Progress and interesting views in the discovery process on Emmett Wilson’s life.
Some alcoholics ‘hit bottom’ (i.e., reach a point where they become teachable, where they are sick and tired of being sick and tired) sooner than others. For myself, it came after about 30 years of moderate to occasional heavy drinking. At the end, it wasn’t as if I was having […]
Back in the mid-1980’s, when I was a year or so out of journalism school with some experience writing for daily newspapers under my belt, I got the itch to move on to a bigger newspaper market, with a more interesting beat, and more exciting stories to write. Columbus, Mississippi […]
Update on the research: The re-collection of lost images week has begun. I’ve reordered the film to rescan those images, and I’m almost finished going over my entire database. It has been a painstaking, image-by-image process. I’m double-checking every fact I have on Emmett that I intend to use in […]
Hello! I am back from the database rebuilding saga that has taken all frigging week. I feel refreshed and recharged, though, because I now have a better organized database. Ya know, if it had to happen, I’m glad it happened NOW, and not when I would be finishing the book. […]
Folks, I will be off the grid for at least several days. The problem: Several hundred images that I captured from microfilm have disappeared. The adjectives “anxious” and “frustrated” barely describe the feelings I’ve had for the past 48 hours. I discovered the images were missing by accident on Saturday. […]
I talk to dead people on a regular basis for Emmett’s story. Because the convo is mostly one-way, I don’t get a lot of sass back from my interview subjects. Also, I don’t have to worry about Emmett and his friends not liking what I had to write about them […]
Yesterday, a colleague told me that she had seen an actual notary public stamp belonging to Emmett Wilson on a legal document dating from 1905! She told me it was quite unique; Emmett’s name is part of the official stamp itself. This made me wonder what ever became of the […]
As of this past weekend, Emmett’s biographical story structure is in place. Now can I start actually writing the book? I wish. That gigantic story architecture/outline I shared with you two weeks earlier is comprehensive and in good order, but the outline now needs in-depth expansion. My next step is […]
For the past two weeks, the focus has been on reading back issues of The Chipley Banner from 1893-1904, and getting details about the gaps of information during Emmett’s boyhood. I finished the reels and they are on their way back to the University of West Florida. There wasn’t much […]
Good news: The story architecture is roughed in. My colleagues have gotten used to the new wallpaper, and more than a few have commented favorably. The story architecture adventure has turned out to be a good teaching tool. Students who visit my office see that I practice what I […]
Tell my story. 