By Linda Lovely
In what time and
place would I choose to live if I could time travel? That’s the question our blog
poses this month.
I can honestly say I
wouldn’t want to spend an entire lifetime in any earlier period. For the
most part, women in the United States have more freedom now than at any time in
history, and I wouldn’t want to give that up. I also can’t imagine being a man.
So no permanent time-space relocation for me.
That’s not to say I
wouldn’t enjoy “popping in” for a few choice years to experience select eras
and cultures. My top pop-in choices are all within the geography of the current
United States.
Here they are:
For an idyllic
childhood, I might pick life with the Iroquois in Upstate New York
in the 1600s. Based on what I’ve read, the Iroquois let their children play, and
women actually owned the family property. Life in Hawaii in the 1700s (before the
Europeans brought disease and ideas about children being seen and not heard) also
sounds rather idyllic. In both times and cultures, I’d have had great fun playing
outdoors, and I wouldn't have been stuck in ridiculous clothes I couldn't get dirty.
For my twenties, I might
want to land in San Francisco just prior to the 1849 Gold Rush and get caught
up in the optimism and excitement of the era. However, the 1920s in Chicago
are equally appealing. Of course, I’d be a flapper in the Jazz Age, and I wouldn't be a stranger to speakeasies.
As an octogenarian
(hey, I’m not there yet), I think 1969 Anywhere USA would be appropriate. It would be amazing to
see the first landing on the moon given that I’d grown up riding in a buggy before
the first automobile.
Of course, there are
also time periods I definitely would want to avoid. The Civil War (okay any
war) and the Great Depression come to mind. Writers, however, embrace such times
of societal trauma to add drama and depth to our stories.
 |
| FINALIST-Daphne Published Historical Romantic Suspense |
I set LIES: SECRETS
CAN KILL, my recent romantic suspense, in 1938 because my mother had told me so
many intriguing stories about the challenges everyone—but especially women—faced during this
time. That made my heroine’s triumph over evil and injustice all the
sweeter.
While it might be fun
to pop-in for the “good times” in history and then pop out again when things
get rough, that’s likely not what would happen even if it were possible. The
truth is it’s the people we love that make us happy. And, if I found love,
friends and family in any era, I wouldn't willingly abandon them to jump to
a more prosperous, exciting or peaceful era.
So, I guess I’ll stay
right here and leave my historical forays to my books and imagination. How about you?
Great blog, Linda. No one can tell you did it in a hurry.
ReplyDeleteOops....maybe they can now. :)
Enjoyed it.
I was hurrying to get to my FORMER critique partner's house. (Ha.) Better be nice or I won't get breakfast.
ReplyDeleteYou've made an excellent point. Even today there are times when we have a choice/chance to move away from family and friends and we choose to stay. Perhaps even more so if they are having problems.
ReplyDeleteI've always dreamed of living in a castle. I had the opportunity to stay at the Ashford Castle in Ireland for 3 - 4 days in 1994. We had a luxurious suite (but then all the rooms were luxurious) and running water, flush toilets and delicious food neither of us had to cook. I'd go back in a heart beat---but not permanently because my family and friends are here.
Great blog! I'd love a TARDIS (Dr. Who) to travel anywhere and everywhere.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Judith and Ashantay. It would be fun to just pop-in and see what life is like at any given time and place. If you're writing historical fiction, it would be more fun than searching on Google.
ReplyDeleteLinda, I think popping in here and there for a year or two would be fun. Just to experience the life and times. Though as I write my western historical books I think I would have thrived in the U.S. in the late 1800's and early 1900. Fun post!
ReplyDeleteI like Ashantay's icomment on having a Tardis!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I would want to go too far in the past. Though there is some idyllic writings about those times, I think that spending an entire year (or even a few months) would become tiring indeed. I wouldn't have the stamina to be walking all the time before automobiles. I wouldn't like the ideas of walking through mud, chamber pots contents thrown out windows, or having to stay alive through prostitution. And believe me, with my lack of practical knowledge of living without electricity, computers, and such I would have to be a prostitute to get my meals. :)
My time travel desire would be to go to the future. I am an optimist about the future, so I would go with great hopes that we'd learned to get along (like the Star Trek universe for the Federation) and that things like surgery and disease had been conquered for the most part. If I did go to the future and learned my optimism was misplaced, I'd have to have a mind wipe before returning home.
Hmmm...I think I like it right here just fine. :)
But then