I write southern historical fiction, local history, and I've written a devotional book. The two novels I'm writing are set in Virginia and the Carolinas in the 1760s. My weekly blog started out to follow my journey as a writer and a reader, but in 2025 it has been greatly expanded to include current events and politics in the United States as I see our democracy under attack from within. The political science major in me cannot sit idly by and remain silent.
Author: janetsm
In November 2025, I published Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories. In the fall of 2025, I published a devotional book: I Need The Light! 26 Weekly Devotionals to Help You Through Winter AND I Need The Light! Companion Journal and Diary. I write North Carolina local history and Southern American colonial historical fiction. I enjoy doing extensive research as well as the writing that research supports. My stories and novels-in-progress are about the common people. I'm the author of Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Books 1 and 2 and a vintage postcard book titled The Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.
This week’s writing prompt for Rae’s #TwoForTuesday blog post was a real challenge for me. I don’t tend to read books with flowery language, so I was stumped for a few days. If you’re interested in participating in Rae’s #TwoForTuesday blog post prompts or want to read what other participants are saying, go to Rae’s blog at https://educatednegra.blog/2019/04/01/april-two-for-tuesday-prompts.
A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens
A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens
Many novels of the 1800s would qualify for today’s
#TwoForTuesday prompt, but I decided to go with A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens. You need go no further than
the preface to know you’re in for some flowery language.
“I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise
the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour with
themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their
houses pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it. Their faithful Friend and
Servant, C.D., December, 1843.”
The Presbyterian Congregation on Rocky River, by Dr. Thomas Hugh
Spence, Jr.
The Presbyterian Congregation on Rocky River, by Thomas Hugh Spence, Jr.
The first book that came to mind for today’s topic is an excellent nonfiction book by Dr. Thomas Hugh Spence, Jr. You might be familiar with it if you live in the Charlotte area or have ancestors who were or are part of that congregation. It’s a history of Rocky River Presbyterian Church called The Presbyterian Congregation on Rocky River.
Dr. Spence’s father was the pastor of Rocky River Presbyterian Church in Cabarrus County, North Carolina in the 1910s, and Dr. Spence loved that church. He did a yeoman’s job of researching the first 200 years of the life of the congregation. The flowery language Dr. Spence sprinkled throughout this 1954 book endear it to me all the more because it demonstrates his abiding love for the congregation.
After the preface, is a page about the Rocky River and the first
church that took the river’s name. I think you’ll agree that the language is a
bit flowery.
“The waters of more than two centuries have followed the course of Rocky River toward the Eastern Sea since the vanguard of the Scotch-Irish settled along its banks and branches…. The foundations were laid beyond the seas, amid the verdant valleys of Ulster, or, even earlier, upon the heathered hills of Scotland. But there is no uncertainty in regard to that staunch and sturdy race who made their way across the Atlantic, settled for a season in Pennsylvania, and then resumed the march to rest only intermittently until the Yadkin had been forded and the region of Rocky River attained.”
(This book is available from the Rocky River Presbyterian Church office at 7940 Rocky River Road, Concord, NC 28025. You may contact the church office at 704-455-2479 or churchadmin@rockyriver.org for details. The church’s website is http://rockyriver.org/.)
Jacksonland: President Andrew Jackson, Cherokee Chief John
Ross, and A Great American Land Grab,
by Steve Inskeep
Jacksonland, by Steve Inskeep
I can’t remember how I became aware of this book, and
I don’t remember what I expected it to be. What it turned out to be was a real
eye opener! I consider myself a bit of a student of history, but I had never
read the details of how Andrew Jackson speculated on land and grabbed it up by
the tens of thousands of acres as a result of the inside track he enjoyed.
The main things I knew about Andrew Jackson were:
He was born near the North Carolina – South Carolina border, so both states claim him as theirs;
His father died just days before he was born;
He was delivered by his Aunt Sarah Hutchinson Lessley, who just happened to be my 5th-great-grandmother;
He became famous for his service in the Battle of New Orleans;
He was the 7th President of the United States of America;
His image appears on the United States $20 bill; and
He is blamed for the Cherokee “Trail of Tears” as he forced them off their ancestral lands in western North Carolina and northern Georgia and into a grim and often fatal march to the Oklahoma Territory.
The more I learn about Andrew Jackson, the more I
wonder why North and South Carolina fight over him. Let’s just let Tennessee
have him, since that’s where he chose to build his estate called The Hermitage.
The more I learn about him, the more I wish my ggggg-grandmother had delivered
a president of better character. I don’t blame her, though. Her sister, Jean
Jackson was in need of a midwife.
What I learned by reading Jacksonland: President Andrew Jackson, Cherokee Chief John Ross, and A Great American Land Grab, by Steve Inskeep was that President Jackson not only forced the Native Americans off their lands throughout the Southeast, but afterwards he personally gained financially from purchasing thousands of acres of those lands. So did his friends and his wife’s nephew. That’s just the half of it.
Ignorance is bliss. I almost wish I hadn’t read the book.
No, I’m glad I did. I wish I’d known about all this thievery and fraud earlier. It’s amazing the details that are not included or are just mentioned in passing in history textbooks!
The
Island of Sea Women,
by Lisa See
The Island of Sea Women, by Lisa See
I listened to this historical novel on CD. It is based
on the women who live(d) on the island of Jeju off the coast of Korea. The book
covers nearly 100 years of life and changes on the island, from the 1930s,
through Japanese colonialism, through World War II and the Korean War, to the
21st century.
On Jeju, women learn from a young age how to dive deep
into the ocean to harvest certain fish and other sea life. They can hold their
breath longer than any other people in the world. They are known as haenyeo.
The women do this dangerous work, and their husbands raise their children.
This is a story of friendship and betrayal against a
back drop of war and military occupation. I was mesmerized by The Island of Sea Women, by Lisa See.
Due to spending so much time deep in the water, the
haenyeo have hearing loss. For this reason, the older women speak loudly. It
took me a while to get accustomed to the varying volume of this book on CD, as
the narrator went above and beyond the call of duty in demonstrating how much
louder the women spoke compared to the other characters. For that reason, it’s
not the best choice if you like to listen to a book at bedtime or with ear
buds. You, too, could suffer hearing loss!
Jackie
Tales: The Magic of Creating Stories and
the Art of Telling Them,
by Jackie Torrence
Jackie Torrence was a master storyteller and a
reference librarian in High Point, North Carolina. This book includes 16 folk
tales along with Ms. Torrence’s stage directions and sidebar comments for each
story. I’d never in my life considered being a storyteller until I read this
book. I don’t know that this is something I’ll pursue, but the book is so
inspiring that it made me entertain the idea!
Even if you just want to be able to read stories to
your children or grandchildren with more enthusiasm, facial expression, and use
of your hands in a demonstrable way, you can benefit from this book. An
alternative title for the book could have been, “The Many Faces of Jackie
Torrence” because there are numerous up-close photographs of her
extraordinarily expressive face as she told the stories.
In Jackie
Tales: The Magic of Creating Stories and
the Art of Telling Them, Ms. Torrence explains what makes a good Jack Tale
and what makes a good story. She writes about adjusting stories depending upon
the age of her audience and how to (and how not to) hold children’s attention.
If you have an appreciation for the art of
storytelling, you will enjoy this book. Look for a copy in used bookstore and
online at used bookstores or consortiums such as Advanced Book Exchange.
I read one story each night before going to bed, and I hated to see the book end. It’s one I’ll definitely reread and enjoy just as much the
second and third times.
Since my last blog
post
I had the pleasure of attending Anna Jean Mayhew’s reading
and book signing at Park Road Books in Charlotte on Thursday night. What an
enjoyable evening it was as she read from and talked about her latest
historical novel, Tomorrow’s Bread.
More on that in my blog post on Monday, April 15.
I’ve had a net gain of 8,325 words to my The Doubloon manuscript, bringing my
current word count to 30,325. I get to start on Chapter 8 today. I can’t wait!
Until my next blog
post
I hope you have a good book to read. I started reading The Irishman’s Daughter, by V.S. Alexander yesterday afternoon. After reading Mr. Alexander’s earlier novels, The Magdalen Girls in 2017 and The Taster last year, I was eager to read his recently-released novel, The Irishman’s Daughter. He writes extraordinary historical fiction.
If you’re a writer, I hope you have
quality writing time and your projects are moving right along.
Look for my #TwoForTuesday blog post tomorrow: “Two Books with Flowery Language.” Thank you for providing the writing prompt, Rae, in “Rae’s Reads and Reviews” blog. Here’s a link to her April 1, 2019 blog post in which she listed all the #TwoForTuesday prompts for the month of April: https://educatednegra.blog/2019/04/01/april-two-for-tuesday-prompts/.
Thank you for reading my blog. You
could have spent the last few minutes doing something else, but you chose to
read my blog.
Let’s
continue the conversation
Have you read any of the three books I talked about
today? If so, please share your thoughts with me. Have I piqued your interest
in reading any of these books?
I’m participating in the third month
of Rae’s Reads and Reviews’ #TwoForTuesday blog prompts. Rae’s blog post
yesterday, https://educatednegra.blog/2019/04/01/april-two-for-tuesday-prompts/
lists the prompts for every Tuesday in April. If you’d like to participate,
visit Rae’s blog post and leave her a message in the comments section.
Each
month’s prompts are more challenging than the ones from the previous month. It
remains to be seen if I can come up with books to write about this month. Rae
is stretching my memory to think back through my many years of reading.
With today’s theme in mind, I selected two book series instead of two individual books. (There I go, bending the rules again!) They are series I enjoyed a few years ago. They are books you might enjoy when you want something light to read, although after a while they become somewhat predictable.
Janet Evanovich’s
Stephanie Plum Series
I
appreciate how Ms. Evanovich numbers her books in this series in chronological
order. It makes it easy to keep up with where you are in the series, especially
if you’re late coming to her books and you want to remember which ones you’ve
read.
Stephanie Plum is a bounty hunter for her New Jersey cousin of questionable character. Stephanie is white. Her sidekick is a large black woman named Lula. There’s no end to the trouble Stephanie and Lula get into. This usually involves Stephanie’s car getting blown up and one of her two heart throbs, Ranger, coming to her rescue. The earlier books in this series were fresh and laugh-out-loud funny. After 25 books, though, they don’t make me laugh as much.
One for the Money, by Janet Evanovich
If you want to give Ms. Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum books a try, start with One for the Money in order to get acquainted with the recurring cast of characters. The books don’t have to be read in order, but occasionally knowing what has transpired in the past will help you appreciate a later book.
Ms. Evanovich writes one book every year now in this series, with Look Alive Twenty-Five being released last fall. The Stephanie Plum books are stereotypically-New Jersey.
Ann B. Ross’ Miss Julia Novels
I read a few of Ann B. Ross’ Miss Julia novels a few years ago before I got hooked on historical fiction. That’s not to say they don’t still make me laugh.
Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind, by Ann B. Ross
Miss Julia is an elderly widow who lives in a town in western North Carolina. Every time Miss Julia thinks life might settle down, a relative or other ne’er do well shows up on her doorstep to throw a monkey wrench into her life.
Miss Julia rolls with the punches with good humor. Start with Ann B. Ross’ debut novel, Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind. This is great Southern fiction.
Ironically, Ms. Ross’ latest Miss Julia novel is being published today. The title is Miss Julie Takes the Wheel.
Until my next blog post
Thank you, Rae, of “Rae’s Reads and Reviews Blog” for this month’s #TwoForTuesday blog post prompts. Visit her blog, https://educatednegra.blog.
Happy reading!
Let’s continue the conversation
In the comments section below, tell me about
one or two books that made you laugh.
This is not an April Fool’s Day joke. I read six books
in March. Six. I set the bar high for myself by reading ten books in February,
but I could only manage to read six in March. Today’s blog post is about three of
those books. All three are newly-released historical novels.
Tomorrow’s
Bread,
by Anna Jean Mayhew
I eagerly awaited this second novel by Anna Jean
Mayhew, and it was well worth the wait! Tomorrow’s
Bread was released on Tuesday.
Tomorrow’s Bread, by Anna Jean Mayhew
I love the main characters! Ms. Mayhew weaves the
stories of several families together in Tomorrow’s
Bread. She puts names and faces on the destructive aspect of Urban Renewal,
which was a program funded by the U.S. Government in the 1960s to remove “blight”
from inner cities
Although I was only eight years old in 1961 when the removal
of the Brooklyn neighborhood in Charlotte, North Carolina began, I remember the
segregated era on the cusp of the Civil Rights Movement.
I know the main streets referenced in Tomorrow’s Bread. I have traveled them
all my life and, as a young adult, was employed in several offices that were
built as a result of Urban Renewal. I remember separate water fountains for “white”
and “colored” in department stores and the so-called “separate but equal”
segregated schools.
I remember riding on racially-segregated Charlotte
city buses. I clearly remember the time my mother and I got on a bus for me to
go to the doctor. All the seats for whites were taken and I didn’t understand
why we couldn’t sit in the back of the bus where there were vacant seats. The
reverse must have been equally confusing for little black children.
In 1961 I was too young to understand segregation or Urban
Renewal and, being white, I didn’t have to understand it.
Tomorrow’s
Bread, by Anna Jean Mayhew, is a must read for anyone living
in the Charlotte area – especially the young people and those new to the area.
To understand some events of today, it’s beneficial to know the history of the
city.
Although only someone who lived in the Brooklyn
section of Charlotte’s inner city could state this with authority, but as an
outsider, I think Ms. Mayhew captured the essence of a place and time not so
long ago in our history – yet a place that is gone forever.
Tomorrow’s
Bread made me stop and think – like I never had before –
about the people who were displaced by Urban Renewal as real flesh and blood
individuals. They went from living in a sustainable neighborhood with grocery
stores, a doctor, a library, and a church all in walking distance to having to
look for affordable housing in neighborhoods that offered none of those things.
Loraylee, Hawk, Rev. Eben Polk, Bibi, Uncle Ray, and Jonny No Age will stay
with me for a long time.
Thank you, Anna Jean, for writing this novel and for
prompting me to give serious thought to a time and federal program in the 1960s
that – in the name of giving people a better life – demolished their homes,
businesses, and churches and split up families that had been neighbors and
friends for generations. It’s not a pleasant read, but it’s a story built
around fictional characters you will love and pull for.
Now, I want to know what happened to Loraylee, Hawk,
and Archie. Is there a third book in the works, Anna Jean?
Girls
on the Line,
by Aimie K. Runyan
This is a historical novel about “the hello girls” –
the women who served as military switchboard operators in France and Germany
during World War I. The service these women provided was an integral part of
the Allies’ ability to defeat Germany in the War. It was something I was not
aware of, although I’ve studied history and minored in history in college. It
just goes to show how women’s contributions have often been ignored or
minimized.
Girls on the Line, by Aimie K. Runyan
I listened to this audio book and found myself
listening to “just one more chapter” (and then a couple more) before going to
bed at night. I hated to see the book end. It followed Ruby, an experienced
telephone switchboard operator, and the six women she supervised in France.
Ruby’s brother had been killed in the War and joining the US Army Signal Corps
was her way of honoring his memory.
The book tells how the military switchboard operators
had to go through rigorous training and had to memorize new codes daily in order
to do their jobs. They worked long hours and were always under stress as it was
their duty to make sure they correctly and efficiently connected phone calls
between generals and other officers.
These women were denied military benefits by the US
Army until 1979 – 60 years after their service. Sadly, only 28 of the 228 US
Army female switchboard operators lived to see that day.
The story line of the book includes Ruby’s being torn
between her less-than-exciting fiancé and the Army medic she met and fell in
love with in France. Some of the dialogue between Ruby and Andrew, her new
love, is a little sappy but other than that I thoroughly enjoyed the book.
The
Glovemaker,
by Ann Weisgarber
I had the pleasure of hearing Ann Weisgarber speak
several years ago at Main Street Books in Davidson, North Carolina. Her novel, The Promise, had just been released. I
purchased a copy, but time got away and too many library books kept coming into
my house. Long story, short: I haven’t
read The Promise yet. In fact, The Glovemaker is the first of Ms. Weisgarber’s
novels that I’ve read. I want to read all of them.
The Glovemaker, by Ann Weisgarber
Having visited Capitol
Reef National Park in Utah, I could really picture in my mind the setting for “The Glovemaker.”, Fruita, (formerly,
Junction) Utah is a stark place As I recall from my visit there in 2002,
there’s nothing there today but an orchard, an old schoolhouse, and a picnic
table – along with sheer rock cliffs, interesting rock formations, dry creek
beds, and no trees to speak of aside from the orchard.
I learned some things
about Mormons that I hadn’t known before — that there was an underground
railroad-type network that assisted Latter Day Saints to a place of safety when
they were being tracked down for prosecution for polygamy. I love it when I
learn something about history when reading a novel!
The book paints a
picture of the hard life the early settlers in that part of Utah had in the
1880s. My heart broke for Deborah Tyler and her brother-in-law, Nels. Deborah
watches each day for her husband’s return from his traveling wheelwright work
in southern Utah, but the weeks turn into months. Nels loves Deborah but cannot
have her because she is married.
There is suspense when
a stranger appears at Deborah’s door seeking directions to the safe place and
when the US Marshal comes looking for that stranger. Deborah and Nels are
forced to lie and keep secrets due to the conflict between Mormons and
non-Mormons and the law.
There is also tension
among the eight households in Junction due to the secrets being kept and due to
differences of opinion about polygamy and other The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-Day Saints doctrines and practices. Add to that the bitterly cold
weather and snow and you have a recipe for good historical fiction.
Since
my last blog post
The word count for my The Doubloon manuscript stands just shy of 22,000. That’s a net
gain of nearly 8,000 words since last Monday. I had a good writing week last week.
Until
my next blog post
I hope you have a good book to read.
If you’re a writer, I have you have
quality writing time and your projects are moving right along.
Thank you for reading my blog. You
could have spent the last few minutes doing something else, but you chose to
read my blog.
Let’s
continue the conversation
Have you read any of the books I talked about today?
If so, please share your thoughts with me. Have I piqued your interest in
reading any of these books?
Many unsung female heroes have crossed my path. I
haven’t known any famous people, so all the heroes in my life – male and female
– are unsung.
I’m going to break the “Two-For” rule today and write
about just one of my unsung female heroes, my great-great-great-great-grandmother,
Mary Morrison. I know her only through names and dates on the written page and
a plain rock that marks her grave in Spears Graveyard, but she is my hero.
Mary
Morrison (17??-1781)
I know few details of this Mary Morrison’s life. I don’t
know if she had a bubbly personality or was a negative person. I only know her
from the circumstances of her life.
She was born in Scotland, probably on the Kintyre
Peninsula in 1732. She married John Morrison from the same place. They came to
America, lived in Pennsylvania for a while, then moved to North Carolina in the
1760s.
Mary and John had nine children. John died in 1777.
Tradition tells us that he was ambushed by Tories not far from his and Mary’s
home. Knowing that he would soon die, he wrote his will in August of 1777 and
died less than a week later. From John’s will, we know that Mary was expecting
their last child at the time because he made provisions for the unborn child.
Sadly, Mary died early in 1781, leaving her minor
children in the care of relatives. We also know that when Mary was sick and
writing her will that one of her daughters was very ill and it was uncertain if
the daughter would survive that illness.
What a hard life Mary must have had! I hope she had
joy in her life.
I marvel at how she left Scotland for the great
unknown American frontier. She left a place on the sea for a new life 200 miles
inland in the backcountry of North Carolina where the woods and meadows were filled
with all sorts of wild animals about which she knew little or nothing. She must
have feared every day for disease or injury to herself and her family.
I live on land today that has been passed down from
generation to generation from John and Mary. I came to feel a real kinship with
Mary a few years ago as I worked in our vegetable and flower garden.
Summer Squash
Dragonfly in our garden
I practiced organic gardening, much as Mary would have in the 1770s. I imagined Mary growing some of the same vegetables and varieties of flowers on this same land. I enjoyed the butterflies, writing spiders, hoppy toads, dragonflies, birds, and box turtles that visited the garden, and I liked to think that Mary did, too.
As I was always on the lookout for copperhead snakes
while in my garden, I can’t help but think Mary kept an eye open for them, too.
One of the earliest things my parents taught me was how to distinguish between
a copperhead and a non-poisonous snake. I feel sure that was an early lesson
Mary and John taught their children. Also, how to identify and avoid poison
oak.
I can imagine Mary showing her children how to pluck a honeysuckle blossom, bite the end of the stem off, and suck in the sweetness of the flower.
Passion Flower
When wild passion flowers sprouted in her garden, I hope she left them to grow, bloom, and produce lollypops.
When the wild orange butterfly weed bloomed in sunny
spots in the yard, I hope Mary showed her children the black, yellow, and
white-striped caterpillars munching on the green leaves, and I hope she knew to
tell them that those caterpillars would one day be transformed into brilliant
Monarch butterflies.
Wild Butterfly Weed and Monarch Butterfly Caterpillars
Mary did not have benefit of a tractor to till her
garden, comfortable 21st century clothing to wear in the summer sun,
or an air-conditioned house to retreat to when the heat and humidity got the
best of her or when her back ached or blisters rose on the palms of her hands.
Raccoon in our yard on April 28, 2014.
I gardened because I wanted to. Mary gardened because
she had to. If deer trampled her corn or raccoons raided her apple trees, it
could be a matter of life or death for her family. When it happened to me, I just
got mad and bought corn and apples at the supermarket.
When the deer and raccoons decided to eat all the
plants in my garden, I raised the white flag of surrender and stopped
gardening. Mary didn’t have the luxury of stopping. In fact, she probably didn’t
have the luxury of stopping for a single day of her life. She could never stop
working hard or worrying about her family.
My heart breaks to think of her on her death bed in
March of 1781, writing her will, and wondering what would become of her
orphaned children.
When I get to Heaven, I will sit down with Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandmother Mary Morrison and hear all about her life and her garden.
It’s important for a writer to do a lot of
reading; however, I wonder if I’ve taken that to the extreme. The other day I
realized I was using my stack of library books as an excuse not to work on my
novel.
Most of my writing the last couple of years was
for my blog. I aspire to be a novelist. For that to happen, I have to put in
the time that first book requires.
“H” is
for Historical Fiction
If you’ve followed my blog since April 10, 2017 [https://janetswritingblog.com/2017/04/10/h-is-for-historical-fiction/ ] you know that I had finished the first draft of a historical novel when I discovered a fact that prompted me to make major changes in that 96,000-word manuscript. In fact, I concluded that I had to start over.
I hit a brick wall! (Photo by Janet Morrison)
Here are three key paragraphs from my April
10, 2017 blog post:
“One of my dreams is to write a
historical novel. The historian in me struggles with the fiction in historical
fiction. The writer in me wishes I could run fast and loose with the facts.
“Over the weekend, I did a lot of
reading on the subject in preparation for writing today’s blog post. In the
process, I found some information that shed more light on the historical event
that serves as the basis for the novel manuscript I’ve been working on for the
last decade or so.
“The combination of the new
information I found about that event when paired with some of the reading I did
yesterday about the craft of writing historical fiction made my head spin. The
combination of the two, in fact, has convinced me that I must start over writing
my novel. Yes, you read that correctly. I must start over.”
Where I went from there
I changed the location, the year, and the
characters from the original story. Although much of the plot could remain
intact, the necessity of starting over and getting my head around a new
location when I thought I was getting close to trying to get the novel
published took the wind out of my sails.
I tried to see it as an opportunity. The
reality was two years of procrastination.
Common sense told me it would be a challenge
to start writing “page 1” again, but I didn’t fully grasp how difficult the
rewrite would be until I found myself unable to sit down to do the work. What
I’ve learned over the last 24 months is – at least for me – writing is
fun/enjoyable work but the idea of rewriting
a full-length novel is gut wrenching.
In terms of production, my journey as a
fiction writer has been abysmal the last two years. I continued to study the
art and craft of writing, and I know I benefited from those studies. I benefit
from reading good fiction, but it is time for me to stop writing about writing
and get back to the actual work of writing.
The following words from my April 10, 2017
blog post haunt me today, since I have not had the grit I needed in order to
follow through:
“I’m certainly not the first writer
who never got her first novel published. There are numerous stories about first
manuscripts being lost. Some succumbed to fire, while others were mistakenly
left on a train and were never seen again. Many first manuscripts get rejected
so many times by publishers that the writer eventually puts it away and moves
on to another novel. Most writers have had to start over. That is what I will
do, and I believe the end product will be better than The Spanish Coin
manuscript.”
My April 10, 2017 blog post was a
pep talk for myself, but it didn’t work.
Since
my last blog post
I’m weary of making excuses – and maybe
that’s what it took for me to finally start rewriting The Spanish Coin in earnest last week. I wasn’t satisfied with the
new location for the rewrite. I threw caution to the wind on Thursday and took
the story back to its original location. I’m familiar enough with The Waxhaws
section in present-day Lancaster County, South Carolina, that I think I can
make it work.
The true story that inspired my original
manuscript is my inspiration for the new story. The year is probably 1767
instead of 1771. There is still a mysterious murder, but the victim is now a
fictitious character.
I changed the working title from The Spanish Coin to The Doubloon. New title, new story.
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
Since Thursday, I’ve written 14,000 words. The
monkey is off my back! I’ll report my progress in my blog posts on Mondays, so
you can hold me accountable.
Until
my next blog post
I hope you have a good book to read.
I just finished listening to The Island
of Sea Women, by Lisa See. It’s a historical novel about an island off
Korea where the women have an incredible ability to dive in the ocean and
harvest specific fish and other sea life. I’m eager to start reading Tomorrow’s Bread, by Anna Jean Mayhew as
soon as it is released tomorrow!
If you’re a writer, I hope you have
quality writing time. If you, too, are facing a novel rewrite, I wish you the
stamina it takes to see the job through.
Thank you for reading my blog. You
could have spent the last few minutes doing something else, but you chose to
read my blog.
Look for my #TwoForTuesday blog post
tomorrow: My Two Favorite Unsung Female
Heroes.
Let’s
continue the conversation
I always welcome your comments. I
appreciate your moral support and constructive criticism.
In preparation for today’s #TwoForTuesday challenge I read quotes by many inspirational women. It was a difficult choice, but I selected quotes by Malala Yousafzai and Mary Frances Berry.
Malala Yousafzai
Malala Yousafzai is one of the most inspirational women I know – and has been since she was still a child. I love this quote by her:
“Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.”
Malala is proof of that!
Mary Frances Berry
Mary Frances Berry is an icon of the American Civil Rights Movement and a historian. Here’s the quote of hers I chose for today’s blog post:
“The time when you need to do something is when no one else is willing to do it, when people are saying it can’t be done.”
Today I’m repeating a blog post I wrote two years ago not long after the racial violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. In light of Friday’s white supremacists’ terrorism and murder spree at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, I think it’s worth repeating. My August 21, 2017 blog post addressed racism in the United States, but racism and religious intolerance exists around the world.
Christchurch, New Zealand
New Zealand is one of the last
places we thought would see racial and religious hatred on the scale it saw on
March 15, 2019. Ironically, that’s the very reason the perpetrators chose it as
their target.
“Today’s blog post highlights the first paragraph of The Dry Grass of August, Anna Jean Mayhew’s debut novel. That paragraph is a great hook, for it draws you in and conveys that there’s bound to be a good story in the coming pages. Here it is:
“In August of 1954, we took our
first trip without Daddy, and Stell got to use the driver’s license she’d had
such a fit about. It was just a little card saying she was Estelle Annette
Watts, that she was white, with hazel eyes and brown hair. But her having a
license made that trip different from any others, because if she hadn’t had it,
we never would have been stuck in Sally’s Motel Park in Claxton, Georgia, where
we went to buy fruitcakes and had a wreck instead. And Mary would still be with
us.” ~ Anna Jean Mayhew in The Dry Grass of August
The Dry Grass of August, by Anna Jean Mayhew
“The Dry Grass of August is a novel that takes you to the American South in the days of lawfully-mandated racial segregation. It is written from the point-of-view of a 13-year-old white girl from Charlotte, North Carolina. It sheds light on how it was in the 1950s for a black maid, Mary Luther, traveling from North Carolina to Florida with her white employer, Mrs. Watts, and the four Watts children. Mary couldn’t eat in restaurants, couldn’t sleep in motels, and couldn’t use public bathrooms because they were the legal domain of white people.
“Mary Luther is in constant but often subtle danger. She was, no doubt, apprehensive and in danger even when the members of the white family she was riding with were unaware. That unawareness is today referred to as “white privilege.” When one lives his entire life as a member of the predominant and ruling race, he enjoys privileges and advantages of which he isn’t even conscious.
“The Watts children witness things along the way to Florida that open their eyes to how differently whites and blacks are treated in the United States. They cannot return home to Charlotte unchanged.
“In light of the August 12, 2017 violence
“I chose the opening paragraph of The Dry Grass of August as my blog topic for today many weeks ago. When I selected it and put it on my blog schedule, I had no idea I would be writing it in the aftermath of the tragedy in Virginia of last weekend. I did not anticipate writing a 1,000-word blog post around that paragraph.
“Although published in 2011, The Dry Grass of August speaks to us today as, in light of the murder of Heather Heyer and other violence in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 12, 2017, Americans are having a conversation like never before about race relations. That conversation is long overdue and painful. It will not and cannot be a short conversation.
“For all the progress that has been made between the races in my 64 years, it is abhorrent and repulsive to me that in 2017 there are Ku Klux Klan members, white supremacists, and Neo-Nazis not only living among us but being emboldened by the words, actions, and inactions of President Donald J. Trump. It is Mr. Trump’s lack of moral leadership that has added fuel to the fire and given bigots a green light to publicly spew their hate.
“I had hoped to keep politics out of my blog, but I cannot remain silent. This is bigger than politics. This is morals and humanity and freedom. Freedom to live without fear. My blog is not a huge platform, but it does give me an avenue through which to speak. My blog has 1,300 followers [update: 1,500+ as of March 18, 2019] from all over the world. I don’t want my blog followers in other countries to think Americans are vicious and at each other’s throats. That is not who we are.
“Whereas the people who doggedly hung onto the myth that white people were a superior race used to cowardly hide their faces and identities under white hoods and robes, they now demonstrate and march with torches in regular street clothes. When they marched in Charlottesville last weekend, some of them were outfitted with helmets and shields, making it difficult for the anti-Nazi protesters to tell the difference between police officers and the white supremacists.
“There is no room in the United States of America for Neo-Nazis and other hate mongers. The good citizens of this country cannot allow the current occupant of the White House to lead us down this destructive road by his lame condemnation of evil and his attempt to equate the people carrying Nazi flags with the people who were there to protest their hateful agenda.
“Three of the founding pillars of the United States are freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom to assemble. I’m glad I live in a country where people can voice their opinions; however, no American has the constitutional right to threaten, terrorize, or murder other people simply because of the color of their skin or the way they choose to worship God.
“The United States is in a watershed moment. We will come out a better people on the other side of the current self-examination and soul searching because we are a good and decent people. We are not who Mr. Trump would try to make you think we are. We are so much better than that.”
P.S. Added on March
18, 2019
Still a watershed moment
Nineteen months later, the United
States is still in a watershed moment. Racism has a 500-year history here. It
started when the first white European explorers and settlers arrived and
started pushing the Native Americans off the land. It continued as each wave of
immigrants arrived.
Africans, Irish, Italians, Chinese,
Hispanics, Middle Easterners – it didn’t matter what color they were, what
language they spoke, or what religion they professed. It seems to be human
nature for every group of people – particularly, white people — to feel
superior to another group or groups of people.
We live in challenging times when
certain politicians and social media have emboldened cowards to act on their
warped ideologies.
Since my last blog post
I returned to a short story I
started writing a few weeks ago. I added 1,750 words to it on Friday and
Saturday. It felt good to write historical fiction again.
Until
my next blog post
Tomorrow’s Bread, by Anna Jean Mayhew
Be sure and look for Anna Jean
Mayhew’s much-anticipated next novel, Tomorrow’s Bread, which will be
released March 26, 2019.
I hope you have a good book to read. I’m reading The Forgiving Kind, by Donna Everhart.
If you’re a writer, I hope you have
quality writing time today.
The topic for my #TwoForTuesday blog post tomorrow is “Two Quotes by Inspirational Women.” The #TwoForTuesday writing prompts are supplied by Rae of Rae’s Reads and Reviews Blog found at https://educatednegra.blog.
Thank you for reading my blog. You
could have spent the last few minutes doing something else, but you chose to
read my blog.
As is obvious from the title, today’s #TwoForTuesday blog
post prompt is Two Books Written by Women of Color. Thank you, Rae of Rae’s
Reads and Reviews blog for supplying the prompt.
I’ve chosen two books that have nothing in common except
they’re both written by women of color.
Left to Tell: Discovering God
Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust, by Immaculee Ilibagiza
Left to Tell, by Immaculee Ilibagiza
Of the nearly one million Rwandans who lost their lives in
the 1994 genocide in that country, college student Immaculee Ilibagiza lost
most of her relatives. This book is her telling of the story. Indeed, she believes she was “left to tell.”
Ms. Ilibagiza and seven other women hid in the bathroom in a
local pastor’s house for 91 days during the violence. During her ordeal she was
able to come to understand the true meaning of forgiveness. Afterwards, she
sought out and forgave her family’s killers.
This is an extraordinary story!
Jackie Tales: The Magic of
Creating Stories and the Art of Telling Them, by Jackie Torrence
Jackie Tales, by Jackie Torrence
Switching gears completely from Left to Tell, the other book I’m highlighting today is Jackie Tales: The Magic of Creating Stories and the Art of
Telling Them, by Jackie Torrence. Ms. Torrence was a reference librarian in
High Point, North Carolina and a master storyteller.
This delightful book not only includes 16 folk tales but
also has Ms. Torrence’s stage directions so the reader can learn many
techniques of good storytelling.
With an introduction by Ossie Davis and a host of up-close
photographs illustrating the wonderfully expressive face of Ms. Torrence, this
book is a real gem for anyone aspiring to be a writer, a storyteller, or an
entertaining reader to children.
Ms. Torrence had quite a gift and the storytelling world
will never forget her. I found myself laughing out loud as I read each of the
stories in this book. Bravo!
Until my next blog
post
Keep reading!
Let’s continue the
conversation
Have you read either of today’s books?
Have you ever considered honing your storytelling talent and
sharing your gift with others?
Last Monday I blogged about five of the ten books I
read last month. Today I’m sharing my thoughts about the other five books I
read in February. Four of them are nonfiction. Any month I get to read ten
books is a good month!
George
Washington’s Secret Six: The Spy Ring
that Saved the American Revolution,
by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger
George Washington’s Secret Six, by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger
I really liked this book! I was intrigued by the
title. Although I always liked studying American history and minored in history
in college, this book was full of information I’d either forgotten or never
knew.
I’m going to show my ignorance here. The chapter about
Benedict Arnold was especially enlightening. We all (I hope!) learned in
elementary school that he was a traitor during the American Revolution. I
realized when I started reading the chapter about him that that’s all I knew
about him. I didn’t know what he did to betray America. If you don’t know the
story, I suggest you read this book or do other research on your own. You might
be surprised what you learn. Or, maybe I’m the only one who didn’t learn this bit
of history.
It saddened me to learn that one of the six American
spies was a woman whose name is lost to history. She is only remembered today
as Number 355. Each of the spies had a three digit number, just like James Bond
of 007 fame! Number 355 was found out by the British and taken prisoner on a
ship in New York harbor. It isn’t known if she survived her ordeal as a
prisoner of war.
Why are the contributions made by women swept under
the rug and not mentioned in history books? I know the answer. I’m just
throwing the question out in frustration for you to ponder.
In
the Woods,
by Tana French
In the Woods, by Tana French
I kept seeing publicity for and reviews for Tana
French’s new book, The Witch Elm, and
I realized I’d never read any of her books. Instead of starting with her
latest, I decided to read In the Woods,
which is the first book in her Dublin Murder Squad Series. It was published in
2007, and is set in the Dublin, Ireland area in 1984 and 2004.
The book begins in 1984 with the disappearance of two
children and the survival of one of their companions. Then the story shifts to
2004 to Detective Bob Ryan, who sees too many similarities between his
experience as that survivor and the mystery of a missing 12-year-old girl.
Bob Ryan keeps his past a secret as he and fellow-detective
Cassie Maddox try to solve the girl’s disappearance. Ryan hopes in the process
they will also solve the mystery of his own experience as a young boy.
That said, I did not finish reading In the Woods. The premise held such
promise, but one-third of the way into the book I lost interest in the
conversations the characters had that did not seem to move the story along. I
wanted to like the book and read the rest of the series. But alas, there were
too many other books calling my name.
Building
a Story Brand: Clarify Your Message So
Customers Will Listen
by Donald Miller
This book caught my attention because it had “Story Brand” in the title, but I almost didn’t read it since it had “Customers” in the subtitle. Everywhere the book said, “customer,” I mentally substituted “reader.” That worked pretty well in most cases.
I was unable to download an image of the book for my blog post today.
Here are a few takeaways from the book:
“The fact is, pretty websites don’t sell things. Words
sell things.”
“The reality is we aren’t just in a race to get our
products to market; we’re also in a race to communicate why our customers need
those products in their lives.” (In other words, my challenge is not only
getting my novel published, I must also get across to potential readers why
they will benefit from reading my book.)
“The first mistake brands make is they fail to focus
on the aspects of their offer that will help people survive and thrive.” (In
other words, how will reading my novel help the reader thrive? Oh my!)
“The second mistake brands make is they cause their
customers to burn too many calories in an effort to understand their offer.”
(In other words, I need to be able to “pitch” my novel is as few words as
possible.)
“In a story, audiences must always know who the hero
is, what the hero wants, who the hero has to defeat to get what they want, what
tragic thing will happen if the hero doesn’t win, and what wonderful thing will
happen if they do.” (I knew that about stories, but I didn’t know the same was
true in retail.)
“If you confuse, you lose.” (Just because I know what
I’m trying to say or write doesn’t mean anyone else understands it.)
Becoming, by Michele Obama
Becoming, by Michelle Obama
This was a book that I listened to. It was read by Michelle Robinson Obama, and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to her talk about her growing up years, college years, working so hard to excel in law school, meeting Barack Obama, working in a big law firm and coming to the realization that she was not going to be fulfilled by practicing law, finding a new career path, the struggles of trying so long to have children before Malia and Sasha finally came along, being under a microscope while living in the White House, and how much it hurt when people told lies about her husband and herself.
I know some people do not like Michelle Obama, and I don’t understand why. They might have a better opinion about her if they read – or better yet, listened to – Becoming. I enjoyed every bit of it!
Red
Notice: A True Story of High Finance,
Murder, and One Man’s Fight for Justice,
by Bill Browder
Red Notice, by Bill Browder
This book was recommended by one of my loyal blog readers, Alison. (She has a keen sense of humor and often reveals it in her blog, “A Pierman Sister” — https://piermanparis.com/.)
Many of the details of how venture investing works
were beyond my interest or understanding, but I couldn’t seem to stop reading
it.
This is the story of the author’s experience in the
world of high finance in eastern Russia. What I know about high finance could
easily fit on the head of a pin. I’ve never really needed to know the details
of high finance. I don’t move in those circles. Nevertheless, the book is
intriguing and sheds some timely light on current USA-Russia interactions.
Red
Notice gives insightful background about how Russia
transitioned from communism to capitalism and why capitalism doesn’t work in
Russia the same way it works in America. There is a different mindset in Russia
after decades of communist rule and thought.
I’ll share a few quotes from this political thriller:
“It bears mentioning that in Russia there is no
respect for the individual and his or her rights. People can be sacrificed for
the needs of the state, used as shields, trading chips, or even simple fodder.
If necessary, anyone can disappear.”
“The moral is simple:
when it comes to money, Russians will gladly – gleefully, even –
sacrifice their own success to screw their neighbor.”
“The major downside to what I was doing was that I was
seriously disrespecting a Russian oligarch in public, and in Russia that had
often led to lethal results in the past. The imagination is a horrible thing
when it’s preoccupied with exactly how someone might try to kill you.”
Seizing an opportunity that was too good to pass up,
Mr. Browder founded what was to become the largest investment fund in Russia
after the demise of the Soviet Union. Quoting from Goodreads.com: “But when he exposed the corrupt oligarchs
who were robbing the companies in which he was investing, Vladimir Putin turned
on him and, in 2005, had him expelled from Russia.”
Mr. Browder’s offices in Moscow were raided in 2007. His
attorney was arrested and eventually murdered by prison guards in 2009. Mr.
Browder wrote this book in an effort to bring justice for his deceased lawyer
and to expose what takes place in Russian business dealings right up to
Vladimir Putin.
This book should give us pause.
Since
my last blog post
Two days this past week, no one from the United States
has looked at my blog. What’s with that?
Carolyn W. and her team at WordPress.com continued to
work on the problem I was having with the “like” buttons on other people’s
blogs. They didn’t stop until they’d figured out that it was a browser issue.
Now instead of using Firefox, I must use Chrome. Kuddos to WordPress.com’s
support chat for getting to the bottom of this!
Until
my next blog post
I hope you have a good book to read.
I’ll finish reading The Glovemaker, by Ann Weisgarber today. I’ve
enjoyed it. It is set in what is now Capitol Reef National Park in Utah – a place
I had the pleasure of visiting in 2002.
If you’re a writer, I have you have
quality writing time and your projects are moving right along.
Look for my #TwoForTuesday blog post
tomorrow: Two Books Written by Women of Color. Thank you for providing
the writing prompt, Rae, in “Rae’s Reads and Reviews” blog.
Thank you for reading my blog. You
could have spent the last few minutes doing something else, but you chose to
read my blog.
Let’s
continue the conversation
Have you read any of the five books I talked about
today? If so, please share your thoughts with me. Have I piqued your interest
in reading any of these books?
