I’m happy to say that I am nearly done with the first draft
of Portrait of a Girl Adrift, the continuing saga of Leila at large, aka the
Portraits series. In this novel, she’s on a quest to find out about her
deceased mother who abandoned her when Leila was three years old. Lots of
psychological stuff as usual—fun to research. Those parts of the story write up
fairly quickly. And then there’s the settings…
Generally, I write
about places where I’ve spent considerable time, places like New Hampshire,
Maine and Long Island, so it’s all second nature. But the settings in Portrait
of a Girl Adrift are a bit beyond my proverbial backyard. Places like New
Orleans, the Gulf of Mexico via a 47’ sailboat, Cuba, and Grand Cayman Island.
So, the writing has been slow. And just because I’m about 10% away from
finishing the first draft—I should say very rough first draft—does not mean I’m
anywhere near done. I won’t even try to project when it might be ready for
publication.
Speaking of settings, New Orleans being one of them, I did
have an opportunity to do some firsthand research over the winter. A couple of
scenes take place at the Lafayette Cemetery No.1. Fortunately, not much has
changed at the cemetery since the mid 1980s, unlike the rest of the city since Katrina in 2005. More on that later...
Writing about sailing across the Gulf of Mexico in a 47' sailboat has probably taken the most time, and that part of the research is still not complete. And then there's Grand Cayman Island...
The trick is finding information—aside from offshore banking
articles—about Grand Cayman in 1984. I also visited Grand Cayman very briefly
in January, but the island now is much different than it was thirty years ago.
So, the research is taking a little longer than I expected. Nevertheless, I
think it would be fun to blog about some of the information I’ve come across over
the course of writing Adrift. At any rate, it will help me to blog a little more
regularly than twice annually!
Meanwhile, here’s a pretty picture of 7-Mile Beach on Grand
Cayman Island
Stay tuned…
