At the Heart of it All
Pictured from left to right, top row: My father, Don “Donnie” Sandell; my aunt, Jane Lewis; my grandmother, Nell Tarilton, (who won a Charleston contest in the 1920’s). Bottom row, left to right: My cousin, Court Lewis (my aunt’s oldest son); my aunt’s youngest son, Mike Lewis; my sister, Kathy Sandell Johnson (being held in my mother’s right arm); my mother, Joyce Tarilton Sandell; me (about 1 year-old) in my mother’s left arm; my aunt’s middle son, Warren Lewis.
Taken on Key Biscayne, near the Cape Florida lighthouse (which I write about in books two and three of the Glory Land series), circa 1960.
I’m often asked what inspires me. But rather than naming every person, place or thing that does, perhaps it’d just be easier to say what doesn’t. However, that would seem like a caustic response to a reasonable question, so I usually end up saying family and friends do. Though it sounds so cliché, in truth, they absolutely do, and throughout my novels are bits and pieces of real life events that family and friends were a part of. Take, for example, in THE ART OF BREATHING: The main character, Kathryn Cavanaugh, is stricken with the dreaded decease of tuberculosis, just as my father’s mother, Kathryn, was in 1938. (Author’s Note: I’m not giving away any secrets the back jackets of my books don’t already tell you.) When I was writing the scene where she has to tell her son, Donnie, she can’t be there to walk him to school, I cried like a baby. You see, my dad’s name was Donnie, and though he’s gone now, I am quite sure that if I had the chance to ask him, he would tell me he went through a similar scene with his mother. In the book, BENEATH A THOUSAND APPLE TREES, Rachel’s physical handicap was inspired by a friend’s courageous battle with cancer that left her with a limp. I admire her greatly, so when I was trying to give a voice to my character inspired by her, I knew it would have to be a strong, valiant one. I hope my readers feel I accomplished that, and, most of all, I hope my friend does, too.
Several weeks ago, the second book in the Glory Land series, THE RISING OF GLORY LAND, made its debut. The trilogy is about old Florida, beginning in the 1880’s. The second book is set in Miami, in 1906, when it was still a small town. In it I describe the horrors of the devastating hurricanes that have battered the white sandy shorelines since time began, and I speak from experience: I’ve been through hurricanes Donna, Betsy, Cleo, Katrina, Iris, Andrew and Wilma, just to name a few. Is it any wonder that I live in North Carolina today? When I rode out the storms, I was in a house that was strong and secure (it’s the one I wrote about in my last blog post—picture included), and my family had plenty of time to prepare. Needless to say, that wasn’t the case when my grandmother came down to Miami in 1916. Back then, there were two ways they knew a storm was bearing down on them; the barometer would drop, and the air smelled like fish, even well-inland. In one scene in the book, Eliza asks a Seminole chief if he can smell fish. He answers yes, “Big wind coming.” I learned about the “smell of the wind” from my grandmother and great-aunt, who were there in Miami, in 1926, when it was flattened by a category five storm that roared ashore with 150 mph winds.
Another scene in THE RISING OF GLORY LAND is of a cookout on the beach. When I was little, my family used to gather on Key Biscayne (an island directly off of Miami), for an early morning breakfast cookout. Even though I was very young, certain smells take me back there again; like the salt air when the sun is just beginning to warm it, or the smell of bacon in a skillet on a grill. Ahhhhh…what a time that was. Those were simply good old-fashioned Miami days, long before skyscrapers could block out the view of sunrises, and before traffic was as thick as the fish used to be in the bay.
In the final book in the trilogy, THE RIVER TO GLORY LAND, which will be out in December, the heroine’s name is Lily, and in one scene she wins a Charleston dance contest. This scene was inspired by my grandmother, Nell Tarilton, who won a Charleston contest at the Roney Plaza Hotel on Miami Beach, in the 20’s. She told me her big prize was a dozen red roses—and, of course, all bragging rights.
All things considered, it truly is people, places and things that are at the heart of my writing, but especially family and friends. And even though it may sound like a cliché when I say that, I have to remind myself that clichés are simply truths repeated over and over again. When I sit down with loved ones for a bite of lunch or to watch a football game, they never know if they might end up in a scene in one of my books. If they do, I hope they’ll take it as a compliment. In some way, they’ve left a lasting impression in my heart and mind—one that was worth writing about.