A Gilded Age Getaway
Visiting fiction in real life
I love The Gilded Age. The TV show, not necessarily the robber baron era that we are currently re-creating. Having grown up in NYC, Peter also loves the show and has started listening to The Bowery Boys podcast, which explores the city’s history.
The Gilded Age is set in New York and often visits Newport, Rhode Island. Since Peter and I have never been to Newport, we decided to drive up for a spring vacation and stop off in Manhattan on the way back.
It was a fantastic trip. I’ll have more post-vacation posts on my blog in the coming days. For now, I’ll cover a few highlights—mainly on how fiction (including my own!) showed up on our trip.
Filming in Progress
When we arrived in Newport, we didn’t know The Gilded Age would be there, actively filming for season four. We saw film crews moving around the various houses, caught sight of some extras in costume, and even saw Christine Baranski in a gift shop! We played it cool and didn’t talk to her, since she seemed to be enjoying some quiet time off set, but it was fun to see her in person.
The mansion tours often pointed out which rooms were used in The Gilded Age, and it was fascinating to learn how they cut scenes together to make parts of Newport mansions appear to be rooms from the mansions in New York City.
In New York, we had a fantastic time on The Bowery Boys’ Gilded Age walking tour. We were able to see some of the remaining mansions on Fifth Avenue and learn more about both the history and architecture of the time.
Visiting a Story Setting
In New York, we had another brush with fiction in the real world when we walked through a scene from my second novel, To the Left of Death. This was an unplanned visit to a story setting. One that I only realized months after booking the hotel and days before leaving for my trip.
You can read more about that on my blog post, Story Settings: Visiting Fiction in Real Life. Basically, I’d used Google Maps to find a good location for a road trip in my novel. It had a hotel, a middle school, and an upscale apartment building. Google’s Street View had helped me describe the setting, bringing in a sushi bar and pharmacy on that block. It was wild to walk those streets and see the settings in real life!
It was a fabulous trip, adding new layers to some beloved fictional worlds.
Mini Yoga Break
Yoga mantras set an intention and offer a focus for your meditation practice. Traditionally, mantras are spoken in Sanskrit, which is a vibrational language, meaning its words were created to match the perceived vibrational energy of the objects they represent.
Mantras can be long phrases or as short as a single word, such as chanting om. A relatively simple Buddhist mantra I enjoy is:
Om Mani Padme Hum
This essentially translates to mean “the jewel in the lotus.” The jewel refers to compassion, while the lotus refers to wisdom. I like to think of it as bringing together the value of both your heart (emotion) and mind (logic).
There are more complex meanings in this mantra, as well. You can learn more here: Om Mani Padme Hum
To practice this mantra, you can silently repeat it in your mind or say the words aloud to feel their vibrational energy. Find a relatively quiet place where you can allow some time to focus on the words.
Writing and/or Yoga Updates
If you’re in Northern VA and would like to meet me in person, I will be at Comic Logic’s Spring Lot Con on May 17th from 12 to 4 pm. This is an outdoor event in Ashburn, VA, which features a range of local artists and vendors.
Comic Logic - 44031 Ashburn Shopping Plz, # 281, Ashburn, VA
Throwback Spotlight
After writing about a show I love and a novel I loved writing, I decided to make today’s throwback a look at a past episode from my Freely Written podcast, Labor of Love. This story explores what it means to love your work… in a way.
You can listen to the story here: Ep. 123 - Labor of Love
If you enjoy this story, please rate and review Freely Written and share it with your friends!