Writing Progress

Last Friday I finished a draft of the fourth chapter of my book-in-progress. The chapter, “Song of Iowa,” is about the two-week trip my paternal great-grandfather took to the South in 1906 with an Iowa regimental band and a delegation of Iowa officials and Civil War veterans to dedicate battlefield monuments to Iowa soldiers.

Today, I received a copy in the mail of a book I ordered that is one of my sources for the chapter. The book, Dedication of Monuments Erected by the State of Iowa, was published in 1908, two years after the trip.

I had taken notes from a copy in a library, but now I have my own copy to peruse whenever I want.

The title page, with a fancy illustration.

It includes the text of the speeches made during the trip, it lists the names of the songs the band played, and it contains several maps! So cool.

A map of Vicksburg National Military Park in Mississippi.

I am now working on the second chapter of my book. It takes place at the turn of the last century, when my great-grandparents, G. Oliver and Islea Riggs, moved to Crookston, Minnesota, and became central to that city’s growing cultural life.

And yes, I am writing out of order. I have now completed drafts of the first and last chapters, the fourth and fifth chapters, the prologue, and scenes from several other chapters.

My plan is to finish Chapter 2 this weekend, and I have much work ahead of me, so I will get back to it!