Tag: The Waxhaws

“To Run or Not to Run” – historical short story

The fictional character I’m introducing to you today is George. He is a slave in South Carolina in the mid-1700s in the third story in Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories, “To Run of Not to Run.”

When you meet George, he is a young boy. He and his father, who was born in Senegal, have just been sold and are being taken from Camden to the Waxhaws.

Photo by Asso Myron on Unsplash

Here’s an excerpt from when George and his father are in the back of a wagon being taken to their new living situation in the Waxhaws:

“George sensed his father was tiring of his questions, so he shut his eyes tight and tried to turn off his mind. But the harder he tried not to think, the more questions flooded his head. The ones that kept crowding out all the others were ones he knew not to ask because he was afraid his papa did not know the answers. When will we see Mama again? When are we going to be free?“

You will follow George as he has a lot to learn and grows up fast. His new master’s son is about his age. Therein forms a dynamic that will ultimately be further developed in the historical novels I am planning and writing.

Remember George. He is a character who grew out of my imagination and has never let me go. I don’t think he will let you forget him either.

Getting into the skin, brain, and soul of a young boy with black skin who is living as a slave in America in the mid-1700s allowed me to stretch my imagination in ways that my other fictional characters did not.

In case you missed my November 24 and December 1 blog posts about the first two stories in Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories, here are the links: “The Tailor’s Shears” – Historical Short Story and “You Couldn’t Help But Like Bob” — historical short story.

Where to purchase Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories

You can find my new short story collection on Amazon in e-book and paperback. You can find the paperback at Second Look Books in Harrisburg, NC, or ask for it at your local independent bookstore.

Hurricane Helene Recovery Update

I haven’t offered a Hurricane Helene recovery update since my November 3 blog post.

As of Friday, December 5, 25 roads in North Carolina were still closed due to Hurricane Helene’s wind, flooding, and landslides on September 26, 2024. That is a decrease of six roads since a month ago. There are three U.S. highways, two State highways, and 20 state roads closed more than 14 months after the hurricane.

In Tennessee… as of Tuesday, December 2, U.S. 321in Elk Mills, in the Watauga Lake area, is officially reopened since being heavily damaged by the hurricane.

Sections of the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina will remain closed until at least next fall, and I-40 at the Tennessee line will continue to be just two lanes at 35 miles-per-hour for a couple more years while five miles of the highway are being rebuilt in the Pigeon River Gorge.

The following success story was cut and pasted from a U.S. Forest Service – National Forests in North Carolina Facebook post on December 3, 2025:  “Two decades ago, after Hurricane Frances and Ivan, our ecosystems team saw how erosion could unravel an entire ecosystem. Brady Dodd, hydrologist for the National Forests in North Carolina, developed and executed a plan to reshape eroded riverbanks, plant riparian flood resistant species and add erosion prevention structures. After Helene arrived, the banks held, and the water ran clear due to the work that had been done years prior. This story serves as a model to our forests as we continue to build resilience into each of our Helene recovery projects.”

We’ve gone from fall leaf season to snow ski season in western North Carolina since my last update. Be aware that you might run into a detour, and you can’t drive the full length of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

If you visit, please drop by Blue Ridge Books in Waynesville and Highland Books in Brevard. Tell them I sent you. They sell my books!

Janet

A rude awakening about what constitutes historical fiction

I was caught off-guard on June 14 when I read Sarah Johnson’s Reading the Past blog post and learned that the decade of the 1960s is now the hottest thing in historical fiction.

Yikes!

I remember the 1960s well. In fact, I remember some of the 1950s. I admit that I had not thought of the 1960s as fodder for historical fiction yet. Wasn’t it yesterday that I was still reading World War II fiction? Why did we leap right over the 1950s?

Photo of an astronaut standing on the moon
Photo by History in HD on Unsplash

Calling books set in the 1960s “historical fiction” just doesn’t seem right. I’m not ready to read it, and I’m certainly not ready to try to write it. I like to write about the 1760s and 1770s, so I must be in a 200-year-old time warp.

When I finish my novel-in-progress, I just hope I’m not the only person out there who likes to read about life in the 1760s.

My blog is all over the place!

The first 11 years or more that I wrote a blog, I concentrated on my life as a struggling writer and a reader. (Make that “struggling reader,” too, in light of my memory problems. Many times I get to the bottom of a page in a book and I have no idea what I just read, but I digress.)

I have also written history pieces, often on the anniversary date of an event. Some of them are well-known dates and events in history, while others were little-known events that I stumbled upon.

Over the years I toyed with how often to blog. I eventually settled on just once-a-week. That seemed to be all I could handle. I settled on posting my blog every Monday. That worked very well for me.

Then came Donald Trump’s reelection, and my comfortable blogging routine went out the window.

After blogging as many as six posts a week since January 20, I think I’m probably “preaching to the choir.” My readers are probably keeping up with politics as much as I am.

Since I don’t want to bore you with our new normal in the United States, I hope to add some variety to my blog posts. I certainly don’t want to write about politics every day! It’s not good for my mental health or yours. I miss writing fiction, and I desperately want to get back to a place emotionally where I can turn off the politics in my head and switch gears to colonial America.

I have written 90,000 words of an historical novel, but I put it on the back burner a couple of years ago when I realized the protagonist’s backstory deserved its own novel. I’ve done a ton of research and I wrote 35,000 words before I let myself get derailed. I think about my protagonist every day and I yearn to finish writing her story.

Her story lets me travel back to The Great Wagon Road in the 1760s to the backcountry of Virginia, North Carolina, and into The Waxhaws in South Carolina. I look forward to sharing her story with you, but first I must get my devotional book published.

I have had success in the past week in turning my attention back to the devotional book I’m writing. I have been doing what I hope will be my read aloud proofread. It is tedious. It is time-consuming. It is 186 pages.

I took a big step yesterday. I have published my other books and two short stories through Kindle Direct Publishing, but I would like for my devotional book to be available for bookstores to sell. I have researched IngramSpark and yesterday I set up an account with that company.

That decision had been weighing on my mind for several weeks. After reading the lengthy agreement and reviewing the company’s User Guide, I settled on IngramSpark and created my account last night.

I will explain in an upcoming blog what the book is about and the double importance of the title: I Need The Light. My goal is to publish it in August.

What happened to the historical short stories I mentioned last year?

Sadly, those stories are exactly where they were the last time I mentioned them in a blog post. They are on paper and in my computer. Some are complete. Some are almost complete. Some are just story titles on a list.

I want to get back to that project!

Here I am.

If you have wondered what happened to all my grandiose writing projects, now you know.

Please don’t give up on me. I have stories to share with you.

Hurricane Helene Update

As of last Friday, June 20, 2025, 59 roads in North Carolina were closed due to Hurricane Helene. That count included five US highways, nine state highways, and 45 state roads.

That is an increase of six state highways and four state roads since the report issued on Friday, June 17. I don’t know why the numbers went up. It could be a typographical error in the online table I check every week. It will be interesting to see what the next weekly NCDOT report will indicate.

The North Carolina General Assembly voted unanimously yesterday to allocated another $500 million for Hurricane Helene relief. That brings the state’s total to around $2 billion so far.

Due to a micro-burst rainstorm and flood on June 19, section of I-40 in Tennessee and North Carolina in the remote Pigeon River Gorge had to be closed again. The closure is approximately 50 miles long. It is the same portion of the interstate that was closed for five months after Hurricane Helene… and until Thursday of last week was finally open to one lane in each direction.

Tennessee Department of Transportation reports  on Wednesday sounded doubtful but said they are still working toward possibly getting the highway reopened by July 4. Detour information can be found at https://drivenc.gov/.

I’m beginning to think the Pigeon River Gorge does not want an interstate highway. It keeps revolting!

Until my next blog post

I hope you have a good book to read.

If you live in Europe or on the east coast of the United States, I hope you get some relief from the heatwave this weekend. After a week, I have gotten used to the triple-digit heat index numbers, although anything above 105 degrees F. is still a little extreme.

Remember the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.

Janet

#ineedthelight

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

“The hard work lies ahead.” What did I mean by that?

In my May 6, 2019 blog post, https://janetswritingblog.com/2019/05/06/the-only-book-i-read-in-april-2019/, I announced the completion of the first rough draft of my rewrite of The Doubloon. Then I made the following statement:  “The hard work lies ahead.” What did I mean by that?

I meant it was time to take all the steps it takes to get a novel published. There are many additional steps. I am, no doubt, blissfully unaware of some of them. Today I’ve listed many of the individual things that need to be done when polishing a novel manuscript. I’m sharing it here in case it will help someone else who is just starting out.

Steps to polish a novel manuscript

Most of the items I list below apply no matter what genre your novel is, but several of them are specific to writing historical fiction. Photo by Kaitlyn Baker on Unsplash

Photo by Kaitlyn Baker on Unsplash

I don’t have all the answers. In fact, I have more questions than answers, but I’m learning every step of the way.

Things I’ve done since last Monday’s blog post include the following:

  • Moved the inciting event from page 45 to page 28 and made necessary scene adjustments due to that change in timing;
  • Changed several character’s surnames so they won’t be mistaken for persons who lived in The Waxhaws, the Rocky River Settlement, and Salisbury in the 1760s;

 What’s left to do? Plenty! I need to:

  • Read entire manuscript aloud to make sure it flows naturally, makes sense, has the right amount of backstory, doesn’t have information dumps, and doesn’t have plot holes;
  • Reading or Listening? With what I recently learned about the difference in reading a book and listening to a book, I need to look at the hook and scene and chapter beginnings to see if they work well for the book listener; (See my May 13, 2019 blog post: https://janetswritingblog.com/2019/05/13/how-listening-to-a-book-and-reading-a-book-differ/.)
  • Characterization: Are the characters distinguishable, what are their motives, and are their arcs in the right places?
  •  Check Point-of-View in every scene;
  •  Tweak Scene Plot Outline;
  • Consider hiring a Scene Outline Critiquer;
  • Take professional editor’s recommendation into consideration and make those changes;
  • Authentic Details: Add details where needed to make sure the reader will feel like they are in The Waxhaws, the Rocky River Settlement, and Salisbury in 1769-1770;
Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash
  • Backstory:  Have I included just enough, too little, or too much?
  • Dialogue:  Have I used words not in usage in 1769?
  • Narrative and Dialogue: Have I used any words too often?
  • Fine tune every sentence, paragraph, scene, and chapter, checking for things like cause and effect, strong verbs; use of passive voice; character act first, then speak; and the overuse of adverbs;
  • Check spelling;
  • Check all punctuation — the most difficult task for me; and
  • Read through the novel aloud again. Have I told a good story?

After I do everything I can

 After I do everything I can do to make the manuscript the best it can be, there is still hard work to be done. I’ll list some of those in a blog post seven or eight months from now. I’ll know more from experience by then.

Meanwhile

I need to continue to build my writer’s platform. That’s one thing this blog is doing for me. Along the way, I hope my blog readers will discern the kind of writer I am.

The road to publication

It is daunting road that lies ahead and there will probably be some potholes and detours along the way. I’ve worked on this historical novel manuscript for something like 15 years. I’ve lost track of time and can’t say with certainty when I started working on it.

Until recently, I referred to it as The Spanish Coin. In an effort to give it a two-word title, I changed the working title to The Doubloon. If I’m fortunate to get it published by a publisher, as opposed to myself, I will lose control of the title. I’m trying not to get too attached to either working title.

#FixYourNovel

In the coming months I plan to address these steps writers should take as they work their way through the novel writing and traditional novel publishing process. From time-to-time, I will blog about the steps I listed above in blog posts titled “FixYourNovel #_,” and that’s “#” in the pre-Twitter numeric.

Look for the first installment in my “#FixYourNovel” blog series next Monday:  Read entire novel manuscript aloud.

Do I have the audacity to write about how a writer goes about “fixing” his or her novel? Only time will tell.

Photo by Hello I’m Nik on Unsplash

Perhaps I can help someone out there who is also writing a debut novel, and some of the process might be of interest to those of you who like to read fiction. If my blog readers start dropping like flies, I’ll know you’re not interested.

Until my next blog post

I’ll read my manuscript out loud and see what it sounds like from start to finish.

Let’s continue the conversation

When you read a blog written in first person point-of-view, do you feel like you’re being talked “at” or not? Do you feel more included when you read a blog written in second person? Does it depend on the topic? Have you ever thought about it?

Janet

5 things I learned about Social Media this weekend

If you follow my blog, bless you! If you follow my blog, you know that, among other things, I share my rocky journey into the world of social media. If you’re in the same boat, I hope you have found some information in my blog that was new and helpful to you.

Today’s post deviates from my plan to share a piece of my history writing. On Friday, I plan to post an article I wrote in 2007 about an 1897 head-on collision between two trains in Harrisburg, NC. Today I share my thoughts about five areas of social media that have come to my attention over the weekend.

Contact form on my blog

I was so proud on Friday that I’d figured out how to insert a comment form within the body of my blog. So far, that form has been a total flop. No one used it. If it was used, it didn’t work. I won’t try that again unless or until I learn how to benefit from it.

Quora

I mentioned Quora.com in my blog post on January 27, 2017, 3 Things to Try on Social Media in January , http://wp.me/pL80d-tt) and I’ve played around some with it some. Over the weekend, I found a 6-minute February 10, 2017 podcast offered for free on http://mschool.growtheverywhere.libsynpro.com/how-to-attract-9000-visitors-a-month-from-quora-ep-194 that/which gave several suggestions for those of us who are still trying to figure out how to best utilize Quora – or, more specifically, trying to determine if it is even a good tool for us or not. My problem is that I’m far removed from my college studies of political science to address most of the questions that come up in that area and I don’t feel qualified to answer questions about writing until I’ve gotten my first novel published. Bottom line:  I’m leaving my options open with Quora as I continue to find my niche.

Pinterest

On Saturday afternoon I finally got serious about trying to figure out where historical fiction fans hang out on social media. Finding https://www.statista.com/statistics/246183/share-of-us-internet-users-who-use-pinterest-by-age-group/ was helpful in a round-a-bout way since it presents the statistics for Pinterest users in 2016. Here’s the age breakdown:

36% 18-29 years old

34% 30-49 years old

28% 50-64 years old

16% 65 or older

I can’t afford full access to statista.com, but this bit of free information was helpful. These stats are not specific to fans of historical fiction, but I enjoy using Pinterest and it is beneficial to know what age people use it the most. It’s a piece of the puzzle.

I learned from Pinterest Analytics that I average having 13,440 views per month, but only 174 of them were engaged in my content. My most popular pin in the last 30 days was Chimney Tops Hike in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. In fact, three of my most popular pins were from my Great Smoky Mountains board. I originally set up that board (and the Blue Ridge Mountains board) to help draw attention to my vintage postcard book, The Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. If this book sounds interesting to you, you can purchase in paperback or for Kindle on amazon.com.

I read another WordPress.com blogger’s post pertaining to historical fiction writers. https://kmguerin.wordpress.com/2016/07/18/social-media-for-historical-fiction-writers-part-4-facebook/https://kmguerin.wordpress.com/2016/07/18/social-media-for-historical-fiction-writers-part-4-facebook/ gave a good suggestion:  Find a trending topic or article related to the time period you are writing about and post it. I have a board on Pinterest, “Novel in Progress:  The Spanish Coin,” in which I pin photos and information pertinent to 1771 in the Waxhaws area in present-day Lancaster County, SC, as well as the Rocky River Presbyterian Church community in present-day Cabarrus County, NC (part of Mecklenburg County in 1771), and Salisbury, NC. These are the three geographic locations in my novel. I have 69 pins and 24 followers on that board as of February 20, 2017. I need to attract more people to that Pinterest board. I invite you to visit me on Pinterest by clicking on the Pinterest icon in my blog’s sidebar. Pin this blog post to one of your Pinterest boards by clicking on the Pinterest icon below.

Reading Medieval historical fiction author K.M. Guerin’s July 18, 2016 Time-Worn Pages blog post, https://kmguerin.wordpress.com/2016/07/18/social-media-for-historical-fiction-writers-part-4-facebook/http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-get-more-pinterest-followers/ tipped me off to the fact that I was giving my blog readers a way to pin my posts to their Pinterest boards or share a link to my blog posts to their Facebook pages, but I did not provide a way for them to connect with me on social media. The proverbial lightbulb finally came on, folks!  I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again:  I am not technologically savvy. What I’ve learned, I’ve had to dig up myself. I suppose that’s the best way to learn something new, but it surely is tedious. I read the above link to socialmediaexaminer.com on February 18, 2017 and worked until I figured out how to add “Follow me on Social Media” buttons in my blog’s sidebar. You wouldn’t believe what a sense of accomplishment that gave me!

LinkedIn and Instagram

I also picked up some ideas from reading a February 29, 2016 blog post by Jessica Lawlor on The Write Site. (https://thewritelife.com/quick-social-media-tips-for-writers-part-2) You can follow Jessica Lawlor on Twitter @jesslaw.) My takeaways:  (1) Republish some of my blog posts on LinkedIn; and (2) Instagram is a platform where I can build my brand and community, and I should refer to the link to my website or blog as found in my profile (i.e., using the words “Link in profile” somewhere in my post) because LinkedIn only allows accounts to display one link. I haven’t given up on LinkedIn, and I haven’t tried Instagram.

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