TWRP Historical Roses

I just watched Book TV where Carla Peterson talks about her book “Black Gotham”, where she strives to reconstruct the lives of her 19^th century ancestors. She is also the author of "Doers of the Word": African-American Women Speakers and Writers in the North, 1830-1880.

http://nyuarchiveworkshop.wordpress.com/2011/05/03/check-out-carla-peterson-on-what-the-women-were-doing/

It is amazing how connected your life starts to become when you want to start out on a new project. Recently, I’ve been revisiting my research on my ancestors. One Thanksgiving a few years back, my dad talked non-stop to me about growing up in a small West Texas town. He was born in the mid 1920’s, so he grew up in the 1930’s where the U.S. experienced the Great Depression, the 1940’s with World War II and the 1950’s where he married my mother and they started to raise their family. His life is full of experiences in various jobs he had, historical moments and cherished family memories. As always looking at this inspires me to either write our family history or write a romance story.

A LOVE FOR ETERNITY was inspired by a story my dad told me about his sister’s marriage. I know for other authors inspiration can come from anywhere. Sometimes, people ask me where my ideas come from. They say they couldn’t do it. My thinking is that they’re not really looking. Inspiration can come from watching a bird fly up into an apple tree. However, history is full of inspiration.

For example, the typewriter – yes, the machine we all used to use before computers – is an inspiration to me. It has also been a way for me to get a job where I don’t have to ask, “Would you like fries with that?” I took typing class in the 1970’s. However, I began to wonder. Did a Hispanic woman ever have a job as a secretary, or even a typist, in the 1940’s or 1950’s? What if she did? And what if she met the man of her dreams at her new job? Another romance story is born.

One of the questions Carla Peterson was asked after she finished her talk this morning on Book TV was how she had found information about her ancestors before 1880. Her answer was that you have to dig deep, and then deeper.

My family history goes back to 1869 when my paternal great grandfather was born. I remember how excited I was when I found U.S. Census records which listed my great grandfathers and their families. My dad corroborated the information for me. However, before the 1890’s my ancestors were in Mexico (though, of course, Texas used to part of Spain, France and Mexico). My paternal great grandfather married a lady from Spain.

This book, LAS TEJANAS: 300 YEARS OF HISTORY, is full of information about women from the 1700’s to the present. Not only has it helped me with my family history, but the stories of these women lead me to ideas for love stories.

http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/books/acolas.html

So, keep looking for those ideas. They can come from anywhere, but our history and the world’s history can lead to more.