TSKW – Writes of Spring at 750 words a day, because I can’t be trusted

I have wanted to write this post for awhile but couldn’t tell the story about my work just in case any of the judges happened upon it. Unlikely?  Yes, very, but still. I didn’t want to jeopardize my chances of winning. Winning the Writes of Spring Contest sponsored by The Studios Key West, an organization I respect, was wonderful for me, a fabulous gift.

Many thanks go to the generosity of TSKW for my fabulous prizes! These include a certificate suitable for framing * admission to a workshop ($450. value) at the 2013 Key West Literary Seminar KWLS * a cheque for $100* $100 gift certificate to The Flaming Buoy Restaurant

It’s great to be rewarded with a first place win.  But really, the true winner will be whoever crosses the REAL finish line,  completes the story, or writes another one.

From left to right, Nan Klingener, judge * Mark Heddon, judge * Roz Brackenberry, judge * me * George Cooper, judge* Katie Leigh, runner up * Richard Hatch, runner up* Jack Terry, runner up. Missing from this photo is Maxine Lopez-Keogh, also a runner up.

Our winning entries are available on the TSKW website, so please, we would love you to read them and see what we’re up to on this tiny burg. I  am honored to be in such wonderful company.

Competitions are tough with elements of the arbitrary inherent in the process, no matter how diligent the attempt to level the playing field. I know this is true or I would have won much more often (proof positive).  The true value of entering a contest is that it sets a deadline to write, polish and edit a piece. Anyone who finishes their piece or rediscovers the joys of writing (or overcomes the horrors)  comes out way ahead.  It’s also great to meet each other because writing is solitary, done in the dark.

Roz Brackenberry has recently published Becoming George Sand a novel I love and it was wonderful to hear her read an excerpt from my manuscript with her crisp British delivery.

 

George Cooper, contest organizer, judge and author of Lost Love: A True Story of Passion, Murder, and Justice in Old New York, presenting Richard Hatch with his award.

We were given a prompt and this one was beautifully ambiguous: “the end of the road”, perfect for Key West but it could go anywhere. I used this prompt to begin an exploration, long on my mind.  I began with an excursion into a very strange place – No Name Key. I chose it because it was rumored that there was a Manchineel tree on No Name Key. This is no less than one of the most poisonous trees in the world. Oh yes, I thought, a good start. So my friends Deb Linker and Elizabeth Warner took me there, promising that they would point out this tree to me. Deb led the way.

I found out that No Name Key had an important ferry landing in the 1930’s.

I had never been anywhere like this place and understood that not everyone would recognize its beauty. But I knew my character would be irresistibly drawn to it.

 

I got angry about the debris, garbage dumped in the bush and along the shoreline until I began to wonder what else had or could have washed up.

 

Could the driftwood be part of a game of jacks played by giants?

So many people have helped to make this story come alive, to help me capture the flavor of this place, the weirdness, the particularity. Many I will never meet.

I think this was a cistern, maybe serving No Name Key Lodge. There is little information about the place, I have only been able to find one or two pictures.

 

Who built it? When? I refused to be overwhelmed by the possibilities, just continued to wander around, holding the story loosely.

We wandered further inland, buoyed by promises of finding the elusive and astounding Manchineel tree.

 

Deb had seen it and knew where it was.  She told me that the first person she asked refused to tell her its location. She had even seem the apples it produces, small and green and the reason it is also known as the “Death-Apple Tree.”

 

So we walked farther in.

Past known landmarks . . .

 

No we we weren’t lost, but Deb could not find the tree, said that she must have missed it, so we turned around and headed back.

Keeping our eyes peeled, but since I didn’t quite know what it looked like. I kept asking for any remarkable characteristics. “Well, the leaves are serrated, but only slightly. It’s a medium green and I think it has many branches.” The more I heard the more discouraged I became. It sounded like any other tree, like so many we had encountered.

Finally Deb said, “I think this is it.” She hadn’t recognized it right away,  in fact walked right by it on the way in the pathway because she had seen it in its most magnificent incarnation, fruiting, in full regalia. But she was sure this was it.

When I looked more closely, I could make out tint green buds where the apples will form

 

And then it dawned on me exactly why the tree is so astounding because it is so ordinary – hidden in plain sight like the most successful predators. I look down on the pathway, steps away from the tree . . .

I’m not kidding. It was fabulous. the dolls arm looked old. I could tell by the way the sleeve must have been attached to the arm. It was stitched, not glued, so it was old. Maybe it was from the 1930’s.  Maybe the mid 30’s. Maybe 1935.  The arm seemed to be begging me to tell the story.

 

Okay, so far I have a woman who finds this place beautiful, (me? a friend, maybe, in another incarnation?), the ruins of a lodge, pier, cistern and a Manchineel tree, and they all seem to be speaking of another time,  somewhere in the 1930’s because I discover that No Name Key was a vibrant resort destination in that era,  alive.   The place was hopping back then and rumors began coming my way. I was told that Cecil B.DeMille once visited. There have also been a number of unsolved murders, faithless women, gamblers, even a car from the 1920’s that washed ashore sometime in the 80’s, complete with skeletal remains.

I begin with a description of a woman. I see her in my mind. Tall, with kinky red hair, somehow desperate.

We repair to the bar to do some mulling, yes, research is tough but it must be faced.

Elizabeth

And Deb at the astounding No Name Pub.

My strategy was to write 5 days and edit on the 6th then write 5 days and edit on the 6th. In between I meet with some of KW’s finest historians. Here’s Tom Hambright in his natural habitat, at the Key West library.

He showed me images, statistics.

What the backroom of a library should look like.

And I began to get excited.

Forced to explore the waters.

 

I met with engaging and knowledgeable men like Bill Keogh who wrote Florida Keys Paddling Guide: From Key Largo to Key West Bill owns and operates  Big Pine Kayak Adventures. I figure if anyone knew where the bodies were buried, it would be Bill. Again we met at the remarkable No Name Pub!

 

Then more walking around, but really what I did was write, edit polish, restructure, write edit, and the best advice I can  give myself is to NEVER leave the story alone or it will die.  I have to sort through the tangle, expose the structure, the nature of the thing and not get discouraged by many false or incomplete starts.

Manchineel tangle. O yah!

And be grateful, because I am, to TSKW because so far, this is NOT the one that got away.