Leah Evert-Burks's Blog

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I’m honored to have my novel on the shelves of my two favorite bookstores - Maria’s Bookshop in Durango, CO and Chaucer’s Books in Santa Barbara, CA. A shout-out to these awesome independent bookstores for supporting local authors! In SB, I’m even close to one of my all time favorites-Fannie Flagg. Durangatangs and Santa Barbarians stop in and pick up a book…

Why three days? A good question. When this story was being conceived in screenplay form, I was playing with the idea of a “in real time” story. OK, even in a screenplay you wouldn’t have it run for three days; even in a stage play which may be most possible, but still impossible-yet the idea intrigued me. Then I started thinking about how the events of a few days could frame out a story, AND how the events of just a few days could change the trajectory of a life. So though the original concept failed, the idea of a certain set of days changing someone’s life stuck and became the frame by which to tell the story.

Sometimes things come together in interesting ways, or maybe you allow a connection and it feels like a destiny of sorts. I’m currently reading Nancy Horan’s “Under the Wide and Starry Sky,” which takes the reader through the lives of writers Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne (who died in Santa Barbara in 1914) and Robert Louis Stevenson. My mom read the book and sent it to me - something we started doing during the pandemic and have continued to do as a joyful extension of our relationship-that of readers who love to share good books! I took the novel with me to our Colorado cabin last week, as it’s hefty and a read you want to read without distraction of every day life. At the cabin we have Kip’s dad’s collection of classics and there with its binding facing me one morning was “Treasure Island.” So, I’m reading them together! Revisiting one story after many decades, now intertwining with a novel about the author. Such a fun literary journey “Shiver me timbers!”

I don’t have a rule for naming characters. Many times there is no rhythm or reason to a name; other times there is a name on my mind and it finds itself attached to a character for just that reason. Sometimes I’ve found that I’ve named too many characters using the same letter and change them. And sometimes, but rarely, they are named after people I want to pay tribute to. Such is the case of Grover. Grover Barnes was my neighbor in Santa Barbara years ago. Elderly when I met him, he made an immediate impression on me. I found though casual mentions of his name that he did the same for most of the people he met. When I mentioned him to a friend visiting my new house, that friend dashed out the door, ran across the street to knock on the door and embrace the man that had made such a tremendous difference in a young boy’s difficult life.

Grover Barnes died at 103. His memorial service had to be moved to another, larger church to accommodate the crowd. I openly sobbed and even harder when his friends and family consoled me by saying “he lived a long life and wonderful life” - I felt it was not enough. I wanted more time with my neighbor and in looking at the people touched by his life, so did they.

Just like a parent who should never favor one child over another, I think it is never acceptable to name a favorite character-but oh how I love Manuel! I admire his plant breeding talent as much as the passive aggressive tolerance tactics that help him coexist with his wife Rosie. I worked for a while in the legal department of a vegetable seed company. Many of my tasks were typical of such a department, contracts, litigation support, legal training on such timely topics as prohibition against paying brides to foreign officials by US companies. By this time I’d worked in several legal capacities at several companies-they may have been in different industries but they had some of the same legal needs. But vegetable seeds offered me a look into something I had never thought of, experienced or been introduced to-plant breeders. These are scientists that breed for new varieties of vegetables and fruits (tomato is a fruit). They take characteristics of one plant and introduce them to another hoping for a new baby variety. Some of my favorites were the sweet mini peppers, Bambino watermelon and lettuce wraps. Most of the plant breeders I worked with were from Mexico, as was the company’s origin. I loved my conversations with these vegetable craftsmen, though I commonly said to them, “take it down,” when they we speaking of their process at too high a level. The passion of this unique artistry was inspiring.

The title character, Millie, is somewhat inspired by my Aunt Joanie (she spelled it Joani but never felt a need to correct me). Joanie was the matriarch of my family from my mother’s side. Strong-willed and outspoken, she took care of everybody. In particular she empowered the women of our family and was a role model for living life on your own terms. (Spoiler alert) She absolutely would have been the one picking up the knife in the story. As reflected, Joanie did in fact have one date with Howard Hughes and thought him rather boring turning him down for any future dates, and did live in Las Vegas close to the time represented but was a card dealer and somewhat of a social “player,” a role she also partook in Hollywood society. Along with Aunt Joanie, Millie has a drop of Flo from the Alice TV series in her character. Sassy and a bit noisy.

This came from a legal colleague I worked with when I was with the U.S. Department of Justice. He was with the California Attorney General’s Office at the time and together we worked on a Superfund environmental case. During one of the many times we traveled together, he told me that he and some friend’s traveled cross-country hopping trains one summer between semesters of law school. So here was this distinguished looking guy in a pin-stripped suit prosecuting a high profile case for the state of CA-it was such a dichotomy. I will also admit that Patrick’s conflicts with law school are influenced from some of my views. Many times I have thought that some very smart and creative people understandably don’t know what to do once they receive with their undergraduate degrees, and law school becomes the unimaginative choice. I think we’ve lost many great minds to the legal profession that could have enlightened us through other varied disciplines, and maybe would have led them to more fulfilling lives. That’s my hope for Patrick.

My grandfather had many stories about his time in baseball. One was how he played in exhibition games with Negro League teams. He always craved more than what was “allowed,” but this was the 1920s. The loss of Hank Aaron this last week brings up thoughts of those stories and the esteem my grandfather held for players of color.

Thank you Santa Barbara Public Library! Excited that Millie will be in the Local Authors Collection for the next year. https://www.facebook.com/SantaBarbara...
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