I didn’t get much fiction read in June, but I read a variety of nonfiction books. I hope you’ll find one in the bunch that piques your interest.

Crow Mary, by Kathleen Grissom

If you like American historical fiction, novels with strong female protagonists, or novels set in the Great Plains in the US and Canada, I think you’ll like this book. Ms. Grissom did a wonderful job of researching the woman on whose life this novel is based – and just as good a job of weaving in the history without creating any “information dumps.”

I enjoyed The Kitchen House, by Ms. Grissom, so I got on the waitlist at the public library for Crow Mary as soon as I heard about it.

In a nutshell, Crow Mary was a woman in the Crow tribe who married a white trader in the early 1870s. His work as a trader took them away from her family and to Canada. They endure disappointment and trials as they try to make a go of it. Crow Mary isn’t going to take any grief from anyone, and she doesn’t shy away from taking matters into her own hands when her husband lets her down or isn’t there to take charge.

The book does a good job of pointing out how white settlers and the white government failed to see Native Americans as people and, therefore, seldom made the effort to take into consideration their intelligence and ways of life.

It Happened in North Carolina, by Scotti Kent

This delightful little book is a collection of 27 stories about things that happened in North Carolina. (No surprise there!) Some of the incidents I’d heard of and others I hadn’t. The stories are written in an informal yet informative way that makes the reading pleasurable.

The stories are presented in chronological order and start with a description of the Poskito (a renewal celebration) held by the Pee Dee Native Americans in the 13^th century A.D. It was quite interesting and prompted me to put a day trip to the Town Creek Indian Mound in Montgomery County, NC on my “field trip” list.

The most heart-breaking story in the book is “The Story of Tsali, 1838” about the terrible mistreatment of the Cherokee Indians in western NC during the administration of President Andrew Jackson.

I was pleased to find two Cabarrus County stories in the book on topics that I wrote at length about in my book, Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book 1:  the story of the Cabarrus Black Boys in 1771 and the story of Ellen Harris of the Rocky River Community swallowing a thimble in 1896.

This is a neat little 139-page paperback book. By the way, I purchased the book for a few cents at a book sale held by the public library several years ago when the collection was being severely weeded.

It makes me sad to see books containing local history being pulled from the shelves. I suppose my Harrisburg history books will be sold for a few cents sometime in the not-so-distant future because decision makers see no value in local history books.

The Great Valley Road of Virginia: Shenandoah Landscapes from Prehistory to the Present, edited by Warren R. Hofstra and Karl Raitz

I happened upon this book as I researched The Great Wagon Road for the novel I’m working on. I took copious notes from the chapter titled, “The Colonial Road.” Other parts of the book were interesting, but it was that third chapter that I very helpful to me. The following chapters dealt with the post-colonial era to the present.

Anyone interested in the development of the United States will enjoy this book. It’s full of history and geography and helps the reader visualize how the Virginia portion of the Great Wagon Road took shape.

One point the book reminded me of is that in earlier times the government did not decide where to put roads, did not lay them out, and did not maintain them. Such was the case with The Great Wagon Road. Citizens had to petition the county and then do all the work themselves. Once the work was completed and approved, the county appointed an overseer who was then responsible to get the citizens to maintain the road. One can only imagine how well that worked!

I’m still left to determine how the family in my novel would have traveled from Windy Cove to the Great Wagon Road….

A Place Like Home (short stories), by Rosamunde Pilcher

I thoroughly enjoyed reading all of Rosamunde Pilcher’s Cornwall, England novels back in the 1980s. Reading this collection of her short stories immediately reminded me what an engaging writer she was.

A Place Like Home contains 15 of her short stories. Each one puts the reader right there in England. Ms. Pilcher had a talent for describing the setting and her characters in a way that made you feel like you were there and knew them.

Since my last blog post

I had the pleasure of traveling to Marietta, Georgia the last weekend in June for the wedding of one of my great-nieces! It was a lovely outdoor event and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. It was nice to spend several days with immediate family for a happy event.

I took the opportunity while in Georgia to visit the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. One of my ancestors was wounded in the Kolb’s Farm Battle there on June 22, 1864.

In case I seem confused and distracted…

Unfortunately, the hack experienced in June by Windstream, our household email provider, resulted in the suspension of the Windstream email account my sister and I shared. All the company’s customer service in India can say is, “Yes, Windstream got hacked. We’re sorry.” After having that email address for some 20 years, you can imagine what a tedious chore it has been and will continue to be to change my email address with utility companies, doctors’ offices, insurance companies, relatives, friends, and various organizations.

Within hours of Windstream being hacked, our email and my Facebook and LinkedIn accounts were hacked, so I am no longer on either of those social media platforms. I miss many of my friends, but I don’t plan to get involved with Facebook or LinkedIn again. Due to general frustration, I’ve also closed by Twitter account.

Therefore, as of last week, my only platforms are my blog, my newsletter, and my website.

Speaking of my newsletter… I attempted to send out my Janet Morrison Books July Newsletter on Saturday. However, a box popped up saying that Mailchimp “might be having issues, or it may have moved permanently to a new web address.”

I thought things usually happened in threes, but I’ve honestly lost count of the computer program and app issues I’ve had in the last month. Perhaps God is trying to tell me to stop trying to be a writer. I’m filled with self-doubt, and I’m earnestly seeking His will. I’m hitting roadblocks at every turn. When I started this blog many years ago, my intention was to share with you the ups and downs of being a writer. I’m not whining; I’m telling you like it is.

At my age, the technology side of writing is overwhelming. Please be patient with those of us who learned to type on a manual typewriter, learned to “calculate” on a ten-key adding machine, grew up with radio and black-and-white TV, and telephones connected to the wall.

In case I’m able to send out my newsletter…

Among other items of interest, it included details about and photographs from the Open Hearth Cooking Class I took in May at Hart Square Village and my trip to Georgia.

Until my next blog post

Happy 4^th of July to my fellow Americans!

I hope you have a good book to read – one that will take you away from the stresses in your life, entertain you, educate you, and give you a new perspective.

Spend time with friends and family. Remember the treasure they are, even if they don’t agree with you about politics.

Think of the people being hurt by recent rulings by the US Supreme Court. After all, we’re all God’s children.

Remember the people of Ukraine.

Janet

May will be here in a few days, and that means it’s time for my second newsletter. The last two months have flown by!

In case you haven’t signed up for my newsletter yet, it only takes a minute. Go to my website, https://www.janetmorrisonbooks.com, and click on the “Subscribe” button on any page on the site. Verify that you are a human being, and fill in your name and email address. That’s all there is to it.

What’s in it for you?

In return for signing up for my newsletter, you will receive an email from me containing a link for you to use to download a copy of my short story, “Slip Sliding Away: A Southern Historical Short Story.”

Then, every other month you will receive my newsletter in your email inbox.

Why in the world would I have a newsletter?

Come on. Admit it. That question is bouncing around in your head along with, “What could Janet Morrison have to put in a newsletter?”

I’ll address that in a minute, but first let’s discuss the “Why?”

In an effort to get my name out there as a legitimate writer, I’ve spent a good amount of time reading up on author websites and author newsletters. All the writing craft books, free webinars, and courses I’ve taken emphasize the importance of a writer being able to communicate with her audience.

I’m early in the process of finding my audience. My website was redesigned a couple of months ago. In conjunction with the development of the website I now have a way to compile an email list of people who are interested in my books.

I will never send you spam and I will never give away or sell my email list. It is my intention to only email you six times a year to deliver my newsletters to you.

“What could Janet Morrison have to put in a newsletter?”

I primarily want to keep you up-to-date on my writing projects. I’ll include the titles of books my subscribers have recommended, field trips I go on – some for research for my writing and others just for fun or information, my author events, reviews my books have received, and trivia questions that can be answered by reading my books.

I will tell you about short stories and books I’m working on, so you’ll be the first to know how those are coming along and when you can expect them to be published.

You’ll find out that I don’t tell everything I know in my blog posts!

I’m a work in progress…

and so is my author’s platform. I blogged about an author’s platform way back on April 15, 2016 in Update on sorting out social media. I blogged about this subject again on November 29, 2016 in My Author Brand Progress Report – Part 1 (with CORRECTION). The list goes on and on. You’ve seen me struggle with various forms of social media and failing at most of them.

I’m still trying to find my niche. I’ve invested time in Twitter and other social media platforms. I’ve found a few kindred spirits out there, but not a big following.

I’m committing myself to this newsletter. I much prefer that to social media I’m expected to spend hours on each day. I’d rather be writing or reading or a host of other things, so let’s plan to continue with the blog every Monday and then in May, July, September, November, January, March, etc. let’s get together over my newsletter to dig a little deeper into what I’m writing and reading and what you’re reading. And, if you’re also writing, please share that so I can include it. Let’s have some fun with a trivia question in each newsletter. Hint: you’ll probably need to read my books or short stories to find the answers.

What have you been reading lately that you’d recommend?

I want to share your reading recommendations with others on my newsletter list. Join the list and then send me your book recommendations. With your permission, I’ll add your name and recommendations to my next newsletter.

Until my next blog post

I hope you have at least one good book to read.

Make time for family and friends. Fellowship does a body good.

Remember the people of Ukraine.

Janet

When I posted my blog on November 28, I didn’t expect to be able to submit my local history book, Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book 1 to Amazon for publication that afternoon!

I’m thrilled to announce in today’s blog post that Harrisburg, Did You Know?  Cabarrus History, Book 1 is now available as an e-book and in paperback on Amazon! It contains the first 91 local history columns I wrote for Harrisburg Horizons newspaper. The paperback is indexed and the e-book, of course, is word searchable on your electronic device.

Many of my blog readers live in other parts of the United States, as well as in other countries around the world. You might not think you’d be interested in reading a book about Harrisburg, a town in Cabarrus County, North Carolina. You might be surprised, though.

Topics covered in the book include newspaper article series I wrote about the cotton economy, early mail service, the coming of the North Carolina Railroad in 1854, early telephone service, and the memories of a World War II US Army veteran who shared his memories from being trained for D-Day through the end of the war in Europe. Those series, as well as other articles should be of much wider interest than Cabarrus County or even North Carolina.

For instance, any railroad enthusiast or World War II history buff will enjoy reading those two series of articles. For Revolutionary War history buffs there’s an article about a local man who was a Minuteman and there’s a series of articles about a group of local young men and teenage boys who disguised themselves and blew up a shipment of the Royal Governor’s ammunition that was on its way from Charlotte to Rowan County, NC to put down the Regulator Movement in 1771.

There are articles about the one-room schools of the 1800s and early 1900s, as well as the three Rosenwald Schools that served the black students in this area in the early 20^th century.

The Harrisburg area was served for decades until 1960 by a physician from Russia. Anyone who likes to read about the days of the country doctors who made house calls will enjoy the series of articles I wrote about Dr. Nicholas E. Lubchenko.

NASCAR fans will enjoy the articles I wrote about the first World 600 stockcar race held at Charlotte Motor Speedway, which is actually in the Harrisburg community. Some articles on other subjects have a connection with the property where the speedway is, including a visit by George Washington in 1791.

I had the pleasure of interviewing some of my community’s oldest residents and preserving their memories through the local weekly newspaper (which ceased publication a decade ago) and now I’m happy to see their memories in this book. I also drew from old newspapers in Charlotte and Concord, genealogies, US Census records, and other sources.

There are sad stories and there are funny stories. Isn’t that what life is like? Some of our local history and our history as a nation and as human beings in general is sad. Some of it is embarrassing to future generations. What one generation knew as cutting-edge technology makes the 21^st century reader laugh.

Something that comes through all the articles is how we’re all alike. Everyone is doing the best they can with what they have. There are people who overcame tremendous odds to accomplish the things they did.

The people I had the privilege to interview were all “salt of the earth” people. They didn’t brag about anything they’d done in their lives. They were all just good, hard-working people who quietly did what they could to make our little corner of North Carolina a great place to live.

Since my last blog post

In addition to getting Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book 1 published, I continues to format Book 2 for publication in 2023. So, if you like Book 1, you can start looking forward to Book 2 in a couple of months if all goes as planned.

By the way, I noticed on Saturday that Amazon had dropped the price of the e-book version of my vintage postcard book, The Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina from $12.99 to $2.99. I’m not sure what’s going on there, but I have no control over the price of that book since I wasn’t the publisher. For all I know, they’ll change the price again by the time you’re reading this.

Until my next blog post

Thank you for indulging me today for blowing my own horn. This is really exciting for me!

Happy reading!

Remember the brave people of Ukraine as they suffer from the war and bitter cold.

Janet