MARSH MONSTER Moves Ahead

Another 1,000+ words today. Now at more than 17,000 words on MARSH MONSTER. It's really coming together now that the hardware is in place. Pete's mind is working like crazy and his first "movie move" actually worked. Will the others?

Not only was the trip to Lowe's beneficial, but so has the information retrieved from the great book Bayou Farewell by Mike Tidwel. I highly recommend the book for study on bayou ecology and Cajun culture.

From NOLA to JOMO with no Mojo

After another grueling, heap big drive I have made it out of the "Big Sleazy" and into Joplin, MO for a brief stay with a couple of my children (and to see my grandsons). I'll be on the move again come Monday morning when I'll head out to Colorado Springs where the wife and kids and I once lived (19 years ago). I will see old haunts and meet with a fellow author.

I took this photo of a gator I actually saw.

On my last day in Louisiana I did a lot of driving as well. First I slid down to Slidell (home of the infamous Honey Island Swamp Monster) for the Honey Island Swamp Tour. That was full of discovery and will be helpful to the writing of the next book in the Bayou Boys Adventure series MARSH MONSTER. I thought the tour was interesting.

Forget alligators! I saw way too many venomous snakes to make me ever want to get into a bayou for a swim.

After that I drove back up to NOLA to the Garden District where there are hundreds of antebellum mansions. As beautiful as they are it got tiresome looking at them and I had another stop to make that day.

A Greek Revival style antebellum now owned by the
Women's Guild of the New Orleans Opera.

BTW: I have selected a mansion that will be the physical model for the third book in the series ANTEBELLUM APPARITION.

My final trip of the day took me to Houma--the home of the my series heroes--which I originally chose, after some research, for it's Cajun culture and proximity to bayous. Got to say it looks like a pretty dull place to live in general. No wonder these boys seek out adventure!

An authentic Cajun dance hall in Houma (Home-ah), LA.

I guess the most interesting thing I saw in the city was a Cajun dance hall. I saw it and talked to a few folks, but didn't get to stay for the fais do do, since the sun was beginning to set. (And yes, these people do have their own "dialect.")

Before leaving town the next morning I picked up some authentic Cajun andouille sausage (and put it on ice) to bring up here to JOMO (where I'll make a batch of jambalaya tomorrow).

MO later, gator.