The pink house is a real place


The Lewis Library, 3 generations of books and comfort 


As we all know, 2020 was a different sort of year. 

In late 2020 I wrote a novel called That Old Pink Victorian on Main Street. 

This Victorian a real house, not exactly on Main Street, but on one of the major offshoots of downtown in a real but tiny city in the Pacific Northwest.

I used to walk past this house on my way to the farmers market. I fell in love with it, and almost bought it.

The real house is not pink, it's yellow. I'm a sucker for yellow houses. But 'yellow' would not fit well into the title. 

"That old yellow Victorian", whether it's on Main Street or not, sounds like old yellowed curtains smelly with age. Not to mention being a bit awkward to say. 

This house is indeed old. It was built in the earliest years of the 20th century, in the founding years of the city. 

In the story I have it built and owned by the founder of the city. But that is fiction.

That's how writing fiction works, in my experience. You take something that has had an impact and it finds its way into a story. It almost becomes a character.

Not that every house would fit into a story. 

For one thing, this Victorian is not elegant. It is worn out. It's had several owners, all of whom found the upkeep more than they could manage. Modern conveniences had to be retrofitted. Such as electricity.

Folks who had no trouble affording a house find this one bankrupting them.

Plus, it comes with a little shed in the back. With occupants, human ones. They can't be evicted. And so the story begins. 

OH WAIT! I don't know if that's true in real life. 

See how sneaky fiction is? 

Sitting here during 2020, 1200 miles from our old residence and unable to return, I thought about that house and began to write it into my story. The descendants of the original owner have lost the house, and the only descendant believes its hers and goes to great lengths to get it back.

Writing about something I knew takes me back and I don't miss it as much. Do you write about old places and things that you miss? I recommend it.

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That Old Pink Victorian on Main Street is available in paperback and ebook (Kindle) solely on Amazon.

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