While planning my writing, I have found it helpful to use calendars in two
instances:
1. Put together my
own calendar for a book storyline
2. Refer to a
calendar for a book I’m writing.
In one instance, I was writing a story set in 2024 with
time travel back to the past. The action took place over about a week period,
with the story moving back and forth between what was taking place in 2024 and
what was happening in 1859. I used a spreadsheet to construct a calendar although some may prefer to use a table instead. The primary characters were listed on the left-hand column. I kept the 2024 events in black, the historical
events in green, and my own notes in red.
I was coordinating days as well as dated between two time
periods. For the 2024 setting, I needed to know what day of the week the Fourth
of July will fall on. I found this information by doing a Google or Yahoo search
using the search terms “Calendar 2024.” The calendar I like best is under
timeanddate.com.
In 1859, much of the plot was built around the Carrington
Event which took place between August 29th and September 2nd. Since this
involved an astronomical event, it would be interesting to also know what phase
the moon was in at the time.
In my current book, Family
Secrets, Mike Carpenter gets back
from the Vietnam War in early 1968. By Thanksgiving, he and his fiancée are
having dinner with both sets of parents who are planning a wedding for the
second Saturday in December, the next time Mike, a city carrier with the Post
Office, has his “long weekend” of Friday, Saturday and Sunday off. They decide
to get married on Saturday, December 14th.
In Family Secrets, Jennie Graves Howell has a secret, including being thought of as a loyal
wife to her husband serving in Afghanistan, a husband who has demanded a
divorce. Jennie’s family do not want her to delve into the past.
Grandpa Mike refuses to talk about his experiences in the Vietnam War
and the aftermath. He wants the biggest mistake he ever made to remain
hidden in the past, including family members Jennie never heard about
until hints of their existence begin to seep through the cracks of
secrecy. Her new friends at the Golden Oaks Family Ties club are willing
to teach Jennie the skills she needs to unlock her family’s secrets,
but is she willing and emotionally strong enough to learn what her
family has kept hidden?
Robyn Echols writes using the pen name, Zina Abbott. Her novel, Family Secrets,
has been
published by Fire Star Press and is now available on Amazon HERE and on Barnes & Nobel for Nook HERE.
Also available:
Big Meadows Valentine, on Amazon Kindle HERE and on Nook HERE
A Christmas Promise on Amazon Kindle HERE and Nook HERE.
Both published by Prairie Rose
Publications.
