Williamsburg: With Jamestown and
Yorktown, America's Historic Triangle (publisher: Channel Lake,
Inc.) is non-fiction. It’s a travel book giving visitors ideas about how
to best spend their time in Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown,
whether they’re staying just a day or are there for an extended
vacation.
My somewhat ambitious New Year’s resolution last year was to publish a short story in some highly intellectual publication like the Virginia Quarterly Review. It didn’t seem too far-fetched at the time. After all, I’ve been published in a number of magazines and primarily made my living for two decades as a writer and editor, mostly non-fiction.
Over a year later, I am somewhat ashamed to admit I have yet to submit even one manuscript to any literary magazine. That’s partially because I got sidetracked—writing my first book. (I’m calling it “first” because that implies more are coming, and like most writers I know, I work best under pressure, even if self-imposed.)
If you’d asked me on Jan. 1 of 2009, I would’ve honestly not believed that I would’ve both begun and finished a book last year. That’s not because I doubt my own abilities, but because I’d actually begun several before, all fiction and all yet to be finished.
Non-fiction, on the other hand, is a process I’ve somewhat mastered. At least I am fairly confident that I can write about any subject just by asking the right questions, twisting things around in my head, and then spitting out words in a way others can understand. Fiction is different, more like magic, creating something from nothing.
If you haven’t already guessed, my first book Williamsburg: With Jamestown and Yorktown, America's Historic Triangle (publisher: Channel Lake, Inc.) is non-fiction. It’s a travel book giving visitors ideas about how to best spend their time in Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown, whether they’re staying just a day or are there for an extended vacation.
With almost any experience in life, the first time doing anything seems to be the hardest. For me as a writer, it’s been crafting the lead sentence, convincing an editor to give me that first chance, or breaking into a new genre of writing, like travel writing.
The first lesson I learned was that even though I was very familiar with Williamsburg, I really needed to know it much more intimately if I was going to advise others about it. That meant revisiting places I’d been to many times before, like Busch Gardens, Jamestown Settlement and even the Williamsburg Pottery. It also meant writing very specifically. For example, did you know there’s a shop at Busch Gardens that sells hand-knitted wool sweaters imported from Ireland?
I didn’t either, but after about five months and 20 or so trips to Williamsburg, I can now tell you not only the name of the shop that sells the sweaters, but how to get there and how much they cost. The book as a whole includes all the major attractions in Greater Williamsburg, but beyond that, it was entirely my decision to choose what to include. The book’s contents are also based on my opinion about the various restaurants, attractions, hotels and shops.
Monroe
Whereas some people might revel in this kind of “power,” for me it was actually a bit of a hurdle. As a journalist, I was used to suppressing my personal opinion, being objective to a fault, and very concerned with being fair and inclusive.
My very understanding publisher in New York City assured me not to worry. This book isn’t supposed to be all-inclusive. If so, it would be the size of the Metro Richmond phone book. And who’d want to try to stuff that into a fanny pack?
The best part of the experience for me was revisiting the history, which raised as many questions in my mind as were answered. I spent quite a lot of time, for example, pondering the fact that we only landed at Jamestown 400 years ago. I thought about how we’ve changed the face of the land that is the United States since that time, how much land we’ve paved over and how many acres of trees cut? I’ve even thought about approaching that subject in yet another book.
I also think about the fact that we only decided to stick around on this continent when we found a way to make money off the land (through the tobacco market). That, of course, led to further thoughts in my own mind about capitalism, antebellum injustices and so on.
I think this progression of one concept and subsequently one project to another is the way a writer’s or any artist’s mind works at times—it’s like getting on a train with destination unknown, not knowing where or when it’s going to slow down, speed up or jump the tracks!
Practically speaking, I learned two things about myself from writing the book. One, I really can do it, or at least finish one that I’ve started. Two, writing a book is really just a process like any other, and because of this, can be broken down into small, attainable steps.
For my next book, I’ll set small goals for myself, like writing three or four pages per day, and eventually, I will finish it. Perhaps I’ve found my resolution for 2011.
