Where do you go when you’re lost?
I have a long history of having no idea where I am when I drive. The open road is not my medium. I am far better on the open water. GPS recently changed that but only when I can get all the data input. But recently I have discovered celestial navigation. I can now find my way home from any place in the northern hemisphere using only the stars, an almanac, and a watch. Since most of my friends and family don’t have the courage to let me drive, this will not make a big difference in their lives, but it will in mine.
This all came about because I’m working on the rewrite of my second book The Map of True Places, which will come out in the summer of 2010. The stars are turning out to be important to the story, an image system of sorts, in the same way that lace became an image system in The Lace Reader. I have to say that I didn’t plan it that way, it just sort of happened. I was lost in poetry and literary quotes. But I couldn’t make those work the way I wanted them to. They weren’t adding to the story. So I stepped back and took a look at what I had written and was surprised to find that the stars were everywhere, as was navigation, both historically and metaphorically.
So I’m studying celestial navigation. I’m learning to use a sextant and mathematical tables. By the time I’m finished, I plan to be certified. So, if one of you ever gets stuck with me on a boat in the middle of nowhere without a GPS or Loran, and it’s a clear night, you can count on me to get us home. As long as it’s in the Northern Hemisphere. And there’s an almanac on board. And one of us still wears a watch.
September 23rd, 2009 at 3:12 pm
We have to wait until NEXT summer for the new book! It would have been a great Christmas present instead(boo hoo).
You have me intrigued by the celestial storyline. Does the storyline line still have something to do with The House of Seven Gables, Nathaniel Hawthorne? I always enjoy the tales that authors share on the things they did or learned to help them write their stories.
I remember fondly your visit to my Borders bookstore in WI and how friendly you with the staff. We all still talk about our favorite author drop-in’s!
Enjoy your tour and will maybe read(or listen) to Lace Reader again to hold me over until next year!
September 24th, 2009 at 10:05 am
Hi Jackie,
Yes, The House of the Seven Gables is right across the street from the house I’m writing about in the “The Map of True Places.” The father in the story is a Hawthorne scholar, so there’s quite a bit of Hawthorne as well as some Melville and a few other literary references. Celestial Navigation is the image system for the book.
I am thrilled that you can’t wait to read the new book. They are actually pushing up the date to May 2010, so it won’t be quite so long.
That visit to Borders was a highlight for me as well.