Then in 1871, the most famous sighting occurred … several ladies and gentlemen staying in Kilkee were out walking around the Diamond Rocks, when a monster rose from the surface of the water. What struck me about this account is most sightings are either by an individual or a couple of people, where this sighting occurred in front of a larger group. The news of the sighting traveled from Ireland to London’s illustrated paper the Day’s Doings and posted this description along with the image shown here.

“It had an enormous head, shaped somewhat like a horse, while behind the head and on the neck was a huge mane of seaweed-looking water; the eyes were large and glaring, and, by the appearance of the water behind, a vast body seemed to be beneath the waves.”

Ahhh, now that sounds more like a description of a water kelpie, but as kelpies are reputed to be shape shifters, they can take any form, including human. So the question arises, for those debunkers out there: Was this a mass hysteria sighting or another instance of a really big fish? Or is it possible that there are creatures of the deep that we have no idea about?

Anyway, I happened to run across this little nugget of information. In 1881, in County Clare, John Philip Holland was the first person to successfully launch a submarine. It makes me wonder whether John Philip Holland had a secret desire to be a monster hunter. After the sighting in 1871, did he throw himself into the job of creating a vessel that would allow him to chase the Irish Nessie underwater? His first submarine designs weren’t submitted until 1875 … it is fun to speculate.

Speculation, wonder, dreaming, and nightmares are all fuel to the writer’s fire.

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I’m a believer in change through intention and taking things one day at a time. I set goals … I don’t make resolutions because those can be broken, whereas a goal is something you continue to strive toward until you achieve it. But even with that, I couldn’t settle on ONE idea to strive toward in the new year. Until this year. And it’s a phrase I’ll focus on to get me through 2019.

Don’t Mess with the Ness

I received this cup for Christmas from my friend, mentor, and agent, Italia Gandolfo. And it is a perfect phrase for me to focus on in 2019. Maybe for life … although Be the Cat! is my lifetime mantra. Why is the phrase so perfect? Well, I happen to be working on a Middle Grade novel where one of the characters is fashioned after Nessie. But for me it goes beyond the character to the whole mythos of the Loch Ness Monster.

The Loch Ness Monster is one of the most debunked myths around, and yet the myth persists. So as someone who deals in worlds that exist only in my head, yet are so real to me, the persistence of the myth is comforting. Nessie stands the test of time — which is my goal for everything I write. And you don’t mess with Nessie … debunk him over here, and he’ll pop up over there thumbing his nose (snout?) at you. Although, I doubt he has any thumbs either … but you get the idea. No matter how many times it has been “proven” he doesn’t exist, he has continued to make appearance after appearance throughout history.

I had read an article based on busting the sentiment you can’t prove a negative and the article author used Nessie as part of their example of destroying the logic — which in my opinion he failed to do. It was an opinon piece and facts were absent. At any rate, his theory was that all we’d have to do to prove there is no Loch Ness Monster was to drain the Loch Ness. He does have a point.

IF the Loch Ness were drained AND no monster was found, we might conclude the monster doesn’t exist … but I’m not sure that would rate as iron-clad proof either. Because with as many years as there have been sightings of Nessie, there also have been periods of time where there were no sightings. Wouldn’t it be a logical presumption that the monster might reside in the Loch Ness for some of the time, but not all the time?

Now, I’m not arguing for the existence or not of a specific Loch Ness monster, but more that the idea is still possible that one might exist. Where there is the remotest possibility, then there is hope … and hope and faith together is a potent combination. The type of thing that can move mountains. But how does this tie to the year ahead?

2018 had some very good moments, but 2019 is going to be even better. During 2018, I made strides health-wise to be stronger and while I’m still a long way from where I want to be, I’m moving forward. Same with my writing. Little baby steps at a time is what is going to get me to where I want to be, and I have hope, no matter what the actual probability is, that I will achieve my goals, and I am moving forward in faith that I am on the right path and doing my life’s work. So don’t tell me probabilities or statistics — don’t try to sway me with facts.

Unless you’ve drained not only the Loch Ness and the rest of the Lochs and other bodies of water around the world, there is still a possibility, however improbable, Nessie exists. And if the possibility exists, then there is hope, and I will believe I will get stronger, healthier, and the path I’m on will take me to the destination I desire.

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Monster Loch Ness Scotland, Nessie MaxPixel

For years, there have been sightings of the Loch Ness Monster in Scotland, and while some of those sightings, including the most famous of them, have been proven as hoaxes, there are enough sightings to at least consider there may be an “unknown” species hanging out in Loch Ness. And scientists have considered whether the monster could be a descendant of the plesiosaur, a discarded theory, but enough to open the door for consideration of a species like it. I’m rather partial to the myth of Nessie because a monster of that ilk becomes part of the mythological fabric in my upcoming Homeless Myths series.

One creature we didn’t know about as a separate species until 2001 is the pygmy three-toed sloth. Sergio, a character in the Timmy and the Golden Lion Tamarin series, is the endangered animal who befriends Luna and helps her deal with her problems. I was fascinated when researching sloths to learn the reason the pygmy sloths are smaller than other types of sloths is because they had to adapt to their environment. The pygmy three-toed sloth is only found in a 4 square kilometer (~2.5 square miles) mangrove forest off of Panama on the Isla Escudo de Veraguas. Deforestation has put the pygmy three-toed sloth on the critically endangered species list and measures are now being taken to build up rather than destroy their habitat.

Without people like the monster-hunting Cryptozoologists who are always searching for hidden animals, would we even know of the existence of the pygmy three-toed sloth? Would it have perished before we were aware it lived at all? Something to think about.

* Cryptozoology is the study of hidden animals with the aim to prove the existence of entities from folklore.
** Conservation is the practice of protecting wild plant and animal species and their habitats. The goal of wildlife conservation is to ensure that nature will be around for future generations to enjoy and also to recognize the importance of wildlife and wilderness for humans and other species alike. Wikipedia

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At this point, I’m still working on plotting out my next Middle Grade book as my literary manager, Italia Gandolfo, is eagerly awaiting the summary, so I really need to figure out where the book is going. My last research topic was about the Loch Ness Monster, but this time instead of researching underwater, I’ve gone underground — and into the murky area of the sewer system.

Undercity: The Infrastructural Explorations of Steve Duncan Photo: © Steve Duncan

As a child, I had a fascination with the sewer system. The idea that the gutter water flowed down into a network of tunnels and (so I believed at the time) ran all the way to the ocean ignited my imagination. Especially as I was certain creatures lived down there, and I don’t mean rats. The sewer world was dark and mysterious and full of urban legends. Like the hounds of hell that chased one kid brave enough to make it all the way down the ladder to the bottom. Or the sewer worker whose light on his helmet went out and the only thing ever found of him was his boot. The kids in my neighborhood would gather round the grate and shine flashlights into the depths trying to see what lurked beyond in the darkness. Occasionally, a cherished ball would slip down into the depths and we’d work together to pull the paving stone up to expose the ladder. And someone would climb down. I don’t think we ever retrieved anything because a sound would be heard and the trip up the ladder would happen in record time, and we’d get the paving stone back in place as quickly as possible.

I’m still fascinated by sewers and the network they represent under our feet. But at the moment I needed facts and figures to provide the structural realm. Such as the city of Los Angeles has a sewer system consisting of more than 6,500 miles of underground pipes ranging from as small as 6-inch in diameter to as large as 14-ft in diameter. I could drive from Los Angeles to Maine and back again in 6,500 miles. My mind boggles at the amount of pipes and all the twists and turns they must take … maybe on several levels in order for there to be that many miles of pipe for a city.

While I will need to learn more about the sewers, right now this is enough to set my imagination on fire, so I’ll let the information settle in and see what my characters decide they are going to do with it.

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For every writer, one of the necessary evils is research. I do say evil with a grain of salt because research always stimulates my mind and helps clarify the story … and I quite easily get lost in research as it is fascinating. My current research topic is the Loch Ness Monster. It is for a story that is in the baby developmental stages, so I won’t say anything more about it except I needed to know more than I did about Nessie.

So, what did I know? Before starting my research, I knew that Nessie is a native of Scotland, at least the sightings take place in Loch Ness, a large, deep, freshwater loch in the Scottish Highlands. The sightings have been received with skepticism over the years, in part due to the number of hoaxes which have been perpetrated regarding the existence of the monster. The most common depiction is of something large that looks much like an extinct plesiosaur, but the plesiosaur is too warm-blooded to have survived the climes of the Highlands and Loch Ness. My research has given me a lot of facts about the history, the sightings, and the hoaxes, some of which are funny.

My favorite hoax is two-fold. Big game hunter Marmaduke Wetherell was hired to find the monster along with an actor and film crew. After a few days, Wetherell reported finding big footprints, so he made some plaster casts and sent them off to the Natural History Museum in London. Imagine his embarrassment and dismay when the analysis returned the results that the prints had been made by a hippopotamus foot. And worse, it was a foot which had been turned into an umbrella stand. Wetherell had his revenge though. He returned hoax for hoax and one of the most famous pictures taken of the monster, which wasn’t debunked for 60 years, was created by Wetherell and his sons. They fashioned a neck and head and fastened it to a toy submarine and had a respected doctor send the picture into the newspaper.

But though interesting, what I searched for wasn’t the accounts of the sightings or even the hoaxes. What I have been searching for is the lore … the myths which have given the Loch Ness Monster its staying power. At first all I found were accounts of sightings of a basically camera shy large aquatic animal and when the pictures were taken and whether they were debunked or not. I was slightly disappointed to find a reference to someone deciding that an article about a large fish wouldn’t grab much public attention, and so that is how the appellation of monster was applied. *sigh* How was it that the legend and stories have persisted through the years?

But then Nova came to my rescue with this little gem:

These water-horses, or water-kelpies, are said to have magical powers and malevolent intentions. According to one version of the legend, the water-horse lures small children into the water by offering them rides on its back. Once the children are aboard, their hands become stuck to the beast and they are dragged to a watery death, their livers washing ashore the following day.

Now THAT is what I had been searching for. And then I turned up the little tidbit stating that one of the Loch Ness Monster’s abilities was that of a shapeshifter. My imagination has been sufficiently charged and running away with how this information fits into the story as it develops. More research is ahead of me, but I have a direction and something concrete to run with.

I will close with this quote by G.K. Chesterton as food for thought. “Many a man has been hanged on less evidence than there is for the Loch Ness Monster.”

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