Hey, it’s mid July – well, really a little past mid-July and I haven’t yet started blogging this summer. Darn. Honestly, I planned to as soon as we arrived in St. Croix, but that was right about the time when the Supreme Court went a little whacko and a Bible study in Charleston became a blood bath, and I just felt like I didn’t have anything to say. I don’t want this blog to be political and I do want it uplifting, so…silence. (and lots of prayer)
I have been writing, though, and it feels so good. I am really happy with how the draft of Peaks and Valleys is going. Without benefit of the tardis, I’ve been spending my mornings somewhere between 1888 and 1906. I love writing historical novels, because every day as I am writing, I end up having to stop and google something that will help me in later life to win at Jeopardy. For example, did you know that plywood was patented in 1797 (though there’s evidence that even the ancient Egyptians used a kind of plywood), and that Alfred Noble (yes, the Peace Prize guy) made it more sophisticated, or that it became commercially available in the late 1800s? Now you do!
Anyway, it’s really fun to create a scene in my head and then try to put it on paper, all the time being mindful of historical accuracy. It’s exciting to discover what kind of writing utensil my characters can sit down and use to write a letter if it is 1902 – (when were ball point pens invented?) And then to find out that after it’s written it would have cost two cents to mail it.
With that admission of total geekness (I just admitted for all to see that I get excited about the the history of pens for heaven’s sake!) I will post this. Have a happy day!
