This is the Night... Kate comparisons

 

The Hebrew word from which we get “Thomas” and the Greek word Didymus both mean “twin.”- NIV footnote for John 11:16

 

A few brave souls put forth the suggestion that Kate paralleled the author. There is some truth to that - in order to have full control of her thoughts, words, and actions and to not waste time creating an intricate background story... there were aspects of Kate and her life that were a direct lift from mine, while others were changed slightly or made up entirely. Here's a list of comparisons.

 

KATE / KDV similarities, and similarities between other fictional / real-life counterparts

  • Kate's physical description - average height, slender build (and flat chest), long hair, pale complexion, dual-colored eyes, long & slender fingers. Yep, that's what I look like. Poor Kate.
  • Kate's clumsiness - doesn't dance well and klutzes out at a moment's notice. Yep, that's me too.
  • Both Kate and I have Nebraska teacher certificates, though the subject area differs.
  • We both have rural roots, and were both born in very small towns (never identified). I did indeed grow up riding horses, and indeed didn't learn how to ride a bike until I was nine.
  • Kate and I both have dubious domestic skills, especially in the cooking department. I come from the "crash and burn" school of cooking, with extra emphasis on BURN. (I've gotten better though.)
  • Kate and I are both low-maintenance individuals who prefer to focus on what's inside versus what's outside.
  • My hobbies don't include TV watching... getting hooked on the second season of American Idol was God's hand at work in my life. However, hobbies do include scrapbooking and card playing.
  • Kate has discernment, and so do I.  Mine shows itself a little differently than hers though, and I have far less control over it.  I cranked hers up several notches for the sake of furthering the plot.

KATE / KDV differences

  • While Kate has the unfortunate nickname "Calamity Kate", I have no such similar moniker. Praise the Lord and pass the frozen peas.  (They make a wonderful ice pack.)
  • Kate's knowledge of languages. She's fluent in German and Spanish, but my knowledge is nowhere close. One year of high school Spanish, one semester of college German, a laughable attempt at teaching myself Russian, and that's it. At least I'm fluent in English. It goes without saying that I'm not a foreign language teacher. (My grandmother did teach me offbeat German phrases though... I wish I remembered more of them.)
  • Unlike Kate and her grandfather, I don't have any relative named William. In fairness to the bodyguards, one of my godfathers is named Jerome (which is Latin for "holy", by the way).
  • While my family does originate from Nebraska like the Kirche family, we have never lived in Kearney (pronounced as in CAR-nee, for all of you non-Nebraskans).
  • Kate’s family does have some similarities to my own, but I intentionally made them more different from their real-life counterparts.  They don’t actually live out in the country, for one.  Arthur isn’t Dad’s real name, and I made him a lot taller.  Patricia isn’t Mom’s real name, and I made her a lot shorter.  While Mom does have the gift of discernment (aka insight) it is not as strong as I made Patricia’s… like my own, that was purely for literary interest and plot.  She isn’t a music teacher either, that’s a nod to my own training.  Andrew is not my brother’s name.  He is also younger than me, not older… not married, doesn’t have kids.  Is military, but not Air Force.  His first specialty was not intelligence.  Unfortunately, Andrew’s faith is stronger than my brother’s.  The extended family shakes down a little differently too.
  • A good portion of Sarah's and Sally's personalities were lifted from friends of mine, though their background stories were a lot more divergent from the original. The real-life Sarah is married and has her first child, is trained as a teacher, and has a very good family life with her family of origin. The real-life Sally is trained both as a music teacher and church musician... but she was never Lutheran and doesn't have a drop of Italian blood in her.

 

The Series (in chronological order):

Never Lonely Again – in the works

Every Kiss is a Kiss You Can Never Get Back - Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7

I've Been Waiting Forever For This - Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10

I Would Go With You to the Ends of the Earth - Day 0 | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5

| Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10

Let All Our Tomorrows Begin

 

Bonus Pages:

TITN origins

TITN series in-jokes

Comparisons 

 

Since mission work is such a big part of my heroine Kate's life, I am also going to put up a link to the web site for my Haiti 2001 Mission Trip.

 

TITN series

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