In the last blog I clarified the procedure of contracting with a publisher or preparing myself to begin writing, Not all authors prepare the same way, for sure. I will focus on how I wrote The Columbia River in this series of blogs.
I head off by car for the headwaters of the Columbia north of the Canadian border in eastern British Columbia, a long day's trip. I bring no notebook and may avoid bringing my serious camera, too. I am going to wander along the river and environs to begin feeling the river. It's like immersing myself in its waters, absorbing the surroundings, making the river live inside me. I chat with people I encounter with small talk mostly, not asking questions often. I am simply transporting my mental self to the site on the Columbia that I am physically standing on. Often I am imagining what I would be doing and thinking if "now" had been "then," historically decades or years earlier.
As the days pass, I continue to soak up the ambience of the area and of the river itself, its currents, clear or murky, water color, fast or slow, plants, sounds of the river and the plunk plink of a fish jumping, small animal cries. As the creation of the book progresses, I will spend time in advance of ongoing writing to understand from the river's standpoint what may be at each new block of geography.
I do not write anything down on this first trip. I merely concentrate on every aspect of the river's life at a particular location. I am blessed with the ability to store visual images and impressions for some time when I am deliberately focused on taking in everything 360 degrees around me.
I return home to simply think about what I have absorbed and plan on a direction for my work to proceed. I resume my normal life with husband and social friends and rest. Within one week I return to the beginning site. Thus, each week required two days of travel, going and coming.
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