Lani Longshore is right. I had to add an explanation why my character didn’t have a cell phone.
One of the games I like to play when watching old movies or TV shows is pointing out what could no longer be used. Old mysteries are particularly good for that, as some of the clues rely on calls from public telephone booths, family scandals that could never be kept secret in the age of social media, or bending regulations in a worthy cause and getting away with it.
The game has value for those who write historical fiction, since so much of what we take for granted is barely older than our grandparents if not ourselves. I need constant reminders that huge amounts of human exploration was done on water, not on foot. I think of the westward expansion of the United States and imagine covered wagons, but small ships running down the rivers were equally if not more important.
I’m looking at the tools or supplies I thought…
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Writing a story begins with a choice. What does the writer-in-me want to tell? That is balanced with the question, “What does the target audience want to read?”
I’ve made a lot of good choices in my life—and a few that didn’t reach that level. Some of those decisions shaped me like homemade playdough in the hands of a preschooler. I was punched, squeezed, rolled, and manipulated. Just when I thought I had reached my destiny, slam, bam. More pounding.
Do you feel like Facebook’s algorithm is stealing all your engagement?
Look what stares into our family room. 
Jellyfish Ornament 
Julaina Kleist-Corwin 