Resolution or Celebration?

I have often been asked why I called my first novel Resolution.  It seemed an obvious choice of name to me as it tells the story of Carly Mitchells' resolve to right the distress she had caused by leaving her home town suddenly, just before she is due to marry. Also the main part of the story centres around New Year.

However the name and idea came to me when I was visiting here: the town of Celebration in Florida.
Celebration is a planned community, developed by Disney over twenty years ago. It is a beautifully laid out town around a large lake. It was the name I fell for. I hit on the idea of a town called Resolution and the germ of the story started to form.  For the first two drafts the story was set in the town of Resolution somewhere in mid-west America.

I created two problems for myself. Other writers, whose opinion
I trusted said I was simply putting British characters and a British plot in America. I wasn't successfully dealing with American language idioms or making the locations believable. I was advised to move the story to a location closer to home and one I knew well.  I was devastated. My town had to be called Resolution and who ever heard of an English town called something like that!

I knew I was being given good advice but it was hard to take it. But, take it I did. I wrote the next draft and the town became Yeardon. Central to the story is The Resolution Hotel and the main events still take place around New Year. The locations are loosely based on areas around where I live.

As I wrote the next two drafts I knew I had done the right thing. The story flowed better and was far more believable.

I've been back to Celebration recently and it's still a lovely town.-, but it's not 'my town'.
I;m glad I listened to the advice I was given.
I'm looking forward to it being published by Tirgearr Publications and this would never have happened if I had not made the necessary changes.

About time too!

Recently I visited the NT property, Nostell Priory, which is located about forty minutes from where I live.

I'm familiar with the house and grounds, but on this visit there was a rather surprising exhibition to see.  It was based on John Harrison, the man of longitude fame. I was surprised to find out the Harrison had been born on the Nostell Priory estate at Foulby. I had no idea he was a 'local' man.

Clocks and time pieces in their hundreds had been donated and the resulting display in one of the rooms was little short of spectacular.

Every conceivable clock ancient and modern was there, wall clocks, children's clocks, chiming clocks, mantelpiece clocks, alarms, travel clocks. I'm sure you get the picture.

There were long case clocks and even clocks laid out on the stairs.
Eventually we went to see Harrison's Long Case Clock which is over three hundred years old.

This clock will soon come to the end of its life. There is a debate whether it should be allowed to stop, to replace the necessary mechanism with modern counterparts, or to make a modern copy.

You could fill in a post card with your thoughts.  There were many varied views and ideas to read.

John Harrison is particularity famous for solving the problem of longitude and helping the navy, who used only latitude and lost many ships.  He should have been awarded a prize of £20,000,00 but it was never given to him.