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.
Anna Jean Mayhew, author of The Dry Grass of August and Tomorrow’s Bread
If you’ve been following my blog for a few years, you
know I love nothing better than attending an author’s book reading and signing.
After not getting to one in a long time, on April 4, 2019 I had the pleasure of
attending Anna Jean Mayhew’s at Park Road Books in Charlotte, North Carolina.
I thoroughly enjoyed her reading at Park Road Books.
She read selected excerpts from the book and talked about the three narrators.
She also played a song written specifically in conjunction with Tomorrow’s Bread and had copies of the
words for all in attendance.
If you’d like to listen to the song and see the accompanying artwork, go to http://shari-smith.com/trio-2019/ and scroll down to Tomorrow’s Bread. The song and artwork came together with Ms. Mayhew’s book through the work of Shari Smith and an entity called Trio.
Trio pairs books with songwriters and visual artists to create a total package based on a novel. I hadn’t heard of Trio or Shari Smith before, so I was thrilled to learn about this concept at Ms. Mayhew’s book reading in Charlotte.
Many of her high school classmates and other friends
from when she lived in Charlotte were there, as well as Catherine Frey, who had
assisted Ms. Mayhew with her research.
Janet Morrison with Anna Jean Mayhew at Park Road Books in Charlotte, NC
I was delighted to renew my acquaintance with Ms.
Mayhew. When I got the chance to talk to her at the end of the event, she again
offered me encouragement on the writing of my historical novel. She has been an
inspiration to me on my journey as a writer.
Since
my last blog post
I have enjoyed rewriting several more chapters of The Doubloon (former working title, The Spanish Coin) and forgive me if I toot by own horn here. Since last Monday’s blog I’ve had a net gain of 20,525 words. The current word count is 50,850. I’m more than halfway to the completion of this rough, rough, rough draft of my novel.
Until
my next blog post
I hope you have a good book to read.
If you’re a writer, I hope you have productive writing time and your
projects are moving right along.
Look for my #TwoForTuesday blog post tomorrow: “Two
Books that Make Me Smile.” 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 Tomorrow’s Bread, by
Anna Jean Mayhew? If so, please share your thoughts in the comments section
below or on Facebook.
Have you attended any author book readings or book signings? What do you
like best about such events?
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?
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.”
Wow! Where do I start? Although it was the shortest month of the year, February was jam-packed with good books. I read a variety of fiction, nonfiction, memoir, and “how-to” books.
Truth be known, I started reading several of the books in January and finished them in February. Each one probably warranted its own blog post, but I’ve condensed my thoughts into two blog posts – today’s and the one on March 11.
Here’s what I thought of each book, in no particular
order:
Before
and Again, by Barbara Delinsky
Before and Again, by Barbara Delinsky
I enjoyed this novel by Barbara Delinsky about a woman,
Mackenzie Cooper, who runs a red light and causes an accident in which her
five-year-old daughter is killed. The event results in a divorce and an
estrangement between Mackenzie and her mother.
In an effort to leave her sad past behind and start a
new life, Mackenzie moves from Massachusetts to Devon, Vermont and adopts a new
name. Things go well for her until her ex-husband shows up in the small town
where Mackenzie lives. It turns out that Mackenzie isn’t the only resident of
Devon living with a secret.
I gave this story of forgiveness four stars on
Goodreads.com. I was surprised to see many two-star ratings for it on that
site. With an average rating of 3.5 stars out of 5, from the reviews, it
appears people either really like it or don’t.
Creating
Character Arc: The Masterful Author’s
Guide to Uniting Story Structure, Plot, and Character Development, by K.M Weiland
Creating Character Arcs, by K.M. Weiland
This book is an invaluable resource for anyone writing
fiction. It helped me focus on the protagonist in the novel I’m writing and
organize her journey step-by-step throughout her story. The questions Ms.
Weiland included in her book helped me to know my main character better, which
enables me to write with more confidence than I had before.
If you’re learning to write fiction, I highly
recommend Creating Character Arc: The Masterful Author’s Guide to Uniting Story
Structure, Plot, and Character Development, by K.M Weiland. Or perhaps you
are a fan of fiction and you’re curious about the structure of a good novel.
Then, I think you’ll find this “how-to” book interesting.
A
Week in Winter,
by Maeve Binchy
A Week in Winter, by Maeve Binchy
This book was a bit of a surprise for me. A Week in Winter, by Maeve Binchy was
the January selection for the Rocky River Readers Book Club. Since it’s not
historical fiction, suspense, or a mystery, I didn’t expect to like it as much
as I did. That’s one of the good things about being in a book club. Sometimes
members are exposed to a book genre they wouldn’t usually select for
themselves.
Although I rarely listen to an audio book, an episode
of vertigo prompted me to borrow the book on CD from the public library. The
accent of professional reader, Rosalyn Landor, was delightful and helped to
keep the setting in Ireland clearly in mind. The fact that I enjoyed listening to a novel was a bonus.
The author, Maeve Binchy, was a master of
characterization. Each character has such a unique backstory or quirk, you’ll
have no trouble keeping them straight in your head. In A Week in Winter, each of the ten chapters tells the backstory of a
different guest or pair of guests at The Stone House on the west coast of
Ireland. Ms. Binchy weaves their stories together perfectly as she brings them
all together as guests at the inn the first week the old house was open for
business.
The
Midwife’s Confession,
by Diane Chamberlain
The Midwife’s Confession, by Diane Chamberlain
After enjoying listening to the Maeve Binchy book, I
decided to give the audio version of The
Midwife’s Confession, by Diane Chamberlain a try. Ms.Chamberlain weaves
quite a complicated story and cast of characters together in this novel set in
Wilmington, Chapel Hill, and Robeson County, North Carolina.
One of three close friends commits suicide, leaving
the other two women trying to find clues as to why Nicole felt that taking her
own life was the only option she had. Layer by layer they peel back the parts
of Nicole’s past they knew nothing about.
There was a horrible accident with a baby Nicole
delivered as a midwife. What choice did Nicole make after the accident that
changed the course of not on her life but also the lives of other families?
Where
the Crawdads Sing,
by Delia Owens
Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens
The prose in this book is beautiful. Delia Owens
writes about the fauna of the marshlands of the North Carolina coast from a
place of scientific expertise. This is her debut novel, but she has co-authored
three nonfiction books about nature in Africa. She worked in Africa as a
wildlife scientist but now lives in Idaho.
As an aspiring novelist, I’ve been cautioned about
using dialect in my writing. A little bit of it can help put the reader in the
location and time of the story; however, using it too much makes the reading more
difficult and slow and also pulls the reader out of the story. Where the Crawdads Sing is a perfect
example of this mistake.
I loved the descriptions of the wildlife native to the
marshes of coastal North Carolina. Ms. Owens painted such a pictures with words
that I could have visualized the marshes even if I’d never seen coastal
Carolina marshlands.
I loved the story in Where the Crawdads Sing. I was interested in the main character,
Kya, from the beginning. It was a real “page turner” due to the life Kya lived
and the strong character she was. I devoured the book in 48 hours; however, the
dialect was over the top. There was just too much Southern and African-American
dialect. The dialect repeatedly slowed me down and pulled me out of the story.
If not for the excessive dialect and the Confederate
battle flag being in the county courtroom in 1970, I would have given it six
stars out of a possible five.
Until
my next blog post
I hope you have a good book to read. I’m reading/listening
to The Glovemaker, by Ann Weisgarber;
Jacksonland, by Steve Instep; and Girls on the Line, by Aimie K. Runyan.
If you’re a writer, I have you have productive 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 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?
I’ve enjoyed participating in the #TwoForTuesday blog
prompts in February and can’t wait to see what Rae of Rae’s Reads and Reviews
has in store for us in March. Today’s prompt was “Two books that Help you sleep
at night.”
If you’ve followed by blog for a few months, you know that I suffer with insomnia. My sleep is way out of whack. I have trouble staying awake during the day and trouble going to sleep at night. My doctor has referred me to a sleep coach. Yes, it’s gotten that bad.
When challenged to write about two books that help me sleep
at night, I was hard-pressed to come up with a response. The “two” I settled on
are The Bible and just about any audio book. I know – that’s more than two
actual books and not very specific, but they’re what I came up with.
1. The Bible
The Message, by Eugene H. Peterson
This isn’t just the correct “Sunday School” or children’s sermon answer. This is my real answer. My nighttime insomnia aside, the book that allows me to give my troubles and worries to God so I’m not tossing and turning and wringing my hands is The Bible. I still do more than my share of tossing and turning, but it’s not because I despair.
I find The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language the easiest to understand and, therefore, the most comforting. The Message is a paraphrase of The Bible and was written by Presbyterian minister Eugene H. Peterson.
2. Just about any audio book
Until recently, I swore off
listening to any books. I found it stressful. I felt like someone was talking
“at” me and wouldn’t shut up. Got on my last nerve kind of stress.
Then, I got vertigo. In fact, I had two kinds of vertigo. One has cleared up, but the other still has me in physical therapy. Using the computer and reading tend to trigger an episode. Therefore, I’ve listened to two audio books so far this month plus part of a third. Even the ones I enjoy, eventually put me to sleep.
In case you’re having a problem with “Like” button: After two days (or more) of not being able to leave a “Like” on other people’s blogs, I finally asked the kind support staff at WordPress what I was doing wrong.
Someone answered me right away on Chat and said they’re making some changes to the code that governs the “Like” button, so that service has been and will be erratic for a while.
Sometimes I get carried away and forget my blog is for you. It’s not for me. You have a limited amount of time to read, so I’m flattered that you read my blog posts.
If my blog doesn’t fill a need of yours, then reading it is a waste of your time. The pressure is on me every week to inspired you, make you laugh, give you something to think about, or at least put a smile on your face.
Although
I’ve been blogging for almost nine years, I’m still learning. If there is
something on my blog page that isn’t of benefit to my readers, I need to delete
it.
Deleted national flags widget
In an effort
to declutter my blog on February 4, I deleted the widget that showed the flags
of all the countries in which my blog readers reside. I realized that showing
those 93 flags was for my own edification, not yours. That widget was providing
information that you probably didn’t care about. I’m a geography nerd, so I
found it very interesting.
Actually, I
found it shocking and a bit frightening to know that people in that many
countries had looked at my blog at least once. The biggest surprise was when
the flag of the People’s Republic of China first appeared.
My most popular posts
In place of
the national flags widget, I added a widget that lists my 10 most popular blog
posts. This should help my new reader find some of my best posts, and it will help
me see at a glance the topics that garner the most interest.
An unexpected source
I knew my
blog was for my readers, but it wasn’t until I started reading Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen,
by Donald Miller that I was prompted to try to view my website and my blog
through the eyes of a first-time visitor.
Everywhere Building a StoryBrand says, “customer,” I mentally substitute “reader.” Sometimes it works better than others. Although Mr. Miller’s book targets business owners, it made me ask myself how my website and blog portray me as a writer. I’ll continue to make changes that help first-time visitors become loyal readers.
Mr. Miller says a person should be able to look at my blog or my website and know within five seconds what I’m about.
That book prompted me to ask myself, “What does my reader need?” and “What is my reader hoping to gain by reading my words?” Mr. Miller’s book dovetails into Mr. Alda’s book and reinforces what Mr. Alda said about communication.
The purpose of my website and blog
Mr. Miller’s
book prompted me to state the purpose of my website and blog in one sentence.
When I got to the heart of what I’m trying to accomplish, this is what I
concluded:
The purpose
of my website and blog is to show you that I write with authority and skill
and, therefore, you can trust that my writing is worthy of your time.
If it sounds
like I’m boasting, that’s not my intent. I’m setting the bar high for myself,
and will read that purpose every day when I sit down at the keyboard.
Until my next blog post
I hope you
have a good book to read. I just finished listening to The Midwife’s Confession, by Diane Chamberlain. (Audio books come
in handy when a reader has vertigo.)
If you’re a
writer, I hope you have productive writing time.
Thank you for reading my blog.
You could have spent the last few minutes doing something else, but you chose
to read my blog.
What are you hoping to find in my blog? A smile? Humor? Something to ponder? Inspiration? My take on a book I’ve read? Samples of my fiction writing? A variety of these?
My third grade teacher, Miss Ruth Jarrell, was a soft-spoken woman with beautiful handwriting. When a student asked Miss Jarrell how long she’d been teaching, she said that was her 13th year. We thought she was ancient if she’d been a teacher that long. It was only when I was in my mid-30s that I realized I was as old as Miss Jarrell had been when she taught me. Thirty-five no longer seemed old.
Another thing I remember Miss Jarrell for was her reading to us. If we behaved in the school cafeteria, she would read to us when we returned to our classroom after lunch.
White Squaw: The True Story of
Jennie Wiley, by Arville Wheeler
White Squaw: The True Story of Jennie Wiley, by Arville Wheeler
The book Miss Jarrell read to us that is still vivid in my
memory was White Squaw: The True Story of Jennie Wiley, by
Arville Wheeler. Jennie was abducted by Native Americans in 1789 in Bland
County, Virginia and taken to Kentucky. After almost a year in captivity,
Jennie escaped and was helped back to her husband in Virginia.
The word “squaw” is offensive to us today, but since the
word is part of the book’s title, I decided to write about it anyway. Any book
that one has fond memories of more than 50 years after hearing it read deserves
recognition.
Teachers never know which seeds they plant in their
students’ minds will take root and flourish. It was only when I was thinking
about today’s topic that I realized White
Squaw was my introduction to historical fiction. Miss Jarrell didn’t live
to see me pursue a career as a writer of history and historical fiction.
Follow the River: A Novel Based on the True Ordeal of Mary Ingles, by James Alexander Thom
Follow the River: A Novel Based on the True Ordeal of Mary Ingles, by James Alexander Thom
Twenty or more years ago, Janie Snell, a friend of mine who
lives in Ohio, recommended that I read Follow
the River, by James Alexander Thom. It is a novel based on the experiences
of Mary Ingles – not to be confused with Mary Ingles Wilder of Little House on
the Prairie fame.
This Mary Ingles lived in the Blue Ridge Mountains of
Virginia. She was kidnapped by Shawnee Native Americans in 1755. After being
held captive for months, she escaped her captors and by herself followed the
Ohio, Kanawha, and New Rivers back to her home.
It is merely coincidental that White Squaw and Follow the
River are about white women who were abducted by Native Americans in the
1700s. They are the two books that instilled in me a love of books – a love of
reading.
If allowed to name
four books
If today’s blog topic prompt had been “Four Books That
Helped Me Fall in Love with Reading,” the other two I would have written about
would have been Roots, by Alex Haley
and Centennial, by James A. Michener.
Three of the four books I’ve mentioned today were read when
I was an adult. It was as an adult that I started reading fiction. As a young
adult, I was a snob – a nonfiction snob. I thought reading fiction was a waste
of time. When I had time to read for pleasure, I wanted to read something true,
something real.
I have to laugh at my old self. I still enjoy an occasional
history or political science book, but now I prefer fiction. My sister thinks
it’s hilarious that I’m now trying to write fiction after all those years of
turning my nose up at fiction and the people who read it.
Since my last blog
post
I’m relieved that the glitch I was dealing with when I prepared yesterday’s blog post has been resolved, so I was able to include images in today’s post.
Let’s continue the
conversation
Which two books helped you fall in love with reading?
One thing all bloggers are told they must do, if they hope to attract readers, is to include images in every post. I’ve worked hard to do this for the last several years. I did it last week when I included images of the books I wrote about; however, as I put the finishing touches on this post last night, I repeatedly got messages from WordPress.com saying “Given your current role, you can only link an image, you cannot upload.” Therefore, in today’s post I’ve included links to images of the books I’m writing about. I’m unsure how this will appear until the post goes online. I have no idea why this has happened.
Since I read 6.25 books in January, I decided to split my
comments about them between my blog post on February 4, 2019 and today. I hope
you’ll find what I have to say about three of the books I read last month
worthwhile. These are discussed in no particular order.
The Banker’s Wife, by Cristina Alger
The Banker’s Wife, by Cristina Alger
The Banker’s Wife was a change of pace for me halfway through January after reading The Library Book. The Banker’s Wife, by Cristina Alger, is a financial thriller. In this novel, Ms. Alger takes us to Paris, Geneva, New York, the Dominican Republic, and the Cayman Islands. Primarily through the eyes of two strong female characters, we get a glimpse of the vicious and deadly world most of us never experience – Swiss bank accounts, the people who have them, the people who assist them, and those who are unfortunate to love someone in either of the other two categories.
If I had done more research about Cristina Alger’s books
before reading this 2018 novel, I would have known that it is a sequel to her
2012 debut novel, The Darlings. Now,
I want to read that book, although being a North Carolinian, “the Darlings”
conjures up visuals in my mind’s eye of that ne’er-do-well Darlin’ family on
The Andy Griffith Show of the 1960s. It’s difficult to associate wealth with
that name. I’m sorry, it just is. I offer my apologies to all the people with
the Darling surname.
The Banker’s Wife
is Ms. Alger’s third novel. The book captured my attention early on and the
fast-paced writing kept me turning pages to see what was going to happen next –
and to find out which characters were dead and which one’s deaths were staged
to cover up the real story.
If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face? by Alan
Alda
If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face? by Alan Alda
This book held some nice surprises for me. I’ve been an Alan
Alda fan since the days of the M*A*S*H television series. I became even more
endeared to him when in answer to my request that he donate an autographed copy
of a book he’d written for an autographed book fundraiser held a few years ago
for the Friends of the Harrisburg Library in Harrisburg, North Carolina.
Mr. Alda graciously donated an autographed copy of the
script for an episode of M*A*S*H that he wrote. It turned out to be the hit of
the fundraiser and resulted in a bidding war between two individuals.
That said, I was drawn to the book by the title and the
author’s name. I thought it might be helpful to me as a writer since the book
is about communication. It was, but not in the ways I anticipated.
Here are a few of the impressions I took from the book:
1. Improvisation not only helps actors, it can help anyone get over their fear of talking in front of a large audience.
2. No matter what you’re trying to sell – whether it be a tangible product or an idea – the key is to focus on what the customer is thinking and what he or she needs. As a writer, I need to put myself in the mind of my reader. What does my reader need? What is my reader hoping to gain by reading my words?
3. Mr. Alda has concluded that the key to the great success of M*A*S*H was the fact that instead of disappearing into their separate trailers on the studio lot, they gathered their chairs in a circle and talked and laughed together as a group between “takes.” He said the connections they made off camera carried over when they were in front of the camera. It made them all better actors and their genuine comradery came through to the audience.
4. Much of Mr. Alda’s book is about empathy and the importance of empathy in communications. The book offers several things a person can do to increase their empathy for others. Mr. Alda says that true communication cannot take place between two people unless each one makes an effort to understand the other person and why they think the way they do. I couldn’t help but think of how polarized Americans are politically today. There really is a lack of understanding – or empathy – between The Right and The Left, between Republicans and Democrats. This doesn’t bode well for the 2020 election.
5. As a writer, start with what your reader knows. Don’t insult the reader by including basic information.
Now You See Me, by Sharon J. Bolton
Now You See Me, by Sharon J. Bolton
Published in 2011, Now
You See Me was the first in Sharon J. Bolton’s Lacey Flint series. Flint is
a detective in London. The story opens with her seeing a woman dying while leaning
on Flint’s car. This thriller grabbed my attention from the beginning and kept
me turning pages well into the night. It’s rare that I read a quarter of a
novel in one sitting, but that’s what I did with Now You See Me.
Detective Flint is forced almost immediately to try to
discern who she can trust within the Metropolitan Police Department. Is she
seen as a crime scene witness, or is she viewed as a murder suspect? She’s very
convincing as a witness.
As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that the killer is
patterning his actions after Jack the Ripper. (Spoiler alert: this gets more gruesome than I’m used to
reading, but I had to know what happened next.)
What about Flint’s fellow police officer, Joesbury. There’s
definitely something weird about him. Is he the killer?
No. Someone else is caught… sort of.
I thought the book came to a good stopping point just shy of
halfway through. In fact, I thought I
might not keep reading. This seems like the end of the story. I could move on
to another book.
But I read a few more pages. Wow! What a turn of events! I’m glad I kept
reading!
Since my last blog
post
I continue to do a lot of reading about writing and about
blogging in an effort to get better at writing fiction and blogging. I made
good progress writing a short story I’m calling “From Scotland to America,
1762,” writing 1,400 words Saturday afternoon.
Until my next blog
post
I hope you have a good book to read. I’m reading Before and Again, by Barbara Delinsky; Button Man, by Andrew Gross; and A Week in Winter, by Maeve Binchy.
I rarely listen to a book because I find it irritating to listen to someone
talk on and on and on; however, since I’m having a bout with vertigo, I decided
to give the Maeve Binchy audio book a try and I’m really enjoying it. It
probably has something to do with the lovely accent of the reader, Rosalyn
Landor. It’s nice to just shut my eyes and listen.
If you’re a writer, I hope you have quality writing time and plenty of time
to read.
Thank you for reading my blog. You could have spent the last few minutes
doing something else, but you chose to read my blog. I appreciate it! I welcome
your comments.
Let’s continue the
conversation
If you’ve read any of the books I mentioned today, let me
know what you thought about them.
Mliae challenged her blog readers to get rid of one item every day in January. I missed many days, but made up for it on others. It feels good to get rid of some clutter. Thank you, Mliae!
I finally got around to shredding my income tax records and bank statements from the year 1999 through 2010. That’s not a typo. 1999.
Think back to 1999, if you can. In those days, the bank sent you a statement every month along with all your cancelled checks. The bank and I have come a long way since 1999: from cancelled checks to online bill pay.
In some ways, I’m organized. I keep
each year’s income tax instructions and paperwork together with a rubber band.
In theory, this would make it easy to discard (shred) the oldest year’s
paperwork when adding the newest year’s records; however, I never put my plan
into practice.
Hence, I hadn’t gotten rid of any of
those records in 20 years even though we’re required to only keep our income
tax records for seven years. It was time to tackle that box of income tax
records! I started that project on Friday afternoon and finished it Saturday
night. I thought our poor wee paper shredder was going to blow up!
I am reminded of a line I like from At Home on the Kazakh Steppe: A Peace Corps Memoir, by Janet Givens:
“… if nothing else, a useful reminder early on that the more I can let go of the old, the more room there is for the new.”
In writing that, Ms. Givens was not referring to getting rid of physical items in order to make room for new things. She was writing about a revelation she had in the early days as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kazakhstan.
Ms. Givens realized that she needed to let go of preconceived ideas and the way she had done things back home in the United States so she could learn the culture of the Kazakh people.
The above quote from Ms. Givens’ memoir struck a chord with me. As I let go of some physical items this month, I made a conscious effort to let go of preconceived ideas.
I want to learn something each day. I want to be open to new ways and new ideas. As my 66th birthday approaches, I don’t want to be “a stick in the mud” or “stuck in a rut.”
Since my last blog post
My vertigo is improving. The things
the physical therapist has me doing are definitely making a difference.
Until my next blog post
I look forward to seeing if Mliae will issue a February challenge.
Nevertheless, I plan to continue to tackle the clutter that has accumulated.
I hope you have a good book to read. I just finished reading Now You See Me, by Sharon Bolton.
If you’re a writer, I hope writing brings you joy. I hope you have quality
writing time this week.
Thank you for reading my blog. You could have spent the last few minutes
doing something else, but you chose to read my blog. I appreciate it! I welcome
your comments.
Let’s continue the conversation.
Are you a keeper of things? I think
I got it honestly from both parents. They were in college when The Great
Depression hit in 1929. Their young adult years were lean and full of struggle.
“Waste not, want not,” must have been what they lived by. I never heard either
of them say those words, but they raised their children not to waste anything.
By my parents’ example, I learned at
an early age not to throw away anything that I could possibly need or find a
use for later. Hence, the stack of printer paper that has only been used on one
side. The other side can be used for all kinds of things – like writing the
plot outline for a novel.
Hence, the used letter envelopes on
which grocery lists can be written on the back while the inside conveniently
holds discount coupons. And those twist-ties that come on the bag in which
sliced bread is purchased? Yes, I’m guilty. There is a place set aside for them
in one of the kitchen drawers.
Janet's Writing Blog 