Sibling Assignment 2015.9 The Important Thing That Has Slipped Away

After a bit of a hiatus with the sibling assignments, brother Bill assigned the following assignment:

Do you have anything in your life that you've not been doing that you used to a lot more of?  In other words, have you let something important in your life slip away -- maybe not completely, but more than you'd like in a perfect world.

 

Write about it -- why it matters to you, how you miss it, and how you think you'll go about getting back to it.

I am getting an early start on my blog post this week.  You will find Bill's post here, and Christy's blog post is here.

 

This was an easy one to pinpoint in my life.

 

Researching and writing a book.

 

That is that something in my life, something important in my life, that I have let slip away, definitely more than I would like.

 

I was reminded of this last Friday when I was at a Pampered Chef party.  I used to sell Pampered Chef, and one of the parties I was a consultant for was the friend who was having the party last Friday.  I met a woman at that party about 10 years ago, and she asked me if I was still working on my book.  She remembered.

 

I often run into people who ask me this question.  And it makes me feel like a failure. I hate that!!

 

The premise of my book, or actually books, is great.  It is a historical fiction novel series about the Silver Valley.  The first book has the three main characters, a mining lawyers daughter, an Italian immigrant, and a Coeur d'Alene tribal member all meeting on the lawn of the Cataldo Mission when they are all about 14 years old, in the year 1888.

 

The first book focuses on the girl, and her life moving from back east to Wallace, Idaho, and her life in this new mining town.  The Italian boy's family came this way, because the father was working on building the railroad.  After that job is done, his father gets a job in a local mine, as does the son, eventually. 

 

The book opens with the girl seeing a train full of local miners wearing hoods, and heading west toward Kellogg.  The year is 1899.  The girls sees a scar on the arm off one of the miners, and knows it is her Italian friend.  These men are heading west toward Kellogg to blow up the Bunker Hill mine mill.

 

This is a photograph taken of the men who were put in the "bull pen", a makeshift prison that men suspected of blowing up the Bunker Hill Mine Mill were put in to after the 1899 explosion.

Then the scene goes back to 1888, when the three friends meet on the lawn of the Cataldo Mission, and how there lives continue to intertwine, while telling the colored history of the beginning of the Coeur d'Alene Mining District, which is now known as the Silver Valley.

 

The second book begins with blowing up the mill, and the main character is the Italian Immigrant.  This covers the next ten years, from 1899 to 1910, the year of the largest forest fire in U.S. history, occurring right in and around Wallace, Idaho.

 

The final book focuses on the Coeur d'Alene tribal member, and begins with the aftermath of the fire, and goes until about 1920.

 

Personally, I think it is a great story, and I have done a lot of research.  But life got in the way.  I am not one of those people who are disciplined enough to write late into the night.  Especially when I was raising a family.

 

But, times are different now.  Paul and I are practically empty nesters.  So now, I am hoping I can take the time to get back into writing the first book.  To reacquaint myself with the girl from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, the boy from Italy, and the Native American, who was born into a peaceful tribe who roamed the lands of what is now Washington, Idaho and Montana.

 

And, if you want to help me with this project, ask me about my book.  Talk to me about the story.  Encourage me to keep writing.  That is what will help me get this story down on paper, and one day, hopefully, get it published.