I've been privileged to hear a variety of real-live published authors speak at various times in my career, and every time I do, I think, "I could do that." After all, I have multiple story ideas floating around in my head, characters I've left in different situations, whole worlds to explore. As I leave each author's presentation, I resolve to set aside time every day to write something not work related.
And then my reality happens. Every week, my schedule is enough different that having a regular time to start dumping the stories and people out of my head is not really possible. I'm not complaining, mind you - I love what I do. I do, after all, get to write for a living. Not everyone who wants to write can say that. It's just that my head is getting crowded.
Anyway, back to the most recent source of inspiration. Mary Doria Russell was at the Seward Memorial Library Sept. 22. Among her books is Doc, which is the story of Dr. John Henry Holliday, a young dentist-turned-professional-gambler who is best known for his participation in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Ariz. Doc was the All Seward Reads Together title for this summer. I must admit, when Becky Baker, Seward's head librarian, said Doc was going to be the book, I thought she said Dock. I was trying to figure out the appeal of a boat launching site and how it could possibly work as the title of a book. Perhaps it's a murder mystery and the body was found at the dock. I didn't know. Then when I realized the title was Doc, I felt like an idiot. Gotta love homonyms.
But, I digress.
Russell talked about Doc and why she wrote this biography. She was passionate about this book and being able to tell the story of Alice Holliday's son. She spends four to six hours every day at her computer, working on her current project. She said she has to be interested enough in the project and like the characters/players enough to spend three to four years with them. That's how long it takes her to write a book like Doc.
Everyone "knows" who Doc Holliday was. And everyone loves Doc Holliday, well, at least Val Kilmer playing him in the movie Tombstone. While Russell said she loves the Earps (Wyatt, Morgan and Virgil), from the start, this story was about Holliday. The man didn't have an easy life, that's for sure. Not just because of the time in which he lived and the disease he eventually died from, but things didn't start off well.
When he was born, he had a cleft palate and cleft lip. At the time, people believed that meant your family's blood was contaminated, "bad blood," if you will. And for the Hollidays, that would have been devastating. The family was Georgia gentry, living in the upper echelon of society. John's mother, Alice, fed the baby with an eyedropper to keep him alive until his uncle, John S. Holliday, could perform surgery to repair the defects. It marked the first time for this kind of surgery in North America, Russell said. Add to that, the uncle doctor was the second surgeon in the world to use ether as an anesthetic. Pretty amazing!
Alice, however, was not destined to see her little boy grow into manhood. Tuberculosis sapped her strength and leached her life away. When she died at age 36, John lost his best friend and confidante. And then he developed tuberculosis, too. Rather than stay in Georgia where the humidity made breathing almost impossible, at age 21, he decided to try his luck in the west, where the air was drier.
At the time (1873), the economy had tanked, and dentistry became a luxury. Holliday had no other way to make a living, so "to his profound humiliation," Russell said, "he started to make his living playing cards." Now in this age of poker on television, that doesn't sound awful. But back then, "it was the male equivalent of becoming a prostitute," Russell said. It was doing something for money that others did for pleasure.
(You can read more about Russell's presentation in the Oct. 2 Seward County Independent. Check it out!)
As Russell talked about her insights into Holliday's life and her work to learn more about him, his family and friends and the time in which he lived, I found myself thinking about my characters living in the old west in my head. And yes, I have some. I know writing a western or any other historical drama will require time spent in the library and online, learning as much as I can about the time period. I'm actually looking forward to doing that.
I keep thinking I'll take a week off from work, find a secluded spot someplace and spend the week writing one of the stories in my head. I haven't done that yet, but I will. And when I finish that literary offering, whatever it might be and however literary it might be, and I feel it's ready for the light of day, I'll let you know.
