Romancing the Genres: coastal Maine

I wrote my first novel, in 2000, long before I ever heard of romance writer’s groups. I moved from Maine back to my hometown of Washington, D.C. for a job as the alumni director at the Quaker High School where I graduated (now fifty <gulp> years ago.)

The only fiction I ever wrote was when required in English class, but I always loved writing research papers and human-interest stories for the non-profit magazines where I worked. But this first story gnawed at me until I finally sat down and wrote…and wrote…and wrote. I think it ended up somewhere between one-hundred and one-hundred twenty thousand words.

The setting was northern coastal Maine in the town in which my daughter was married. I changed the name and made it a fictional town, but that town was my inspiration. Side note: oddly that town was also the inspiration for the first novella I published (The Legacy of Parkers Point) sixteen years later as part of a Maine writers anthology. The coincidence was that the anthology author group decided to fashion our fictional town after that same coastal town.

While I was editing my first book, it got wiped off my computer and lost forever (along with all the heartfelt poetry I wrote about living in D.C. and near the Pentagon during 9/11). Luckily, I tend to print things off, so the book and most of the poetry are somewhere in a box. Unluckily, I may never unearth it. Luckily, the book is probably best left buried, although maybe I will rewrite it. The story still swims through my head.

The book was about a seasoned-character who finds a second chance at love. It is her daughter’s wedding week at a seaside Maine resort and she meets a man who works in college admissions. Yes, parts of this are taken from real-life, the daughter and her wedding and the setting. But the rest is fiction. And strangely, again, eleven years after I wrote this book, I ended up working in a college admissions office. But at the time I wrote the book, I worked down the hall from a high school admissions office.

I can’t remember the couple’s entire journey to reach their happily-ever-after, but I do know that the hero’s severe depression plays a huge part in the story, as does the heroine’s hurt from a contentious divorce. Were I to ever rewrite it, I would probably try to make it a bit lighter, even while including those elements. But who knows how it would turn out? As a pantser, my characters tend to tell me their story as I write it.

Still, after twenty years, as we go into 2020, this story still has a grip on me.

Is there anything you’ve done in your life that still grips you into taking action—whether recreating or adding to the experience?

AUTHOR BIO

~ cottages to cabins ~ keep the home fires burning ~

Delsora Lowe writes small town sweet romances and contemporary westerns from the mountains of Colorado to the shores of Maine.

Author of the Starlight Grille series, Serenity Harbor Maine novellas, and the Cowboys of Mineral Springs series, Lowe has also authored short romances for Woman’s World magazine.

THE LEGACY OF PARKERS POINT

Two lives, one legacy—the lure of Parkers Point

One Runs From …

Inheriting his grandfather’s estate on the rocky point in Serenity Harbor, Maine is the perfect escape from the biggest professional disaster of Grayson Mann’s life. Will distance and space help Gray heal old family and professional wounds enough to open his heart to love?

One Runs Toward …

Lauralee Adler struggles to save the family art gallery as she watches her aunt succumb to Alzheimer’s. Returning to the small coastal town is payment for the kindness that saved her life and soul. Now she’s on a quest to find her father. Will this trip home help her learn to trust and finally convince her she can truly belong for the first time in her life?

Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Legacy-Parkers-Point-Serenity-Starlight-ebook/dp/B0743NVCC6/

Books2Read

books2read.com/u/b6rQzx