by Hart Johnson
[Today's little travelogue is brought to you by Michael DiGesu at In Time... it's a blogfest!
Check out here for more participants!]
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| Portland, aka Beertopia or Beervana |
Portland Oregon
I spent June in my favorite city opening a Microbrewery. I participated in a love triangle... sort of... well one of them is sort of just my best friend, but MAN can he kiss! There was a murder involved... erm... two actually... and the Russian mafia, but I drank a lot of fabulous beer!
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| This is my city. Isn't it amazing? (Mt. Hood in the background) |
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| Also known as Bridgetown |
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| Roanoke's Mill Mountain Star |
Roanoke Virginia
Then I flew to Roanoke for a Little Miss Beauty Pageant. That might have been a little annoying... the Little Miss part, I mean. But there are great people there—family and friends...
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| I spent a lot of time at the newly renovated Patrick Henry Hotel |
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| And HERE, at the lovely Elmwood Park |
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| Here's the lovely Kahlotus city center |
Kahlotus Washington
And FINALLY, they put me in an institution. It didn't matter HOW long I tried to explain the difference between bad and naughty.
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| And here it is from a distance. Impressive, eh? |
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| The OUTSKIRTS of Kahlotus... |
*cough *
In case you missed it, what I MEANT to say is the only way I really 'went' anywhere was through writing, but I had a darned productive summer. In June I wrote
What Ales Me (a 'sassy' mystery), based in Portland. In July I did first revision of
Begonia Bribe (my second Cozy Mystery, based in Roanoke). Then I did agent requested revisions on
Kahlotus Disposal Site... (edgy YA).
I revisited Roanoke in September, and I am leaving for Kahlotus tonight...
On a side note, I was pleased to note when I searched Kahlotus images, my book cover, designed by my friend Joris, was on there several times...
31 comments:
You had such a productive summer! And on such different projects. Must make you feel great!
Yay for travelling through your writing!! Wonderful and most NAKED!
Take care
x
Traveling through writing is definitely almost as good as the real thing. Congratulations on your productive summer!
sometimes going places by writing can be just as fun! Only place I went was back to Connecticut in this case, with my wip and to bretagne for a whole three days in real life:( lol
Elizabeth-It WAS productive. I feel a little like I need a rest!
Jenny-sometimes it's the only option, eh?
Becky-well it depends on where you might otherwise go...
Katie-yeah, back home isn't really vacation, but it's good in other ways...
Your travels sound similar to mine - all in the mind!
Aww, I wish I'd known you'd be in Roanoke. I live in Roanoke. In fact, I believe the Little Miss Pageant was held at the Claude Moore Educational Complex, and I worked across the street that same day at the Roanoke Higher Education Center. We could've said hi. :)
It's weird how these things work, isn't it?
Sounds like your vacations were productive if nothing else. :)
Really Hart,
You had me going at the beginning with the LOVE TRIANGLE and that kiss.. I certainly raised a brow and thought..."What a tart! She's living up to her name." LOL.
As always I enjoyed your entry so much. Thanks for joining in on the fun.
Congrats on all the success in your writing so far. I finally finished my final revisions on BG, and plan to query a bit next week.
Have a great weekend in NAKEDNESS ...
Awesome summer travels, you tricky little tartlet!
That book cover's amazing. Is this Joris the good kisser? hehehe
Michael-thank you! It was a fun one! And good luck with your querying!!!
Nicki-every time I pucker up for Joris he reminds me I'm old enough to be his mother, so I have no clue on that front, but he has other talents, as you can see.
Gracious. Look at the comment I'm following!
Love the photo with Mt. Hood. Those mountains showing up behind city streets are so surreal and beautiful!
Nice writing projects.
Monti
NotesAlongTheWay
Hi Hart. You had a very busy summer! I feel sooo lazy. =D
That is a lot of traveling! great pictures!
Monit-yes, spam removed... he's been here before... shouldn't have cleaned out my spam folder, apparently. I love Portland tucked btween trees and mountains.
RaShelle-it WAS busy! Not done yet, either... i will rest next year *sigh*
Summer-I went virtually MANY places, eh? teehee
It sounds like you had a wild summer, traveling through your writing! :)
You are so much more creative. I didn't participate in this because I had nothing to share. Wow, as a writer I really should have thought more along these lines. :) I blame sick kid home for over a week. Have a great weekend.
Am I a good kisser? I dunno, you tell me... mam... ;)
I'm not quite sure I like that Kahlotus cover much; it's very much still a work in progress, really... Maybe sometime soon I'll upgrade it a little :)
As for the photo of Portland... It's gorgeous! It's also the basis for the cover of Conspiracy... As in, basically a tracing of that photo, but edited somewhat... :)
Your "summer" rocked!
And now for an awesome weekend! ZOOM!
Cherie-totally missed your comment earlier--not sure how! Sorry! I haven' PHYSICALLY been to Roanoke, but this series IS based there--I ought to have you check for accuracy!
GE-definitely wild--especially with 5 dead people and all... erm.
Ciara-this came to be 11th hour. Had it been a Thursday, I may have gone with a delusional vacation...
Joris-did you see my response... that when I pucker up, you tell me I'm old enough to be your mother... (and I LIKE this cover)
Sarah-you, too!!!
Portland is certainly an awesome city. I actually spent time down in Portland this past July meeting a fellow blogger friend in the area. His name is Draven Ames. We had lunch at the Red Robin by the 205 mall. It was a highlight, if not the highlight, of my summer!
Sounds like you had a wonderfully productive summer, which is great! Lovely cover!
Shoot, you gave it away at the end. I so finally hoped I was the "in" in the "inside" joke!!
Loved your entry, Hart. And I also love your writing success. Keep it up!
erica
Aw, going places in your books is just as good as going there yourself. Plus you get to make up cool characters who experience things you may never get to even if you visited those towns!!
Hi Hart, I'm checking in very late from the bloffee this morning. Sometimes the best way to travel somewhere is through your writing.
Have a good weekend!
Oooh, great stuff you did here! You reminded me that my summer wasn't all staycation and writerly things, but we squeezed 6 people into the cab of my hubby's semi truck and traveled over 10 hours one way! Eeep!
♥.•*¨Elizabeth¨*•.♥
Yeah for Portland! I am enjoying this blog fest, what a way to travel :)
Hi Hart! Thanks for the tripping round which to me are very exotic places. You got so much writing done! I love it!
Denise
And forgot to say I adore researching places for my settings. I adhere to that mantra - don't write about what you know, write about what you want to find out. D
I've never been to Oregon, unfortunately, but I have a friend who has worked as a ski coach at Mt. Hood >:)
Cold As Heaven
I knew you didn't go anywhere but I fell for it anyway. Great pictures.
LOL; yep, the vacation of a writer - spent online in research :) I did that several times myself.
Congrats on getting so much writing done. Wow, you accomplished a lot. And that book cover looks awesome.
........dhole
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