Serendipity…a happy coincidence! That’s what I thought when I sat down to write this blog and realized that today, August, 7th, is National Lighthouse Day! Can you imagine my delight? 7
What is it about lighthouses that inspire me so? A single page cannot possibly describe it all, but here goes.
Protection. Guardianship. Strength. Getting right down to the heart of their purpose, lighthouses warn mariners of danger. They are a welcome sight day or night as they stand guard on the coastline.
Mystery. Loneliness. Whether perched on a cliff, planted in the sand or surrounded by surf, these lonely beacons stand for isolation. It takes a special personality to live apart and separated from the masses. Mysterious because isolation brings out the w e i r d in people.
Romance. Intrigue. There’s just something about climbing those stairs, anticipatory, anxious, finally reaching the lantern room and looking out upon the entire world. Walking around the gallery and feeling the brisk, salt air against your face. What better place to share with a paramour?
History. The past. Owing to all of the above, lighthouses are the ancients among today’s architecture, filled with a rich history of triumph and tragedy. Lighthouse lore swirls with tantalizing tales of murder, suicide, devastating accidents and even infidelity. Who’s not heard frequent references to haunted lighthouses?
Readers and writers alike will see the huge potential for a good story. I did, and so began my work on POINT SURRENDER. A mythical, abandoned lighthouse on the northern California coast, Point Surrender has seen love, hate, jealousy and entirely too much death. You see, its last keeper has been dead for over 25 years. Will the journal he left reveal why he died in the mysterious old lighthouse, and what became of his missing family? (Cue eerie music here.)
I knew my story. Knew how it would begin, progress and end, and yet I faltered about 3/4ths of the way through. Another serendipitous thing happened—I was invited to spend a few days inside of a lighthouse, and you can bet I had laptop in tow. Dimick Lighthouse in Port Townsend, Washington, became my home and just the place to coax out my reluctant muse. The next thing I knew, I was headed back to California with a completed manuscript, reddened eyes and sore fingertips!
For the cover, my ingenious publisher and creative cover artist collaborated over a beautiful photograph of Heceta Head Lighthouse in Oregon. I couldn’t have been more delighted as this was the very lighthouse was the original inspiration for Point Surrender!
Maybe it’s just me (and a few thousand other lighthouse enthusiasts), but I feel the romance, the history, the sometimes palpable presence of the past when I enter a lighthouse. My mind conjures images of keepers, families, Coast Guardsmen, rogues and pirates. I see what they saw when I peer out at the vast expanse of water. One thing I have not done that I would like to do is visit one of these active beacons during the night. Likely scare myself to death, I would!
Next up for me was CAPE SEDUCTION, which takes place in an off-shore lighthouse, both in present day and in the late 1940’s. Water-locked light stations are a whole ‘nuther breed, and I delved deeply into new research for this book. Like POINT SURRENDER, this novel spans the genres of mystery, romance and the paranormal, and retells a captivating tale that begins in Hollywood, 1948… inspired by the real-life offshore lighthouse St. George Reef! Both of these romantic lighthouse mysteries are available from Echelon Press.
It doesn’t have to be National Lighthouse Day in order for you to visit one of the 665+ U.S. lighthouses. But a word of warning: you could get hooked on living and loving lighthouses!