Introducing Yours in a Hurry

The Hartle children in 1900, one year before their parents died. The characters in Yours in a Hurry are Anna, the oldest, at top, Addison to her right and Purl, seated in front of him.

I love history—always have. As a daydreamer like my mother, books and films entice me.  My work involves people, how we work, learn and behave with each other—or not.  Behavioral science is fertile ground for a writer.

I inherited great aunt Letta's "box", a life's work that substituted for a spouse—family trees, photos and letters:  Los Angeles news stories about Addison, an aeroplane builder and flyer in 1911; a 1910 post card from Purl, stationed in Japan in 1910; Anna's ring, still in the original box. I had to write about them.

Influences
Non-fiction authors who can take facts and create an interesting story are a great read—Doris Kerns Goodwin, Eric Larson, David McCullough, Michael Shaara, and Howard Blum. Some are professional historians or reporters. I am neither. But as a history buff with a degree in English and history, writing historical fiction allows me to associate characters that may or may not have met in their time, but could have.
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E. L. Doctorow's Ragtime is the first historical novel I remember reading. James Michener's long sagas sustained me during a pregnancy. A British tour guide and former English Lit professor, read to us from Edward Rutherford's Sarum, which he deemed "the best novel about English history". I am enlightened listening to Colin McCann, Tracy Chevalier, and Mary Doria Russell tell their writing successes and challenges.

Yours in a Hurry
My first book is about orphaned siblings, Anna, Addison and Purl Hartle, who leave their Ohio village in 1909 for better opportunities after receiving a good inheritance. They meet aviators, inventors, and Hollywood icons. Purl helps develop military bases in Hawaii and the Philippines. Addison, who travels a lot, is always involved in the next new thing and often signs his letters 'Yours in a Hurry'.

Follow these blogs to learn about the early 1900's and experience the people and places I've discovered along the way. I know you'll enjoy the journey as much as I have. 
      

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