Photo Posts

Every year my little family of three travels East to Maine for a couple of weeks. This time is usually a vacation, but I find myself so inspired when visiting that I carry my notebook and pen around everywhere I go. After a few years of these trips I find an almost spiritual feeling in these woods and see where Stephen King gets his ideas (It is almost like he doesnt write fiction) Being in Maine, away from the drove of life I get a little retreat to write. Be it by the ocean in Bar Harbor or just on the back deck at my Mother-in-law's. I make some great progress on my upcoming novels. Last year it was a hike in Acadia National Park that "The Dorcha" came to light. I was walking along a trail by Jordan's Pond and I could fully see my characters running through the woods unseen from their mythical world to our own, all the while tourists walk by unaware of what is happening a few feet away. I am working on a new novel (sorry no spoilers)called "Who Spilled the Tea?" and look forward to see how Maine will inspire this story.
Above photo: Bar Harbor, where I found a folk singer giving a small concert on a lawn.

When I was in High School I attended a vocational school where we learned a trade, I picked Culinary Arts. I had so much fun learning how to cook and being creative. I took to baking especially and soon began competing in baking competitions. I won several awards for my chocolate works and sugar sculptures. But after four years of studying, I had lost the passion for making it my profession and started looking elsewhere. I knew I loved cooking, but I did not want to cook for a restaurant just for family and friends.

Today when I get stuck on a story and cant figure where to go next, I go to the kitchen. I search out the refrigerator for what I can make for my family. I swear they will be 10000 pounds with all the cookies
I bake, but food to me is a large part of my life and use it as a way to destress.
These days I'm not making giant sculptures, and cakes, but instead making family meals like in the photo above. That is Venus De Milo soup, a restaurant I grew up going to for special occasions, so whenever I am missing New England, I make a batch! Food has a strong pull toward a past where the scents and tastes of years pass come out from the food. I remember spending time making pasta with my mother, and today my son and I still make pasta every Christmas Eve.
From cookies to pasta, to my favorite pork chops, food finds a way into every story I tell, which makes sense, since cooking is my go to trick to get out of the blues. So do a little baking or make a s'more, go back in time and relive times past.
Want to make some Venus De Milo soup? check out this recipe: Venus De Milo

I have had an eclectic collection of jobs over the years. I cleaned gym equipment at a YMCA, I handed out flyers at South Station on Boston, I even ran my own consulting firm for small museums. Though varied, I always have a had a great passion for history. I have a Bachelors in general history, and a Masters in Heritage Studies. Heritage Studies? what is that? well I think it is best described as ethnohistory, or not quite anthropology but more field work than history. I studied culture and how cultures help shape history. I loved learning about how the things we put meaning to shape our histories. I learned field work, oral history interviews, and research. I focused on how technology changes our culture, and have found great joy in finding connections between our past and how it changed our future. I taught for years as I mentioned last time, I always felt a sense of accomplishment when students would make the connections and see how all of history connects together.

Now that I have switched to writing, I find my life as a historian peeks through in many different ways. Like this week I am working on typing up my next novel, and needed to add a lullaby to the story. I found myself relying on my old skills and research and found that the oldest lullaby is from Babylon and titled 'Little Baby in the Dark House." I try to never get rid of old research and use it to inspire me in my work writing novels. I sit looking at my notebooks, binders and books as I type I can look up and see which book I may need to look into, be it to remind myself how long a train ride between Boston and Providence was in 1890 or some old research on the diaspora of Punk Rock.

Melding history and writing has been a great adventure. I love learning and mixing the things I have learned over my many years studying. The biggest part though I love is giving voices to the people I have studied. For years I would read about culture and always visualized things as if I was observing a friend in the situation. With writing these stories can come to life and others can experience a time and culture of the past and see connections to our own present. My first novel takes place in Nantucket, I was able to take research, my own trips to the island and combine it with my research into how women of the age were expected to live. I wanted to give a voice to the women who stepped outside the box and hope that others will find themselves in the story that they too can break free!

Want to hear more on culture and writing? I am doing a session at this years Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Conference in September. For more information check out:RMFW 2025 Colorado Gold Conference

Hello!

I am Karen Dropps. I am an author, historian, lover of crafting and a martial artist. Follow my site to learn about me and my process writing and creating!

To start, I want to highlight a bit about my journey to becoming an author!

During 2020, I was stuck at home teaching history on Zoom at the local community college. I was approached to write a new text book for my Colorado History course. I was reluctant at first but was looking for a challenge so I accepted. From that came my first "Booms and Busts: The Story of Colorado". Though few have read it, I found I enjoyed writing, and a few short years later, I had had enough of teaching and was looking for a new path. I took classes in project management, data analysis, anything I could get my hands on, I just wasn't happy, and looked for a change. I had met a career coach at a conference the year before and decided to reach out and see what I could be doing with my life. The first thing I had to do was list 100 things I love and from that I was able to see that, my passions are creative leaning, and that maybe a career in the arts may be a good fit. I had remembered I had started writing a book about 5 years before, but had never finished it. With a new found energy I got cracking and finished my first novel "My Elbert" which was published this March! It has been a long journey but I am happy and am loving writing. I have two more novels in the works and have many more ideas coming! So check back and learn more!
Karen
Want to buy my first novel? check out my publishers page!:Spring Cedars