Take Advantage of the Spookiest Month of the Year

Hey guys, Jennifer here. Today I stumbled upon the Delaware State Parks website, and read about this great fall event. Fort Delaware is rumored to be haunted, and you can find out for yourself in an investigational tour. Follow a real Ghost Haunting tour guide, bring your own recording equipment and decide… is it haunted?? Read more about the Fort Delaware tours HERE. This leads me to a great idea. Take a haunted tour this October, and get some great ideas for a wonderfully spooky mystery. What better way to get your wheels turning, and have fun at the same time! Check out the top ten voted Haunted Tours HERE. image via Delaware State Parks

Research Trip Windup

I can go home now, I have finished Draft 1 of The Mystery at Fort Sumter! It must be a pretty exciting tale, because I just couldn't quit—once I had the kid characters bounding around Charleston, each in a different direction, in the midst of a rare snowstorm—well, I could hardly go to bed and leave them in such dire straits, could I? No, indeed, and so I had a really late night, since I wanted to know how the story ended myself, and the only way to do that was to write it... and I knew I could not sleep till all the characters were safe and warm. Of course, now the real work begins, the 2nd draft, and revision, and proofreading, etc. It's a writer's life!

Day Tripping

Today was the day we went to Charleston for my Fort Sumter mystery research trip. Sounds like fun, hey? Sometimes, I don't know which is more mysterious—my mysteries or my life! It was a beautiful summer day when we headed across the sailboat like bridge between Georgia and South Carolina. A 90 minute trip turned into 2 and 1/2 hours, as we encountered a gazillion orange cones on the incessant road construction on that antique known as Highway 17. At least there were no alligators on the road! It was the proverbial "one hundred and two in the shade" in Charleston and noon by the time we arrived, so all Papa could think about was lunch and finding a parking place. The best way to get a parking place in Charleston is to inherit one! Otherwise, plan on a 30 minute tour of the city to find a free "not free" parking spot. We ate at S.N.O.B. (stands for Slightly North of Broad, which only makes sense if you know that the really cool place to be/live/be born is...South of Broad!). This place is pure Charleston, sort of a serenade and a siesta in a bottle—great food! Hot cornbread in a sweet grass basket, crab salad to die for (well, the crabs did), iced tea like we only make in the South, and sour cream apple tarts with ice cream and caramel...well, it was nice. Then, back to work: We tried to tackle sites I planned to put in the book, check sales opportunities, double-check odd things, like exactly what earthquake bolts look like and how you spell Hyman's seafood. But mostly we went to go to Fort Sumter. As the day wore on things converged to foil our plans: times, parking, steps, heat, a cracker of a storm, and etc., until we literally "missed the boat." Oh, well, the Fort will still be there next time. I did buy some great Civil War books and saw my own Pretty Darn Scary mysteries for sale in the Old Market, which was exciting. A mere 90 minute 3 hour drive, and we were back in Savannah. So goes the day of a writer: time, money, exhaustion, calories, and not a word written. So guess what I'll be all about tomorrow?!

Image via charlestonsouthernhomes.com

Follow Mimi and Papa on a research trip!

Ok, one and all, I hope you'll follow Carole Marsh/Mimi and Bob/Papa on our journey to Savannah and Charleston during these hot Dog Days (or is it Hot Dog days?) while I am researching and writing my new Real Kids/Real Places mystery—The "First Shot of the Civil War!" Fort Sumter Mystery, set in Charleston, South Carolina. Today we drove from Peachtree City to Savannah, leaving town as we passed some sad faces heading back to the city TO START SCHOOL! Aw, kids, it won't be that bad! However, glad I am headed to the beach! Bob and I have a home in Savannah's historic district. Each trip down is different: this time the tobacco has turned bright yellow and its lop-eared leaves are a tad droopy. Too bad there is not a great use for tobacco instead of for smoking. DO NOT SMOKE! I am going to experiment to see if I can make paper out of it! We also saw corn as high as an elephant's eye, and cotton plants on guard against boll weevils! Soon they will get little red blooms then white cotton bolls that look like snow. Ok, we're here, sated on South Georgia barbecue and swait tay (sweet tea) and as you can see, first thing I do is...blog to you!