Caroline Starr Rose

picture book and middle-grade author

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Research Trip: Exploring the Gila!

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If I were posting strategically, I wouldn’t be telling you this right now. I’ve got a book coming out in three months! That’s supposed to be my focus! But I can’t help sharing the fabulous time I’ve had this week in southern New Mexico (and anyway, this blog is about more than promotion, right?).

On Tuesday I hiked the trail to Signal Peak tower, one of ten fire lookout towers in the Gila National Forest. (You might remember I sold a verse novel set in the Gila that comes out two years from now. Up until this point I’ve relied on books and videos and pictures to write this book. It was time to go and explore.) I’d been in touch with the forest manager, and he’d told me the tower wouldn’t be occupied yet, but I was free to hike up and look around.

Guess what? The lookout, Jim, and his adorable dog, Smoke, had come to the tower eight days before! I got a tour and a personal guide who could answer my questions. It was incredible.

Here’s the Osborne Firefinder, which is set in the middle of the 12′ x 12′ cab. (I asked Jim if the cab — the working and sometimes living area at the top of the tower — was the typical 12′ x 12′ size. He wasn’t sure, so he measured it for me.)

The Firefinder was invented in 1911 and hasn’t changed much in the last hundred years. It’s the primary tool used in fire detection. First, a lookout finds the “smoke” through the brass sighting then lines it up with the crosshairs. The lookout then takes the azimuth reading from the edge of the Firefinder (the angular distance from north) and uses the map on the Firefinder (the tower is at its center) to locate the smoke with the measuring tape strung across its middle. Jim’s tape is missing, so after finding the azimuth, he uses this drop-down string map to locate the smoke.

All towers have a map like this of the surrounding area. Signal Peak is “nearby” other towers (also marked), such as Hillsboro, Bear Wallow, and Mogollon Baldy. To get a precise reading, Jim calls another tower to see if they can site the smoke, too. Using the strings, he determines where the azimuths cross. It’s called triangulation and is a very accurate way to locate a smoke.

I’ve placed my imaginary tower on an imaginary mountain I’m calling Wolf, which is pretty much Mogollon Baldy. That means my character, Opal, interacts with some of these same towers. How cool is that?! I asked if it would be okay if I change my Signal Peak lookout’s name to Jim. It was the least I could do as a thanks for his kindness. He seemed pleased with that.

Jim told me his cab is the fancy kind. These cabinets were custom made. That’s Smoke’s water bowl to the left.

Something incredibly cool for me was to hear Philip Connors over the radio. His book, FIRE SEASON, is what pointed me to the Gila for my imaginary fire tower.

There is no electricity at the towers. Everything is gas powered. (Though I see a plug? Don’t ask me to explain.) At Jim’s location, he is able to get internet. He’s also able to drive to his tower. Most towers have spotty or no internet and require lookouts to hike in.

I’ve got three people living in my tower, so I’m going to need to rethink the placement of some things. The table has gotta go, for example, unless I can have a fold-up mechanism? I could also make my cab bigger than the standard. I’ve read that some are 15′ x 15′.

In 2014, the Signal Fire raged close enough to the tower the lookout had to flee, using the trail to get away. Just to show you how close to the tower the fire came, I took this picture maybe one hundred feet from its base.

I learned so much during my time in the Gila. My trek to Signal Peak was the absolute highlight of my trip. Now I’ll add new bits and pieces to my manuscript and send it back to my editor by the middle of the month.

PS — Can you see Smoke on the catwalk?

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Filed Under: Fire Finder, the writing life

Writing Links

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Goosebumps. Yep. And goosebumps when I talk about books I love, too. 
A tingle in the scalp :: Austin Kleon

“This week, I set out on a little thought experiment to see how to write with a different energy. Could I balance the discipline required to finish a book on the one hand, while still cultivating a deeper connection to my intuition and imagination?”
Writing and the Art of Surrender :: Lindsay Syhakhom 

This was a fun question. Click below to see how I answered it.
What mystery in your own life could be the plot of a book? :: Goodreads

This is why I don’t talk much about new ideas (and almost always regret the little bit I do share). “If I tell someone my story, I find that I’m committing myself to a certain line, idea, direction. I’m putting my ideas in a box. If I don’t tell it, then I am free to write in whatever direction feels right. Over the years I’ve come to respect that feeling more than anything else.”
Talking and Writing :: Avi

Setting is one of my favorite things. Loved this post from former agent, now author, Nathan Bransford.
What Makes a Great Setting? :: Nathan Bransford

“On March 11, McGhee joined a group of junior and midlevel employees who exited the publishing industry, blaming low pay, unrealistic workloads and burnout. For context: It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to live in or near New York City (epicenter of bookmaking) on an entry-level publishing salary. Add school loans, subtract a second job or additional subsidy and you risk being factored out of a career in letters before the ink on your college diploma has had a chance to dry.”
When Will Publishing Stop Starving Its Young? :: The New York Times

When your running partner sends you a link and says “this reminds me of our runs” and you click through and find a beautiful poem, well, you have to share it for National Poetry Month! (The picture above was taken on one of those weekly runs.)
“The Dust is My Home” by Katie Chupp :: Ekstasis magazine 

 

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Filed Under: publication, the writing life

A Tour of My Office

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If you’re like me, you like to see where authors work. It’s been a while since I’ve shared my writing space with you. I love the wall behind my desk. There are a few of my beloved books there, a watercolor my grandmother (and Starr namesake) painted of me as a girl, and lots of good things on a homemade bulletin board.

Like this. My favorite portrait ever (drawn by one of my boys years ago).

I love to surround myself with quotes. And that’s little me, dancing in the rain.

More quotes and my sweet family, while on “evacucation” during our Louisiana years (or “hurrication,” as my husband likes to say).

My furry old friend, Boudreaux, is almost always with me.

A cozy spot to sit. This shelf is a headboard I got at a Habitat for Humanity Restore while we lived in Michigan. I painted it with Restore paint, too. A lot of the books I keep on this shelf were written by friends who debuted with me.

Every children’s author needs her own Miss Tiggy-Winkle. You can’t see him in this picture, but Jeremy Fisher sits on that file cabinet, too.

Artwork that went with my first two published pieces, poems called “Sun and Moon” and “Picture This” in the now defunct Confetti magazine (back in 2005). The poppy photo is one I took on a run in spring 2020. I shared it with my running partner, and she gave me this print as a birthday gift. It serves as a reminder of beauty in the midst of difficulty (we all remember what spring 2020 was like).

I had shelves put into the closet. I took down the old rickety doors and replaced them with a shower curtain. Things have gotten a little messy of late.

Here’s the corner with my own titles. I also keep my author visit things in here, various mailers (seen in the previous picture), some wrapping paper and gift bags (where else in the house was I going to put them?!), and some exercise equipment, as my office has doubled as a gym during Covid.

Not included: pictures of the couch and the library parking lot — two other places I love to work!

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Filed Under: home, the writing life, this and that

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