Author Ann McAllister Clark - muses about books, authors and St. Augustine, Florida
“I try to write parts for women that are as complicated and interesting as women actually are.” Nora Ephron
Ephron’s go-to recipe for salad dressing: mix 2 T. Grey Poupon mustard with 2 T. red wine vinegar.
Wisk constantly with a fork slowly adding 6 T. olive oil until the vinaigrette is thick and creamy.
I’ve used this many times and it is delicious. a.
“Poetry provides the one permissible way
of saying one thing. and meaning another.”
ROBERT FROST
Book Review – September 2018
Literary Fiction/Womans Fiction
Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, Aug , 2018
One word comes to my mind after reading this book – Wonderful – and all that that word implies. I read the book in two and a half days not because it was a fast read but because it drew me in almost immediately and at the turn of each page I wanted to know more and what would happen next.
Although Where the Crawdads Sing is her first and debut novel, Delia Owens is not at all new to creating stunning literature having co-authored three non-fiction, best selling, lyrical nature books with her husband Mark Owens when they as wildlife scientists lived in and wrote their memoirs about Africa: Cry of the Kalahari, The Eye of the Elephant, and Secrets of the Savanna.
In Where the Crawdads Sing, Owens writes about seven year old Kya abandoned and growing up in the swamps and marshes of coastal North Carolina. This is the coming-of-age story of a girl living alone moving into womanhood. She is helped by a few but not many. The book is also a mystery story, a nature expose and a love story. I learned much about the nature surrounding coastal marshes and isn’t that what we want in our reading, to finish a satisfying story while realizing that the author has subtly taught us something we did not know or had not considered before? The book is filled to the brim with the meanness of prejudice, sweetness of love, forgiveness and the tenacity of the human spirit.
This really is a story full of wonder and I can easily recommend it.
Senator John McCain – Bravest of warriors, elegant statesman, loving family man.
His astute leadership and absolute love of America
will not be forgotten but emulated for decades to come.
This year many Sea Turtle nests on the Florida shorelines were destroyed by hurricane Alberto. These nesting turtle eggs are treasured by Floridian residents. The nests are immediately abandoned by the mothers but are vigorously protected by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The turtle nests are actually protected by law enforcement with high fines and possible time spent incarcerated. Don’t even think about messing with an incubating nest.
An interested person can sign up to join the groups who are trained to help the turtles when they break through their shells and begin their nocturnal journey toward the ocean. You will be taught how to do this without interrupting the arduous trip to the sea after dark. Once you have seen the tiny baby turtles, the size of a small child’s palm, scurrying and frantically flapping their flippers across the sand to the shore edge you will fall in love and you also will fiercely want to protect them.
On the nights of the turtle’s long wiggle to the waves and water, all lights in houses and hotels shining out over the sand are extinguished or the precious little travelers will mistake the lights for the moon and will head away from the sea toward the man-made lights.
But strong storms like Alberto wreak havoc on the nests. Mother nature in her massive strength can undermine what her Sea Turtles are trying to accomplish. Each nest averages 110 ping pong sized soft white eggs. [insert nest with eggs pic] Five nests of 218 just in Collier County were swept away and out to a soggy sinking in the sea and 26 nests of unhatched eggs were covered in water.
In 2017 half of the Sea Turtle nests were destroyed or swept away during hurricanes. Curious visiting friends and family must not add to the loss by disturbing the eggs, Sea Turtles or their nests during this ancient and magical time of wonder at the pull of the moon and the steady struggle of tiny members of nature to their deep and watery new home. 
I was saddened to hear of the passing of American mystery writer, Sue Grafton just after Christmas, December 28, 2017. Her Alphabet books have been so well received over the years and several of them were inspiration for movies. Ms Grafton’s books began with A is for Alibi and ended with Y is for Yesterday.
A bookstore owner friend of mine here in St. Augustine formed a friendship with Sue Grafton over the years and when he traveled to California to visit family, he often arranged to meet Ms Grafton at one of her book signings to have his growing collection of her books signed. She was always friendly and approachable and he enjoyed this friendship until his death a few years ago.
I know her family knows how she afforded so many of us mystery lovers hours of pleasure as we became friends with her characters, her main character private investigator Kinsey Millhone, enjoyed her fictional town of Santa Teresa and rode the ribbons of her story telling.
Her books will live on for decades of readers enjoyment.
Many of her witty quotes can be found on Google and elsewhere but I find these three bring a smile.
“Ideas are easy. It’s the execution of ideas that really separates the sheep from the goats.”
“I focus on the writing and let the rest of the process take care of itself. I’ve learned to trust my own instincts and I’ve also learned to take risks.”
And finally, “If high heels were so wonderful, men would be wearing them.”
Thank you, Sue Grafton for many hours of fun, interest and escape.
Eloise Wilkin, author, illustrator and doll designer
By Ann McAllister Clark
Back during the Gulf War it was said that folks were sitting down to watch the children’s television show, Mr. Roberts’ Neighborhood, with their children. It was comforting to watch a placid program that could be counted on to just give calm, soothing sounds, sights and welcoming words and simple ideas of family and friendship.
Now, after all these years we are still inundated with our ‘way-of-the-world’ news. Sometimes it is just too much to take in and process. We have to turn off the TV news. You are lucky if you have a child close by in your life. Pick up a Little Golden Book and give yourself and the child a rest from the chaos of the world.
And if you don’t have a little one around go ahead anyway and look through some of the most wonderful stories and illustrations of childhood.
Illustrators like Garth Williams of the Little House on The Prairie books wrote and illustrated for Little Golden Books, as did hundreds of others. Richard Scarry, Gustaf Tenggren and many more contributed to the essence of these little books.
I thought of these books when I wrote the Civil War Saber chapter in my book Morgan’s Redemption of the girl students listening to Lil’ Mary’s stories while they ate their lunch under the big tree out in the school yard. Of course they did not have these happy little books in the 1800’s so their imagination was needed to entertain their listeners. And Lil’ Mary had a head full of imagination developed with the stories of her mother and grandmother. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1495803023/ref=rdr_ext_tmb
One of my favorites was The Taxi That Hurried, written just a year after WWII when people again wanted peace in their lives. It is a cheery little book about a taxi in a busy city. But, then I did love my brother’s copy of The Animals of Farmer Jones with the cows and the chickens and the ducks. The last page was ripped out but I didn’t care.
Steve Santi, has written several definitive collector’s identifications and value guides on the Little Golden Books. I have the 1989 issue that has The Poky Little Puppy on the cover. There have been several new editions since. His web site is a delight and well worth your visit. http://www.thesantis.com/home.htm
Now as an adult, I realize the importance of these books in our lives. And I seem to think of the books several times lately. I turn off the television and forgo reading the headlines. I look through Santi’s book and remember. I remember my mother reading about The New Baby, and Good Morning, Good Night illustrated by Eloise Wilkin. I wanted to find out more about this woman who wrote and illustrated more than 100 books in her lifetime.
As popular illustrator Tasha Tudor did, Eloise Wilkin spread her creative talents into other venues. She designed a baby doll for Vogue Dolls that has been listed as one of their most favored dolls. It has the same characteristics that her book children have; rounded cheeks, bright eyes filled with trust and wonderment. I saw one of these dolls on E-bay – the Baby Dear doll was listed for a fair price to go along with a copy of the So Big book.
The books command prices from ten to several hundred dollars in very good condition. The Eloise Wilkin Treasury; a delightful book filled with the artists’ cherubic faces and sweet stories, favorite nursery rhymes, prayers, and poems is currently at $60.00 to $75.00.
What kind of a woman wrote and illustrated these famous old stories still popular and important in the book collector world today?
Born in Rochester, New York in 1904, Eloise Burns became an illustrator after graduating from The Rochester Institute of Technology. Little is know of her early life but she was fortunate to have had a mother who seemed to be a free spirit and encouraged her children to enjoy their creative gifts. One fine day she allowed them to draw all over one wall in their house just before redecorating. Imagine the squeals and happy scribbles that day.
After she graduated, Eloise and her friend Joan Esley, another illustrator, moved to New York City where they decided they had a better chance of success in the world of illustration. They would later corroborate on several children’s books.
Eloise Burns became Eloise Burns Wilkin in 1935 after her marriage to Sydney Wilkin and soon began a family of four children. She illustrated over 20 books with her sister Ester, who also married a Wilkin.
In 1943, she was offered a contract with Simon & Schuster in New York. She signed to do four Little Golden books a year staying with Little Golden Books exclusively until 1961, then only occasionally doing a book for them up until the mid-eighties.
On October 4, 1987, at the age of 84, Eloise died of cancer in Brighton, New York, bringing an end to a beautiful and fulfilling career and leaving a legacy of delightful stories and pictures still loved by 21st century children and the folks who read to them. At the time of her death Eloise Wilkin was still illustrating and working on a new doll design.
Well…now I know what it is like to go through a hurricane. It is an adventure I hope I don’t have to go through again. The rain and wind howled and battered up against the house for almost 24 hours. Our little neighborhood of about 100 houses was told by Emergency Services to ‘hunker’ in place because we are 34 feet above sea level. So we didn’t leave. We were surrounded by other neighborhoods with mandatory evacuation orders. As of a couple of hours ago we have electric – thank you Texas and all the states that sent their power companies to help out the more than 100,000 without power.
We hear from friends who did evacuate that they had to get all the way up into Georgia before they found one room left.
I know that the downtown district of Old St Augustine had at one time two feet of water in the entire area. The city is hundreds of years old with sewer systems patched and repaired over and over – the systems don’t drain well and the city is only about 5-6 feet above sea level. The water 8-9 foot surge from the ocean and the Intracoastal water way along with high tide caused water to flow all the way into town and out to the US1 highway – covering that important highway. We have five or six bridges in the area that were all closed so those that refused to leave had to stay.
Now, at noon we see that we are ok – nothing broken, a yard filled with debris but nothing we can’t handle. We can’t get into St. Aug because the crews want everyone to stay out of their way!
Thanks to all for your concern.
by Ann McAllister Clark
Wouldn’t you think that it would be easy – EASY to sell Peter Rabbit to publishers? Well, before he became a household name to any little tykes between the ages of two and twelve he was not an easy sell.
Not until Beatrix Potter, the author and artist who created Peter and all his cohorts was into her thirties did she even think of publishing a book. All her drawings were collected and stored away only hopping out to pretty up a note to a nephew or a young friend who she thought needed cheering up. With a little encouragement she finally gathered enough of her artwork to approach publishers with an idea of writing a ‘tale’ for little children. And can you believe it? She could not find anyone, not one publisher to print her work. She had studied biology, anatomy and art all her life. She created little characters that charmed her young friends and family but she could not charm publishers enough to take a chance on her and Peter Rabbit. So she did what so many other frustrated writers did. She published the book herself. On a cold December day in 1901 Beatrix Potter had two hundred and fifty copies printed. She promptly gave most of the books away. Now that the little rabbit was in book form it wasn’t long before a company in London, Frederick Warne and Company did take notice.
Norman Warne, the youngest of the three Warne brothers in the company dealt most frequently with Miss Potter. She trusted him and to him she took all her ideas and drawings. He was treated to her proofs before anyone else viewed them. He made sure that her ideas and creations were carried out to her exact directions. He was the person with whom she discussed her contracts. And he was the one that finally persuaded the Warne firm to publish an edition that was colorized. That edition was The Tale of Peter Rabbit. At publishing time, October 2, 1902, there were eight thousand copies that promptly sold out.
Not completely trusting the Warne publishing firm’s leader, Fredrick Warne, Beatrix decided to publish her second book herself. She wanted her pictures to be accompanied by many of the rhymes she loved so much. She thought he might cut these and put words to the pictures himself. With the money she had earned with The Tale of Peter Rabbit, she published five hundred copies of The Tailor of Glouster. 
She distributed these herself and sent one copy to Norman Warne. Finally, the Warne company saw her vision and published The Tailor of Glouester in time for Christmas, 1903. Two months later a third title was published, The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin. As their relationship developed, Beatrix and Norman found themselves admiring eachother and seeking out eachother’s company. The couple soon fell in love and 1905 became engaged. But love was not to stay in Beatrix’s life for long. Several months after they became engaged, Norman died suddenly.
Beatrix used her earnings from the ‘little books’ to leave her over powering parents and and unhappy loss to purchase a small farm, Hill Top in the northwest area of England. 
Her love of sheep and breeding filled her life with farming. She again found love in her solicitor, William Heelis who shared her love of the Hill Top farm and farming. They would enjoy a long and happy thirty years of marriage.
When Beatrix Potter moved to the country and began farming she painted exquisite watercolors for her books. Most of these books depict the surrounding north-country farming life. But by the age of fifty-six Potter’s creative period was nearly over and she devoted her time to sheep farming. Over the years she became well known as a breeder of Herdwick sheep. She purchased several more farms over the years until at the time of her death on December 22, 1943 she was a substantial landowner.
Sister Anne was the last of Potter’s books to be printed during her lifetime. Two more titles, Wag-by Wag and The Tale of the Faithful Dove were printed posthumously.
In their resource guide on Beatrix Potter, Sayre G. Turney, Michelle Frisque, Beth Kean and Elizabeth T. Mahoney explore the life and publishing career of Miss Potter. Their site can be found at: http://yorktown.library.pitt.edu/libraries/is/enroom/illustrators/potter.htm It is a through site with color pictures, bibliography, biography, works by Miss Potter and examples of her journal.
“Great minds discuss ideas.
I write fiction because I am fascinated by the human spirit and how it ebbs and flows, twists and turns over a lifetime. I see so many social circumstances I want to explore and have always found it freeing to explore these conditions in fiction. I see writing fiction as a delightful part of my future.
Today I published my first Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/Ann-McAllister-Clark-781121261996334/?fref=ts
It took me several starts and stops but I think it is up. It will take me time to get it where I would like it but its there! I hope you will visit it. I have many, many photos on my computer but I am having a time of getting the appropriate photos on the page. I tried it once and two relatives popped up on the banner! I don’t think they would like that. I did get them off and a picture of the St. Augustine Lighthouse up there instead. I hope working on the Facebook page doesn’t keep me from the fiction writing.
On Wednesdays I am going to publish on the Facebook page WEDNESDAY WRITERS WISDOM and quote cleaver writers quotes.
Both Morgan’s Redemption: the first of the Morgan’s Bridge series and A Bone In Her Teeth: the first of the St. Augustine Mystery series are now available on amazon.com I don’t yet know how to place the URL for the buy link but I’m learning! Let me try...http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=A+Bone+In+Her+Teeth Oh I think I did it! And here is the link to the Morgan’s Redemption book. http://www.amazon.com/Morgans-Redemption-Ann-McAllister-Clark-ebook/dp/B0176N78D0/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1446392328&sr=8-3&keywords=Morgan%27s+Redemption
Take time today to dream of something kind and quiet.
![firstphonephotosBeach1July4,2015216[1]](http://annmcallisterclark.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/firstphonephotosbeach1july420152161.jpg)
photo by Ann M. Clark
http://climatecenter.fsu.edu/topics/thunderstorms
August 2015– a friend in Michigan asked how we cope with the summer heat in St. Augustine. Actually, Georgia and Alabama are usually hotter by a few degrees than Florida.
Florida is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico both of which help to cool the state. But I can’t deny that on that first summer after arriving from Michigan fifteen years ago I really thought there was a chance I might see some spontaneous combustion of little fires on the cement driveway! It was so hot I thought there must be an emergency and when I checked the local weather they just mentioned a hot afternoon. HA! Didn’t they know the driveways were about to be in flames?
We usually stay inside with the windows and doors shut and the air-conditioning running until the temps go down a bit. WE do that but not everyone does. People play and work outside like anywhere else. They get used to the heat. When the humidity is high it is harder to cope. 90* to 100* degrees is typical of St. Augustine’s July and August temperatures I think. And after about three years I didn’t look around anymore for little fires on the driveway.
It is October here in St. Augustine. I watch the auto tags on cars and see all the Snow Bunnys arriving in town. Some will stay for the winter while others are stopping for awhile on their journeys. Its still early so yesterday’s visit to the beach was pleasantly uncrowded. The temperature was just right – low 80’s, the waves entertaining and just a light sea breeze.
So far – everybody knock on wood – the South has not had a hurricane to frighten us into scurring up into Atlanta to visit relatives. The relatives are probably giving out audible sighs of relief.
The thing about a hurricane is the flooding – first from the tides washing in and then from the constant rain. Then the wind is terrifying. It comes in waves like being flung in from the sea. It batters up against the house walls and is very scary. We only had 50 mph or so a few years ago when we came close to a hurricane and that was fearsome.
![AveliesStreetNorth[1]](http://annmcallisterclark.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/aveliesstreetnorth1.jpg)
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Thoberry’s FICTIONAL bookshop is located on Aviles street. The narrow brick paved street is one of the original ‘footprints’ of the 450 year old town.
October 2015
Where Writers Get Their Ideas?
It’s magical really. Well, at first it may seem that way. Creative thoughts, words and phrases running through a writer’s mind as she is writing. Sometimes it feels the words are like ribbons spilling out of our fingers, pens, pencils or keypads as if someone or something else is actually gathering them up and pushing them out on the page. When that happens I always send up a sincere ‘Thank You’ to the goddess of verbiage and thoughts. Yes, it is magic and when it happens I take a big breath and stay with it as long as I can.
And then I remember all the studying I have done – many college classes and dozens of writing books over the years. I read classics – Russian, English, and mostly American.
Writers get this question all the time – “Where do your ideas come from?” Ideas come right from a compilation of life and the writer’s experiences – encounters and events or things she has witnessed or researched. Writers have a way of filling up their internal and invisible sponge with all that moves before their eyes and ears and all the minutia of life. A writer is voraciously curious and thirsty for interest. A bit of this person, a little of that person, saved notes of conversation and pieces of experience all go into the vault of ideas. So ideas come from just about anywhere and go into the big soup pot of a rich mix. And then at the end of this wash of creativity comes the real work. Revision, revision and then more revision. The work never seems completely right and some writers may revise a dozen times or more.
I watched much of the George Zimmerman trial in Sanford, Florida. I suspect many writers watch court cases on TV or better yet in their own county courtrooms with thoughts of incorporating what they see into their stories. We have files of interesting newspaper clips and magazine articles to be used at a later date for inspiration or research. I took notes on the attributes of the detectives, lawyers and court proceedings during the trial in Sanford. I used those notes to describe the detectives in A Bone In Her Teeth: A St. Augustine Mystery.
Traveling through the streets of Gettysburg, Washington, DC, and Antitam and walking many battlefields helped me immensly with description in my historical novel, The Chrysalis: An American Family Endures The Civil War.
I just finished reading Justice Sonia Sotomayr’s memoir, My Beloved World. When she was a young girl of about eight years old, she faithfully watched the weekly television program, Perry Mason and decided she wanted to be a lawyer! And then she diligently pursued that direction in every single aspect of her educational life all the way to her seat on the United States Supreme Court. I used her early years for inspiration in Morgan’s Redemption
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonia_Sotomayor
Where do we get our ideas for writing? Everywhere and anywhere.
from A Bone In Her Teeth, chapter one…
When an evening Atlantic high tide seeks the many inlets of St. Augustine, Florida it washes a slow undulating torrent of briny water up into the San Sebastian River and turns the backwater marshes deep and dark with eons-old mysteries. Six hours later at ebb tide the waters flow back into the ocean leaving behind ponds and pockets rich with the salty evolution of plants and animals. The vegetation, mollusks, silt, and sea creatures nearly glow yet hide all their murky secrets and life-forcing activities. Then, a stillness – a waiting for the return of the voyager, the sailor back from the sea – until the quickening of flood tide, sea breezes and the pull of the Earth’s moon cause the whole cycle to happen again.
November 15, 2011
Many book lovers came to my book signing for A Bone In Her Teeth, a St. Augustine, Florida mystery. The Wolf’s Head Bookstore in St. Augustine hosted and it was a success for them too! We scheduled it during the Uptown Saturday Nights event that is held on the last Saturday of each month. So the streets were filled with folks wandering around the antiques shops, art gallerys and gift shops. It was a fine time!
Please visit my website: annmcallisterclark.com to see the cover designed by John Potter of escapekeygraphics.com. He is located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Thank you for visiting.
Ann
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