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It's time to seriously focus on the sequel to Kelegeen, so I spent the last week of February secluded in a hotel suite in Worcester, Massachusetts, where the sequel will be set, to work undisturbed and undistracted. I arrived at the Residence Inn in
Worcester late on Monday afternoon. Once I was settled in, I got right to work. The suite has a great little work area with
the most comfortable chair ever – I wish I could have taken it home!
The
first hurdle was getting on the Internet.
I was given my WiFi password when I checked in, but getting to a screen
that actually asked for it seemed an impossible task. I finally stumbled upon it, put in the
password and I was off and running. The table is right in front of the
windows, so during the day the sunlight helped a lot, which is a good thing
since the lighting in the suite left a lot to be desired as did the lack of
dish liquid and a frying pan, but I digress.
I
wanted to get as much as I could out of this week, so I made it an early
night. I had not realized just how
exhausted I’d been until I tried to wake up the next morning. Even after my brain woke up, my eyelids
refused to open. I think it was around
11:00 a.m. before I dragged myself out of bed.
Yikes! Most of the morning
already gone before I could even eat breakfast, shower, and dress.
Assuming,
I’d have no problem getting online, I fired up the laptop only to find that I
had no Internet connection. After trying
in vain to retrace the steps that finally connected me the night before, I gave
up and asked the guy at the Front Desk for help. He obligingly came to my room and had my
laptop online in about two seconds. For
those who don’t know (until then, that included me) when you can’t reconnect to
a public WiFi connection, try going to a site called purple.com. It reroutes your computer to get you back
online. Who knew? I sure didn’t. Good thing Front Desk Guy knew. Thank you Front Desk Guy!
I
spent the rest of the day with my eyes glued (not literally – I mean, ouch and
yuck!) to Erin’s Daughters in
America: Irish Immigrant Women in the
Nineteenth Century by Hansia R. Diner.
Between reading, note-taking, and checking information online, the
afternoon flew by. I did make a point of
ungluing my eyes long enough to walk all the hallways on all four floors of the
building just to keep my circulation going.
There was little chance of falling asleep at the desk despite feeling
like I could nod off at any minute (still in the extreme exhaustion phase)
since the air around the desk felt as icy as if I’d opened the windows. I hate being cold, but, hey, it kept me awake
and working.
I
went to bed extra early that night, hoping to make up for my late rising. It didn’t work. Well, I did get up a little earlier than the
previous morning, like around 10:30. It
dawned on me that I needed this week as much to rest as I did to research and
write so I decided to stop mentally berating myself for sleeping late and make
the most of the time I was awake.
When I
finally finished Erin’s Daughters, it
was time for my tour of the four floors.
I remembered seeing photos of various places in Worcester in the hallways of each floor so
this time I took my camera. Meg, my main
character, would have arrived from Ireland on a ship and docked in Boston
Harbor, then taken a train to Worcester.
I know the current train station wasn’t built until 1911 so I’ve been
trying to figure out where the station would have been in my story. One picture might have given me a clue. It’s the outside of a building with the words
Boston and Albany – New York – New Haven and Hartford – Boston and Maine
engraved in the façade. Hmmm…could this
have been the original station?
Research
brings both answers and questions. The
more I find out the more I need to know.
So along with my notes I have a growing list of questions, most of which
have to do with the who and where in Worcester in the 1850s.
After
checking the website for the Worcester Historical Museum I found that they have
a plethora of information on Worcester in the 19th century. I gave them a call, only to find I was
speaking with a woman who took the online course in Church History that I just
finished teaching. What were the odds of that? She informed me that the museum’s archivist
is an expert on Irish immigrants in Worcester.
Pay dirt! I made an appointment
to meet with her so the last night of my solo retreat was spent writing out
those all-important questions I want to ask her.
Oh,
and one more thing – Chapter 1 is well underway. The sequel has officially begun.
