A Rose is a Rose

 by Charlotte Hinger

The process for recording an audiobook is fascinating. Blackstone Audio used to produce books published by Poisoned Pen Press. Blackstone was meticulous and I was fortune to have had Karen White, a top narrator, for all of my mysteries. She has a terrific voice and carefully collaborates on every pronunciation decision.

How can there be any controversy over how to say a word? You would be surprised. There was a lot of discussion involved with the Spanish honorific doña. Since the Spanish family in my third mystery, Hidden Heritage, had lived in this country a long, long time, would they be using a fairly rare variation of pronunciation followed by a little known group in Spain? Or would they instead cling to the more formal and better known Castilian? 

To Castilian or not to Castilian. That was the question. Four researchers were involved. I can’t tell how much I appreciated the care they took.

Where you live and where you are from has everything to do with how you pronounce a word. If you live in the top half of Kansas you will refer to the Arkansas River as AR-Kansas. If you live in the lower half of the state, it’s Ar-kan-saw (like the state). I write about Northwest Kansas, so I say AR-Kansas.

Even though I'm a native Kansan, people in Northwest Kansas used different words than I was familiar with having moved there from Eastern Kansas.

When we moved to Southwest Kansas I was puzzled over the word "bar-ditch." I honestly did not know what it meant. Then I learned it was what those of us in Northwest Kansas simply called a "ditch." And it certain regions of Texas it's "barrow ditch." All the words meant the same thing. It's the hollow area resulting from borrowing dirt to make a road.

Usage must be negotiated before the final copy of a manuscript. All of my conflicts have been settled amicably. However, with some authors this is nothing short of a duel to the death. I pay a lot of attention to an editor's preferences because they are more to tuned in to the population as a whole.

I was amused at how annoyed we in a recent discussion when city folks used the wrong words. The worst offence has to do with vehicles. An SUV is NOT a truck and it’s referred to by the manufacturer’s name. I would say “go out to my Tahoe (or fill in the blank) and get my address book out of the glovebox.” Yes. glovebox. A truck is a truck. A pickup is not a truck. It’s a pickup and it is NEVER a pickup truck.

We in Western Kansas have spoken.

Life? or I-25?

All publishers love to have their authors promote books to various groups. I enjoy giving talks and presentations. When people tell me they have read my books and enjoyed them, I am delighted. It makes me feel like a real writer.

Nevertheless, I've become increasingly nervous about traveling the main artery that serves Colorado. I-25 is a real nightmare. In order to go just about anywhere in the state it's necessary to travel on this main interstate.

I had my first highway accident coming back from giving a talk in Kansas. Luckily, I was the only car involved. It occurred during a construction zone. I braked to avoid rear-ending the car ahead, then grazed the concrete barrier on the driver's side. I was able to drive across the lanes and get to the shoulder on the right side, but boy! It was a miracle that I didn't hit someone.

When I got out to survey the damage, there was none to the body. But a back wheel was at a weird angle. Not knowing anything about cars, I thought the wheel could be fixed quickly and easily. Instead, it's complicated. The twist harmed the suspension and that's a major repair. I'm driving a rental that I really like, but I had no idea that scheduling body work, arranging tows, and retrieving belongings would be so time-consuming.

Travel used to be easy. I like to drive and the well-maintained Kansas roads were /are wonderful. But it's occurred to me they are in terrific shape because we don't have a fraction of the traffic we have here in Colorado. This state--and especially the Denver area-- is growing by leaps and bounds. The tech industry is booming. Western Kansas is primarily agricultural and farms are few and far between.

I don't feel safe driving at night anymore. I don't know if this attitude is accurate or fed by the media's reporting of every last grim detail of urban crime.

For right now, I'll keep on trucking. The September meeting of RMMWA is about human trafficking. I would like to know more.

The Friend I Never Met



RULA QUAWAS

Yesterday the New York Times announced the death of Rula Quawas,  a Jordanian woman, who died at the age of 57. She was a prominent academic and champion of women's rights.

She was my friend.

It came about in a strange way. When she was studying in the United States she did a paper on my first novel, Come Spring. As I recall, she identified with the emotions of a woman coming to a strange land. The feelings common to outsiders is nearly universal, whether they are felt by a student going off to college, a young bride moving to a different state, or even professionals beginning a new job.

Rula specialized in feminism in American literature and founded the Women's Studies Center at the University of Jordan. I was humbled that she included my book on her required reading list.

When I read this article in the Times, I unwrapped the six needlepoint coasters she made for me. I want to display them in my office in a special shadow box. We exchanged Christmas cards and a number of letters.

Her biography is lengthy and a litany of prestigious awards. She received a doctorate in American literature and feminist theory from the University of Texas. In 2013 she was named a Fulbright scholar in residence to the University of Vermont. In 2009 Princes Basma Bint Talai presented her with a Meritorious Honor Award for Leadership and Dedication for her efforts to empower women.

Several times she invited me to come to Jordan and visit. I day-dreamed about the trip but never did. It sounded like an overwhelmingly exotic thing to do.

Novels touch in people in unexpected ways. Who would have thought that the loneliness of a woman on the plains of Western Kansas would strike a common chord with a Jordanian intellectual?

I was very sorry to read about the death of this courageous and inspirational woman.

Country mouse/City mouse

I grew up in the very tiny town of Lone Elm Kansas. In a real sense, Anderson County will always be "home" to me. All of my family and my husband's family lived there and are now buried there.

In the Lottie Albright series, published by Poisoned Pen Press, the protagonists are twin sisters. Lottie is an historian who moved to Western Kansas when she married. Her sister Josie stayed in Eastern Kansas where they both were born. Writing about the two halves of the state has been a great way to play up the tension between the twins. Josie thinks Lottie is crazy for ever moving there. Lottie despairs of Josie's insensitivity to the grandeur of the prairie.

In fact the two halves of Kansas are like two different planets. The historic animosity of these two entities affects plotting in the series. I have lived in both places long enough to be acutely aware of the differences. Someone asked me once how this came about.

Militarily, Eastern Kansas is associated with the Civil War and Western Kansas with the Indian Wars. Eastern Kansas was settled much earlier. Western Kansas was labeled part of the Great American Desert and said to be virtually uninhabitable. It seemed to Eastern Kansans (the city cousins) that Western Kansans (the country bumpkins) were always looking for a hand-out.

In Western Kansas crops failed. Grasshoppers ate everything in sight. There were prairie fires and tornadoes and blizzards and Indian raids. Then by some miracle fortunes shifted. Western Kansas became the breadbasket of the world. Settlers struck oil. They discovered vast fields of natural gas.

Mining developed in Southeast Kansas and there was lively trade and shipping along the Missouri River. Population centers grew and suddenly the city cousins wanted part of their country cousins' tax revenue to finance their schools.

It's fun to watch the Albright twins argue about "their" place in the state as well as their roles in murder investigations. When a book stalls, try researching the history of your state or region. The information might jump-start your plot.