Greetings,
Today I'm sending you a bit of sunshine from a wonderful location in the U.S. If you're from a cold climate, like I am, many of you probably thought about traveling to a nice hot spot this winter to soak up some sun even if for just a few delightful days.
Places you've traveled to can be a mighty handy tool too when writing a story or poem. Don't forget to jot down unique names of shops, towns, street signs, billboards, license plates and other unique novelties you see along the way. I have two typed pages full of unique names. On our lake there's a Lutefisk Lane.
I used information I collected from Colorado and Frankfurt, Germany in my first novel China Connection. My third novel, Mayhem With A Capital M used information I gathered from many trips to Mexico.
One short story I wrote about two years ago began in the U.S. and ended in Ireland. I don't think I could have done the people and pubs justice if we had never taken a trip to Ireland. Another short story I wrote pertained to Native American Pow Wow's.
Sometimes if you really want to get a short story published you have to change the area it takes place in. A story of mine, "The Gulper Eel Lounge", found in the 2014 Southwest Florida Stories and Poems anthology used Florida as it's location because that was one of the requirements. The original story, "The Blue Fin Lounge", revolved around a location in Minnesota. Having traveled to Florida and staying in particular areas helped me change the feel of the original story.
So, remember when traveling, take a little notebook with like my mother used to do and I still do and jot down things of interest you see along the way. You never know when you'll run across a Coon Valley or a Crime Ink Tattoos.
Until Next Time
This is Marlene Chabot
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