In my recent title: The Half Mile of Baby Blue, family dynamics contribute to the overall conflict that frustrates one of my favorite characters, Dot Wheeler, the matriarch and grandmother of the story.
Albeit, The Half Mile of Baby of Baby Blue is only a book, but when I speak of family dynamics, I utilize my own personal experiences to bring this story’s conflict alive.
The writing God’s do say, ‘write what you know,’ so why not draw from healthy and unhealthy resources from an author’s past.
When I talk about my recent release with readers, I speak of the distance or half mile a family must travel if they want to save their ranch from foreclosure. Dot Wheeler is seventy seven years old. She’s not interested in running races. Neither would she willingly place burdens on her family. Like anyone who is content in their home, she doesn’t want to lose the homestead where she has lived for over fifty years, but she’s willing to sacrifice physical possessions for the sake of her family. She’s made sacrifices, before…
Dot Wheeler has kept secrets from her family and sometimes secrets don’t stay hidden. Enter the discovery of a baby blue chuckwagon, and then photographs and letters unearthed inside an old suitcase, which reveal a Stampede heritage. The race is soon on to not only pay tribute to a chuckwagon legacy, but also to save the ranch. Still, a grandmother doesn’t want past hurts to repeat and she knows if her grandchildren take Baby Blue back to the circuit, history could spark new fears.
That’s conflict. The crux and risk in the story. When one woman is able to say goodbye to the past but not the emotional scars she still carries. And three determined grandchildren with destinies of their own, can’t fear the past when they have no knowledge of it. But once they do understand their legacy, like the turtle that rushes to the ocean, the young will assume the risks and run the half mile of Hell. To their grandmother’s chagrin.
Family dynamics, chemistry, the conflict and muscle that welcomes into the story the possibility of success, the fear of failure, and relationship surprises, too.
The Wheelers have a distance or half mile to run in order to save their ranch from foreclosure, and Kit Wheeler, one of the Wheeler grandchildren, just might discover a new appreciation for her family as she accepts the reins of responsibility, and a love interest too.
I believe this novel is my best to date. I hope you enjoy it.
The Half Mile of Baby Blue was written to celebrate: The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth, The Calgary Stampede. Print copies are available at Chapters and Indigo locations in Calgary, Alberta, and digital editions are available through all your favorite e-tailers.