Taking stock and next steps

This summer has been good to me. For the first time in awhile I can get back into my novel and actually address the last couple of chapters that were paining me to write. Now, I’m at the point where the first draft is pretty much finished. Yes, there’s much to revise, but I finally feel over the hump.

While I continue with my revisions, I’ve been revisiting much of my research. It’s been necessary because I have to double and triple check my dates and make sure that I’m sticking to the timeline. An added bonus is that going through my old files has reminded me why I wanted to tell this story in the first place.

My story is fiction, but it is based on the very real period in Icelandic history called “The Situation,” or “The Ástandið.” In the times of The Ástandið, Iceland was occupied by British and American forces in the middle of World War II, which created a great deal of anxiety for the proud independent nation. Politically, Iceland did not want to publicly criticize the occupation; instead, everyday Icelanders turned their attention to individual soldiers who, in turn, had turned their attention to young Icelandic women. Many anxious Icelanders viewed the girls who dated the foreign soldiers as scapegoats for simply walking down the street, sitting on park benches, or going to dance halls. These young women were spied on, sent to tribunals, and ultimately suffered social and criminal punishments for their relationships with foreign soldiers.

It’s difficult to believe that a country like Iceland, one that literally elected the first female president in the world (Vigdís Finnbogadóttir in 1980) and today champions the rights and leadership of women has had to come to terms with the suffering of thousands of women and their families. I will continue to keep working on my novel with the hopes that one day I can share Bina’s story and remind people that behind secrets and political forces, there are vulnerable people who bear the burden of our fear and anxiety.