AZ Historical Novel Society Guest Post by Venetia Lewis

I am pleased to welcome one of our AZ Historical Novel Society members with her guest post about Cochise, a band of Apaches and a small sign that peaked Venetia’s imagination. Find out the story behind her award-winning story, “The Laundress.” I welcome news and guest posts from members to share with our historical fiction community, both in Phoenix and as we reach out across the web.

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My thanks to Judith Starkston, who spearheaded the organization of our Arizona chapter of the Historical Novel Society, for letting me contribute a guest posting on her website. Our HNS chapter meetings are a great source of encouragement to me and, I’m certain, to the other members who hear anecdotes of a novel’s creation and publication as related directly to us by a spotlighted author. This immediacy fosters hope and determination that these rewards might come our way – if we continue writing.
Recently, a literary contest awarded “Honorable Mention” to a short story I wrote last fall, and I wanted to share the good news.
On New Year’s Day 2014, I opened a 9” by 12” envelope that I had thrust aside upon its arrival the day before. Just another solicitation, I was certain, despite not reading the sender’s name. When I opened the envelope flap and pulled out a certificate and a stapled, three page list entitled “Annual Art Affair Writing Contests 2013 WINNERS,” my pulse raced. On the second page were listed the names of the winners of the Western Short Story Contest. Not first, not second, not tied for third, but in alphabetical order, there, printed on the page, was my name: Honorable Mention – Venetia Lewis, Tucson, Arizona – “The Laundress.” Wow!

The idea for my short story, “The Laundress,” began with a day trip taken on February 4, 2011 with my husband Mark to Fort Bowie in the Chiricahua Mountains, not far from Bowie, Arizona, almost at the New Mexico border. On that date, one hundred and fifty years before, Cochise and a small group of Apaches that included his family members met with U.S. Army Lieutenant George N. Bascom in a goodwill effort to help return an abducted boy and stolen cattle to the stepfather.

Things went awry: Cochise knifed his way through the negotiating tent and escaped, fleeing shots fired at him by U.S. soldiers; Cochise’s brother lay pinned to the ground at bayonet point. This incident sparked a resurgence of the Indian Wars.
Re-enactors, dressed in period costumes, related the details of the “Bascom Affair” and tidbits of early Arizona daily life with conviction and enthusiasm. From one reenactment station to another, we walked through the Chiricahuas in bright, warm sunshine, a sometime rarity in February. Our path wound through the mesquite trees and Manzanita bushes to the ruins of Fort Bowie, high on a plateau.

From the plateau rose spires of stucco columns like stalagmites. These weathered relics of barracks, mess hall, and other buildings at the abandoned Fort gleamed in the sunshine. As we walked through the ruins where horse soldiers once lived to safeguard Southern Arizona from Indian attacks, we found the ruins of a small cabin, separated by about eighty yards from the Fort’s main parade grounds. A sign read “Laundress Cabin.” Why was it set apart by this distance? It was so small. What happened here?

The germ of an idea about “what happened here” grew for more than a year in my mind. I decided upon a short story format. Always a devotee of short stories – in addition to their being rather quick to write (sometimes) and with the idea of writing a slew of them in hopes of getting a nibble of interest – I searched online for short story contests and markets. “Annual Art Affair Literary Contests” came up. Not only did it have a Western short story category, but the deadline (October 1) was sufficiently in the future as to give me time to write it and re-write it and re-write it. Subsequently, I also found “Art Affair” listed in Writer’s Market, which one can usually find on the shelves in your local library.
The story may be fiction, but the details must be spot on. Relying upon memory and photos that appeared both online and in the available brochure from the Fort, the footprint of the story’s location took on reality. Facts that popped up as my story proceeded – such as, who was the commanding officer of the Fort in late June 1886? – needed further research. A purchase of the e-book version of Douglas C. McChristian’s Fort Bowie, Arizona: Combat Post of the Southwest, 1859-1894, which meticulously listed all of the commanding officers and the dates of their tenure, did the trick. Additionally, many online searches for the specific locations of heliograph stations in the Chiricahua Mountains brought sound results.

My Western short story, “The Laundress,” currently is looking for a publishing home. Whether successful in that venture, one never knows; yet, my story will always be a treasure to me. As I look at my framed “Honorable Mention” certificate resting on my desk, I feel as though I have broken through an invisible barrier. I am as honored as if it were the Pulitzer Prize. Maybe one day. . .

Venetia Lewis