Category: “In New Harmony”

old newspapers as calming distraction…

It might seem strange to say that exploring decades-old newspapers brings me a sense of calm, but it does. The history. The tidbits of social information. The photographs and advertisements of stores and restaurants that no longer exist.

I like it all. And it provides a way to occupy my mind and distract me from anxious thoughts – with the added benefit of learning things that can help me with my genealogical and historical explorations. The main site I use is newspapers.com because it has the papers for the locations I’m exploring. But there are other options too.

As I’ve mentioned before, genealogy is one of my hobbies (and is also something that serves as calming distraction for me) and newspapers have provided lots of information about generations of family members. There are the expected wedding announcements and obituaries, but I’ve also discovered things I knew nothing about: unexpected photos and news articles about relatives.

In addition to genealogical research, I also turn to old newspapers for help with my writing, especially when it comes to fiction. My novel, New Life in New Melody (and its earlier version, In New Harmony), takes place in 1943, and I’m currently working on a sequel set in 1944. Exploring newspapers from back then, especially the one published in my novels’ geographic location, has led to lots of helpful information and historically accurate slice-of-life tidbits for my stories.

Since not all news is pleasant or happy, I try to pay attention to my emotional and mental capacity, and I don’t tackle heavier-duty research topics on days I don’t feel up to it. But usually, looking through old papers provides me with interesting distractions that actually help me deal with anxiety. It transports me to another place, a different time, and other lives that aren’t my own.

In recent months, I’ve posted about a few different things that work for me when it comes to providing some calming distraction from life, stress, and anxiety. Exploring old newspapers might be an unexpected one – but sometimes we find help in unexpected places.

❤

my new novel is here…

Slowly and gradually, I’ve been working on a new novel – and now New Life in New Melody is finally available on Amazon, in kindle as well as paperback format.

The story isn’t completely new. As a matter of fact, my earlier novel, In New Harmony, is contained within the pages of this one.

In New Harmony is told from the point of view of 13-year-old Nora Thornton. With New Life in New Melody, the chapters from Nora’s POV are alternated with chapters from the POV of her mother, Marilee.

The story and the characters wouldn’t let me go, even though I told myself I should start on something completely new – and one reason it took me so long to release the new novel is that I would stop myself repeatedly along the way, telling myself to skip trying to complete this project and move on to something different.

But Marilee’s part of the story kept nudging me to tell it, and so I did.

Last year, I put a chapter from the new novel here – the working title was a bit different from what it ultimately became, and I ended up changing the town’s name to New Melody, but that chapter is mostly the same as it is in the finished novel. You can take a look at that chapter if you’d like to take a peek into the not-quite-middle part of the book.

And if you’d like to read the entire novel, I hope you’ll check it out here.

♥

 

 

 

passings, memories, and the soundtrack of life…

The first news I saw this morning was that Walter Becker, co-founder of the band Steely Dan, had died.

I’ve written before (a main example is in this post) about the power of music and memories.

And as I – and the singers and songwriters and musicians I grew up listening to – get older, and the years and the decades pass, there are more and more deaths of people who have been part of the soundtrack of my life.

In just the time between the beginning of 2016 and now, there have been several (not a complete list by any means):

Prince. George Michael. David Bowie. Maurice White. Leonard Cohen. Al Jarreau. Leon Russell. Glen Campbell. Paul Kantner. Gregg Allman.

And Glenn Frey.

I mention Glenn Frey separately because the music of the Eagles has been extra-huge in my life. And…  it was after watching the documentary History of the Eagles on Netflix shortly after Glenn’s death in January 2016, that I felt compelled to finally do a final revision of one of my novels – In New Harmony – and publish it. (You can find it right here.)

Watching that documentary, which I’ve seen several times now, simply does something to my creativity, especially when it comes to writing fiction.

Watching that documentary makes me WANT to write – and, specifically, write fiction – so much that my fingers start to almost physically itch to do it.

Listening to Eagles music does something to me very similar to how I feel when I watch that documentary. For the past year and a half, I’ve come close several times to writing a blog post with the title “the Eagles are my spirit animal” but I simply haven’t been blogging much… (So maybe I’ll write that blog post sometime, but I’m just not sure when.)

Music is a muse for me.

And music is a memory-holder and time-traveller for me.

That’s why when there’s news like today’s passing of Walter Becker, I feel an impact.

Steely Dan’s music has definitely been part of my life’s soundtrack. I’m 55, so the music of the 70s and 80s will always have a unique and special place in my heart and my memories, and Steely Dan songs are part of that for me: junior high and high school in the 70s, beach trips with my friends, going to see FM on a Friday night at the movies.

When I decided to post on facebook this morning with a link to a youtube video of a Steely Dan song, I had trouble deciding which song to choose. I finally decided on “Deacon Blues.”

As I said in that facebook post: Someone else in the soundtrack of my life has passed. I always feel sadness along with the nostalgia… and I always feel so grateful for the music shared with the world.

RIP, Walter Becker and so many other song-makers.

And thank you for the music.

♥