Mum thought about her new friend’s words many times after she got back home from the second writing course at Lumb Bank, but she didn’t really know what to do about them. Though she did indeed know quite a lot about the Vikings, she didn’t know how to set about writing a children’s book about them or how to get one published.
Finally she decided to get her copy of the latest Writers and Artists Year Book – a publication which lists many publishers and the sort of books they publish. She closed her eyes and let the book fall open wherever it wanted to, then she went down the listings until she found a publisher that seemed likely.
It was called Grisewood and Dempsey – later known as Kingfisher – and, amongst other things, they published history books for children. Still not sure how best to approach them, Mum eventually decided to write a simple letter, saying that she was a well-published author who was very interested in the Vikings and would like to write a children’s book about them.
(Mum’s just told me that Vikings didn’t really put horns on their helmets, but I think mine look great and so I’m keeping them on!)
About a week later she got a reply, thanking her for her letter and telling her that they would keep her details on file in case anything suitable turned up.
Mum took that as a polite way of saying no and, as her short stories were still selling well and she was working on a new novel, she put the thought of writing children’s books to the back of her mind.
Around this time, Mum’s American friends invited her over for another holiday, taking her on a wonderful road-trip around some of the national parks of the South-West. Starting from El Paso, Texas, they travelled through forests and deserts on their way to the Grand Canyon and, eventually, California.
Walking along a trail through one of the forests, they saw a bear’s paw-print in some snow that had fallen overnight. Because she likes bears, Mum was quite thrilled about that, but her friends pointed out that the bear might still be around and so it would be better to go quietly back to the car.
They then went to the Petrified Forest. I thought that meant that all the trees were terrified and I wanted to know what they were scared of. But Mum explained that they’d actually died and fallen down many thousands of years ago and their wood had gradually filled up with various minerals and turned into stone.
As they’d taken Mum to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon on a previous trip, this time her friends wanted to take her to the less-visited North Rim. Although it was Spring, however, some of the roads to the North Rim were still closed with snow and so Mum got a second visit to the South Rim after all.
After that, they went up into Utah where they visited Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park, before going on to Death Valley.
Now at its lowest point, Death Valley is 282 ft/86 m below sea level and is one of the hottest and driest places on earth. But on the day Mum went there it had flooded and people were there in their hundreds waiting to take photos as the sun went down.
Mum and her friends also wanted to see this rare spectacle. As a result, it was completely dark by the time they reached Olancha, their destination for that night, and it felt as if they’d arrived in the middle of nowhere with nothing but dense blackness all around the motel.
It was a lovely surprise then the next morning to see a range of snow-capped mountains just beyond the motel and realise that they were getting close to the Kings Canyon/Sequoia National Park which was to be another highlight of the trip.
But the weather had another dirty trick up its sleeve. Although they were allowed into the Park and could drive up as far as the famous General Sherman tree, they were told to go no further as heavy snow had been forecast. They were also told that the minute it started snowing they’d to turn round and come back out.
Luckily the snow held off long enough for them to reach the General Sherman tree and walk right up to it. At 275 ft/84 m tall, weighing an estimated 18700 tons/19000 tonnes and with a volume of 52500 cubic feet/1487 cubic metres, this Giant Sequoia is one of the largest organisms on Earth.
After that, time was beginning to run out and, after one more night in California, they had to turn around and head back towards El Paso, from where Mum flew back home with a head full of memories and ideas for new stories.
Soon she was back at her typewriter, creating stories for her favourite magazines. The thought of writing a children’s book on the Vikings was almost forgotten – but the editor at Grisewood and Dempsey hadn’t forgotten Mum and later that year she got back in touch…
That’s all for today, but I’ll tell you more in my next post. Meanwhile – as always – take care, stay safe and keep warm, and I’ll have some more tales for you again soon.
Follow my next blog: 128. MY MUM THE STORY-TELLER- PART TWENTY FOUR
04/02/2021
Wilf the bear-faced blogger 