Pages of My Life – Eva Marie Everson
The worst thing about being sick, for me (besides the actual being sick) is that I have to stop. Stop what I’m doing (usually working) and just lie there and look around at the place I call “home.”
Is that a spider web?
When was the last time I dusted?
When was the last time I windexed the glass covering the pictures in our home?
Is that a spider we– oh. Yeah. Already established.
So there I lay in my bed, recovering, when I determined I didn’t like the draperies in our bedroom. Oh, the glories of online shopping. Within minutes I had pulled up a variety of draperies and curtains and, soon thereafter, settled on the absolute perfect pattern. I needed ten, 81-inch panels (I know . . . it’s a lot).
A few days later, they arrived. I removed the old, took the new out of the box, ironed them, and prepared to hang them.
They were too short. I got off the stepladder, went to find the packaging and discovered, even though I’d ordered 81-inch, I had received 63-inch. Had I noticed this before I took them out of the packaging? No. (It’s an established fact that writers don’t read.)
I called the store. “I’m sorry, ma’am,” the customer service rep told me, “we don’t carry those curtains in 81-inch length.”
I whimpered. But they were so perfect for our bedroom! And I’d seen them as 81-inches when I ordered them . . .
Again, we don’t read. Or, when we do, we mis-read.
A few days later, instead of mailing the curtains back, I drove to the store (a national chain) to return them. “While I’m here,” I told the young clerk who couldn’t possibly understand my plight (bless his heart), “I’ll go on the floor to see if I find anything I may like as much.” I didn’t expect to . . . but I figured it was worth giving it a go.
Guess what! Not only did I find the most perfect pattern, they were in 81-inch length, and they had the ten panels I needed. Right there, on the shelf! I took them to another clerk who said, “Don’t you love these? They just came in.“
I went home, took them out of the packaging, ironed them, hung them, and we absolutely adore them!
Timing is everything . . .
Years ago–over twenty–I had an idea for a novel about estranged twin sisters. The younger had always been jealous of the older and the older had now run off with the younger’s first serious beau. I gave it a working title of “Someone Like Monica,” wrote three chapters, and then prepared the proposal. While at a convention, I sat with Steve Laube who, at that time, served as acquisitions editor for Bethany House. He and I had a lovely chat about the project and he seemed geniuinely interested.
But, a few weeks later, he passed on the project.
I was disappointed, but I moved forward with other ideas, which Revell contracted.
Years passed. An idea I’d had before I’d even started writing professionally came to roost in my mind with “Someone Like Monica.” They twisted and turned and danced and delighted each other until a new plotline had formed. This one–“Beth Bettencourt”–had a new working title and concept. My agent shopped it. Kregel Publications contracted it. They renamed it “Miss Beth Bettencourt” and gave it a striking cover.
This week, it released to much fanfare and glowing reviews. When I think back on my original idea–okay as it was–I am reminded of those ordered too-short draperies. Yes, they were lovely. In fact, I initially thought them perfect. But something better waited on a shelf. The same rang true with “Miss Beth.”
Yes. Timing is everything . . .
Meet Eva MarieEva Marie Everson is the CEO of Word Weavers International, the Director of Florida Christian Writers Conference, and the Director of The Selah Awards. Miss Beth Bettencourt is her 44th title. She and her husband make their home in Central Florida where they enjoy their children and grandchildren. They are owned by a cat named Vanessa.
Learn more at Eva Marie’s website or her BRRC Author Profile Page
The Conversation
Absolutely love, Miss Beth Bettencourt. I was so caught up in the era, I had to go back and reread parts. John Hart, a writer from Salisbury North Carolina where I live has the ability to draw me in so that I feel like I’m traveling down a road. That’s what Eva Marie Everson did in this novel. The incredible attention to detail was astounding. I felt like I was literally walking down the street with her. Well played, Eva Marie.