Writing Research – AKA Beach Time

Now that we are back in the South, and we’re settled in, we decided it was time to take a mini-vacation to let go of all the moving stress. I’m in the middle of revising Hurricane Season, and a majority of the story takes place at the beach, so we decided to head down to the Gulf of Mexico for the weekend. We originally wanted to visit Panama City, since Hurricane Michael had moved through that area last fall, but instead, we decided to go to Orange Beach, near Mobile Bay, which is much closer to us.

Our trip began on a rainy Friday morning, the day after a violent EF4 tornado
had devastated two small towns just about an hour east of us and sadly claimed 23 lives. This was part of the same storm system that produced dangerous blizzard conditions in our previous home state of Colorado. Although, I miss living in “the Springs”, I’m glad we are no longer having to deal with all that snow and freezing temps anymore. Hoping to see sunshine at one point, we travelled south. When it was time for a bathroom break, we discovered a neat little pecan/gift shop called Priester’s Pecans along the Interstate. Oh my goodness, we found the best ever cinnamon honey glazed pecans in the world! Those things are so addictive that we had to stop again on the way back to get another large bag of those heavenly pecans. I swear, don’t try them unless you want to buy a truckload of them.

As we drove on, I couldn’t help but notice that the countryside didn’t change much. The towns and the scenery looked much like ours in Central Alabama. I was beginning to wonder if I missed something, and we headed the wrong direction, until we crossed the toll bridge into Orange Beach, Alabama. Suddenly, we drove from a country scenery straight into a beach town. I couldn’t believe the contrast from hardwood trees on one side of the bridge to palms and sand on the other.

The main road to the hotel was filled with local seafood restaurants. Guess what we had all weekend! While we were having dinner at Doc’s Seafood & Steaks, I had my first Bushwacker cocktail, per recommendation of my wonderful mother-in-law. You won’t believe me, but it tasted just like a chocolate milkshake. I couldn’t even feel the rum…until I stood up. If you’re like me and like your drinks to taste and look like desserts, give a bushwacker cocktail a try.

 

Hubby was a sweetheart and booked us a hotel room with a balcony looking over the beach and out to sea. We knew it was still too cold for a swim, but we did walk a couple of miles along the shore each day, collected shells, and got our feet wet.

We also checked out some local shops and found this gem. The Gulf Coast House of Jerky. It’s an odd place where you can find a ton of jerky, as the name says, including fish jerky, alligator, snake, etc. We bought camel, which was surprisingly tender, and wild boar jerky. They also had exotic candy (see picture on the right), but I couldn’t get myself to do cricket lollipops, ant candy, or sugar coated earthworms. Sorry.

At night, we kept the balcony door open to fall asleep to the sound of the waves. Then, on our last day, we got a wonderful treat and saw a bunch of dolphins hanging near the shore.

Did I get some revising done? Nope, nah-uh, none. What I did do (like that wording here???) was trying to be aware of my surroundings, soaking in every moment, and putting myself in my character’s shoes, or flip-flops in this case. I became highly aware of what it was like to feel the sand between my toes as we walked on the beach. I sensed the difference between the dry and wet sand, and if you’ve been to the beach, you’ll know why I preferred walking on the wet sand where the waves broke. I ain’t that fit ya’ll!!! I noticed the seagulls cawing and pelicans swooping into the sea for food, and the sunsets were breathtaking.

Besides making new memories, these trip allowed me to enrich the experiences of my characters in my books. Thank you for letting me share these moments with you. You betcha that we’ll go-see-and-do more this year.

My take away – if your soul is yearning for rest, a trip to the beach can be a remedy close to a miracle.