Glimpse Behind the King’s Sword Photo

Family, Flohmarkt Finds & Fuel for Worldbuilding

OK, so I love the photos above.

On the right, my crew, though much younger, looking out over the Ill River in Strasbourg a few years ago. We had visited there to explore the city, meet up with Grandma (who was on a river cruise with friends), and see what treasures we could find besides the fantastically fun ice cream roses . . . yum!!

Beside it, the photo I created yesterday for my book. I had such fun playing with my personal treasures to put it together, AND THEN, when I put my Kindle there with the beautifully crafted cover that my dear friend Kate made for me, it just seemed to fit. Fit, like it was meant to be there. I thought for a few days on what words to pair with it – I’d want something witty, right? Something fun. Catchy, even. And then it hit me – the elements that I was using in the background were similar to other photos that I had seen. Collections of old photographs, notes, drawings and diaries, tattered books and fading letters. Collections that when put together, give you a glimpse of family histories and begin to tell you a story.

Every family has a story. And every person within that story, their own voice.

That’s what I’m working towards with the Metzlingen Saga – The King’s Sword is a love story, but it also tells the beginning of their family saga. The families that they were born into. The family that they find along the way. And the family that they will become. That’s what the Metzlingen Saga’s tagline speaks to – One Hearth, One Heart: Every family has a story – and the stories that I will continue to write. ❤

I mentioned yesterday how I had found the items in my photograph at the downtown Stuttgart flohmarkt. Several friends found that interesting, so I wanted to expand on it. Our family loooooved going to the flohmarkt. Each of my kids enjoyed searching through the crowded tables for things that made them smile. We have some old postcards with bunnies. Some tiny wooden rabbits to sit on the shelf with my angel collection. A pink glass carafe that matches nothing in my house, but is rather lovely and makes them proud. My husband’s taste was much more eclectic – I just never knew when I’d turn around and he’d be chatting it up with a vendor, talking about the history of the item he was interested in.

Me, well, I guess I was the same. I never knew when something random would grab me, but I did know that anything reminiscent of Metzlingen would have me diving into my bag of coins (aka “potty change” 😉 ) faster than anything. I always bought books wherever I traveled (will do another post on research books another day), but I was really lucky with my finds at the flohmarkt. I found a lot of beautiful things. Someone else might’ve walked right by them without a second thought, but to me, they helped build and fill in a world, fleshing out scenes and bolstering textures. For spoiler reasons, I won’t say exactly what, but on one of my last trips, I managed to find my own version of Avelina’s most prized possession, and my heart leapt when I saw it on the table. Like hers, it contained even more treasures within, and holding it in my hand gave me such a special connection to her and the story, that it’s become invaluable to me as well. ❤

Enjoy these closer photos of the props that I used yesterday, along with extras of some of my family’s favorite flohmarkt finds. ❤

Photos in collage above (L to R) – Charles Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol” and the opening paragraph just below, a hand-painted wooden shield, a beautiful page of sketches from “Tristan & Isolde”, a book of prayers, a set of wine keys, the small album of photographs and postcards and at center, one of the photos within of Schloss Hohenzollern.