This is the Bluff Point State Park, which to my way of thinking is one of the prettiest parks in Connecticut. It has everything: trees, views, (rocky) beach front, wild animals, horse and running trails, boat launches and more (trees).

It’s a place I’ve loved for years and it figures prominently in a scene in “Emmaline in the Night”, a story I wrote for the December issue of the Irish Literary Review. Although named Everly Pointe in the story, this is what I saw in my mind while writing.

They say there’s some truth in every piece of fiction. For me, in this piece, it was this park in winter. But behind this lay a separate truth having something to do with resilience. I imagined if I’d be able to fully recover if something bad enough happened to me. I honestly wondered if I’d move on or if I’d be stuck. I wasn’t sure and let that uncertainty guide my writing. It led me here to Bluff Point and a woman standing at the water looking backward instead of forward.