Meredith Allard's Blog, page 13

I’m on Anne R. Allen’s Blog Today!

Anne R. Allen is one of the few bloggers I’ve been following for years. If you’re a writer, you need to check out her website. I love her practical, down-to-earth tips for writers as well as her humorous approach to the joys and pitfalls of the writing life.

Anne was kind enough to give me some space on her blog today to share some of what I’ve learned about submitting to literary journals. After all, I’ve been running The Copperfield Review for 20 years now.

Here is my post for Six Tips for an Outstanding Literary Journal Submission. If you learn something from the post, or if you have questions for me, or if you just want to say hello, let me know in the comments! I’ll see you there.

Creative Inspiration–The Oregon Trail

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Now that I’ve spent some time building up my general knowledge about the Oregon Trail, I’m starting to learn more about the culture of the era, which is always one of the most fun parts of writing historical fiction for me. I enjoy discovering how people lived during whatever era I’m writing about, so it’s a good thing I write historical fiction.

It finally occurred to me that Oregon Trail took place during the Victorian era, a time I’m particularly familiar with. Readers of my Hembry Castle books are not at all surprised by that statement. Yes, it should have been obvious that the Oregon Trail took place during the Victorian era since the majority of the travelers made their journeys from the 1840s through the 1880s, but when I think of the Victorian era I think of England. I hadn’t even considered what was happening in the U.S. during that time. Many of the same attitudes and social mores that defined the Victorian era in England took root on this side of the Pond as well, which I noticed mainly in the attitudes by and about women.

LIfe on the Oregon Trail was well-documented. There are numerous primary sources written by women pioneers as they noted the joys, the struggles, and the monotonous nature of their journey. The diarists kept track of births, deaths, and illnesses. They described their days walking beside the wagons and their nights around the campfires. A number of women, especially those from the east, struggled with maintaining Victorian decorum in the rather undignified situations they often found themselves in as they traveled 2000 miles over rugged, difficult terrain.

The more I learn about the Oregon Trail, the more I’m glad I decided to set The Duchess of Idaho during this time. Here are some of the places I’ve found creative inspiration about the Oregon Trail so far:

Nonfiction:

Covered Wagon Women: Diaries and Letters From the Western Trails, 1840-1849 by Kenneth L. Holmes (Editor). This book contains numerous primary sources written by women as they traveled the trail.

The Pioneers by David McCullough

The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey by Rinker Buck

The Oregon Trail: An American Saga by David Dary

The Prairie Traveler: A Handbook for Overland Expeditions by Randolph B. Marcy. This is a primary source originally published in 1859 and used as a guidebook for pioneers traveling west.

Fiction:

I was amused to discover so many romance novels set during the Oregon Trail. Who knew that the Oregon Trail was a popular sub-genre of historical romance? I haven’t read any of them yet since romance isn’t generally my genre, but if you’re looking for some historical romances you might check some out.

So far, the only novel I’ve read is A Light in the Wilderness by Jane Kirkpatrick, which I liked because of the details about life on the Oregon Trail. I have Willa Cather’s O Pioneers downloaded onto my Kindle but I haven’t read it yet. That one is next on my TBR list. I’m currently on the lookout for other novels about pioneers even if they’re not specifically about the Oregon Trail.

I can also read some of my favorite Victorian-era novels (yes, Dickens had a number of novels published by 1850, and he was just as beloved in the U.S. as he was in England) as examples of what people were reading then.

Music:

YouTube is a great resource for historical music. I found one video called “Oregon Trail 1852 Fiddling Music” that I’ve listened to a few times. “Oh! Susanna!” which I learned in elementary school was a brand-spanking-new tune (penned by Stephen Foster in 1848) as the pioneers traveled the Oregon Trail.

Oh! Susanna!

Now don’t you cry for me

As I come from Alabama

With this banjo on my knee

Today we’d recognize the fiddle music that was popular then as being similar to bluegrass. There wasn’t much room in the wagons for musical instruments, but those who could play fiddles or banjos often brought them along. Funnily enough, the soundtrack to the Oregon Trail video game is pretty good listening. Again, who knew? I should probably check out the video game. I’ve read it can be pretty addicting, and I remember when it seemed like everyone was playing the Oregon Trail game. Now seems like a great time to try it.

Documentaries:

The first thing I do when I’m studying a new period in American history is look to see if Ken Burns has a documentary about it.

So far, I’ve watched Burns’ Lewis and Clark, about the American explorers who were the first to travel the 2000 mile journey to the Pacific Ocean. I’ve also seen Burns’ The West, which is about the settling of the western part of the U.S., largely at the expense of the native people who already lived there. Although only a small part of the documentary was specifically about the Oregon Trail, it gave me great insight into the pioneering spirit that drove thousands of people to make a new home for themselves far from everyone and everything they knew.

Burns also has a documentary about the Donner Party, an ill-fated group that met numerous hardships on the Oregon Trail. I haven’t watched it yet, but I have it set aside and I’ll watch it soon.

There’s so much more for me to do as I immerse myself in the era of the Oregon Trail. I have clothing, shoes, and hairstyles to explore, recipes to cook, more music to listen to, and I’m searching for any TV shows or films to watch. Of course, I’m always on the lookout for more books to read. I have a fairly large list of scholarly articles that I’m using for specific areas of research, and I’ve started to read a few and take notes.

I’m also going to visit the Mormon Fort here in Las Vegas this summer. While the Mormon Fort itself is not from the Oregon Trail, it’s from the Mormon Trail, it’s still from the same time period when my novel takes place. There were a number of forts along the Oregon Trail, and I’m sure I can find some interesting information from a visit.

This is always my favorite part of writing historical fiction—immersing myself in the era as much as I can. The more I feel as though I’ve traveled to that time in history, the more I hope I can bring my readers along with me. I have a lot more creative inspiration to discover, and I’ll share more of what I find here.

Happy Anniversary, James and Sarah: Her Dear & Loving Husband is 10 Years Old Today

Photo by Tikkho Maciel on Unsplash

I can hardly believe this as I write it, but this very day, April 19, 2021, marks the tenth anniversary of the publication of Her Dear & Loving Husband. As of this writing, more than 200,000 copies of Her Dear & Loving Husband have been purchased. Every day readers around the globe discover James and Sarah’s story of eternal love. Many of those readers go on to read the rest of the series, and many ask for more James and Sarah stories. It makes my heart glad to know that James and Sarah continue to find new fans after a decade.

I talked a bit in this post about how I nearly gave up writing for good. For those of you who might be new to my blog, my journey with James and Sarah Wentworth began in 2007 when I was teaching middle school U.S. history. In the school hallways, I’d see girls holding these black books with an apple on the cover. Finally, I asked one of my students about the book, and she said, “Oh, it’s Twilight. Don’t you know Twilight?” I didn’t, and I asked her to tell me about it. As soon as she mentioned vampires I tuned out because I wasn’t into vampires. Yeah, I know. But at the time I associated vampires with horror stories, and I’m not into the horror genre. Then I heard a few fellow teachers rave about the book, giggling over it like our teenaged students.

A few weeks later, another student tossed Twilight onto my desk. “I’ve read that book too many times,” she said, “and I have to find something else to read. You can read it.” I appreciated the gesture, and I didn’t want to hurt her feelings, so I figured I’d take the book home, skim through it enough to get some character names, and then say how much I loved the story when I returned the book to its owner.

As I skimmed the pages (okay, here’s a Bella…there’s an Edward…) I thought some parts looked interesting enough so I read the whole book. Even though Twilight is meant for young adult readers, I found the story endearing enough to decide that maybe vampires weren’t all bad. Yes, in case you’re wondering, I did end up reading the whole Twilight series. If I hadn’t read the Twilight books, I never would have watched True Blood on HBO, and it’s more accurate to say Her Dear & Loving Husband was inspired by True Blood. 

There’s an episode early in the first season of True Blood (I think it’s episode four, but don’t quote me) where vampire Bill is giving a talk at Sookie’s grandmother’s church. Someone shows Bill a picture of his family from his human days before the American Civil War, and Bill becomes so emotional at the remembrance of them. That’s what clicked my brain into gear. Here’s this vampire who has everything humans only dream of—extraordinary strength, immortal life—and yet he becomes so emotional at the sight of the ones he loved as a human.  After that episode, I wondered…what happens to a vampire who lives forever? Obviously, the humans he loved would have died somewhere along the way. Would he forget about them and go on? Would he have trouble moving on? What if he fell in love again? What would that look like, and who would he fall in love with? If he was so in love with his wife, could he ever love anyone else?

I didn’t have any immediate sense that there was something tangible like a novel in those oddball daydreams. I like to tell stories, and I’m always kicking scenarios around this empty head of mine, most of which come to nothing. When I was still thinking of this vampire idea six months later, I decided to see if there was anything to it. Between watching True Blood, reading Charlaine Harris, Anne Rice, Bram Stoker, and the Twilight books, believe me, I had a brain full of vampire waiting to get out. Luckily for me, that vampire turned out to be James Wentworth.

The exact date I began writing was April 15, 2009. It was a Wednesday. I remember the date because I was off for Spring Break that week. I had just come back from a few days in my hometown, Los Angeles, to spend some time by the beach. Back home in Vegas, I woke up that Wednesday morning and the crazy vampire idea was distracting me again. I made myself eggs, toast, and coffee, sat down at the computer, and started typing out whatever I knew about this vampire and the woman he loved. The story had a working title—The Vampire’s Wife.

In case you were wondering, James’ birthday is April 19 because that was the day he found his name in 2009 and it’s also the day the book was published two years later in 2011.

Next, it became a matter of deciding where the story would take place. At the time I had no sense that this story would move back and forth between the past and the present. In my initial conception of the story, it was going to be a present-day love story between a vampire and the woman he loves. It turns out that choosing the setting of Salem, Massachusetts was the most important decision I made while writing Her Dear & Loving Husband since that’s where the historical fiction came in.

It’s because of the James and Sarah superfans that the rest of the series exists. At first, I thought Her Dear & Loving Husband would be a stand-alone book. Then as I started writing I realized that it was actually a trilogy. And then fans kept asking for more.

The cool thing about this 10th anniversary is that I know there is more to the story; in fact, I’ve found a few more angles from which to continue the Wentworths’ tale of eternal love. I’m giving the first draft of The Duchess of Idaho, Book Five in the series, some baking time, so I’m letting it rest a bit. But then it’s back to James and Sarah’s world, and Grace’s world (Grace is James and Sarah’s daughter, for those who might not know). It’s fun seeing how the paranormal world still affects the Wentworths even after James’ transformation. What transformation? You’ll have to read Her Loving Husband’s Return, Book Three in the series, to find out.

In some ways, it seems like yesterday when Her Dear & Loving Husband was published. In other ways, so much has changed. I will always be grateful to the James and Sarah fans who saw something wonderful in this love story that transcends time. I had a feeling, over the two long years it took me to write Her Dear & Loving Husband, that there was something in this story that readers could connect to. I had a feeling readers would like it if only they had a chance to read it.

If you have not yet had a chance to read Her Dear & Loving Husband, you can download a free copy from BookFunnel here.

I will always love the readers who continue, even after a decade, to ask for more James and Sarah. The simple truth is I wouldn’t still be doing this without you. Thank you.

Here’s to another ten years together.

Giving Your Story the Time it Needs

The first draft for The Duchess of Idaho is done. It took me ten weeks to finish. For me, that is crazy fast. I mean, lightning speed. I wrote in this post about how it used to take me months to write my outline, months to write my first draft, and months to make it all pretty-like. These days I’ve hit a faster stride with my writing.  

Now, with the dreaded first draft complete, DOI is tucked away in a warm, safe, dark place, covered by a kitchen towel (okay, not really—it’s tucked away in a computer file) completing its “baking time.”

I find that my stories need time to come together. I need time to roll them, knead them, press them this way and that. Then I have to decide which shape I like better. Then they need to rise again. I need this time away from the manuscript because even though I have a clearer idea of what the story is about, I still have a lot of work to do. “Baking time” allows me space to do that work.

Most of what I write in the first draft will be changed, rearranged, or deleted. My first drafts are merely the story in its most basic form with hardly any description, no historical details, and a bit of dialogue. The first draft is my brain’s way of working through the first layer of the story. Then, after some time away, I can see my story more clearly and begin to peel away the outer layers so I can dig deeper.

This time away is what I refer to as “baking time.” This time between drafts, the “baking time,” is important for my writing process.

I read a lot during the “baking time.” I’m currently looking for books written during or about the Oregon Trail. There are a number of primary sources—journals written by women as they traveled the trail. I’ve started reading some of the journals and they are providing great insight into what the women were thinking and feeling during the dangerous journey. I just watched the documentaries Lewis and Clark and The West by Ken Burns. Both documentaries provided insight into the pioneering spirit. Burns also has a documentary about the Donner Party, the doomed pioneers on the Oregon Trail, so I’ll be watching that too. I’ve reread a few of the Little House books, and I’ve been watching the TV show. Again, they’re not specific to the Oregon Trail, but they still have inspirational value. I started a private board on Pinterest about the Oregon Trail, and I’ve found some great book recommendations about the westward expansion, examples of food and clothing, detailed maps of the trail, and other goodies. In Las Vegas, there’s a historical site called the Mormon Fort that dates from 1850. Although the fort isn’t part of the Oregon Trail, I’m sure I’ll find some useful information when I visit. I’m also listening to music that would have been played along the trail, largely fiddle music similar to what we would call Bluegrass.

I enjoy the “baking time” because it’s fun—I’m immersing myself in the time period. Reading other authors, learning new information, seeing the clothing and the covered wagons, listening to the music, and watching the movies and documentaries, all of it gives me an abundance of ideas for when I revise my story. Not everything will end up in the novel, but it doesn’t matter. Everything works together to provide a framework I can use to revise my story so it’s the best it can be.

I have to play tricks on myself to get the first draft written, but I push through because I know that the second draft is so much more of a joy. This break between the first and second draft costs me some time, and it means I write more slowly than others, but it’s time well spent.

I used to worry that I wasn’t writing quickly enough because I took a deliberate break from my story. Over the years, though, I’ve come to terms with my “baking time.” Bringing stories to life is what I love most, and the baking time allows me to do that.

Writing Inspiration: Baking Time (Because Your Story Needs Time to Rise Too)

The first draft for The Duchess of Idaho is done. It took me ten weeks to finish. For me, that is crazy fast. I mean, lightning speed. I wrote in this post about how it used to take me months to write my outline, months to write my first draft, and months to make it all pretty-like. These days I’ve hit a faster stride with my writing.  

Now, with the dreaded first draft complete, DOI is tucked away in a warm, safe, dark place, covered by a kitchen towel (okay, not really—it’s tucked away in a computer file) completing its “baking time.”

I find that my stories need time to germinate. I need time to roll them, knead them, press them this way and that. Then I have to decide which shape I like better. Then they need to rise again. I need this time away from the manuscript because even though I have a clearer idea of what the story is about, I still have a lot of work to do. “Baking time” allows me space to do that work.

Most of what I write in the first draft will be changed, rearranged, or deleted. My first drafts are merely the story in its most basic form with hardly any description, no historical details, and a bit of dialogue. The first draft is my brain’s way of working through the first layer of the story. Then, after some time away, I can see my story more clearly and begin to peel away the outer layers so I can dig deeper.

This time away is what I refer to as “baking time.” This time between drafts, the “baking time,” is important for my writing process.

I read a lot during the “baking time.” I’m currently looking for books written during or about the Oregon Trail. There are a number of primary sources—journals written by women as they traveled the trail. I’ve started reading some of the journals and they are providing great insight into what the women were thinking and feeling during the dangerous journey. I just watched the documentaries Lewis and Clark and The West by Ken Burns. Both documentaries provided insight into the pioneering spirit. Burns also has a documentary about the Donner Party, the doomed pioneers on the Oregon Trail, so I’ll be watching that too. I’ve reread a few of the Little House books, and I’ve been watching the TV show. Again, they’re not specific to the Oregon Trail, but they still have inspirational value. I started a private board on Pinterest about the Oregon Trail, and I’ve found some great book recommendations about the westward expansion, examples of food and clothing, detailed maps of the trail, and other goodies. In Las Vegas, there’s a historical site called the Mormon Fort that dates from 1850. Although the fort isn’t part of the Oregon Trail, I’m sure I’ll find some useful information when I visit. I’m also listening to music that would have been played along the trail, largely fiddle music similar to what we would call Bluegrass.

I enjoy the “baking time” because it’s fun—I’m immersing myself in the time period. Reading other authors, learning new information, seeing the clothing and the covered wagons, listening to the music, and watching the movies and documentaries, all of it gives me an abundance of ideas for when I revise my story. Not everything will end up in the novel, but it doesn’t matter. Everything works together to provide a framework I can use to revise my story so it’s the best it can be.

I have to play tricks on myself to get the first draft written, but I push through because I know that the second draft is so much more of a joy. This break between the first and second draft costs me some time, and it means I write more slowly than others, but it’s time well spent.

I used to worry that I wasn’t writing quickly enough because I took a deliberate break from my story. Over the years, though, I’ve come to terms with my “baking time.” Bringing stories to life is what I love most, and the baking time allows me to do that.

When I Nearly Gave Up Writing For Good

A few days ago I was reading the wonderful website Writers in the Storm and I came across this post about the writing resolution that changed the writer’s attitude and ultimately changed her writing career. I nodded a lot as I read the piece because, although the specifics of my situation were different, I understood that loss of connection with writing. I also know what it means to find it again.

Ebb and flow is something we have to make peace with because it’s part of the artist’s life, whether our art is writing, music, dancing, painting, acting, or anything else. Most of the time, we can balance the not-so-good times with the better times, and somehow we keep going. There are times, though, when the not-so-good can weigh us down, drown us, even. Between the years 2006 and 2009, I had finally gone under and I decided that I was giving up writing for good.

That was my intention, at least—to never write anything other than a grocery list again.

I started writing seriously, as in writing books that I wanted to have published, in college. My first novel, written when I was 19, was about a rock band. Yes, I know, but I was 19. The book was terrible, but it helped me realize that I did in fact want to be a writer. First I was going to be a journalist, then a screenwriter, and then I was back to writing short fiction and novels.

It took me four years to have my first piece published, a short story in a small literary journal. Then I wrote a historical novel. I had a couple of near misses with traditional publishers (and one run-in with a particularly unprofessional agent) but nothing panned out despite my high-falutin’ dreams. Then I wrote a second historical novel, and a third historical novel, still with no publishing deals to show for it. Mind, this was before the indie author revolution and traditional publishing was my only hope for getting my beloved stories out into the world.

By 2006, I had written four novels, two screenplays, a number of short stories, and several articles, to some success. I had a few articles and short stories published, but I was stuck. I didn’t know what to write next. I didn’t have another novel in me at that time. First of all, I had no ideas, and second of all, I felt like it didn’t matter because whatever I write no one is going to read it anyway. I had an idea to turn one of my short stories into a screenplay, but I wasn’t motivated to get past page two.

During this time I saw Jacqueline Woodson, the brilliant writer of books for children and adults such as Brown Girl Dreaming, Hush, If You Come Softly, and Miracle’s Boys, when she came to speak at my university. Woodson talked about how she began her writing career thinking that she wanted to be a great “literary” writer. Finally, though, she found her voice writing for children and young adults, and what a voice she found. She deserves every award and accolade that has come her way. I took Woodson’s ideas to heart. Maybe I too needed to let go of any lofty “literary” ideals.

Despite Woodson’s encouraging words, I still had nothing. At the time I was working as a learning strategist at a middle school. I had my own office, and during my lunch break I would close my door and brainstorm ideas about what to write next. I jotted down scraps of screenplays, short stories, novels, plays. Ideas galore. But nothing called to me, I had no motivation to actually write, and I still had this fatalistic feeling that whatever I wrote it wouldn’t matter anyway.

Who needs this hassle, I wondered? I felt like I was punishing myself for a crime I didn’t commit. I decided that I wasn’t going to write anymore. I’m out. Hasta la vista, baby.

I didn’t write anything for three years. Three long years. The main thing I remember about that time was that I was lost. I didn’t know who I was. I felt untethered to the earth, detached from myself. I remember that I was angry a lot. Most of the time I wasn’t even sure what I was angry about. In retrospect, I should have seen a professional therapist, but I didn’t. This is a lesson in what not to do. If you need to speak to a professional, do it. My heart told me in various ways again, and again, and again, “Hey, stop. You need to listen!”

Occasionally, I had the vague thought that I should write something. Always, I went back to the mantra, “Why bother?” I looked for ways out of my job because I wasn’t happy. I thought of returning to a Hollywood job even though I disliked the work when I was there the first time. I thought of moving to California, to London, to New York, to the moon. Anywhere but here.

You know that saying, wherever you go, there you are? Even if I had moved, it wouldn’t have fixed what was wrong with me. I continued to flap about aimlessly.

In 2009, I was teaching middle school U.S. history. One day, standing near my classroom door between classes, I saw nearly every girl carrying a black book with an apple on it. I asked one of my students about the book and she told me it was Twilight. A few weeks later another student handed me the book to read. Reading Twilight prompted me to watch True Blood, which prompted the question, what would happen to a vampire who lost the wife he loves while he lives forever?

See where I’m going with this?

The last thing I was looking for was an idea for a novel, but there it was anyway. Ideas are funny that way. They appear when you least expect them. At first, I didn’t realize it was an idea for a novel. It was just an interesting question about a preternatural man that I kicked around in my head for a few months without writing anything down. One day, I remember it was April and we were off for Spring Break, I sat down at my computer and started writing out whatever I knew about this vampire and his beloved wife.

To get back to Woodson’s point about discovering her true voice as a writer for young adults, this is was the same journey I had with the story then known as “The Vampire’s Wife.” This vampire story wasn’t going to be a Pulitzer Prize winning novel. It wasn’t going to be mistaken for literary fiction. This story was genre fiction, paranormal romance, primarily, and I was okay with that. Mainly, I was happy to be writing again.

Sometimes taking time away from whatever it is that’s frustrating us can be a good thing. Distance provides clarity. When I was trying out this writing project and that writing project, frustrated because nothing was sticking, I lost touch with the joy that is writing for me. I had to find wonder in the process again. As I was writing the book that became Her Dear & Loving Husband, I returned to writing with renewed energy and a hard-won appreciation for the role that writing plays in my life.

That’s what my heart was trying to tell me. I couldn’t stop writing because I am a writer.

Recipes From the Oregon Trail

One of the first things I did when I began researching life on the Oregon Trail was look up the recipes they cooked on the trail. Since they had limited ingredients and limited supplies to cook with, the food had to be simple to make yet still filling. Sometimes the men were successful in their hunting and they would bring back meat. Bacon, potatoes, and corn were important staples while molasses was often used as a sweetener. Flour was brought along for the journey, as were beans and rice since they were easy to store in the wagons. Bacon fat and lard were used as flavorings. Other popular dishes cooked along the trail were bison, oxtail soup, vegetable pie, dumplings, and various cakes and pies.

Here are some recipes from the Oregon Trail from homesteading.com.

Johnnycake

Ingredients:

2 eggs2 cups buttermilk1/2 cup flour2 Tbsp. molasses1 tsp salt2 cups cornmeal1 tsp baking powder2 Tbsp. butter

Recipe:

Beat eggs, then add buttermilk and molasses.Mix the cornmeal, flour, salt, and baking powder.Add butter.Bake the cake mixture in a dutch oven until done.

Potato Cakes

Ingredients:

6 medium potatoes2 teaspoons salt1/2 cup milk2 eggs1 cup flourShortening

Recipe:

Wash and peel potatoes, then grate medium fine.Combine with salt, milk, eggs, and flour.Drop mixture by spoonfuls into hot shortening in skillet and fry until golden brown on both sides.

Leslie J. Whipple shared some of the more popular recipes from the Oregon Trail in her The Oregon Trail Cookbook, which was published in 1992. According to Whipple, “At the heart of this [difficult] journey was the daily struggle to feed the family.” You can read more about Whipple’s cookbook here.

And here’s a modern-day recipe for bread pudding from True West Magazine since I’m pretty sure they didn’t have ovens on the Oregon Trail they could set to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. But you get the general idea.

Ingredients:

stale bread

Warm water

butter

4 cups milk

4 eggs, beaten

sp. salt

1 cup light brown sugar

sp. grated nutmeg

currants or raisins, optional

1 tsp. vanilla (Sherry’s suggestion)

sp. cinnamon (Sherry’s suggestion)

Recipe:

Cut the bread into cubes and place it in a bowl. Add enough water so all the bread is soaking and covered. Allow to sit for 10 minutes, drain and then squeeze dry.Add the butter and stir to combine. Next, add all the remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour into a 9″ x 12″ pan and bake at 350° for about 45 minutes. Allow to sit and cool before serving.

If you’re looking for a list of websites with food from the Oregon Trail, you can find it here on findrecipeworld.com.

With the exception of freshly hunted meat or milk from the cows that were brought along the trail, cooking on the Oregon Trail was largely about using what was brought along the 2000 mile journey. Despite the limited access to fresh foods, the meals were hearty. That is, as long as the family had enough to supply them for the entire journey.

When a Story Comes Together

Before I get to my post today, I wanted to share some wonderful news. Her Dear & Loving Husband is now officially an award-winning novel. James and Sarah have won the Coffee Pot Book Club Book Award for highly recommended novels. Cool, right?

And now, on to the show.

I love it when a story comes together. The story for The Duchess of Idaho finally revealed itself last week, and I’m currently a Very Happy Camper.

It’s funny how our writing process can change over the years. When I first started writing fiction many moons ago I was a complete plotter. I had to figure out the outline of my work in progress from beginning to end, and then, and only then, would I begin my first draft. What I came to realize, though, is that needing an absolute grip on the plot before I started writing meant that I often wouldn’t begin my first draft for months after I had decided that this novel was something I was willing to dedicate blood, sweat, and tears, not to mention time, to finish. As a result, I ended up writing more slowly than I might have otherwise. That’s not a complaint, by the way. As writers, we write at the speed we write, no faster and no slower. For some of us, that means we publish several books a year, and for others of us that means we publish one book a year, and still others might release a book every couple of years.

Late in 2020, I decided that I wanted to publish Christmas at Hembry Castle just to prove to myself that I could put a book out more quickly than I thought I could. I had a head start since I knew the Hembry world (this was the second book in the series) and I knew the characters. What I didn’t know was the plot. All I had was a vague sense that I wanted C@HC to be a tribute to Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. To that end, I just started writing. This was the first time I began a story as a “pantster,” flying by the seat of my pants instead of having the plot set out step by step.

As I was writing C@HC, and as the story started coming together, I realized that I could discover the plot organically while working my way through my shitty first draft at the same time. What a revelation. I decided to see if it would work again with The Duchess of Idaho, and I’m pleased to see that it did. Again, I had a vague sense of the story. I knew it would revolve around Grace Wentworth, James and Sarah’s daughter from the Loving Husband Series, and I knew a few odds and ends about what happened to Grace. I didn’t know specifics, but I started writing anyway.

I feel more productive with the “pantster” style of writing because I get two things done at the same time—plotting out the story and writing the shitty first draft. Before, I labored over the outline for months and then I’d write the shitty first draft, which also took months to complete. Now I have the general plan for The Duchess of Idaho after about two months (I started the first draft in January). For me, that’s crazy fast. Plus, my first draft is nearly done, and that’s always the most painful part of writing a novel—at least it is for me.

A few more weeks and my first draft will be done. I’ll set it aside for a bit, give it some baking time, and then I’ll head into what is always the best part of writing fiction for me—shaping the story into its final form.

What I’m Reading

It’s crazy how much fun I’m having going back to one of my favorite worlds, James and Sarah Wentworth’s world. And here I thought the story was done with Her Loving Husband’s Return! Where Down Salem Way was a prequel, the new book, titled The Duchess of Idaho, is a sequel, as in it takes place after Her Loving Husband’s Return. Our favorite witch, Olivia, is there to lend a hand as she helps James and Sarah’s daughter, Grace, unravel her own mystery.

The historical background for this story is the Oregon Trail in mid 19th century America. As you can imagine, I have a lot to learn. Here I go again choosing to write a novel set during a time I know nothing about. Luckily for me, I love learning about history.

I’m in the early stages of research at this point. I’ve started taking notes and I’ve found a number of scholarly articles that are helping me gain a general overview of what life was like for the pioneers on the Oregon Trail. One novel I’ve read so far is A Light in the Wilderness by Jane Kirkpatrick. I learned a lot about life on the Oregon Trail from the book, which was helpful.

Another book I’ll be reading to for inspiration is The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey by Rinker Buck, which examines Buck’s experience traveling the Oregon Trail, yes, in a covered wagon, in present-day America.

I’m also looking forward to reading the classic O Pioneers by Willa Cather along with the companion book, My Antonia, as well as The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West by one of my favorite historians, David McCullough. Though Cather’s novels and McCullough’s book aren’t specifically about the Oregon Trail, I think they’ll shed interesting insight into the pioneering spirit.

What prompts people to leave behind everything and everyone they know for a dangerous journey and a new life faced with hardships? I’m looking forward to learning the answer to that question through my research into life on the Oregon Trail.

The One Thing a Writing Book Can’t Teach You

Since Painting the Past: A Guide for Writing Historical Fiction was released I’ve been thinking a lot about writing books. I’ve read many of them, believe me, especially when I was a fresh-faced writer dutifully taking my English, screenwriting, and creative writing courses as an undergrad. I combed through those how-to writing books searching for the magic formula that would allow me to write my own brilliant screenplays, stories, and novels.

My favorite writing books are the ones by Natalie Goldberg and Anne Lamott because they’re not making declarations about how you must write. They are sharing their own writing journeys. Stephen King does the same in On Writing. Okay, King makes some declarations, but then he’s Stephen King and he’s allowed to make some declarations about good writing. But even King is clear about the fact that he’s writing about his own habits and preferences and he points out that different writers will do things differently. Books like On Writing, Writing Down the Bones, and Bird by Bird are valuable because there’s a lot to learn from seeing how other authors develop their habits and skills.

But there is one thing that no writing book on earth can teach. Can you guess what it is? I’ll give you a moment…

The one thing no writing book on earth can teach you is how to write. That’s right. No writing book, not one, can actually teach you how to write.

The only way anyone can learn how to write is by writing. Writing is the only way you’ll learn how to formulate a beginning, middle, and end of a story. Writing is the only way you’ll learn to create believable characters and worlds. Yes, you need to read too. As Stephen King points out, if you don’t have time to read then you don’t have time to write. But at a certain point, you need to put the books aside, pick up your pen, or sit at your computer and write. There is no getting around this fact.

How-to writing books can only inspire. They can give tips and tricks. They can spark the imagination. But they cannot teach you how to write. In Painting the Past, I shared stories about how I write historical fiction because that’s all I can do from this side of the computer screen. I can’t tell you exactly what you need to do to write historical fiction because I don’t know you. I don’t know how you learn, or what your interests are, or what your writing process is. I don’t know what your research process will be. Maybe you don’t even know that yourself yet. I can’t teach you how to think, or how to process information. I can give tips for how to create voice, but I can’t teach writers how to show voice because that’s something unique that can only come from the writer. Plus we have different influences. I think Charles Dickens is awesome sauce. You might think Dickens sucks eggs. That’s okay. That’s why there’s always room for new writers with new ideas.

Many writers want a blueprint for how to write, especially for fiction. They want someone to give them a plan, a formula to follow. First do Step A, then Step B, then Step C until your story is all shiny and pretty-like and ready for the New York Times bestseller list. When some writers read a how-to book that offers suggestions, because that’s all any writing book can do, they feel like they were ripped off. Wait a minute. This book didn’t teach me how to write a book! No, it didn’t because it can’t. What the how-to writing books are actually telling you is how that one particular writer writes books. You might find that information helpful or you might not. Some writers dig the Snowflake method for writing novels, for example. Such formulas make me want to pop my own eyes out with spoons. Which one of us is right? We both are because we have different ways of writing.

No matter how much actionable advice you find in a writing book, you’re still going to have to figure out how to write by writing. By jumping in and flailing and trying this and trying that and trying the other thing until you find something that works. Then you’ll find something else that works and you’ll do more of that.

Look to writing books for ideas, inspiration, explorations into how other writers do what they do. Look to writing books for some actionable advice and takeaways that you can apply to your own writing. But ultimately you need to start writing and keep writing until you find your own way.

The secret to learning how to write a book is writing a book. That’s it.