Part 6

When I got home, I thought about what to write next. Uncle Sam appeared in my mind. Most people don’t know that Uncle Sam was a real person. Sam Wilson from Troy, NY. He is buried up on Oakwood Cemetery. I have not been to Oakwood before.

Sometimes I first contact the spirits that give me their stories in cemeteries. There are closer cemeteries to me in Waterford. The Waterford Rural Cemetery, St. Josephs Cemetery, Saint Marys Cemetery, Saint Peter and Paul Cemetery, and even Saint Michaels Cemetery which are all closer than Oakwood Cemetery.

A quick Wikipedia search told me “He was originally buried in Mt. Ida Cemetery, but later transferred to Oakwood Cemetery in Troy.” Great, so even if I go to Oakwood Cemetery Uncle Sam might be at Mt. Ida Cemetery instead. A quick google search for Mt. Ida Cemetery. Get the directions. Click the bus option and I can take the Route 85 straight there. So, Mt. Ida first then if I get nothing there I will move on to Oakwood. Moreover, Oakwood has a lot of walking just to get there. Hopefully, I find a spirit in Mt. Ida Cemetery that wants their story told.

I shut down the Surface. Put it and the Arc in my mini backpack. I opened the fridge to add a bottle of water and my stomach grumbled. I looked down and said to it “Fine. I will fill you first before I go.” I pulled out the crockpot and reheated some pot roast. I added a sleeve of crackers to the mini backpack in case I got hungry later too. I sat down on the yoga ball to eat and thought about the spirits that had, with their stories, helped me obtain financial freedom.

Sometimes spirits don’t know they can leave their place of death or internment. I have spoken to many spirits in graveyards that use their grave as their new personal workspace. I find it interesting how those who were the most creative in life seem to always have unfinished business in death.

That is what lingering spirits are. Not everyone who dies stays behind as a spirit. Think of how crowded it would be if they did. A very few who die choose to stay. Mostly it’s due to unfinished business. When their business is done, they go on to whatever is waiting for them next. I hope that Joan the Jumper will move on after taking a little time to haunt her baby daddy.

Some creative types just never have unfinished business. The poets and writers keep writing. The inventors keep inventing. The scientists and mathematicians, the real ones who can never take a break from their work, just never stop. By the time they finish one thing they have another idea they must explore before they can move on. To them that is Heaven.

I think that’s where the muses come from. Everyone has some sensitivity to spirits. Sometimes a creative spirit will latch on to a likeminded person and teach or influence them.

I looked around my studio apartment. I could get a bigger place. My checks from the books I put out nearly monthly would allow for that. Historical Fiction and Creative Nonfiction seemed to be nice genres. It all depended upon the publisher for which one my work ended up slotted. If the spirits asked, I would tell them the partial truth, historical or nonfiction. I used the spirits name as my nom de plume or if the spirit did not want that, I would say anonymous. They were never my stories so I never felt right putting my name on them.

Perhaps someday I will write my own stories. I looked on the dresser at the piles of books I had there. Books on writing, that said to write what you like to read. Books on the Vietnam War, I wanted to find a soldier or more than one preferably, to write about their experiences. The other piles consisted of research for my current projects in editing to confirm some of the spirits recollections for my publishers.

Publishers always want proof of the possibility of everything I write in my books. Luckily, in middle school I learned how to cheat for research papers. Step one, Wikipedia and other encyclopedias, back then there were still the printed variety in some libraries. Step two, summarize based upon the subject from those research locations. Step three, build a bibliography from books found in the library on the subject you are writing about. Wikipedia having the references at the bottom of every article made that easier. Step four, using the bibliography books, find portions in the report that can be footnoted to them, at least one to each book. Now I just take the stories the spirits tell me and do steps three and four for the publishers.

Right now, I was just waiting for publishers to get back to me about projects I had sent out. The spirits usually did not wait around for the revision phase thankfully. Ordering books on the subjects from the libraries beforehand made the job a little easier. Mostly I went to the Waterford Library and used the Mohawk Valley and Southern Adirondack Library System. If they did not have enough information about the subject for the publishers or myself then I went over the Lansingburgh Library and the Upper Hudson Library System, which included the city of Albany. Ordering the books ahead of time saved time when the publishers emailed me with their questions, which I thought made the research more believable.

Right now, I needed to find another spirit to start another project. I put my bowl and fork into the dishwasher, which I will have to run tomorrow. Tomorrow might be a housecleaning day if I cannot find a spirit at Mt. Ida Cemetery to write a story with. I hate housecleaning. I locked the door behind me, being thankful I didn’t have much of a house to clean. It was why I never moved into anything bigger.