Deep Thoughts

[viridian5]

ride_4ever asked me to comment on any aspect or aspects of my due South Borderlands - One for Sorrow series, like technical things about writing it or the feels I got from it while writing it or what originally sparked the idea. (Readers, it's not too late to give me questions about anything--interesting, boring - I don't judge, impertinent, or unusual

Comments

[ride_4ever]

TYK for this glorious addition to my <3 for that series!

[viridian5]

Yay!

My conception of how badly Ray might do in the Northwest Territories comes directly from my years living and trying to find work in the Pocono Mountains, which is a beautiful place to visit--verdant summers and springs, vibrant blazes of colors in autumn and a scent in the air that is a pure distillation of what autumn should smell like, pretty first snows and great skiing (if you're a skier, which I am not), and great hiking options--but so damned hard to live in.

[ride_4ever]

What made it the most hard? Was it the limited job opportunities? The weather in deep winter? The distances between people?

[viridian5]

All of the above?

Part 1:

The first snows and fresh snow are pretty, but for most of the winter you deal with piles of filthy melted-and-refrozen-to-ice snow several feet high. The ashes used to give drivers traction on the roads--rock salt wasn't used because it would damage the roads and plant life too badly--created piles of filthy melted snow on the sides of the road that looked especially filthy and truly disgusting. You took your life in your hands driving when and after it snowed, which was a lot of the winter. And it was so, so cold