Writing Life

The Squirrel and the Frenchman and Helpful Writing Books

It's been forever since I've been on here. I've been working on "Revenge of the Turd," and "The Squirrel and the Frenchman." I'm blogging the rough draft (and boy is it rough) of "Revenge" on my blog: http://picklesandpipermysteries.home.blog I'll probably put "Squirrel" on here.

"Squirrel" is my first attempt at historical fiction. It's based on my great, great, great Uncle Henri Wehrung, also known as "The Frenchman," and his time in the Civil War. He really had it tough. The other soldiers didn't like him because he was French and they refused to follow his orders. He was mustered in a Sergeant because he'd been one in the French military, but went out a Private. He got so sick of the brats that served under him that he asked to be relieved of duty. They docked him for it.

Yesterday, my cousin Paul (retired military) helped me work out some details about Uncle Henri's service time. In 1977, I got copies of his war records. Paul was gobsmacked that none of his superiors backed him. Which means they were as bad as the brats who were under my uncle. For me, it's added a whole new dimension to the Civil War.

Anyway, I'm telling the story through the eyes of a squirrel. :) He becomes my uncle's buddy. :)

Yesterday, I picked up a couple books to help improve my writing: The Rural Setting Thesaurus and The Emotion Thesaurus. I wished I'd had these books when I was writing my other books! They're priceless! And not too bad in the Kindle edition, only $5.99. Totally worth it.