My apologies to readers for Blogger as it's behaving badly! Parts and pieces of this post have now disappeared as well as comments. Since I don't have time to figure it out, thanks to those of you who faithfully persist! On a different note...Readers often ask where the inspiration for a character comes from. I always point to history books and old photographs. Here is the real Red Shirt. Born along Nebraska's Platte River in the 1830's to an Indian mother and white father, he is something of an enigma. I discovered him 20 years ago while researching the Oglala/Lakota (Sioux) Indians for a Dances With Wolves type novel. He identified with the Lakota and lived free till his people were placed on reservations. He and his wife, Pretty Woman, had several children. The photo shows him (far right) accompanying the famous chief, Red Cloud, in a delegation to Washington DC. Later, he joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.
I've carried him around in my head and heart for a long time:) Of course, I had to alter him a bit for my book. He had to leave the Sioux and become Shawnee. And Pretty Woman was a thing of the past! I also had to tweak his name to fit into the historical context of the 18th-century. Most importantly, my Red Shirt found freedom in Christ as well as freedom to exist where he pleased. Literary license is a fine thing. Every reader will have a different picture of him in their head and heart, too.
What is life? If is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset. ~Crowfoot
Many thanks to my dear friend, Mary, who is hosting a double whammy giveaway of Courting Morrow Little. Please take a peek and enter to win a gift book, even if you have one of your own. Bless you all!