Thanks for joining me! Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton
The Journey Begins
Big News!
I have signed a publishing contract with Holand Press for my novel
CALL OF THE RED BIRD!
Stay tuned for updates!!!
CALL OF THE RED BIRD is a Semi-Finalist in the Novel Category in the 2023-24 Faulkner-Wisdom Creative Writing Competition, sponsored by the Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Society in New Orleans. And from the North Carolina Writers’ Network 2024 Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize for the first chapter of CALL OF THE RED BIRD: “Though your entry did not win this year’s contest, we did want you to know that it was one of the few finalists chosen, an honor in and of itself.”
Watercolor class or creative writing?
That was the question when I chose the first. Picasso I am not, so I stepped out of my comfort zone and took a creative writing class. Another, another, another, and now, I have belonged to a critique writing group for twenty plus years that was started by one of my former professors. I’m forever grateful she invited me in, for she sparked the creative writing bug in me that I never knew existed. Hard work, that when it came out how I meant it to and a story made sense, was addictively satisfying. I even liked the tons of research, mostly.
My recent endeavor, CALL OF THE RED BIRD, is the story of sixteen-year-old Rowan O’Clanahan, who transforms into a Confederate soldier, convinced she must save her brother’s life when he returns to the Civil War. In my historical fiction account, the two follow many of the real steps my great-grandfather took when he fought, along with two of his brothers, with Company K of the NC 25th Regiment, as found in official records. I have been amazed at how many women dressed and fought as soldiers on both sides. The American Battlefield Trust states:
Although the inherently clandestine nature of the activity makes an accurate count impossible, conservative estimates of female soldiers in the Civil War puts the number somewhere between 400 and 750.
I am impressed by their stories and hope, though fictional, that Rowan’s story, her strength and determination, honors their legacy.
Historical fiction, regional interest, Civil War, women’s fiction, role-playing, the heroine’s journey, family, courage, the gift of Knowing, self-doubt, love, loss, loyalty, early feminist movement, and PTSD are just a few of the themes explored in Rowan’s journey.
The Story Behind The Box
When my mother knew she was dying, she took my sister and me aside separately to help her “clean out her things.” She lived simply with few possessions but divvied out to each of us what she wanted us to have. She really only had costume jewelry, nothing expensive, and had a jewelry box, but she also kept a few pieces in this small, slightly dinged, red tin box that once held Johnston’s Chocolates. All I recall when she gave it to me was that she’d always been told it belonged to Grandpa Henson (her father’s father). People used to save good boxes like that, especially wooden or tin for keepsakes or whatever. And that’s all I know. Because we were dealing with her illness , entry into a nursing home, hospice six weeks later, and her death three weeks thereafter, I never had the presence of mind to ask her any more questions. I took the box home and put it on my dresser.
Weeks later, as I was stretching one day, the box caught my eye. My mind started churning. What if that box is all one knew about one’s family or heritage? What a great premise for a book! I thought, before I’d ever even considered taking a writing class much less writing a book.
That stuck with me, and about three years later, when I took my first writing class, the box kept popping up, always a constant in my stories, until I was compelled to give it a history. My made up version of where it came from: Ireland. I do have Irish ancestry, but no knowledge of anywhere in particular. I’ve never explored my genealogy because I have been so busy researching and writing.
My sense that the box is, indeed, inspirational for my creative process was affirmed by a friend who went on a Celtic spirituality tour in Ireland and texted me, “Today, our Celtic guide said you don’t write a book, it demands to be birthed by you.”
Ann H Howell 