Folks have been asking me lately what I'm working on, how does my work differ from others and if I actually have a process to my writing.
So, today, I will interview myself and offer up a few answers to those questions.
What I am working on: Currently I am immersed in research for my fifth, and final, book in my
Aunt Phil's Trunk Alaska history series. Right now I am spending many hours at the University of Alaska Anchorage Consortium Library pouring through old newspaper articles about the important happenings between 1960 and 2010. This last book in my series will highlight the first 50 years of Alaska as a state.
How does my work differ from others of the same genre: I approached writing my state's colorful past from a different perspective than most historians. I inherited my Alaska historian aunt's body of work when she passed in 1993. She had won national awards for her stories that appeared in national newspapers, including the
Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the
San Francisco Chronicle. I loved her style of writing, which was telling a human-interest story and dropping facts into the story so readers would learn something in an entertaining way. That's how I work, now. I find an interesting story and then weave the facts of the time period into the story.
Another difference is that I find historical photographs from library, museum and university archives that I include with each story. Those photographs add another element to the story. Each of my books features more than 300 such photos and really help bring the history alive for the readers.
Why do I write what I do: When I saw my aunt's body of work, which represented a lifetime of research, I knew I had to do something with it. I could not dump it in the trash and move on with my life. I also knew I wanted to honor her for her work. But to do that, I needed the tools necessary to create the best account of Alaska history on the market. My previous "life" involved telecommunications and cable TV. Not writing!
So I returned to college in 1999 and earned a degree in journalism with a minor in history in 2003 at the tender age of 52! I then began writing 400-word stories about Alaska for newspapers, while I researched, compiled and wrote longer stories for a book. Notice I said "a book." I had no idea at the time that 11 years later I would have four books published and be working on a fifth!
How does your writing process work: I am a blitz writer. Once I have amassed my research, and developed the idea of where I want the book to begin and end, I hole up in my "Aunt Phil" room – which is totally decked out with antiques to keep me in the mood – and I begin writing ... for hours ... and hours ... and hours.
Once I'm in the mood to write, I honestly do not want to stop. I talk to myself, giggle at times and become fully involved with the nonfiction stories I am going to share with the public.
This is not the way my husband and I thought we would be spending our retirement, but I can honestly say I am personally more fulfilled today than at any other time in my life – excluding my family, of course. This body of work honors my Aunt Phil and will live on long after I am gone.
If you have questions, or need a bit of advice, please feel free to send me a note.
laurel@AuntPhilsTrunk.com
