A Writer’s Haven on Cape Cod

Inside my cottage, it is as if the wilds of the Cape Cod pine forest are actually inside my indoor space. Many floor to ceiling glass windows and screened areas make this 500 square foot boxy cottage both airy and bright. There are even more glass panels above the wooden walls, and since the roof slants upward, it pulls my vision UP. Since the cottage is so open, I hear the ocean breeze billowing on the tree tops as it rakes through the pines, the call of the screech owl at night, and when I sleep, I take moonbeam baths as the light streams through the many windows. Frank Lloyd Wright would approve of this 1930-60-s Bauhaus style cottage, for in actuality, the architect designed it in the same line as Wright’s work for he studied at his school..

http://www.hiddenvillageeastham.com/home.html

I am visiting my friend Dave Crary in Eastham and am the guest at his family’s historic cottages, Hidden Village on Cape Cod. It is an unbelievable space to work on a manuscript, especially a writer who would rather be outdoors. All the times a writer searches for the correct word or to understand a feeling she is trying to convey, my eyes are pulled UP in this cottage, towards the sky, a place where answers sometimes come. The clean lines of the Mission style furniture and walnut wood structure are uncluttered and very pleasing to the eye. This cottage is a far cry from my busy household back home where I struggle to focus on my manuscript.

It is a short visit this time, although Dave and I packed in a ton. A bike ride on the famous Cape Cod Rail Trail and a long walk to the outermost curling tip of the Cape’s fist past Provincetown. This 8 mile trek entailed traversing the mile long rock break wall at low tide that leads out to the Long Point Lighthouse. A dinner out for an authentic lobster roll, a homemade donut shop one morning and a visit to my college roommate, Valerie, whose family also has a home here. And, Dave took me to see his many burn sites around the cape, as Dave is the Fire ­Management Officer for the Cape Cod National Seashore. His upwards to forty prescribed burns a year keep the undergrowth under control in the event that a wildfire would take off, as well as keeping the forest open and healthy. Pitch pines require fire to open the cones and enable the forest to regenrate, so help is needed to control and manage the forest.

I am here on the Cape after meeting my literary agent, Charlotte Raymond, who so believes in my book, Modeling a Life, and my mission. We connected emotionally immediately upon meeting and found a wonderful rapport within minutes. I loved her smiling face, her kind and interested eyes, her level of passion to support me and my work. Charlotte handled one of my other six published books years ago but we had never met. She wants to get Modeling a Life into the hands of every new parent in America as well as grandparents. She said, “You really have done a remarkable thing, the way you have raised and educated your children. I feel like I have done poorly in comparison.” It is not my goal to make anyone feel guilty but she replied, “I am dedicated to being a better grandparent.”

Although this particular visit to the Crary’s Hidden Village was not an actual work trip , Dave invited me back in the fall to finish my manuscript. My arm could be twisted. I believe I could be very productive here in this cottage, where the outdoors feels like it is indoors, the bike trail is outside my door for stimulation and all those miles of beach to walk for inspiration.