As Archer would say, “Oh, that is just so him.”
And it just classic me. I make it seem like I’m going to be writing daily posts during my time in Savannah, and then I post one for the first day and that’s it. Classic.
I’ll do my best to summarize my trip, with the help of my Instagram feed (images help jog my memory.)
Tuesday morning I walked to a nearby cafe called Clary’s which I had been looking forward to since I started planning the trip. I had heard rave reviews about their food, especially breakfast food, so I dove in head first and got the crab cakes benedict.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEYls_5KhkJ/?taken-by=jahelget
It was almost painfully delicious. The walk there wasn’t half bad either.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEYkWqWqhhD/?taken-by=jahelget
I can’t overstate how beautiful Savannah is. Having been a few weeks removed from my trip now, I’m counting down the days until I can visit again. I spent most of the week down there with the album “Struggle Pretty” by Penny & Sparrow on repeat, so every time I hear tracks from that album, it brings me right back down there. (It’s an excellent album, by the way, highly recommend it.)
I spent a good portion of the day on Tuesday walking around the city, stopping here and there at cafes to do some writing, and soaking up every bit of feel and atmosphere I could. Savannah is the oldest city in Georgia, older than the United States itself (technically,) and it has a mysterious air to it. It’s quite haunting. While there, I learned that it’s been dubbed the Most Haunted City in America, and I could definitely buy that, given its long and storied history. Also, where else can you find a sight like this?
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEZo2m5qhp9/?taken-by=jahelget
I mean, that gives you a small idea of the kinds of sights there are to see down there. Live oaks positively dripping with Spanish moss. Buildings from before the country was a country. It’s something else.
I ate lunch down by the riverfront (outdoors of course; I think I had maybe three meals indoors over the course of the trip.) The riverfront area is specifically mentioned in a section of my book, and it’s something I wanted to make sure I captured well. The geology and architecture of the area is something truly unique.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEe0Y0IKhv5/?taken-by=jahelget
The area in the above photo is called Factor’s Walk, and rather than explain it, I’ll let you Google it. It’s unlike anything I’ve come across in all the cities I’ve been to.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEwmViDKhvq/?taken-by=jahelget
I walked this area thoroughly, taking mental notes, before sitting down and doing some more writing. I didn’t make a ton of actual new-content-progress on the book, but I got a lot of invaluable research material.
I also ate a lot of really, excessively good food. Tuesday evening’s dinner was at a place called Cotton & Rye. It had the best rye bread I’ve ever eaten in my life. I had several helpings. I also had a Daddy Greenback (southern twist on a Manhattan) and sweet tea, of course. These paired nicely with my dinner of fried chicken and mac ‘n cheese.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEZvRKUqhkz/?taken-by=jahelget
I enjoyed this meal outside on the patio, with the nice accompaniment of an electric guitar player gracing us with some smooth tunes.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEZp7s6qhro/?taken-by=jahelget
Wednesday was a big research day. I resolved to take a trip out to Cockspur Island, about fifteen minutes down-river. A big chunk of Part II of WLAD takes place on Cockspur Island, so I wanted to get out there and actually walk the land and see the vegetation, landscape, wildlife, etc.
But first, I had a breakfast of biscuits and gravy, cheesy scrambled eggs, and cheesy grits. Real authentic southern breakfast.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEbKj-uKhll/?taken-by=jahelget
It didn’t quite match up to the previous morning’s breakfast, but it was still delectable. I walked around the city for awhile, including along the riverfront again, before calling an Uber to take me out to Cockspur. Chatted with the driver regarding why I was in town and gave him the full rundown of the book. He made sure to ask the name of the book and assured he’d keep an eye out for it. Little encouragements like that are nice.
When I arrived on Cockspur, the first thing I wanted to do was explore the Civil War era fort that occupies the eastern portion of the island, Fort Pulaski.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEbxX1uKhmf/?taken-by=jahelget
It was fascinating to walk the fort grounds, reading the placards that told various tales of the siege of the fort by the Union forces. It did not fare well, as you can see in the image above. After walking every inch of the fort, I ventured out to the nearby beach and walked it for a long ways, watching the crabs scuttle into their holes. I headed inland, plunging into the maritime forest along a walking path. I had no idea what kind of foliage would be on this island, so these couple hours of just walking around Cockspur were great for reference. I even found a location that would be perfect for the facility that plays a big role in this part of the book and took a picture of it (which I didn’t post to Instagram, so tough break.) All in all, my trip to the island was time well spent.
Back on the mainland, I did some more walking (seriously I walked something like 10-12 miles on Wednesday. My legs were tired by day’s end.) The evening walks were my favorite. It really sets off the houses:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEcbHQnqhgs/?taken-by=jahelget
I had a fried flounder reuben at the Crystal Beer Parlor for dinner (sadly indoors; can’t win ’em all) and then walked to the Gallery Espresso cafe, where I enjoyed arguably the best cup of Turkish coffee I’ve ever had. They did it the real way, with a cezve (though they were missing the hot sand for boiling.) It was great. Sat and worked on the book for awhile.
Thursday, my last full day in Savannah, was probably the least “eventful” of them. I actually spent a great chunk of this day sitting and writing due to my exhausted legs. I had an excellent sandwich for lunch at a South African place the local’s swear by called Zunzi’s. The picture doesn’t do it justice.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEeLvvJKhvf/?taken-by=jahelget
I made sure to take a trolley tour in the afternoon to give my legs a rest. The trolleys were open air and the tour was informative and included some actors in period costume coming onboard and speaking to us. It was a great time!
That night I decided I had to eat a meal at the infamous Pirate’s House. This old pirate tavern is the oldest standing building in Savannah. Inside its walls are the original walls of the Herb House, which was built in 1734. The exterior walls of the tavern aren’t quite as old, only dating to 1754, but it’s a very storied place. It’s even been tied to the story of Treasure Island. It was even visited by Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard. So yes, I had a meal in the same building that Blackbeard once drank at, which is pretty neat.
I made sure to cap off the trip with a visit to Leopold’s Ice Cream, another must-visit destination in Savannah. Made sure to get their trademark Tutti Frutti ice cream. It was a great end to a great trip.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEe6TdLqhqw/?taken-by=jahelget
The next morning, I arose and tidied up the carriage house. It had served me well as my temporary home away from home, and I remember as I walked out the door a forlorn feeling. I hadn’t even left the city, and I was already missing it.
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I caught an Uber to the airport and flew home.
Savannah was wonderful. It was a great week to get away from it all and spend some time along, work on my writing, enjoy some beautiful weather, breathtaking sights, and food worthy of becoming a glutton over. I truly miss that place and I’m seriously aching to go back.
Not long after going back to work, my coworkers turned me on to a podcast called “Hardcore History,” which is narrated by Dan Carlin, who is surprisingly a journalist, not a historian. I’ve found this podcast to be nothing short of riveting, in large part because of the storytelling prowess of Carlin. I’ve enjoyed it so much, in fact, that it’s affected my personal writing.
For a long time, I’ve kind of shied away from working on the journal entry portions of the novel. I think the story-within-a-story found in the journal entries is fascinating on its own, and could probably be its own book’s worth of content, but it’s always felt a bit laborious to write for me. The main character is documenting a historical account of what has brought the world to its current state, and often does so in the monotonous tones (if there is such a thing in the written word) and styles of a history book. Hearing how Carlin retells great stories from history to his listeners has caused me to shift my perception of the journal entries in the book. It sparked a new creativity in their delivery, which will stand out in contrast with the earlier, more dry and factual entries. Don’t worry, this transition actually makes sense in context of what’s going on in the book.
Last Wednesday, I went to my usual writing spot and churned out over a thousand words of journal entries, the largest chunk of single-sitting writing I’ve done in quite some time. That amount used to be commonplace in the early days of writing this story, but as of late I’ve had my fair share of struggles. Nevertheless, having my perception of storytelling shifted by Hardcore History has been a very positive change on my writing, and any spark is a good spark when you need to light a fire.
Here’s hoping for more momentum going forward!
There, I made up with my lack of entries with an exceptionally long one, by my standards.
–J.
The Hammer of Thor 