I've spent the day trying to get some work done (sending out proposals for workshops and articles), because I've spent the past couple of weeks working on my new novel. In fact, as soon as I push send on this blog post, I'm going back to work on the novel.

I'm calling it The Art of Rivers, because the settings in the book are all located on rivers, and the main character is an artist. The story is about the Johnsons, an interracial family trying to navigate the difficulties of being who they are over a 30 year time period. They've kept secrets from each other, have held grudges, and have fought hard, but through it all, they've loved each other, and that's what has kept them going.

I've struggled with splitting the story into time periods told from each of the characters' points of view, but right now, I'm going back and forth in time, letting each of them "direct the scenes" that are most important to each. It's still the first draft, so that might change.

The family has been part of two other novels, so I've taken bits and pieces of those books and put them into the new one. Maybe this is the charm!

Part of the story is told as the father and son grapple with the mom's death. They are tracking red wolves as they have the tough conversation, so I've had to do some research on those gorgeous creatures. In the early 80s, the wolves were just about extinct, and thanks to some dedicated animal activists, they were not only saved but are now living and building the red wolf community in the Alligator River preserve in eastern North Carolina.

Though wolves don't attract the warm/fuzzies like elephants do, I find them fascinated, and I'm still intrigued by the connections animals and humans have.

Back to writing . . .

peace