Gency Brown

Three years in the making is a trip to The Ozarks for my friend with the camera and me. She has never seen the beauty of the area and I am filled with memories to share. I’ve missed being there and especially in the fall when the foliage turns to every color of autumn. As an added bonus, I know we’ll find those hills filled with music we love. Of course, there will be vistas to frame and snap as well as writing opportunities galore.

From Albuquerque we stop in Oklahoma City overnight, then pass through Tulsa where our only goal is to secure a case of Weber’s Root Beer and a chili burger from their historic stand on Peoria Ave. We will spend our first two nights in Arkansas in a cabin on the King River. You guessed it, fly-fishing. There’s nothing like the ripple of water and the solitude of nature to get the creative juices flowing for both artists. It is just outside the birthplace of my maternal grandmother so there will be some genealogy work done in the little town and surrounding cemeteries.

As we move into Eureka Springs, I’ll show her my favorite haunts before preparing to attend the Ozark Creative Writer’s Conference. Two and a half days of workshops and networking. I’ll have an opportunity to meet face to face with the President and the Social Media Manager from my publishing company, The Wild Rose Press. Everyone there has been so good to work with and it will be good to get to know these two personally. 

While I study, I’m sure her camera will click away at all the sights of this historic artist’s enclave. I hope to share some of her work in a later episode. By the way, family oral history tells me my great grandfather and others of his family built many of the original colorful Victorian buildings in the town.

Before we leave Eureka Springs, we’ll visit a writer’s retreat I’ve been yearning to attend for some time. It’s called The Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow. Who knows? Maybe I’ll sign up while I’m there.

On we go to Branson, Missouri, for a day at Silver Dollar City. Perfect timing for their annual Crafts and Harvest Festival. A day of seeing the sights and a dinner with an outdoor drama at The Shepherd of the Hills amphitheater rounds out our time there.

Next, we take a scenic route south through Arkansas and into the fall colors of the Kiamichi Mountains in Southeastern Oklahoma. In Talihina, a night’s rest in a historic hotel named Hootie Creek Guest House (folks I can’t make this stuff up) will prepare us for research in and around the town, which is the setting of my next novel. Wouldn’t it be great if everything I’ve already written about Talihina was correct? Writing about your home state can be easier or more challenging. I want to get it right.

The last leg of our planned fun takes us to Ada, Oklahoma, the city of my birth. There we visit with family and once again get out gear for fly-fishing. We’ll be just a few miles away on Pennington Creek. What a way to end a wonderful vacation. I’m sure some fantastic writing and photography will come from our relaxation and adventure in favorite mountains of my childhood.

Soon I’ll share more about my novel, A right Fine Life, which releases on January 3, 2024. I’ll share about the next book, too. Go to my website at www.gencybrown,com or follow me on all the usual social media platforms. Sign up for my occasional emails to get all the scoop. I welcome your comments.

Thanks for visiting The Little Brown Cabin.

Gency Brown