July #IWSG: Critique Partners, Frog-Jumping Contests, and Mud Volleyball, Oh my!

Come join Alex J. Cavanaugh and the Insecure Writer's Support Group. We discuss our fears, insecurities, ups and downs of the writing process and post the first Wednesday of every month! http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com/p/the-insecure-writers-support-group.html

This month's question: What is one valuable lesson you've learned since you started writing? 

Don't go it alone. You might think you can, but you won't last for very long. I'm writing this ahead of schedule and I've hit the were-going-on-vacation-tomorrow panic stage, so this will be short and probably not sweet, but to the point. 

You need an extra set of eyes on your work, and I don't mean your mom or significant other unless they are a professional editor. Then by all means go for it. I love my beta-readers and critique partners and writerly cheerleaders. Get over yourself if you think you can't take criticism. Make your work better!

Hannibal is hosting yet another festival this week. Come check out the always fun National Tom Sawyer Days complete with fence painting and frog jumping contests and mud volleyball. Not sure how the last one is relevant to Mark Twain, but who cares? Have fun this Fourth of July!

I'll be enjoying a week off. Who am I kidding? I'm outlining a new story!! I'll try to visit other blogs and get to your comments sometime this week. 

AtoZ Challenge: Q - Quiet, Please

Newest addition to Hannibal-photography studio on Broadway Str.

Greetings from Hannibal, MO, Mark Twain's boyhood hometown, my theme for this year's AtoZ Challenge.

Quiet, please, artists at work. (I seriously had trouble thinking of a "Q" post!) Hannibal's artistic side includes more than just a famous author. This Artistic town is full of individual artists in every area: textiles, furniture, painting, photography, pottery.

Ayers pottery

Steve Ayers, the master potter, has been making his creations for over twenty years. Come visit Ayers Pottery or visit Java Jive, which sells his coveted pottery.

Our many art galleries feature local artists. The Hannibal Arts Council highlights local high school students on occasion. My oldest son won a photography contest a few years ago and had his pointillism drawing chosen for display.

I love this "smiley" mug.

Join us every second Saturday for "Art Walk" all year long in Hannibal. In March we host "50 Miles of Art" along scenic highway 79. May 23-24 will be the "Twain on Main Festival." Lots of crafts, art, and food at this event. And be on the lookout for Twain walking the streets and greeting visitors. Last year was our first ever "Steampunk Festival" celebrating Hannibal's Gilded age. Come join us on September 5-7. My personal favorite is the "Autumn Folklife Festival." Join us on October 17-19 for a blast into Hannibal's past. Hannibal has enough festivals to keep you hopping throughout the year!

They really like to paint the whole town here.

Are you artistic? Love to paint, draw, take photos?

AtoZ Challenge: P - Parks & Rec and a Puppy

Greetings from Hannibal, MO, Mark Twain's boyhood hometown, my theme for this year's AtoZ Challenge.

City Hall-Parks & Rec

We have our very own Parks and Rec inside City Hall in downtown Hannibal. Yes, this is another photo taken in a drive-by. I'm getting pretty good at snapping pictures while driving. I highly do not recommend this activity unless you're a professional (ha!) or you're stopped at a red light.

We have a gazillion parks all sporting names like Huckleberry Park, Mark Twain Landing, Sawyer's Creek, which is actually not a park, but you get the idea. This city loves to take advantage of the famous author.

Huckleberry Park - Feed the geese at your own risk.

Because you needed a couple pics of a puppy today, I wanted you to meet Mylo. Be jealous. We get to dogsit him this weekend. Our family doesn't own a dog, cat, bird, iguana. Why have pets when you can have teenage boys instead? Some of you prefer pets.

Big plans for the weekend? Do you have any pets? Teenagers? Both?

AtoZ Challenge: O - Orion and the Doors

Greetings from Hannibal, MO, Mark Twain's boyhood hometown, my theme for this year's AtoZ Challenge.

My title sounds like a music group. Let's begin with Twain's older bro, Orion Clemens. He started a newspaper, the Hannibal Journal, and operated the business out of their home on Hill Street. Twain helped him write articles for the paper. The Missouri Courier was born out of this era, which later became our town's newspaper, the Hannibal Courier-Post, which is the oldest running newspaper in Missouri. Twain even helped himself to editing the paper when his brother was out of town. This experience was Twain's first experimentation with pen names. He eventually worked for the Missouri Courier as an apprentice.

When I went to take a pic of the Hannibal Courier-Post a few blocks from Twain's home, I changed my mind. I couldn't do it. The horrifically ugly building (probably built in the sixties) just isn't photo worthy. So I chose to extend today's post to include the doors of Hannibal which are way more fun to photograph.

The Old Planter's Restaurant

 

The Whistle Stop Cafe

Do you ever write from photographs? I do all the time. I follow a ton of Chicago IGers (Instagramers) who post pictures of my fave city. I utilize their talent as inspiration for my writing. How did you get started in writing?

AtoZ Challenge: N - Norman Rockwell

Greetings from Hannibal, MO, Mark Twain's boyhood hometown, my theme for this year's AtoZ Challenge.

The Mark Twain Museum is home to fifteen Norman Rockwell paintings. The master painter meets the master storyteller.

The Mark Twain Museum

Norman Rockwell adored Hannibal. His commissioned paintings depict scenes from Twain's novels: Tom Sawyer and the dead cat, Tom Sawyer and the schoolmaster flogging, Tom Sawyer whitewashing the fence, Tom Sawyer sneaking out of a window. I feel like I've met Tom Sawyer before. Oh, that's right, I have two teenage boys. It really is worth the price of admission to view Rockwell's paintings.

Mark Twain available for photos

My oldest son stopping by.

Twain planter all dressed up for Christmas.

Here is my claim to fame.
 This past summer I had the privilege of being the first author invited to do a book signing at The Mark Twain Museum.

  Have you ever done a book signing? How do you prepare for one? Were you nervous? Are you excited about doing one in the future?

AtoZ Challenge: M - Mark Twain Hotel

Greetings from Hannibal, MO, Mark Twain's boyhood hometown, my theme for this year's AtoZ Challenge.

The Mark Twain Hotel

Built in 1905 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, The Mark Twain Hotel was constructed after the Park Hotel burned down. The Park Hotel's restaurant is where Molly Brown supposedly met Mark Twain. The Mark Twain Hotel's distinguished guest list includes Franklin D. Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, Amelia Earhart, and Norman Rockwell. The entire building has been renovated as retirement apartments.

The "Hotel Mark Twain" sign is one of my favorite things to photograph in Hannibal. What I wouldn't give for a trip to the roof. Think of the view of the Mississippi River! The hotel is just a few steps from the Big River.

Do you enjoy urban exploring whether in big cities or small towns? Are you afraid of heights? Not me!

AtoZ Challenge: L - Lover's Leap & the Lighthouse

 Greetings from Hannibal, MO, Mark Twain's boyhood hometown, my theme for this year's AtoZ Challenge.

Lover's Leap

Side view (from ground level) of Lover's Leap

The view of Hannibal and the Mississippi River

The view of Illinois from Lover's Leap

Truth is stranger than fiction. On April 12, 2009, two elderly ladies drove off Lover's Leap and lived to tell about it. I was there a few days before it happened, showing some friends the view. The driver mistook the gas pedal for the break. She drove up and over the curb, took out a bench and the fence and plummeted over the edge. Their car got caught in a tangle of tree branches, saving their lives. Can you imagine that view?

The "tree" that caught the car.

Notice the fence weld.

Hannibal's lighthouse easily has over a million steps to the top. If you'd like a tough cardio session, stop by and enjoy the free work out.

Anyone feeling tired from the AtoZ Challenge? 
Getting your second wind? Ready for a trip to 
Hannibal?

The lighthouse

AtoZ Challenge: K - Keep Calm and Have an Adventure

For this year's AtoZ Challenge, I am featuring Hannibal, Missouri, Mark Twain's boyhood hometown.

Everyday is an adventure raising two teenage boys. People ask me where I get my ideas for my books. I don't have to look very far. So, yesterday on our way to church, I swung by Clemens (baseball) Field to snap a few pics. My oldest son said, "Mom, I've got this." My response: "That wall is way too high...okay, never mind." He quickly scaled the wall to take a panoramic of the ballpark. (It was too far away to get a good shot of the field.) So while dressed in my Sunday finery, I kept an eye out for the cops and prayed we wouldn't get arrested. We didn't. But there might have been security cameras.

What small hometown would be complete without baseball? Clemens Field was built in 1938 and even detained German POWs on the field. It hosted a professional team in the fifties but since fell in disrepair. A few years ago, it went through extensive repairs and renovations, restoring it to its former glory and elevating the field about eight feet due to its close proximity to the Mississippi River. The Hannibal Cavemen, a prospect league, will begin another season on May 30th.You can catch the Hannibal La-Grange University's baseball team playing several games here in the spring.

My pic of my son taking a pic

Clemens Field was the pivotal point of inspiration for my first novel Free Runner. Several years ago, after watching my oldest son climb the concession stand (he has an obsession with climbing), he jumped, flipped and landed flawlessly. I almost had a heart attack. Then I asked him what on earth he was doing. He said, "Free running." Technically, he was performing parkour. Free running involves, well, running. And, yes, he does that too. But not running from the cops, because he's a good kid.

The Grandstand

Outside view

Once again, I'm showcasing my oldest son's photography skills. His panoramic photo below features the back side of the Salvation Army, a photography studio and a tattoo parlor. Because those three establishments combined would be an adventure.

What's your ideal "adventure"? Do you enjoy baseball? What's your favorite team? Do you ever go on adventures with your kids?

AtoZ Challenge: J - Java Jive and the Old Jail

Java Jive

Hannibal boasts the first coffee shop west of the Mississippi River. I didn't verify that info, I just read the sign in the window. Java Jive is located on Main Street in the Andrus Joseph Building built in 1902. You can find musicians playing the piano in the back or strumming a guitar out front. The coffee shop started as a woman's clothing store and then turned into Hannibal Mercantile for the next forty years.

After its last identity crisis as a hardware store, it became what it was always meant to be: a coffee shop. Out of the three, I'm loving the coffee shop transformation. Not that I don't enjoy buying women's clothing or a rake to clean up my leaf littered yard, but Java Jive makes the most wonderful frozen milky way (chocolate/caramel) coffee drink in the world.

I wish I could say I spent hours writing in this establishment, but I do most of my writing at home on a worn, leather couch. Java Jive is a reward I give myself on the weekends after a long week of writing or editing or to get away from my kids, but they usually end up following me there, because I raised them right and they love coffee drinks too. 

"Coffee is an experience that chalk cannot convey." 

The menu board

The Old Jail 

In keeping with our challenge letter "J" today, I'm including Hannibal's Old Jail House located just a few blocks from Java Jive. By the way, my oldest teenage son took this photo yesterday. He has a way cooler phone than I do. He's an amazing photographer and artist, and I occasionally buy him coffee because he's awesome and takes photos for me.

The "Old Jail" built in 1878

Where do you like to write? Do you ever use your kids to your advantage? Bribe them by buying them coffee drinks or video games? (Asking for a friend. Not that I ever would;-)

AtoZ Challenge: I - Introducing Hannibal's Wax Museum!

Haunted House on Hill Street

In keeping with yesterday's AtoZ Challenge "H" post, Haunted Hannibal, I thought I would introduce the latest spooky attraction to hit the town. Actually, the Haunted House on Hill Street has been around a long time, but it's been closed and for sale for the past seven years. Someone finally bought the rundown house last year, cleaned it up and installed twenty-seven life-size wax sculptures, featuring everyone from Mark Twain to Aunt Polly to Injun Joe. 

So, be sure to stop by the Haunted House on Hill Street described in Twain's novels. It's located right next door to the Becky Thatcher house. Did you notice the skeleton in the upstairs window? I'm going to stop by later today and see if I can peek in the windows. If any of those wax figures move, blink or wink...

AtoZ challenge: H - Haunted Hannibal

 The AtoZ Challenge letter today is "H." I'm featuring Mark Twain's hometown of Hannibal, MO.

Hurry! The tour starts soon!

Ghost Tours

"America's Hometown" is also sometimes referred to as "Haunted Hannibal." The Hannibal History Museum, located next to the Mark Twain Museum, hosts nightly excursions especially popular in the fall around Halloween.

Twain's last night in Hannibal: 

Rockcliffe Mansion, built in 1898 by John Cruishank, is the place Mark Twain stayed during his last visit to Hannibal in 1902. Of course, the old mansion slash B&B is said to be haunted. You can experience a spooky night's unrest and see for yourself if the rumors are true.

Rockliffe Mansion (photo: Wikipedia)

Stillwell Murders

Hannibal was home to wealthy citizen Amos J. Stillwell and his wife. He was found in his bed on December 30, 1888, murdered with an ax. The whole story can be read in the New York Times. The mansion has since been torn down. (Who wants to live in a house with that reputation?) A bank's parking lot sits on the empty space, full of eerie noises and haunted happenings late at night.

Tom Sawyer's infamous graveyard scene

Of course, we provide several ghoulish graveyards (circa 1830's) close to the Mississippi River. It is debatable whether or not the "Old Baptist Cemetery" was the one Mark Twain used to describe his lovely graveyard scene in Chapter 9 in his book Tom Sawyer. And, yes, it's creepy even in the daytime. I came across Becky Thatcher's (aka Laura Hawkins) dad's headstone. Historians think Twain used the "Old Cemetery" as writing inspiration, which was abandoned after the Civil War to make way for a housing development. Does that mean those bodies are still buried underneath the residential area?! CREEPY.

Poster in the Hannibal History Museum

If you come for a visit, be sure to check out the Haunted Hannibal Ghost Tour. Not sure if Edgar Allan Poe will be your tour guide, but you can see for yourself if our town is truly "Haunted Hannibal."