Hello Eliza! Thank you for inviting me here today to talk
about my debut book, HOME. It’s a thrill to be here after working so long to
publish. When I met you I was a hopeful taking your month-long editing class
with a group of awesome writers. Thanks to you we are still friends and keep in
touch daily. Thanks to your class (I HIGHLY recommend Edit Your Book in a Month
with Eliza Knight!!!) several of us have become published authors in the last
sixteen months! So when I sold it felt natural to visit the blog of the one who
helped make this day possible. You. You are Queen Eliza to the Divas. Lol
HOME is set in 1967 during the ending years of the Vietnam
war. I didn’t plan that. It’s just how the story and characters presented to
me. I knew so little about that time, I was a tiny tot of 5 years at the time.
So it took some research and concentration to stay in that era while I wrote.
My heroine is a gypsy but I wanted her to be a modern woman (of her time) and
still have that gypsy style in her clothes. I’m not sure I completely pulled
that off, but I hope I did.
I wanted Poppy Tippen to wear a Poodle skirt in at least one
scene. Was that possible, feasibly? Off to the internet I went. Research showed
that these were popular in the late 50’s and early 60’s. BUT- I was happy to
discover that YES! they still wore Poodle skirts in the mid/late 60’s though
they retired soon after. So when reading HOME, and I hope you will read it, you
can see if you notice the scene when Poppy wore a Poodle skirt. Hint: I didn’t
call it that in the book.
So what else could my heroine wear that revealed the times? Stirrup
stretch pants were big then. Tight pants and tighter sweaters and high heels.
In one scene I took one of Sandy’s famous outfits from Grease and altered it to
fit my book. You might recognize that one as well. Poppy liked to dress modern
so she wore the tight pants and high heeled pumps. She also wore a sexy off-the-shoulder
top. Could she get away with that back then? Most girls might have been
considered ‘loose’ if they revealed that much skin, but don’t forget- Poppy is
also a gypsy. They wore off the shoulder peasant blouses, so I incorporated her
heritage with a bit of flamboyant era style. Did it make her a bad girl?
G.y.p.s.y. She already wears that stigma so what she wears won’t change of fix
that about her. But I also needed to know other facts of the year/era. Did I
mention HOME was set in August? So what else happened during that year besides
in August ’67 Bonnie and Clyde released in theaters 1967? Here’s some fun facts
you may not realize.
The first heart transplant was
performed by Dr. Christiaan Barnard in Cape Town, South Africa. ~ http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/christiaan-neethling-barnard
Mar 6th - Jimmy Hoffa enters Lewisburg Federal
Prison
Apr 19th - Beatles sign a contract to stay
together for 10 years (they don't)
 Photo From: |
| http://www.elvispresleynews.com/ElvisWeddingPhotos.html |
May 1st - Priscilla Beaulieu & Elvis Presley
wed in Las Vegas
May 11th - 100,000,000th US phone connected
Jun 12th - Supreme Court unanimously ends laws
against interracial marriages
Jun 27th - The world's first ATM is installed in
Enfield, London.
Jul 22nd - Jimi Hendrix quits as opening act of
the Monkees' tour
It was also in 1967, Oct 21st- that seventy
thousand gathered at the Washington DC Moratorium for the infamous Vietnam war
protest demonstration. I didn’t check, but that may have been the largest group
to gather for one cause, in one location in the USA in history. Though there
were other demonstrations during the war, that one is most remembered and
protestors traveled from all over to attend.
*~*~*~*
BLURB:
What could a gypsy and a Vietnam
veteran have in common?
Silvertown’s outcast, Poppy Tippen,
has loved football hero Sam “The Force” Callahan forever. But he never seemed
to know she was alive. Now he’s home from the war and she suddenly finds
herself comforting him from the demons of “that damn war.” Is his attention
merely an escape from the haunting nightmares? Or does she hold the interest of
the only man she’s ever truly loved?
Sam Callahan’s only solace from the
war nightmares wrecking his life comes in the unlikely form of a gypsy girl
with stigmas of her own. He’s known Poppy his entire life, but there’s
something different about her now. Something special he desperately wants to
hold on to. Can he convince her she’s the only thing he needs to put the past
behind him?
Small-town country girl Calisa Rhose lives in a
semi-remote area of Oklahoma with her husband, five dogs, one cat and one
horse. All of her three daughters and their families live within throwing
distance. She’s a member of RWA and the local chapter OKRWA. She intends to
nurture and continue to grow as an author with the help of her family and
supporters.
On twitter @Calisa_Rhose and Facebook @Calisa Rhose
