New Fav Book Store

Recently, I stumbled across an independent bookstore that has become one of my favorites.

Northshire Bookstore is located on Broadway in Saratoga Springs, New York, and it is a gem! Books are well displayed, and signage allows newcomers to easily find what they want. There is an amazing metal staircase that leads to the second floor, which is filled front to back with books for children and young adults.

The staff seems to genuinely love books. They have even left short recommendations on cards here and there on the shelves. Combine these with the inside cover of the book and you feel very confident purchasing a book you are going to love!

They have another store in Manchester Center, Vermont -- a bit of a hike for me. But I’ll be back to the Saratoga Springs store as often as I can!

Summer Inspiration

One of our last summer trips was to Sonnenberg Gardens in Canandaigua, NY, which is serving as the inspiration for my second novel.

Like Relic, the plot in Eye of the Peacock will be totally fictionalized and will not resemble the real story of Sonnenberg at all. At 26,000 words in, I needed a little renewed inspiration. I needed to walk the paths my characters are walking, look out the windows they are gazing out, and hear the sounds they would be hearing. It did more than serve the purpose. We also took a formal tour of the property – something we have never done. I got some good basic information and also a neat nugget that might serve as the novel’s big twist.

Not only that, but I was after some photos that might serve as the basis for the cover of the novel.

Quite a productive and enjoyable day!

Women's Rights in Relic

     Mrs. Van Dansk lifted the flap of the envelope and pulled out a letter.

     “Dear Elizabeth, it starts. A letter to Elizabeth Cady Stanton? Oh, now this is exciting!” She adjusted her glasses on her nose and glanced at each of us, a child-like grin dancing at the corners of her mouth, but it wouldn’t last.”

In Relic, the original owner of Hydrangea Hall, Olivia Ainsley Wagner Roth, was a suffragette who kept company with the likes of Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

During some recent travels, I took a chance and turned off at the exit for Seneca Falls, the home of the women's movement, to see what I could see.

Alas, it was not much.

The museum dedicated to women's rights pioneers like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony was closed for the day. I’ll visit again.

If you try to find it, be warned…we passed it four times before I stopped in an extreme state of confused frustration to ask a shop owner where it was. I was expecting something grand, but found it to be an equivalent to 12 Grimmauld Place. My oldest daughter, a women’s libber in her own right at 13, said, “It couldn’t have been better hidden.”

Taking in the Sights

In the far left corner, Romanesque marble columns supported the domed iron grillwork of a garden house. A pillared pergola draped with vines waited for an evening stroll along the entire right side of the view.

 “It’s just that I’ve never seen something so…. Well, I just can’t believe I’ve lived here all my life and never realized this place was here.”

    “Well, I hear that people who live near Niagara Falls don’t go to see it either!” Ida mused.

Early in Eye of the Peacock,

Ida, the head docent at the historical manor, makes light of people who don't take time to cherish what is in their own back yards.

You don’t need Pokemon Go to get out there and learn about your surroundings. So instead of looking down at electronic devices, the family went off to Niagara Falls – which is actually in my “back yard” – and made a day of it.

I don’t think we laughed that much as a family in quite a while. With a real feel temperature of 95 degrees, we rode The Maid of the Mist without our protective ponchos, got soaked again at The Cave of the Winds, enjoyed the colorful displays at the Niagara Aquarium, and hiked Three Sisters Islands – all before quickly eating gigantic dripping ice cream cones from The Twist of the Mist!

Get out there and see what is great near you!

Summer Thoughts

Camping with friends and family recently made me think about the little things that truly encompass summer.

Those that came to mind quickly:

o   The crispy, extremely sticky sweetness of a roasted marshmallow.

o   The relief you feel when temperatures recede ever so slightly as night falls after a 90-degree day.

o   When the high-pitched crescendo of cicadas is the only sound you hear.

o   The sporadic, magical, blinking glow of fireflies in the night.

What are some of the sounds, smells and sights that tell you summer is here?

Ides of April Poetry

 

Chinese Politics in My Notebook

Mike knew all the words
to John Denver’s “West Virginia,”
and after gentle
but continued verbal prodding
from the more fun-loving
members of the group,
shared his rendition --
as long as we sang along –
(his only condition).

Pungent fish markets

and cyclists
flashed by our windows.
The stark contrast of country roads
taking us home
and congested highways taking us
to the Great Wall.

He was really Zhao Ying.

His hated American name
chosen to make him
more palatable to us tourists.
His father was an architect
before Mao came to power,
imposing
imprisoning
the country’s intellects.
His talents wasted,
his politics hardened
in a cement factory.

This son’s future

soon cut in stone --
no money for education.
A brain wasted as a tour guide.
His story jotted in my notebook
along with his comments
on a government long gone
but still resonating:
“Those who had nothing
Thought he was great.”
                     - by Roberta Worthington

Out and About

While I wait for my final proof of the cover for Relic, and as summer wanes, my family decided to take a day-cation to Letchworth State Park in New York. Located along the Genesee River, there are beautiful vistas of the gorge and three waterfalls.

The hikes in the woods and along the gorge reminded me that there is a calmness of the soul that I experience when I am able to enjoy nature. Maybe it was that clear mind that just made my imagination leap. Everywhere I looked I saw settings for my writing. I was clicking away on my camera recording unusual trees, rocks, buildings and landscapes for future reference.

Nature is important for a writer to experience. Note the lighting at different times of day, the smells, the sounds. The better a writer can describe a setting, the more completely readers will be transported.

The Quest Begins

I spent Friday on a quest – to begin compiling the art work for Relic. I knew what I needed. I’ve pictured this book in my head for a long time. I needed a photo for each chapter. Some I knew I could stage closer to home, but others needed the authenticity of a small village. I also needed a map of Samantha’s new village for the front inside cover and a floor plan of a house for the back inside cover.

Armed with my shot list, my camera, a sketch pad, a pencil and my manuscript, I headed out early for the village that inspired the setting of Relic. I started at the historian’s office – the one that actually inspired the historian’s office that Sam and Twyla visit. Historians have got to be some of the best people out there. A major shout out to local historians Doris Bannister and Doug Norton, who went out of their way to help me fill in gaps in my memory and may have even given me a idea for book number three!

After gathering information from Doris's files, I continued to the center of the village that inspired the setting of Relic. This is where the bulk of my work would have to be done. I drove through and sketched the village, took a couple photos of the village including the Middlebury Academy and some nice gingerbread houses.

Now, combined with some other photos in my files and a few more to be taken locally, I’m ready to start preparing the manuscript for publishing!

 

Luray Caverns

Recently, I was lucky enough to spend a week with friends in Bristow, Virginia. We had hoped for warmer weather than in the frigid north, but unfortunately, we brought the Siberian air mass with us. Enough snow to close down the federal government, including the Smithsonian and National Aquarium in Baltimore for a day.

 

But before the cold air struck, we had the chance to tour nearby Luray Caverns in the Shenandoah Valley. It was my second time touring the caverns, but the place never ceases to amaze me. So other-worldly. I am always looking for inspiration, and I find that real settings are often that inspiration. We took a guided tour, spending about an hour underground among fantastical rock and mineral formations. I like to listen carefully to the history of a place, and sometimes even a piece of history is a seed for a story. Once I have a place for a story, characters start forming, plot starts developing.

 

Among all those orange, gold and white stalactites that look like remants of a long-forgotten desert, I think there must be fodder for a story setting.