'Mud Season' author visits Springfield

Vermont author Ellen Stimson was in town last week to talk about her first book “Mud Season”.
http://www.vermontjournal.com/content/“mud-season”-author-visits-springfield

“Mud Season” Author Visits Springfield Submitted by VT Journal on Tue, 03/24/2015 - 1:54pm By LAUREN DRASLER The Shopper SPRINGFIELD, VT -On Thursday, March 19, residents of Springfield and the surrounding area gathered at the First Congregational Church on Main Street in Springfield to listen to Vermont author Ellen Stimson discuss her first book “Mud Season”. The Vermont Humanities Council and the Friends of the Springfield Town Library sponsored the event. Stimson began her talk at 7 p.m. and the presentation concluded around 8 p.m. The event was free and open to the public. Springfield Town Library Technician, Kathy Emmons, began the event by introducing Stimson to the crowd of around 20 people. Emmons said that Stimson has written two books: “Mud Season” which was published in 2013 and “Good Grief” which was published in 2014. After mentioning that Stimson’s books have been on a variety of best seller lists, and thanking the Congregational Church for hosting the author, Emmons turned the presentation over to Stimson to speak about “Mud Season.” Stimson began the event by speaking about her radio tour for “Mud Season”, and what led her family to move to Vermont in the early 2000’s. She said that she and her family moved to Vermont after vacationing in the state and playing a game of “could we live here?” Though Stimson and her family had played the “could we live here?” game before, she said that this time in Vermont it was different. Her daughter asked the family if they thought they actually could live in Vermont, and Stimson and her husband said that they thought they could. After doing research on living in the state, Stimson said that a plan began to form about moving to Vermont. “We moved here for the beauty,” Stimson said during the presentation. After giving some background on why she and her family decided to move to Vermont, Stimson then began to talk about her book “Mud Season.” Stimson said that the book chronicles her family’s first few years in Vermont. “We came to Vermont to do Vermont things,” she said. Stimson said that “doing Vermont things,” meant going after the things she saw in her newfound life in Dorset. During their first year here, Stimson said that she and her family adopted both chickens and sheep. She told the audience at the Congregational Church about her experience getting two baby lambs from a neighbor’s house, and having to keep the babies in her house, because it was too cold for them to survive outside. Although adopting chickens and sheep may have started out harder than planned, Stimson said that eventually that aspect of her new life in Vermont worked out well. However, Stimson said that she and her family were not successful in everything they tried to do. Perhaps the biggest example of an adventure that did not go smoothly was when Stimson bought the country store in Dorset. Stimson said that the store was formally called Peltier’s, and she bought it and “ran it into the ground in three years.” During the presentation, Stimson said that the store is now under new management, and is once again open to the public. Stimson’s store venture may not have worked out well, but she is now a successful author and is still living in Dorset, despite the numerous mishaps she and her family experienced during their early years in Vermont. During her presentation, Stimson told numerous stories about her family’s adventures, and also read an excerpt from her book. At the end of the presentation, Stimson opened the floor up to the audience to ask questions. The event concluded with Stimson thanking everyone for coming and those that were interested could get their book signed by the author. Stimson has been living in Vermont for 12 years, and said that she still feels good about her decision to move to the state. “We really did come here because of the beauty of the state,” she said after her talk. “It’s one of the prettiest places on the planet, and I feel lucky to live here.” In the last year, Stimson has visited 100 libraries promoting her books. She said that she was asked to come to speak at the Springfield Town Library through her publicist. “I always say yes to libraries, so when Kathy [Emmons] called my publicist, I was excited to come,” she said. “I’ve been to the Springfield Town Library before, so this isn’t my first time in town. I’m a Vermont person now.” Though Stimson has recently been promoting her second book “Good Grief”, she said that this time of year, people only want her to talk about “Mud Season” “Everybody asks me to talk about ‘Mud Season’ now, because it almost is mud season in Vermont,” she said. “I have 35 talks scheduled over the next few months. ‘Mud Season’ is also newly out in paperback, so that’s also part of the reason why I’m talking about it now.” One person that decided to attend Stimson’s event was retired schoolteacher Pat Graves. Graves said that she wanted to listen to Stimson’s presentation because the subject matter was relatable. “I came to the event, because I thought that anyone that wrote about mud season had to be funny,” she said. “I haven’t read the book yet, but after hearing the presentation tonight, I’m definitely going to, because it’s the kind of humor I like.” Graves said that in addition to being a great presenter, Stimson is a funny, relatable person. “I thought she [Stimson] was hilarious,” she said. “She’s the type of person I would like to sit down and have tea with.” For more information on the author or to purchase a book, go to www.ellenstimson.com.