Saturday, January 16, 2010

How This Blog Begins

For Christmas this year, I received an old cigar box, Banquet Hall Little Cigars. Inside was a collection of twenty-six letters, several advertisements, a receipt, a photo, a tiny change purse, and a lock of blond hair. The letters and advertisements date all the way back to 1898. This is a collection of memories of one Miss Mattie Westmoreland of Royston, Ga.

I was so excited. My fiction-writing gears began to turn. I had a project, a new writing project for 2010.

After an extraordinary amount of interest in the contents of this box from friends and loved ones, I decided to share the material. I mean after all if an artist so feels the desire to create after reading my posts, so be it. We will not experience the same emotions and therefore will not produce a similar product.

This box is too good to keep in my work room and not share. So, it is my idea to post the contents of a letter every week for the duration, along with my own observations and research. In this way we'll all enjoy the letters together and what better way than in a blog format.

I thought I would begin with researching Mattie Westmoreland, which has brought me absolutely nothing thus far, but I'm not sure research on Mattie is necessary since my project will be fiction and spring forth from the content of the letters, or I hope so anyway. That's the plan, if there is a plan. What happens if they are duds? What happens....

Hey if nothing else I will read some letters written over a hundred years ago. Keep reading and feel free to comment. ;)

Ann

4 comments:

  1. Ann, What a wonderful idea. I'm looking forward to reading.

    Karyn

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  2. Give Mattie a butterfly garden. And anything else she really needs. Don't worry about the real woman--the woman you know is the one you create.

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  3. An intriguing start, Ann. I look forward to the next one.

    Martin Shepard www.thecockeyedpessimist.com

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  4. Thanks so much for the encouragement. Martin, I became a follower of your blog. Can't wait to read it.

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