Like most people, the carefree days of childhood are brought to a halt with the passage of time and the death of loved ones. As a wistful, dreamy and introspective person, I wished to revisit the past, if only for a moment. That longing fueled an interest in who my people were and a question of "What was it like to live in their era?". I would dreamily drive past their homes, now filled with strangers, hoping for an imaginary trip back in time and a chance to obtain answers. Sentimental thoughts pushed me to discover more about my relative’s past and uncover fantastic historical events.
2. What role does history play or has it played in your personal life?
Several years ago, family folklore began to appear in my oil paintings and a longing for unsettled answers began to boil. Then, I inherited my grandmother’s important documents. Among miscellaneous papers and memorial cards, I found letters about her son, responses to some sort of inquiry. A mystery developed and my personal determination to search for the truth pushed into a professional one. One where I began the research needed to write a historical fiction novel about events in her life.
3. How has history played a part of your professional life/career?
Historical fiction has always fascinated me as a clever and engaging way to learn about past events. The first historical fiction novel I wrote needed massive research to properly present the story and, during this time, I realized my love for uncovering details about the past and how to develop an outline for a book. My next book is also a historical fiction work.
4. Why is studying/knowing history important?
In searching history, I found myself.
5. What is your favorite period or aspect of history to learn about and why?
Currently, I’m under the spell of the 1930’s – 1940’s about an area of the United States known as the Rust Belt. But, before it got that nickname, it was a thriving manufacturing area. Factories were bustling and production was high, however, as decades passed, the industrial prosperity changed. I’m in that wonderment right now.
6. What inspired you to write Broken Pencils?
Month after month, year after year, decade after decade, I had the same dream. Always the same dream. It was dusk. I was alone in my grandmother’s house, standing in her living room. An overwhelming need to close the heavy golden curtains shielding two large picture windows overcame me. Then I would wake.
As a child, I remember hearing snippets of information that my grandmother had another son who died. Questions were never asked and words rarely spoken about this unknown Uncle. One day, I was standing in my grandmother’s living room, alone. She entered the room heading to the back of the house. Just inches away, I asked her a question. She stopped, leaned over and quietly said, “Wait right here.” I stood in the room alone again, looking out the two huge windows to the world beyond. Uneasiness and anticipation floated through my body, my heart thumped. What was I hoping to know? In a moment, she returned holding a small black and white photograph of a baby. She handed me the image. My fingertips grasped the slim white edge of the weathered photograph, careful not to touch the printed middle. The picture felt cool and glossy between my fingers. A suspended silence threaded the air as I studied the photo of this unusual baby.
Broken Pencils tells the story of a young housewife struggling to keep her severely handicapped son out of the clutches of the abusive 1940’s Insane Asylum. It is a novel based on true life events.
7. What can you tell us about your next book?
Two books are coming soon. A historical fiction novel and an art book. Below is the synopsis for the next novel. And, below that is a snippet about the art book.
Champlain Street
The Battle of Toledo
In Toledo, 1934, during the heart of the depression and nearly 80 percent unemployment, the despair of factory workers gave the Toledo Electric Auto-Lite Co. a rich advantage over workers. Grisly working conditions, unfair production quotas and paltry wages were standard employment practices. With exposed hydraulic press machines stamping out shapes in metal, the punch press operators of Dept 2 were easily identifiable by their missing fingers.
Knowing that hundreds were waiting to take their jobs, the men of Dept 2 made a difficult decision to strike for workplace safety, higher wages and, more importantly, recognition.
The Electric Auto-Lite Co., in return, touted a million-dollar reserve to break the strikers and any formation of a union and, therefore, hired replacements. They used tear gas and vomiting gas against a growing picket line pushing a resilient group. However, unbeknownst to the company and the strikers, the picket lines would quickly swell with support of thousands from the most unlikely people, the unemployed.
What resulted was an all-out fight for “The Battle of Toledo” that would, ultimately, bring in the National Guard and leave a deadly path of destruction.
Champlain Street tells the story of this pivotal US worker’s strike. This novel is based on true life events.
Coming January, 2022.
I also have an art book in the works.
By way of painting, I attempted to dissolve the thoughts needed to write the heartbreaking true life story, Broken Pencils. The book will showcase eleven full-color images and each painting shares a title from a chapter in that historical fiction novel. The art book will share this artistic journey and is scheduled for publication at the end of 2021.
