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an earlier effort

I did try to keep a writing journal once, and here's the proof: an entry from four years ago while I was writing Lake in the Clouds.

I really did mean to write ten pages today but instead things got away from me; it felt as though I had been transported into one of those 60s novels about harried housewives: Please Don't Eat the Daisies or Eight is Enough.

I did manage to find out pretty much everything I need to know about scarlet fever. In addition to the medical sources, it turns out that my favorite late 18th century midwife, Martha Ballard, dealt with a scarlet fever epidemic one summer, although she didn't call it that, of course. A series of cases of "canker" (strep throat), infected wounds, childbed fever, all stemming from the same strep bacillus. This will suit my story line very well.

A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Vintage Books; [Reprint edition (June 1991)] ISBN: 0679733760.

There is a fantastic website which explores Martha Ballard's diary online, and provides information on everything from folk medicine and midwivery to how historians use primary sources. Have a look.

Thinking of Martha Ballard and Ulrich's study reminds me of some of the very best historical fiction I have ever read. Margaret K. Lawrence's Hearts and Bones, which is clearly based loosely on the life of Martha Ballard. There are four novels in the series, and I cannot recommend them highly enough, although I'll admit that the first and the last were my favorites.

Hearts and BonesMargaret K. Lawrence, Avon [reprinted September 1996]. ASIN: 0380973510

In spite of the running around I did manage to finish the abstract mixed media fiber piece I'm calling Constellation Blue this evening. Of course I don't like it very much right now but I'm hoping it will grow on me.

September 14, 2003 08:43 PM

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