Let's Write a Book

About eight years ago I knew I was going to be stuck at home for a few months. My Real Husband was undergoing some medical procedures that prohibited him from being around crowds of people.

I needed to find something to do to keep my mind out of trouble.

I know, I'll write a book.

I decided that I wanted my book to be a personal love story about a couple who came to Florida 130 years ago. This required massive research. I loved doing it.

Loved discovering:

• What was going on right here on the exact spot where I live right now.
• How many of the little towns around me got their start. (My town was first called "Snow Station.")
• That Florida was as wild and woolly and had as many cattle and cowboys as Texas at one time.
• That Seminole Indians played a large part in Florida history.
• That Baptist and Methodist circuit riders and Catholic priests and nuns were in the forefront of settling Florida.
• How people lived. It was harsh, especially for women.

Most of all, it made me love my part of Florida. It's history is my history. My main characters, Cole and Catherine, had quite a ride.

During those months of writing I spent the day at the beach, swimming in the Atlantic Ocean. (One of my favorite things.) While I was bobbing up and down I began wondering what it would have been like to see the ocean from that exact spot a century ago.

So after I returned home I sent Cole and Catherine to the beach. They had to travel the first day by stagecoach. Then I had to get them across the Intercoastal Waterway.

What did I do with the book when it was finished? Not much. A few people have seen it. It needs massive editing.

But it doesn't matter. The joy was in the research and writing.