These are the names of the main characters in Feathers in the Sand (Book 1 of the Seahaven Sunrise Series) which will float into the world on July 11.

One of the things I love the most about writing fiction is the part where I name the characters. Usually this happens organically, as I'm letting the story simmer and steep on the back burner of my imagination. What happens is ... I have a blurry picture in my mind of this person. Not just how they look, but what it feels like to be around them. And I don't settle on a name until I feel in my gut that most excellent feeling—Ah, yes, THIS it it!

Forty-year-old Tess Gilmore and her preteen daughter Eva were the first to be named. I played around with many names for them until these hit that sweet spot. Tess is actually the name of my favorite character on the TV show McLeod's Daughters! As for Eva, I think she told me herself what her name is.

High school graduate Micah is Tess's son and Eva's beloved big brother. His name was the last to come to me. I was standing in the post office one day, not even thinking about the book, when a man came in with his son. I heard him call him "Micah" and that was it for me . . . love at first name! I just knew in the fibers of my Writer Self that Micah was the Gilmore brother's name.

There are two Jaspers in Feathers in the Sand. One is Eva's cat. He is big and gray and soft just like our cat Louis. The other Jasper is one of the Gilmore's neighbors in their new Seahaven home; he plays an important role in Tess and Eva's story. The fact that they have the same name was synchronistic, not intentional.

Teen Kalila Jones and her grandmother Glory are also Tess and Eva's new neighbors in Seahaven. The name Kalila means beloved, and she appeared to me in a story I was writing several years ago. As for her grandmother, there was an older woman named Glory who sat in front of me in church back in the 80's, and I always wanted to name a character Glory (not Gloria...Glory).

Luca Silva is the name of Tess's romantic interest. I decided to make him Portuguese in honor of my father's ancestry. Silva was my father's middle name, and as for Luca . . . well, I just scanned through some male Portuguese names until I found one that went ZING! to my heart.

There are several minor characters as well—Eva's friends Charli, Poppy, and Teo. Tess's childhood friends Chiara and Quinn. Tess's mother Cecilia. The pair of friends who run the Sands of Time Theatre, Grace and Will. Jasper's friends Jake and Carlos. I named them all the same way—intuitively—and sometimes with the help of some well-worn books of baby names!

In the May issue, I'll share why Tess and Eva's last name is Gilmore . . . can you guess?

If you're a writer, I'd love to know how you name your characters.

If you're not a writer, please share how you named your children, or your pets, or your plants, or ....whatever it is that you name (hey, I used to name my cars!).

What's a Super Fan? If you sign up to be part of Anne Marie Bennett's Super Fan Team, here's what will happen:

In addition, my Super Fans Team members receive all kinds of lovely bonus extras, like recipes, special behind-the-scenes info, special contests, and chances to name characters and decide story lines in my upcoming books.

If you're already a Super Fan, you know who you are and there's no need to reply.

If this interests you and is something you can commit to this summer, please send a reply to this email with why you want to be one of my Super Fans, and I will consider adding you!

🏆 March Give-Away Winners 🏆

a paperback copy of Karen Whites' The Beach Trees.

Christal from North Dakota

Jessica from New Jersey

Ann from Michigan

This month I'm giving away TWO Hardcover copies of The Secret Ingredient of Wishes by Susan Bishop Crispell.

Rachel Monroe has spent her whole life trying to keep a very unusual secret: she can make wishes come true, and sometimes the consequences are disastrous. When Rachel accidentally grants an outlandish wish for the first time in years, she decides it’s time to leave her hometown—and her past—behind for good.

Rachel isn’t on the road long before she runs out of gas in a town that’s not on her map: Nowhere, North Carolina—also known as the town of “Lost and Found.” Here, Rachel is taken in by a spit-fire old woman who possesses a strange gift of her own: she can bind secrets by baking them into pies. Rachel also meets Ashe, a Southern gentleman with a complicated past, who makes her want to believe in happily-ever-after for the first time.

If you want to enter, just fill out the short form here and I'll do a random drawing THIS SUNDAY APRIL 17. I'll send you an email notice that you've won, and I'll just ask for your snail mail address after that! (NOTE: I use the random generator at random.org to choose the winners so it's all fair and square.)

Greetings! Thank you for reading my author newsletter this month! I hope you're getting as excited as I am about my new novel, Feathers in the Sand, releasing 7*11*22.

Here's a photo of me last year with our cat Louis, who has the same look and energy as Eva's cat Jasper in Feathers in the Sand. If that cat could talk!

In between newsletters, I'll be posting more often on Instagram, my blog, and/or my Facebook Author page, so I hope you'll visit me there too.

Keep on reading stories that stir your heart and soul,