A few months back I was sitting in Barnes and Noble when this guy, probably in his mid to late twenties, sat down in the armchair next to me. A very normal occurrence if you spend enough time sitting in the Starbucks at B&N writing. Then I noticed the twitch…
Earbuds in, music flowing, fingers typing, I was working away when the constant fidgeting took complete control of my ADD. I couldn’t focus on anything but the steady rubbing at of the back of his neck, scratching at his arms, and tugging at his jeans. Honest, I don’t know if they guy was nervous or completely eaten up with chiggers – if it’s a medical condition, I will feel bad – but the movements were making me more and more aware of only the small round coffee table separating us. Then he got up…
Now, I know you shouldn’t judge people – and I am very guilty of it as you are about to see – but I’m a bit of the overly cautious type. Or crazy as the hubby likes to call it; “to-may-toes” “to-mah-toes”. And along with being overly cautious, I am uber-observant, aka nosy. It’s all in the name of research, I swear.
Anyhow, I’m sitting in my chair when John Doe twitchingly goes to the counter to order and I can’t help but notice the silver plated pocket knife tucked neatly in his front right pocket, the shitkicker boots he’s wearing, and least of all the Military sniper magazines he’s reading that are now lying on the small round coffee table. Maybe it’s just me, but between the twitching provoking my ADD, the attire that screamed “I want to be badass” and the choice of reading materials, I decided my productivity had hit its peak. So I left. But not without a whole new plot forming in my head.
Since the day I ran into my twitchy John Doe, I’ve been bouncing around the idea of my next novel. From the time it took to walk from Starbucks to my car, the first chapter was playing in my head. The back story was quickly filling in the blanks and a new set of characters were born, but they needed names. And just like naming a child, naming characters is a process, but today Julia Hawthorne was finally crowned with a name. Now, I just need a name for the sexy, pain in her ass police sergeant who seems hell bent on making her life anything but easy in the small town of Carefree, SC.
Ready, set, go…what’s your favorite male name?
As a bonus, check out some of these actual wacky town names I found!
Declan or Cooper (those were gonna be my kid’s names if I had had boys)
As you know, Cooper is a favorite of mine!
I just read this and I was wondering if you thought the guy next to you could have had PTSD?
My honest assessment would be that he maybe had a tremor or nervous habit. I think he was probably very harmless and is just into guns, like most red-blooded American men in the South, but it was enough to set off my caution flags. (Admittedly, I am probably a bit overly cautious!)
Thank you for reading and for commenting!