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Shenandoah

    Hey, everyone. I hung around the house today. Among other things I played some songs on the keyboard. I played from a book of American folk songs and it was a lot of fun. There were songs like Old Susanna and Red River Valley. I noticed one that I didn't know called Shenandoah. I played it and found it to be one of the most beautiful, haunting melodies I've ever heard. Some songs just touch a cord in certain people as I am sure you know.
    I played it 5 or 6 times and decided to go and hear it on I-Tunes. I listened to several versions and bought one by Haley Westenra which is terrific.
    I began to play the song again (on my keyboard ) and meditate on what the writer had been going through when he wrote it and I came up with my own story for the guy. Then I decided to write it out for a short story. Before I did that I went to Wikipedia and did a search on the song.
   No one knows who wrote it, though there are plenty of ideas. It seems that it started out with just the one verse, probably during the 1800's, then different folks added a verse over the years to support their own story. Once it was supposed to be about an Indian Chief and his daughter. Another time it was about runaway slaves who fled to the western territories. Yet another time it was about the settlers heading west to build a new life. By the way, the second verse that I put at the end of the short story is one which I wrote to put my slant on the song.  I hope that you enjoy the story and I'll insert a link below. I believe I could make a novel out of this without much of a problem. Perhaps hearing about how a story comes into someone's mind may be of interest to you.
    I have traveled through that part of the country many times and it is hard to imagine any place being more lovely. If you ever get the chance, try driving the Blue Ridge Parkway, or Interstate 81, through old Virginia. Particularly the Shenandoah Valley.
    Hey, I uploaded this story to Smashwords and I'm the 2600th book in the line, so it may be tomorrow before I can have this published. I haven't even done a cover for it yet, although I have plenty of pictures of Virginia around here somewhere. I'll have to have a cover on it or I can't get it on Apple, Kobo, Sony and the others.
    By the way, when the story comes out it will be free, which is not a bad deal. I should also mention that it carries a 'G' rating.
    From the author's green retreat, I'm CE Wills.
P.S. I understand that the I-Pad 2 went on sale in 11 new countries this weekend. If any of those people have come to the green retreat for the first time, I'd like to say that you are as welcome as May flowers. http://www.smashwords.com/b/57011
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