Dela-Where? Heather Lin Explains

Delaware is divided into two sections: north and south. North starts above the C&D Canal, and it’s an industrial area run mostly by the DuPont company. The only skyscrapers you’ll find in Delaware are there, mostly in the city of Wilmington.

I was born and raised in southern Delaware where corn fields, pick up trucks, and trucker caps are the norm. Down around Rehoboth, you run into the tourists and retirees, but everywhere around it is green, with local produce stands and people living happy lives.

I was raised in Farmington in an old farmhouse next to the railroad tracks and I ran wild and barefoot with the neighbor boys, climbing on broken down tractors, army crawling through muddy ditches, and kissing in the backyard behind the trees, where my parents couldn’t see.

We moved to Slaughter Beach when I was nine after a fire. I learned to crab in those mucky wetlands from a middle-aged, chain-smoking woman who I only ever knew as Lil’ Bit.

In a year, we had our new house built, right smack in the middle of a nine acre, wooded lot. We lived across from a farmer’s field, next to a chicken farm and I would spend hours and hours playing in the brush in the backyard, finding little hiding spots and letting my imagination run wild with thoughts of fairies and fantasy.

But what makes me love Delaware the most is family. My roots here run deep. My grandfather, my mother and I all graduated from the same high school. My maid of honor for my upcoming wedding in May is my third cousin and I know all the ones in between. One of my favorite times of year is the family reunion—everyone bakes and cooks and catches up.

I come from one of those happy families where good home cooking is a cure-all and you can bet there’s always coffee in the pot.

I went away to Pennsylvania for college simply because I knew it was the only way I’d ever cut those apron strings and gain some independence.

I was homesick. Every single day. Country music would make me cry in a heartbeat. Where the Green Grass Grows by Tim McGraw became my anthem. But it was Taylor Swift’s Mary’s Song that touched me the most and helped me to channel my homesickness into something productive.

The sweet, romantic song about two childhood sweethearts who grow up together, get married, and live happily ever after inspired the story of Jason and Gabby in my novel, Westridge.  My family and hometown inspired the characters and the setting. In Westridge, zucchini bread is a cure-all and opinions are voiced whether they’re welcome or not. Family and community are everything, and even though some might lose their way, they always end up right where they belong.

Writing the story helped me feel close to home, even though I was three hours away.

And the homesickness was worth it. I got my degree, met a nice boy and we just bought our first house—south of the canal.

Blurb of Westridge:

Gabby Jones and Jason Dawson were born only months apart in the small, country town of Westridge. For the next eighteen years, they were inseparable, but after their high school graduation, Gabby got on a bus to the city, leaving Jason with a weak explanation and a broken heart. After five years of making it a point to avoid her old flame, Gabby comes home for a funeral and, thanks to meddling parents and circumstance, she and Jason are thrown together again.

But now Jason is an auto mechanic with an ex-wife and a daughter, and Gabby owns a successful flower shop in the city. Even if Gabby is able to admit she still loves Jason, and even if Jason is able to convince her to tell him the real reason she left, will they be able to get past the changes and broken pieces in time to start over?

Buy Link:

Paperback

http://www.amazon.com/Westridge-Heather-Lin/dp/1463541023/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1326138835&sr=8-1

Kindle

http://www.amazon.com/Westridge-ebook/dp/B0056HOYOU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1326138835&sr=8-2

Website Link:

http://heatherlin88.blogspot.com/

(Photos provided by author)