As to biographical information, i. e., who I am; well I'm still trying to figure that one out. For more than half a century, I've hidden behind words, first as a news and sports reporter with a BS in Journalism from UT-Knoxville, my hometown.
Following that career, a quarter century was spent writing historical non-fiction. So, it was with a lot of naiveté and way too much self confidence that I decided some five years ago to write a novel, a mystery. I managed to get a well-known mystery writer with some forty books published to review my first manuscript. He sent me an eleven-page, single spaced letter. The first page and a half told me what I had done correctly. The other nine and a half pages listed the things I needed to learn. I am still learning.
THE PROVIDENCE OF DEATH can be ordered as a POD trade paperback through Amazon, B&N or your local book stores, as well as an ebook for your Kindle.
Following that career, a quarter century was spent writing historical non-fiction. So, it was with a lot of naiveté and way too much self confidence that I decided some five years ago to write a novel, a mystery. I managed to get a well-known mystery writer with some forty books published to review my first manuscript. He sent me an eleven-page, single spaced letter. The first page and a half told me what I had done correctly. The other nine and a half pages listed the things I needed to learn. I am still learning.
THE PROVIDENCE OF DEATH can be ordered as a POD trade paperback through Amazon, B&N or your local book stores, as well as an ebook for your Kindle.
First, I must say thanks to Kaye for letting me again
be a part of Meanderings and Muses. As her list of guests dwindles, it is truly
an honor to remain among the annual contributors.
North
Carolina, The Friendly State
by Bronson L. "Bo" Parker
I know an argument could be stirred up by saying
this, but I now live in one of the friendliest states in the union. I’ve not
spent time in all fifty, but to my way of thinking, there simply cannot be one where
the folks are friendlier than in North Carolina.
Not too long after I arrived the week after
Thanksgiving last year, I made the comment to my son how friendly I found
everyone. He response? “Now you know why I moved down here twelve years ago.”
He was born and raised in Hampton, Virginia, the family home for nearly fifty years.
He continued by saying. “Down here, even the
clerks in the stores are so friendly you feel guilty if you don’t thank them.”
These are two personal opinions. What have others
said about the state?
Warren Bull,
who grew up in Rock Island, Illinois, enjoyed a career as a licensed
psychologist before becoming a full time, award-winning author of more than
twenty published short stories, as well as memoirs, essays, and a novel.
Part of his graduate
training in psychology was at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He
still speaks fondly of his experiences from more than thirty years ago. “I remember moving to a small town in
North Carolina and learning to slow down the speed of my speech and practice
more politeness.”
Warren also said he loved the local
sayings. He passed on one example. “Cute as a speckled puppy barking in the
rain.” Let that roll off your tongue a time or two, and it’s impossible to not
smile at the image.
Beyond
personal opinions, at least one institution of higher learning weighed in on
the subject. Researchers at England’s Cambridge University determined several
years that North Carolina was one of the “friendliest and most dutiful” states in
the union.
That
study resulted in this reaction from Jason Tomberlin, North Carolina Research and
Instruction Librarian at the Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library. He
suggested that in addition to nicknames such as The Tar Heel State, The Old
North State, and Land of the Longleaf Pine, the state could be called “The Friendly
State.”
The Cambridge study prompted the state’s governor at the time to
give this quote to the Raleigh News and
Observer. “I’m happy to see that others are learning what we have known for
a long time—that nothing could be finer than to live in North Carolina.”
That last line was a reminder of a song that been around for the
better part of a century, one of the first songs I can remember hearing as a
small child.
CAROLINA IN THE MORNING
Nothing
could be finer than to be in Carolina in the morning,
No
one could be sweeter than my sweetie when I meet her in the morning.
Where
the morning glories
Twine
around the door,
Whispering
pretty stories
I
long to hear once more.
Strolling
with my girlie where the dew is pearly early in the morning,
Butterflies
all flutter up and kiss each little buttercup at dawning,
I'd
make a wish and here's what I'd say:
Nothing
could be finer than to be in Carolina in the morning.
What is
going on in North Carolina to create this state of friendliness? I have learned
that is does not come from its native-born citizens alone. Some of the people
who give the state this quality were born elsewhere,
including our own Kaye Barley who was born in Maryland. To my way of thinking,
she is the epitome of what my word cobbling is about.
So, how
do the citizens of North Carolina achieve this level of friendliness? I found
this as a quote in a state magazine. It had no attribution. But maybe it contains
the answer in amongst what some might call fighting words.
“It has
been written of North Carolina that when the essential unpretentiousness of its
citizenry is contrasted with the vanity displayed by Richmond aristocracy to
the north and the haughtiness manifested by Charleston gentry to the south, the
state can be viewed as “a vale of humility between two mountains of conceit.”
#################################
One final comment on another subject.
To the many folks who have been asking about the
next Joe McKibben book, I can tell you the second one is nearing the point
where I’ll be looking for test readers who want to be a part of the process. A
wee bit of physical inconvenience got in the way.
It’s the
story of how the retired detective handled, or mishandled, certain issues in
his life during the year after he tracked down the man who killed Whitey
Wheeler; a fellow retired detective and his close friend since academy days.
It was a
time during which Joe quit smoking after fifty years; become what some would call a wealthy man; and
for a short period of time, experienced the feeling of being a suspect in a
homicide. Last but not least, he and Marsha Fielding, the widow he met in Kent
County, Maryland, moved past their long-distance, platonic relationship
