Longmont's story unfolds in historical fiction

Have you ever wondered what life was like in Longmont when settlers first came 150 years ago? If your answer was yes, then look no further--former Courier reporter Amy Scanes-Wolfe has turned her writing talents toward historical fiction and released the first of her "They Came to Stay" series in February.

"I've always loved writing," said Scanes-Wolfe. "I got away from it when I got into farming, but I really wanted to tell this story [of Longmont]."

Scanes-Wolfe grew up in Longmont and said that she has a deep belief in having a sense of connection with where we come from. After a stint working at Monticello in Virginia and learning about Thomas Jefferson's life, she realized that she wanted that for her own community.

"There's so much documentation [at Monticello]...it's intriguing to me that we just know a snapshot [of local history]."

At first, Scanes-Wolfe gave walking tours to share the history of early Longmont that she was finding. But after a few semi-successful ones, she shifted gears and started writing the stories instead. She explained that she initially wrote the stories as a screenplay, and even still visualizes it as a television show, but ultimately chose historical fiction as the best medium for her tale.

"Between Grass and Hay" is a story of a few different, ordinary families and how their lives are woven into the town that is now known as Niwot. It only covers the span of about five months, and is, as Scanes-Wolfe describes it, fairly lighthearted. But, she hopes to move both forward and backward in time to explore more intense issues and events, such as the Sand Creek Massacre.

"There are some really important issues that still show up in our society today," she said. "It's [historical fiction] a way of probing into our past to get better solutions for our future."

Looking through a book of dictated oral histories, old newspapers and other sources, Scanes-Wolfe spent a lot of time researching her book. Since she had some prior knowledge, when it came time to actually write the novel, she said it came out "extraordinarily easily." It was the editing process that proved to be a little more intensive though--she wanted to make sure it was historically accurate, which actually resulted in her re-working an entire storyline.

"Most of what I cut was because it was historically inaccurate. When I first wrote the book there was a lot more fiction... Finally, I decided it was more important to be accurate, and I actually like what came out of that a lot better."

In addition to her own work on the novel, she teamed up with friend and artist Rachael Scala for the cover art and said it was a nice experience because it gave her a more personal connection to the book. She also worked with Sarah Echsner of Little Feather Films, who made a promotional video for the book.

Scanes-Wolfe is excited that her book is out for local residents to enjoy and is currently working on the sequel.

To learn more about the book, you can visit Scanes-Wolfe's site here: https://lefthandlandscaping.com/storiesbyamy/

Between Grass and Hay is available online and at both Inkberry Books and Vervante Bookstore.

You can also access the promotional video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTb0ATey_lo