Market Basket Circulars

Interview with Linda Acaster, Author of Torc of Moonlight

Lots of research, both reading and walking the landscape, as both throw up all sorts of interesting facets that lead to either twists in the main storyline or direct subplots. The usefulness of research should never be underestimated. Then I map out all the main characters, their backgrounds, motivations, fears. I hardly ever write in physical descriptions -- those get added in as I write, if applicable. Then it is backside on chair, fingers on keyboard. I don't write a dirty draft but live my scenes to the full. This means that I am a slow writer. 1,000 words a day is the target, but when completed it will only need a polish, no rewrites or character fill-ins, or what have you.

A walk in the woods, more or less. England has a lot of bridlepaths, narrow walking routes through the landscape that have been established through usage over the centuries. They are mainly recreational now, and I used to take circular walks and write them up for a regional newspaper's weekend leisure supplement. A feature I kept coming across was a spring or pond, often carrying the name Lady Well. I started studying these on Ordnance Survey maps, and then read up about their history. Voila! It pays to be curious.

The Union Leader on MyDemoulas.com | Market Basket Weekly Ciruclar ...

MANCHESTER— There are fan sites on the Internet for singers and stars, but a city man has developed a site devoted to a supermarket chain — and it’s generating hits in the millions. A website that expounds the virtues of the Demoulas / Market Basket chain of stores, www. mydemoulas.com, created by Manchester resident Michael Devaney, has gained new Internet visitors each month since he created it six months ago, and, as of this past Thursday, had recorded 4,082,419 hits since August, according to usage statistics posted online in real time.

The fact that Devaney set up a fan site for a supermarket is unique enough, but the story behind it is even quirkier. “My fiancee, Joslyn, really wanted to go to Demoulas in Concord one night,” said Devaney, a web designer by trade. “We live in Manchester, so we didn’t want to head out if they were close to closing. I tried to find out their hours, anywhere, on the Internet, and couldn’t find them posted. So we tried calling, and couldn’t reach anyone. So we put off the trip until the next day, but I started thinking that the whole thing was crazy; it should be easier than that to find the information. So I decided to design a site on my own: He purchased the domain name “mydemoulas.com” and set about creating the site. Devaney has a lot of information posted, from store locations, hours and phone numbers, to weekly sales circulars, to news about the company in general, including information on the newly renovated Market Basket that opened this week in Salem on the site of one of the original Demoulas markets. But he is careful to stress that his site is in no way connected to the Market Basket chain of stores in any official way. “I don’t use their logo, or copy any of their images,” said Devaney. “I created my own logo for the site, and I have someone who sends along the circulars to me to post there. But we are careful not to copy anything from them.” Efforts to reach someone at Market Basket headquarters in Tewksbury. Mass., for comment on the site were unsuccessful. The reaction to the site has been more than Devaney ever hoped for. “It’s funny how many people I hear from, all thanking me for doing this because they just couldn’t get information on the stores,” said Devaney. “I have a debit card that’s in the ‘mydemoulas’ name, and the other day a guy commented on it at a store when he saw it. He said he used my site all the time. Things like that are awe-some to hear. We’ve had over a million unique visitors already.

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