On the Waterfront

The conferences I attend are usually geared toward writers or books. This month, I attended one that focused on wooden canoes. My husband built a wood stripper several years ago, and the assembly was a chance to show the boat off, as well as hang out with people who appreciate the work involved in building a canoe.

Besides, I got to visit a town and area I’d never seen before—Keuka Park, NY, on the shore of Keuka Lake, the shape of which reminded me of a crooked tuning fork. Many of the assembly activities took place on the expanse of grass lawn of Keuka College, or in the rooms of the Dahlstrom building, which also housed the dining hall and its endless supply of coffee.

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Instead of workshops on plot or character or query letters, there were sessions on making your own canoe paddle, learning about the boat builders of Chautauqua, or caning a canoe seat—none of which I was interested in, not being a boat builder myself.

Instead, I spent time as an observer of both people and things, for story and character ideas. An abbreviate list:

• A half-dozen 5-foot-tall plastic roosters lined up along a front porch in the nearby village of Penn Yan. My overall question—why?

• The seemingly endless Subway sandwich shops along our route to and from the conference, where I eyed the shredded lettuce with suspicion. (I chose spinach instead, with fingers crossed.)

• The hour of pouring rain, trapped beneath the enormous event tent, while the auctioneer struggled to be heard over the pounding deluge, even with a mic. (Alas, I did not win the raffle drawing for the conference quilt.)

• The children’s competition of kid-sized boats made of cardboard and held together with duct tape. Surprisingly, most stayed afloat for the duration of the race (okay, the race lasted just minutes!).

• The couple dressed in Victorian garb who managed to paddle keeping their wine glasses and wine bottle from tipping over on a tiny table during the canoe parade. This despite bobbing in the waves from passing motorboats.

• The dense haze and smoke that drifted in from the Canadian wildfires, with the sun a molten red orb.

• The college parking lot packed with vehicles topped with canoes, as well as boat trailers for hauling multiple vessels. License plates from Pennsylvania, Michigan, Maryland, Delaware, New York, Massachusetts, among others.

• The museum display about Edwin Link, an aviation pioneer who invented the flight simulator. That first simulator was a primitive wooden box enclosing the pilot, while a human monitor stationed outside the unit tracked where they were on a paper map. A version of that Link Trainer, which launched the new field of flight simulation, is housed at the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport, NY.

I just finished the nonfiction book Torched by Jonathan Vigliotti. It’s a well-done deep dive into the political and logistical failures that allowed the neighborhoods in the Palisades area of LA to burn down to the ground last year.

I’ve just started Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. Looking forward to seeing where this sci-fi story goes, and will follow that up by watching the film adaptation.

I have finally wrapped up another round of revisions on my next novel. It’s taken longer than I thought it would, but working through the thoughtful feedback from my beta readers has made the story stronger.

Here’s my latest short fiction post on A Slice of Orange.

Thanks for reading –

Dianna