I continue my conversation with the Pulpwood Queen Book Club founder about more roots of my club selection PAUSE and my early homesteading on a Southern Chilean island, material for a novel underway.
NOTE: This series started on Dec. 31. I’m honored to have my seriocomic novel of midlife reinvention PAUSE, published by Book View Cafe, selected by The International Pulpwood Queens Book Club as a December 2022 title. http://www.thepulpwoodqueens.com During my featured week in late December, I was asked to post every day about my novels and writing life, so am reproducing them in this series. All of my novels I discuss are available at http://www.bookviewcafe.com
Here we go again! I had intended to talk about my Greek islands novel THE ARIADNE CONNECTION today, but I had a bit too much “life” today, so will present that topic tomorrow. Two weeks out from my successful cervical discectomy and fusion surgery, I was feeling pretty cocky until I came out of Physical Therapy today, and I remembered that my body still needs some TLC. I’ll be fine tomorrow! [NOTE: Ironically, now as I reproduce this post, I’m taking care of my husband Thor, who just had surgery this week. Life!] Meanwhile, I want to briefly address one of Kathy Murphy’s (the Pulpwood Queens founder) questions from our fun Zoom conversation Tuesday evening (available for viewing on the Pulpwood Queens YouTube channel). She asked about the house my husband Thor and I are building on the shores of the Salish Sea – our dream home with a view of sunsets over the sea.
I will have my longed-for “writing aerie” in my second floor corner office, where the view will surely inspire more novels, as I finish two underway.
I’ve been doing one of my Rambling Writer blog series on my website www.sarastamey.com called “The Quest for Home” about my decades-long search for the perfect writing home with such a view.
In my troubled previous marriage, my former husband and I bought a farm on a remote Southern Chilean island – the climate much like the southern hemisphere equivalent of the Pacific Northwest – with a quarter mile of beach front. We built a “casita” (small house) from scratch with help of two locals and hand tools.
Our work crew consisted of “the Don” German and Rosauro, quite a contrast to the crews of subcontractors on our current house site:
I even had my “writing aerie” in a second floor loft with a view of the sea across our fields.
And here’s the oxen team we hired to haul gravel for our septic field. I was “allowed” to lead the team of huge beasts with the guide stick, until they started lumbering so quickly after me that I threw the stick aside and jumped into the bushes, much to the amusement of the locals watching.
But the farm project – and marriage — ended disastrously before we got to enjoy the home. I’ve fictionalized some of the experiences in my novel-in-progress that I tentatively title “The Quest for Home.” Stay tuned!
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One more note:
Kathy Murphy and I discussed the domestic abuse issues developed in my PAUSE novel, and how our parents’ generation had an unofficial motto: “We don’t talk about it.”
The same seems to have applied to the topic of menopause, until recently more women are speaking and writing about it. My novel puts the PAUSE in menopause. Like my character Lindsey, I experienced severe and unrelenting symptoms for years. Nothing had prepared me for this ordeal, and of course my best friend just sailed through it all without much in the way of symptoms. Even my nurse mother had never mentioned anything about it. I didn’t want to try hormone replacement therapy because my sister had had breast cancer, but after trying every “natural” remedy, my body was running on empty. (The stress of my abusive marriage and scarily hostile divorce probably didn’t help.) My doc did tests and said I needed HRT. Within two weeks, I was back to my old energetic self and ready to tackle life again. I know it’s not for everyone, but experts are now saying that early warnings against it may have been based on flawed data. Just another option to consider!
There are several blogs developing communities of women going through “the pause,” among them Red Hot Mamas. (I love the name – both aspirational and diagnostic?)
And the Women’s Health Network is also a valuable resource.
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You will find The Rambling Writer’s blog posts here every Saturday. Sara’s latest novel from Book View Café is Pause, a First Place winner of the Chanticleer Somerset Award and an International Pulpwood Queens Book Club selection. “A must-read novel about friendship, love, and killer hot flashes.” (Mindy Klasky). Sign up for her quarterly email newsletter at www.sarastamey.com
