Tag: 2017 A to Z Blog Challenge

Z is for Zilch!

Zilch is what I’ve accomplished toward starting over to write my first historical novel. I have successfully completed the 2017 A to Z Blog Challenge by writing a post today that has something to do with the letter “Z.” I enjoyed parts of the challenge, but I’m glad English only has 26 letters! It was interesting and I picked up some new followers, but I don’t think I’ll do it again. Beginning on Tuesday, May 2, I plan to return to my former routine of blogging on Tuesdays and Fridays.

2017 A to Z Challenge Badge
Blogging from A to Z Challenge Badge 2017

With this blog challenge finished

I look forward to having more time to delve back into the various resources available to me as I keep researching the facts surrounding the core event in The Spanish Coin manuscript. Several more books are coming from two public library systems, so you know what I’ll be doing next week.

What happened to The Spanish Coin?

I revealed in my “H is for Historical Fiction” blog post on April 10, 2017 (H is for Historical Fiction) that I had discovered some pertinent information about the core of my story that necessitated my starting over. Several years (actually a decade) and 96,000 words later, I’m back to having a blank page.

My options

Since April 10 I have done a lot of thinking and reading. I’ll need to do a little more work on the research end of things and then determine how to rewrite The Spanish Coin. It might not survive with that working title. Or I might be able to salvage that title and change the circumstances of its importance. Or I might just take the spark of the true story as my inspiration and write a totally new story.

When I figure out which option to settle on, I’ll let you know.

With the A to Z Blog Challenge Finished

I look forward to having time to read more books. My current “Books I Want to Read” list is so long I fear I won’t live long enough to read all of them. With new books being released every month, the list just keeps growing.

Until my next blog (which should be on May 2)

I hope you have a good book to read. I’m enjoying Small Great Things, by Jodi Picoult, World of Toil and Strife: Community Transformation in Backcountry South Carolina, 1750-1805, by Peter N. Moore, and The Art and Craft of Writing Historical Fiction, by James Alexander Thom. I have to take note and reread parts of Mr. Thom’s book occasionally. The bibliography in Mr. Moore’s book has already led me to more books I need to read before I figure out the verdict for The Spanish Coin.

If you’re a writer, I hope you have productive writing time. I hope you’ve gotten past the blank page stage on your first novel.

Janet

Y is for Yarn, as in Spinning One

Today’s blog is a bit of a stretch but probably not as strange as tomorrow’s. I say that because I don’t have a clue yet what to write about that has something to do with “Z” and the craft of writing. Today we have the letter “Y.” The only good thing about that is knowing that there’s only one more letter after it in the English alphabet.

I wondered about the origins of the saying, “spinning a yarn.” It is a saying in the United States that means telling a tale, usually a tall tale. There I go again, using a term that readers in other countries might not be familiar with or have in their languages. A tall tale is a story that obviously stretches the truth, so “spinning a yarn” essentially means the same thing.

There are differences of opinion about the origin of “spinning a yarn.” Some sources say it dates back to the days when women would sit together and spin wool into yarn or flax into linen thread on a spinning wheel. To help pass the time, they would tell stories.

The online dictionary on http://www.dictionary.com states that “spinning a yarn” was originally a nautical term dating back to the turn of the 19th century; however, Bill Beavis and Richard G. McCloskey wrote in “Salty Dog Talk,” (published by Sheridan House in Dobbs Ferry, New York in 1995) and quoted online at http://www.phrases.org.uk, that yarn and ropes were spun on land before they was spun at sea. They concluded that “this is probably one of the few shore expressions adopted by seaman.”

Messrs. Beavis and McCloskey offer as further explanation that a spinner must continually stretch the fiber he or she is spinning to maintain a consistent thread. They wrote,

“Thus when the old-timers wanted to suggest that someone was stretching the truth they likened it to ‘spinning a yarn.’”

Those last two sentences make the most sense to me, but I guess I’ll never know for sure when or where “spinning a yarn” came into use.

Until my next blog post (which might be very short)

I hope you have a good book to read. I’m reading Small Great Things, by Jodi Picoult. If you’re a writer, I hope you have quality writing time.

Janet

X is for Xenophobia

I’ve had five or six weeks to come up with a word beginning with the letter “X” that has something to do with writing. This is Day 24 in the 26-Day 2017 A to Z Blog Challenge. Hence, the letter “X.”

Xenophobia

Not finding an X-word that has anything to do with the craft of writing, I decided to write about xenophobia. It has been a topic of conversation in the United States during and since the 2016 presidential election season.

Xenophobia is not a pleasant topic to write about and, in choosing it as today’s topic, I wasn’t sure what I was going to say.

The Tenth Edition of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines xenophobia as follows:

“fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything that is strange or foreign.”

The word’s origins

The word first came into usage in 1903, according to Merriam-Webster’s. I couldn’t help but wonder about the word’s etymology. It comes from xen or xeno. It has its origins in the Greek, xenos, which means stranger. A second meaning the dictionary gives for xen or xeno is “strange” or “foreign” with the example being “xenolith.”

That led me to look up the word “xenolith.” Xenolith came into usage in 1894 and is defined by Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary as

“a fragment of rock included in another rock.”

I probably should have remembered that from the year of geology classes I took as a college freshman 46 years ago, but geology is like a foreign language. If you don’t use it, you lose it.

As far as I could find, xenolith was the first word used in the United States that had “xen” or “xeno” as its root. A decade later, xenophobia was first in common usage.

Getting back to the 2016 US Election

Xenophobia reared its ugly head during the 2016 US Presidential campaign. The nominee of the Republican Party was outspoken about foreigners. His rhetoric brought out the worst in a lot of people. When someone in that position freely spews hatred and fear of another group of people, it emboldens other citizens to express their fears, distrust, and hatred of groups of people different from themselves either in terms of race, ethnicity, religion, or country of origin.

Is the USA still a melting pot?

I naively thought Americans were a tolerant people, so I was blindsided by the xenophobia that last year’s election exposed. We are taught in school at an early age that the United States of America is a “melting pot.” People have come here from all over the world and have been accepted and assimilated into American society.

“Give me your tired, your poor”

The words on a plaque on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty in New York famously say,

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:  I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

I type those words from memory. I learned them in elementary school. We even learned a song composed by Irving Berlin that included those last words of a sonnet, New Colossus, written by Emma Lazarus.

Many times when there is an influx of people from another country, they are looked down upon and are slow to be accepted. I have never understood this. People generally come to America seeking a better life. I’m sure that’s why my ancestors came here from Scotland in the mid-1700s.

Few people come here wanting to do us harm, but the rhetoric of the Presidential campaign last year made many people think that everyone coming from certain Middle Eastern countries were terrorists. I’m afraid we will reap the results of that rhetoric and the fear it incited for many years to come.

Call me naïve, but, as a Christian, I just don’t understand other Christians who are xenophobic.

Until my next blog post

I need to find “Y” and “Z” words to write about for my blog on Saturday and Sunday, and I don’t apologize for “stepping on the toes” of any of my readers in today’s post.

I hope you have a good book to read. If you’re a writer, I hope you have productive writing time.

Janet

W is for Wufoo.com

I’m feeling my age today, after going up into the attic on Tuesday. Not a good idea for someone of my age with CFS/ME and fibromyalgia. That said, Wednesday wasn’t a good day for me to try to figure out something new on the computer. There’s really not a good day for me to do that. I should only attempt such tasks when I’m at the top of my game. With no such days on the horizon and needing to blog about something starting with the letter “W,” I forged ahead.

What starts with W?

On the 23rd day of the 2017 A to Z Blog Challenge, the featured letter is “W.” I’ve struggled over what to write about today. There are so many possibilities, including Why I Write, Writing, Webinars I’ve Attended, Wufoo.com, or the Where Writers Win website.

W is for Wufoo.com

Wednesday was the day I could finally sit down at the computer and try to figure out how Wufoo.com could integrate with MailChimp on WordPress.com so I could have a mailing list. In the event I ever want to announce something to my readers before or without making a public announcement, I need an e-mail mailing list.

Other bloggers have such lists, so how difficult can it be, right?

I spent a couple of hours on Wednesday afternoon working my way through the simple instructions on Wufoo.com trying to set up a way for me to add a sign-up form on my blog for a mailing list. As often happens, the list of “do this and you will see that” suckered me into thinking I could do. I improvised when I “did this and I didn’t see that.” I set up an account. I created a form. I filled in blanks. I wrote little notes to my readers telling them I would never share their information with anyone. I marked the parts of the form that are not optional. I went to WordPress.com and cut and pasted the Wufoo code so it would show up as the third widget down in my blog’s sidebar. I thought I had everything accomplished, but on Wednesday night as I schedule this blog post for 6:50 a.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, April 27, no such sign-up form has appeared on my blog.

It’s my fault

I in no way blame Wufoo.com for this. It is obviously an error on my part. It has been another frustrating day in the life of someone who is technologically-challenged and just wants to be a writer.

“I’d rather do it myself!”

One day I will have to give up on setting this mailing list up myself, but I will not give up on the mailing list. I’m trying not to bother my niece’s husband with this request. He set up my website, and I’m sure he can do this for me, too. I am reminded that as a very small child, one of my favorite things to say was, “I’d rather do it myself!” Apparently, that’s still true.

A to Z Blog Challenge

I’m delighted to note that there are only three days remaining in the A to Z Blog Challenge. Topics for “Y” and “Z” are still up for grabs, in case anyone has any suggestions for me. I’m looking for words starting with “Y” and “Z” that have something to do with writing for my blog on April 29 and 30, 2017.

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.

Janet

V is for Vocabulary and Voice

On this 22nd day of the 2017 A to Z Blog Challenge, the featured letter is “V.” Two options came to mind as I considered “V” words that have something to do with writing. Not able to decide which one to go with, I am writing about both:  Vocabulary and Voice.

V is for Vocabulary

As I do on a fairly regular basis, I’m going to show my ignorance. One of the things I like about reading books on my Kindle Fire is that I can simply rest my finger on a word I’m not familiar with and its definition pops up on the screen. I even find myself doing that while reading a traditional book! I laugh at myself and reach for a dictionary.

When contemplating today’s post early in April, my first thought was to blog about “V is for Vocabulary.” I started jotting down new words that I was learning.

Bildungsroman

Since Blue Ridge Books in Waynesville, North Carolina agreed to sell my vintage postcard book, The Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina in 2014, I’ve been on the independent bookstore’s mailing list. I receive e-mail invitations to author events hosted by the shop. On April 6, the e-mail announced that Jackson County author David Joy would discuss his new novel, The Weight of This World, on April 22 at 3:00 p.m.

I’ve read about David Joy and his debut novel, Where All Light Tends to Go, but I haven’t gotten around to reading it. It picks up on the widespread drug problem that plagues the mountains in western North Carolina just as it does the rest of the United States. (Bear with me. I promise to get to Bildungsroman soon.)

Here it is two years later, and Mr. Joy’s second novel has been published. I was not able to go to Waynesville on April 22 to hear Mr. Joy speak but I plan to read one of his books the first chance I get.

Getting back to “V is for Vocabulary,” it was when I visited the website for the Cabarrus County Public Library system that I discovered that the genre in which Where All the Light Tends to Go is categorized as Bildungsroman. I didn’t have a clue what that meant.

Since I was at my computer, I took advantage of Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary. I learned that Bildungsroman is the combination of two German words: Bildung, meaning “education,” and Roman, meaning “novel.”

Hence, according to www.merriam-webster.com, a Bildungsroman “is a novel that deals with the formative years of the main character – in particular, his or her psychological development and moral education. The bildungsroman usually ends on a positive note with the hero’s foolish mistakes and painful disappointments over and a life of usefulness ahead.”

Anaphora

Ironically, later that same day, I read a post on JstinsonINK.com about the word anaphora. Quoting from Jonathan’s post, “Anaphora – This is a form of repetition where you repeat the beginning of a phrase multiple times in succession. Think the quote from The Help:  ‘You is smart. You is kind. You is important.’”

I talk to my dog, sometimes to the point that he gets up and walks away. He is a rescue dog, so he has self-confidence issues. I often say to him, “You is smart. You is kind. You is important.” Until three weeks ago, I had no idea that what I was doing was an anaphora.

I don’t regret majoring in political science in college but, if I’d known I would someday be a writer, I would have taken more English classes. It seems a shame to be my age and just now learn the meanings of Bildungsroman and Anaphora.

V is for Voice

A writer’s voice is his personality. It’s the way she expresses herself. Every writer has a unique voice.

Liebster Award

Since being nominated by Philip Craddock (philipcraddockwriter.wordpress.com) for the Liebster Award last April, I have found my voice on my blog. A criteria after being nominated for the Liebster Award is that you have to open up about yourself. It was then, in my April 6, 2016 blog post, that I “admitted” I have an illness that has my circadian clock off by about six hours, but I didn’t reveal the name of the illness. (I’ve always been a “night person,” but now I’m a “middle of the night person.”)

In my blog post on April 11, 2016, I listed 10 random facts about myself – which was required as a nominee for the Liebster Award. I explained that I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) as it’s known in the United States. In the rest of the world it is called Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), so some of my readers in other countries might be familiar with it at ME.

My reticence

I was reticent to reveal this about myself because I didn’t want sympathy. I wanted people to read my blog because they liked what I had to say. I thought being open about my illness would hurt my chances of being represented by a literary agent and getting my work published.

Found:  My Voice!

What I discovered, though, was that sharing those very personal details about myself gave me the freedom to write more from my heart. I had found my voice!

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.

Janet

S is for Social Media

This is the 19th day of the A to Z Blog Challenge, so I decided to write about Social Media. (19 letters down, seven to go!) Those of you who have been following my blog for several months know that being social on media is not my favorite pastime. I don’t want to beat a dead horse, but writers are pushed from all sides to embrace social media. I can’t seem to escape it.

“The Personalities of Social Media,” by Jenny Hanson

I read an excellent blog post about writers and social media on April 19, 2017, “The Personalities of Social Media” at http://writersinthestormblog.com/2017/04/social-media-101-lets-talk-personalities/.

Jenny Hanson wrote “The Personalities of Social Media” blog post. I don’t want to steal her thunder, so I invite you to read her post if you wish.

Reading that Writers in the Storm blog post clarified for me why certain social media outlets appeal to me more than others, and it gave me permission to stop worrying about LinkedIn. Whew! It was worth the read just to learn that.

LinkedIn and Goodreads

Ms. Hanson wrote, “Yes, if you are looking for a job or a business contact, you need to be on LinkedIn, but readers tend to hang out at Goodreads and in the six programs mentioned below.”

What I learned from Ms. Hanson’s post is that social media fall into two camps:  (1) ones that require immediate response and (2) ones that you don’t have to respond to immediately.

2 categories of social media

Of the major social media platforms, Ms. Hanson says that Pinterest, Instagram, and Snapchat fall into the second category. They seem to suit my personality better than the ones that are included in the first category (Twitter, Google+, and Facebook.)

I’m not by nature a phone person. People whose cell phones are a permanent extension of their hands do not understand me any more than I understand them. Let’s just agree to accept each other and not be judgmental.

Category One

  • Facebook

I enjoy some aspects of Facebook, but it is something that I usually check once every day or two. Apparently, I’m not using it correctly. I’m sorry, but I really don’t care to see a picture of what you ate for lunch. (I’m trying not to judge.) I like it because it provides a way for me to know when my friends have a joy or concern they want to share. It provides a way for me and friends with whom I share political views to commiserate.

  • Twitter

I get on Twitter once- or twice-a-day, which means I’m not using it correctly either. I have made some interesting connections with other writers and several published authors via Twitter, but I might not be putting enough original information in my Tweets to keep those relationships going. Twitter gives me a way to publicize my blog, and I have gained many blog followers as a result.

  • Google+

I haven’t been active on Google+. I haven’t seen it as a good fit for me; however, after reading Ms. Hanson’s post, I have a better understanding of how it is a powerful way to increase my search ranking on Google. I guess I need to give Google+ a fair chance.

Category Two

  • Instagram

I have an Instagram account, but I really haven’t gotten excited about it. Ms. Hanson’s blog post includes links to two articles about Instagram that I definitely need to read. I’m sure my hesitancy to use Instagram stems from my strained relationship with my cell phone.

  • Snapchat

It probably goes without saying that I haven’t even investigated Snapchat. Apparently, I need to if I want to attract a younger demographic to my writing. It’s visual, and it’s only there for 24 hours.

  • Pinterest

I really enjoy Pinterest. It is a good way for me to find articles about the art and craft of writing. I have set up several boards on my Pinterest account where I Pin the articles I like and think other writers who follow me might benefit from reading. I have a variety of boards on Pinterest, ranging from writing to recipes to quilting to politics. It’s a way for me to show my personality and varied interests. Pinterest can take up as much of your time as you will give it. One thing leads to another until sometimes I don’t remember where I started. My searches on Pinterest never disappoint me.

In closing

Thank you, Jenny Hanson, for presenting information about the various social media platforms in a way that helped me to recognize why some platforms appeal to me more than others. And thank you for helping me to understand why Google+ is an important platform for writers.

Until my next blog post

I hope you have a good book to read. (I’m back to Bittersweet, by Colleen McCullough after putting it aside so I could read In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl’s Journey to Freedom, by Yeonmi Park.)

If you’re a writer, I hope you have rewarding writing time.

Janet

R is for Reading Challenge

img086

My 2017 Reading Challenge

This is the 18th day of the A to Z Blog Challenge, so I decided to give a status report on my 2017 Reading Challenge. I have completed the following 12 of the 28 categories in my challenge, which I announced on my blog on December 27, 2016 [https://janetswritingblog.com/2016/12/27/reading-challenge-for-2017/.]

  1. A nonfiction book
  2. A novel by a North Carolina author
  3. A biography, autobiography, or memoir
  4. A book that might change my mind
  5. A book just for fun
  6. The second book in a series of which I’ve read the first book
  7. A book of short stories
  8. A book published in 2017
  9. A book about the craft of writing historical fiction
  10. A Nobel Prize winner
  11. A political thriller, and
  12. A sequel to a book I’ve read

In addition, I’ve made good progress toward completing #4 on my challenge – “Books by 12 authors I’ve never read.” I’ve read nine already.

Number 5 on my challenge is “A novel set in each of the seven continents.” I’ve read eight books set in North America and four set in Europe. I’m currently reading a novel set in Australia.

With the year almost one-third behind us, I feel like I’m on track to meet my 2017 Reading Challenge. It’s been fun, and I look forward to more good books in the coming months.

Read the USA Reading Challenge

I’m also hoping to meet the “Read the USA” reading challenge sponsored by the Mint Hill Branch of the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. I’ve read novels set in New Jersey, Minnesota, Oregon, and Vermont.

Friends of the Harrisburg Library Reading Challenge

I’ve completed only two of the 12 categories in Friends of the Harrisburg Library Reading Challenge.  There’s a lot of duplication between it and my own reading challenge, so I think I might meet that challenge by the end of the year, too.

Are you participating in a reading challenge this year? How are you doing? Are you enjoying your challenge or do you find it too confining?

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.

Janet

P is for a Paragraph I Liked

This is the 16th day of the A to Z Blog Challenge, so today’s letter is “P.” I chose to write about a paragraph I liked in a novel I read, Prayers the Devil Answers, by Sharyn McCrumb. The following is in narrative form, as opposed to dialogue, and is from the point of view of Albert’s wife:

“Back when Albert was still awake, when I had no inkling of what was to come, I did not try to talk to him about anything other than how he felt and whether he wanted to eat or sleep. Later on I wished I had thought to ask him bigger questions, but that would have meant admitting to myself and to him that he was not coming back. As bad as I needed to know things, I could not have done that. Taken away his hope of surviving – I could not have done that.”

prayers-the-devil-answers-9781476772813_lg
Prayers the Devil Answers, A novel by Sharyn McCrumb

Albert in Prayers the Devil Answers was dying, but his wife could not bring herself to say anything to Albert that would make him know that he was dying.

That was the way I felt as my father was dying when I was 24 years old. No one that close to me had ever died. It was new territory for me. When I was a little older and wiser, I realized that he surely knew that death was near.

So many questions I never asked. So many things I left unsaid.

Until my next blog post

I hope you have a good book to read. (I finished reading In Order to Live:  A North Korean Girl’s Journey to Freedom, by Yeonmi Park, last night. I highly recommend it!)

If you are a writer, I hope you have productive writing time.

Janet

O is for Outline, or Are you a Pantser?

On this 15th day of the 2017 A to Z Blog Challenge, I’m charged with writing about the letter “O.” When thinking of the letter in terms of writing, two things come to mind:  outline and Oxford comma. Only an English teacher or writer could find either of those topics interesting. At the risk of losing all my blog followers, today I will write about outlining. This will be short and, hopefully, somewhat humorous.

Outlines when a student

When I look back on my years as a student, one of the assignments that never failed to strike fear in my heart was the outline. Looking back on those dreaded outlines, I know what caused them to make my brain freeze up. It was the rigid structure of the outline. It was the Roman numerals. It was the perfect symmetry that was required. Nothing squelches creativity faster than a set of rules.

When I was in school, an outline had to take the form of Roman numerals, capital letters, Arabic numerals, and lower case letters. Every part of the outline had to balance or be in perfect symmetry with every other part of the outline. It was that perfect symmetry that always tripped me up.

Sort of like poetry

The only assignment worse than “Make an outline” was “Write a poem.” Poems had rigid rules, too, and I didn’t have a lyrical bone in my body. I still remember the assignment one day in elementary school:  “Go home tonight and write a poem about a bird.” I sweated bullets over that assignment, but I digress.

Do you outline, or are you a pantser?

Writers fall into two camps:  those who outline and those who write by the seat of their pants. Many successful and respected authors say they never outline. They sit down at the computer and just let the story come to them. Other successful and respected authors always write with an outline. They say they need that road map to keep them on track with the story line.

I’m not a successful or respected writer, but I always outline. That is just bizarre, considering my background in outline hatred. Let me clarify, though. Outlining as a writer has looser rules than the ones I had to make in school. I don’t have to turn in the outline for a grade. My outline will not be seen or critiqued by anyone, unless I so choose.

Scenic plot outline

Where I hit my stride in writing now is when I get past the basic outline and move on to the scenic plot outline. In a scenic plot outline, I divide each chapter into scenes. I make enough notes about each scene so I can recall what I had in mind days or weeks later when I get around to writing that scene. My scenic plot outline is made up of single words, phrases, and sentences – whatever I think I’ll need later to remind me of what I had in mind as I thought through the plot. I rely on the scenic plot outline when it’s time to flesh out the scene in the rough draft.

Where I am today

All that said, the word “outline” still scares me. Today I find myself at a place of decision in light of the fact that I concluded a week ago that I needed to start over on my novel in progress. If I’m going to pursue the writing of a historical novel based on the 1771 event I want to work with, I need to do additional research before I can outline the story. That lets me off the hook for a little while, but the day will come – and it won’t be long – when I have to patch together something that resembles an outline.

Until my next blog post

I hope you have a good book to read. And whether you are outline or you’re a pantser, If you’re a writer, I hope you have productive writing time.

Janet

N is for Newspaper Column

Today is the 14th day of the 2017 A to Z Blog Challenge, so the featured letter is “N.” I wrote a local history column for a weekly newspaper, Harrisburg Horizons, in Harrisburg, North Carolina for six and a half years.

My freelance “job” with the newspaper took me in many unexpected directions. One of my first columns (July 12, 2006) was titled, “Native American Projectile Points.” The following is a slightly revised version of that column. Some of the wording has been changed and all the photographs have been added to this blog post.

Do you think Harrisburg’s history began with the earliest European settlers, or even with the coming of the railroad in the 1850s? Today, I invite you to join me on a journey into prehistoric Harrisburg in the southern piedmont section of North Carolina.

Schiele Museum, Gastonia, NC

I recently made an appointment to take my collection of Indian arrowheads to Dr. Alan May, staff archaeologist at the Schiele Museum in Gastonia, NC. The first thing I learned was that I didn’t have a collection of Indian arrowheads!  The proper term is “projectile point,” which includes spear points and arrowheads.

I proudly opened the box containing my small collection. Dr. May examined each piece. I held my breath and waited for him to gasp upon spying a rare and valuable piece. He did not gasp.

My collection turned out to be mundane and of no particular interest to an archaeologist; however, the insight Dr. May shared that day gave me much to think about and opened a window on prehistoric Harrisburg.

I expected Dr. May to tell me that my projectile points dated back to the 1600s or possibly a little earlier than that. I expected him to tell me that the points were typical of the Catawba or perhaps even the Cherokee. That’s not what he said.

Middle Archaic – Morrow Mountain

Two of my projectile points are called “Morrow Mountain” pieces. They are from the Middle Archaic period which ended around 3000 B.C. (or B.C.E., if you prefer.)

Base of a projectile, Morrow Mtn., Middle Archaic
Base of projectile, Middle Archaic, Morrow Mountain.
Arrowheads, Tools, & Rocks 012
Middle Archaic (2,000 to 3,000 B.C.E.) Morrow Mountain Projectile Point

Middle Archaic Guilford

Two other pieces are of the “Guilford” style and also date to the Middle Archaic period when Native Americans hunted bison in North Carolina.

Broken example of Middle Archaic - Guilford
Broken example of Middle Archaic – Guilford projectile point.
Middle Archaic - Guilford
Middle Archaic, Guilford projectile point.

Late Archaic

Several of the projectile points in my collection are “Savannah River Stemmed “ points from the Late Archaic period, 1000 to 3000 B.C. This period was cooler than Middle Archaic. Deer, rabbits, and raccoons were hunted for food.

Late Archaic. Flagstone or field stone argilite, probably like what's coming out of the quarry nearby.
Late Archaic. Flagstone or field stone, probably like rock that is currently being mined from a nearby quarry.
Late Archaic. Thin bioface straight-sided projectile broken in use or when re-sharpened. Good material.
Thin biface straight-sided Late Archaic projectile point. Broken either by use or when re-sharpened.

Ancient Tool:  Anvil

I was certain that Dr. May would identify one of the smooth rocks I took him as an early Native American tool. He said it was just a rock that had been smoothed by water. Another rock, which hadn’t seemed as interesting to me, turned out to be an anvil.

This is an anvil. Notice the slight depression in roughness in middle on one side.
This is a stone anvil.

Some rocks I took to the museum were magnetic, which wasn’t a surprise; our red clay soil is rich in iron. One piece that appeared to be a rock was identified as slag hammered by a blacksmith. That made sense, because my father told me that there used to be a blacksmith’s shop in what is now my front yard.

Gold?

The rock I hoped he would say held flecks of gold, held flecks of worthless pyrite instead. I can see why it’s called “fool’s gold.”

pyrite and flecks of gold and lead. Dr. Alan May at Schiele thought this was a neat piece.
Lead with pyrite and flecks of gold. Dr. May thought this was an interesting piece.

Dr. May recommended that I send a detailed report about my collection to the Office of State Archaeology in Raleigh. The State has a form called “North Carolina Amateur Archaeological Site Form.” Dr. May said they will pinpoint my yard on a map and keep a record of my findings.

My visit with Dr. May brought surprises, both good ones and disappointing ones. I came home knowing that 5,000 years ago as the Egyptians developed hieroglyphic writing and the darkness was first lighted by candles, Native Americans were hunting deer and bison in my yard. Wow!

That was the end of my July 12, 2006 newspaper column. For now, it’s the end of the story. When I read the column last night for the first time in many years, I realized that I never followed through with Dr. May’s recommendation that I send a detailed report to the Office of State Archaeology in Raleigh. I’ve added that report to my “to-do” list, but writing must still come first.

Until my next blog post

I hope you have a good book to read. (I’m reading a nonfiction book, In Order to Live:  A North Korean Girl’s Journey to Freedom, by Yeonmi Park with Maryanne Vollers. It was published in 2015, but I’m finding it particularly interesting as I read it during rising tension between North Korea and the United States. I highly recommend it!)

If you are a writer, I hope you have productive writing time.

Janet