My days as a bookseller are often filled with pricing and listing books. As part of that task, I skim through each book to pick out the publication information and check the overall condition. One of these days I hope to pick up vintage children's books that haven't been colored on or in — I'm constantly finding illustrations that have been embellished with crayon. (Not that I ever did that. Oh, no! I think I used Daddy's ballpoint pen.) But this one made me laugh.
Maybe 50 years ago, some little girl not only read The Bobbsey Twins (1950 edition), but decided it needed editing. In both pink and regular pencil cursive, she crossed out chapter headings and wrote new ones, added a few derogatory comments about certain classmates, and added a few illustrations above chapter headings. Then she filled up the endpapers with a promo letter encouraging the reader to buy the next book...signed, "The Editors."
So, "Tando," did you grow up to be an editor or a writer?
Friday, July 22, 2011
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Saturday Night Genealogy Fun — "Heritage Pie" Chart
Tonight's challenge from Genea-Musings is to list your 16 great-great-grandparents, and where they came from, married, and died (I saw this meme on Tonia's Roots). Here are mine:
1. Ransom P. SAUNDERS b. ca 1818 in North Carolina, m. Delilah Beaver in March 1832, N.C., d. 1850 in N.C.
2. Delilah BEAVER b. ca 1810 in Caswell Co., North Carolina, d. before Dec. 1874, N.C.
3. John L. CARRELL b. 25 Oct. 1822, Rockingham Co., North Carolina, m. Julia Ann Young 22 Feb. 1845, Rockingham Co., N.C., d. 17 July 1895 (probably N.C.).
4. Julia Ann YOUNG b. 28 May 1817, North Carolina, d. 6 Jan. 1898.
5. Dempsey LASSITER b. ca 1823, Nansemond Co., Virginia, m. Elizabeth Jane --- before 1846, d. after 1910 (living in Nansemond Co., Virginia in 1910). Dempsey's son William Lassiter was one of my brick walls until a couple of years ago, when I finally found Dempsey and his family.
6. Elizabeth Jane --- b. ca 1825 in Nansemond Co., Virginia, d. before 1910.
7. Henry BAKER, m. Joan Weston before 1882
8. Joan WESTON, b. Nov. 1851
9. Thomas S. MANESS, b. ca 1849? (possibly Moore County, North Carolina), m. Sarah Pandora Wall 25 June 1874 in Guilford County, North Carolina, disappeared in 1875. Thomas is my current brick wall. He disappeared before my great-grandfather was born, and I am the fourth generation looking for him.
10. Sarah Pandora WALL, b. 29 Aug. 1859 in North Carolina, d. 30 July 1930, Randolph County, North Carolina.
11. Thomas Madison ENGLISH, b. 25 Aug. 1827, North Carolina, m. Armecia White after 1870, d. 3 June 1888, buried in Guilford County, North Carolina.
12. Cynthia Armecia WHITE, b. 9 Sept. 1849, North Carolina, d. 30 Dec. 1926 in Randolph County, North Carolina, buried in Guilford County.
13. William Gaston ROUTH, m. Roxie Bryant. Their children were born in Randolph County, North Carolina.
14. Roxie BRYANT.
15. Jacob Shadrach KINDLEY, b. 26 Oct. 1852, Davidson County, North Carolina, m. Mary Adaline Copple 14 Dec. 1871, Davidson County, North Carolina, d. 30 Aug. 1917.
16. Mary Adaline COPPLE, b. 16 May 1851, Davidson County, North Carolina, d. 18 Oct. 1911.
I've been obsessed with a few of my family branches (like the English family, a portion listed at the top of this blog) and this list shows how I've neglected others. While I hope to fill in the details someday, my near term goals are to finish my English family novel and to break through my Maness family brick wall.
If I drew a pie chart of locations, most of the circle would be filled with Carolina blue, with a little wedge for Virginia. The family seems to go back to colonial days before they start branching out to other countries.
1. Ransom P. SAUNDERS b. ca 1818 in North Carolina, m. Delilah Beaver in March 1832, N.C., d. 1850 in N.C.
2. Delilah BEAVER b. ca 1810 in Caswell Co., North Carolina, d. before Dec. 1874, N.C.
3. John L. CARRELL b. 25 Oct. 1822, Rockingham Co., North Carolina, m. Julia Ann Young 22 Feb. 1845, Rockingham Co., N.C., d. 17 July 1895 (probably N.C.).
4. Julia Ann YOUNG b. 28 May 1817, North Carolina, d. 6 Jan. 1898.
5. Dempsey LASSITER b. ca 1823, Nansemond Co., Virginia, m. Elizabeth Jane --- before 1846, d. after 1910 (living in Nansemond Co., Virginia in 1910). Dempsey's son William Lassiter was one of my brick walls until a couple of years ago, when I finally found Dempsey and his family.
6. Elizabeth Jane --- b. ca 1825 in Nansemond Co., Virginia, d. before 1910.
7. Henry BAKER, m. Joan Weston before 1882
8. Joan WESTON, b. Nov. 1851
9. Thomas S. MANESS, b. ca 1849? (possibly Moore County, North Carolina), m. Sarah Pandora Wall 25 June 1874 in Guilford County, North Carolina, disappeared in 1875. Thomas is my current brick wall. He disappeared before my great-grandfather was born, and I am the fourth generation looking for him.
10. Sarah Pandora WALL, b. 29 Aug. 1859 in North Carolina, d. 30 July 1930, Randolph County, North Carolina.
11. Thomas Madison ENGLISH, b. 25 Aug. 1827, North Carolina, m. Armecia White after 1870, d. 3 June 1888, buried in Guilford County, North Carolina.
12. Cynthia Armecia WHITE, b. 9 Sept. 1849, North Carolina, d. 30 Dec. 1926 in Randolph County, North Carolina, buried in Guilford County.
13. William Gaston ROUTH, m. Roxie Bryant. Their children were born in Randolph County, North Carolina.
14. Roxie BRYANT.
15. Jacob Shadrach KINDLEY, b. 26 Oct. 1852, Davidson County, North Carolina, m. Mary Adaline Copple 14 Dec. 1871, Davidson County, North Carolina, d. 30 Aug. 1917.
16. Mary Adaline COPPLE, b. 16 May 1851, Davidson County, North Carolina, d. 18 Oct. 1911.
I've been obsessed with a few of my family branches (like the English family, a portion listed at the top of this blog) and this list shows how I've neglected others. While I hope to fill in the details someday, my near term goals are to finish my English family novel and to break through my Maness family brick wall.
If I drew a pie chart of locations, most of the circle would be filled with Carolina blue, with a little wedge for Virginia. The family seems to go back to colonial days before they start branching out to other countries.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Writing lessons from a guilty pleasure
OK, confession time. During these very busy past few weeks, I haven't exactly been eating supper and dropping into bed. But I haven't had the mental energy late at night to do anything productive. So I've been watching Roswell. Since I don't have TV (cable or satellite), I watch series on Netflix. And last night for the first time in my life, a TV show kept me awake at night (possible exception is when the X-Files gave me nightmares, but it didn't wake me up in the middle of the night or early in the morning worrying about the characters).
(Warning: some spoilers here, but not as bad as running your cursor over the episodes in Netflix.)
Roswell was a TV show about 10 years ago, about teenaged aliens and humans. Last night (late in season 2), everything fell apart. A supporting character recently died, the female MC is losing friends over her obsession about his death, the male MC's sister is so angry she started using her powers in public and is about to tell their mom about them, and the mMC got together with - as in slept with - the wrong girl. Arrghh!!
I yell at the computer screen, "No. No. NO! Don't do that!" and I finally have to go to bed but my mind races and won't go to sleep. It's like these characters are real to me.
As a writer, I can learn from that.
As much as I hate what these characters are going through, they have me hooked. A decade ago, however, I got so disgusted with their pain and angst that I stopped watching. But I saw the series finale, so I know there's going to be a happy ending. Eventually. I decided to plow through all the episodes this time, but I'm probably going to have to endure a lot more bad before things get good. As a writer, I need to keep this in mind: "experts" say to throw lots of bad things at your characters to create conflict. But romantics like me will be turned off if there's not any hope.
You may wonder what an in-progress historical novel about my ancestors has to do with paranormal teen angst. I'm in this post-draft, fill-in-the-gaps, major revision phase where I need to turn conversations and facts into interesting action. I want Ann to be loyal and love only Benjamin and wait for a really long time for him to come to his senses. But I'm thinking I need to add a third character in there, a love-triangle, so Benjamin won't win Ann too easily when he finally gets his butt back home. Her pining away with no other conflict is probably too boring to keep my readers interested.
Every scene in Roswell builds tension. Even when it's not a life-or-death situation, there's romantic tension, worry about relationships (friends, siblings), mystery about where the aliens came from or who are their enemies, and mostly a constant "What's going to happen next?" With the supporting character's death, the writers turned that around into "What happened?" - still building curiosity.
Last night's episode (II-18) had:
- lots of conflicts (all of the characters) about "was it suicide or murder or neither?"
- romantic tension as the fMC turned to the mMC for friendship.
- romantic conflict with two other characters, resolved before the end of the show.
- attempted romantic tension between fMC and a new supp. character (not really believable, but I still yell No! at the screen).
- rising conflict over the sister moving away and mMC's attempts to boss her. "What next?" tension at the resultant use of her powers in front of a crowd, powers that have been kept secret throughout the series.
- romantic tension with the constant arrival of the female competitor, finalized by a (No!!) bedroom scene at the end.
- building curiosity with clues about supp. character's final months, with a major twist at the end (visually interspersed with the romantic scene above).
That's a lot to pack into one 45-minute show!
(Warning: some spoilers here, but not as bad as running your cursor over the episodes in Netflix.)
Roswell was a TV show about 10 years ago, about teenaged aliens and humans. Last night (late in season 2), everything fell apart. A supporting character recently died, the female MC is losing friends over her obsession about his death, the male MC's sister is so angry she started using her powers in public and is about to tell their mom about them, and the mMC got together with - as in slept with - the wrong girl. Arrghh!!
I yell at the computer screen, "No. No. NO! Don't do that!" and I finally have to go to bed but my mind races and won't go to sleep. It's like these characters are real to me.
As a writer, I can learn from that.
As much as I hate what these characters are going through, they have me hooked. A decade ago, however, I got so disgusted with their pain and angst that I stopped watching. But I saw the series finale, so I know there's going to be a happy ending. Eventually. I decided to plow through all the episodes this time, but I'm probably going to have to endure a lot more bad before things get good. As a writer, I need to keep this in mind: "experts" say to throw lots of bad things at your characters to create conflict. But romantics like me will be turned off if there's not any hope.
You may wonder what an in-progress historical novel about my ancestors has to do with paranormal teen angst. I'm in this post-draft, fill-in-the-gaps, major revision phase where I need to turn conversations and facts into interesting action. I want Ann to be loyal and love only Benjamin and wait for a really long time for him to come to his senses. But I'm thinking I need to add a third character in there, a love-triangle, so Benjamin won't win Ann too easily when he finally gets his butt back home. Her pining away with no other conflict is probably too boring to keep my readers interested.
Every scene in Roswell builds tension. Even when it's not a life-or-death situation, there's romantic tension, worry about relationships (friends, siblings), mystery about where the aliens came from or who are their enemies, and mostly a constant "What's going to happen next?" With the supporting character's death, the writers turned that around into "What happened?" - still building curiosity.
Last night's episode (II-18) had:
- lots of conflicts (all of the characters) about "was it suicide or murder or neither?"
- romantic tension as the fMC turned to the mMC for friendship.
- romantic conflict with two other characters, resolved before the end of the show.
- attempted romantic tension between fMC and a new supp. character (not really believable, but I still yell No! at the screen).
- rising conflict over the sister moving away and mMC's attempts to boss her. "What next?" tension at the resultant use of her powers in front of a crowd, powers that have been kept secret throughout the series.
- romantic tension with the constant arrival of the female competitor, finalized by a (No!!) bedroom scene at the end.
- building curiosity with clues about supp. character's final months, with a major twist at the end (visually interspersed with the romantic scene above).
That's a lot to pack into one 45-minute show!
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Checking in
I never wanted to be one of those bloggers whose posts consist of apologies for not posting. However, it's been a month since my last tidbit here and I thought readers might want to know that I'm still breathing.
I had these interesting vignettes running around my mind last month, mostly about working in the Quaker archives, but now those synapses are faded and dated and I think I need to start with the present (although I may write later about the book pirate. We'll see). I've been in survival mode — and that's better than it sounds. For example, I'm working three jobs this week.
In January an advertising firm hired me as a freelance copyeditor /proofreader. When I learned from a colleague that they only called her twice during her first year with them, I decided I'd better find another job (and a book store was born!). Well, they called me in this week. Fortunately, a relative of mine was available to watch the bookshop during the day. So everything has been going well, but topsy turvey eat-dinner-at-8:30pm-and-crash.
And the weekend before last, I went to the beach. Sans computer. Yep, no internet at all for three days. Just quality pajama and bathing suit time with my extended family, getting soaked in a boat and rosy-pink on a beach and being forced to eat ice cream at bedtime every night.
It was lovely.
I had these interesting vignettes running around my mind last month, mostly about working in the Quaker archives, but now those synapses are faded and dated and I think I need to start with the present (although I may write later about the book pirate. We'll see). I've been in survival mode — and that's better than it sounds. For example, I'm working three jobs this week.
In January an advertising firm hired me as a freelance copyeditor /proofreader. When I learned from a colleague that they only called her twice during her first year with them, I decided I'd better find another job (and a book store was born!). Well, they called me in this week. Fortunately, a relative of mine was available to watch the bookshop during the day. So everything has been going well, but topsy turvey eat-dinner-at-8:30pm-and-crash.
And the weekend before last, I went to the beach. Sans computer. Yep, no internet at all for three days. Just quality pajama and bathing suit time with my extended family, getting soaked in a boat and rosy-pink on a beach and being forced to eat ice cream at bedtime every night.
It was lovely.
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