Riley and I started being friends when I was 14. Several shared interests brought us together, among them The Hobbit, that we both thought of ourselves as writers, and our love of music. In Riley’s case, he actually was a musician who could play any instrument he picked up. He didn’t have the greatest singing voice in the world, but that was okay, because after all, didn’t we love Bob Dylan?
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Tag: nostalgia
The Archives
You may have noticed I’ve changed my LJ again, including the banner. After I changed it, that photo kept nagging at me. A while ago, I figured out why. It’s the hair, and it reminds me of this photo.
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Virtual firsts
Do you remember when you were a “newbie?” My first time on the Internet was at work in 1996. I first connected to the Internet through my own account in July of 1997.
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Confidential to Lindsey
That diner/coffeeshop I was trying to remember was Toopees. =)
Around The Compound
Bouquet of bougainvillea.
Just like the 70s, confused redbud tree flowers before it should.
Just like the 80s, I get up close and personal with a beauty whose name I can’t remember.
Mmmmm
This is almost worth driving to New Orleans. I hope Greg goes by and gets a beignet on Wednesday. This is one of my favorite places. I’ve been there in the middle of the night partying with a group of people I didn’t know–in true New Orleans spirit!–and I’ve been there alone during the day, working on one of our manuscripts. I think it was I’M YOUR MAN.
For Rhonda and Lindsey
My theme park brush with greatness. Do not mock the hair. It was Orlando. It was the eighties.
Looking back, looking forward
I wanted to post photos of the places we visited on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, but I found links that present it in more detail than I ever could. I have no idea what remains, but if you give each page a few seconds to load, then scroll down, you’ll see some of the historic buildings and homes that made me fall in love with the area the first time Tom and I ventured off I-10 to Highway 90 many years ago. Even though my mother is a Mississippi native, she is not coastal, so I don’t know why these places spoke to me so.
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Ruthless Self-Discipline
I need to be organized. I can’t work in clutter. I can’t stand it when I can’t find things. I’m a great filer and organizer (I think The Container Store is a little slice of heaven), but I’ve had too many related things filed in too many different places.
Tim is always (always being an exaggeration of occasionally) nagging me to purge stuff. (Geminis…)
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Mississippi Gulf Coast
Today I am horrified by the images and video I’m seeing from the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Besides the fact that one of our LJ friends lives there, and we are hoping he and his loved ones are okay, this is where Tim and I visited when researching THREE FORTUNES.
The residents were so gracious about answering our questions. They were frank about what was good and what was flawed about their state, but none of them talked about moving away. It’s home. In our acknowledgments, we specifically thank two Visitors’ Centers, two GLBT bars, and a cafe in Pass Christian. I don’t know if those places are even still there.
The houses that play an important role in the novel were inspired by the coast’s beautiful mansions, many of which survived Hurricane Camille. In fact, Camille has a part in shaping one of our characters, and some of our characters do what I did when I was there one morning–go to the Hurricane Camille Memorial in Biloxi. Tim and I made a video record of some of the places we saw so that when we came back to Houston, our writing would be accurate. It’s heartbreaking to think of all that beauty destroyed.
I can’t believe the devastation. I know there is a tremendous loss of property, but even worse, the loss of lives. I worry about the evacuees, the survivors, the displaced animals. I feel so helpless. I wish our book would sell a zillion copies or be optioned for a movie, so I could donate enough money to make a difference. I wish I could help people clean up and get their lives back.
All I can do for the moment is send good thoughts, good energy, to these coastal people who shared themselves and their beautiful surroundings with us for a time. It will be home again.