New York

Last year for my birthday in July, my husband and I went to New York to research my novel (and for fun). Many elements of my stories (certain places, characters, plots) just kind of present themselves to me. For some reason, I always knew that Eternal Memory was to be set in New York, both in NYC and the Catskills. I even tried to talk myself out of it, thinking New York City was too overdone and cliched, but such inspirations just can't be easily supplanted.

So, we spent the day in the city, which was fabulous and I admit I fell in love with it, though I was not planning on it (for the same reasons of it being sort of the usual cliche response to NYC). Then we drove up to the mountains, first visiting some family and then on to a gorgeous bed and breakfast near Woodstock. To my great surprise and delight, I discovered that one of the owners was named Eva, like the main character in my book. Further, she had beautiful long, black, curly hair like my heroine! If there was ever a sign from the powers that be, this certainly seemed to be one. It was pretty surreal. We had an awesome stay with Eva and Jacquie at Harmony House, and on the morning of my birthday, I had perhaps the best breakfast of my life. Sitting on a large deck among the trees, it was so picturesque and peaceful I could have stayed there forever.

The really interesting part is, I discovered while exploring the area that Upstate New York actually has quite a vibrant community of Wiccans and witchcraft, which is a main theme of my book. The whole trip left me reeling from the synchronicity of having picked New York as the setting, completely without knowing that it actually was just perfect for my novel. Intuition is a beautiful thing.