Happy Wednesday! We’re heading into one of our busiest months, with two concerts (mine) and three shows (the kids). After that, it’s business as usual until well into spring.
I worked some on Minuet this week, but I also worked on Tree of Life. Both projects are going a little slower than I’d like, but progress is steady. I hope to have one finished by spring.
Here’s a question for you: In Tree of Life, Luke is one of a dozen children, 10 of them named for books of the New Testament in the Bible (all but the 2 girls). There are 8 names that are common, 1 name that’s not common but isn’t strange, and 1 that’s…out there. My question isn’t so much whether I should use it (I’d love to—the name has a great meaning). It’s whether or not a “quiverful” family* would use it. So the question is do I use the name (Philemon, in case you wondered) or fudge it and use Roman instead?
*Quiverful = a religious movement based on the Bible verse “Children are like arrows; blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.” It’s not merely refusing birth control; it’s intentionally having a large family because God said so. They’re typically ultra conservative in other ways too.
Okay, now that’s out of the way, here’s the WIPpet. Still in Minuet, and now Mack and Amelia are back at the apartment to check on Jamie.
WIPmath: 1/31/2018 = 1 + 3 + 1 = 5 paragraphs.
The first thing Marlie said when the door opened was, “He’s sleeping. Don’t wake him.”
Mack nodded. “We came to check, but we’re going back to Amelia’s.” He didn’t add that he thought Jamie would want some space. Marlie probably already knew that.
Izzy acknowledged Mack with a nod. He merely looked tired, but Cian was an absolute wreck. Mack had only met him briefly a handful of times, but he had the impression Cian was generally the sort to take things in stride. Now he looked awful. His eyes were red-rimmed, and he was curled in on himself. Mack wished he’d done something sooner, the minute he saw Jamie was heading for trouble.
“He needs more help than we can give him,” Marlie said.
For a minute, Mack thought she meant Cian, but then he realized she was still on the subject of Jamie. “I know,” he said.
Like what you read? Be sure to check out the other entries and add your own. Just post a bit of your WIP, connect it to the date, and link up with us. Many thanks to Emily Wrayburn for giving us this space. Happy reading and writing!
This is an awful thing to say, but Cian being in that kind of state is harder to take than Jamie in that kind of state (inasmuch as I’m used to Jamie being less stable, maybe?). This is a tough little scene, and a good one. *practises patiently waiting for the full novel*
I love that name! I’ve never heard it before; nor have I ever heard of a quiverful family (learning all the time – awesomeness), so I’m not really qualified to comment, but ‘conservative in other ways’ — would that apply to the names they choose for their children? Is that what you mean? I’ve known a few RC families who’ve gone with less the common saints for their children’s names. I’m waffling and probably not helping much, LOL.
Yeah, I know what you mean. We saw Cian from the inside of his emotions, and Jamie wasn’t exactly focused on those details. So now we’re seeing him how the others would be, and it’s not so pretty. Fortunately, there’s good things in store for Jamie and Cian.
Quiverful is like the Duggars. Lots of kids (cuz Jesus, lol). Almost exclusively an American white evangelical thing. They actually don’t always name their kids from the Bible. I chose to because of other aspects of the story itself. However, I still wanted to keep with what a family might actually do, and I have never even once met someone named Philemon. Not even in all the years I was part of fundamentalism.
The name Philemon means “affectionate” or “kiss.” It fits super well with the plot, too, though I could theoretically exchange with one of the other brothers. They don’t come into the story all that much. Anyway, for some reason, it sounds like an old man’s name to me, and Philemon in this story wouldn’t be any older than my son.
No advice on the name. But, this snippet, it just rips my heart apart.
Fortunately, by the time most people read it, they’ll know what happened and how it all turned out. The events here are simultaneous with the ones at the end of Drumbeat.