Category: The Writing Life

A Wake-Up Call for this Blogger

When I started Janet’s Writing Blog more than a decade ago, I didn’t know what I was doing. I had not read many blogs, but I thought I was ready to jump in and write my own after being prompted by my niece’s husband. Craig is much more tech savvy than I. He designed my website as it served me well for 20 years. His interests, time, and business responsibilities changed over the years, so in January 2023 my website was redesigned by Carolina Custom Designs.

My blog floundered for several years in the beginning as I tried to find my niche. I played around with how often to blog and how long a blog post should be. Things have gone more smoothly since I settled on posting every Monday.

Photo by Kaitlyn Baker on Unsplash

I have slowly realized the potential my blog. In fact, I know I haven’t yet fully understood its potential.

It astounds me that people all over the world read my blog! In January 2024, for example, people in 36 countries read my blog.

I’m fortunate to live in the United States of America where I have freedom of speech and freedom to read anything I want.

I don’t want to run out of subject matter. I usually plan my blog post topics as much as a year in advance, but this year my editorial calendar just isn’t coming together like it has in the past.

Should I make some changes in my blog?

Last year was a busy year of getting my website redesigned; starting a newsletter in March; offering a free downloadable copy of my short story, “Slip Sliding Away” to everyone who subscribes to my newsletter; publishing a local history book, Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book 2; publishing my first ghost story, “Ghost of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse: An American Revolutionary War Ghost Story”; and, with my sister, Marie, published a cookbook, The Aunts in the Kitchen: Southern Family Recipes.

With all I had going on, I failed to keep expanding my editorial calendar. Having Covid in December, a health scare of a different nature at the same time which lapped over into January, and intermittent internet and telephone service for two weeks after a January 9 storm, I was in a mental fog until the first week in March. I do have the next four weekly blog posts planned and partially written; however, some weeks in the rest of 2024 need to be fleshed out.

More than 1,100 “follow” my blog, but most of them probably don’t read it every week. I try to keep in mind that although I have some loyal readers every week, there is always the chance (and hope!) that this will be the week when someone reads my blog for the first time. What can I write this week that will please my regular readers but also grab the attention of a first-time reader so much that they become a subscriber?

I don’t want to bore my loyal readers with references to my books, short stories, and website; however, I want that new reader to be aware of what I’ve written. It is a delicate balancing act.

What Ryan Lanz says a blogger should do

A list I keep in front of me as I plan my blog topics is Ryan Lanz’s “22 Ways to Impress a First-Time Blog Reader With Any Post.” Lanz sets the bar high! I don’t have Mr. Lanz’s permission to quote his list, but I’ll throw out several items on the list to give you an idea of what a blogger is challenged to do with every post:

  • “Tell them something they don’t know.”
  • “Tell them something they DO know.”
  • “Help them solve a problem.”

It only gets more challenging as you read the other 19 items on his list! The one that always trips me up is number 3. I have a feeling in my more than 13 years of blogging, I have probably never solved anyone’s problem! I just don’t see that as my responsibility.

My plan

The first months in a calendar year tend to prompt us into new beginnings and reflection. That’s what I will continue to do over the coming weeks, and I hope I’ll find enough topics of interest to keep blogging every Monday for the foreseeable future.

Stay tuned.  Next week I will blog about the books I read in April.

Until my next blog post

I hope you have a good book to read.

If you are a blogger, you can probably identify with today’s post.

Don’t forget the people of Ukraine.

Remember to subscribe to my e-newsletter before the May issue if you want to learn about an on-going archaeological dig in North Carolina! Just visit https://www.janetmorrisonbooks.com and click on “Subscribe.” My thank-you gift to you is a downloadable copy of my historical short story, “Slip Sliding Away.”

Janet

What Are You Passionate About?

I am working my way through How to Write The Short Story, by Jack M. Bickham. As the title indicates, it is a book I expect to enhance my short story writing skills. However, the first 14 pages surprised me by offering self-inventory guidelines that I think anyone – not just writers – can benefit from practicing.

Mr. Bickham was the author of 75 novels and a host of books about the craft of writing.

It would not be fair to the current owner of Mr. Bickham’s copyright to the book for me to list all 10 steps in his guidelines for self-evaluation, but I’ll try to hit enough high spots to pique your interest even if you aren’t a writer.

Since I thought I could read this 200-page book in several days, imagine my surprise when I spent that amount of time working my way through the first 14 pages!

The root premise of How to Write The Short Story is that writers cannot write to their best form without knowing what they are passionate about deep down inside. The book systematically walks the reader through Mr. Bickham’s theory of how to do a thorough self-evaluation.

The secondary premise of the book is that once writers seriously go through this exercise and the remaining recommended steps in the book, they will be able to draw on their responses to write any story.

Mr. Bickham recommends jotting down on index cards (the book was published in 1994 when personal computers were still in their infancy) the reader’s responses to the series of questions he provides. He wants this information to be written in a form that can be accessed occasionally to remind yourself what makes you tick. Your responses might be added to or deleted as you live your life.

Mr. Bickham also strongly recommends that you not move on to the next step until you have completed the prior step. Even so, I don’t think I should take the liberty of listing all 10 steps. From the five steps I’m listing, you will get the jest of the exercise and perhaps be interested enough to look for the book.

Photo by Simone Secci on Unsplash

Step 1

The first step in this self-evaluation is to write down 10 “things or ideas or places or actions that you feel very deeply about.” You might want to stop reading this blog post and do this step. You need to take your time and really think about what you feel deeply about. You might easily think of three to five things, but then it can take some thought to come up with the other five to seven ideas or places or actions. If taken seriously, this should prompt you to identify your core values.

Step 3

What are five ideas or concept in which you deeply believe? This is different from Step 1, but there will probably be some overlap.

Step 8

Write a paragraph about an event that brought you great sadness.

Step 9

Describe “a time and place that made you very angry.”

Step 10

Write about “a time and place that frightened you.”

I found this exercise helpful, did you?

If you are like me, it has been a long time – if ever – that you took the time to honestly address the above questions and requests.

Did you discover any surprises?

Since my last blog post

I have added several thousand words to the manuscript for The Heirloom after finding some historical information that was helpful and specific to the story. It was rewarding to put words on the page.

I visited Hart Square Village in Vale, North Carolina once again. I took a lot of pictures, learned about the composition of daubing used by the early settlers in the Catawba Valley, and learned about the best practices there today for the preservation of 200-year-old log structures. Again… useful for me to know as a writer of southern colonial American history.

Until my next blog post

Get back to that book you started reading but put aside.

Remember the people of Ukraine.

Janet

10 Random Facts about Myself in 2016, Revisited

In today’s blog post, I am revisiting my blog post from April 8, 2016. I had been asked to share 10 random facts about myself. It is interesting exactly eight years later to reread that post and see that little has changed.

Here are the 10 random facts about myself as I offered them eight years ago today, with new insights and details added within brackets:

1. I have what is called Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) in the United States but is known as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) in the rest of the world. My energy and stamina are limited, and my memory problems and mental fog make my research and writing tedious and time consuming. I often feel as if I live in a vat of molasses. Nothing comes easily.

2. I started working on the manuscript of my proposed historical novel, The Doubloon/The Spanish Coin, in 2005. I am still tweaking it. [I was startled to be reminded that I started writing The Doubloon/The Spanish Coin 19 years ago! After editing that manuscript down from 120,000 to 96,600 words, I am now concentrating on turning the main character’s backstory into a novel to publish before I publish The Doubloon/The Spanish Coin. The tentative title of that novel is The Heirloom.]

3. As a young adult, I was a “fiction snob.” I thought there was nothing to learn or gain by reading fiction. You can imagine how shocked my sister was when, at the age of 48 in 2001, I told her that I had registered for a fiction writing class! That’s when I started learning to write [and truly appreciate and enjoy reading] fiction.

4. Although my appearance, manner, and personality give the impression that I am conservative, I am a liberal when it comes to politics.

5. After wanting to play the Appalachian lap dulcimer since first being introduced to the instrument as a college freshman, I finally purchased one and attended a four-day dulcimer workshop in 2010. Due to random fact #1, I still don’t play well and probably never will; however, I do play for my own enjoyment. I often listen to dulcimer music while I write. (I’m listening to some as I write this blog post.) [I still don’t play the dulcimer very well, but I am once again trying to practice almost every day. This is for my own enjoyment. A huge “plus” is that learning to play a musical instrument is supposed to be good for one’s brain.]

6. I live on land that has been in my family since the 1760s.

7. I sleep in a bed that my father made using timber from our land in the 1940s.

8. I wish I could sing.

9. I could drive a tractor before I was old enough to drive a car.

10. Taking the fiction writing course and attending the dulcimer workshop were life-changing experiences for me, and I will forever be grateful that I got out of my comfort zone and took advantage of both opportunities.

No matter your age, stretch yourself and follow your dreams.

What do you have to lose?

Since my last blog post

Photo by Janet Morrison at Joara

I participated in my first archaeological dig! I checked it off my “bucket list,” but I hope it won’t be my last one. If you want to read all about it, please subscribe to my every-other-month e-newsletter by going to https://www.janetmorrisonbooks.com and clicking on the “Subscribe” button. You will also receive my free downloadable historical short story, “Slip Sliding Away.” I will write about the archaeological dig in my May 2024 e-newsletter.

I submitted a 3,575-word contemporary short story to an international short story competition recently. It was the first time I entered a piece of fiction written in first-person to a competition, so I was pleased when I learned that my story was judged to be in the top 10% of submittals. In spite of that “top 10%” label, I opened the critique with some trepidation.

Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash

In a nutshell, the critique only had two negative comments: (1) The title (“Someone is Trying to Kill Me”) gave too much away and (2) I wrapped up the protagonist’s dilemma too quickly. The positive comments included, “It’s rare that I tell an author that the story we turned down needs to be significantly longer, because many of our entries drag a very thin, uninteresting idea out for many more pages than it is worth. But I think “Kill” needs to be a lot longer…. Detailed, interesting, step-by-step… this story has ‘detective novel’ written all over it… I’d read that story. It would be far too long for our magazine, but so what? Get it published somewhere else, or publish it yourself on Amazon or he web or something. Finish the story and put it out there.”

What a morale booster!

Until my next blog post

If there is a novel in you that is begging to be written… WRITE IT!

Read a good book or two this week.

Support your local public library and independent bookstore.

Remember the people of Ukraine.

Janet

I Feel Like the World has Passed Me By

I recently read a blog post that made my head spin. It left me wondering if I can make it as a writer. The world is changing at warp speed, and I cannot keep up.

My post today is a bit of a rant. Please bear with me. I’m curious. Do you feel the same way, or am I just an old fuddy-duddy? (Granted, if I casually use the term “fuddy-duddy,” I probably am one.)

What set off this particular rant (a.k.a., blog post)?

The blog post I’m referring to is https://writersinthestormblog.com/2024/02/social-media-best-practices-for-authors-in-2024/. This is a blog I have followed for years and I usually benefit from reading the posts. This particular one gave me pause.

I didn’t realize how much I was lagging behind in the world of social media until I learned that “you might want to consider IG Thread, Mastodon, or Bluesky (still in Beta and by invite only). The stated goal of Threads is to become part of the Fediverse (of which Mastodon is a part) so many people have just jumped straight over to Mastodon.”

WHAT?

That one paragraph was confusing on so many levels.

I continued reading and learned that there is also a social media platform called BeReal, in case I want people to know where I am at all times.

No thanks.

I learned that Reddit “has released an API in preparation for its upcoming IPO.” I have used Reddit, but I don’t know an API from an IPO. In fact, I have very little interest in learning the difference. (I’ve looked them up before, but I don’t have enough brain cells to clutter up my head with information I don’t need to recall.) It’s frustrating to read an article about what authors need to know about social media when you don’t understand the abbreviations. It’s overwhelming.

Granted, API and IPO were clickable, but the assumption is that I should already know what they are. It just reinforces my feelings that I’m so far behind there’s no hope for me to catch up. And, oh… in my spare time, when I’m not studying the latest technological advances and numerous social media platforms, I can do historical research and turn that into a novel.

I also learned from the Writers in the Storm blog post that “Google has been talking about E-A-T for a few years now, but with the extensive use of generative AI, they have added another E. This is good news for us, as their requirements and Quality Rater Guidelines for good content will almost certainly exclude most AI-created content. E-E-A-T stands for Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.”

The explanation of E-E-A-T was much appreciated because I had never heard of E-A-T in the first sentence of that paragraph, much less E-E-A-T.

My readers know I’m not the most computer-savvy person in the world, but I have managed to write a blog on a regular basis since January 24, 2010, format and publish two local history books, two short stories, and a cookbook for publication. All but the cookbook are available in electronic as well as print form. I’m on Facebook and have many boards of interest on Pinterest. I’ve learned how to create book covers and memes. I put a new meme on Pinterest six days a week to publicize my various books and short stories. I’ve created bookmarks, flyers, and business cards. I publish an e-newsletter. I have my own website.

Apparently, it is not enough.

I should not have to be a technology whiz to be an author, but I have read and heard a multitude of times that I need tens of thousands of followers on social media if I stand a chance of catching the eye of a literary agent or book publisher.

Perhaps I was born in the wrong century.

And did I mention the scammers I have to deal with several times a week?

I’m proud of my vintage postcard book, The Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, published by Arcadia Publishing in 2014; however, I can’t visualize it as a movie. I get numerous phone calls from people speaking broken English telling me that I can make boatloads of money if I agree to let them turn the book into a movie. I received a call a couple of weeks ago from someone claiming to be with HBO promising me $300,000 if I would allow them to turn my postcard book into a made-for-TV movie.

The Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, by Janet Morrison

Yeah, right! I’m sure it would be a blockbuster.

Since my last blog post

I’m putting the finishing touches on my March newsletter. If you have not subscribed to my newsletter, please go to https://www.janetmorrisonbooks.com, click on the “Subscribe” button, and fill in your email address. In return, you will receive a free downloadable copy of one of my short stories, “Slip Sliding Away: A Southern Historical Short Story” and you will receive my newsletter every other month.

In my newsletters I give details of the “field trips” I take to do research for my historical short stories and the historical novels I’m working on as well as photographs from those trips. I give more information about the things I’m doing to move my writing career forward than I do in my weekly blog posts.

I promise I won’t bombard your inbox with emails!

Until my next blog post

I hope you have a good book to read. As usual, I’m reading several books. So many books… so little time!

Please get your news from more than one reliable source.

Remember the people of Ukraine and let your representatives in Washington, DC know how you feel about aid to that country. It just might get through to them and make a difference.

Janet

Do you associate volcanoes with North Carolina?

Now that I have your attention… today’s blog post is about ancient history. This is one of the topics I wrote about in Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book 2.

Photo of a volcano by Guille Pozzi on Unsplash.com.
Photo by guille pozzi on Unsplash

Harrisburg, North Carolina sits inside a 22-mile syenite or ring dike. One can get a feel for it from several high points in the area, such as when traveling south from Concord on US-29 near the intersection with Union Cemetery Road. It’s like looking across a gigantic bowl.

Another possible place from which to catch a glimpse of the “bowl” is on NC-49 southbound after you pass Old Charlotte Road. The Charlotte downtown skyline is visible briefly from that location as well as the one referenced above on US-29.

Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book 2, by Janet Morrison

What, you may ask, is a syenite or ring dike? I’m no expert on volcanology, but my understanding is that it is a circular dike around a volcano.

According to 2001 Encyclopedia of Earthquakes and Volcanoes, by David Ritchie and Alexander E. Gates, Ph.D.:

“If magma is removed from the magma chamber beneath a volcano, it can undergo caldera collapse. The volcano and the area around it collapse because they are no longer being held up by the liquid. A series of concentric faults and cracks develop around the collapsing volcano. As they do, magma will squeeze up around the cracks and faults forming ring dikes.”

I’ll take their word for it.

In 1966, U.S. Geological Survey geologist Harry E. LeGrand and Henry Bell III led a scientific excursion in Cabarrus County to study our ring dike and other interesting rock and mineral deposits in the county.

You might be able to access a pdf of “Guidebook of Excursion in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, October 22-23,1966” by going to https://www.carolinageologicalsociety.org. Search for “1960s Field Trip Guidebooks” and then scroll down to find that particular guidebook.

The Harrisburg area has experienced a population explosion since 1966. The landmarks noted in the 1966 guidebook are either gone or more difficult to locate today. The concentric rings that were reportedly visible from the air in 1960 by R.G. Ray might not still be intact.

If you’d like to know more about this topic, the 1849 meteorite; Harrisburg’s first organized housing and business development of 100 years ago; the Morrison-Sims Store and Old Post Office; the flood of 1886, the Piedmont Area Development Association (P.A.D.A) of the 1960s; earthquakes that have been felt here; McCachren’s Store; Rocky River bridges in the 1870s; the Sauline Players; a tribute to George L. Govan; Rocky River Academy; the Rocky River Presbyterian Church’s fourth sanctuary which was completed in 1861; a 1777 estate sale; Hugh Smith Pharr and his mill; a 1907 attempted train robbery; 1816 – the year without a summer;

Also: items such as milk, apples, and dry cleaning that were all delivered to homes in the mid-1900s; Blume’s Store; high-speed trains; the boundaries of Township 1; early Harrisburg education; Pharr Grist Mill on Back Creek; how electricity came to Harrisburg; a 1912 church homecoming; Pioneer Mills Gold Mine and Community; a fellow named Collett Leventhorpe; a 1911-1912 debating society; and the tenth anniversary of the Harrisburg Branch of the Cabarrus County Public Library system… please purchase Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book 2.

The book also contains nearly 150 pages of my research notes on subjects I didn’t get to write about when I wrote a local history newspaper column from 2006-2012.

Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book 1 and Book 2 are available in paperback at Second Look Books, 4519 School House Commons in Harrisburg, NC.

Second Look Books, 4519 School House Commons, Harrisburg, NC

They are also available in paperback and e-Book from Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BW2QMLHC/.

An infographic ad for Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Books 1 and 2

Until my next blog post

I hope you have a good book to read.

I hope you get to spend quality time with friends and family.

Remember the people of Ukraine.

Janet

P.S. Please visit https://www.janetmorrisonbooks.com and subscribe to my e-Newsletter. Next issue due out the first week of January!

How Can Genealogy Influence Historical Fiction?

Since I have published very little historical fiction, you probably haven’t read anything yet that was influenced or inspired by my genealogy; however, I hope to remedy that with the publication of a collection of my short stories in 2024.

I’ll give you an example. People often ask fiction writers where they get their ideas. The answers run the gamut, but I have drawn on research into my family history for at least one historical short story.

Many people like to brag about their Scottish ancestors living in castles. Folks, why would someone leave a castle in Scotland in the 1700s and come to America to start life over as a farmer? Just sayin.’

Eilean Donan Castle in Scotland (Photo credit: Nicholad Beel on Unsplash.com
Eilean Donan Castle in Scotland (Photo credit: Nicholas Beel on Unsplash.com

I brag on most of my ancestors because they were farmers. They were farmers in Scotland and Ireland, and they bought land to farm when they got to America.

Cornfield. Photo Credit: Steven Weeks on Unsplash.com
Photo Credit: Steven Weeks on Unsplash.com

After having grown up out in the country and worked a vegetable garden, I have immense respect and admiration for anyone who is able to support a family and make a living by farming – especially back in the days before tractors and other mass-produced farm equipment.

Today I’m blogging about one of my immigrant ancestors who inspired me to write a short story.

He left Ireland (we think) and came to Virginia in the early 1700s. He had obviously not lived in a castle. Doing research on him in coastal Virginia was an eye-opening adventure. By following all the government records I could find about him, I learned a great deal of early Virginia history.

His court records made the fact that in colonial Virginia there was no separation of church and state very real to me. When said ancestor found himself on the wrong side of the law, he was fined a certain poundage of tobacco (or “tobo”) to be paid to the Anglican church.

Tobacco hanging in a barn to cure. Photo Credit: Rusty Watson on Unsplash.com
Photo Credit: Rusty Watson on Unsplash.com

I learned that tobacco was as good as money in colonial Virginia. My g-g-g-g-g-grandfather was on the wrong side of the law more than once, and he was always fined a certain number of pounds of tobacco.

Just so you’ll know, he wasn’t a terrible or dangerous person. He was fined for such offenses as playing cards on the Sabbath. You can read what I think will be an entertaining story about him in my (hopefully) upcoming book in 2024, Traveling through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories.

You might want to subscribe to my every-other-month e-Newsletter so you can learn more about the research I do. One thing I love about writing historical fiction is the research it requires.

Visit my website, https://www.janetmorrisonbooks.com and click on the “Subscribe” button. You’ll immediately receive a free downloaded copy of my short story, “Slip Sliding Away” – a Southern historical short story set in the Appalachian Mountains in the 1870s.

Since my last blog post

Drumroll! Main Street Books in Davidson, North Carolina has accepted The Aunts in the Kitchen: Southern Family Recipes on consignment for the next six months. Marie and I are excited about this new opportunity.

I appreciate the comments some of you let after reading my blog last Monday about book banning – specifically, Sold, by Patricia McCormick. I’m glad I introduced the book to some of you.

In last Monday’s blog, I indicated that I had submitted a request to the Cabarrus County Public Library for Sold to be ordered. One of the librarians thanked me for bringing it to her attention. It seems that the system used to have a copy. After it was lost, they failed to order a replacement copy. That is now being rectified.

See? Sometimes all you need to do is ask your local library system to consider adding a book to the collection. In a time when too many people do nothing but criticize “the government” and express their disrespect for government employees, I’m giving a shout-out for the Cabarrus County Public Library System and its dedicated employees

Until my next blog post

I wish my fellow Americans a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday this week. It’s good that we set aside a day every year to stop and think about all we have to be thankful for.

I hope you have a good book and time to read it. If there’s a book you wish you can check out of your local public library but it’s not in the system, request that it be purchased. Your request might be turned down due to monetary restraints or another reason, but you won’t know until you try.

Remember the people of Ukraine and other parts of the world where innocent citizens are suffering due to the actions of dictators and terrorists.

Janet

How do you decide what to read next?

My question for you today is, “How do you decide what to read next?”

Is it FOMO (fear of missing out)? Do you scan the NY Times Bestseller List every week and take your reading cues from it? Do you just read books in a certain genre and never dip your toes in something different to shake things up? For instance, instead of just reading western romance novels, do you ever check out a science fiction book from the library?

Photo by Susan Q Yin on Unsplash.

Do you gravitate to the “New Releases” section in your public library? Do you pick up a free copy of Book Page at the public library each month to learn about new books? Do you ask a librarian for recommendations? Do you and your friends tell each other about books you or they have enjoyed?

How I decide what to read

I got the idea for today’s topic from a blog post I read back in May: https://readingladies.com/2023/05/23/10-things-that-make-me-instantly-want-to-read-a-certain-book-toptentuesday/. It got me to thinking about how I decide what to read next. I honestly didn’t connect it with book banning at the time.

I recently divided my to-be-read (TBR) list into four categories: books about the craft of writing; books I need to read for historical research to enhance my historical fiction writing, novels and short story collections; fiction; and nonfiction books of general interest.

I listed the books in each category in the order in which I want or need to read them.

This was no easy task. There are more than 300 books on my TBR. Chances are, I won’t get to read all of them. You see, I add titles to my TBR faster than I can read the books already on the list. I console myself by thinking it’s a nice “problem” to have.

Everyone has preferences

I must admit, I don’t care for sappy romance, science fiction, horror, or fantasy, but I’ll march in the street to defend your right to read those genres. My “go to” genre is historical fiction – especially set in colonial and revolutionary America, but I also enjoy World War II historical fiction, some thrillers, and an occasional memoir.

I enjoy following a number of book review bloggers. I often learn of new authors or books that have slipped in under my radar.

More and more, I’m becoming a fan of certain authors. I try to stay on top of when their next novels will be published. Armed with that information, I get on the waitlist at the public library for those books as soon as they show up in the system’s online catalog.

The authors I tend to look for (in no particular order) include Sally Hepworth, Vicki Lane, Lelah Chini, Isabel Allende, Anna Jean Mayhew, Pam Jenoff, Diane Chamberlain, John Grisham, Kathleen Grissom, Kelly Rimmer, Mark de Castrique, Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle, Susan Meissner, Erik Larson, Barbara Kyle, Lisa Wingate, Anne Weisgarber, Aimie K. Runyan, John Hart, Jennifer Ryan, Kristin Hannah, Andrew Gross, Ann Patchett, Heather Morris, Mark Sullivan, Wiley Cash, Kathy Reichs, Jennifer Chiaverini, V.S. Alexander, Jodi Picoult, Kate Quinn, Ron Rash, Jamie Ford, Leah Weiss, and Kelly Mustian.

Whew! That’s 35, or about 25 more than I would have guessed! I’m sure I’ve left others off my list. Some authors come and go from my list.

Are any of those 35 names on your list of favorites?

Who are your favorite authors?

What’s your favorite genre?

Back to my original question

How do you decide what to read next? Is it based on the cover, an author you’ve read and liked before, the blurb on the back of the book, a positive review you read, the genre, or something else?

I’d like to hear your thoughts on this.

Since my last blog post

I’ve had a productive week. I haven’t put many words on paper, but I have done some on-site historical research for the historical novel I’m writing. Be sure to subscribe to my e-Newsletter if you want to read about where I went and why.

Until my next blog post

If you are going to be in the Charlotte area between 2:00 and 4:00 next Saturday afternoon, November 4, please drop by Second Look Books at 4519 School House Commons in Harrisburg for our Meet & Greet highlighting The Aunts in the Kitchen: Southern Family Recipes.

I hope you have access to so many good books that you don’t have time to read all of them.

My November e-Newsletter will be sent via email in a couple of days. If you have not subscribed to it, please do so by visiting https://www.janetmorrisonbooks.com and clicking on the “Subscribe” button. Just for subscribing, you’ll receive a downloadable e-copy of my American historical short story, “Slip Sliding Away.”

Make time for friends and relatives, even if you don’t agree with them about politics.

Remember the brave people of Ukraine as a cold winter is racing toward them and the innocent people in the Middle East. People in both these areas are the victims of dictators and terrorists.

And, of course, remember the people of Maine in light of last week’s mass shooting. When will the elected officials in the US learn that most Americans want tighter gun regulations? When is enough, enough?

Janet

How publishing a cookbook helped me as a writer

Since my main interests in writing are historical fiction and history, it would seem that publishing a cookbook has nothing to do with either one of those or my pursuit of a career as a writer. I beg to differ.

If one wants practice in proofreading, I recommend they proofread a cookbook. At least two typos got past my sister and me in the proofreading stages. Proofreading a cookbook is a humbling experience. It should serve me well in my next short stories and books.

The Aunts (A U N T S) in the Kitchen: Southern Family Recipes, by Janet and Marie Morrison
The Aunts in the Kitchen: Southern Family Recipes, by Janet Morrison and Marie Morrison

Proofreading a cookbook is part paying extreme detail to numbers and part writing directions in a concise yet thorough way. It means trying to put yourself in the shoes of someone making the recipe for the first time – or even a novice cook or baker.

Are the instructions not only correct in sequence of method but also clear enough to give the cook the best chance to follow the directions with ease instead of confusion and frustration? Are the recipes presented in a way to give the cook the best chance to be pleased with the final product?

Proofreading is tedious work and it is always a good idea to have a second set of eyes. In fact, if my sister and I had not worked together proofreading the 289 recipes in our cookbook, half the errors we found probably would have slipped past us.

A few words about the software I use

Is there a book in you that is begging to come out? Do you think self-publishing is not within your reach? That is where I was two years ago. I never expected to be able to format a book in a form acceptable for Amazon or any other self-publication platform.

The Atticus.io app has enabled me to publish two local history books (Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Books 1 and 2); two short stories (“Slip Sliding Away” and “Ghost of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse: An American Revolutionary War Ghost Story”); and a cookbook (The Aunts in the Kitchen: Southern Family Recipes) since last November!

BookBrush.com has made it possible for me to design the book covers for each of those books. I am not computer savvy, in the big scheme of things; however, I have been able to accomplish all this self-publishing in a little less than one year.

In addition, I have created memes for Facebook and bookmarks related to my books on BookBrush.com. That is just a fraction of what one can do through BookBrush.com tools.

Disclaimer: I am receiving no compensation in any form whatsoever for mentioning Atticus.io or BookBrush.com. I just want other writers who are considering going the self-publishing route to know about these tools I have used. What they have made possible for me has been life-changing.

The formatting and book design tools are not without challenges. There are learning curves with both but, if I can do it, anyone can do it.

The Atticus.io support team is extraordinary. Hands down, they are the best tech support group of people I have ever worked with. They have job security as long as I am self-publishing books!

Both BookBrush.com and Atticus.io have free workshops to help you understand how to use their various features.

Self-publishing is an education, and I have found it to be a beneficial introduction into the publishing world. It remains to be seen if any of my current projects (historical short stories, a devotional book, and historical novels) will be self- or traditionally-published.

Regardless of which path my current and future writing projects take, my self-publishing experience will serve me well. That definitely includes proofreading!

The rewards

So far, I have learned that by the time I paid for:

  • website redesign;
  • maintaining a website and blog;
  • the right to use Atticus.io and BookBrush.com;
  • printing bookmarks designed on BookBrush.com
  • printing and shipping costs for author copies;
  • books about the craft of writing;
  • online writing courses;
  • etc…

it can be difficult to break even financially.

I consider the two short stories I have self-published to be ways to get my name out there as an historical fiction writer. It all falls under the adage: “To make money, you have to spend money.” I offer one of my short stories as a gift to everyone who subscribes to my e-newsletter.

It is not easy to get established as a writer. It has been a winding road and at times a daunting endeavor; however, my reward already is to see my name as the author on the spine of several books.

If I accomplish nothing else, I am happy that someday my heirs will know that I had a dream to write and I persevered to realize that dream.

Since my last blog post

Some weeks I can’t remember what I’ve done since my last blog post. It isn’t until I look back over my to-do list and find items checked off as completed that I realize I am making steady progress in my writing.

I did research for a short story I’m writing; typed notes from The Author Estate Handbook, by M.L. Ronn and added to the list of the things I need to take care of before I update my will; researched Fort Dobbs State Historic Site near Statesville, NC, Shallow Ford on the Yadkin River, and Bethabara State Historic Site for the novel I am writing; and planned a trip to visit several sites pertinent to that novel.

I watched a BookBrush.com free presentation on Zoom about book marketing on Pinterest. It was a real eye-opener. Good news/bad news: Now I have a thousand new tasks to add to my to-do list.

Until my next blog post

If you want to write a book, do it!

I hope you have at least one good book to read this week. I have more than I can find time to read!

Make time for your friends and family.

Don’t forget to visit https://www.janetmorrisonbooks.com and subscribe to my e-newsletter.

Remember the innocent people of Ukraine and the Middle East. It is the innocent citizens who are so often caught in the middle and pay the ultimate price for the actions of dictators and terrorists.

Janet

How much Regional Accent and Dialect is Too Much in Historical Fiction?

When it comes to using dialect or regional accents in a novel, there are no definitive rules. It depends on the writer’s voice, the genre, and personal taste. Personal taste is where the rubber meets the road.

Too much of something like dialect in a novel sort of falls into the “I know it when I see it” category.

The rule of thumb

The rule of thumb is to avoid using it to the point of making the novel difficult to read. If the reader finds it exhausting to decipher the words, it means you have crossed that imaginary line. If the reader must wade through so much dialect that they are yanked out of the story, it means there is too much dialect.

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

My experience with “y’all” in “Slip Sliding Away”

In my early drafts of my historical short story, “Slip Sliding Away,” I set the plot in the late 1700s. Something kept nagging at me, though. I wanted to use “y’all” in the story.

If you have read the story and you are from the southern part of the United States, you know the funeral scene with the intoxicated pallbearers struggling to get up the hill to the cemetery just screams out for the use of “y’all.”

There was a problem, though. My trusty resource for determining when a word came into common usage, English Through the Ages, by William Brohaugh, failed me! I did not find ‘y’all” in the book.

My second resource for such dilemmas is Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition, for it tells when words came into common use. I looked up “y’all” and to my great disappointment, the dictionary just said, “var [variation] of you-all.”

I cringed. Why would anyone say, “You all” when there is a perfectly good contraction that just rolls off the southern tongue?

While I’m airing my grievances about the use and misuse of “y’all,” let me just say that if one is going to write the contraction, please put the apostrophe in the correct place. Don’t make me cringe by writing, “ya’ll.” I see it on all kinds of southern merch and it’s just not right. But I digress.

I turned several pages beyond “y’all” in the dictionary and looked up “you all.” First, I discovered it is hyphenated. Who knew? Then I learned that “you-all” was in common use in 1824. That information was helpful. It told me that I had to move my late-1700s story to 1824 or later.

I never did find anything definitive telling me when southerners started taking the easy way out by addressing two or more people as “y’all.” I figure that surely by the 1870s the word was in use, so I set the final draft of “Slip Sliding Away” in that decade.

Did you have any idea about the minutiae writers of historical fiction have to deal with? (Yes, I know. I’m not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition; however, it just seems awkward to write – or read – “Did you have any idea about the minutiae with which writers of historical fiction have to deal?” My mother was an English teacher, and I think she would agree with me on this one.)

What about the dialect in Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens?

After reading Where the Crawdads Sing, I found myself alone in the world in saying that novel contained too much dialect. Everyone else who read it absolutely loved it. I liked it, too, but I was distracted by the amount of dialect used. Maybe I had read too many articles and books about the craft of writing and I was just hyper aware of the dialect.

With more than 617,000 reviews with an average of 4.7 out of 5 stars on Amazon and 18 million copies sold worldwide, Where the Crawdads Sing is obviously an amazing novel. Apparently, Delia Owens knew exactly how much dialect to include in it to please millions of readers. I wish I were talented enough to have written it!

Since my last blog post

It was a busy week and I got to check off one big task that has been on my to-do list for months. On Friday, my church friend who took the cover photograph for my two local history books, Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book 1 and Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book 2, took photographs for the cover of the family cookbook my sister and I have been compiling for a couple of years. With the formatting finally completed, I felt safe in getting the cover designed. Look for an announcement regarding the publication of The Aunts in the Kitchen: Southern Family Recipes in a future blog post and in my November newsletter.

My sister and I took a day trip that was a combination Revolutionary War/genealogy trip. It was a wonderful day. I’ll tell you about in my November newsletter.

Speaking of my newsletter, you can find out about the cookbook, my various other writing projects, and the historical “field trips” I take if you simply go to https://www.janetmorrisonbooks.com and click on the “Subscribe” button. You will immediately receive a free downloadable copy of “Slip Sliding Away” as well as my future every-other-month newsletters. Thank you to all 42 of you who have taken the time to subscribe.

Until my next blog post

What do you have to say about the amount of regional accent or dialect in a novel? I would like to hear your thoughts on the topic.

Have you ordered my American Revolution e-ghost story?  “Ghost of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse: An American Revolutionary War Ghost Story” is available from Amazon, along with my other books: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CH7JCP11/.

Take time for friends and family.

Thank you for taking time to read my blog post. Y’all come back now, ya hear?

Remember the people of Ukraine, Maui, Libya,….

Janet

To Write or Not To Write Historical Short Stories? What do you think?

Calling all historical fiction fans: I need your help with something!

I mentioned in May 1, 2023 blog post, Some of the Books I Read in April 2023 that I was toying with the idea of writing some historical short stories related to the historical novel I’m working on. I’d read that suggestion in Writing Short Stories to Promote Your Novels, by Rayne Hall as a way to create interest in the characters in one’s novel before that book’s publication.

Since I need to grow my mailing list greatly before I publish the novel, it appears I’ll have plenty of time to write a few short stories. The process should produce various benefits to me and my potential readers.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

In addition to my novel readers getting a head start in learning about some of the book’s characters and the 18th century world in which they live, such writing will help me flesh out the characters and get better acquainted with them. You and I can both get a good grasp on what makes them tick.

I’ve been brainstorming ideas for the stories. If it all works out like I envision, I will self-publish the stories in an ebook collection. My timeline is written in pencil with a big eraser nearby. If nothing else in the last year of self-publishing two local history books and trying to self-publish a family cookbook, I’ve learned that flexibility is a necessity.

Readers, what do you think? If you’re a fan of historical fiction, let me know what you think of this project. Would you enjoy getting acquainted with some of the characters in my novel(s) and the world in which they live in the 1760s and 1770s before getting to read the novel(s)?

Characters such as Elizabeth Steele who had tavern in Salisbury, North Carolina? George, who was a slave in The Waxhaws in South Carolina? Oliver McNair, who was educated at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and ended up in The Waxhaws? Betty Jackson’s story of family obligations in The Waxhaws?

Would you be interested in reading such short stories while I continue to work on my novels?

In the meantime… if you haven’t subscribed to my newsletter yet, please visit my website at https://www.janetmorrisonbooks.com and click on the “subscribe” button. In return, you’ll receive a free downloadable copy of my first historical short story, “Slip Sliding Away” and you’ll receive my e-newsletter every other month. Do it right now!

Since my last blog post

My research last week for my historical fiction writing focused on how food was cooked in the southern colonies in the 1760s and 1770s. I have a growing appreciation for how time consuming it was to prepare a meal then.

A funny thing happened to me at the public library the other day. I had been given some soft mountain mint and was eager to find a book with good information about how to root it. I typed, “how to grow mint” in the library system’s search engine. The response I received was, “Nothing found for how to grow mint. Did you mean ‘how to grow marijuana’? View 13 results.” It’s sort of a sad commentary that the system has no books about how to grow mint, but 13 books on how to grow marijuana. a sign of the times, I suppose. (Before you try to enlighten me, yes, the library had plenty of books about growing herbs. I just started by looking for one specifically about mint.)

Until my next blog post

Take time on this Memorial Day in the United States to remember and give thanks for those who gave their lives in the military service of our country.

I hope you have a great book to read.

Take time to enjoy friends and family.

Remember the people of Ukraine.

Don’t forget to give me some feedback about my short story plan!

Janet