Writer’s Life: A Research Trip to T. C. Lindsey & Co.

My book in the Apron Strings Series, Joann, takes place in a small town mercantile similar to the Jonesville General Store, also known as T. C. Lindsey and Co. My story originally took place in Texas, but since some of my key characters spend quite a bit of time in Shreveport and near Barksdale AF Base, I decided to scoot it over the state line. Easier in fiction than real life! However, I used the layout of T. C. Lindsey as a template for my fictional store. Seemed a good reason to go and visit this little bit of history.

The store today is a mix of items to buy and historical items.

Lots of jelly, seasoning mixes, and snacks, along with hoop cheese cut to order.

Lots of books, including, gift, cookbooks, and history books.

Scattered throughout are different gift items, T-shirts, overalls, and handmade items.

Upstairs, even more to look at!

This is the upstairs area. In my story, I had the characters clear it out for a small wedding reception.

The research team sat for a spell, studying on checker moves. (In my story the checker table is downstairs near the front. Here it is upstairs where an inventory of shoes line the shelves.)

From the upstairs, you can look out and see some of the downstairs. There’s more room in here than you would expect!

A telephone like the one my character would have used. The store has many unique items. Tucked away in a corner is the old post office.

My story doesn’t have the post office in the store, although I thought about it. In my story, the fictional town I described would have likely had it’s own post office by 1965.

I’m so glad I had help from my “research team” taking photos and video. There was so much packed into this store! You could get lost for days exploring here.

I brought home a T-shirt and some jelly. I hope to visit again soon, this time more for shopping than research. (The research team agreed the jelly is good. It tastes like nonspecific berries and is great on toast, bagels, and biscuits.)

Watch a video from Texas Country Reporter to learn more about the store.

Tell me about the last time you visited an old time store or an out-of-the-way store in the comments!

☕ Book Break ☕ | Nonfiction The Evangelical Imagination: How Stories, Metaphors and Images Created a Culture in Crisis by Karen Swallow Prior

I grew up in an evangelical community.

I’m also a writer and a reader of inspirational fiction. (Although I read general market fiction and well and read widely.)

I found this nonfiction book utterly fascinating and liked hearing about the history, the first precursors to novels, how the different influences of societal ideas, religious ideas, and literature have all impacted each other. The first chapter may be a little slow for some readers, but it picked up after that, and because I found the subject interesting it kept me listening. I got the audiobook and felt the narration was well done.

As like many people in the Christian community, I’ve been examining my faith traditions, and books of this sort are helpful when trying to understand how we got to where we are today. I have always enjoyed reading history and trying to puzzle out how different events shaped society.

I would describe this book as somewhat scholarly but accessible. If you like history or are curious about how today’s attitudes and beliefs systems came into being, or if you are interested in learning about and exploring the culture’s effect on literature and vice versa, you might enjoy this book.

I was particularly fascinated by the origin of the novel as story, how the form was influenced, and how the current structure and format of today’s novels came into being.

Recommended.