How a scene is born.

It started out with this inspiration picture(on the right) I found on Pinterest for one of my characters for the book I am working on right now, Love’s Redemption. Elijah Burris runs his own smokehouse business. He is an AA sponsor and a mentor to one of my main characters. (I have two mentors in this story, and God has used both to speak directly to me. But I’m saving that for a later post.) When I saw this picture I thought, At some point in this story, he is GOING to wear a hat like this. I love it!

I mulled this over as I wrote and then I remembered this wallhanging(on the left) I made years ago. It was for a challenge put on by the York County Quilters. We were given the blue checked fabric and told that we had to use it somewhere in an art quilt and we had to have a house somewhere in the scene. So I made this one featuring Billie Holiday and labeled it “House of Blue.”

This is how I came up with the idea for a Jazz Club. A one-time party for recovering alcoholics with a 1940’s vibe and live jazz music.

Here’s a little taste from Love’s Redemption. (Keep in mind, this is a first draft. Feel free to point out any errors you see, though. I can use all the help I can get!)

Surreal.

That was the only word Izzy could think of when she and Holden stepped into Mr. Cordell’s barn. The outside still looked like a weathered old… well, barn. But the inside… it was like the swankiest old-school nightclub she’d ever seen. Thick black paper, like the kind used for roofing, covered the interior walls. Candles placed in the center of tables lining the edge of the room and strings of lights across the ceiling added a romantic appeal to the atmosphere. The plywood covering the floor wobbled slightly as Holden led them to one of the tables where Sheba and Elijah already sat.

As she followed, Izzy took in more of the barn’s interior. A collection of instruments, including an upright piano, sat on a platform at the back of the room waiting to be played. At the moment, a lone man stood on the stage playing a saxophone. At few couples swayed around on the dancefloor to the soulful tune.

I can’t wait for y’all to read this! Expect to see it sometime early next year.

#SouthCarolina #beachreads #inspirational #sneakpeek #Christianromance #writing #SouthernMyrtleBeach #AndreaBoyd #Jazz #BillieHoliday