After vastly underestimating the amount of time it would take to produce a work of art, I am finally in the mid-to-late editing stages of my first short story: The Hollow Heart of Pewabic Mountain, a story about a group of Colorado miners who dig too deep into a mountain filled with gold. Its been a long and interesting journey to learn the basics of magazine publication, and I owe a huge thanks to the fine ladies and gentlemen at Mile High Writer's Club for their honest feedback about how to keep the story true to its design. Basics of the learning curve now in tow, here are some examples of things I came across in my research over the last few days as well as earlier last summer, when I still believed I would have 2 stories published by the end of the season (man I wish pipe dreams came true!).
These images were taken in Idaho Springs, Colorado as well as from reference material dug up at the Denver Public Library Central Branch. This is my first time doing a historical fiction, and though I was a bit intimidated by the background research at first, I soon found that digging through historical archives was much more fun than I thought it would be. Two hours went by quick today as I looked at old records and some first hand accounts of the Mountain West's true history, and I can honestly say that I am now very interested in doing another historical fiction again in the future!