The Colonial Post Office, My Research Summer
What a whirlwind this past month has been! I am finally settled back at home after a long and needed West Coast road trip. Nothing clears the mind like trekking under Seattle's sidewalks, adventuring through never-ending bookstores, curving around the trunks of towering redwoods, and walking on Pacific Coast beaches. Now rejuvenated and with Six Pack marketing and post-production winding down, I am ready to tackle some summer projects.
Vacation Time
A picture from vacation at the Getty Villa in Malibu. My pal Mercury (Hermes in the Greek equivalent) is also in the shot. If you look closely, you can see one of his winged sandals. There's never a bad time to do some additional research on Ancient Rome, especially since the Getty Villa emulated the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum. Believed to be the house of Julius Caesar's father-in-law, the Villa dei Papiri (House of the Papyri - named for the numerous papers it held) was buried during the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius and rediscovered in 1750.
At the beginning of 2017, I made two rules for myself:
- I would actively pursue writing.
- I would acquire no more than two to three projects at a time, on the condition that the third project be light.
The second rule is husband-enforced, which means that I give him a comprehensive list of passion projects, and he reminds me of my current workload. It's under this structure that my novels are considered their own separate, large-scale projects. But as Six Pack debuts (on Monday, June 18th!), another project can roll in, one that I've had my eye on since the beginning of the year.
365 Women A Year is an initiative to create more plays about extraordinary women. The concept is simple: claim a woman from history and write a play of any length or genre before December 31st. As soon as I heard of this program, I rushed to submit a claim form for Mary Katherine Goddard.
Goddard's accolades, which I first read about in a 2017 Washington Post article, are as long winded as the title for Daenerys Targaryen. She is the the publisher of the signed Declaration of Independence (on which she signed her own name), one of the first female publishers in the states, the first female postmaster in the colonies, a bookstore owner, and a newspaper entrepreneur in Providence, RI; Philadelphia, PA; and Baltimore, MD. She was one of many revolutionary women of the Revolutionary War era, and while her brother dumped his business responsibilities to her and disappeared to start the first post office, she made a name for herself.
To conduct research for this play, I plan to visit the following locations this summer:
- The Smithsonian National Postal Museum
- Colonial Williamsburg
- The Mount Clare Museum in Baltimore
- Independence Hall
...in addition to other locations that come up in research. I'll post some pictures and fun facts on my Instagram for those who want to follow me on this journey.
In writing my historical fiction novels, I have cherished the research process, where I can throw myself into the events, sights, smells, and sounds of another time. I can't wait to see where the research guides this play.