I am part of the Meet the Author series at this wonderful library! It’s where I went for story time as a small child, did research in high school and now spend time writing when I wait for my daughter at her Act One Theater School practices! Love this place and I would love to see you there! Great conversation and cool Halloweeny giveaway for you avid readers!

 

 

As I rewrite Katherine’s story now that she is center stage in her very own book, I’ve found that most of it is done! But, I’m title-less for now. Because this book will now be book 3 in The Letter Series (The Garden Promise–Jeanie’s story–will be book 5 now) I think I should stay with the 3-word The ____ ____ pattern of the first two books. Will readers be confused if I stray from that? So much of success in writing stems from branding and making it easy for readers to recognize a book in a series, a book they want to read. Lots to consider…

I’ve re-sorted the chapter notecards according to each character’s story and done the same with the hardcopy of the document as it stands right now… Next: on to creating three different computer files so that I can rewrite each book! Shouldn’t take too long. Most of it is written–just need to redo so that it all works across the books and within each book. 
Problems:
Book titles for each of the new books. I think I’ll keep Jeanie’s book as “The Garden Promise” and come up with new titles for Katherine’s book and Tommy’s book. For now, the 1905 thread will go into only Jeanie’s story because she is the bridge between both kids in these stories. And as of now I’m thinking her story should be last in this series of 3… Or not… Is it better to show Jeanie’s story first and then break out into Katherine’s and Tommy’s? So much to consider, but I’m so excited to have made this decision. One 800 page book would have been too unwieldy and not marketable. Each of these will be around 300 pages once I’m done… Since pulling each character’s story out of the big one and into his own book I feel like making each tale correct and compelling is doable.

I’ve been entertaining swollen glands, a sore throat, rattling cough, fever, ear infection and laryngitis for almost a week now. Complete misery, as anyone knows and everyone forgets—me included—until waylaid.

Luckily in 2015 we have antibiotics (I’m on my second, stronger prescription now) to help our bodies fight these germ wars. In writing The Garden Promise and reading all the family letters that help shape that novel, I know how often various members of the Arthur family fell ill. And this current illness reminded me how difficult it must have been to deal with sickness way back then.

Nineteenth century sick-folks were limited in treatment choices, but they certainly tried hard. Here is an excerpt from a letter from Jeanie to her son, James, giving him the updates on his brother and sisters and a friend.

The nurse sent Dorothy home from school at noon today because her throat was sore. I gave her the turpentine and hot water cure. Hope it will help her. It cured Gale of sore throat in one night last week but he had a sore neck instead. Gretchen Rossiter has tuberculosis and the doctor has ordered her to Texas for the winter.

At first I thought Dorothy’s turpentine treatment was something she took by mouth. But the following recipes for soothing sore throats and treating a cold on the chest from The Compendium of Cookery illustrate something different:

The recipe for treating a Cold on the Chest suggests, “A flannel dipped in boiling water, sprinkled with turpentine, laid on chest as quickly as possible will relieve the most severe or hoarseness,” was probably what my great-great grandmother’s “cure,” was. It also explains how the cure could have made Gale’s sore throat disappear but also give him a sore neck. I imagine a towel dipped in boiling water and immediately applied to the throat would make anyone’s neck smart for a day or two.

I included the line about the Rossiter girl being ordered to Texas for the winter to deal with her TB because it just sounds funny the way it’s written. “Off to Texas with you!” as though sending someone to the corner store for lemons.

The cure for a sore throat in the Compendium orders: “Cut slices of salt pork or fat bacon; simmer a few moments in hot vinegar, and apply to throat as hot as possible. When this is taken off, as the throat is relieved, put around a bandage of soft flannel. A gargle of equal parts of borax and alum, dissolved in water, is also excellent. To be used frequently.”

In case you’re wondering—alum is “a colorless astringent compound that is a hydrated double sulfate of aluminum and potassium, used in solution medicinally and in dyeing and tanning.” And, borax is “a white mineral in some alkaline salt deposits, used in making glass and ceramics, as a metallurgical flux, and as an antiseptic.”

Yikes, okay, if desperate enough, I suppose one gargles with harsh chemicals. I sympathize with meds not working—I get it.

The honey, flaxseed, rock candy and lemon cure for a cold is not too bad, but still. When it comes to disease—2015 wins. Despite my repeated trips to the doctor for the right medicine to obliterate this mess of bacteria, I can say I appreciate it far more than a nice gargle of borax and alum.

 

Looking for the right words for the Arthur family…

It took me all day (minus time for a doctor appointment and travel to and from) to rewrite two chapters. These chapters are set in the kitchen (circa 1891) so I am doing round two of research making sure the flavor of the 19th century is evident in each scene. As my kids started coming home from school and I realized the main portion of my writing day was over, I felt as though I didn’t get enough done. But then I considered Hettie Morrison’s lot in life. I don’t know the exact day or days or years that prompted her to say this, but I sure am glad I don’t live in 1878:

“Not of my own free will did I enter upon a career of broiling, roasting, and baking… I wish to say that I think two-thirds of cook book makers should be hanged without benefit of clergy.” –Hetty Morrison–referenced in America’s Kitchens by Nancy Carlisle and Melinda Talbot Nasardinov.

For many people there is an air of romance about old-fashioned kitchens and life in the “good old days.” I see the allure of the “look” of something old, but quotes like Hetty’s and the list of “things to do” associated with making a hot cup of coffee  each morning tamp down any notion that it was simpler “back then.” Bring on the Keurig or plop me down at Curbside Coffeehouse to write. Yes, that will do.

 

As I begin to work on The Garden Promise I put my mind in the mood for the 19th century American West, assisted by this drawing by Henri Boutet. Although the artist and his subjects were French, Boutet’s work helps me envision a time when people struggled to get by, but always found a bit of love and adventure along the way. These French boudoir drawings pull back the portiere on the private lives of women (some scandalous, some not). Some of my characters in The Garden Promise would have been very interested in French fashion. Some would not have the time to consider fashion at all.  Boutet’s sketches and etchings were hand-colored and thought to show that he had great tenderness for women and their lives–even the parts that were not typically on public display.