What a Year

Tattered Cover Book Signing

As the title of this blog states, what a year. What an f-ing year. To think my January 2021 post was all about being happy that the wicked 2020 was over… That was good and everything, but 2021 socked me, sucker-punched me and almost knocked me out with surprising health issues and potential life changes that I didn’t see coming. 

At the end of 2020, I contracted Covid and was quite sick for over three weeks. It left me dealing with some long-hauler issues that have gotten much better, but still linger every once in a while, and followed me into the new year.  Then 2021 brought a series of MRIs, specialists, a lot of pain, cortisone injections, a skin biopsy, bloodwork re-checks, a diagnosis of osteoporosis and small fiber neuropathy. In October, I had my first annual Reclast Infusion for osteoporosis. Both vaccines, plus the booster, and always being masked in public are ways I continue doing my part. Fingers crossed that there are no more challenges, but I won’t assume or take anything for granted. 

Two big (really BIG or B-I-G) anniversaries in 2022…this blog will be a decade old. Then shortly afterward, I will enter the shocking decade, the OMG decade, the ‘I can’t believe it’ decade. Maybe I will have a party, or maybe not. After the last two years, I’m just living with gratitude, and trying to remain focused. Very little surprises me anymore. 

Small trips around Colorado, and then my first air travel in over two years: Thanksgiving in Chicago with family filled in the rest of the year. Many thanks to the Tattered Cover Book Store, one of the best independent book sellers in the country, for the invitation to participate in an in-store book signing in November. It felt as if normalcy is right around the corner. My best girl, Lily, remains part of my life.

Finally, an old friend of mine found a poem that I’d written for a high school publication when I was sixteen-years-old. I’ve been writing and drawing ever since I was old enough to use a pencil, and I’d like to share a bit of my teenaged thoughts below. Since titles and proper names can’t be copyrighted, I’ve done John Lennon no disservice with the title. 

In whatever way you choose to celebrate the season…enjoy the holidays. Put the jobs on the backburner and focus on the people in your life first. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happiest of New Year! Thanks for the reads. 

 

 

Imagine

By Veronica Randolph (©1978 Veronica Randolph)

 

Imagine soaring high into the sky

As a seagull gliding, spreading its wings to fly.

Imagine seeing the waves crashing onto the beach

Feeling the spray

Seeing the stars

Looking close enough to reach.

 

Imagine a seashell buried deep beneath the sand

Being worn away 

As the waters roll onto the land.

Imagine hearing the surf, its mighty great roar

Sometimes thunderous

Still peaceful upon the shore.

 

Imagine every evening

Seeing a different sunset,

Beautiful colors dancing on the sand, warm and wet.

Imagine the cool breeze during the night

With the moon in the sky

Large, friendly and bright.

 

Imagine sleeping, waking

And living by the sea.

      There being a sense of peace

       Feeling free.

       Imagine.

 

 

 

 

  

Happy January

Work in Progress

We made it.  The year that started the pandemic in this country is behind us, in the rearview mirror and over our shoulder.  We don't have to look back or around, just forward we go with hope for better things and some kind of normalcy.  The new year doesn't mean, however, that we get careless. There are record numbers with the virus and it's important we still wear our masks, practice social distancing and stay at home as much as possible.  I look forward to getting the vaccine.

This month marks the 9th anniversary of this blog. Thank you to the readers who keep it going, who regularly visit the site and read what I share.  I'm amazed there's so much interest, and it's very encouraging for me to continue with it. If you read something here that you like, I would love to hear your thoughts on it.  Just reach out via the email address at the right on the home page.

I've updated a few links, too, deleted some old ones, and provided a list of the short stories and poetry links that are found here within the last nine years. Just scroll down on the home page until you see the list on the right. I think there are just under twenty short stories that I've published on this blog. 

Finally, book research and outlining continues, and I think I'm about ready to start the next one. I've also been painting a bit (acrylics on canvas). I'm sharing a photo of my latest work in progress.  I call her Emerging Face, but I think her official name will change once I'm finished.  Once again, I'll share my website if you're interested in looking at my work a little bit more:  www.veronicabatterson.com.

Thanks, again, and best wishes for a happy, and better new year!

Plans Change...Books Continue

It's always such a nice surprise when someone reaches out to me with a positive message about my books. Williamsburg Hill was published in 2018, yet I still receive kind words about how readers enjoyed it. I'm grateful for this, and for the fact that it's still being read while appealing to a new generation of people.

Covid-19 has affected life in ways that have forced us to change plans. I'd been working on a play about the suffragist movement and women getting the vote in 1920 (anticipation of a staged reading to coincide with the centennial anniversary in August). This won't happen for obvious reasons.  The performing arts suffer and the stage remains dark. At some point the play will be ready for the stage, just not as I'd hoped.

While the play is paused, I'm outlining the next book. I've a couple in the works, but research on a historical fiction piece has stalled due to limited access to records (again, the virus); so I'm proceeding with the one that is closer to having a green light. I'll share as it gets going.

For now, I'm going to repeat a blog post about the backstory to Williamsburg Hill since it continues to invite new folks to visit its pages. It can be ordered in paperback from all bookstores and every big chain store that sells books in the US: all of the independent booksellers in any city,  as well as Indiebound, Barnes and Noble, Walmart, Meijer, Books-a-Million, Target, Costco (I know I'm forgetting some), and of course, Amazon. It's also available for Kindle readers and is part of the Kindle Unlimited program on Amazon, too.

Thank you, again, for supporting my books. If you're interested in sharing this to invite new readers, well, thank you for that, too. Please visit my website www.veronicabatterson.com for more information and updates.

Now for the backstory...

In early 2014, I began listing ideas for my next book.  Historical fiction was a genre that I wished to attempt, but it was important to me that the historical part of the book be something that wouldn’t present a lot of challenges with research.  I lived in the Chicago area at the time, so I assumed some localized history would be easy enough to research; if travel were required, it would be simple to do by car.  Easy and simple were far from reality, as I discovered, with legends and lore playing greater roles than historical documents in creating this book.

I read about a town in south central Illinois, once active due to its main street being part of the Old Anglin’ Road stage coach route, that became non-existent in the late 1800s.  The town of Williamsburg (or village as some referred to it) was founded in 1839, and the region was referred to as Cold Spring.  Established at the time with a mill, the stage line, a general store, a blacksmith and postmaster, a medical doctor, Masonic hall and Methodist church, it is difficult to imagine how progress ultimately crippled the area and made it a ghost town.  In 1881, the stage line was discontinued as train travel replaced it, and the railroad tracks bypassed Williamsburg.  Residents and businesses moved, most to nearby Lakewood, leaving their former town to waste away.   

Williamsburg was located on the south side of Williamsburg Hill which still stands as the highest point in the area at over 800 feet.  Some speculate the hill was formed due to glaciers; others seem to think it to be an Indian mound.  There is really no definitive answer to its existence.  But resting at the top of Williamsburg Hill is Ridge Cemetery, still accessible today.  And there was the basis of my story.

I traveled to Ridge Cemetery twice (in 2014 and 2016).  It isn’t a place that one simply discovers on an afternoon drive. It is a pre-planned destination; its isolation is assurance of this.  It also isn’t a place a person should travel to alone.  As there is much folklore but little history that I could find about the cemetery, I assume it originated around the time that the village of Williamsburg did.  The dates on many of the tombstones verify this, but there are recent burials there as well.  It is an old cemetery, yet a currently used one; it is serene and peaceful, while strange and a little unnerving; it’s beautiful, yet rugged; maintained but weathered.  And yes, it is somewhat creepy.

The cast of characters in this story are fictional, with the exception of J.P. Dunaway, J.W. Torbutt, Dr. Thomas Fritts, and Orville Robertson.  Their occupations in my book are true to their history.  What is a little sketchy about them might be the location of where they settled.  I was fully into writing when I discovered a first-person historical account by a Dunaway descendant indicating the family had lived in Findlay, Illinois, not Williamsburg.  Because I was too far into the story to change anything, I took liberties.  Documented history about the area wasn’t easy to find, but plenty of folklore existed, so much of what I wrote is based on this.  And most of the folklore indicates these four figures and their families were part of Williamsburg Hill, at least at some point during the town’s reign.  It was important, perhaps out of obligation, to briefly mention the town of Findlay at the end though, which I did.  I also interchanged Williamsburg and Williamsburg Hill within the story, because it seemed to me that people living there would’ve done this as a way of generally referring to their home.

Finally, there is nothing left of Williamsburg.  Ridge Cemetery is not private, but open to anyone who wishes to visit as long as it’s done during the daylight hours.  It is a place deserving of respect.  If visiting, observe its history, wonder about its past, and listen quietly.  Perhaps you, too, will then hear the voices and laughter dancing through the breeze just as my character, Erastus, did.    

Face Masks

As the country takes steps to lift stay-at-home orders, it's difficult to believe that anything will ever be the same as we've known it. The future is about change and adjustment, compromise and being accommodating. Wearing face masks in public is the new normal, at least for the foreseeable future. 

Kudos to those who have made and donated masks; some of us are selling them, as well. Those provided via Pixels/Fine Art America are made from images created by artists on that site. All products are 100% satisfaction guaranteed. Below is a sampling of some of mine that are available; full resolution and the entire product line can be found at www.veronica-batterson.pixels.com. For masks, click on the apparel link at the top on the home page. 

Many thanks, as always, and please be safe, diligent, and kind.