In an interview, Grandmama, a character in B.J Myrick’s “Nelly of No Man’s Land,” gives her opinions on Nelly’s marriage and the author’s choices. “Nelly of No Man’s Land” will be available on Amazon Kindle December 1, 2012.
FIRESIDE CHAT WITH B. J. MYRICK
As I watched Grandmama on the vlog, I had to smile. It isn’t often I get to control someone else’s life, since I’ve never been able to control my own. Life is a game of chance. You only think you’re in control, but you aren’t. Maybe that’s why I became a writer. I like to move my characters around like a Kansas tornado, just to see how they land on their feet, see what they’re made of.
Do you think Grandmama was even aware I was directing her life as well as her granddaughter’s? As Grandmama stated, I could have given her granddaughter that devilishly handsome and newly-rich man, and it almost happened, but then I snatched that ripe, red apple from her before she took that second bite.
In the end, though, it all came out as I planned. Sometimes that apple has a worm in it or a core that’s rotten, but you don’t see it until you take that first bite. After all, isn’t life about losing everything you love and accepting what crumbs are left? Or is it about learning to appreciate how good the crumbs taste when all is said and done?
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Author B.J. Myrick reveals the research involved in writing her historical novel, “Nelly of No Man’s Land,” which will be available on Amazon Kindle November 30, 2012.
Open the door to 1890 and travel with me through the pages of Nelly ofNo Man’s Land as I share the journey with you.
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Read more about B. J. Myrick and her books at amazon.com.
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Have you ever wondered where a writer gets the idea for a particular book and what is involved in the creation of the story that looks so enticing in the book’s description? In a series of blog posts this month, I will touch on what is involved in creating a novel while trying to remain faithful to history, move into a character interview, and end with a reading from the novel. I’ll start with the idea for the novel, which was inspired by both my mother’s stories about homesteading in No Man’s Land and my great-grandmother’s recipes for herbal cures—she was a medicine woman.
Within the tattered pages of the old Dr. Chase’s book, published sometime in the 1800s, were my great-grandmother’s handwritten recipes for medicines written on the blank pages at the end of chapters. They contained weird ingredients such as sugar of lead, chloroform, sarsaparilla, sulphuric ether and acid, iodide of potash, stillingia, poke root, morphine, to name just a few. Her cures covered diphtheria, blood purifier and liver regulator, piles, worms, and a host of other ailments. With her concoctions, she healed ill and dying patients who had been given up to die by the doctors. Unfortunately, she never passed down the tradition of healing with herbs.
As I considered how I could use the herbal healing in a novel, what story I could tell, I remembered all those family stories my mother told me about homesteading in No Man’s Land. As a child, I used to beg her to retell the stories, and she would laugh and say, “Oh, you don’t want to hear that again.” But she always recounted those fascinating tales of digging the dugout, confronting outlaws, and surviving the war between the cattlemen and the settlers. I never tired of hearing about those frightening experiences of what it was like to homestead in that wild and untamed territory.
The story, Nelly of No Man’s Land takes place in Oklahoma over a two-year period. A pioneer family homesteads in The Strip where they struggle to survive in a lawless territory. Nelly Duncan is a dying woman who battles to regain her health while struggling to resolve the personal pain of her husband’s alcohol addiction and infidelity. Through the help of a medicine man, she regains her health there. Then the past returns to haunt her: the handsome peddler she turned to for comfort during her husband’s unfaithfulness and who fathered a child her husband thinks is his own, reappears in her life.
Take a step back in time and travel with me through the pages of Nelly ofNo Man’s Land as I share the journey with you. The historical novel is scheduled for publication around the first week of December, just in time for Christmas.
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And read more about B. J. Myrick and her books at amazon.com.
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Coming soon: In 1890, a pioneer family homesteads in Oklahoma’s No Man’s Land where they struggle to survive in a lawless territory.
Storyline: When the doctor gives NELLY DUNCAN up to die, her husband, WILL DUNCAN, moves the family to Oklahoma’s No Man’s Land in the hopes Nelly can regain her health. The territory—wild and dangerous–is filled with outlaws and disgruntled cattlemen who will kill or burn the settlers out to keep free range. Wolves and coyotes threaten their stock. To complicate matters, Nelly’s personal battle to regain her health is hindered by Will’s addiction to alcohol and infidelity. Take a look!
About the Author
Bonnie Myrick was born in 1932 in Atlanta, Kansas, to Scotch, Irish, and English parents. Her career as Art Educator spanned twenty-three years. Her first novel, “Out of Control,” is a paranormal suspense, and she partnered up with Hazel Hart to produce two short story collections of dark fiction, “Edge of Nowhere” and “Dark Side of the Rainbow.” Her historical novel, “Nelly of No Man’s Land” is scheduled for release in December. She is currently working on “Assisted Living,” a mystery. She has one daughter and lives in the Midwest.
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