I’ve gotten into some sort of local history kick. I raided the county library and picked up everything I could get my hands on about Northern Monmouth. I’m fascinated by these dense books lightly sprinkled with anecdotes. (The anecdotes make it all worthwhile, though.)

I have some vague notion that my choice of reading materials will inform my next novel. Geography, history play a role in modernity. I want to look at circumstance and setting and how they take a sledgehammer to an ordinary life. That’s what I’m thinking, at least. I want the characters to be an inevitable result of the constitution of their surroundings. …or something.

Anyway, local lore about Northern Monmouth:

  • In the early 17oos or so, Penelope Stout got gutted by Native Americans who left her for dead, hid in a tree stump, was rescued by a Native American and went on to get married and have 13 kids (which makes me doubt the whole gutted part).
  • Pirates used to dock near Highlands and Capt. Kidd hid treasure on Sandy Hook. A lot of pirates wound up settling in the area. Aargh.
  • One day a year, all of Middletown would gather for a community celebration. During the celebration, grievances from the entire year were settled verbally or physically until everything was resolved.

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In other writing news, I’ve started to get my first manuscript rejections. Yee-haw. My book is too literary for the editors who have rejected it, which I kind of anticipated. Hopefully, it’ll click with some editor soon.