Welcome

Welcome to All Things Anne Bradstreet! This is my journey through researching the life and poetry of Anne Bradstreet and writing a historical novel about her life. I am in the very early stages of my project. I began seriously working on it in April 2011, and currently (May, 2011) am deep into the research stage. When some aspect of her life or poetry hits me -- when I can see her vividly in a situation, or when I get one of those (lovely) flashes of insight, then I try writing a scene for a book. One of these scenes has been quite successful; the rest, learning experiences.

Two things go into writing a historical novel: researching the thing, and writing the thing. I want to use this blog as a sounding board for both of those processes. I want to talk to you about what I learn about Anne and how I decide I want her to act and to be in my book. I hope you'll talk back and give me your insights and opinions on what I am on about.

I thought about using my Facebook friends as my sounding board and endlessly posting historical glory there. But that would not be fair to my FB friends who just don't like history, and maybe even too much for those who do. My family is already a sounding board of sorts, but peace in the home demands that I limit my Anne observations to far fewer than what actually occurs to me. Spouses don't always want to hear about a long-dead Puritan woman when they walk in the door at the end of the day, and teen-aged sons are even less tolerant. So my dear family, see how much I love you? I'm starting a blog.

Thanks for taking this journey with me.

-Joyce