Is Anyone
Out There Interested in a Serialized Novel?
Did
I mention it’s free?
Fifty-odd
years ago I began writing the
great American novel. I
actually finished it, but…I’d become so attached to my characters
that I couldn’t let them go into that final world of publication. I
kept coming up with more scenarios, more supporting characters, more
everything. I just couldn’t turn loose.
The
other night while talking to my writing partner Sharon Davidson (see
her novels on Amazon under the name S.M. Davidson), I broached the
idea of letting go of the story, the characters, and my dream of the
great American novel.
She read the first few chapters and said, “Go for it.”
So,
I’m broaching the idea of serializing the book on my website—free,
of course—if I find any interest—and maybe even if I don’t. I
need to lay Tank, Francie, Vic, Peggy, Bix, and Peaches to rest once
and for all.
The
story, Blest Be the
Tie, follows the
lives of six high school classmates from the depths of the Great
Depression through World War II, their post-war lives, and
eventually, their deaths with the tie that bound them still unbroken.
It
is set in and around the mythical small West Texas town of Danford,
where Tank’s parents, Dutch and Grace Tankersley own the largest
ranch in six counties. Dutch runs beef cattle but, as a hobby,
collects longhorns to preserve the breed, and pampers them like pets.
He and Grace also collect people, building a family around their own
cherished son and his friends who have been cast adrift by their own
families.
Though
Dutch only made it through eighth grade, because the schools in
Danford only went that far at the time, what he knows about the
land—about people—and about the Lord who created both—has
earned him the respect of everyone in the area.
Grace,
whose father sent her away from home to complete her education,
taught in a one-room school before marrying Dutch and becoming his
wife, partner, and best friend for over fifty years. What she knows
about love and family built more than a herd of longhorns on the
Tankersley Ranch.
Tomorrow’s
blog will be a brief character sketch of Tank and
Francie, the following days will profile Vic and Peggy, and Bix and
Peaches. After that, if there is enough interest, I’ll begin
posting the story.
