This week S.L. (Sharon) Smith is my guest author. Sometimes one small detail will grab hold and won't let go until we find the answer to a question. In Sharon's case it was a name. Sometimes the the answer comes to us in the most unexpected way. Read on and find out how she found the answer to a niggling question. Also, Sharon is going to give a Commenter a copy of Murder on a Stick. Welcome, Sharon!
What Kind of Name is That?
Culnane? What kind of name is that? Where in heaven's name
did Pete, the protagonist in my mysteries, get his last name?
That's
easy. From his dad, of course. And Pete's dad got it from his dad, and so
on, and so forth.
Here's
how I fit into the picture. When I was a small child, I'm talking three, four,
five, maybe six, I had a babysitter. The only name I knew her by was Mrs.
Culnane.
I
loved that woman. She was sweet and kind. She was patient and loving. She was
like a grandmother to me. By some miracle, Pete has her last name.
The
problem is, Mom couldn't tell me Mrs. Culnane's first name or how she spelled
her last name. All of my efforts to determine that failed.
Not
quick to throw in the towel, I settled for the phonetic spelling.
As
the number of books grew, and the years passed, my uncertainty over the
correctness of the spelling I'd used grew.
Too
late, you say? Never!
I
considered what I'd do, should I discover C-u-l-n-a-n-e was incorrect. I
decided I'd have someone in Pete's family do genealogical research. Heaven
knows, Pete could never find the time. I decided that person could discover
that way back the spelling was changed from the spelling used by my babysitter
to the spelling I'd erroneously used for Pete's last name.
Well,
it turned out all of the worry and imagining how to rectify the error was
wasted. This spring, a cousin asked if I'd like to see the guest book from my
paternal grandfather's wake, circa 1964. Am I dating myself? Yup.
My
cousin sent the book, and Mom read all the names to me. (I'm no longer able to
decipher even legible handwriting.) A few pages along, Mom said, "Margaret
Culnane. "
(Margaret
Culnane wouldn't have known my grandfather, so she must have gone to the wake
out of respect for my parents. Yes, that, too, is the kind of person she was.)
"Stop!"
I exclaimed, unable to contain my excitement over what I'd just heard.
"How did she spell it?"
I
guess you have to be as crazy as I am, or have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder,
to comprehend how thrilled I was to finally have access to the correct spelling
and to learn I'd spelled Pete's last name correctly. Heck, I'm still thrilled!
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Aside
from Pete and his partner, Martin Tierney, all of the character names in Murder on a Stick have something in common. If you've attended one of my book
events, you probably know what that is. All of the people who correctly
identify that commonality will be placed in a pool for a drawing for a paperback
copy of Murder on a Stick.
Thanks,
Marja, for providing this opportunity for me to talk about my writing.
Bio:
Version 1:
A lifelong resident of Minnesota, I was born in Saint Cloud and attended Saint Catherine University in Saint Paul. The tall iron fence surrounding the campus provided a sense of security for this small-town transplant. Over the next four years, I grew to love the Twin Cities, in part because of the Minnesota Twins and my love for baseball. After graduating, I rented an apartment a few miles from Metropolitan stadium and rarely missed a home game.
A lifelong resident of Minnesota, I was born in Saint Cloud and attended Saint Catherine University in Saint Paul. The tall iron fence surrounding the campus provided a sense of security for this small-town transplant. Over the next four years, I grew to love the Twin Cities, in part because of the Minnesota Twins and my love for baseball. After graduating, I rented an apartment a few miles from Metropolitan stadium and rarely missed a home game.
During my thirty-two years with the state department of
public safety, I worked with law enforcement and fire officials at the state,
county and municipal levels. Those interactions assisted me with writing
mysteries, but were just the starting point. Without the help of a friend who
spent thirty-five years as a cop, I would never have ventured into writing
police procedurals. He contributed to my understanding of the perspectives of
my two protagonists, Pete Culnane and Martin Tierney Thankfully, this friend is
still a resource. He proofreads each manuscript and performs a reality check on
the law enforcement aspects.
Publishing family memoirs helped fine tune my research
skills, and taught me to contact everyone in the book. I used that tactic on
the first Pete Culnane mystery, Blinded by the Sight, and included those who
assisted in the acknowledgments. That paid rich rewards as I worked on books
two, three, and four in the series. An investigator in the medical examiner’s
office provided a foot-in-the-door with the head of homicide at the Saint Paul
Police Department, and with a retired investigator (detective).
Website:
CLICK HERE to visit Marja McGraw’s website
CLICK HERE for a quick trip to Amazon.com
A Well-Kept Family Secret - A Sandi Webster Mystery is now available in audio format on Amazon.com, iTunes and Audible.com. Stay tuned because next week I'll be giving away a free copy or two.
