Salem and Wandering

This is just me wandering on about wandering.

I like doing it. I like picking someplace and building a wander off it.

I've been working on a gods-be-awfully long story entitled True Met. It's a behemoth, but I'm writing in a world that's wide open and where wandering is necessary.

Then, a friend of the wonderful lady who let me use the title of a story that she had not written yet set me a challenge. Make True Met, which is most assuredly NOT marketable, for a number of legal reasons, into something that IS marketable.

And just like that? Salem became one part of the ubiquitous "trilogy". Which the Lord of the Rings is NOT, by the bye, and never was (that is an example of me wandering inside of a wander). I'm not even sure how it really fits yet.

But once the idea rooted itself in my mind, I decided that a trip to Salem, MA would be most advisable.

I can't put a story into a place I don't know. Except for Newford (Charles de Lint is the writer of, among other things, the stories about Newford). Sooo (I am continuing after the aforementioned wander), after some thought (about four nanoseconds' worth), I asked Crys if she wanted to come along and added another wander (to her house) to the already new and unusual wander.

I'm sort of a wing and a prayer person (this is "surprising" to everyone who knows me, I'm sure), but I did think far enough ahead to realize that there might be things about the trip that might tax the Monte Carlo (at 136,000 miles, the engine is in good shape, but I don't like putting the car on strange roads). I rented what turned out to be a Malibu. A 2011 Malibu.

Thought for the day. If you are travelling in hilly territory, it's wise to (a) have a smaller car with the same size 4 cylinder engine as the Malibu or (b) find a car the size of the Malibu but with either a larger 4 cyl or a moderate 6. The poor thing was taxed to the limit, and we're talking really old, low hills here.

And, a little nervous (which is good. If I was complacent, I probably would have driven into the ocean or something), I loaded up the car and headed out toward CT (Connecticutt) on 3/25.

Wander number 1 for this year had begun.