Rivers have a certain mystique for me. When I was a child, I would make tiny boats and sail them in the sandy gutters of the streets after a rain. I imagined whole worlds around these opportunistic streams, with the wide stretches between driveways being uninhabited lands interspersed with exotic cities on the riverbank-curbs. I planted forests of twigs, and made miniature dwellings of mud. When all was ready, I'd launch my little boat in front of my house and follow it downstream as it raced through rapids, plunged over waterfalls, got stuck in beaver dams of twigs until it finally escaped into the Magical Underground (otherwise know as the sewer).
When I was older, I turned my fancies to the mysteries of romance. Because I grew up in a very small town and knew every boy and girl there, 'mysterious' was off the table for the locals, so the venue for my romantic yearnings was invariably summer vacation. My family was in the habit of taking vacations to different destinations each summer, and each summer I dreamed of meeting a mysterious boy from a fascinating place who would sweep me off my feet and make me forget my cares. The mere mention of vacation set off wild imaginings in me of adventure and romance. It still does today.
RiverTime is a fusion of these two long-time fascinations. It's the story of a young woman who tries to solve a dilemma in her everyday life by taking a vacation on--you guessed it--a river trip. She not only finds adventure and romance, but doubles her dilemma. To find a way out of her quandary, she has to reinvent herself and look at love in a new way.
When I was older, I turned my fancies to the mysteries of romance. Because I grew up in a very small town and knew every boy and girl there, 'mysterious' was off the table for the locals, so the venue for my romantic yearnings was invariably summer vacation. My family was in the habit of taking vacations to different destinations each summer, and each summer I dreamed of meeting a mysterious boy from a fascinating place who would sweep me off my feet and make me forget my cares. The mere mention of vacation set off wild imaginings in me of adventure and romance. It still does today.
RiverTime is a fusion of these two long-time fascinations. It's the story of a young woman who tries to solve a dilemma in her everyday life by taking a vacation on--you guessed it--a river trip. She not only finds adventure and romance, but doubles her dilemma. To find a way out of her quandary, she has to reinvent herself and look at love in a new way.
Great entry!
ReplyDeleteI loved the rain for exactly the same reason when I was a kid. Add in collecting the toads that invariably hid just under the manhole covers of the sewers on my street--Clover Court--and I had an entire afternoon of entertainment!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to read your book.
Karen