Old Friends
Wednesday, I played hooky from life and traveled a hundred miles each way to spend the day with an old friend.
Let me clarify…she’s been a friend of mine for a long time. She isn’t old. We’re at an age where we can get a little touchy about certain terms of endearment.
She used to live thirty-five minutes from my home and we would spend several days each week visiting and hanging out either at her house or mine. Now she lives two hours away and we see each other once or twice a year. But when we get together, it feels like time has stopped.
She still has horses including an adorable little Paint filly. We trudged through the mud with her dog running laps around our feet to give the horses “cookies.” Actually horse treats, but they know the word “cookies” when they hear it.
We went out to lunch and caught up on all the gossip. We commiserated about our roles as caregivers to our elderly parents.
And we laughed. A lot.
Everyone needs an “old” friend or two. The kind that knows your deepest, darkest secrets. The kind that has been to hell and back with you. The kind that knows your ugly side and loves you anyway.
And some friends, like this one, are real characters. I never come away from one of our visits without material to use in my novel.
There is one character in my novel (Merryn) that receives a lot of her energy from this friend of mine. No, Merryn is not my friend. Rarely are any of my characters created from ONE person. Merryn looks nothing like my friend. Her life is nothing at all like my friend’s life. But her sharp wit and tongue…now THAT I’ve borrowed quite heavily from my dear, wickedly funny friend.
And if you’re wondering about the name, Merryn, it rhymes with Karen. I borrowed it from another friend’s daughter. I always told her I loved that name.
So if you are a friend of mine, you will not end up a character in one of my stories. PART of you may, but not ALL of you.
Of course, I did create one character almost exclusively from someone I knew long ago and who was a real jerk. I killed that character off. (Cue evil laughter)
But friends are safe from that fate.
Let me clarify…she’s been a friend of mine for a long time. She isn’t old. We’re at an age where we can get a little touchy about certain terms of endearment.
She used to live thirty-five minutes from my home and we would spend several days each week visiting and hanging out either at her house or mine. Now she lives two hours away and we see each other once or twice a year. But when we get together, it feels like time has stopped.
She still has horses including an adorable little Paint filly. We trudged through the mud with her dog running laps around our feet to give the horses “cookies.” Actually horse treats, but they know the word “cookies” when they hear it.
We went out to lunch and caught up on all the gossip. We commiserated about our roles as caregivers to our elderly parents.
And we laughed. A lot.
Everyone needs an “old” friend or two. The kind that knows your deepest, darkest secrets. The kind that has been to hell and back with you. The kind that knows your ugly side and loves you anyway.
And some friends, like this one, are real characters. I never come away from one of our visits without material to use in my novel.
There is one character in my novel (Merryn) that receives a lot of her energy from this friend of mine. No, Merryn is not my friend. Rarely are any of my characters created from ONE person. Merryn looks nothing like my friend. Her life is nothing at all like my friend’s life. But her sharp wit and tongue…now THAT I’ve borrowed quite heavily from my dear, wickedly funny friend.
And if you’re wondering about the name, Merryn, it rhymes with Karen. I borrowed it from another friend’s daughter. I always told her I loved that name.
So if you are a friend of mine, you will not end up a character in one of my stories. PART of you may, but not ALL of you.
Of course, I did create one character almost exclusively from someone I knew long ago and who was a real jerk. I killed that character off. (Cue evil laughter)
But friends are safe from that fate.
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How long have you been writing and have you had any books published yet?
You can click on the link to my website and read my bio there.
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