Tag Archives: novel research

The Great Book Hunt

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Rummaging through old books in search of overlooked gems that will yield needed information for my writing is one of my favorite pastimes. Nothing else excites me like a pile of old books for cheap prices.

Over the past five decades, I have carried home enough books to fill the walls and floors of wherever I’m living. At times, an overflow of books has caused me to move to a bigger living space. I have favorite subject areas, and one of those is history.

Some time ago, I read that children’s books were a great source of basic information on almost any topic, so I added them to my list of books to sort through at library sales and thrift store shelves. One of the gems I found that has been valuable as I write about Cordelia’s life in 1855 is a book called How the Settlers Lived by George and Ellen Laycock.  This little 113-page book once graced the shelves of a junior high library and, sadly, has a broken spine. Even so, the information by the Laycocks and the full-page illustrations of pioneer life by Alexander Farquharson make the tattered book worth keeping. I have seen only a few others available from online used book dealers.

The Laycocks vividly detail the journey west by horseback, wagon, and boat. They chronicle the methods of clearing the land and building a home, of planting crops and hunting game, of making clothes and staying healthy, and of having a good time when all the work was done. This little book introduced me to methods of felling trees to clear the land, a detailed way of hanging a door without iron hinges, and how to cook over an open fire on the hearth. There are step-by-step instructions for hunting deer and trapping beaver. There is an entire chapter on making clothing, from preparing deer skins to spinning the hair of wild animals, such as buffalo and bear, into clothing, sometimes mixing the animal fibers with plants, such as milkweed heads and flax.

In a chapter on staying healthy, the Laycocks reveal that hygiene was minimal.  Bathing, when it was done, often occurred in a stream. In the home, one basin of water served everyone in the house as they took turns washing and drying their hands and faces. Insects were everywhere. A lack of cleanliness and understanding of the causes of disease resulted in many illnesses and deaths.

Yet, for all their hard work, the settlers had good times. Any get-together might lead to a party afterward. Work sharing gatherings, such as corn huskings, log rollings, and apple parings provided a reason for dancing, dinners, and contests involving shooting matches and other manly challenges.

For all the above reasons, How the Settlers Lived is one of my research gems. Do you have a favorite book for researching the past. If so, please leave a comment and let us know. We’ll build a list.

 

First Steps

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Welcome to A Spirited Journey.

I invite you to follow me through the research and development of the characters in my series of upcoming historical novels about the journeys of American women from subjugation to equality–from 1855 when women could not own property, vote, or even protect themselves from a violent husband to the current day when all three are rights under the law.

The first book in the series, Cordelia’s Journey, will be published in July 2012. Briefly, in May 1855, thirteen-year-old CORDELIA PIERCE decides to run away from home when her stepfather shows signs of a sexual interest in her. She knows she must run even though she is worried about the fate of her three little sisters and her pregnant, bedridden mother, MINERVA PIERCE, if she isn’t there to help care for them. Disguised as a boy, she travels from Hidden Springs, a small settlement in Kansas Territory, to Westport on the Missouri River, hoping to enlist the aid of her mother’s sister, HANNAH TRUE, in rescuing Minerva from a husband obsessed with having sons. Out of ten pregnancies, Minerva has five living children, four daughters and a son. She has had four miscarriages. One additional son was born alive the previous winter, but died one week later. Her mother’s weakened condition has Cordelia fearing for her mother’s life.

I started Cordelia’s Journey in November 2011 as part of the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) challenge and ended up with 20,000 words, far short of the 50,000 word goal. With every scene, items and events required research. From what my characters wore to how they washed it, from courting to crime, from laundry to politics, from the mundane to crucial issues of the time, I am pouring over the sources that will help me bring the past alive and walk in the shoes of my characters.

I invite you to join me as I gather the facts behind my fiction. I’ll be reading books and visiting websites, museums, libraries, and ghost towns and sharing my historical research journey with you on this blog.