Immigrants' Journey is in America, so cuisine is varied. The MC is enchanted by "new to them" cuisine like Mexican (common in AZ) and Middle Eastern food.
—The meat tasted like spices and salt and something I couldn't quite place. Adventure, perhaps… And the baklava!—
#HistorytownAZ #BonApriltit
Rocky routinely makes Liam feel like a fool. It got cut from my WIP, but for April Fool’s Day, he swapped out all of Liam’s shirts to ones a size smaller. And then there’s the tragic Rick Roll that DID make it in… #HistorytownAZ #AwesomeCharacters
Hi, I'm Julie and I am ALWAYS writing food, even if my world is Earth, so we'll see how this goes. My WIP is Immigrants' Journey, time travel and dual timeline, set in the near future and ~1912. If it was a food, it would be tacos cooked by a kind, thoughtful man. #HistorytownAZ #BonApriltit
Google ngram showing the word airplane appears to have come into use a while after aeroplane, and didn’t supplant it until maybe 1920 or so? Hard to see on tiny chart.
Neat! I use Google’s Ngrams to get some idea if it’s likely a word would be used. (There’s often a bump in 1900, though; a lot of modern books list that year as like a default publication date.)
Recreated this example I needed for Immigrants’ Journey #HistorytownAZ
115 years ago...! (The fire is actually referenced in my WIP, though I don't really get into the labor issues, just the safety aspect. #HistorytownAZ )
Rocky, in a side...THING...I'm going through about the rules of time travel: "Whatever. It totally makes sense. It's not my fault if you can't understand."
Oh, Rocky. #HistorytownAZ
Not sure I’ll get around to writing that ”no really it is the last chapter I have to write” chapter tonight. Vibes are kind of off, but we’ll see. And lucky for me, I have an entire 1/3 of the book to go through and strip of certain overused words. So I‘ll keep busy! #HistorytownAZ
Spoiler alert, it’s a quick faux-pencil tracing of the Mad Tea Party, aka the Teacups
Busy evening, and no prizes for guessing which ride I traced on the Disneyland map. (Historytown has a very similar ride in the Colonial area, so I will have to draw it for that map too!) #ArtPractice #HistorytownAZ
I will be smart enough to not try it at midnight but to instead sleep on it and see if that's really what it needs. (I wouldn't hesitate so much except there are dual POVs so I have to rearrange and split an Emma chapter that in fairness maybe should be...) #HistorytownAZ
Oh hey I think I need to write one more (very short) chapter for this book? 🤔 Time travel is awful and no one should write it. (Not at all true, but Rocky has a line not too far off from that when he gets frustrated. I should be happy because maybe THIS is the last thing it needs?) #HistorytownAZ
I kind of think no one makes his bed 😅 (Permissive parents) I think you are right about laundry. If I ever do a book 3, we might see how Rocky would handle such things 🤔 #HistorytownAZ
#TimeTravelAuthors March 2026 1. Introduce your story (optional word: luck/lucky) 3. Are your characters protecting anything/one? 5. Apologies in your story 7. Saturday excerpt (optional word: quiet/loud) 9. Explain your story's time travel method with emojis 11. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: leaf/leaves/leave) 13. Cultures in your story 15. Does anyone have fun (or want to have fun) with time travel? 17. Patient or patience in your story 19. Servants in your story 21. Saturday excerpt (optional word: march/step) 23. Something that surprised you about your story 25. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: brief/short) 27. Alternate timelines in your story? 29. Characters' eye colors 31. Author's choice/promo All time-travel authors and published works, WIPs, etc. welcome! To join, just answer the prompts on odd days, using the hashtag #TimeTravelAuthors On even days, post what you like! Questions? @juliebihn.bsky.social or @juliebihn.mastodon.social
"Titanic Voyage, available now." Book cover with a floating, glowing porthole with a man walking the Titanic (?) deck and a light above him. Behind the porthole is a night sky, a silhouette of roller coaster tracks, and water. Arrows point at the image: *Slice of life + angsty romance + grief *Time travel via a struggling amusement park *Emotional hero, sweet heroine *Teenage computer genius sidekick *NO VILLAINS (unless you count the iceberg?) *Oops all cinnamon rolls *Maybe second-person? *Hopeful ending
#TimeTravelAuthors Day 19
At least one version of Rocky has maids and a butler. I assume the primary version does, too, as he's even richer*. And we meet a maid in Immigrants' Journey! #HistorytownAZ
books2read.com/TV
*Rich people who are generous/do good is my emotional support fantasy.
Very much! But if I recall, the number of patients who appear in Titanic Voyage itself is like 1 or 2.
(Immigrants' Journey has a reference from Sahar, though! "I'm a paramedic, remember? If my patients don't bite me or die on me, I'm happy.")
#HistorytownAZ
THE WANAMAKER DIARY, 1907 -------------------------------------------------------------------- THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21 We finally have some good news. Wanamaker's agreed to take me on as a stock girl! Mother thought it was a miracle that any department store would hire anyone, much less a fifteen-year-old with no experience, while the banks are in such turmoil. Emma said that as the elder sister, she should be earning wages for the family. She's much more clever than I am, though. She should continue her schooling. Emma also feared losing me like we lost Father and Michael. Well, of course they're not lost—they're safe in heaven—but I promised Emma that I'd always come home to her. Then I teased her that after she graduated, perhaps she could be a shop girl at Wanamaker's and find a wealthy bachelor to marry. She said that was a childish dream, but her lips turned up in the tiniest hint of a smile. I pray that my first paycheck will bring Emma and Mother some comfort. God willing, it will at least fill our stomachs. —Clara Jones, personal journal entry, as recorded in her copy of The Wanamaker Diary, 1907
Might be the last draft of Clara’s diary? #HistorytownAZ #ArtPractice
At the start of the book, he’d probably be like “Yeah, I failed Papa too” 😢 #HistorytownAZ
Oh my goodness that last line 🥹 (Funny enough, my Clara has a fear of heights, but if I recall, on an actual amusement park visit, she deals with it for the sake of fun and the view. #HistorytownAZ )
Um, is it OK if it's not a hypothetical? #HistorytownAZ
Liam likes the historic rides with holoactors (Titanic Voyage; Immigrants' Journey). Also the real historic building section*. Clara loves the wave swinger-type ride, since it feels like flying. Also tacos and shawarma! 1/4 #AwesomeCharacters
#TimeTravelAuthors February 2026 1. Introduce your story (optional: use the word "love") 3. Is your work a standalone or a series? 5. Languages in your story 7. Saturday excerpt (optional word: love) 9. Does your story get "political"? 11. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: hug) 13. Love in your story 15. Comp titles? 17. Does your world have the butterfly effect? 19. How honest are your characters? 21. Saturday excerpt (optional word: listen) 23. A time travel book/movie/show that your characters enjoy or would enjoy 25. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: glow) 27. Author's choice/promo All time-travel authors and published works, WIPs, etc. welcome! To join, just answer the prompts on odd days, using the hashtag #TimeTravelAuthors On even days, post what you like! Questions? @juliebihn.bsky.social or @juliebihn.mastodon.social
IMMIGRANTS' JOURNEY Sequel to Titanic Voyage Coming in 2026? I hope? Who knows anything anymore
Day 25 #TimeTravelAuthors #HistorytownAZ
Ghostly projections of sailing ships glided beside us. On the horizon, a yellow-green #glow silhouetted two sailing ships and two steamships.
One of the steamships had four funnels.
My eyes locked on it, and my heart raced.
If I were to write a Book 3, which certainly isn't in the cards at the moment, it would focus on another character, but we'd get to see Clara and Liam as well. (Not certain about Emma, but there's a good chance.) #HistorytownAZ
Titanic Voyage spans ~a month of Liam's life & maybe 10 hours of Clara's. Immigrants' Journey (SPOILERS!) skips through ~9 months of Clara's life (plus an old diary entry) and just under 2 years of Emma's. It also has snippets of Liam's past, and a skip to future. #AwesomeCharacters #HistorytownAZ
And she proved me wrong by making me edit last night 🙃 but it was probably another character’s fault. #HistorytownAZ
If you mean the POV character, the story is about her recovery too. She will get to a good place eventually! #HistorytownAZ
Fun fact—I’m putting Immigrants’ Journey, or at least parts of it, through my critique group AGAIN, but I‘m omitting Emma’s scenes because they more or less worked. (I know “teacher’s pet” is a thing—is “author’s pet” a thing?) #HistorytownAZ
You have, and it does! #HistorytownAZ
Muscular male arm sketch?
I don’t anticipate drawing many bare-armed muscular characters (though there is a holoactor in Immigrants’ Journey I guess…) #HistorytownAZ www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFTX...
#TimeTravelAuthors February 2026 1. Introduce your story (optional: use the word "love") 3. Is your work a standalone or a series? 5. Languages in your story 7. Saturday excerpt (optional word: love) 9. Does your story get "political"? 11. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: hug) 13. Love in your story 15. Comp titles? 17. Does your world have the butterfly effect? 19. How honest are your characters? 21. Saturday excerpt (optional word: listen) 23. A time travel book/movie/show that your characters enjoy or would enjoy 25. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: glow) 27. Author's choice/promo All time-travel authors and published works, WIPs, etc. welcome! To join, just answer the prompts on odd days, using the hashtag #TimeTravelAuthors On even days, post what you like! Questions? @juliebihn.bsky.social or @juliebihn.mastodon.social
It seemed as though every congregant lined up to offer condolences. Unlike at home, I had no bedroom to which I could retreat. The first few times, I explained that you must have been picked up by another ship, but no one listened. Mrs. Chalmers said, "Oh, you poor dear" and patted my arm. Mrs. Lincoln gave me the same look she'd given little Jimmy when he asked if an aeroplane could take him to visit his brother in heaven. Miss McAllister turned away to cry. At last, I gave up my protests and feigned gratitude for the congregation's sympathies. Ruth and Catherine said sweet things about you. Nettie didn't even try to talk. She cried and hugged me. I held back tears, but Mother sobbed. Before the service, Doctor Judson came to us. He said he'd never forget your sweet spirit and your kind heart. He thanked God for sparing me. Among other platitudes, he promised that you were safe and well. I know I'm supposed to trust our pastor, Clara, but I had to bite my tongue to keep from shouting at him that you're alive on Earth. —from Immigrants' Journey, WIP
#TimeTravelAuthors #HistorytownAZ
I explained that you must have been picked up by another ship, but no one #listened. Mrs. Chalmers... patted my arm. Mrs. Lincoln gave me the same look she'd given little Jimmy when he asked if an aeroplane could take him to visit his brother in heaven.
(Also betting that wireless charging will hit it big in the near future I guess. I‘d never had an iPad when I wrote those lines soooo) #HistorytownAZ
iPad, 2025 base model, with a diary page from my character Clara Jones, side-by-side with a September 1915 National Geographic Magazine. They ARE nearly the same size.
It’s a rectangle, the size of a National Geographic Magazine, but without pages. It looks like a giant “phone,” and it works like one, too. It doesn’t have an electrical cord. You set it on a platform to…to refill its battery.
—Immigrants’ Journey, WIP #HistorytownAZ
#HistorytownAZ Oliver is a neurospicy mechanic who Emma encounters in 1912!
Not lying about time travel? Let‘s just say a critiquer said he liked how telling the truth was one character’s superpower (though it was accompanied by a 😛 soooo)
#TimeTravelAuthors February 2026 1. Introduce your story (optional: use the word "love") 3. Is your work a standalone or a series? 5. Languages in your story 7. Saturday excerpt (optional word: love) 9. Does your story get "political"? 11. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: hug) 13. Love in your story 15. Comp titles? 17. Does your world have the butterfly effect? 19. How honest are your characters? 21. Saturday excerpt (optional word: listen) 23. A time travel book/movie/show that your characters enjoy or would enjoy 25. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: glow) 27. Author's choice/promo All time-travel authors and published works, WIPs, etc. welcome! To join, just answer the prompts on odd days, using the hashtag #TimeTravelAuthors On even days, post what you like! Questions? @juliebihn.bsky.social or @juliebihn.mastodon.social
IMMIGRANTS' JOURNEY Sequel to Titanic Voyage Coming in 2026? I hope? Who knows anything anymore
Honesty? #TimeTravelAuthors
Clara always tries to be honest (though she also tries to be nice, so sometimes she ends up struggling). Liam and Oliver are very honest. I'd say Sahar is even blunt! Rocky and Emma, a touch less honest. (Even honest characters might lie to themselves.) #HistorytownAZ
