June 2026 – Tracy Cooper-Posey

Gone With the Wind at Ninety: Why It Still Feels Modern

Leave a Comment / Historical Romance, Historical Stuff, Magic Story Telling, My Favourite Books Ever, Reading / June 28, 2026 / book anniversary, books, character development, classic literature, classic novels, Gone with the Wind, Historical Fiction, historical novels, literary fiction, Margaret Mitchell, point of view, Pulitzer Prize, reading classics, Rhett Butler, Scarlett O'Hara, storytelling, strong heroines, Tracy Cooper-Posey, unreliable narrator, writing craft / 5 minutes of reading

Gone With the Wind turns ninety tomorrow, yet it still feels astonishingly modern. I first encountered the novel—not the famous film—as a teenager borrowing it from my high school library, and it has stayed with me ever since. Looking back at it through the eyes of a novelist, I think I’ve finally figured out why Margaret Mitchell’s epic continues to captivate readers after all these decades.

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Looking Down on Barcelona

Leave a Comment / Interesting Settings / June 21, 2026 / aerial photography, architecture, Barcelona, broadening horizons, cities, city design, city living, community, courtyards, cultural differences, culture, Edmonton, Eixample, European cities, human connection, Ildefons Cerda, lifestyle, modern life, neighbourhoods, North America, observations, perspectives, photography, public spaces, reflections on travel, Sagrada Familia, society, Spain, travel, travel photography, travel reflections, urban density, urban design, urban planning, walkable cities, world travel / 4 minutes of reading

An aerial photograph of Barcelona’s Eixample district stopped me in my tracks. At first glance, all I could see was astonishing density—thousands of people living in an orderly grid that stretches to the horizon. Yet the longer I studied the image, the more questions it raised. Why can I find endless aerial photographs of Eixample, but almost no street-level views? What does life actually feel like inside those blocks and hidden courtyards? And what does this remarkable city reveal about our own assumptions regarding space, community, and how human beings should live together?

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Why Build a Fortress Like This?

2 Comments / Fantasy Romance, Historical Romance, Historical Stuff, Interesting Settings / June 7, 2026 / aerial photography, Daily Life in History, Dutch History, Eighty Years War, fantasy writing, fiction writing, Fort Bourtange, Fortifications, Historical Architecture, Historical Curiosities, Historical Fiction, Historical Places, historical research, Historical Romance, history, Military History, Netherlands, Settings, Star Forts, storytelling, Tracy Cooper-Posey, Why History Matters, World Building, Writers Life, writing inspiration / 4 minutes of reading

Most people look at a photograph like this and think, How pretty. I look at it and think, Why? Fort Bourtange is a stunning star-shaped fortress in the Netherlands, but what fascinates me isn’t its appearance. It’s the sheer amount of labour, planning and expense that went into building it in the late sixteenth century. What sort of world made such a massive defensive project seem necessary? And what would it have been like to actually live inside its walls? One aerial photograph opens the door to questions about history, war, economics, daily life—and why setting matters so much to fiction writers.

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