Digressions: My Life in 500 Words or Less

In a way, this is Part II of the blog I posted about a month ago, on April 9. I wrote about discoveries I’ve made while writing a novel. The novel is a multigenerational family saga that includes events from the lives of my parents in fictionalized form. It spans late 1800s Mexico, early and mid-1900s Texas and Mexico and mid- to late 1900s to present day in the Deep South and Kentucky.

The challenge in writing this novel, of course, is making sure the details are authentic. Knowing what styles of clothes were prevalent, what brands of food were available and what average prices were for specific household or grocery items is crucial in many scenes. As I mentioned in my previous blog, I’ve researched the price of a bottle of Coke in the ’20s and ‘’30s and what a shoe shine might cost then. I’ve found maps and histories of towns and locations.

In many cases, I’ve found websites that include vintage photos, which provide me reference for settings of certain eras. Such photos are also helpful in giving me an idea of how some people dressed. I’ve bookmarked many websites and downloaded several documents.

For the past few months, I’ve been working on the section of the novel set in Texas and Mexico primarily in the ’30s and ’40s. The stories I’m writing are imagined scenes based on events related to me by my parents or, in other cases, entirely fictional passages.

The resources I’ve found for these times and places have been helpful. I can look at vintage photos or read about life in those times and feel transported to when my parents were young. Photos can capture the very essence of a time and place, and I hope to do that in my writing as well. That has meant a lot of searching online for relevant material.

It also means taking stock of other resources at hand.

It means perusing the contents of the storage bin on the floor across the room from me. That storage bin is filled with items taken from the family home and entrusted to me for keeping.

It is a storage bin filled with old photos.

Alongside the candid photos of me and my siblings from the ’70s and ’80s are photos of my parents and relatives and their friends from the ’40s and ’50s. Some were taken in the very settings I describe in my novel. Most depict the clothing styles I need to incorporate in my work.

Last night I rummaged through a tiny portion of the vast collection. I found photos I forgot existed and some I never knew existed at all.

Many of the photos are part of the stories I need to tell.

What I wrote in my previous blog holds true: In writing, I make discoveries. In discoveries, I find more need to write.