Click here for the Bigtime Blooper podcast

3 minutes 9 seconds

A home made recording by Tom and Ingrid during their book 3 (untitled as yet) writing spur in Scotland; January 2019.  (with a wee apology for the sound quality. It was a sponteneous act)

Location: Bargany’s B & B, Troon

Continue reading for the full text:

Tom narrating: One of the joys of writing as co-authors is that you get to laugh at your own writing mistakes. Three examples spring to mind that left us simply in stitches; serious laughter, tears in our eyes, hiccups, The Lot!

Here’s example blooper number 1:

Ingrid narrating: We are in the habit of reading finished chapters out loud to each other, so the other author can listen intently for errors, sentence structure and so on.

It so happened that Tom was reading out a chapter where character Laird Gordon Macpherson was explaining over dinner what had happened to the gamekeeper’s son, Alexander Stewart. Suddenly, halfway a sentence Tom stopped, looked at me if he’d seen a ghost and said:

“Ingrid, this is not right; this can’t be happening’

‘Why?  Ingrid asked, a bit annoyed (sounding like Cathy the cop) What’s up? It’s good! I heard nothing wrong!

‘ Except for the fact Gordon can’t be making this speech’ Tom replied. ‘He died two chapters ago”.

Ingrid narrating: Bloopers Number 2.

Another blooper that got us into a fit involved a chapter about Laird Angus Macpherson. Whenever we read a chapter out loud we very much follow the exact spelling without thinking too much about what we literally read. All went fine until I came to a line where a typo had left the G out of Angus. So here I was; reading out very convincingly what supposedly this Anus Macpherson had said. We laughed till our jaws ached.

Tom: ‘Those Scottish lairds are so clever! I’ve heard of the expression, talking out of your backside but we sure had to correct this error.’

Ingrid narrating: A third example of what can go wrong is when we were reading out a long stretch of narrative on Alexander Stewart; just to see if the chronological order of events had been put in the right chapters.

Tom continuing: Alexander’s Journey was quite arduous, leaving Ballindalloch, visiting the Lagmore Stone Circle, boarding a train; sailing across the Atlantic. It was when we were reading all these adventures in one go that we discovered Alexander desperately needed a doctor.

While writing, we had failed to notice that if Alexander’s stomach churned once, it gurgled twice, it heaved three times and his belly ached at least four times, he felt sick, his skin was sticky and moist, he must have a fever, his throat was sore and as the Scots would say, he had ‘the dry boke’. How he ever made to the other side of the ocean in one piece was basically a miracle.

Ingrid: And we never used the expression ‘his stomach churned’ ever again.

With Family History Greetings,

Tom and Ingrid

••••••••

It all started because authors Tom McKerley and Ingrid Schippers, each in their own way, have an interest in family history. Tom researched his ancestry going back to northern Ireland circa 1780, while Ingrid has a natural  and partly professional interest in people’s life stories

In 2009, following a conversation between Tom and Ingrid on how ancestry influences who you are today, Tom came up with a synopsis about a feisty American cop, Cathy Macpherson who gets lured to the Scottish Highlands where her husband travel writer David Stewart wants to find out what prompted his great great great grandfather, Alexander Stewart to leave Ballindalloch Castle in 1895. In turn this inspired Ingrid to create the lifetime of Victorian character Katherine Macpherson, daughter of the Laird of the estate where Alexander was born.

It is all pure fiction, yet to the authors it became very real. They felt the characters tugging at their sleeves as if they were real and wanted their life stories told. Sometimes it seems to be the story that seeks the storyteller.

In these blogs and podcasts, Ingrid and Tom recount the high’s and low’s they’ve encountered du quest of writing.

To listen to the recorded introduction click here: introduction bloodlines blog

Download our Free Bloodlines  Family History Guide November 11 2018 HERE
and explore the past guided by your very own ancestors.

• The Why and How of Family History Research; with excerpts from the Scottish American Genealogy Mystery novels Bloodlines-Touch Not the Cat and Bloodlines -Traces,
  by McKerley & Schippers
• www.touchnotthecat.com

Wedding picture of my parent’s July 13, 1957.
Could not help but notice the ’7′ on the right side

Today held an intriguing coincidence. The date is November 11, 2018,  the day Thomas McKerley and I celebrated the 7 -year anniversary of our first born genealogy novel  published on 11.11.11.

In the afternoon, I was also invited to a concert in the village of my childhood days, to commemorate all villagers who passed away between the dates of November 2017 and November 2018.

The reason I was invited was because of my mother. She passed away on December 7, 2017. The local undertaker from the relatively small community where my mother spend most of her 83 years, organizes a gathering like this every year at the local church, so family members and friends alike, can share their tears and laughter and commemorate their loved ones. One of the advantages of old and smaller communities

It so happened I was seated next to the lady who sat next to my mother for 3 full years at high school, from 1945 to 1948. ‘Days back when’ girls wore ribbons in their hair, television and telephone in each household were non-existant, food was still simple and nutritious and candy or other extra’s were only consumed on Sunday.

It goes without saying that as co-author of a genealogy mystery novel, interest in family history comes natural to me. And in the Family History Guide Tom & I published this November 11th, to celebrate our 7-year Bloodlines-Touch Not the Cat anniversary, we advise family history researchers to talk to old friends of the family, as they sometimes have stories to tell, you would otherwise never hear about. Yet in spite of all this natural interest and well meant advise, I sometimes tend to overlook the true treasure chests of family history.

As my mother’s school friend pointed out to me, my mother and she shared all big events of a life time. Not only did they sit next to each other at school; they also attended their weddings; witnessed the birth of their children and supported each other after the death of their husbands.

I vowed I would come to her house soon to look at old photo albums and listen to her stories.
To myself I vowed to stick to that promise, It is regrettably easy to forget about these kind of promises in the turmoil of daily life; until suddenly…it is too late. I was grateful to realize today’s commemoration had ‘forced’ me to take some time out from busy life and stand still at the lifetimes of my mother’s generation.

When I returned home and switched on the television, I travelled even further back in time to the days of my grandparents and world war I, the war in which we had our fictitious Bloodlines – Traces character, Alexander Stewart, perform great feats in Gallipoli and save the lives of many. Looking at the television documentary, with original footage from 1914 to 1918, it felt almost as if I was given a glimpse into what ‘our Alexander’s’ life had been like.

For that’s what happens when you write a genealogy novel; the characters become like family

Ingrid Schippers, November 11 2018

Family History Guide November 11 2018

Click the link to download for free

Trace the characters from the Scottish American Genealogy Mystery novels, Bloodlines-Touch Not the Cat (WYBT Publishing 11.11.11) and Bloodlines-Traces (WYBT Publishing 21.06.16),
in their quest through the labyrinth of family history research

It has been a while since you last heard from McKerley & Schippers and what goes on in the sometimes surprising world of family history research and genealogy mystery writing.

Tom McKerley is at present entangled in writing about his very own family history as a result of finding a newspaper article on a Scottish ancestor who turned out be a locally famous!

Events- Booksignings – Family History Writing

Tom has also been doing quite a few events in Scotland for our Bloodlines -Touch Not the Cat and Bloodlines-Traces genealogy Mystery Novels,ranging from book signings at Waterstone’s, to book readings at reading/writing circles and libraries.

To contact us for promotional activities, – including your local (Netherlands or Scotland) reading circle- send us a mail at info@touchnotthecat.com or use the contact form of this website.

The McKerley & Schippers Family History Document

Together we have been working on a ‘real- life’ family history document to use for ‘family history gatherings’, highlighting the main things-to-remember when researching your own (Scottish-American) genealogy. In Scotland Tom is available to speak about his own family history research; the do’s and don’t's and how to get to the core of your question.

For more information about family history writing document or to contact Tom, send us a mail through the contact form

Behind the scenes stories and personal pictures

While you are here, take a look around in the blog section and ‘the books’ page, revealing behind the scenes stories on how Bloodlines Touch Not the Cat & Bloodlines- Traces were unexpectedly and mysteriously written by two first time mystery authors.

Our webdesigner Remco Kalf created a lovely slideshow on the www.touchnotthecat.com homepage, also featuring our self-designed ‘GlenFroach home-made whiskey label’, exclusively created for Bloodlines-Traces!

We love receiving reviews!!!!! While in the past we have organized review contests, we will now donate a complimentary copy of either Bloodlines Touch Not the Cat of Bloodlines Traces to the author of the most in-depth (which also means you may be critical) review on or both genealogy mystery novels.

Send your reviews through the contact form or info@touchnotthecat.com

To conclude: Thank you all for your heartwarming responses to Bloodlines Touch Not the Cat and Bloodlines Traces. Especially since these are our first fiction writing ventures we did not know what to expect, but the ride so far has been an absolute joY and meaningful learning experience.

On behalf of us both, wishing you a great day,

Ingrid

We had never before done much creative writing, or published a novel. Our combined experience depended on Tom’s love for reporting sports (I will not mention his club for fear of diversion from the subject) and my personal development-related manuals, texts and columns

At first we wrote for the fun it and called our venture a ‘short story’, (definitely not a book!)
Then, one day, when our ‘short story’ had turned into about 60.000 words; and google had lead us to the information, the average mystery novel should contain minimum that amount; we looked at each other and said:

There must be such a thing as a Scottish American Society or some other organization we could interest in our story

In we typed ‘American Scottish’ and ‘poof‘ a Cinderella-like fairy-godmother in the form of Mr. Alan Bain appeared, chairing the American Scottish Foundation based in New York.

Through Wikipedia we also learned America is home to 20-25 million people of Scottish American origin, about 8.3% of the U.S. population;
amounting to 10%, 27 to 30 Scotch Irish Americans; which is not surprising as most Scots have Irish blood in their ancestry. Tom also found out he is actually Irish, re: our blog ‘A Legacy for Prosterity

This is where the dollar signs started flashing in our eyes. With a total of approximately 30 million potential customers,(as Bloodlines Touch Not the Cat recounts the story of a young Alexander leaving Scotland and finding a new life in America) of which a good number we guessed would carry the name Macpherson and Stewart (the main family names of the Bloodlines characters);
and the support of Mr. Alan Bain who had committed to promoting ‘Bloodlines’ when we published, we decided to take the plunge.
And plunge we did

to be continued….

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We would love to hear your story.

Every lifetime is created out of special stories. Even the smallest of coincidences can trigger an avalanche of events and change. Our genealogy mystery novels and articles, feature amazing accomplishments of people who created special lifetimes and changed the world for the better, perhaps without even realizing it at the time.

In Bloodlines -Traces we describe the heroic journey of Keith Murdoch, who saved the lives of many soldiers in WWI, by smuggling out a letter to prime minister Asquith, who then put an end to the atrocious killings in Gallipoli. This is the same Murdoch who would later become the father of newspaper mogul Rupert Murdoch.

These are famous stories of famous people. We also want to hear about the feats of the ancestors that changed the shape of your life.

Just think about how daunting it must have been for our ancestors of the 19th century to emigrate to the America’s. Apart from the few daring explorers, people often never ventured out of their place of birth for more than 20 miles. Imagine the culture shock in a time when humanity still depended on storytelling and rumor had it the streets in America were paved with gold. When there was no television, no movies, nor hardly any books, let alone travel guides, to give samples of different countries and cultures.

We invite you to share your story, the events and discoveries that made a change. Courageous undertakings in the lives of your ancestors or those of whom you feel they deserve a place in the spotlight.

We will incorporate your contribution into an article on our website,
exclusively written in mutual agreement and only published with mutual consent.

You can contact us at info@touchnotthecat.com

McKerley & Schippers
September 2016

Do you want receive our blog by e-mail?
Click this contact link or send your address to info@touchnotthecat.com and we make sure you get our blogs

No longer wish to receive our blogs?
Click this contact link or send a mail to info@touchnotthecat.com and we’ll unsubscribe your address.

We vow to only use your address for the purpose of sending you news related to the Bloodlines Series and will not give or sell this information to others.

The August Winner of the ‘Share a Post or Send in a Review’ contest is a Macpherson!
Thank you Karen for your lovely words. Your complimentary copy of Bloodlines-Traces is on its way.

Review of Karen Macpherson on Bloodlines-Touch Not the Cat.

What a fabulous mystery book! Loved the time-travelling alternate chapters, it kept me page turning to find out what happened in each century and found it fascinating how events were inter-related. Characters are easy to identify with and I warmed to the modern independent yet vulnerable Cathy as the story unfolded, each chapter encouraging me to support her that bit more. Would love to find out more about the historical Katherine as she lives in a time of emerging changes for women and education. The Scottish Macphersons were a joy to read, a perfect mix of warmth and compassion, dry humour and wit with a little eccentricity. The descriptive narrative easily sets the scene in your mind and I found myself longing to visit the places so beautifully described in the book. The plot is pacy and full of just enough turns to keep you interested yet gently unfolds to give you time to get to know Cathy and to empathise with her situation. Loved the ending, it tied up all loose ends with a slightly humorous and “you go girl” attitude!

Looking forward to reading the sequel,

Karen Macpherson

Will you be the September 2016 Winner of the Share a Blog or Send in a Review contest?

Win a copy of Bloodlines-Traces or Bloodlines-Touch Not the Cat, to be send to an address of your choice, in Europe, U.S.A or Australia/New Zealand.

Simple send in a review or share one of our website posts and tell us about it in a mail to info@touchnotthecat.com

Every month a lucky winner’s name is drawn from among the e-mails.

Will you be our August 2016 winner of  your very own copy of Bloodlines – Touch Not the Cat or Bloodlines – Traces, to be send to an address of your choice in Europe, the U.S.A or Australia?

Send in your Review of Share a Blog and tell us about it by sending a mail to info@touchnotthecat.com.
Closing date: September 1st.

On Bloodlines – Touch Not the Cat, our July winner Jorine Janssen wrote:

“Normally I’m not one for different timeframes in fiction, but in Bloodlines – Touch Not the Cat, it provided more depth and suspense.
To me the Bloodlines series are tales of courage, following up on chances paved by our ancestors through time, the quest to find what really matters.
The Bloodline characters work around the inevitable obstacles life brings while thinking out of the box”

The pace of the book is one of a steady flow, like the river Spey, with surprising turns. Refreshing and enchanting!!