For a wonderful pictoral history of ancestral homes, some intact and some disappearing into the landscape, be sure to visit http://vanishingsouthgeorgia.com/. Brian Brown’s photos will touch your heart and stir your memories.

Although I maintain my notes about family history on another blog/website – dianecox.net – I wanted to share this wonderful discovery.

In a book written over fifty years ago, the original home of my ancestors when they moved to Georgia from North Carolina is depicted in a rare book called Pine Log and Greek Revival.  Only one copy of this book is available for sale and it is $300.  I was delighted to find it at the Atlanta History Center and spent an enjoyable afternoon browsing through it.  The best part was when I found the photo above – referencing my Wilkinson ancestors, who moved to Troup in 1828.  This house most likely was built by Neal K. Wilkinson, my great, great grandfather about ten to fifteen years prior to the Civil War.

Unlike many writers, who flog themselves into cranking out so many pages per day, I think about the project and wait for inspiration to hit.

For me, writing this way means that large chunks of the project just fall into place.

Even though I haven’t yet got a deal on Wiregrass Country, I am now ramping up to create the sequel, Grainger.  Once again, the setting will be prior to the Civil War, in another of those largely ignored sections of Southern history.

I haven’t quite decided which time period it will be, but there are some important qualifiers.  First, something interesting economically must be going on.  Also, I will need to research the political climate as regards slavery at that particular time.  The Civil War didn’t spring from nowhere.  There were years and years of debates on the subject.

An immediate conflict will be that between my main character, Lee, and her neighbors over the issue of slavery. In Wiregrass Country, we already determined that Lee is opposed to slavery as a natural inclination of her personality and also her upbringing.  What conflicts will this cause with her neighbors as the community of Grainger grows? What was antebellum south Georgia like?

I’m also beginning to think of the characters who will populate this book.  Of course, Lee will be there, and her beloved John. Lee’s children will also be developed. One of Richard Morris’ children will return and cause a conflict for Lee.

Will Lee become involved in the Underground Railroad?  Only time will tell.

Bartram on Buffalo in Georgia
So much has been written about the civil war that took place in our country. But, what about the years prior to that outbreak?

The country was still very young. Immigrants were pouring in from across the ocean. The southern part of our country was agrarian; families were large, partly because of a lack of birth control, but also because the farms needed hands. As a rule, property was left to the oldest son. As a result, younger males often set out into the vast uncharted areas, such as south Georgia at that time, where land was made available through the process of Indian removal.

Indians were hated and feared. It didn’t feel wrong to our ancestors to take their land, because of bloody encounters with Indians determined to drive away the white intruders.

The South was covered with virgin forests. Buffalo roamed freely, grazing on the wire grass that grew beneath the long leaf pines. When the white settlers arrived, they altered the ecology of the region forever, cutting down the massive timber to sell to shipbuilders, planting hardwood trees which usurped the pines and the wire grass.

The Georgia soil turned out to be fertile and well suited to long staple cotton. Cotton was so much more comfortable and cool than traditional fabrics such as linen that it soon was in great demand all over Europe.

Slavery had originally facilitated the growing of rice, a back breaking, killing task that involved working in malaria and snake infested areas. The weather was steamy and oppressive, especially to Africans, accustomed to a much
drier climate. Planters lost a lot of crops, and also a lot of slaves. For that reason, slavery was on the wane until the invention of the cotton gin, which made the crop far easier to harvest and the profits enormous.

Fortunes were there to be made on the backs of slaves, and the practice regained its stranglehold on the Southern economy.

But what of those Southerners who abhorred the practice, and chose to prosper outside the practice? What were their lives like, and what social and moral conflicts did they endure?

That is what I plan to explore as Lee Spence, now a mature woman and the driving force behind her family, in spite of social mores to the contrary, approaches the years just prior to the outbreak of the most devastating war our country has ever endured.

A typical trail tree from south of Atlanta, no longer living

My friend Gay just sent me a link to a web site about trail trees – Mountain Stewards.

I got very fascinated by this subject while writing ‘Wiregrass’. In one scene, my main character, Lee, (to be played by Ellen Page if I have a say in the matter!), wonders how her companions are unerringly navigating through seemingly unmarked wilderness. I had no idea, so I began to research and discovered – trail trees!

Since then, several have been located in the Atlanta area – including four on a private golf course.

the Courthouse in Sparta, Georgia

is an inspiration to write. Once you leave the main roads, you discover all sorts of wonderful links to the past, such as the courthouse in Sparta. Sparta was once plantation country, a very wealthy area. Now it is all but abandoned. The courthouse is a testimony to the wealth that once existed.

Just to the south, on the way to Sandersville, you will pass through Linton. There is no commerce in Linton, just a collection of beautiful old houses along the road. One of them. a beautiful raised cottage, is for sale. The history on it says it was built in 1865 – and immediately questions arise. 1865 is the year the Civil War ended – how could such a beautiful structure have been built in the midst of all that destruction? What saved the homes in Linton from Sherman’s March to the Sea?

Glen Mary Plantation

(This is an older photo of Glen Mary – visit the website to see the beautiful restoration in progress).

It’s been a long time since I’ve updated this page.  During that time, I decided to spring for the expense of a professional editor.

I chose a gentleman recommended to me by a published author of eight books.  He spoke highly of him, and though it was expensive, I plunged ahead.

The critique was indeed very helpful.  One of the best things about it was that the editor confirmed that I do have a viable story, strong plot, good advancement of same and an engaging main character.

The editor, William Greenleaf, made some excellent suggestions that strengthened the ending.  He pointed out some  grammatical errors, and gave a suggestion to ty the beginning and the end together.

I’m really pleased with the book.

He also reviewed my query letter, synopsis and bio.

I have now sent out twelve new queries – to no avail as yet.  I spend a part of each day researching agents and reviewing the authors they represent.  I try to find work or writing styles that are similar to mine.

I must admit that if the book doesn’t sell pretty well, I would be in a financial hole, because of the time it takes to market etc.  It’s quite a quandary and I suppose one that has troubled creative souls since the beginning of art forms.

that is the question.

Have you ever wondered about whether you should blog or not? And yes, haven’t you visited a blog only to discover it hasn’t been updated in more than a year? Bad impression.

Here’s what agent Mary Kole has to say – Should unpublished authors blog?.

What happened to all those hours of diagramming sentences, parsing, and de-constructing sentences?

Lack of use has resulted in those skills settling into the silt at the bottom of my mind. I must sit down and study grammar once again, because it is really difficult to offer any constructive criticism to other writers, if you can’t even describe the parts of the sentence!

I was very good at grammar when I was in school, but I have to keep reminding myself how very long ago that was.

Those terms are vaguely coming back – hanging participles, modifiers – all lurking in the gloom of a mind crammed with decades of useless details!

As I pursue the goal of re-writing my twenty page submission and then having it reviewed by three fresh new readers, I am amazed at how every reader sees something different.

One reader is very good at catching those little redundant phrases tacked on at the end of a sentence, explaining just a little more than you need to, in case your reader is an idiot, asleep, or just not paying attention.

Another is good at catching the hook at the end of the chapter – and also noticing when it’s not there.

A third picked up inconsistencies.

A fourth just enjoyed it!