What else is in there?

I've been asked, "Why did you name your title character Jack Ferrington?" I've got to be honest, for a long while I didn't really know. I mean, Jack is a great pirate name so, even if cliche, that part came naturally but Ferrington just popped into my head. Why? I didn't really know, but I liked it and went with it. 

My kids started asking me, recently, about my first guitar. I was telling them about this Kramer acoustic-electric cutaway I borrowed from my neighbor, on which I learned my very first song, "R O C K  in the USA" by John Cougar Mellencamp. I remember the kids in my freshman guitar class thinking I was so cool for knowing how to play that song, but I digress.  Anyway, I googled a pic, and guess what I found out? That model was called the "Ferrington". 

This blew me away because the name "Ferrington", if googled, is auto-corrected to "Farrington". It would appear the "e" is the incorrect, if you will, way to spell that name. So why didn't I pic a different name or one that was spelled correctly.   couldn't help but think that in the deep recesses of my mind I still remembered the name of the guitar that started me down the road of a love and passion for music and that thirty years later I would name the title character in my first novel, that would set me on a road of a love and passion for writing, the same name. Gosh, I get chills a little as I type this.  What are the odds? Two passions, decades apart, linked by the same name. To me that's a "Wow!".  I wonder, what else is unconsciously remembered that influences my day to day life? What else is in there? The mind is an amazing thing.  Too bad so much of it goes to waste. 

#guitar, #boohoocrew, #jack, #pirates, #novel, #middlegrade, #ferrington, #kramer, #clintjustclint

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