Serendipity at work

on October 24, 2016

bassisls-002I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback on In the Shadow of The Lighthouse. People want more stories set in the Lake Erie islands.  I love history and doing research so my stories, although fiction, are based in real places with some history thrown in.  I love Kelleys Island and decided that my fourth book would be set there. Of course I need at least one contact person who I can pump for the bizarre and gruesome that will trigger a story in my head. Not an easy task when the island is only about four square miles in size with a population of just over three hundred permanent residents. This wasn’t going to be easy, but heck, I still have books two and three to finish.  I thought about hanging out at one of the B&Bs on the island for a week or two, travel the back roads (really?) in a golf cart and look for an old-timer with stories of dead bodies, smugglers, and horrendous storms. That plan got put on a back burner.

stormy-dude-going-homeAs the Executive Director for CANTER Ohio I see a lot of adoption applications from all over the country from people wanting to adopt our horses. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw that the potential adopter lives on Kelleys Island. Horses on Kelleys? Who would have thought? Even as a fiction writer I wouldn’t have put horses on Kelleys. Not only did my contact come to me, but she brought a resident of Marblehead with her.  Oh yeah, she loved the horse.  Stormy Dude, the tall chestnut ex-racehorse, left today for his new home. I wonder how he handled the twenty-minute ferry ride with the scents of Lake Erie and the raucous call of sea gulls overhead?

So, serendipity stepped in and I have my contacts. I’ll be spending a lot of time on Kelleys Island searching for my next story. It may even contain a horse named Stormy Dude.

Editing . . . Grrrrrrrr

on August 1, 2016

Pam C BlogWriting is such a solitary process. Sitting alone at the computer with only your ideas awaiting their translation into black-and-white. However, for me, the creative juices keep flowing wherever I am or whatever I’m doing. The new story keeps me company whether I’m gardening or running errands. Editing, however, keeps me locked in my chair and rewriting what I thought was a fascinating manuscript. My editor picks the story apart like a vulture on road-kill. In The Shadow Of The Lighthouse was too long. I needed to cut 60,000 words, bringing the total word-count down to 100,000. Then I needed to put the first chapter toward the end of the book. I wondered if it would ever be published.

I’m what is known as a Pantser in the writing world. I don’t outline, chart character development or pre-determine what will happen in each chapter. I write the story that’s in my head (first draft). Then I begin researching, making sure my scenes are accurate to the period of the story and give my characters life (second draft). The third or fourth draft goes to the editor and the hard part begins.

That’s where I am now, and have been since last December when I received A Beacon In The Dark back from my editor. I’ve made the requested changes, only to have more changes noted. It’s frustrating, especially since a third book, It Started With Besse, is waiting in the first draft stage. I love writing . . . I hate rewriting. However, I’ve found a part of editing which allows me to travel back to wonderful places.

Whenever possible, I travel to the locations I’ve written about to make sure I have my facts correct and get the “feel” of the surroundings. In The Shadow Of The Lighthouse took me to Marblehead, Ohio and Port Clinton. There were also side trips to Kelleys Island and Put-In-Bay. A Beacon In The Dark took me to the Waldorf Astoria in New York, Norfolk, Virginia and the plantations along the James River. Back in the early 1970s, I was given a book of Notable American Houses.

A two-page photo of Westover plantation caught my attention. I thought it the most beautiful house I’d ever seen. So when I needed a Virginia plantation for my story, it could only be Westover. I searched for information, which at the time was limited since the house was, and still is, a family residence. Then in 2011 following the Romance Writers of America conference in New York, I drove to Virginia. Only the grounds were open to the public, but that was enough . . . I fell in love with Westover. I took pictures of everything and spent hours walking the property and sitting on various benches. Through the many photos of the house and outbuildings, I was able to make my story come alive. The sounds of the river and the scent of the huge boxwoods will always be with me.

I may be sitting at my computer editing, but I’m not alone. My memories of Westover are with me, encouraging me to add this-or-that little piece of information I’d forgotten during the last edit.

WRITING AGAIN

on April 18, 2016

Pam Cleverly CanterI’m finally back to a routine writing schedule after an exhausting month of CANTER Ohio projects. March was a month with many deadlines. The Board Meeting started off the month with new projects and timelines. I had this year’s t-shirts to design (designed and made before April 4th), 40 horseshoes to decorate to sell at Equine Affaire (a four day event held at the Ohio Fairgrounds in Columbus), one of our major grants to write, and the follow-up report on another. I did manage to squeeze in time for editing and the weekly meetings of my critique group.

Equine Affaire is a giant equine expo with folks from all over the United States and Canada showing their horses, Pam Cleverly 41816putting on workshops and demonstrations and retailers selling everything equine. It ran from April 7th thru the 10th with doors open from 9:00-7:00. For a booth holder, it’s a long day to keep your public/happy face on even with additional help. Our booth is in the Breed Pavilion, which means we’re surrounded by horses, demonstrations in the arena, loud noises and dust. It’s sensory overload for ten hours a day . . . but I look forward to it every year.

I had great intentions of writing in my hotel room at night. Well, that just didn’t happen!!! As the Executive Director for CANTER Ohio, I had the daily financials to complete and emails to answer. By eleven o’clock I was pretty much brain-dead and ready for bed––six o’clock the next morning came too soon, after trying to sleep in a strange bed, and my day began with a marathon schedule all over again.

I’m now back home and have a somewhat normal schedule . . . unless you count that my new office is under renovation and I’m writing in a corner of the den.