I blame the Solstice. This somewhat dreamy time had me remembering, or trying to remember odds and ends from years past. And then I began thinking of Old Wounds, probably my most personal book.
While there's a lot that is fictional--the plot and the people and the relationships, there's much that is based on our first years on the farm. So I re-read it.
I reread stuff all the time. And while I was writing this one, I read it over and over. But a lot of time has passed and I found myself caught up in the story, even as I nodded each time I saw words in a character's mouth and remembered where they'd come from. Elizabeth's mother's complaint about the outhouse, for instance, is a word for word quote from my own mother.
Elizabeth and her daughter Rosemary are great readers and oddly enough, they love the same books I do. (At the beginning of the book Rosemay is reading The Dark Is Rising, which I just finished rereading.)
It's been quite a while since I last read Old Wounds--long enough that I'd actually forgotten the identity of the killer. Looking back, I'm amazed that I managed such a convoluted plot.
And I was amused to see that the irrepressible young Laurel has a lot in common with Josie--who didn't show up till about ten years after the book was published.
I was less amused to see that in one chapter I had called the county seat of Elizabeth's Marshall County Ridley instead of Ransom. This, after multiple times proofreading. And a professional copyeditor.
Still and all, I'm right proud of this one--if only for my own entertainment. Write the book you want to read, is advice given to writers. And I evidently did.
6 comments:
I often wonder how much authors remember of their own work.
Rereading one's own books can bring a lot of surprises, not all of them pleasant. 😄 When I was writing Bleeding Through, in which Rachel's sister comes back into her life, I had to reread The Heat of the Moon to be sure I was remembering things correctly. I liked it.
My favourite of your books. The reiteration of the phrase I see you was utterly haunting.
It may be my favorite too.
If this was the first in the series I read it too. Trying to recall the plot but drawing a blank.
Then I will have to read it. For the first time though :-)
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