan on prime. So it's official. Friday night it is. 😐
Delete
DeleteUm…. is anyone ever truly prepared to face war, I wonder? But…. I think I’m doing it anyway. Quite possibly. Whether or not I’ll end up majorly regretting it remains to be seen😆Friday night sounds perfect for pretty much all the same reasons here too, actually. So…. We shall see what we shall see! Except for what we don’t see on purpose.
Heh, yeah. My big brother has watched it, and he told me a bit about it…. And I think I’d appreciate the story more in book form😆
Hmmm, I’ll bet…. One Spidey-doll with all the trimmings!! Or I would if I had one, anyway😂 Hope she does, seems like she hasn’t really been on here in ages! 😆I literally did a double-take when I saw him, like that CANNOT be who I think it is!!! (I didn’t check out the cast first) And Surprise…. Spider-Man out of costume! Andrew Garfield was the absolute last person I expected to see in there….
That’s okay😅 You gotta do what you gotta do!
That’s what I was hoping…. About his leg, I mean! After all, you DID warn me before I “adopted” him😜 I’d just neglected to prepare myself for it actually happening!!
I was actually going to say thank goodness it was his leg, and not his arm or eyes, (he’d go bonkers if he couldn’t work with his hands) or his LIFE…. but I didn’t because I figured it might sound insensitive😅 So thanks for beating me to it! And I’m just going to assume that since Ronnie and Josh are main characters, they HAVE to make it. (don’t burst my bubble yet if I’m wrong here, okay?)
No, that’s perfect! I just realized that I hadn’t specified whether he was 23 at the start or the finish of the war, and was having the hardest time imagining him being in his later twenties, so I had to ask😄 Honestly, I can’t think of a single thing I’d change! And you’re the absolute farthest thing from a merciless monster (; It’s a war! These things happen! Anyways, how else was he supposed to meet Nan-to-me?
Yeah, that’s a definite Seon-ism right there😂
Something I keep wanting to ask you, and have forgotten to about 5 times in a row…. Have you ever read The Maggie Bright, by Tracy Groot? I know this isn’t really the time to suggest books, but…. I’m going to suggest and very highly recommend it anyway😜think you’d love it!
Sounds like a plan, then! Think I’ll just rent it, seeing as once might just be plenty for me😅 Never mind ghost stories
’round the fire, this is history…. And it’s definitely scarier! Cause it’s, uh, real. Okay, I’m gonna go before I start thinking too hard😆
So this is random.... Take a look at the picture I posted to the bottom of this page and tell me what you think of it... 🤔😉
DeleteAnyway. I'm kinda looking forward to Friday night now, in a totally terrified way 😁 I always promised myself I'd never watch an R movie... But after reading the parent guide, I think I can (somewhat) safely make an exception.
We'll, horrifying as it is, you really should watch that one scene!! I've hardly ever cried so much... It was amazing. And thankfully, dark enough that it was hard to see very much detail. Hehe, I did the same thing!! The first time I watched a scene, I was like, this guy is veeery familiar somehow. And then it hit me. 😆 Honestly, I think he does even better in Hacksaw Ridge than Spider-Man, from what I saw. I love the accent he uses 😊
That's what I figured. I wanted an amputee, mostly because I'm attempting to portray as many facets of the war as possible, but I didn't want to take away a hand or disfigure a face. (Have you seen The Best Years of Our Lives??)
About Josh and Ronnie, I will say nothing. Except that you never know. 🙃
Ooh!! A book recommendation!! Now those are always in good taste. And coming from a kindred spirit, tis something I'll simply have to read. 😁
Huh. Renting might've been a better idea. Oh well... I might want to go back for certain scenes, since I'm in full-blown writing mode now. Anyway, if I didn't commit to it and get it right away, I probably would've chickened out. 🥴 This way. I'll have to watch it. I spent fifteen bucks!
I think…. Are you thinking what I’m thinking? 😲 He kinda looks like…. dare I say it? Minus the beret and the queue…. a Somebody we both know quite well!! (Or am I jumping to conclusions and it’s someone else entirely?)
DeleteI know, right😅 Exactly!! And Common Sense Media also says 16 n up, and we’re definitely that…. So💁♀️
So…. I took your advice and watched it…. And well, if this comment is still a little damp, you can probably guess why🥲 I suffered the same reaction, as you can see…. And still had to go back and watch it twice just simply Because!
I agree! I feel like, in Spider-Man he was playing the character…. (Tho I’m no judge, I’ve only ever seen him in previews n music videos other than this scene!) And in HR, he kinda BECAME Desmond Doss. Okay, that just sounds crazy😝 but anyways. His accent makes me think of a lighter version of Alvin York’s!
Oh no. That sounds ominous…. And I shall hie me away quickly lest I come up upon something dreadful along this train of thought!
I haven’t, actually…. But that probably won’t be the case for much longer, because I looked it up…. And discovered that I kinda need to! particularly in light of Mac…. I’m tiding myself over with clips and scenes until I find time to actually watch the whole thing😅
Well I’m glad you think so😄
Let me know what you think of it if you do, eh? It’s one of my absolute favourite Dunkirk stories! (Ooh, I so want to introduce you to Murray and Mrs. Shrewsbury…) And probably the only one that could’ve made Milton (the poet) stick in my head, too😄
And here I thought you bought it for that reason in the first place! ( about going back for certain scenes, that is!) I know the feeling😆
Well, technically, it's a soldier from the Culloden documentary. But I've borrowed him because, well... This is my face for Mac. 😁 Is that what you thought? Or am I jumping to conclusions now? 😆 We're both being too cryptic here 😆
DeleteI love having visuals for characters. It's not absolutely necessary, but it helps bring them to life. In case you didn't already guess it. Josh and Emma are both pictured on the cover above and Ronnie... Well, I guess I can't show you that one... 😏 You'll just have to use your imagination with him. Mickey I picture as Opie from the Andy Griffith show. Katie I have to think about a bit... I haven't really started writing her much yet. And the others need faces too...
Anyway. I know!! Isn't it an amazing scene?? You know what. I'm this close 👌to actually watching HR. We'll see. If I survive SPR, then maybe. Maybe.
Interesting note... The soldier in The Best Years of Our Lives actually really did lose both his hands in the war. A real life hero. Also the PTSD nightmare scene in that film is what I based the scene with Mac and "Nan" on...
Well at any rate, we jumped in the same direction, and landed on identical conclusions😂 Yes, I was thinking Mac!
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean, it helps so much to have that! I’d been looking for “him” for awhile, so this is amazing🙃
😮I hadn’t even thought of it being them! So…. Am I allowed to construe things from this bit of information??
I’ve been using my imagination in Ronnie’s case for quite awhile already, and I’ve got a very definite “picture” of him in my mind (; He kinda looks like one of my cousins, actually!
I forget what Katie looks like at the moment…. Her description, I mean. What’re her key characteristics?
It really is…. So I’m interested to see how this plays out!
I took advantage of some unexpected spare time (there must be pros as well as cons to flu-days!) and watched The Best Years Of Our Lives this afternoon! (And watched the PTSD scene once or twice for Mac n Miss Nan, and again for Fred and Peggy!)
It’s such an amazing movie, too…. If it wasn’t for Fred’s wife (🤢) I’d say I loved everything about it! Homer and Wilma especially have such a true feel to them…. It’s not hard to believe he’s the real deal!
Awesome 😄 The first time I read your description, I instantly thought of that pic.
DeleteHeh... Well, you can construe all you like. But I'm not about to tell you whether you're right or not 😉 Wish I knew how accurate your mental pic of Ronnie is 😁 Wouldn't it be epic if we could take pictures of our imaginations?? Or if we could video, I'd just make a movie, instead of write this book 😆
Katie is pretty small... Golden brown hair and big dark eyes. She's got a bit of spunk like Emma but is more reserved like Ronnie. My notes say 'sweet and loving, she forms friendships with everyone she meets and manages to bring joy and comfort into many lives '. Considering the amount of characters and sub-storylines going on here. I'm not sure how much I'll be able to use her... But think of her as sort of a cross between Pollyanna and Una, with a generous helping of Rilla.
Oh, man, I love that movie! Fred's wife is so toxic I literally boo at the screen when she appears. I just wish it had been a broken engagement instead of a divorce, because that was one crazy mess!! While I love Peggy, that whole tirade about "I'm gonna break up that marriage!!" Made me mad 😏 anyway, I love Fred and Peggy as a couple. And I love Homer and Wilma even more... Probably one of my favorite couples ever. I love that scene where he takes off his prothesis to show her and it doesn't even bother her. 🥰
Oh, couple of questions... If Mac's allergic to bee stings, what did he intend to do as a career? Does he plan to take over the farm someday? Not considering his amputation though, since he certainly wasn't planning on that! And also, does he have musical talent of any kind? Or does he think he has musical talent? 😁
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DeleteIgnore that which is up above. I had to delete because it won't let me edit 😜
DeleteSo anyway. Both of these are subject to change but could I get your opinion on these two nicknames I've been thinking of for Josh? Either Scout (sarcastic because he's from the city and at first has trouble adjusting to country life, including getting lost in the woods) or Cap (short for Madcap because, well y'know, he can be nuts!)
Fair enough (; Ooh my goodness yes😂 That would make things much simpler! No more having to try and put into words what’s already 3D in your head, just hit Record, and share files…. We’d have pretty extensive “libraries” too, wouldn’t we😄
ReplyDeleteMe too (; I’ll let you know if I find an actual picture of him, how’s that?
She sounds like the sweetest girl…. Don’t think I’ve seen her around, but now I know enough to recognize her if I do!
Ugh, I know. I honestly wish the producers had just edited that out entirely. And Her, whatever her name was. There’s no way it had to be like that!! Loved Peggy from the first scene, but seriously😐
This is totally random, and I don’t know if I was imagining it, but the look in Fred’s eyes when he and Al had that “Thou Shalt Not See My Daughter” talk at Butch’s….
☺️And Homer finally realizes that she loves him as he is…. And forever!! The kind of scene that makes you go all soft and Anne-and-Gilbert-y inside….
Well, he does have a decent singing voice, if he has someone to play tuning fork for him! (‘cause finding pitch isn’t his strong suit At All) Think kinda like Josh Turner, but not QUITE as deep….. and with the ability to roll R’s! He does play the mouth organ a tiny bit, with varying rates of success…. So I guess he’s just about middling!
Uhhh🤔 hmmm! So, he definitely wants to keep the farm, but I’m not entirely sure how he intended to handle the beekeeping part! I don’t think he is, either😆 Maybe hire someone full time, kinda like a shepherd. Only for bees. Give the guy a little cottage, and it could be some veteran’s livelihood? What do you think?
About careers…. I really don’t know! Nothing absolutely perfect for him has struck me yet, unfortunately! Any ideas? He had planned to be a pilot, but since that didn’t work out…🤷♀️
I’ve been thinking possibly carpentry…. Like everything from dollhouses to rowboats, with furniture in between🤔 Maybe he used to do that kind of thing to bring in extra money before he went away? Anyways. That’s one idea. (Because office jobs and Mac, well….!) And while we’re on the subject…. Would it be strange if he bred Jack Russels on the side? (I forget if I’ve told you about Zerubabble)
Ooh I love those!! I can see both of them suiting him perfectly😂 So…. now I don’t know what to say! Don’t see how I can choose one over the other😄 One for Emma and one for the guys, maybe??
A quick thought I just had….
DeleteWhat if he later became the pastor/preacher of a little country church instead? Not necessarily seminary taught, but just a straight-out-of-the-bible preacher….
Have you ever heard of Red Pepper Burns, by Grace Richmond Smith? Because I imagine Mac would be very much the same sort of Preacher that Red is Doctor!
Hello, my old friends. Long time, no see. I might have actually managed to disappear as long as Jule did last year 😁 Man, I've been busy!! And also tired. Very tired. And it took me forever to read through this comment thread 😆
DeleteAnyway. Need I say that I am dying with anticipation for this book to come out??? Also that I am both thrilled and astounded that you two are getting into war movies because honestly, that's my favorite kind of period drama. Hopefully that doesn't make me sound like some horrid violent kind of monster... It's just that honestly, that kind of movie is the most powerful and inspirational. Like Spider-Man, y'know?
Speaking of which, you guys oughta watch Unbroken. That's one of the best out there. And, thankfully, not near as gory as most of them. Although it has some pretty brutal scenes... Just not tons of blood and all that. Even if you don't watch the whole movie, you have to see the "plank scene" It's beyond amazing. Makes me cry every time... 😭
I'm watching Saving Private Ryan with you guys tonight, btw. And I'm impressed!! That one usually takes some building up to... And you're jumping straight into it without previous experience. That's awesome 😜
Sorry, short comment here... Just popping on to say it's good to hear from you Seon and I shall be starting SPR momentarily. May we all survive the war and return unscathed. 😐
DeleteSeonaid, there you are!! And just in time, too,
ReplyDeletethis is almost like an Un-Sleepover😄 Glad you’re back!!
I was beginning to think PP mistook you for MJ and swooped off with you😂
I know, right! a regular case of jumping in the river to learn to swim😆 I’ve dipped my toes in a puddle with snippets of Pearl Harbour and 1917, (yes, there were pillows involved) but nothing like this!! So here goes nothin’….
Hear, hear! May we be brave and equal to the occasion, unflagging in our pursuit of… um…. perspective? Increased understanding and awareness? Sticking with it all the way through? At any rate, something like that😆 Okay, I’m gonna go actually watch it now.
So. How did it go? Is everyone still alive?? 😁 I feel bad now... It was all my idea but I didn't actually make it through the whole movie. It was so long and I started too late, I just couldn't do it. I think I got over halfway though... To just after the scene where Wade dies. I may or may not have permanent trauma and PTSD now... I sobbed so hard through the first half of the movie that I could hardly see the screen at times. And then that German voice on the loudspeakers said "The statue of liberty is kaput" and I started laughing hysterically. While still crying. So yeah, I'm a mess. I'll have to finish tomorrow night, can't tonight because of company, which is kinda a bummer since I was all pumped to watch it, but at least I get recovery time. Will prob do a post when I do manage to finish... 😏
DeleteEmi, carpentry sounds about right for Mac! It's something active he can do without being on his feet a lot... I mean foot... 🙃 Ok, that wasn't funny. Anyway, I love the idea of pastor too!! Maybe in addition to carpentry... That's how the pastors are in my church.. no seminary, just Bible preaching and while still holding a regular job. What do you think?
I think I'm going with Scout, with occasional uses of madcap to emphasize a point 😆
Kindly tell me about Zerubabbel!! I'm simply dying with curiosity! 😁
Seon, I watched that Unbroken plank scene... Needless to say, I am in tears.If I keep this kind of stuff up, I'm gonna be a nervous, hysterical wreck 😭😆 I'll def be watching that whole movie!! A true story too... That makes it so much better!! I even have another idea for the book now... Thanks for that!! And Emi, unbeknownst to you, you have given me the ending of the book. Thank you!! 😁
Un-sleepover!! I love that!! It was actually fun, doing it together, even if I didn't make it all the way. Just think of me as that one friend that falls asleep halfway through the movie 🥴
Aww, don’t feel bad😄 (It really was fun, we should totally do it again sometime! All we need yet is some across-the-miles popcorn!) Just think of the second half as the sequel (;
DeleteI couldn’t believe how long it was!! Like, almost as long as this rant coming up😆 This is where the time zone thingy plays in my favour😄I started awhile after you, but was astonished to find it was only 11:30 when the credits rolled!
Um, I am! At least, I’m pretty sure I survived…. Yup, looks like I’m in one piece alright. Don’t think I’ll ever be quite the same again, though…. It was SO REAL, and brutal, and for awhile there I thought for sure that every last one of them was going to die! (Until I remembered that they couldn’t, because it’s history) I could hardly see the beaches for tears…. It actually took a while for everything to truly sink in, too. During the worst of it, I literally couldn’t cry.….And it would have been such a relief to. I think I just kinda went numb with the horror of it all…. Sensory overload, or something. But at the same time, It was…. Heart-shattering, and profound, horrendous, and at the same time so extraordinarily moving…. And in places even, hysterical! I think those are the “Coffee Caper” scenes😂 Like, it wasn’t just one big story in history-book statistics…. It was a myriad of smaller stories, individual worlds coming together to create the whole…. I definitely didn’t see 100 percent of it, some I watched without volume, and some I listened to with my eyes shut…. And I admit to skipping the morphine-scene. And the knife scene. I just couldn’t make myself watch that! On the other hand, there are also scenes I want to watch again…. I won’t talk about them yet, since you haven’t seen them yet…. But just know this, there are better parts coming!! And I think you’re going to like James Ryan (; Also, tell me I’m not seeing Prince Harry’s lookalike in there when you get to it, will you please? I’m totally seeing things😆 I’ve discovered I get to watch it as often as I want for 48 hours after starting it, so some parts I’m definitely going over again, and others I shall studiously avoid at all costs!!
Yeah, that’s exactly what I was thinking…. think it’d really suit him pretty well! And like you said, it’s something,or rather 2 something’s that he can do without requiring too much “footwork”!
Woah, talk about unbeknownst! I have no clue what I said, but whatever it was, you’re welcome😄
So, Zerubabble….
He’s actually just Mac’s dog, but he might need his own comment, methinks😅 he’s also taken up residence in my Notes under the division of Mac, and well…. He got mixed up with cats, and books of the bible, and chocolate cake….
Okay, I’m off to find a charger before my phone dies! It’s been threatening rebellion all the way through this….
All this has me thinking I may as well go hunt up Unbroken, before my roll stops rolling😂 The plank scene, I think it was?
ReplyDeleteAnyways. I’m heading over to see if I can figure out what your inspiration was😉 Just kidding, I’m kinda intrigued with this terrifying genre now!
With curiosity thou shalt be plagued no longer (; over abundance of nonsense, maybe, but not curiosity!!
ReplyDeleteSo this is actually a scribble from when I was figuring Mac out…. So there’s probably an equal amount of them both in here! Along with a bunch of unnecessary information😅 But anyways. Introducing one particular little Jack Russel terrier named Zerubabble, who also goes by Rabble! because Zerubabble is quite the mouthful when you’re trying to catch an energetic pup😜
He belonged to Mac’s father originally, and was being trained to track before Mr. Scott died…. but Mac didn’t have the heart to keep it up afterwards, so Rabble became a companion instead…. which was really what Mac needed him for at the time!
Although honorary “little brother” might be a more accurate description as time went by (: Sometimes you’d swear he could almost talk…. He was also the sole party to whom Mac spilled his dreams of being a pilot, and the esteemed creature never batted an eye when Mac ate almost straight chocolate cake for a week instead of the carrots he’d sworn to live on until his eyes were declared fit for flying!
Mac secretly likes cats, or at the very least, kittens. Rabble not-so-secretly does not! When he gets particularly fed up with them, he ever so gingerly picks up the trouble-maker by the scruff of the neck, marches it into the house, and it is then deposited at Mac’s feet with a look of exquisite disdain and long suffering…. accompanied by a sigh of resignation! Which never fails to make Mac burst out laughing😉 Actually, remember the butler-guy from Spider-Man 2? He has kinda the same temperament🙃😄
And a bit like Jem’s dog in Rilla of Ingleside….
I have a feeling that Rabble might be exactly the kind of “therapist” Mac needs when he gets home…. There’s just something about connecting with animals that helps people heal, even nowadays. And I don’t just mean his leg….
Anyways. That’s Zerubabble!
Emi, don't I wish 🤣 But the thought of me being mistaken for MJ is an impossible one. For one thing, I don't have red hair. And I'm not skinny enough 😆
DeleteOh yeah. Man, SPR is hard to watch. Extremely so. Honestly, no matter what they say about Hacksaw Ridge, SPR is still harder to watch. I can hardly take it. And yet, it's a seriously good movie. I had to pause it fifteen minutes in and go in search of Kleenex. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any, so I made do with toilet paper. A LOT of toilet paper.🥴 No matter how hard I'm crying though, Jule, that "the statue of liberty is kaput" always sends me into some weird kind of nervous hysterical giggles... I don't know why it's so funny, but it is 😆 They did something like that in Unbroken when they told the Americans that Roosevelt was dead. That wasn't funny though... I remember one soldier just fell to his knees and started crying. Just anything to smash their morale, I guess.
Yeah... That plank scene is pretty amazing... Gives me chills. Let me know if either of you end up watching it!! It's one of my favorites. Warning though... There's a scene that... uh... shows backsides, if you know what I mean. I HATE it when movies do that. Like honestly. Who wants to see that??!! Hacksaw Ridge has a scene like that too, but speaking of HR, I have to say that's an especial favorite of mine. It is recommended to fast forward a few of the battle scenes, but it's one of the best movies I've ever seen in my life. Andrew Garfield was at the height of his career, right there. That's the role he was born to play. And Tobeu was born for Spider-Man and speaking of which... Ahem. Emi. Did you actually watch the rest of those Spider-Man movies?? Because you must tell me about it. All about it. 😆 But not here, because I'll ruin this fascinating thread. I must remember to keep Spider-Man within the bounds of the Spider-Man page...
I adore Zerubabbel, btw!!🥰🥰
So, I found Katie today... she's posted up above 😁
Delete...Aaaand now I must prepare myself for a very long comment, because I have a lot to say and a lot to answer 😆
So I had a rough night last night. I finally finished SPR and it was brutal. I loved it and hated it at the same time. I don't think I've ever cried so hard over a movie (besides The Diary of Anne Frank and The Hiding Place) in my entire life. Honestly, I wasn't expecting Captain Miller to die. And that was awful. Especially when I remembered his wife and the rose bushes 😭 And all that about Upham and the German soldier was so horrid. Honestly, I was trying so hard not to hate Upham and at the same time, I knew exactly how he felt. Poor guy!! Man, Emi, I wish I had learned from your experience and skipped the... uh... knife scene. I watched it 😑 And I've never been so completely horrified in my entire life. 🤢😱😱 Honestly, the scenes where I cried the most were the ones when there were soldiers crying for their moms and praying/ reciting Bible verses. It was just so... ugh. I don't know how to describe it. It just... hits you. You know? Of course you know. You both watched it too. 😐 I feel like I literally just went through the war. It was SO REAL. And the end where Private Ryan is in tears and says "tell me I've been a good man, tell me I've lived a good life" and you realize the enormity of so many men sacrificing their lives for his... When the credits rolled, I buried my face in my pillow and sobbed for I have no idea how long. On a side note though, I love the part when they're getting ready for the attack and they're like "Great. Now we have to surrender our socks." 😆 That was as good as the SOL going kaput 🤣 Ughhhh... all the emotioooons... 😭😱😔
It took me all day to recover too. I think the next movie I shall watch shall be Anne of Green Gables. What say you, Emi? 😆
Oh. About Prince Harry. I pulled up a picture of both of them and went back and forth and back and forth trying to find a resemblance and I'm sorry, but I don't see it 🤔 Probably though because Ryan looks a LOT like my brother. Like almost identical 😳 It really got me when I saw him for the first time 😆
So, Emi, what did you think of the plank scene, eh? I'm totally watching that movie. And Seon, you're convincing me towards Hacksaw Ridge, I have to admit!! IKR? I'm so intrigued too!! As long as we are blessed with fastforward buttons and eyelids and kleenexs, I just might continue to torture myself. Although I shall need a looong break after SPR. Very long.
DeleteOhhh I absolutely ADORE Zerubabbel!!! 😍🥰 You've given me yet another scene for the book too... and honestly, even if I don't use everything you give me for Mac, I love hearing every little scrap because it makes him so much realer for me and so much easier to write!!! I need to write some more soon... I slacked off with SPR and now I'm messing around with book trailer ideas 😆 Oh, btw, I am so glad that he plays the harmonica... I was secretly hoping that he did!!
Okay, that's enough comment for now. See ya both later, kindreds!!
Okay, now I have two Katies and I can't decide. What do you think, Emi, Seon? The first one or the second one?? Not that it's terribly important... 😜
DeletePeter’s loss and our gain (; That means we get to keep
Deleteyou😄
Yipes, thanks for the heads up, Seon! I do indeed plan on watching Unbroken, so I appreciate the warning. Like a lot😆 I abhor coming upon scenes like that unawares!!
Wait, HR is EASIER? Man, the things they don’t tell you when you look movies up…. Before you know it, I’ll be convinced I’ve got to watch it too😂 And to think, just a couple months ago I was leary of Spider-Man😜
Julie, I’m answering your question here because it’s on the same subject…. So. The plank scene! I hardly know where to start…. That was hands down one of the most powerful scenes I’ve ever watched! I’m going to copycat Seon here, because it seriously did gave me chills…. I honestly wasn’t prepared for it to be so incredibly real!
Well Seon, much as I’d like to…. I can’t say I actually finished them! Unfortunately. The best of intentions flew out the window when accosted by reality😜 But I watched Spider-Man 2, anyway! One wee-tiny step at a time, I shall reach them all!! If I have anything to say about it, anyway😂 Name the place and I’m there, girl! I’ve been dying to talk Spidey since I saw it😂
I was wondering how it went for you!!
I know…. Even right in the beginning, the sight of all those crosses brought me to tears…. And that was without even knowing anything about them yet! I couldn’t believe they actually let the Captain die….
Aww man, Upham!! I know, exactly. You kinda have to hate him and hurt for him at the same time….
Oh no, those two couldn’t look alike if they wanted to😆 Sorry for being so confusing! I meant Ryan’s commander, or whoever that was. You know, the guy with the gingery beard who says “If you guys are our reinforcements, I’m filing a complaint”? Anyways, that’s who he reminded me of right off the bat😜
Hold on, your BROTHER looks like Private Ryan?? 😲You’re kidding! I literally looked up him up because he just plain looks like “home”, and that can usually only mean one thing😄 Et voila, Germanic blood…. One of these days, you and I must sit down and figure out whether we’re distant cousins or something!!
Anne sounds like just exactly the thing! Oil on troubled waters in the form of cherry blossoms and candy hearts…. And carrots (; I think I’ll have to take a page from your playbook and do the same😄I just finished reading Rilla again, but it has so much war in it too, it doesn’t serve quite the same purpose!
Ooh, book trailers…. Sounds fascinating!!
Hey, if that helps with your writing, I’m over the moon!!
That’s exactly what I’m going for😜 Like a photo album, it’s all various stages of life, but you don’t frame every picture in it😄 I meant what I said about the “threshing”, so I didn’t think you would😜I keep on discovering more and more, and it’s so much fun that he kinda refuses to stay put…. and spills all over my comments😅 Well now, who says mental telepathy doesn’t work!! jk (; But still, that’s amazing!!
Aww, I’m glad (; Thank you both!! I’ve gotten quite fond of him☺️
Hmm🤔 now that I think of it, Katie 2 is more the way I imagined her originally…. But that’s just the picture in my head!
Why can't I just have both?? 😭🤣
DeleteOoh, I like the second Katie. Hey, how is my Mickey doing?? Can't wait to read him in action!! 😊
Oh yeah. I hate that too 😑 At least it comes with sufficient warning, you'll definitely know when it's coming. And another heads up, just in case... HR has a scene like that too 🤢 Problem is, it can't really be skipped, so you just have to look away. Or in my case, cover up half the screen... 😏 It's right when Desmond gets to the training camp, in the barracks. The character in question is an idiot. 🙄
Yeah, SPR has much more emotional deaths and it's awful... Slower, you know, and close up. In HR, it's like mass chaos. People running everywhere... It's like the D-Day scene in SPR, except in the dark, which makes it a little easier to watch. Honestly, the worst part is the flamethrowers 😐😭 And there's a weird scene where the Jap general commits suicide in a bunker. If you decide to watch it, and you want me too. Ai can give you timestamps for scenes that are best skipped. But it's definitely worth it. Oh, and I forgot to mention, it has the worst jumpscare I've ever seen. Worse than the green goblin. Beware of the scene when the sky turns green... Prepare yourself!! 😆
Oh, while I'm thinking of it, there's a beautiful sequel to Unbroken called Path to Redemption. In the first film, Louie promises God that if he gets him out, he'll serve Him for the rest of his life. He actually struggles with that decision after his release from prison camp and it threatens to tear his marriage apart. And then... He meets Billy Graham... 😉 It's an amazing story of healing and forgiveness and follows up the first story beautifully. It's different actors though, that's the only problem. Lots of PTSD scenes...
I found it fascinating that the real Louie Zamperini was able to watch the first film before he died. According to him, it was very accurate. And with HR, according to Doss's son, Andrew Garfield portrayed his dad perfectly... 😊
Ah yes!!! I too am dying to discuss Spidey 😁 It doesn't matter much, just meet me on any of my Spidey stories... I'll find it alright.
Oh, a couple more things about Unbroken... sorry, I'm rambling. But whatever 😜 I think it makes the movie so much more poignant when you know all the details... during the plank scene (and this was in real life) his ankle was actually broken. And he held that thing for almost forty minutes. They said the actor who was playing the Japanese guard found the scene so emotionally upsetting that he literally threw up on set. But as crazy as all that was, I still think the part where they tie him up and force all the other prisoners to punch him in the face as hard as they can is worse. Note: there were 220 other prisoners 😓
DeleteIt’s late, so I’ll try n keep all this fairly succinct…. But I’m finally getting around to comments!
Delete😯Flamethrowers😳 What, may I ask, might they be?? Um, on second thought, don’t answer that. 😅I have a feeling I’ll find out before I’m half ready for them!
Woah😳That’s pretty bad alright!! Making a note of this, Green skies in Hacksaw Ridge…. WATCH OUT!!
YES, that would be great!!
I’ll let you know if and/or when I scrape up the courage😆
I have a lot more confidence in me actually watching it if I have that to fall back on….
Wowww, did he really?!! That’s so cool, so it actually had his stamp of approval….
I’m looking up Path To Redemption now…. I should really watch them in order, shouldn’t I? Of course I should. Being scared (stiff and silly) is no reason to do things the wrong way ‘round…. But gleeps, Billy Graham doesn’t sound nearly as frightening as 220 guys steamrolling the hero!
Julie, I love the crew!! It’s so neat to go through them all n link faces to the names… (I’m thrilled that Robert is Fred Macmurray, he’s one of my favourite actors ever!)
Is Rachel related to Isaac, by any chance?
Okay, enough for now😜 I should seriously learn to do this during the day….
Ooh Emi... I've seen the flamethrowers. She's right. There's nothing worse... 😱 Hey, I might want those timestamps, Seon!! And I'll jump in on that Spidey conversation when you get it going 😄 It's been a while since I've done anything Spidey-related... I've been terribly caught up in this book.
DeleteSo glad you like the pics, Emi!! I had so much trouble with Josh and Ronnie... 😑 But I'm really liking what I found. I got a couple of new ones up today too, Lissie and Mary! Ah yes, Fred Macmurray is one of my absolute faves too!!! Rob is actually very much based on his character Lem Siddons in Follow Me Boys (which was actually the biggest influence behind the book in the first place... I hope it isn't too obvious... 😁)
Oh yes... Rachel does have a connection to Isaac... more on that later 😁
Eheh... you should see me up scribbling at two in the morning. 🤨
And now I must go see to Seonaid. I do believe she has gotten out of line on the main blog... 🤔😆
DeleteSounds great!! See you there…. As soon as I figure out where to begin, anyway😄Um, about SM, not the flamethrowers, that is…. Those sound worse and worser all the time!
They’re perfect!! I knew it had to be Josh before I even read the name under the picture, and strongly suspected Ronnie as well ;) And speaking of him…. 🧐Remember that imagination conversation awhile back? Well, that topmost pic in Seon’s, um, mischievous foray into foreign territory (😂) is verrry close to the way I imagine Ronnie. Except for his eyes.
No, it’s not too obvious!! Just about right, I’d say (: I hadn’t actually thought about it before, but I can totally picture him as Lem…. I feel like I know him personally now😄
In that case, I won’t ask if my suspicions are right! I adopt an attitude of wait-and-see….
Just now realized why Lissie looks that familiar…. (Yikes, I’m slow today😆) Love that she’s a Melissa in real life too!!
DeleteAw, I'm so glad!! And here's an interesting point... The pic with Andy and George, well that's the real life George. 😉 He's the one with glasses.
DeleteHeheh... Seon's gone plain nuts. I halfway expected her to do something like that...😁 Well, yeah. That first picture, well, that's about exactly what HE looks like. As in you-probably-know-who... 😏 And consequently, that is what Ronnie looks like too.
Anyway.
Oh yeah😆 Naming her Melissa was a coincidence. Have you ever read Comstock Lode by Louis L'Amour? Well, I was listening to the audiobook when I was formulating characters and the character Melissa in Comstock Lode reminded me of my own character. And someone called her Lissie,which I thought was cute, so I borrowed it. I originally was going to use that pic for Katie, but it just looked like my Lissie,so I changed it. Her last name though has got to go... Melissa Gilbert is the name of the Laura actress, also a coincidence 😆 Jerry's last name might go too... Jerry Bailey sounds too much like Harry Bailey and one can only have so many Wonderful Life references... Oh well. Isn't that pic for Jerry just adorable though?? I love his character. The pic is actually Elwyn Kettle from Ma and Pa Kettle. When I found him in a navy uniform, I couldn't resist using him and turns out, he's perfect!! Josh is pretty cute too 😁
You know what, I'm dying to hear your suspicions. Like all of them. At least about the characters I've revealed so far (cuz there may be more 😉) Would you tell me all your suspicions even if I told you I'm not gonna confirm them? 😁 I'm wondering how predictable I am... 🤔
DeleteYou’re a mind reader😄 I was just wondering that exact thing…. That’s awesome!! And downright providential, both of them in the same picture like that…. He actually looks pretty much the way I imagined him, to my surprise🙃
No kidding!! 😮 Wow, how perfect is that! (Thanks, Seon ;) Now I want to ask how the Original is doing these days…. but I’m not sure this is the right place for it😄
Hmmm, possibly? That sounds so familiar….
Woah, such a string of coincidences!! Yikes that must have gotten confusing on set😆
I second that wholeheartedly on both counts😄
Also, Josh would have made the PERFECT Laurie, in my opinion at least (; Ahem. So, a definite don’t-tell-my-sisters thing, but…. Honestly, I tumbled head-over-heels the first time I saw Jerry!! He looks like he could practically step out of the picture…. And like someone I’d love to know in real life😜 He also looks like he n Josh would do pretty well in cahoots😆😂
Let me think about this real quick here🤔Wellll, Let’s see…. Hmmm. Yup, I guess that’ll work. Though I really only have a few…. May they prove enlightening, whether it be as to my oblivion or foresight!
Starting with Rachel…. I was guessing she and Isaac are married, and somehow got separated, since you noted that Isaac was only mentioned by another character…. And that would make sense with Baby Benjamin, too.
I’m having a hard time actually putting this down on “paper”, but…. my guess is that Ronnie doesn’t make it home. Wildly and frantically hoping I’m wrong on this!!
Ummm, Josh and Emma? Of course, the picture topside influenced that guess, and I have on occasion been accused of matchmaking😜 So it might just be wishful thinking! But. That was my original and instantaneous thought before Emma even knew that he wasn’t 13 months old😂And again with the writing of the proposal, so! Be it wrong or be it right, there you have it.
Think that’s all my suspicions! And one admission of cluelessness, ‘cause I’ve thought, and figured, and plotted, and thunk…. And I cannot for the life of me figure out who Mac’s girl is!
Which is why she asked me what cartoon character he looked like 😏 Actually, I haven't seen him in a while since he went on vacation (in the middle of January, which is nuts 😆) and this week, well, we all got snowed in. So no one even made it to church yesterday. But he's coming over next week for trapshooting 😁
DeleteI'm already looking forward to the fishing trip this summer... I've never actually gone before, although it's an annual event... a ton of people from church go out in a boat on Lake Erie, never catch much, but it sounds like a lot of fun! And although I hate fish 😝 I love the lake and... well... the main reason I decided to go this year is because he's going so... 😏 Yeah. I have motives.
Heheh 😁 I won't tell if you don't say a word about "Milo Thatch". Btw, Seon's threatening me over on that post... she says she's slaphappy and I believe it 🤣 Oh definitely. He and Josh will definitely be in cahoots. That's one of the main reasons I created the character. 😂 Both of them will be annoying Emma to a great extent.
Good suspicions, all of them. But I can't say yet whether you're right or wrong. I'm curious though... without giving anything away on my part, what makes you think Ronnie won't come home? Not saying he is or isn't, just wondering what fueled the suspicion... 🤔 And you might as well know, whether they're listed in my current cast of characters or not, there is more than one that won't be coming home 😥 It's not exactly my fault, the story's writing itself... 😐 As for Mac's girl, you never know!! She may be listed, and she may not be, and no matter how hard you figure and plot and thunk, I'm making sure that no one knows until the moment he meets her face to face 😄
You know, about Josh being Laurie, I like that 😁 Interesting, because I think of Josh and Emma as very much like Laurie and Jo. (Not to take any assumptions off of that...) Most film Lauries are beyond awful... but at least Jonah Hauer-King was really super good 😄 Eh... here goes me rambling again...
DeleteI think our weather totally got switched around😂 Either that or this is just about the strangest January ever…. Because whilst y’all out there are getting snowed in, we’ve literally got rain! (And snow too, but still.)
DeleteYou weren’t kidding when you said your family was outdoorsy! I had to look up what Trapshooting meant, all that came to mind was running a trapline, and that didn’t make much sense😂 Sounds like a lot of fun! Especially with the addition of he-who-shall-not-be-named (;
(Now here’s a question I don’t think I’ve asked before….
Do you hunt? Or is that a guy thing out there?) I’m momentarily bypassing the fact you hate fish, (😲🤯) because this lake-trip sounds awfully interesting! I’ll leave the teasing to Seon, but…. yeah (;
You got it😉Milo’s the word! Er, mum, I mean.
I noticed that! Sneaky much?! Think she’s been taking lessons from my sis😆 FYI, I’m quite the accomplished spider-squasher, in case you ever happen to need one (; (Are American spiders much different than Canadian ones, I wonder?)
Honestly, I can’t even pinpoint a specific thing that gave me that impression….. it’s just, you know, one of those “feelings”! The kind in the pit of your stomach before you know for sure that anything is even wrong😆Very scientific, no?
In the back of my head there’s a place that knows it’s kinda inevitable…. This is WW2, after all…. But it keeps trying to forget! I’m still wrapping my head around how rough it must be to see all of that taking place as the story is, uh, being written through you, for lack of a better way to say it.
Aww, rats😆 wait, no, not rats…. (Blech) Grizzly bears and porcupines!! Jk, I was expecting you’d say that😂 Alright, alright…. I shall await her entrance with something akin to patience (if not exactly the genuine article) thoroughly infused with wound-up-like-a-top anticipation😄
Aha!! 😂I’ll TRY not to make any assumptions, of course, but how well I shall succeed with Jo-and-Laurie-isms in the picture…. Like I said, I’ll try (;
I know, right!! I have a serious beef with producers who don’t bother reading the book, and just go off movie-making in any old direction…. Or else assign extremely important details to the scrap heap…. And your only option is to forever disassociate the book and the movie in your mind.
I’m absolutely furious about what they did to Emily of New Moon😤 Ahem. Where was I? I seem to have gotten just slightly off track😆 Oh yes. I was going to say I love the new pictures!! AND their new pageee…. Scheduling a good long Explore right now😄
Well, Josh earned himself the nickname "torpedo" last night, thanks to Mac. 😆 I'm beginning to wonder if he'll ever grow up 🤔
DeleteAnyway. Oh, you've never done trapshooting? It's great fun 😄 He-who-shall-not-be-named shall be showing my brothers how to make gunpowder as well. I'm not so sure if this is a good idea or not 😳
No, I don't actually hunt, but I do pretty much everything else in connection to the sport. I've grown up completely immersed in it. Like seriously, our house looks like a museum, especially since we inherited Grandpa's mounts to add to Dad's... In our living room, we have head mounts of five bucks, two caribou, a bison, a nogi, a pronghorn, a springbok, a warthog, a red hartebeest, a wildebeest, a zebra, an antelope, two gemsbok, three kudu (one is a European mount), several antler racks including mule deer, whitetail deer and one elk (I think ten sets of racks in all) and one full bear. We also have a coyote skin and a full-mounted fish in other areas and will be getting back another mounted buck from the taxidermist soon. Oddly enough, said taxidermist happens to be GWG's uncle.. 🤔 So now you know. We're nuts. 😆
Yeah, I'm kinda allergic to seafood and freshwater fish just makes me squeamish 🤢 But I adore being out on the lake. It's beyond gorgeous out there. And being out on it in a boat is ultimately better. And with him around, well... 🥴 Let's just say I'm very much looking forward to it!!
Spiders are surely the same the whole world over 😡 🕷️🔥 Speaking of which, I wonder if I shall tell Seon that, whilst cleaning the daycare yesterday, someone asked if the Spider-Man action figure should be put away in the box of plastic people or animals 🤔
Yes, I know that feeling. It's the feeling that tells me what happens to my poor characters so tat I know what I must write. You might not even want to know what I found out happened to one of tem yesterday... 😐 But it wasn't really my doing, honest!! It's like they just tell me what to write!! 😐🤔😁
Grizzly bears and porcupines 🤣🤣 Mac just proposed to her yesterday. I shan't tell you the answer😁
Honestly, nothing in all my life as ever made me o outrageously furious as the 2019 Little Women. I was like 😡👿👺🔥🔥🔥💥💥💥🌋🌋🌋🏹🔨⛏️⚔️💣💣
DeleteI might have even been angrier than Seon was when she discovered the 1977 Spider-Man 🤣 But I'll calm down now. I ave to leave... So I shall return to rant later. Perhaps. Maybe I'll just publish my rant post about Little Women 2019... It's been in my drafts for a long time...
Ooh, that must’ve been good😜 I can just imagine what kind of scene might’ve brought on a nickname like that one🤣Man, I’m going to have a heyday when you start publishing chapters!!
DeleteOoh, gunpowder…. Like for reloading shells? Just remind ‘em to keep all matches far, far away while they’re working with it, and they should be alright😜
Target practice yes, trapshooting no…. Sounds like I’ll have to see about trying it sometime!
Same here on that score🙃 I keep thinking I should get my license, but I haven’t yet! we girls were desperately trying to keep up getting them in the deep freeze while they kept bringing home deer last season😆 Every time we’d start thinking we had a handle on it, they’d bring in another couple….
WOWWW😲🤩that’s quite the collection!! Not nuts at all😄I’m thoroughly impressed here! You’ve got everything except polar bear and moose!! (Which means…. 😮visits to Africa?) For some reason when I’m picturing all these mounts, it looks kinda like a log house straight out of Heartland…. Which, completely regardless of whether or not it’s accurate, is the coolest mental picture ever!
Yeah, that’s a pretty good reason😜
Oohlala…. Such a lot of the loveliest summer-things in one place, and cherry-topped (well, GWG topped ;) to boot…. All the earmarks of a perfectly supercalifragilisticexpialidocious day!!
Of course it isn’t your fault! It’s kinda as if the story just IS, and all you can really do is write it the way it goes…And they really don’t believe in making it easy, do they?😜
I’m suddenly reminded of the scene in the Emily books
where she’s reading her book to Aunt Elizabeth and Cousin Jimmy, and they suggest various character alterations…. But she really CAN’T change them, because that’s just who they are! If that makes any sense at all😆
I’ll take your word for it😂 About probably not wanting to find out what happened, that is! Of course, if you decided I was brave enough for it after all, that’s a different story (;
Woohoo!!! This is magnificent news indeed😍
Well, if she said yes, anyway. Otherwise not so much😆And since you’re not about to tell me which it is…. I have no choice but suffer extreme curiosity until it releases😩😄
🤣And yet when you think about it, this is actually kind of a legitimate question, if you don’t know who’s actually in that suit….
Yes yes yes, please do!! High time it was liberated from the confines of draft-land…. And besides, I’m dying to read this rant (; You’re literally the only other person I know who hates it as ardently as it deserves🤣
SOMEONE HAS DARED TO MENTION SPIDER-MAN 1977 IN MY PRESENCE. We do NOT speak of Spider-Man 1977. You have asked for it and you shall receive.
Delete🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🐌🐌🐌🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷
You see? I fight with class. I don't use regular spider emojis... I use... Spider-Man spider emojis!!! (Kindly ignore the snails. My excessive mouse-tapping got out of control and I slipped.)
I also want to know why Mac is calling Josh "torpedo". I sense an excellent story. Pray, continue. I promise I won't attack with spiders again.
And I also want to read this rant. I shall probably have to watch this offending Little Women 2019 and see how dreadful it truly is. I've seen the 1995 one and am NOT a fan. Nor of the Katherine Hepburn version, nor of the one in which Jo has a perpetually hoarse voice. Is there a good film version out there??
I think not 😥
💣💥💣💥💣💥💣💥💣💥💣💥💣💥💣💥💣💥💣💥💣
DeleteAhem. Now that I have successfully eliminated the spiders, we may proceed. Btw, Seon, I believe they may have morphed. Because they don't look like Spider-Man spiders on my ipad 😁
Emi, if you wish to see the well-deserving recipient of her outrage, simply look up "best spiderman fight scene of all time" on YouTube. 🤣
Now where were we? Oh yes. Torpedo. Well, to provide more context, the nickname came with a threat to fire him out of a torpedo gun. Also thanks to Mac.
Well, I trust him with the powder, just not my brothers. We'll see if he can handle them. It might be a case of Ronnie against Josh, Jerry, and the worse side of Mac 😁
My parents and grandparents went on an African safari the year before I was born. So I've had a minor but healthy dose of African culture thrown into my upbringing 😄 I wish I could say it was a big log cabin, but it isn't. It's just a big 2005 farmhouse. I'm older than the house actually 😆 My grandparents had the (incredibly epic) lodge and we used to have a big old Victorian house built in 1900. But that was a long time ago. I grew up in a different state...
Well, the scene you might not want to hear about will be a major plot point in the book so... I guess you'll have to wait and see 😏
After a medium-ish absence, having vanquished many foes (well, mountains of laundry and dishes anyways) in the meantime…. I am back!! So take cover, Seon…. The Disaster of ‘77 is about to be mentioned again! Tentatively. Wearing spider-stomping boots, just in case. Because…. That scene I have now watched. In total disbelief and a great deal of shock. It looks so innocent on the cover!! Of all the disgraceful things ever to don the title of a beloved superhero and thereby coerce innocent fans into watching it in good faith, this takes the cake😤 (kinda like that sentence) Yeesh! I thought he was supposed to be Spider-Man, not Donkey-Dude! I’ve seen goats more proficient in the art of wall-climbing! (And they kick better, too) Okay, stopping now😜
DeleteOf course😂 Yup, that sounds like him alright!
Ohhh😂That way!! So it has potential to get rather a bit interesting…. Best of luck to him🍀 Okay, so a shamrock isn’t exactly the thing, but it was the luckiest-looking thing I could find😜
Wait a second. 🤩YOU LIVED IN A VICTORIAN??? Seriously, why is there no Green-With-Envy emoji when I desperately need it….
Something I just thought of…. (Well actually, the sidebar reminded me!) It’s getting rather close to your blog’s first “birthday”, isn’t it?
Now off we be gone! Well, me anyways. (This makes so much more sense if you think it in Wilhelm Holstein’s storytelling voice😆)
Ah, yes. All the ordinary little chaoses of life. And I'm not even sure if chaoses is grammatically correct but whatever. It works.
DeleteLol, it's a ghastly mess, isn't it?? A despicable mockery. As horrifying as it is to me, I can't imagine what it must do to such a devote Spidey lover as Seon. 😵💫 And you oughta see what that Spider-Man looks like without the mask... There's just nothing of a Peter in him. 🥴
Anyway... I'm having so much fun watching all my characters interact... For the most part. Referring to Mac one day, Josh warned someone to be careful about picking a fight with a guy who has a battle scar before he goes into combat 😉
About what you said earlier, referring to Emily and her book, boy do I feel that!!! Just take Josh and Emma for instance. Both of them I intended to be almost completely opposite characters from what they became. They just showed me, plain as day, who they were and that I had gotten it all wrong. 😁 And I love them all the more for it.
Ooh, new character to introduce for now... Although I can't say too much yet, her name is Marci, she becomes close friends with Emma during the war, and it's rather obvious, although she refuses to admit it, that she has a crush on Ronnie... From seeing his picture... So yeah. 😁😆 I love meeting these characters as they pop up and introduce themselves!!
Oh yeah. It was a beautiful house. Gorgeous. I miss it... Might show you a few pictures someday... 😄 You know, to see if you turn a greener shade of green 😁😆 LoL sorry 🤪 If I was Seon, I would perhaps suggest any one of the following emojis: 🤢🦠🧟🐲🐸🦎🐉🦖🦕🐢🐊🐍🐛🪲🥦🥒🥬🫑🍈🍏🍐🥝
Oh yes!! In March, I believe. Well, I shall perhaps celebrate with the release of the book.
You must mean "Vilhelm Holschtein" right? 🤣 At least, that's how he pronounces it. I could listen to that guy all day.
Stumbled upon this in my research today... A firsthand account of a British army nurse in WWII...
"In the ward they were a happy crowd, apart from the poor bemused French Canadian, who having lost the use of speech through his head injury, was being taught to speak again, but in English."
Perhaps I should attribute it to slaphappiness, but this just hit me as so terribly hilarious... 🤣
Anyway. I suppose I feel as if I have a great weight off my shoulders now... I finished the D-Day chapter. Aside from minor edits, of course. Man... I just... Can't explain how it feels to get that deep into it. 😳 I sort of feel as if... As if my life has changed... Somehow.
But I sound ridiculous, don't I?? 😁😆
Preeecisely.
DeleteRight?! Sort of like we’d be if Gilbert Blythe was replaced by Anthony Pye…. Or by a Sloane of any shape, size, or variety.
Completely regardless of how decent they may be in reality, The Real Thing they can never become, and that is quite unforgivable.
Okay, that just totally made my day😂 Go Josh!!
I’ll bet! I can’t even imagine truly living in one, even if my “Blue Castle” always used to be set on a Victorian blueprint😜 Ooh, that would be amazing😃Sure, why not, let’s play how-green-can-Emi-turn😂Right now I’d say I’m at the multiple-Chinese-Dragons-and-Broccoli mark, with a side of this rather sickly lookin’ thingamajig🦠 ‘tis a serious case, you might say😄
I’m liking this girl already! My imagination instantly coloured me a mental picture of this, and knowing what I know, I can’t say I blame Marci much😄 This could get pretty interesting!
The one and only! “Lederhosen to you all” never fails to completely crack me up🤣
😆Poor guy…. And them teaching him English he wouldn’t even use at home, too…. No wonder he looked bemused😂
Three cheers!!! Now that’s a milestone…. Actually reminds me of something I saw the other day, neither saying nor exactly a quote, but I think it kinda fits anyway.
“That moment when you finish a book, look around, and realize that everyone is just carrying on with their lives, as though you didn’t just experience emotional trauma at the hands of a paperback”. Or in this case, at the hands of a manuscript!
You most certainly do not sound ridiculous! I can’t pretend to know entirely what it’s like, since I’ve never actually gotten in that deep myself…. But I believe it. You are braver than I be, girlie!
Want to know something completely irrelevant, kinda strange, and slightly-odd-in-a-good-way? I think I literally dreamed about your guys! Your soldiers, that is. The ones I have yet to actually meet, actually. Pretty sure I saw Ken in there, too! Commend them on their keeping-uniforms-up-to-specs skills for me, eh😄 okay, enough. Sorry for the weirdness!
DeleteWow... you've got to be kidding!!! You dreamed about them?? That is totally so not fair!!! 😆 What were they like?? I've got to take notes or something... 😜
DeleteI'm afraid I don't know terribly much about them myself... I was studying them last night and found out that Dan is Daniel Asher (22), short and dark, runs a hardware store in Indiana. Has a wife, Janie, and a baby daughter, unnamed. There's a new one, Ralph Stirling (23), clerk in a department store in New York. Ken is Kenneth Stevens (20) from Louisiana, family owns a bait and tackle shop. Jack Marshall (Sandy) (19) is from Kansas, tall and lanky, sandy-colored hair (obviously), family is sharecroppers after being impoverished during the Depression. So yeah. Just basic facts. I'm still developing personalities and all that.
Passed up the 50,000 word mark this week... and I feel like I'm not even half-finished and it's making me nervous... 😐😁
Oh, yes. Marci's based on a dear friend in real life and she's fun 😄 In some respects, she and Emma act a bit like Josh and Jerry...
Haha, I love that quote!!! Emotional trauma is right!! And since I got an ipad, I've been writing everywhere. As in EVERYWHERE. Since I work at a daycare, and there's a two-hour naptime, I often write then. The other teachers may never know why I'm sniffling in the corner... or suppressing hysterical laughter, depending on the situation... 🤣
I hope Mac normally uses occasional Scottish lingo... because he called someone a "wee scunner" the other day... 🤔
Oh, you're gonna think I'm nuts now... but I just found out that it's possible to buy reproduction K-rations!! I'm totally going to get one and... well, I'm gonna try to eat it 😆 They say you have to suffer to write! They also sell D-rations, which I also want to try, but I'm kind of scared on that score... 🤨
Oookay. I know there was more I wanted to say, but I can't think of them at the moment so...
Lederhosen to you! 😆
Ooh, I remember! Well, I remember one thing...
DeleteI just found a video on youtube of Prince Harry in the military doing the "Haka" 🤣🤣 I recommend watching, it was strangely delightful 🤣 Called "Prince Harry performs Haka in New Zealand"
Oh, btw, I found a few pics of our old house... the link is at the bottom of the page up above... 😏 The last pic is my old room. But significantly emptier. SIGNIFICANTLY. Because these are the pics on the listing for the house when we sold it... we were almost moved out by then 😥
DeleteNot kidding! One time I’m actually happy that I dream so much😜 Well…. This could get kinda long, because I just know I’m going to get stuck in detail -mode…. So sorry in advance😆
DeleteIt was actually like a photograph, right before it was taken…. If that makes sense! So there were three of them, (I’m thinking Ken, Dan and Sandy) wearing what I’ve discovered were summer-service uniforms, and contrary to what I said about keeping ‘em up to specs, they kinda looked like they’d been crawling around a very dusty sandpit😜
The one I remember most clearly is definitely Ken, the others were slightly in the background. Quiet, but not shy, and the leader, if he knew it or not. And how to put this….. he had a, well kind of an “aura” of assurance that was the first thing you’d notice about him, like he knew something and had implicit faith in it…. He was also kinda magnetic, but he didn’t know that😄 I know Dan was the reliable, always-got-your-back kind of guy, and Sandy provided the oil-of-levity that kept things from rusting in despondency, but I have now exhausted my source of information on this subject😂 At long last. Other than physical appearance, but I’m not sure that translates into words very well!
Aye, he sure does (; I mean, where else is he going to get to roll his R’s?
😲You seriously wrote 50K in close to a month, Julie?!
I’m impressed!! And a bit in awe…. You’ve got this,
Anne-girl (;
Totally nuts, and I love it😂 this is true dedication, people! And you must tell me alllll about it, okay? Because otherwise I will be forced to try it too….
This version of Prince Harry I genuinely like😄
Should’ve just, I don’t know, frozen him in time there or something!
Somebody catch me quick, ‘cause I’m swooning!!
And oh-so in love…. And sporting a shade of very, very verdant green😆😂 Seriously, I didn’t know treasures like this still existed! And all I want to do is explore it for the rest of my life under guise of living there🥰 I’ll spare you the going-into-raptures scene, but WOWWW…. Thankyou SO much for sharing them🥰
Whoa, that's so cool!! Must've been the North African campaign!! I hate to say it, but that was the only time that all of them (not specifically those three, but their unit as a whole) was together. Anyhow, that would explain the sand. That helps me out a bit with Ken... so far, I've been having trouble pinning his personality. But he's only appeared in two scenes so far, so he's got a long way to go. I just haven't gotten to know him yet. As for Dan, that's him exactly. And Sandy, you've got him too!
DeleteOn a side note, don't you just love the WWII uniforms?? 😁 The M-1943 is definitely my favorite. For some reason, I've always loved those laced-up leggings... and the helmets. Idk, there's just something about uniforms... as probably every girl ever says at some point 😆 Didn't someone in Rilla of Ingleside say that?? 🤔
Although I have to admit, there are a lot of uniforms that aren't that great. Aka Civil War, War of 1812, and such like. 🤷♀️
Haha, love it!! 😁 Of course he has to have the accent!! Funny note... I've been working myself on developing a Scottish accent for years 😆
Heheh... yeah. 53,000 as of today. But I'm preparing to work on another chapter now. The problem is, I don't write straight through... I go in circles. I literally started with D-Day. And I've worked some on the (almost) final chapter... Right now I'm getting ready to work on some D-Day aftermath. And then I'm off to touch up Mac's "Nan"... 😁 And a reunion scene between two unnamed people during which I used the word "shoulder" three times and that must not go unpunished. 😜 That last scene just mentioned takes place just before the Battle of the Bulge begins, so you see how I jump around like a grasshopper 😁😆 So yeah. The problem is, if I just wrote straight through, I'd be able to start posting now!! I only have two chapters currently approved for publication and wow, does that sentence sound fancy!!
Btw, I've definitely decided to publish this thing. Prob as an ebook on Amazon. But I'll be making a paper copy for myself which means... I'll need an ISBN!! Fancy that... me, owning an ISBN... it sounds ridiculous 🤣 Sounds like a dream come true... 🥰 So anyway, that's why I'm so terrified. Because I'm afraid it won't be good enough.
Ha! Yes!! I've totally made up my mind to do it now and I'm so scared, but so excited too 🤣 So let's see. Can of spam, can of cheese spread, a couple of rock-hard crackers, lemon crystals to put in the water, caramels, Wrigley's chewing gum, and that coffee Mac hates so much. Okay, so I won't be drinking the coffee. I'll go with tea instead. Maybe I'll find a Josh to throw the coffee at. 😆 And I'll definitely throw away the cigarettes. Scares me to think of buying something that has cigarettes in it... 😳 About the D-ration, I'm still thinking. 🤔
Firmly agreed. About Prince Harry, I mean. He actually seems really cool there 😄 And not so bad-looking either 😏
Oh, glad you liked the house 😄 I really do miss it!! Sometimes I cry over it too... but only every once in a while. After all, it's been ten years... 😏😥 I literally sobbed hysterically the entire night before we moved. Like, the entire night. I really, truly didn't go to sleep 😆 That's one of only two nights in my life that I ever cried that hard, so I guess that proves how much I loved it... 🥰
Phew! That was a long comment 😳😁
Aww, really?
DeleteThat does make a lot of sense! And now I have a driving urge to go find everything I can on the North African Campaign🙃 Happy if it could be of service!
Well how about that😄very considerate of them to broadcast my way so nicely!
I’m going to add my vote to that stack of Every Girl Ever, because they’re not wrong😂 Yes, I most certainly do!! There really is just something about a proper uniform🥰 On a different-but-kinda-the-same note, I’d totally volunteer to be a WAVE simply for the wardrobe if I hadn’t been born 8 or so decades late😜
Yeah, pretty sure! Maybe Mary Vance, or Irene? Perhaps the girl who didn’t want her fiancé to enlist, until he went ahead n got his uniform, after which she was thrilled with the
matter😂 but I cannot for the life of me remember her name….Or whether she was one of the aforementioned!
Really!! Man, the times I would’ve loved to borrow this particular talent of yours😄 There are some things you simply cannot read enough into in Canadian, they belong in
a proper accent or not at all!
Sounds like the story has been playing hide-n-seek with
you😄 And hey, if that’s how the story chooses to emerge, who’s to say grasshopper-ing isn’t the perfect way to go??
Huzzah!!!! Oh, I’ve been so hoping you would (: Consider the first copy sold the moment it hits the shelves, in whatever form it may be!! Can’t exactly get you to autograph an e-book, but I sure would if I could😄
I think every author really feels that way, no matter how many they have under their belt! But me personally, I’m betting your “audience” will tumble head-over-heels in love with it (; How could they not??
Sounds like a real, uh, feast. Or something😄
Oh dear, I’d forgotten about the cigarettes😆 I don’t suppose they’d just hold those, eh? The lemon crystals I’ve actually had before, they’re not half bad! Kinda like lemonade without sugar…. Hang on, you don’t drink coffee?? Or just not this particular coffee? I mean, I’m all for the Josh-wash, whoever he may end up being😂 but now I’m kinda curious🧐🙃
Right?!?
A question that flitted through my head earlier….
(mainly because I was contemplating Mac’s dog tags, and whether I should wait n order his-and-hers when she makes her appearance, or give in to my impatience and get his right now!) What branch of nursing is Nan in? (Unless that’s confidential🤐) 😜Or have I read too many Cherry Ames books?
Also, kind of a random question…. Any inkling what Mr. Scott’s first name might be?
Aww😢 My heartiest sympathies to both your ten-yr-old-self and present-day you!
My favourite kind (;
Yeah... it's getting to the point where I will cry over my own book... 😥
DeleteHeheh... I'm hoping that if you do go off on a researching rampage that you don't find a certain few spoilers that I'm saving... 😏 Oh well, if it's history, it can't be helped. There's just one thing in particular... but I'm not saying whether or not it's related to the African Campaign.
Well, you know that men in uniform are real men. 😏 Oh man, I love the WAVE uniforms too!! The army nurses have some pretty amazing uniforms, but on D-Day, (well, during most battles) they were literally wearing men's combat uniforms. I'm having some fun with that in the writing... 😆
LOL! I don't do anything with that accent except have loooong discourses with myself in the car. Especially when working on a book. I will discuss in great detail and out loud every single facet of each character and situation they find themselves in. More often than not in the accent. Except when I'm recreating character discussions and they don't all speak in an accent. Sometimes I'll even lock myself in my room and reenact lengthy scenes that I'm working on 😆 You have full permission to call me nuts 🥴 I can get extremely dramatic and emotional. But no one ever sees that side of me... they only hear rumors 😆
Aww, you're so sweet 😄 I appreciate your vote of confidence!! Welp, we'll see how this goes. I'm in agonies over particular stubborn plotlines. For instance, Mac is having trouble proposing 😆 and Josh is completely tongue-tied in an extremely important scene during which he should most definitely not be tongue-tied. And I'm afraid I can't get Ronnie to live on the page the way he does in my mind. Honestly, that's my worst fear. Because he's my favorite character and he's SO REAL. But I can't write him out!! Ugh...
I just want everyone to love my characters and, well, your character, the same way I love them. 😁
Heh. Yeah. Feast indeed. Those lemon crystals actually were generally despised by troops for some reason 🤨Maybe they've changed the formula since then. But they say Europe was completely littered with discarded packets of lemon crystals.
Oh, no. No coffee at all. 😝 Sadly, no. I do not know a Josh. But I suppose that's good, because I do know a Ronnie and I don't want conflicts of interest... 🤔 Ohhh my poor brain. 😣 I'm a chaotic mess right now 😆
Oookay. I suppose I can safely tell you that. Um. So, she's actually a nurse's aide, not an actual nurse. She's involved in the Red Cross.
As for Mr. Scott, the first name that popped into my head was Duncan. So... idk.
Here's a piece I've been fiddling with... Just a rough draft, but this will eventually be the first time you meet all the guys from Josh and Ronnie's unit. This is after Mac and Andy are introduced though. You'll have to wait to read Mac's introduction 😉
DeleteIn the brief time of rest before the call for lights out, the new recruits did their best to either fit in and pretend they were used to barracks life. They had already sensed somehow that boredom was to be a continual part of their new lives and were fortifying themselves for it. Two men sat cross-legged on the floor in the corner, raffling off cigarettes in a game of cards. One lank, sandy-haired boy was doing chin-ups from a ceiling beam while a dark, short young man pored over a lengthy hand-written letter that he had been carrying in his pocket. Andy was writing home, homesickness already pooling in his eyes and spilling over in a silent aura of nervous fear. Mac was whittling aimlessly on a chunk of scrap wood with his army knife, watching in amusement as Josh turned cartwheels down the center aisle.
Welcome to the monkey house," Josh flipped to his feet as Ronnie stepped inside and reeled dizzily a moment before regaining his balance by slinging an arm around a support pillar. Ronnie looked at Josh sideways, then shrugged and shook his head.
"Yeah, you're the only monkey in it," a tall man in the corner called out, clenching a cigarette between his teeth as he pulled out a match. As Ronnie crossed over to his bunk, the man sitting on the one next to his glanced up from the letter he was reading.
"You know this guy?" He jerked his head in Josh's direction.
"Him? Nope. Never saw him before in my life."
"Well, if you know where he came from, send him back," the man with the cigarette interposed. "I've got a headache from all his racket."
"Haters will be haters," Josh shrugged carelessly as he flopped face-down on his bunk.
"The headache is probably from all those cigarettes you're smoking, Ken," the man doing chin-ups dropped lightly to the ground and folded his hands behind his head.
"Don't smoke anymore than the rest of you, Sandy."
"Well, that friend of yours is right about one thing," the man with the letter laughed. "It's a madhouse in here."
P.S. It was Irene. And I quote... "There's certainly something about uniforms," sighed Irene Howards" unquote. 😆
DeleteWeeeel, rather than take undue chances, I directed the research-rampage into another channel entirely😜quite successfully, if I do say so myself. Indeed, I was excessively diverted! (Sorry, had to stick that in😆) The object of my discovery being one Allison Digby Tatham Warter….
DeleteA brilliantly absurd, bowler-wearing, umbrella-wielding commander in the Battle of Arnhem. (whom you may have heard of, and if so, disregard the following!) By all accounts, he was pretty good with that thing! Meaning umbrella. He very effectively took out an armoured car and rescued the chaplain with the selfsame article…. The original reason for which was that he was forever forgetting his passwords, see, and figured it would be pretty well obvious to everyone involved that the bloke with the umbrella had to be English…. So it was insurance! Anyways, I found him positively fascinating, (eccentric heroes as a general rule can’t help being such, whether they like it or not) and that is the primary reason for this uncalled-for barrage of words😂 Also, the slight tinge of formality pervading said torrent may be attributed to the fact that my thought-voice decided to be English today. Probably in tribute to Major Digby….
Nuts nothing, this is Kopfkino artistry!! And a dull existence this would be if there were no such thing😆 Also, if I labeled YOU as such, I’d have to describe myself in words to the same effect, because, well,reasons, and probably get hopelessly lost in the dictionary in the meantime😄 Call it a gift for aiming the scope of imagination at things invisible to the eyes of those without this ability, all without them ever knowing it (; Well, except just enough to fuel rumours😜
Heehee, I can imagine😂 Somehow I never actually thought of the fact that those lovely uniforms would of course have to go😆 But oh boy, what a switch that must’ve been!
Lovely! For some reason that fits my very vague mental picture of her almost better than if she’d been an R.N….
Don’t worry, I won’t ask any more questions😄 About Nan, at any rate!
Jeepers, upon looking the stuff up, I’m thinking they sure must have! Changed the formula, that is….
None of that unpronounceable synthetic stuff being included, for instance😆 What a pity TrueLemon hadn’t come along yet!
Love it! Even fits in the family pretty well….
Firstly, thank you ever-so for the sneak peak🤩These guys totally made my day!!
Well ‘kay, I’ll try n hold out until then😜 How’s the saying go…. “If you must, you must, so line up and jump!”
It was great fun trying to pinpoint and guess the identities of most of these unnamed men of the “monkey house”😄 Saying Kopfkino twice in one comment is probably too much, or I’d say that’s what this turned into for me…. A mind-movie, that is! Leave it to Josh to spice things up right off the bat😂 So there’s about 8 or 9 guys total?
DeleteAha! Don't I love stories like that 😆 You know, I have heard the name, but I don't remember the story. But I must agree with you as regarding to eccentric heroes. Bowler hats and umbrellas!! Sounds too good to be true 😁 Aaand… you've turned my thought-voice to English too… 😆 It was pure Americana for a while… with some hints of Louisiana and Kentucky accents thrown in, to complement the scene I was contemplating… 😏
Ah yes, Kopfkino! Boy, I love that word!! I guess we're just a couple of nerds 😁 I remember one time in particular that I got overly emotional and I was sobbing on my knees beside the bed… and then I got called down to supper 😆 Mom wanted to know why I had been crying… I can't remember the excuse I gave…
Yup! Nan is one of the main things I'm keeping strictly confidential 😁 I'm so excited though… 🤗
Well, there should be twelve of them, and that's the problem. They're a twelve-man infantry rifle squad. But I haven't exactly come up with twelve names, faces, and personalities yet. Although it doesn't matter terribly much, since I've already highlighted the ones that have major roles in the novel. The rest of them are mostly filler. Because (at the beginning of the war, at least) there would have to be twelve men in a rifle squad.
The other problem is where to put George… 🤔 I don't know if I'll have him with the others. Especially because it is a rifle squad and the real life George was a C.O. medic. Just means more research for me, I guess! I have to find the documentary with real-life George in it… it's a rare documentary and isn't anywhere online though… 🤨
Oh, something I wanted to ask you about… I've been thinking of altering my pen name to fit better with the era and genre of the book… I mean "Juliette Deroulede" is too 18th century French, don't you think? I thought of taming it down to something more "Julie Duran" or "Julie Delaney", what do you think?
And I may or may not have found a cover artist that isn't near as expensive as I had thought… 🤔 If I can just think of how exactly I want the cover to look… 🤨
Speaking of those uniforms, well, so far I've only done scribbles. But here are a few of aforementioned scribbles… Sorry for unavoidable spoilers (and censored lines) 😏 But launching date is swiftly approaching!!
Delete"Do I look as silly as you do?" Marci joined Emma at the deck railing, sticking her thumbs through the belt loops on her olive green pants and hitching up the waist.
"Depends." Emma cocked her hat back and struck a pose. "Exactly how silly do I look?"
"Rather dreadful," Marci giggled. "No, I'm kidding."
"Betcha if I did this…" Emma piled her hair atop her head and smashed her steel helmet on top of it. "I could pass for Ronnie. Except I'm not nearly tall enough. And it isn't fair."
"[spoiler removed]"
Marci's question sobered Emma instantly. She sighed, her shoulders falling slightly as she turned back to the railing and folded her arms over it.
"I'm afraid he is," she murmured, staring out to sea as she bent to rest her chin on her arms. "He couldn't ever tell me exactly of course, because the letters are always censored. But I read between the lines."
"You'd think they'd tell us more, [spoiler removed]," Marci leaned against the railing beside her friend.
"Mmm. All I know is [spoiler removed] But the rumors that have been flying around…"
"If there's one thing we should've learned by now, Emma, it's to not listen to rumors."
The girls lapsed into silence. Emma pulled off the helmet, shaking her hair free, tilting her head back as she felt the brisk sea air blowing through her locks. The waves were lapping quietly at the sides of the ship, the seagulls crying overhead. It all seemed too ridiculously peaceful somehow.
"The calm before a storm," Emma muttered below her breath as Marci piped up again.
"You still have that picture of Ronnie? I wanna compare and see how much you look like him."
"Course I do. And don't even try, Marci, I know exactly what you're thinking."
"And what's that?" Marci assumed an air of great innocence.
"You little sneak," Emma narrowed her eyes, laughingly. "You've had a crush on him ever since I first showed you his picture. C'mon, admit it!"
"Now if you for one second think I'll even deign to answer such a ridiculous accusation, you've got another think coming."
"Admit it or I'll toss you overboard," Emma stepped forward menacingly, welding her helmet like a weapon.
"Never!" Marci ducked, laughing, as Emma took a practice swing with the helmet. "Hey, watch where you swing that thing! Touch me and I'll figure out how to tell that Josh of yours that you're madly in love with him!"
"Now who's making ridiculous accusations? I wouldn't dream of falling in love with him! I'm much too smart for that. And I never said a single thing to make you think that way, either."
And this excerpt does not necessarily accurately represent the feelings of the characters. No assumptions allowed 🤨 Okay, well, assumptions never hurt anyone. But don't get your hopes up... 😁
Right?! I actually thought they were just pulling my leg until I found multiple sources saying the same thing! Especially about the bugles.
DeleteOops😆 My sincerest apologies for switching your track😜
Yup, sure are😆 And lovin’ it! Oh dear🙈 Fast thinking required!!
Ahh, I see…. So finding it could be a bit of a puzzle, then!
Can’t wait to see where you center his story-within-the-story…. Are you keeping him a medic, or is that still to be determined?
This is wonderful news! Well, provided that it turns out they are, that is. And my goodness, just the words cover-artist sound thrilling😍 That’s the hard part, isn’t it! The deciding and designing, I mean….
Ohh, I’ve been wondering what your plan was on that! It is kinda, yeah🤔 I have to agree, adapting it to the circumstances does sound like a good move! Leaning towards one name or the other?
Oh yeah, this is going to be good😂 I cannot wait to get to know these two inside-out!! Thankyou for once again taking pity on me and my curiosity😜 You’re a gem!
All the more authentic, no? Reading it kinda like a censored letter from that time😄 And hey, if that means I get to read the in-between!!
Welll, it’s altogether extremely tempting…. but alright, here is me not getting my hopes up (; Or assuming assumptions. And I even promise not get my exercise jumping to conclusions😂 Until the launch-date!!
My ipad mysteriously turned itself orange today. As in every time I pull up the lock screen keypad or the whatever-you-call-it thingy that you type on, it's orange. Whereas it used to be white. 🤔 Can't say that I like the change.
DeleteWell, aforementioned cover artist may be out of a job, depending on whether or not the character design artist I just found will make covers or not. Did you see my latest post? If not, you'd better check it out, because I am still in awe 😳
Man. Launch date sounds so prestigious. And terrifying. Trouble is, if I don't hold myself to a time frame, I might never finish 😆 I've got too many unfinished projects in the vaults. "In My Heart", "Mo Chridhe", "Bend in the Road" and "Analevedi" to name the most prominent. But my current wip is my fave ever and I simply have to pull through this time!! I already gave up on it once.
I'm leaning towards Julie Delaney. It sounds cool and also similar to the original... What do you think?
I'm wading through pages of randomness currently... And I keep coming up with things to add... Last night in training camp, for instance, half of the guys in the bunkhouse were loudly singing Dixie and the other half Battle Hymn of the Republic, simultaneously. I leave you to imagine the consequential scene, although I fear I must leave out the best part, for fear of giving away too much before the Launch Date 😆 Also last night, cut to 1944, and Emma's sobbing in a pup tent somewhere in the middle of nowhere... But I leave you with that elusive tidbit and no more... 🙃
I'm going to sleep now, so I don't die of exhaustion at work tomorrow 😆 Ugh... My schedule is going to be the death of me.
Ohh, this has happened to me!! And it’s at times like those that I’m especially thrilled to have electronically-clever siblings to explain such stuff to me😆 Now, if it’s the same thing, I think it’s called Night Shift, in settings. Supposedly easier on the eyes or some such thing….
DeleteYes!! I was just there🤩🤩🤩 And let us hope he’s interested, because this is just off-the-charts phenomenal!! That was the absolute last thing I was expecting…. And at the risk of sounding like a copycat, I’m in awe😮 Also of Ronnie!! I’m assuming this is the picture of him that Emma has?
Oh yeah. And while we’re on the subject…. And also because he keeps staring at me almost teasingly as I scroll past…. Who d’you think the third guy down from the man with those bluest-of-all-shockingly-blue eyes is?
Wishing I had some profoundly wise and helpful words to put in right here, but alas, I be neither one nor the other😬So…. I’m sending an bundle stuffed with as much encouragement as will fit in it your way, C/O the Merry Little Breezes🙃😄
Haven’t the foggiest notion what Analevedi and Mo Chridhe mean, (guessing it’s in Gaelic?) but they certainly sound intriguing😄 Also, Bend In The Road sounds very familiar…. Is this with Katherine from Anne, or another story altogether?
Julie Delaney…. Honestly, I think that’s perfect! Timeless, and just really pretty to boot…. And it just, I don’t know, it fits the picture, if that makes sense.
Oohhh boy🤣 This could bring whole new meaning to “bringing down the house”😂 Now I wish I knew more about the Civil War ( or is it the War Between The States?) and which states did what😜
Elusive tidbit is right!🧐😢 I’m imagining all kinds of reasons and causes and outcomes, and I can’t seem to find a satisfactory one yet….
Yeah, it switched itself back. That thing has a mind of its own 😳
DeleteYes, that would prob be the pic that Emma has. And understandably, Marci swooned 🤣 So did I... 😏 DO. NOT. TELL. My siblings can never see that picture... it looks too much like... well, nevermind.
Anyway. Oh, the guy you mentioned... third-down from Mr. Electric Eyes. Well, I suppose he's a more close-up Ken. Even though I didn't intend for Ken to have blue eyes. But I'm switching all pics to black-and-white, so it doesn't much matter.
Aw, thanks! Your comments always make my day! And honestly, if I didn't have you to talk to about it, I probably wouldn't be getting this book done 😏 Thanks also for the package, much appreciated!!!
Mo Chridhe is Gaelic, it means "My Heart". It was a time-travel historical fiction romance having to do with the battle of Culloden, but I couldn't get the time-travel aspect to work out, so I dropped it.
Analevedi is still in the works, it's a fairy-tale allegory that honestly creeped me out a little bit, but I'm slightly obsessed with it and really want to finish it someday!! After my current wip, of course!! I should to post the prologue so you get the gist of it 😏 Analevedi is just a word I made up 😆 The name of a fantasy country.
Bend in the Road is the Katherine story. Just a few chapters that I wrote but never edited and honestly, I'm too wrapped up in the wip to worry about it right now.
The other I mentioned, In My Heart, is an 1850's story about a slave girl and the Underground Railroad. Still in the works.
Yep, I think I'm staying with Julie Delaney! I've even registered under that name on a beta site 😁
LOL!! It stemmed from Ken being from Louisiana and also has to do with Mac's harmonica. (And I got an amazing idea from said harmonica, can't wait to share it!!!) As for Civil War a.k.a. War Between the States, Dixie is the main song of the Confederacy (southern states) and Battle Hymn of the Republic of the Union (northern states). For example, Ken would be for Dixie, being a southerner, and Josh, Ronnie, and Mac for Battle Hymn, being northerners. Except Josh wasn't singing, he was doing something else 🤣
Confidential right up there with the likes of TA418 and Applesauce, don’t worry😉
DeleteI’m having the time of my life, in case you haven’t noticed😜 If someone had told me even last year that I’d be on a nickname-basis with a really-truly author by 2023, I would’ve thought they were pleasantly delusional😂 And wonder if I’d been daydreaming out loud somewhere along the line!
No kidding, I didn’t know you ever wrote fantasy! Analevedi…. Sounds thrillingly mysterious😄
Very much looking forward to seeing where you go with these!
Can’t wait to see what it is!! I’m liking this harmonica of his more n more all the time (; I can see how the situation might get a bit explosive😂
And I never realized before just how suspicious the words “something else” could be😆 Suspicious said Harlow Doyle style, even. Josh gets around so much, a person could halfway suspect him of being Kilroy😜 or of doing the planting of him, anyway!
Just rapidly scrolled through this conversation and caught the phrase "Somebody catch me quick, I'm swooning!" And lost it 🤣 I couldn't find the context because I was scrolling much too rapidly, but man, we're having a lot of fun, aren't we?? Very typical girls and I love it 😁 Yes, I'm having the time of my life too!!!
DeleteAlthough I wouldn't call myself a really-truly-author... I'm just a girl who loves stories and don't we all? 😏 My book isn't gonna be going anywhere far, I'm afraid. Although I may anonymously donate a copy to the library, if that's allowable 🤔 But you flatter me 😁
Yeah... Analevedi... could potentially be a controversial allegory. It's gotta do with the end times... of the world... It involves a good King named Adonai of Analevedi and an evil king Haborym of Shazavi (I think I made up that word too...) And there's a river called Yedid (Hebrew for beloved) that reflects the spiritual state of the country by the state of its water. And then there's my mc's Shiloh and Adiel.
And I'm not promising a happy ending... 😏
Anyway. Back to radges and collieshangies. Ah yes. The harmonica idea was quite inspired. I am understandably thrilled and grateful to Mac for telling me about it 😁
Sus-PISH-ee-us, eh?? 😆 Well, this particular Josh thing is rather harmless, he just enjoys annoying people. Actually, I have to somewhat restrain him at times or otherwise I'm afraid my readers would find him too annoying!! He got away from me the other day and I couldn't stop him from putting glue on the sergeant's toothbrush (also Mac's) but I may be able to reverse the damage. We'll see. Not sure if I'm leaving that in there or not. But there is significant evidence that may prove he put a chipmunk in the lieutenant's cot and that may be a more serious charge. So.
Ah yes! Kilroy!! Hm.... 😏😉
Hey! Super random. As a Canadian, how do you pronounce 'vase'?? 😳
Delete😂think that might’ve been me falling madly in love with your childhood home😜 Oh yeah!! That’s the beauty of it, we get to just be girls! And being girls is just such a delightful occupation😄
DeleteAlrighty then, a really-truly writer😉 Of a book you can become great friends with, which is no mean feat in and of itself! I would think that ought to work! It does at our library anyways🤔
Woahhh, now I definitely can’t wait to see where it goes…. That’s brilliant really, sometimes you can say a lot more in a fairytale without people jumping all over it that you can otherwise…. Almost parable style, it actually reminds me a little of both Marus and George MacDonald’s The Wise Woman!
Duly noted😜 but out of curiosity, dost thou mean in regards of Shiloh and Adiel, or of the story itself?
He can be so obliging that way, I know😄
Slippery fellow, isn’t he😜
Boy oh boy and deary me, it does indeed look as though it could be😆😅 Would this lieutenant to whom the, um, most likely remains-of-cot belongs, by any chance be THE lieutenant?
Hmm, as for myself and being of a north-western-prairie-ish accent, I have always said it Vayz! As opposed to VaSe or Vahz. But that also depends on where in Canada you’re from, I think. 🧐🤔Now I’m curious, how come? And furthermore, how do you say it??
Alright, I think I might actually have Mac figured now😂 And I’m going to put him down here, just so I don’t mix up the conversation on the new page! After a ridiculously long attempt at typing him up, I discovered that on paper and ONLY on paper did this work! Guess he must be old fashioned that way….. Anyways! This is my best attempt at the seemingly impossible😆
ReplyDeleteHis hair is almost exactly the colour of the bottom-most Mac-attempt. Looks to be pretty straight, but it will start curling ‘round the edges if he leaves it be….Particularly if he misses a haircut or two! Actually, you know the 4 Rob’s just under Nan’s picture? The hairstyle/cut on the one in the lower right corner is very much the way I imagine Mac’s.
His eyes are what I’ve discovered to be called wide-set and up-turned, his nose being somewhat patrician n leaning ever so slightly towards Roman…. and in my scribbles it says a rectangular face shape, square-ish jawline. Which all makes him sound rather stern-looking, but he has such a boyish quality at the same time that he couldn’t possibly be!
Anddd add a Sean Connery before-James-Bond grin, and I think that about sums him up! Wait, no. Missed his scar! And honestly I haven’t a clue how to describe it😆 I mean, it’s prominent enough that he can’t just comb his hair over and hide it all the way, but it’s not the first thing you notice about him either. Well, maybe the second😜 Maybe from a bit of a rakish angle above his right eye?
In retrospect, I should really have made his eyes some colour other than green…. 🤷♀️But then, what’s a “Cat” without green eyes, I guess! They do tend to change colour and tone depending on various things tho, so there’s a fair bit o’ leeway….
And I now that I have all his various puzzle pieces put together, I can’t seem to see him in the finished thing🧐I feel like I’m missing what makes him Mac! But anyways.
'Tis done. Many Macs are awaiting your inspection on the new page. Unfortunately, the stubborn scar just wouldn't show up. Mayhap it's faint enough that cameras don't catch it??
DeleteI love his description 😁🥰 Just hoping I somehow captured it. If not, let me know and I'll try again!!
As for what makes him Mac, I suppose that's where I come in. The writing aspect of it... 😐 Here's hoping I can do it!!! I just... got a beta reader today... and I'm terrified. His father was in WWII and he's a Vietnam vet, so I could be in for it, if he's super strict and historically accurate 😆 Simply put, I'm terrified.
Splendiferous😃 (I can hardly believe this is a real word, btw)
DeleteThis could very likely be the case! Lighting and any number of things could be conspiring to hide it, and he certainly won’t complain😜 We shall see in a moment whether he showed up to the party!
Yes, exactly!! You officially un-black-and-white him, and turn him into living colour😄 and honestly, I don’t know of anyone else who could pull him off!
Woah🤭😯 Talk about going straight to the source! But really, you’ve done your research so thoroughly, and fairly immersed yourself in the history of it…. I’m thinking you’ll come through with flying colours! Who knows, maybe he gives you a few pointers from experience?