Step Away from Your Desk

Some years ago, I got into the bad habit of eating lunch at my desk -- partly because I had too much to do and partly because I felt guilty, having to leave promptly to pick up kids at daycare. Both were poor excuses.

I've learned over the years, that if you take 15 minutes or more to step outside, walk around the block, or go for a short drive, (yes, even if you're working at home!) you come back refreshed and inspired. I was reminded of this a couple days ago, when I was pondering how to promote my first book, #ToryRoof, in conjunction with Patriots Day (in Massachusetts) and Paul Revere's ride.

Coming home from an errand, I happened to pass this landmark, tucked away off a residential road. It's one of three Revolutionary War training fields in the area, where munitions were stored in a powder house and where Minutemen practiced their drills. Turns out my town was a supply point for the Continental Army. The weapons and ammunition were so valuable, they were guarded by 6 soldiers and 2 captains who were boarded at a nearby farmhouse.

As most of us learned in elementary school, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow recounts Paul Revere's Ride with his famous poem, which some say, captures the rhythm of a horse's hooves: "Listen my children and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere. On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five, hardly a man is now alive." It was on the morning of April 19th that supplies were moved from Concord, further into the countryside, to avoid detection by the British. It is quite likely some were moved here.

Walking around this field, with the ghosts of the past, provided a jolt of history.

You see, I align my present-day plot, seasonally, with true events that occurred in 1765-66. The story hinges around a modern woman, Sarah Sutherland, who encounters a fiery Revolutionary War agitator in a house she is selling and is drawn to him -- eventually unable to reconcile her two realities. (Yes, there were days I woke up thinking 'where am I and who am I today?') I purposely focused on this timeframe because a lot was going on: anti-Loyalist sentiments were brewing; acts of resistance were occurring; residents had to quarter British troops; sugar, molasses, and printed fabric were being taxed; Colonists were restricted in trade and representation; and upstart newspapers, like the Boston Gazette, were the voice of rebellion. What a perfect setting for a smart, strong woman to take an active role.

While this book is written as historical fiction, it is carefully researched, and many of the sources are linked in the Afterword of the ebook version. Of course, I use a lot of imagination, take creative liberties, rely on a modern mystery, and reveal a dangerous deception, to explain Sarah's forays into the past, but because of this training field -- and stepping away from my desk -- I can feel the moment.