Big Easy Recap

Well, needless to say, I survived another trip to New Orleans.  What can I say?  It's a magical city that you either love or hate--either you get it and it's part of you, or you don't.  Either way, it's a unique experience.  Unfortunately, I did not win big at the casino, so it's back to the real world, I'm afraid.  The trip did refresh my excitement about many of the elements and characters that I've incorporated into my book.  Just what I needed to get the creative juices flowing again.  Here are a few "inspirational" photos from the trip.

Creepy tombs in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1.

Outside LaFitte's Blackmith Shop.  This place has a facinating history--if you've never heard of it, do a little research and add it to your "must visit" list.

Luck be a Lady

Time and time again, I get the advice to "write what you know."  It's good advice.  I find that when I follow that golden rule, I enjoy writing more and overall am happier with the end results.  That being said, it's hard to to if you don't "know," first hand, what you are trying to write.  When that happens, I try to get that experience first hand when at all possible.  Point in case:  A very crucial part of my story takes place in New Orleans.  So I took my first trip there last summer--a trip which I will be repeating in a few short weeks.  What I was imagining and planning to write was no where near the experiences I actually had.  It was so much easier to incorporate what I actually knew, places I actually saw, people I actually encountered.  While there, I made my first trip to a casino, which also plays a crucial part of not only the current book I'm working on, but those to follow as well.  I recently made another trip to a casino in Mississippi--strictly for research purposes, not at all to feed my addiction to Texas Hold 'Em (cough, cough).  What I found when comparing the two, is I made some pretty serious errors in writing that portion of the story that I'm pretty sure anyone who has ever set foot in a casino would pick up on pretty quickly.  While I am sticking to my vow NOT to go back and rewrite anything else until I finish the entire story, I know that there are definitely some things I'm going to go back later and correct.  

And the last important lesson that I learned while "researching" is that although I can think of few things I would enjoy more, I probably do NOT have a promising career as a professional poker player, so I better stick to writing!  But hey, who says you can't have a little fun in the process, right? 

The Big Easy

About high time for an update, don't you think? Sadly, I have barely had two seconds of peace in the last month--pretty typical these days, I'm afraid. However, I'm happy to report that I did survive my recent trip to New Orleans. As some of you may know, I've got plans for my poor, tortured main character to make a trip to NOLA. What I found in trying to plan for that particular portion of the story is that I've never actually been to New Orleans, which was making it extremely difficult to write. So, that gave me all the excuse I needed to take a mini trip and celebrate my anniversary all at once. I definitely found the inspiration I was looking for and then some. One of my favorite parts of writing is being able to incorporate my own personal experiences into my work. I certainly will be doing that with this chapter. I found so many things that seem to make the city unique that I can way to incorporate into the story in ways that I really don't think would have been possible had I not made the trip. Ever hear about a place and get a mental picture of what it looks like in your head only to discover it's NOTHING like you imagined once you actually see it in person? Well let's just say I think I'll be able to write much more accurate descriptions now that are absolutely nothing like what I'd been planning, but much better in the long run I think. I have lots coming up and lots going on in the near future, so stand by for another update soon!