Moving Day!

If you happen to find me here, please know that I've relocated my blog. I hope you'll come visit the newly remodeled Plotting Michigan site at https://amymorrisjones.wordpress.com/. Here's a preview:

Check It Out! Bartleby Snopes Issue 13

Thrilled to be a part of Bartleby Snopes' Issue 13. Come take a look!

A Family Promise

                                                            

When Rob and Suzette Shreve lost their house after Suzette's cancer treatments cost more than they could afford to pay, they didn't have anywhere to go with their three children. Neither had parents still living, and although Rob had siblings, their living situations were not much better than his own. They spent a few nights camping out in the guest rooms of friends, but they were too proud to make that any sort of long-term solution. When they showed up at the local homeless shelter, they were informed that it was a shelter for women and children only; Rob would have to find somewhere else to stay. Sure, that was an option, but it would mean their family would be separated--as if they hadn't been through enough. 

This scenario is fictional--or at least the people are. The situation is very real. I was shocked to learn that families who go to homeless shelters are often separated--the men to a different location than the women. There are very few shelters that allow families to be together, places where they can maintain that all-important family bond. 

Over the past few years, I've learned of a program that makes it part of its mission to keep these families together while they work through their challenges to get back on their feet: Family Promise. I'm proud to say that my church is part of the Family Promise Interfaith Hospitality Network through Family Promise of the Lakeshore, where families are housed in area churches overnight so that they can enjoy their evening meal together and sleep knowing their loved ones are near. 

If you ever have the opportunity to be a part of this group or if you're looking for a cause to donate your time or money to, consider Family Promise, a non-profit organization "committed to helping low-income families achieve lasting independence."

An Opportunity to Remember: The Loss of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Since I've been writing a novel that takes place in the shadow of Lake Superior in the years between 1975 and 1995, it seems only fitting that I commemorate the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald today, the 39th anniversary of the ship's loss. This is a solemn day for Michiganders, as we remember the many who have lost their lives on our lakes throughout the years.

If you're in the Detroit area, the Detroit Free Press has announced a commemoration for tonight:

The evening's activities are to begin with a lantern vigil at the Edmund Fitzgerald anchor, followed by a performance by Great Lakes balladeer Lee Murdock and an honor guard escort of a memorial wreath to the Detroit River for receipt by a flotilla of Great Lakes vessels.

Photo from Detroit Free Press, November 10, 2014

My novel is not about the Fitz itself, but not coincidentally the action begins on the same night the great ship disappeared from radar. As a Michigan resident and someone who has seen many of these giant ships traverse the Great Lakes, it's hard for me not to be affected by the thought that such a large ship could sink below the water so easily. That idea haunts me--and surfaces in interesting ways in my writing.

Surprisingly, even though this was considered one of the worst maritime losses in Great Lakes history, few people remember much about the Edmund Fitzgerald these days. No such disasters have occurred on the Great Lakes in my lifetime, so many people find it hard to believe that the waters of the Great Lakes could have produced enough force to take the lives of somewhere between 25 and 30,000 people over recorded history. 

Tragedies like the loss of the S.S. Fitzgerald affect the collective memory of a region (thanks to Gordon Lightfoot's 1976 ballad, maybe even a country in the case of the Fitz) but are sadly often lost to time. After a generation or two, few remember the events of that night that seemed so terrible except for family members and history buffs. 

Perhaps that fading from our collective memories is the greatest loss of all. Perhaps that is why I write, bringing the events and people of the past into sharper focus for readers. Today, I will remember the men who died on November 10, 1975, in the icy waters of Lake Superior--and the many others who have also perished in service on the Great Lakes. 

What moments in your regional history do you consider important to commemorate? What will you keep alive through your writing?

Dream Writing Location?

I'm proud to be one of ten authors participating in a series called "Authors Answer" over at I Read Encyclopedias for Fun. Each week, we respond to questions about the writing process and writers. This week we're discussing our dream writing studio or office. Come by and join in the conversation! What would your dream writing location look like?

Bartleby Snopes Contest Win Announcement

I'm thrilled and humbled to announce that the editors and judges of the Bartleby Snopes 6th Annual Dialogue Only Contest chose my short story "Everyone Smiles" as their second place winner. The story will be available online and in the semi-annual print magazine in January 2015. 

"Everyone Smiles" was a first for me--a short story entirely in dialogue without even speech tags.

The seed for the story was planted two years ago when I made a return visit to Lake Lure, North Carolina, infamous as a filming location for the 1987 film Dirty Dancing. I had originally been to the area when I was a young teen, and I have a photo of my sister and me standing on the green-carpeted outdoor steps to the hotel. As I sat in the car on that second visit in the pouring rain, I squinted through the foggy windshield, trying to recapture the excitement I'd felt on the previous visit years before, but it just didn't look the same. Oddly, I couldn’t get over the fact that the hotel had removed the green carpeting. It was in that moment of incongruity between what I remembered (or perhaps what I had created in my memory from that photo) and what I was seeing, that the story “Everyone Smiles” came to life. It would take another two years, though, for me to make that kernel of an idea into something resembling a story, and it took the Bartleby Snopes challenge for me to put it all together.

Imagine This! Publication

I’m excited to announce that my short story “At a Loss” was recently published in the Imagine This!An Artprize Anthology. From the contest’s website:

Imagine This!  An ArtPrize Anthology is a collection of poems, short stories, and personal essays, along with reproductions of works displayed during ArtPrize, an international art competition held in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

This story originated from an experience one of my former students had, which led to a lifetime friendship. She met a man while riding the public bus who turned out to be deaf. She was determined to communicate with him, although she knew no sign language and he could not speak. My story went in a very different direction, but I am indebted for having been told the initial events.