Blogging from the Mountain

Some photos from the mountain--

* My "Johnny Depp" Owl's Nest Cabin:
I confess, I was not used to being so far back in the woods, even when I stayed at Brevard Music Center or went to visit my Grandma in Yancey County. Although the lightning storm of the first night was beautiful / unnerving / wonderful / scary -- it made me realize that this little Owl's Nest cabin would hold fast and take care of me this entire week. Since then, I've been okay with it.

And of course, I have to say that everyone here at Wildacres has been fantastic. I've also enjoyed reading the journal logs left from the other writers that have been here before me....
Look at the beautiful woods that surround this cabin.

Blogging from the Mountain

In Search of Big Tom Wilson

Days 3-4

For some reason Wed. night, I was strangely much more tired than usual. I finished a lot of things, and was hoping to get in some more, but for some reason I was afraid I had a sore throat coming on, so I did my nose spray and went to bed. The rain sounds wonderful on the tin roof. The squirrels dropping acorns on it, sound like machine gun fire.

I dictated a lot of tape material I gathered from Mt. Michell earlier. When the rain subsided, I was even able to take the cabin trail from my cabin to the rest of the Wildacres campus (about 15-20 minutes each way). It is really beautiful.

No critters Wed.---except for a squirrel outside my cabin that is very agitated. He keeps making "angry squirrel noises" --- kind of sounds like a cat.

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I ended up calling it an early night.

I am really only just now starting to get adjusted to living on the side of a mountain in nowhere.

On Thursday afternoon, after finishing up the into to Big Tom's bear stories, I went into Little Switzerland and went into one of the best bookstores I have ever seen. I then went on to Spruce Pine to the Large Chain Store that Shall Not Be Named and picked up a few things---milk, a chill pad for my laptop, and some Dramamine because I had been experiencing some vertigo. I think it may be sinus / driving around all these sharp turns related. Those of you who know me realize I can get car sick at the drop of a hat---even if I'm driving.

Saw three wild turkeys on my way down the mountain today. Evidently, there's a family/ flock of them that hang around. here.

On Friday, I go back to Mt. Mitchell again for a short period to go through the remaining bits of the files. The folks there have been so nice to let me look through their archive,s and I've even made some copies of some of the items I've found viamy family to pass long to them. I'm even thinking this book can come with a small children's companion piece "Big Tom's Bear Tales" that will tell about his adventures.

There is a really,really, dense fog around here. I haven't been able to see most of the mountains. It's made for slow driving, but as you can see in these pictures, I think it is really beautiful when the mists are around the mountain.

Since I'll be close to Asheville when I'm on Mt. Mitchell (well, I won't be close, but Mt. Mitchell isn't really that close to anything....) I'm a going to try to connect with Mom and Dad and have an early supper....

I had originally thought if I had become "bored" with the "nuts and bolts" of research that I could return to completing my short story collection. But I've found that the more I research, the more I write, and I've become incredibly fascinated by the entire thing...

I did "cheat" a little bit--- I brought two movies with me-- "Eternal Sunshine" and "The Hours" (or as I like to call it, "The Bipolar Family Christmas Special.") I may actually watch Eternal Sunshine tonight (on my computer.) The Hours is great, but just a little too depressing to watch while alone in the woods.

All the best!

I am planning on leaving here on Sunday morning, early, early, probably leaving just after breakfast at 8.

Enjoy these cool photos of Wildacres. It's been rainy and foggy most of the time, so I've not been able to get very many great photos. But that's okay.

Dawn

PS-- Despite the fact that the layout of this cabin reminds me of Johnny Depp's house in "Secret Window" (a movie about a writer who goes nuts) I've found that I really like the layout of it a lot....

Mists rolling off of the Black Mountains...

Blogging from the Mountain

Wildacres Writing Residency -- Blogging from the mountain-- Little Switzerland, NC

Part 1

I am so blessed to have been selected for a writing residency at Wildacres (www.wildacres.org). I will be working on a non-fiction book about my great, great, great grandfather, "Big Tom" Wilson, whose claim to fame was finding Dr. Mitchell's body on Mt. Mitchell. This residency is very competitive, so I feel very, very, blessed to be here. It is a beautiful area and I encourage you to visit.

Little Switzerland is gorgeous, and it isn't exactly at the end of the earth, but you can see it from here.

The Owl's Nest cabin is lovely, but I have to confess, the interor of it reminds me of the cabin that Johnny Depp had in the movie "Secret Window" (about a writer who goes crazy.) So while it is beautiful, I do sometimes find myself finding it just slightly intimidating.


Tomorrow I head to Mt. Mitchell, where I have an interview with some rangers. I was hoping that someone would take me to the waterfall where Mitchell's body was found, but that is on private property, so I need to find out who owns it and get permission, etc.


They have a whole display on Big Tom at the museum on top of Mt. Mitchell. This should be very interesing. I am hoping to get a book proposal completed by the end of this week to start shopping it around to agents...

Here is a photo of Big Tom.

Long story short, Big Tom was a bear hunter (he had killed over 100) and trapper in the mountains. There is a nature preserve named after him. Dr. Elisha Mitchell had determined that Mt. Mitchell was the highest peak east of the Mississippi and was confirming his findings when he went missing. After many failed attempts to find him, they sent for Big Tom, who found him at the bottom of a waterfall.