Monday, August 28, 2017

The Best Year in Years

Three-hundred and sixty-five little days. Is that all it’s been? It seems like a decade since my wife (Ella), dog (Otis) and I (Brian) left Colorado on this journey. 

Brian, Ella, and Otis
Having sunk roots in the same place more or less continuously for almost 20 years (and Ella for her whole life) we'd reached a point of stagnation, where our lives seemed hopelessly fixed.

We needed an adventure. 

Enter the travel nurse.

Being a nurse is probably a good career, but not for me. Any job where something called “sputum” has a chance of getting in my eyes is beyond my weak stomach. But Ella is good at it, and—at least on sputum-free days—seems generally to enjoy it.

One year ago today, Ella accepted a position as a travel nurse. We sold or stored almost everything we owned, crammed our lives into the space of a Toyota Rav4, and put rubber to pavement. We've been back only briefly since.

PART 1: The Mountains are Calling (Sun Valley, Idaho; 8/28/2016 to 12/23/2016)

We arrived in Idaho on a Sunday night and found ourselves in a wilderness of the strange: grocery chains we’d never heard of, references on the radio to people and places we didn’t understand. It was altogether novel and unsettling. But all-in-all the change was fresh and pleasing. I felt like I was at the brink of a discovery. 

The wilderness of Idaho near Sun Valley is amazing
Ella and Otis at one of so many lakes in the Idaho mountains
The first night in Idaho, we opted for a walk behind our new house. Otis was on edge, his tail erect, hackles raised and muzzle buried in every passing thicket. He exemplified what I felt: disoriented, anxious, and eager to learn this unknown landscape.

The next four months passed like a dream. 

Trails. Endless miles of serpentine paths gliding through alpine settings. There were so many that we hardly made a repeat footprint our entire stay. The Sun Valley area provided five mountain ranges in which to romp: the Smokies, the White Clouds, the Boulders, the Pioneers, and (most impressive of all) the Sawtooths. For alpine/mountaineering enthusiasts, it was paradise.

Hot Springs. Central Idaho is ripe with geothermal action. There is sublimity in lounging in a natural hot tub, soothing bubbles tickling up tired limbs as nature unfolds its splendor all around. Such moments are ineffable.

Snow. We skied four feet of fresh powder. These fluffy white heaps were miniature emulations of the grand mountains in which they formed. Snow fluttered, streaked or outright dumped from the sky right up to the hour we left.

When the time came to leave in December, we did so grudgingly. Our first experience living outside Colorado had proven that the world held options. There were so many places I hadn't seen and people I hadn't met. My only fear, as Idaho sunk in our rearview mirror, was if any destination after could favorably compare, or would everything after fall disappointingly short.

INTERLUDE 1: Christmas in Colorado (12/23/16 to 1/5/17)

Ignore the stress of gift buying and the pressure of fleeting morsels of time to every visiting friend and relative and the holidays are special. Family coalesces, forging memories that last a lifetime. We spent a white Christmas with our family back in Colorado, but it was doomed not to last. Our next destination was calling from over the horizon.

PART 2: Rain and Redwoods (Eureka, California; 1/5/17 to 4/24/17)

We arrived in California in the apogee of one of the worst storms in years. It was fitting that rain would usher us away three and a half months later.

We are small-town folk. While Eureka, California is a city of only 30,000, the outlying area of some 200,000 felt like a bustling metropolis compared to what we were used to. In Idaho our apartment stood in a sea of pine trees. At night we had to be cautious when walking out our door of close encounters with marauding wolves. Bugling elk sang us to sleep. In Eureka our apartment stood in sea of concrete. At night we had to be cautious when walking out our door of close encounters with meth-addled homeless. The thunder of truck engines sang us to sleep.

playing on the tallest and some of the oldest trees in the world
Playing on a redwood, the tallest trees in the world
This makes our time in Northern California sound all bad but it wasn't, not by a long shot. We lived for the first time beside the ocean, learning to glide back and forth with the tide. The musky perfume of the sea filled the air (when you stepped far enough from the urbane downtown to smell it). Waves collapsed with undulating thunder onto endless beaches. Rugged coasts and conical sea stacks provided roosts for squawking birds, and (best of all) we were surrounded by a forest of the world’s tallest trees. There were many magical moments in this novel environment. While Idaho had been like an variation of Colorado, California was something different altogether.

One of Life's Forks

Alas, three months passed as they always do (quickly) and the time came to decide on our next destination. We stood at one of those proverbial forks.

Ella was offered a travel position in Santa Barbara, California, a beautiful ocean-side city known for exquisite beaches and a vibrant economy. But on a whim Ella had a applied for a full-time, year round position in Seward, Alaska, a tiny town embedded in the rugged Alaskan mountains. We had always wanted to live in the far north. Neither of us had expected to hear back from Seward, but one day, after she'd already accepted the position in Santa Barbara, the call came:

We were wanted. In Alaska.

The choice could be distilled to this: Santa Barbara would be easy. Housing would be found and paid for for us. It was a short, three-month commitment. But although it was a beautiful place, Santa Barbara was not our dreamland. In many ways it was not much different from where we had just been. Seward, on the other hand, would be rugged, committing, and far from our families. Contracts would stipulate we had to spend a full year at least. It was risky. We would be on our own. But Alaska had been a dream of ours and this was our chance. The biggest thing holding us back was our fear to take a risk. And that is never a good reason not to do anything. 

Alaska...we are coming.

INTERLUDE 2: The Great Road Trip (4/24/2017 to 5/11/2017)

The memories of our 18-day journey from California to Alaska will always be fond. The Oregon coast. Washington's Olympic Peninsula. Seattle. The Inside Passage. The Yukon. So many amazing places, all of which entirely new. As I detailed much of this trip in an earlier blog post, I won’t go too deeply into the story. We saw some of the most beautiful sights the western United States had to offer. This road trip was a journey within a larger journey. It was the type of adventure I will recall fondly for decades. It was, however, only a prelude to what is likely the climax of this life-altering (and ongoing) bildungsroman.

PART 3: The Last Frontier (Seward, Alaska; 5/11/2017 to ?)

Alaska mountains and ocean in one sight
The boat harbor in Seward, Alaska. This is nearly 2,300
miles from Glenwood Springs, Colorado as the eagle
flies
Alaska takes its official nickname “The Last Frontier” for a reason. Much of the state is brutally rugged and remote. Wildlife exists much as it always has. Blue glaciers tumble from cuspid mountains. Moose and brown bears plod across hundreds of miles of unfettered wildlands oblivious to the trials of the modern world. In terms of size, Alaska would swallow the United Kingdom, France and Germany combined, yet is home to a mere 700,000 people. 

In a sense, Idaho and California were merely training. The sparse wilderness of central Idaho provided a functioning warm-up for the behemoth scale of Alaska. The coast of Northern California acclimated us to the rhythm of the ocean.

After three and a half months here now (roughly the same amount of time we spent in both California and Idaho), Alaska had proven to be everything we hoped and more. I understand the addiction of this place. Life at the edge of the map has a way of reminding you that you are alive. It is a slice of a time long past.

I am excited to experience the full cycle of a year in this place and learn the lessons it is willing to teach.

FINAL THOUGHTS

As the eagle flies we are 2,288 miles from where we started. We are our past selves, and we are not. I imagine myself a year ago and I picture someone cloistered and naïve. I see a truck spinning its wheels in the quagmire. I was halfway up a mountain stranded on a narrow ledge. Above it was too steep to climb and below too risky to retreat. This year was the foil, the glider that lifted me away. Circling in the sky, I think I understand that this mountain has always had many faces, and infinite variations to the top.

I have come to think of this long adventure as “the Search for Home.” The whole point, after all, was finding the place to settle down. Buy a house, start a family. Where will this home be? Idaho? California? Colorado? Alaska? Somewhere else? The question lingers….

For now, there can be no doubt: it was the best year in years.
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Sunday, August 20, 2017

Stuffing a Play Down Your Boot

As a writer how can I possibly condone the theft of intellectual property? Facilitated or not by the digital age, taking advantage of piracy is scarcely different than walking into a store a ripping an item off the shelf. There is no question bootlegging is wrong. It is not the same as stealing, it is stealing.

Hamilton was a Broadway smash success of unprecedented levels
The Playbill for Hamilton, perhaps
the greatest play to come out
in decades
Here is the point in this blog post where I make a stunning, reckless admission: I recently enjoyed a bootleg (gasp!).

A Criminal Justifies His Crime

Today, I will attempt something I've not yet undertaken in my blog: review a play. That’s right. This post is a review/criticism of the venerable, multiple-Tony-award-winning, Pulitzer-Prize-for-Drama-snatching, once-in-a-generation mega hit Hamilton.

Obtaining tickets to Hamilton is nearly impossible. Its intense popularity combined with its single-venue production effectively restricts attendees to the wealthy and/or fortunate few.

In another lifetime (when I was 11 years old) I was lucky enough to attend a Broadway production. It was an unparalleled experience which I still recall in vivid detail: the glistening lights, the ambiance of classic grandeur, the jaw-plummeting production value. In more recent years I've been forced to settle on less prestigious venues to satiate my drama fix. That is not to belittle such places, because all of them (from Denver's Buell Theater to anonymous, barely-lit backroad stages) carried their own charm. But no matter how enjoyable these performances are they will always remain a distant second to that greatest of all stages. However, living in Seward, Alaska leaves me about as far from those bright lights as humanly possible. Even with Hamilton now on national tour (and soon to open in London's famous West End), tickets can range from painfully expensive (like $300) to outright insanity (like $1000 or more). in other words, the likelihood of me seeing Hamilton on stage any time in the near future is roughly equivalent to me striking all five numbers and the Powerball in this week's lottery (I didn't even buy tickets).

I suppose I could wait until the hype enveloping Hamilton is tamped down by time, which might take years or even decades. Or maybe just be patient until they get around to making the movie that is rumored to being in production. When I really want something, however, patience is a virtue in desperately short supply for me. So after two years of trying to temper my excitement, I decided to pursue another option: scour the shady corners of the internet in search of a bootleg.

It just so happens, I found one.

Before you spit vileness at me which I probably deserve, allow me a chance to defend myself. First of all, the download was free, so I did not monetarily support the syndication of this illegal taping. Secondly, if I ever get the chance to watch the play or buy the movie, I intend to seize it just the same as if I’d never seen it at all. Also, this grainy, occasionally shaky, video is with the original cast in its pre-Broadway stage. The show's mastermind, Lin-Manuel Miranda, portrays Alexander Hamilton as he originally intended. Since Miranda has moved on and is no longer an actor in the production, I will never have the chance to witness this special moment in theater history. For me, this alone justifies my sin.

So I’ll be my own hater for a moment and spare you the breath. I’m abhorrent. A criminal. I have no excuse. I'm nasty. A thief. Etc. Etc. Etc.

There. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s discuss the play.

Opening Words

Does Hamilton live up to the hype? Is it everything people made it out to be? Did it deserve 11 Tony Awards? The Pulitzer Prize for Drama?

In short, absolutely.

To say Hamilton is "good" is like calling the Sistine Chapel "pretty". True? Well, yes. But a gross understatement. Hamilton is at once brilliant, educational, original, funny, tragic, unique, and entertaining. Music and storytelling are my own outlets for artistic expression, and the way Miranda blends the two is truly a work of genius. Although I'm not typically a fan of hip hop, the nature of the musical score transcends the boundaries of genre. Even someone like me who is more versed in rock/folk can appreciate the depth of the musical mastery.

Music

How can the story of a colonial-era founding father be told through a musical genre not invented until 200 years after his death? In Hamilton, hip hop works to take the mood of the era and translate it into the modern vernacular. In short, the narrative becomes "truer than true." Much like how opera exaggerates emotion to render the moods of its characters more comprehensible, this move to modernize Alexander Hamilton's story with hip hop exaggerates the nuances of his life and makes it possible for today's theatergoer to experience the empathy that makes Hamilton special.

A perfect example of the play's cultural translation is the debate between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton in Act II. In a sense, the word-swapping colonialists, who were intensely focused on forming their argument with perfect meter and rhyme, were engaged in the 18th century version of a rap battle. The "Cabinet Debate" scene, therefore, transcribes the historical events into 21st century reality. Not only is the scene highly entertaining, but it represents the character and nature of the time in culturally relevant verisimilitude.

Race

Lin-Manuel Miranda in the Secretary of Treasury's
office
By modulating the race of the founding fathers, Hamilton once again translates the mood of the time into a contemporary setting. Miranda makes a bold comparison from the plight of the revolution-era colonialists to that of the modern immigrant/minority. The British in the play, including and especially King George III, are portrayed by white actors singing outdated classic-style showtunes. The Americans, however, are always portrayed by racial minorities engaged in much more lyrically complex hip hop.

In the real world of the American Revolution, the British were locked in a traditionalist quagmire, much to their downfall. A perfect illustration was their mode of warfare: wearing bright red coats and marching out into open exposure while hammering on drums for all to hear. Enemies must have known they were coming for miles. While the British viewed such tactics as honorable and civilized, modern military strategists easily recognize their folly. The American revolutionaries, on the other hand, were British emigrants and cultural outcasts. Their war tactics were far more innovative and progressive. The colonialists understood how the world had moved on. Pioneering guerrilla warfare, the revolutionaries were able to defeat the much larger and better-equipped British army by subverting the foolhardy strategy of field warfare. The disparity, between the traditionalist Brits and progressive Americans, is perfectly translated via the race and musical styles depicted in the play.

Story

The story of Alexander Hamilton needs little embellishment. Here was a bastard, orphan, son of a whore (to steal the first line from the play's first song) who goes on to become an American hero, founding father and the country's first Secretary of Treasury. He married into one of the wealthiest families in the burgeoning nation, became George Washington's righthand man, and implemented politics that fundamentally changed the trajectory of our country, the ramifications of which still resonate today. The tragic and dramatic conclusion of his life, in a duel with his once-friend Aaron Burr, seems almost too perfectly suited for drama.

The musical Hamilton fully exploits this incredible narrative, telling the story in an educated, brilliant, and modernly accessible manner. Prior to Hamilton, the ten-dollar founding father without a father, Alexander Hamilton, had slipped into historical obscurity. Thanks to the work of Miranda and others who created this instant-classic, he is likely to be remembered for the ages.

Exeunt

So yes, blame me for being a pirate, but understand how desperately I wanted to see this show. The nature of Broadway limits the demographic that experiences these moments of artistic innovation, and this play needs to be seen by all, now more than ever. Though I understand Miranda was deeply irked by bootlegging of his work, and rightfully so since he donated six years of his life to its creation, part of me wants to believe he would emphasize with my frustration and recognize the necessity to disseminate this incredible work to everyone. And when the play is finally accessible for people like me, whether via a movie or some other avenue, I will gladly support it every way I can and I encourage you to do so as well.

In closing, there is no doubt that even among my favorite musicals (Phantom of the Opera, Sweeney Todd, et al) Hamilton stands alone in complexity, intrigue and originality. It is truly spectacular.

For those of you unwilling to procure an illegal bootleg of the full Hamilton show, enjoy this legal clip from the play, a live performance of one song during the 70th annual Tony Awards:

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Monday, August 7, 2017

Ten of the Most Beautiful Places I've Ever Seen

This blog post is an encomium to the beauty of the natural world. Too often do I fall into the trap of gloom and doom, the rhetoric of "this world is being ruined and humans are in the driver's seat of the destruction." True or not, this pessimist's cynicism does little for my health or mood. Sometimes I have to force myself to step back and let things fall into perspective. There is only so much burden any one back can bear.

Today, I'm in the mood to celebrate some of the amazing places I've seen and share them here with you!

NOTE: There are so many places in the world I haven't seen. I can't imagine what this list would look like if I'd seen even half of it. Someday I hope to visit as many parts of this incredible planet as my relatively short life allows, but sadly there just isn't enough years in a human lifespan to see it all.

So without further ado, here are ten of the most beautiful places I've ever seen in no particular order.

1. The Grand Canyon
There is no doubt that Arizona's Grand Canyon is one of the most spectacular sights in the United States. The sheer scale of it is hard to comprehend when standing on the rim. At 280 miles in length, up to 18 miles across and over a mile deep, the Grand Canon truly lives up to its name. I have had the fortune of visiting it numerous times, including an 18-day kayaking trip in 2005, a memory that remains one of the highlights of my life.

Deer Creek Overlook, Grand Canyon
2. The Wind River Range
Wyoming's Wind River Range ranks as one of the more spectacular ranges in the Rocky Mountains. This rugged collection of Wyoming's tallest and most remote mountains offers dense solitude and the largest concentration of glaciers in the contiguous United States (i.e. outside of Alaska.) My backpacking trip to the Winds in 2011 was one of the great outdoor experiences in my adult life.

Island Lake, Wind River Range. Fremont Peak top right is Wyoming's third tallest mountain
 3.  Zion National Park
Of Utah's "Big 5" national parks (Canyonlands, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, and Arches) my personal favorite has to be Zion. This rugged place staggers the imagination with vertical cliffs over 1,000 feet tall and hidden slot canyons concealing surprisingly verdant streams. My wife and I spent a week in Zion in 2015 and barely scratched the surface of possible sights.

Exploring Zion River Narrows in Zion National Park, one of the most unique hikes anywhere
4. The Belize Barrier Reef
The Caribbean is one of the world's premier tropical destinations. One could lose themselves forever in the coral reefs, the thousands of dreamy islands, and the warm, aquamarine waters. One of its many amazing features is the Belize Barrier Reef, the second longest barrier reef in the world. When people think of paradise, they often envisage somewhere like this. After spending over two weeks in Belize in 2016, I was transformed. Some of these islands could very well tempt me to leave my cherished mountains.
Tobacco Caye in Belize is a true tropical island paradise
5.  The Sawtooth Mountains
Idaho's rugged Sawtooth Mountains are some of the best kept secrets in the Rocky Mountains. Serrated and formidable, the Sawtooths are so isolated it does not take long to find a place among them seldom visited by people. I had the pleasure of living near the Sawtooths for a few months in 2016 and was shocked I hadn't heard much about them before.

The Sawtooth Mountains near Redfish Lake humbled and overwhelmed me
6. Alaska's Kenai Peninsula
Alaska is one of the world's most rugged landscapes and one of the few true wildernesses left on the planet. The Kenai Peninsula on the southern coastal region of the state is one of its gemstones. This incredible place is resplendent with glaciers, towering mountains, wildlife, and ambrosial forests. I've been visiting the Kenai Peninsula since 2007 and now call Seward, Alaska home.
Glacier wonderland in Kenai Fjords National Park, a place accessible almost exclusively by boat
7. The Elk Mountains of Colorado
The Elk Range of Colorado is one of the most impressive parts of this mountainous state. They include some of Colorado's most rugged and formidable ramparts, such as Capitol Peak, Snowmass Mountain, and the Maroon Bells. Living at the foot of the Elks in Colorado's Roaring Fork Valley for almost 20 years allowed me to explore this amazing range extensively.
The Maroon Bells in Colorado's Elk Mountain Range. This is about 45 minutes drive from the place I still call home
8. The Ecuadorian Jungle
Ecuador is a lush, jungle wonderland. It is also a highly mountainous and dramatic slice of the Andes Mountains, quite possible the world's most impressive mountain range outside the Himalayas. My trip to Ecuador in 2001 was life changing. My only regret is the lack of photographic skill I possessed at the time.

Kayaking the Rio Jondachi in the Ecuadorian mountains. This little gem was exciting and so beautiful
9. The Oregon Coast
Formidable amounts of rainfall combined with a sharp, angular coast makes for one stunning vista. The Oregon coast is one of the gems of the American collision with the Pacific Ocean. Spotted with quaint towns, massive sea stacks, and copious wildlife, it is hard to imagine a more beautiful place. My wife and I spent a week exploring the Oregon coast earlier this year and I look forward to the chance to return.

Oregon Coastal vantage. What isn't readily apparent in the photo are the dozens of seals in the lower right corner

10. The California Redwoods
The first few times I entered the Redwood Forest, I was humbled nearly to tears by the sheer scope of these living creatures. It is not just the massive height of the world's tallest trees but their age that plucks at the heartstrings, as some of them can be 2,000 years old or more. It is incredible to imagine these trees standing for so many lives of men, keeping a silent watch over the changing world. I had the pleasure of living among these real-life giants for three months and still feel small every time I think about it.

Giant Redwoods just off the Avenue of Giants. These trees humbled me nearly to tears the
first time I saw them
No photo can do these places justice. They must be experienced for yourself. I should have gone online and stolen photographs by much better photographers to give a better sense of these wonderlands, but alas I decided to abide copyright law and stick to my own pictures.

I would love to hear about some of your favorite places so I can add them to my bucket-list of must-see places, a list that grows far faster than I can check it off. Also, I would be interested to hear which of my above photos you liked best.
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If you enjoyed this post, consider signing up for my mailing list. I also blog about all sorts of crazy, educational, entertaining, and occasionally funny topics from what makes an effective first paragraph in a novel to giant redwoodsmedieval sailboats, the ancient Mayans and more. If you do sign up, you will get a once-a-week update on my posts and NOTHING ELSE! No spam, no selling your email to third parties. Okay, if I ever get around to publishing one of these works in progress that are constantly haunting me, I might send out an email letting you know. In the meantime thanks for reading.

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All writing is the original work of Brian Wright and may not be copied, distributed, re-printed or used any form without express written consent of the author. Find out here how to CONTACT me with publishing and/or use questions 


Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Author Spotlight: Cindy Tomamichel- Druid's Portal

As part of my recent effort to support and bring greater light into the rapidly expanding demographic of Indie/small press writers, today's post is the second in a planned series of spotlights on these less publicized writers whose books I've read and enjoyed.

In this post the spotlight is on Cindy Tomamichel. Her latest novel is Druid's Portal, a time-traveling romance that takes place alternately between modern times and 2,000 years ago during the clash of the Roman Empire with the Celtic Druids. Druid's Portal was published on May 17, 2017 by Soul Mate Publishing. I sent her a list of questions to which she was kind enough to supply answers.

Tell me a little about yourself. What is your background? What made you want to become a writer?

Thanks for having me on your blog, I read your adventures in Alaska with great interest. 

I am from Australia, and have lived and worked in both remote mining towns and in the inner city. I have changed careers several times, starting as an underground mine geologist, working in mines in far north Queensland, Tasmania and New South Wales. I did some more study, and moved into environmental science with the EPA, with a focus on contaminated soils and groundwater, mostly from historical industrial sites. 

I left full time work for family reasons, and started writing my first novel - a scifi action adventure. The idea came to me while I was trying to stay awake in some computer training, and I filled pages with seemingly industrious notes on an entirely different topic!  This was the more official start to writing, but I had been writing terrible poetry and bits and pieces of stories since a teenager.

 Have you had any other works published? Where?

I have a list of my other work on my website, but I have had short stories and poems in three of the anthologies from Rhetoric Askew, and a short story coming up in a scifi anthology. I also had two monologues presented onstage with Madwomen Monologues, which was exciting to see.

Your book was a bit reminiscent of Outlander, though I thought you avoided straying into the realm of becoming merely a copycat nicely. It seems impossible, of course, to write a completely original novel these days. Who would you say are your primary literary influences?

I haven’t actually read any of the Outlander books, nor have I watched the series. I find too much politics and intricate personal motivations (such as in high fantasy novels) very hard to read myself. 
I do read at random to find new authors, but favour action adventure, scifi and sword and sorcery. I expect this shows in my writing, as I try to keep a fast action plot going. So RE Howard, ER Burroughs, Peter O’Donnell (Modesty Blaise), Matthew Reilly and Andy McDermott in the action adventure genre.  Tolkien and CS Lewis for fantasy. and Heinlein, Harrison and Andre Norton for scifi. I do enjoy a lot of pulp fiction from the 1930’s- 50’s such as Leslie Charteris (The Saint), Agatha Christie and Raymond Chandler.

Tell me about the moment of inspiration for Druid’s Portal? How did the tale come to be?

I came up with the idea in about 2002, so I actually have only a vague memory. I had heard of time travel romance and wanted to see if I could write something in the genre that might be acceptable to a publisher. So I worked out what sort of time period felt the most interesting, and included my love of archaeology in the main character of Janet.

One of the things I love about fiction, and historical fiction in particular, is how it conveys a time and place. While history books can give you the facts, fiction gives a feel of a place and time. In that sense it is “truer than truth.” It also lays a burden of responsibility on the author to convey history accurately. Can you talk a bit about the historical nature of your novel?

It has been interesting given the time difference between when I started to now- the explosion of information and photos and google maps on the internet makes research much easier. But in some ways it is also harder – how much detail, and how much can I assume? So my focus was on giving more of a flavour of the time, and focusing on personalities and issues that are timeless.

The time itself is an interesting one – two barbarian cultures clashed, and the ancient druid religion was destroyed. The Romans were so different to the existing Celts, but they were just as brutal in battle. The area of Hadrian’s Wall was the line in the sand between these cultures. Excavation is still continuing in the forts along the Wall, and new discoveries are made all the time. For instance, I used the abundance of leather sandals found at Vindolanda to give Janet a bit of an obsession with Roman soldier sandals. 

In my experience, one of the hardest things about writing a novel is the editing process. It takes far longer than the actual writing. What can you reveal about your editing methodology? Did you use so-called “beta readers”? Did you work with a professional editor?

Yes, I find editing hard. For me the hardest part is stepping back and reading with fresh eyes. I have written most of my novels during NaNoWriMo (Write a novel in a month) so once the draft is finished I leave it for a while, then correct for spelling and read through before I print it. Then it gets covered in notes, and I read sections out loud, particularly dialogue. I also have a few writing issues such as staying in point of view that I make an extra effort to pick up.

I worked with an editor provided by Soul Mate, Sharon Roe. She is amazing, and I think really made the book shine.

I never used beta readers. I have since found that arguing about my characters and why I did that with the plot makes me homicidal with rage. 

How did you become connected with Soul Mate Publishing? Did you query agents first or did you approach them directly?

I approached them directly – they are always open for submissions, and encourage cross genre books. It has been a pleasure to work with them. I think I had about half a dozen rejections before that.

You mentioned in the “About the Author” at the end of your novel that you are working on a sequel. How is that coming along? Some authors find it challenging to make sequels fresh, original and still as engaging as the first novel. Conversely, I find many readers complain about them too. What has your experience been?

I actually wrote the sequel some time ago in a NaNoWriMo so it is well under way. While Janet and Trajan are in it, they are not the main characters, and I have given it a twist with some alternate history with a different timeline. So yes, I think a sequel can be difficult, but it feels like a new book with new problems – and more action and adventure!

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions and best of luck in all future endeavors!

You can view Cindy's work and connect with her via her website, Twitter page, Facebook author page, Goodreads page, Amazon author page, and/or Google+
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This is the second in a series of spotlights on indie/small press writers who deserve your attention. If you enjoyed it, consider signing up for my mailing list. I also blog about all sorts of crazy, educational, entertaining, and occasionally funny topics from what makes an effective first paragraph in a novel to giant redwoodsmedieval sailboats, the ancient Mayans and more. If you do sign up, you will get a once-a-week update on my posts and NOTHING ELSE! No spam, no selling your email to third parties. Okay, if I ever get around to publishing one of these works in progress that are constantly haunting me, I might send out an email letting you know. In the meantime thanks for reading.

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All writing is the original work of Brian Wright and may not be copied, distributed, re-printed or used any form without express written consent of the author. Find out here how to CONTACT me with publishing and/or use questions