This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Helen Gillespie will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
The Internet isn’t the “end all” to research. I love that we have the World Wide Web at our fingertips, allowing us to gain knowledge about any subject. However, it sometimes falls short. Even with Chat GPT and other AI tools, knowledge seekers need to ask the correct questions to get the correct answers. Oftentimes, we need to augment technology with human intelligence.
During my writing of The Goodbyes, I was firm that it took close to two hours to travel from Marshfield, Missouri to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. My editor said it took much less time. Of course, I used a map app, and she was correct; it takes maybe an hour. I couldn’t shake off the nearly two-hour trip I thought I had remembered. “Perhaps the Interstate wasn’t completed at the time,” I thought. My computer search proved me wrong. I decided to call a librarian at the local library in Marshfield in hopes of clarifying why I thought the trip was longer. I shared my challenge with her, and right away she responded, “I lived here during the time. The speed limit was 55 then.” Surely, that would have accounted for the more extended trip. However, two hours was still an overestimation. As a result, I rewrote the sentence to exclude the time spent traveling the distance, in case a reader doesn’t recall the 55 miles per hour speed limit as I hadn’t.
This wasn’t the only time while writing The Goodbyes that I depended on human intelligence. I asked a police officer friend of mine if my portrayal of an officer approaching a crime scene was believable. To my relief, she said yes and offered a few suggestions to enhance the scene.
In the sequel to The Goodbyes, I am relying heavily on human intelligence. I’m interested in learning what life was like in the early ’90s in an area I am only somewhat familiar with. I have a multitude of facts, but an accurate and believable picture of people’s feelings and memories is what makes a plausible and enjoyable story. Therefore, I’ll ask others.
Struggling with becoming an adult in a small mid-western town, Dianne must confront family secrets, deception, and discovery during her last year of college. As she cares for her ailing mother, her world begins to unravel and she is challenged to navigate through lies, friendships, love…and murder.
Meeting the wrong person makes it possible for her to recognize the right ones and to find the strength she needs to survive. Realizing that she is responsible for her own destiny, she learns that to say hello to a new life, she must first say goodbye.
Enjoy an Excerpt
All living creatures hold secrets for basic survival. Humans keep secrets to preserve their image, hide their misjudgments, or protect those they care about. Only in the safest conditions, absolute trust or vulnerability, can humans feel safe divulging their secrets, laying bare their hidden selves.
Katrina England and her husband did not keep secrets from Dianne or indulge in the usual childhood fantasies of princesses or fairy godmothers with her daughter. Even Santa Claus was introduced from a historical perspective rather than as a magical elf. The Englands were doting parents who disciplined their daughter when necessary and answered her questions honestly, only withholding information that surpassed Dianne’s maturity. Yet, despite this philosophy, Katrina did hold a few secrets, one very close.
As Dianne approached adulthood, Katrina began to share these secrets. By then, Dianne’s father had died, leaving the two women to navigate life together as a family with no other relatives living close by. Katrina often grappled with the lifelong weight of a childhood secret and her secret of late, a terminal cancer diagnosis. Both became weightier as her cancer took hold. When Dianne began dating the MegaMart store manager, Katrina’s concern of her daughter’s future turned to worry.
Dianne, nearing graduation while dealing with her mother’s illness, found herself facing unexpected challenges. When Michael D. Glossen entered her life, her challenges became problems. Oddly, she met “Michael D” when a cream rinse emergency arose.
About the Author: Throughout grammar school and college, Helen Gillespie loved developing story sketches or full stories but kept them hidden within herself. That creative spark proved valuable in unexpected places, first on assignment as a musician in the US Army, and after leaving the Army, when she earned a degree in elementary education. After reentering the Army in 1981, she put pen to paper, or rather, “fingers to an Olivetti.” She officially learned the art of journalism to serve the Army, but it quickly became a personal passion. Interviewing fellow soldiers, exploring their jobs and personalities, and publishing useful information for the military community formed the basis of her skill and enjoyment. Those years of thought, training, education, and experience laid the foundation for crafting her first novel, The Goodbyes.
Thank you for featuring THE GOODBYES today.
I liked the excerpt.
This looks like a very intriguing novel. Thanks for sharing.
Sounds like a interesting book.
It looks like a good book!
I didn’t know the speed limit used to be 55 at least in some places. That’s interesting.