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Studying Stones

Today, I went through some of the photos I took at Glenwood Cemetery in Chipley, Florida, where I visited Emmett’s parents, Dr. Francis C. Wilson, and Elizabeth V. Wilson. I took these two photos the last time I was in Chipley; I didn’t have a lot of time that day […]

In Thanks

Folks, I’m spending a few days decompressing from the road trip to Pensacola. I have to take a few days off from research and writing about our guy because, frankly, I’m beat. It was a great trip, and I enjoyed it, but it was intense and compressed. I can’t get […]

More St. Michael’s Stories

Right now, I’m in Chipley, Florida, staying with my excellent and gracious friend Pam and her family, in a historic old home where Emmett and his family members had certainly visited from time to time. There’s a photo of Emmett’s father, Dr. Wilson, posed in front of this house in […]

Stories from St. Michael’s

I’ve been in Pensacola since Sunday night, and it has been nonstop research heaven. It has been a great trip so far; I’ve found a lot of new information, made new friends, and I feel a lot more confident about how this project is coming along. When you work alone […]

A Lesson in History

This weekend, I’m working on a small part of the second chapter of Emmett’s story, taking place in December, 1899. Emmett is coming home from college (West Florida Seminary) for Christmas. I want to describe what the town looked like when he hopped off the L&N train at the Chipley […]

133 and Holding

Today is Emmett Wilson’s 133rd birthday! I’ve been wracking my brain to come up with something clever, that does not feel contrived, to honor this auspicious day. Most of the reason for the lack of inspiration is the residual mental crispiness of burnout from all the writing this past week. […]

Dialogue & Voices

They’ve been chatty this weekend, Emmett and his sister, Katie Wilson Meade. Two days in the writing cave, and 37 pages. It’s a very rough draft, but it means a few important scenes are roughed in. Editing will happen later. What I wanted to accomplish this weekend was to get […]

Labor Day, Then and Now

I hope you had a great holiday! Hard to believe this marks the unofficial end of summer — it is 90 degrees up here in Maryland, and the community pool was packed. I dug around a little to see what Emmett was doing for Labor Day 100 years ago. He […]

Transitions

It is awfully quiet around here today. I’m working from my home office for a change, for the chance to delve deep into the second chapter of Emmett’s book. I chose to work from home today because for the first time in — always — the nest is empty. At […]