Sam Silver's Woodlin

Sam Silver's Woodlin Object Post 3

Sam Silver has an identity crisis happening. She's thirty-five years old, but she looks so young barmaids won't serve her and people ask why she isn't at school. She is tall and androgynous, and tends to dress in miscellaneous garments that puzzle onlookers. Even her one major talent is flawed. She is very musical, but her vocal range is  unusual so she doesn't fit in choirs or bands.

One of Sam's few treasured possessions is a musical instrument called a woodlin. Her great aunt Sofia gave it to her with not much more than its name. Sam has often tried to play it, but it always sounds flat and she has no idea how to tune it. The woodlin is carved from a single piece of timber. It is a hybrid with a sound box, a drum panel and three strings. When Sam meets the delightful Oash, she is intrigued to see a woodlin on Oash's wall. Oash shows her the secret of playing it so it won't sound flat and Sam's interest in her own instrument is enhanced.

Later, Sam finds out the origin of her woodlin; a decades-old mystery that ties in to the enigma that is Sam's veiled history.

The woodlin has a two-part sound; the cry and the heartbeat which blend to form the voice. It tones well with music from a sweetwood flute.

ABOUT THE BLOG

Sally is Sally Odgers; author, anthologist and reader. She runs  Prints Charming Books. (Sally is me, by the way, and I am lots of other things too, but these are the relevant ones for now.)

The goal for 2017 was to write a post a day profiling the background behind one of my books; how it came to be written, what it's about, and any things of note that happened along the way. If you're an author, an aspiring author, a reader or just someone who enjoys windows into worlds, you might find this fun. The books are not in any special order, but will be assigned approximate dates, and pictures, where they exist. 2017 is now behind us, but I ran out of year before running out of books. As of February 18th 2018 I STILL haven't run out of books, but many of those still to come are MIA by which I mean I don't have copies and remember little about them. There are more new books to come, and I'll certainly showcase those, but in between times, I'm profiling some of my characters, just for a change. Thank you so much to everyone who's come along on this journey so far! Since April 22nd I'm adding in places!