I WROTE A NOVEL???
Hello Friends. As mentioned before, I've been a musician all my life, and a songwriter. My love of the English/Irish/Scottish ballads nurtured my interest in both storytelling and Celtic culture, and informed my songwriting as well as my reading choices. At some point I learned that most of my family heritage is Irish/Scottish, so maybe that explains something? Anyway . . . around 5 years ago I started writing a novel. Because this kind of writing was new, I was finding my way and it went very slowly. For years I'd written mainly songs (and music) and a bit of journaling but this was much different. Then the pandemic hit, and all our music gigs abruptly stopped. I had plenty of time to learn, and got the bulk of the book done.
I'd thought about doing this for some time, inspired by hearing my paternal grandmother Katherine Joyce Roepken's stories about her family life in late Victorian-era Dayton. One particular story I remember was this: Grandma's father had died at the age of 55. Some men from their family-owned company got her mother to sign papers removing family control of the business. They basically lost much of their financial interest in the company. Grandma told me that her mother was told she had to sign, and had deep regret about it. She herself was sick, and she died shortly thereafter at age 56. While I have no way of confirming all of it, this seed of a story stayed with me. Perhaps it stirred my own Irish aversion to injustice. I did further research, largely concerning general family life circa 1911, and especially about the status of women. And I began writing fiction.
I ended up telling the story in two eras, 1911 and 2015, so I could explore the differences in women's status. I loved the writing process, and even enjoyed the editing. But most especially, I was intrigued when new characters walked into the narrative, especially when they came from the otherworld. You'll need to read the book to find out about that. And justice.
The novel is Sight Unseen: Emma's House. It is available in paperback and Kindle here:
PS – I imagined/wished that my book might become a Netflix series, so I wrote some music for it. It's free to listen here:
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