After staying in a very nice motel for two nights in Aptos, I moved to a motel close to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and it is a bit of a let-down. The room is a lot smaller, the building a lot older. The worst thing is that it has a door joining it to the next room in which a family is staying. I don’t mind kids, but wonder why – with most of the rooms here empty – the manager placed me here. I could have gone back to ask for a different room after I realized how easily sound travels from one room to the next, but too late now. I didn’t do it because I felt safer here, between the manager’s apartment and the family next door. Seriously, only two of the rooms are rented here tonight. I feel like I paid too much for this room and tomorrow will move elsewhere.
Meanwhile I’ve been using the free wifi to do novel research. I discovered that a few of the resources I need are available here in Santa Cruz. They’re also available at the San Francisco Historical Society research library but that isn’t open until Wednesday! The day I planned to go home!
Today I made a second trip to Mission Santa Cruz, where the main character (MC) of my novel (Perfection) was born. She’ll return there a year or two after the novel begins. The novel is set in San Francisco, Pescadero, and Villa de Branciforte (now part of Santa Cruz) during the mid-1850s. Writing historical novels involves doing a lot of research! If anything is inaccurate someone will eventually notice, so great care must be taken. In this novel I’m striving to include information about the SF “Vigilance Committee” of 1856 and other well-known facts of the history of this area.
Besides the novel research I’m also gathering information for two of my websites. Today I went to the Bigfoot Museum in Felton and met curator Mike Rugg. My interest in Bigfoot is well known. I also took a walk in the woods near a local Bigfoot sighting location just outside Santa Cruz.
Another website I’m gathering information for is my Journey! California travel website. That’s barely underway. My intention is to add travel narratives for all parts of California. Travel and writing go hand in hand, don’t you think?
I’m getting a lot of experience in choosing motel rooms! I know I’ll probably never stay in this one again, though it got some good reviews on the internet.
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