Robyn Near Albright

Hi there! What have I been doing since my last column you ask? It’s been a few years. Covid ran amok and changed countless lives. Cut-backs curtailed my writing, and isolation dampened my enthusiasm. I haven’t been totally idle, however.

In 2021 I finished and published my first book, Jump on the Runnin’ Board, a memoir of my father and me. That book was ten years in the making, and while it was never meant to be a commercial success, I dreamed of being “discovered” and making a million. No such luck – yet.

Since then, I wrote a one-act play that placed third in Westfield’s Lakeshore Center for the Arts International Organic Juicebox competition, and have subsequently been asked to expand the play to be performed in Rochester, New York, and possibly Buffalo as well, although health issues with the producer have sidetracked the offers for now.

A couple other little projects, like compiling and editing my friend’s book about her journey through hospice, and researching my family tree, have taken up a fair amount of time.

But my baby, my pride, is writing my first novel. I’ve been at it for three years now, and have yet to complete a first draft. (see distractions above) I am totally immersed in the story, however.

In researching my family history, I discovered that ancestors of mine were slave owners in Virginia. This revelation took me by surprise, although it shouldn’t have. I had heard vague stories about my grandmother having a black nanny, although I think it was probably my great-grandmother who experienced that. It just never occurred to me that the nanny was a slave.

The first inkling for a story line began there. It has since evolved into a story of escape and hardship for two Virginia slaves. Their road to freedom entails baying hounds, shallow graves, swamps, river monsters, slave catchers, and the kindness of strangers.

I never imagined the amount of research this topic would demand. While my story is fiction, it’s based on real events. I want to make it as factual as I can. The Underground Railroad, naturally, required more than a cursory look. The flora and fauna of the states of Virginia and West Virginia, along with their inherent remedies, the meaning of quilts hung on slave cabins (which have since been debunked), and the topography of the Monongahela River near Pittsburgh, all took time to research. But it’s been fun, in its own way.

This book has become my passion; however, I am an expert procrastinator and have found countless excuses to not write on any given day. Therefore, I asked you to poke and prod me. Hound me with questions as to when my book will be out! I work well under pressure. So, pressure me!

And by the way, it’s great to be back with you, sharing my thoughts and ideas. I hope you’re as happy to read me as I am to write to you.

Robyn Near Albright is a Ripley resident.