Ask the Author: Judith Manchester
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Judith Manchester
When not writing, I love to walk. Treks, I call them, and the best of them are often two to three hours in length. One of my favorite treks is out onto Great Island in Wellfleet. Two things are different about Great Island today than they were before 1960's. The island is now owned and maintained for public enjoyment by the Federal Parks System and the National Seashore. Secondly, technically the island is no longer an island. The currents of the local Bay water have attached the high cliffs of Great Island to the Wellfleet's mainland with a low sand spit of land that gives hikers access to what is still called Great Island. This was one of my first walks when coming to live on the Cape. It is beautiful, with a single sandy road more like a cart path that takes the hiker up and across the island while surrounded by pine forest and the sound of gentle waves breaking on the island's shore. The island also has a rich history. On the east side which faces back toward Wellfleet's Harbor, there was once a tavern that hosted whalers that waited with a tankard of beer for the pods of whales to show themselves in the bay. It's been suggested that Pirate Sam Bellamy visited there and met his sweet brief love, Goody Hallet. At that time both the tavern and the entire island were owned by one man, Samuel Smith.
So there I was one morning, walking the trail to what was once the site of the Smith Tavern, and I 'm thinking 'what a history this path has, and imagine living out here, a sole owner, and a story started to spin. A story of women over the centuries, an island handed down again and again through generations. A woman choosing to live on such an island would have to be strong willed and connected to the sea, bold enough to live outside the cultural boundaries of her time.
Again, things happen that just might not be coincidence. You see, I started the story in chronological order. Even though half the novel is taken up by the current day story of Sydney Foster, the earliest Sister of the Stone is young native woman belonging to the local Ponokanet clan. And I should mention here that I sort of bastardized the word Ponokanet for the sake of the reading. In history, the clan that lived along the shores of Wellfleet was known as the Pononokanet, but the extra syllable seemed to get in my way. So I took poetic license and shortened the name. But getting back to my native maiden - I started first writing her, and as I wrote, it was as if she was telling me her own story. She told of a giant erratic boulder that sat at the rim of the island. Of course, on Great Island there is no erratic boulder, but my Weetamo's island suddenly did. And she tells us about the ancient legend of the stone. It's from her piece in the novel where the title of the book came.
So there I was one morning, walking the trail to what was once the site of the Smith Tavern, and I 'm thinking 'what a history this path has, and imagine living out here, a sole owner, and a story started to spin. A story of women over the centuries, an island handed down again and again through generations. A woman choosing to live on such an island would have to be strong willed and connected to the sea, bold enough to live outside the cultural boundaries of her time.
Again, things happen that just might not be coincidence. You see, I started the story in chronological order. Even though half the novel is taken up by the current day story of Sydney Foster, the earliest Sister of the Stone is young native woman belonging to the local Ponokanet clan. And I should mention here that I sort of bastardized the word Ponokanet for the sake of the reading. In history, the clan that lived along the shores of Wellfleet was known as the Pononokanet, but the extra syllable seemed to get in my way. So I took poetic license and shortened the name. But getting back to my native maiden - I started first writing her, and as I wrote, it was as if she was telling me her own story. She told of a giant erratic boulder that sat at the rim of the island. Of course, on Great Island there is no erratic boulder, but my Weetamo's island suddenly did. And she tells us about the ancient legend of the stone. It's from her piece in the novel where the title of the book came.
Judith Manchester
Writers write. It sounds cliche, but it is so true. Procrastination and writer's block are no excuse. Each day words have to be written. That first book will remain only a dream unless you do the work. As Anne Lamott has said so well, write your story "Bird by Bird," word by word, day by day. The thrill of writing that last word, of placing that last period at the end of the last sentence will bring tears to your eyes and reward all the hours at your back.
Judith Manchester
I am currently working on my second novel. It is very different than Sisters of the Stone, set in early 1900's upstate New York. What is similar to the first novel, I believe, is that the setting is so strong that it dictates a good part of the story. I chose the Catskills as the setting this time because I have such a fondness for that area, having spent much time there as a child.
Judith Manchester
For me, the best thing about being a writer is that I can make up these incredibly unique characters that become real and stay with me even when I'm not writing.
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