Celtic Immersion

I will admit it: my name is Kate and I still have yet to character sketch. However, I've been making much progress on my novel research. Currently, I'm reading Mysterious Celtic Mythology in American Folklore by Bob Curran (as well as Barbara Kingsolver's new one, Flight Behavior, though it's not for novel research purposes). There's a very interesting chapter on how a bastard Welsh prince may have discovered America in the 1100s and left behind most of his crew to mate with the natives, whose offspring would become the Mandans. I'm not sure how factually likely it is that this actually occurred, but the book does posit some evidence for its possible truth. Either way, I find it fascinating. I was aware of viking ventures to the Americas well before Columbus but not of the fact that apparently fervent Celtic monks did likewise in an effort to expand knowledge of the word of God. While I don't plan on making the house in the novel the ancestral home of Madoc the Welsh Prince, I'm quite enjoying the book, even if none of what's in it has real impact on my book (though I'm hoping it does).

The house sketches have taken a slightly different turn as well. We have been looking at another house. It could be aptly described as a Victorian era manor. It doesn't have the exterior filagree of a Victorian, but it definitely is a very subtle (some might say plain) version of that style and time-period. I would call it a Victorial era farm house except that it is twice the size of most farm houses. I've been happily sketching rough blueprints of the house, which needs some work, including being transitioned from a two family back to a one.

(Here's a sketch. It's not the clearest of photos, but it gives an idea of the setup: 

basement on the bottom, main floor in the middle, and second story on the top.)

While sketching, it occured to me that it would be far more intuitive to use the blueprint of a house already in existence for the novel, rather than a house completely created in my head. I believe it will become the bones over which I create the house for my novel. I want to base my supernatural elements on actual folklore, so using the floor-plan of an actual house should help keep the story grounded in some foundational way.

Very Merry

Hello, all my readers! And a happy holidays to you.

(This would be all of our christmas tree ornaments:

a combo of mine, his, the boy's and the ones my mom didn't want anymore.)

My time has been precious lately, between the sudden rush of busy-ness at work through to the decorating of the tree and the required apartment organization that goes with it (because where the tree goes is where I usually keep the bicycles and getting to the tree in our one big closet is a task all its own). It took an extra week after the tree decorating to even find the stockings.

That being said, my novel research/reading has been a little slow. I have made no character sketch developments. My one big advance is I'm fairly certain I've picked what locale's folklore I'll be basing my supernatural elements on, which has resulted in a slew of new books I need to read in order to bulk up the holes in my Celtic myth knowledge and how those myths translate to American descendants. Should be fun.

In short, I'm adding to the research list more than I'm subtracting at this point, which is okay. Even though I spent part of last night raving about how I feel like I'm not accomplishing enough, I'm cutting myself some holiday slack. There's enough to do with the wrapping and the planning and the purchasing without adding in a set amount of book research that needs to be done before the new year. It will keep.

I did "finish" the Golden Bough, however. Not useful at all. I skimmed most of it in a half hour, becuase I got frustrated by its continued lack of relevance.

I also received my third personalized rejection letter in as many months. "We really like your stuff but not this time. Send us more later!" I know it's a good thing that almost all of the literary magazine submissions I make result in this sort of letter, but I'm really starting to develop a complex about being good but not quite good enough.

Enjoy your holidays. I'm about to enter into a little over a week of vacation from work. I plan on getting a lot done... but not until after the holiday. I wish you much pie and good cheer.