I’m not really sure what to do a post on today.  I thought about posting a story excerpt, but I’m not sure if that’s a good idea since I don’t even know what story or scene I’d use.  Then I thought of giving an update, but I just did that and not much has changed, except that I’m almost done with Her Heart’s Desire.   I realize I have to modify my Eight Books for 2012 Goal page, especially since Her Heart’s Desire will now be out before An Inconvenient Wife.  I’ll try to get that updated this week.

For today’s post…

I decided to try something different today.  I’m going to let Joseph Connealy write a newspaper article.  For those of you who don’t know, Joseph Connealy was the hero in A Husband For Margaret.  You can get it free on Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Apple, Kobo, Sony, and Diesel.  I’ll add a direct link to the Smashwords page, and I chose Smashwords because Smashwords has this book in all ebook formats.

Anyway, Joseph Connealy is a reported in Omaha, Nebraska, which is where the Larson family happens to live.  So I thought it’d be fun if he took the angle to investigate the strange sudden disappearance of Dave Larson.

Local Farmer Goes Missing

April 18, 1885

David Larson: Last seen planting crops along his property.

David Larson, or Dave as family and friends call him, hasn’t been seen for over two months following a rather heated and lengthy debate with Ruth Ann Nordin, his author, over character rights.  His disappearance took place shortly after he formed the Character for Better Treatment Union (CBTU).

“It’s not like Dave to be quiet this long,” Joel Larson, his brother, said.  “Despite how he is in the books, he’s one of the biggest whiners around.”

“I wouldn’t call it whining,” Tom Larson, his other brother, said.  “I’d say he is stating his concerns in an unusually hitch-pitch voice.”

“Even so, it’s nice to get a break from him.  Wherever he is, I hope he stays there for a while,” Joel said.

In an effort to dig deeper into the disappearance of Dave, I went to his residence located just north of Omaha where Mary, his expectant wife and mother of Isaac, Rachel, and Adam, was in the barn.  “I don’t know where he is,” she said.  “He went out to plow the field a couple weeks but never came home.  I hope Owen can find him.  I’ve been worried sick, and his children miss him.”

I wanted to ask her more, but she had to tend to the fields and hurried me out.  My next point of contact came with Owen Russell, the deputy under Sheriff Meyer.  He has promised he’ll be vigilant in looking for Dave.

“I’ve started asking around to see if anyone has seen him.  So far, we have nothing to report, but I’ll keep searching,” Owen said.

Though there seems to be no foul play, the deputy will be interviewing those who might have some information in Dave’s whereabouts.

One such person was his author.  “No, I don’t know where he is.  Frankly, he was becoming a pain.  Always yapping on about something he doesn’t like that I’m doing.  Maybe he went off to write his own book.  I can only hope his characters are giving him the same grief he’s given me,” Ruth said.

“I don’t understand who’d want to do such a thing,” Lord Roderick, hero in The Earl’s Inconvenient Wife, said.  “I really wanted to join the union, especially when I learned the author is rewriting my book so I am going to come off as a jerk.  I agree with Kayla.  We need to do something to help protect characters from the abuse authors put them through.  And all in the name of a better story!  I’ll tell Ruth where she can stick her ‘better story’–”

For the sake of keeping this article on topic, I decided to see Kayla, the tree nymph who wanted to join the CBTU.

“All I wanted was to join his Union and help him in his cause, and his wife acted like I was out to take her husband. What man can resist a nymph? You wouldn’t by chance be looking for love, would you?” Kayla said.

For the record, I politely told her I am happily married.  Afterwards, I managed to hunt down Richard, the often-forgotten Larson brother.

“I’m often-forgotten because Dave keeps taking the spotlight from everyone else,” Richard said.  “If it weren’t for him, my story would have been written long ago.  I hope he doesn’t return until my book is done.  Can you ask Ruth what the title of my book is going to be, and tell her to get started on it already?  I won’t give her the grief Dave does, and I won’t complain with whatever direction she chooses to take my character, unlike the self-important Lord Roderick.”

“I resent that,” Lord Roderick said.

“Can I say something?” Sally Johnson (maiden name “Larson”) asked.  “My husband is a judge.  If there’s anyone who kidnapped my baby brother, he’ll bring that creep to justice.”

On a final note, if anyone has seen Dave, please send a letter to the Omaha Evening World, c/o Joseph Connealy.

Joseph Connealy has been reporting for 27 years.  He started his career in Dayton, Ohio at the  Dayton Weekly Gazette.  When it shut down in 1860, he worked two years as a farmhand until he found employment at the Dayton Daily Journal which opened its door in 1862.  In 1869, he moved to Omaha, Nebraska where he found employment at the Daily Herald where he’s been working ever since.