Blog
September Blog
Saturday 1st September 2018
It's here again! September! It's always been a month of changes for me, with many new beginnings in my history. I've always been very peripatetic, finding it difficult to settle in a home or even in a state. And lately, as my husband and I evaluate what we'd like our retirement life to be like, we're also considering which country to live in- IF we do move, it will be my 4th across the Atlantic.
We have now officially been fully settled in our house for 15 months. I'm glad all the hard work is done- the painting, packing and unpacking, sorting, cleaning, sewing, gardening...now we can enjoy our home. And yet I'm feeling restless; itching for some new venture. I'm going to blame it all on the fact that it's September.
I think this is why the characters in my books are always on the move. My retired couple in the Breaking Camp Mysteries is traveling throughout America. In my novels, I move my characters across country borders. The book I have just started, working-titled Autumn Hunt (subject to change!)- will take my characters on several long road trips across America. (not surprisingly, the action kicks off in September!) There is something almost magical about setting off on a journey, either figuratively or literally. It's exciting because we don't know what will happen, how we might be different when the journey ends. Ideas for books just seem to pop into my head, but I know they often coincide with my thinking about traveling—about a journey. And often it's when I've been thinking about a place, such as a landscape or a particular house, that these book-thoughts kick off.
Lately, I've been fascinated by the number of photographs online of abandoned places—I've always loved visiting ghost towns and remembered I had a few photos of my own. I know somewhere at the back of my dreams (where a lot of my books sort of emerge as if coming out of the clouds) lurks a story. And regardless of where this scene is set, my story will involve a journey.
MY PHOTOS
Garnet, Montana, ghost town- 1988, camping road trip with brother Dave from Minneapolis through Black Hills of South Dakota, Yellowstone, Tetons, and Glacier National Parks, and Garnet! Dave is standing in front of Dave's Mercantile.
Sandon, British Columbia, ghost town- 1986, camping road trip with brother Dave from Seattle, through Kamloops, British Columbia, to Alberta- Jasper, Athabasca Glacier, Lake Louise, and Banff National Parks.
RIP brother Dave - you always were a great travel partner!
