Navajo Lake

Been a long time and I have been working on the book, but not as much as I should have. Curses to you, Farmville and Facebook! Most of my work in the last few months has been just transferring data, historical facts. Grinding, not too inspiring or creative work.

Two weeks ago I came to a real blockage. Do I really know what I am doing? Is the present scope of my novel too large? I was actually afraid to get back to work. While my mental dilemna worked itself over and over in my head, it eventually worked itself out. Worked itself out by forcing myself to work on the manuscript. As soon as I started to work, problems cleared up. I realized that I needed to give all my characters as much life as possible and forget my worries about the manuscript. Just work, and things will fall into place. I need to keep myself open to the still small voice that is there to guide me. I am still concerned that the manuscript in its current evolution is too large a scope to be finished by June or July.

Oringinal idea has been to chronicle the struggles of the Gibson family as they carve a settlement out of the desert of southern Utah. To create a page-turning story of this family's life from the first settlers of the Grafton Utah in March 1863 to the death of the family's patriarch, George Gibson, in August 1875.

Then I thought that I would tell the 1863 to 1875 story five times, in five different volumes, each from the aspect of the five sons of George Gibson. Each son had his own struggles, some remarkably different from that of any of his other family members.

Current thinking is that in my writing I will concentrate on the story from one son's point of view. I have chosen Joseph Smith Gibson, who was 18 years old when entering Grafton with his father, mother, brothers, and sisters March 3, 1863. His story contains much fiction, as little is known about him. The facts and history that surround him will drive the non-fiction. I can therefore have as much fun as I want with him without stepping on any historical toes. His mountain cabin is located at Navajo Lake, on the Markagunt plateau 5,000 feet above the Virgin River Valley and Grafton. He is a two day walk, three day wagon ride, or one day horseback ride from his parents in the valley. He lives in the wilderness alongside resident and nomadic Indians that come in and out of his life. He is a loner, but he falls in love. Wouldn't you know it, as soon as he is totally settled and happy with his trapping and hunting lifestyle, he falls in love. He marries amid conflict with his and her famly. Cedar Mountain is no place to raise a family they all tell him. His wife wants to change everything he has in place, and he gets frustrated. When she becomes pregnant, his father in law's, his wife's, and now his own urgings tell him it is time to grow up and become more than he has been. It's not just about him anymore. He comes down off the mountain and becomes a farmer/rancher with his father and his brothers. His father in law offers him a job as well. He becomes a prominent member of the community until he, in a very short period of time, loses his father, mother, wife and children to scarlet fever. He considers a permanent return to his mountain retreat to reclaiming his once happy life. A fantastic personal struggle ensues...not sure how it turns out yet... he could just end up back on the mountain...becoming a crazy old mountain man that everyone learns to avoid.