When I first entertained the possibility of writing a mystery novel, I followed my own time-worn inclinations to learn and research everything in print or online about how to write a mystery novel, the entire history of the Appalachian Mountains, and all customs and traditions brought by native and early settlers. Of course, that was an impossible task and one fantastic basis for procrastination.

When I returned to the novel almost two years later, I approached it in an entirely different way, and the impetus for that was turning sixty. My sixth decade seemed to precipitate an internal shift demanding I imagine writing exactly what I wanted, and basing it mostly on what I already knew. What a radical idea. For me, at least.

This is how The Granny Witch Chronicles came to involve the following: 

• Setting: The East Tennessee Mountains from the summers spent with grandparents.

• Granny Women (or Witches): My interest in the women left behind during the Civil War in the isolated mountains, specifically the “Granny Woman” serving the communities as midwives, herbalists, and preparing the dead for burial. Based on a memoir of my great-great-grandfather’s about being a “pilot” during the Civil War. 

• History: The novel explores the ancestral traditions passed down from the earliest women settlers from different cultures to the region, and how they informed the modern “Granny Women.”

• One of the main characters is based on my Great Aunt Hazel: who lived alone, never married, and lived in the house she was born in, which was on the side of a mountain and had crooked floors.

• One of the main characters runs a Dance Studio and Teaches Ballet: Because, well, I know that stuff.

• The amateur sleuth’s hobby is miniatures: Because it is my hobby. I rehab and build dollhouses and love all things miniature.

• Paranormal Hocus-Pocus: Given that the Granny Women were deeply connected to the land and its people, why not make the jump that some were also “tuned in” to the world in ways most are not.

Why not follow my own interests, if I will be diving into a project that will require so much of my time and effort? And as we age those questions of how we spend our time and effort italicize themselves.

What is your particular “rabbit hole”? What if you could write or pursue a project that is defined only by what you want to do, or want to know more about, or want to experience, and what would it be?

Tell me in the comments because I know you’ve got one.