Inspiration
February 5th. 2009Thanks to my father’s military career (and subsequent moves), my husband’s military career (even more moves) and the sometimes overwhelming need to load up the car for a road trip, I’ve been fortunate to experience many unusual places. Though enchanted by the world’s cities, I’m always drawn to smaller villages where people live with a greater sense of community. When Mel and I were stationed in San Antonio, I spent a lot of gas money exploring the history-rich, barely-tamed landscapes within a day’s drive of the Alamo. Though a Georgia girl to the roots, I connected with the Texas Hill Country in a way that I can’t explain, particularly since I have pitiful interest in ranching, horses, cacti, or chili-cookoffs. I think it must have been the fragrance of adventure that still lingers in the air. German, French and Mexican settlers from a hundred or so years ago walked off boats, or stumbled out of carriages, and chose the hardest scrabble of land possible to stake out ranches and towns with little more in their hands than flimsy land grants, crude tools and endless determination. Legacies from royalty to blacksmiths are woven into the architecture, winding roads and courthouse squares of each town creating an aura as distinct as their names: Castroville, Devine, Hondo, Medina, Poteet, and who doesn’t love, Utopia. Lodged a bit west of Austin and San Antonio, Fredricksburg and Kerrville have the fame and prestigous spreads in travel magazines, but once I discovered a step-sister town with almost all the same charactersistics, although a little less polished, I left my heart in Comfort. Maybe it was the heartbreak that bonded the citizens of Comfort together a few generations ago, or maybe it was the brave women who stepped up when World War II’s war cry echoed into the Hill Country. Either way, my first lunch at Arlene’s Cafe sealed my fate. I knew my stories would always spring from one of Comfort’s limestone wells.
These three contemporary novels, grouped as the Women of Comfort series, are set in Comfort, Texas but certain elements were inspired by places miles away.
Lavender Hill:Ah, the bliss of creating a perfect world. Perfect in the sense that if I could be someone other than a writer, I would own this farm/garden/gift store in the middle of rolling hills and undiluted sunshine. There really is a store like the one in Lavender Hill. It’s Blue Moon Gardens in Edom, Texas. The garden experts there delight in being tucked deep into a curve on a narrow strip of East Texas asphalt and specialize in native plants, antique varietals and unusual blooms. The cottage, with its quaint arrangement of gardens and meditation spots, is a place I have to be sandblasted from in order to get back on the highway. During the brief time we lived in Tyler I met an artist, Kim Hill, and she sketched some images from the story that I could hang in my office as inspiration.
www.bluemoongardens.com
www.kimhillstudio.com
This novel deals with broken families, early onset of Alzheimer’s, and choices that are nearly painful to make. Oh, and love. Like natural gardens, beauty, hope and comfort can bloom alongside despair and bitterness. At Lavender Hill the struggle is to choose what is nurtured, what is plucked and what is left to do what it was made to do. And it maybe to accept the talents God has planted in people. But really, it’s about love. Have I mentioned that already?
The Friendship Door:Since the year my parents almost considered buying and restoring an old, scary house (I think I was twelve and very impressionable) I’ve had this fascination for decrepit places and the private stories glued with their wallpaper. Realistically, I’d never undertake the task of renovating an old home (Mel has threatened to stop speaking to me if I think about the idea for more than a few seconds), but with the magic of keyboarding, I can have a character do the fiscally impossible. In this case, a woman who is at a career crossroads takes on a project no one else wants and one which will certainly kill her brilliant archictectural prospects. But when faced with happiness or hoardes of money, who doesn’t choose happiness, right? She didn’t intend to make that choice, but circumstances work against her and the infamous ‘line in the sand’ is drawn. I’ve gotten ahead of myself. Before she has to deep six her career, she meets a contractor who ridicules her plan for a friendship door, discovers a painting buried under floorboards, gets caught up in a drama with questionable art experts and black mold–not necessarily in that order. The good new is, she gets the house renovated in time for a wedding. And she falls in love. And she resolves a long misunderstood family mystery.
Once again, you’ll see a sketch from Kim Hill and also a full-scale painting she did representing the Friendship Door.
Read a sample chapter
Wild Thymes:This is not another novel involving an herb farm, but the main character names her music publishing company for the sprigs growing wild in the side yard of the old potter’s studio she’s remodeled into her office space. She’s the single mother of twins, so please cut her some slack on creativity. Anna Weber is in the grips of a summer heat wave when a football come sailing across Treue Der Union park and nails her nose with precision. Though this may seem an unlikely beginning for a beautiful romance, a nearly broken nose, a career defining football game, busted ribs, long-lost unpublished musical masterpieces and a surprise (and not a good one) musical concert all work together to create one of the most life-affiirming stories two unlikely people could ever concoct. And of course, they don’t. God works all these things together. Still, its a crazy ride for Anna and Jack Moses, and one I hope, you won’t forget anytime soon.
