#Swan's Island

[mapsontheweb]

1976 Swan's Island, Maine, address book. Every house and homeowner listed on map. Swan's Island is still home to 302 year round residents with most of the family names the same.

[abandoned-playgrounds]

Abandoned homes in Swan's Island.

[swansislandlibrary-blog]

Swan's Island Challenge 550

Hello-for those of you who love to read all sorts of books the Swan's Island Challenge 550 is a book group for those who don't want to go to another meeting.  Set a reading goal for 2014 and let Candi know what it is.  Keep track of your books on our GoodReads or LibraryThing pages or just on a piece of paper.  

In January 2015 we will have our 2nd Annual Book Chit Chat Party.  We had great snacks and discussion last month.  It was a great way to find out about books and authors one might not be familiar with that others participants have enjoyed or maybe not so much.

All ages and families are invited to take part.  Here are the rules for 2014:

1. Have some connection with Swan's Island. 2. Use GoodReads, LibraryThing or a piece of paper to keep track of your book titles. 3. Set your personal book reading goal for January through December. 4. Read one book outside of your favorite genre. 5. Read one nonfiction and one graphic novel. 6. Read one book about Maine, written by a Maine author or published by Islandport Press, Downeast Books or Tilbury House (or some other Maine publisher). 7. Let me know your reading goal number for the year. 8. If you meet or exceed your reading goal you will have a chance to win a prize. 9. All ages and families can take part. 10. Most importantly- HAVE FUN.

[swansislandlibrary-blog]

The first post

What Changes Everything by Masha Hamilton

I really enjoyed reading Ms. Hamilton's Camel Bookmobile.  I tend not to read contemporary fiction but so far her new book has drawn me in.  Here is another reader's advisory link for you to read more about this book.

[kelseyrakes]

and now a moment of silence for the first draft of my 2011 NaNoWriMo novel...'cause that shit was bananas, b-a-n-a-n-a-s.

but now it is decidedly less terrible, and i firmly believe that i can get it through its first round of edits in time for our june trip to maine.

I JUST HAVE EXCITEMENT IN ME OKAY. OKAY.

[kelseyrakes]

Officially going back to Swan's!

I got the necessary time off from my boss, the property owner agreed to let my family bring three dogs (oh lord), and we figured out cell phone coverage. I'm going back to Maine!

The past year has been kind of a whirlwind. I don't even remember why I decided to setThe Way Down Deep in Maine. I knew I needed the book to take place by the water, but I don't know why I picked some place so far north. What I do remember is googling islands off the coast of Maine and trying to figure out how to fictionalize an entire community and school system. I didn't want to use a real place because it would be dumb to try to accurately describe a setting that I had no idea about. Instead I just crossed my fingers and hoped for the best and abused google maps.

But then my beautiful, wonderful friend decided to invite me to Maine, and her family took me to the very island that I'd loosely based my novel's setting off of. We met a young man who cheerfully answered my questions about living on Swan's Island, and I realized hey, I could actually use this very place as the setting. Why not?

So I've been rewriting my book, incorporating little details from the island, fixing the logistics of a girl who is so inaccessible that she can only be reached by 40 minute ferry ride, and imagining what it is like to fish for lobster and end up with wet pebbles in your shoes. It's a long, excruciating process -- painful because I'm having to cut entire pages of story that no longer have a place, pages that I spent weeks writing

But it's worth it, because in return, my book is so much better. So, so much better. And now I get to go back to this place with my family and show them where my main character lives, where she goes when she's upset, where her life changes from good to bad to good to who even knows? And i really, really think that it's going to be amazing. Maybe even that, by the end of this, my book will be amazing.

I cannot wait to share this book and this place with all of you. I'm so excited.

Wish me luck.