Shackelford Beach
Serene Shackelford
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Privateer Otway Burns
As a privateer, Burns plundered British shipping without being considered a pirate. Burns plundered British shipping between Nova Scotia and South America. The Snapdragon, of Newbern, N. C., captured a brig with a cargo, mainly dry goods, worth half a million dollars, and got safely into port with her. Burns captured cargo worth more than $2,000,000 on one trip alone. In the 1800’s this is equivalent to more than two billion dollars today. He “created such grief” for the British in both hemispheres that the British put a hefty $50,000 reward for his capture. (They never caught him.)
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Promote your book
Use the internet with a website, a blog and other writers' blogs to make your name known. Increase your social network by joining with other authors. Facebook, twitter and LinkedIn may help but these sources must be carefully used so no predators can attack your image or smear you.
Offer interviews to radio stations and media sources. Ask for book reviews from trusted sources and use the clippings to promote your books.
Offer interviews to radio stations and media sources. Ask for book reviews from trusted sources and use the clippings to promote your books.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Flora Ann Scearce award winning writer
Flora Ann says: My life has by no means been perfect. I married an Air Force sergeant and for 15 years was an AF wife, moving often and never close to home or family. Of course, he's now retired from the AF as well as the state of NC. Our first son was born in Gulfport, MS and, being a breech delivery, a neck muscle was pulled (torticollis) and he had have physical therapy for that as a baby. The next child, two years later, was born with spina bifida and lived only three days. This was at Barksdale AFB in LA. A year later I had a miscarriage and nearly died of infection. Herman was overseas and I was getting ready to join him. While in Morocco, our son, aged four, had a tonsillectomy and afterwards started to bleed profusely, was rushed back to surgery for a stitch to stop it. Our two younger children were pretty tame pregnancies and deliveries, though our daughter, Rebecca was a breech delivery, making two of our three to back into this world. I don't think they let women go through breech deliveries anymore. They go ahead and do C-sections.
I've written about my mother because I believe most people today don't have a clue to life as she lived it in the mountains of NC. Children today are so privileged they could not imagine walking miles to a one-room schoolhouse, having to entertain oneself with games and songs, having only a homemade doll and homemade toys to play with. My mother went hungry often while her family lived off a patch of land that was not their own, and she lost her mother at age nine. Children today cannot be put to work at age twelve in a tedious workplace for long hours as she was, thanks to child labor laws. Yet my mother learned to be independent at that age when her family moved from the mountains to Gastonia, NC, and put her to work in a cotton mill. As they say, her schooling was truly in the "school of hard knocks." Still she went on to become a writer herself (how else could I have all the material on hand that I incorporated into my books?) She also wrote poetry. Though she never graduated from high school, she liked to say she went through HS four times (with her four children,) and she valued education highly, taking courses at the community college as an adult. She became an expert in flower arranging, never having taken a course in that, but born with a natural eye for beauty and symmetry of flower arrangements. She was president of her garden club, did flower show judging, and conducted workshops. My mother was also a Christian and chaired a mission circle of women.
Those are among reasons I wanted to write about my mother. Long ago I saw that, for a new writer, it's almost impossible to break into the realm of the big publishers. After countless rejections along with publishers who ask you to rewrite and re-submit ad finitum, I found Tate Publishing, a Christian publisher, who read and liked my work. I've stuck with them, though there's much to complain about and I often do. They never fail to address any questions, concerns, that I have, and for that I'm grateful.
I've written about my mother because I believe most people today don't have a clue to life as she lived it in the mountains of NC. Children today are so privileged they could not imagine walking miles to a one-room schoolhouse, having to entertain oneself with games and songs, having only a homemade doll and homemade toys to play with. My mother went hungry often while her family lived off a patch of land that was not their own, and she lost her mother at age nine. Children today cannot be put to work at age twelve in a tedious workplace for long hours as she was, thanks to child labor laws. Yet my mother learned to be independent at that age when her family moved from the mountains to Gastonia, NC, and put her to work in a cotton mill. As they say, her schooling was truly in the "school of hard knocks." Still she went on to become a writer herself (how else could I have all the material on hand that I incorporated into my books?) She also wrote poetry. Though she never graduated from high school, she liked to say she went through HS four times (with her four children,) and she valued education highly, taking courses at the community college as an adult. She became an expert in flower arranging, never having taken a course in that, but born with a natural eye for beauty and symmetry of flower arrangements. She was president of her garden club, did flower show judging, and conducted workshops. My mother was also a Christian and chaired a mission circle of women.
Those are among reasons I wanted to write about my mother. Long ago I saw that, for a new writer, it's almost impossible to break into the realm of the big publishers. After countless rejections along with publishers who ask you to rewrite and re-submit ad finitum, I found Tate Publishing, a Christian publisher, who read and liked my work. I've stuck with them, though there's much to complain about and I often do. They never fail to address any questions, concerns, that I have, and for that I'm grateful.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Mother's Day
Anna Jarvis, daughter of a Methodist minister in Grafton, West Virginia, made Mother's Day a national event.
During the Civil War, Anna Jarvis' mother organized Mothers' Day Work Clubs to care for wounded soldiers, both Union and Confederate.
She raised money for medicine, inspected bottled milk, improved sanitation and hired women to care for families where mothers suffered from tuberculosis.
In her mother's honor, Anna Jarvis persuaded her church to set aside the 2nd Sunday in May, the anniversary of her mother's death, as a day to appreciate all mothers.
Anna Jarvis had such success in West Virginia, she pushed a national campaign for the day and the nation backed her on it with a letter writing campaign. MAY 9, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the first National Mothers' Day as a "public expression of...love and reverence for the mothers of our country."
One woman changed our calendars.
Resource: American Minute
During the Civil War, Anna Jarvis' mother organized Mothers' Day Work Clubs to care for wounded soldiers, both Union and Confederate.
She raised money for medicine, inspected bottled milk, improved sanitation and hired women to care for families where mothers suffered from tuberculosis.
In her mother's honor, Anna Jarvis persuaded her church to set aside the 2nd Sunday in May, the anniversary of her mother's death, as a day to appreciate all mothers.
Anna Jarvis had such success in West Virginia, she pushed a national campaign for the day and the nation backed her on it with a letter writing campaign. MAY 9, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the first National Mothers' Day as a "public expression of...love and reverence for the mothers of our country."
One woman changed our calendars.
Resource: American Minute
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Teddy Roosevelt
Who are the four presidents on Mt. Rushmore? George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. Which one was the first famous environmentalist? From 1901 to 1909, he designated 150 National Forests, five National Parks and other conservation projects. Before he thought about and cared for the environment, there were few protections. This Republican, Teddy Roosevelt, is rarely given credit for his work. He was like a teddy bear to his constituents, but he helped the real bears and all wildlife as well as the people.
Who was the youngest president? At the age of 42, he became president, younger than JFK. Which one busted big companies who were trying to control certain industries like the Sugar industry and Oil industry? Teddy was a trustbuster. Who helped millions to earn a living wage with the Square Deal? Who built up the Navy establishing America as a major world power? Who began the Panama Canal? Who won the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating the end to the Russo-Japanese War? He was the first American in 1906 to win any Nobel Prize too. Who reduced the national debt by over $90,000,000? Who secured the passage of regulation of the railroads? Who promoted the Inspection Act to have meat inspections? Who secured consumer protection with the Pure Food and Drug Act? Theodore Roosevelt. These were done when he was president. He had other accomplishments as New York governor and a private citizen who founded National Collegiate Athletic Association.
Just as Abraham Lincoln advocated freedom for slaves this Republican believed in women's rights. As the leader of the Progressive or Bull Moose Party, he welcomed women into leadership positions as no major party had before. The party advocated women's rights including voting. He said, "Women should have free access to every field of labor which they care to enter, and when their work is as valuable as that of a man it should be paid as highly." in An Autobiography, 1913. And "Alone of human beings the good and wise mother stands on a plane of equal honor with the bravest soldier; for she has gladly gone down to the brink of the chasm of darkness to bring back the children in whose hands rests the future of the years. "
He had many famous quotes like: "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far." And "Every thinking man, when he thinks, realizes that the teachings of the Bible are so interwoven and entwined with our whole civic and social life that it would be literally—I do not mean figuratively, but literally—impossible for us to figure what that loss would be if these teachings were removed. We would lose all the standards by which we now judge both public and private morals; all the standards towards which we, with more or less resolution, strive to raise ourselves."
Born October 27, 1838, he is often overlooked because of his niece Eleanor Roosevelt who was First Lady during a war. Most of the more promoted presidents were vanguards of our nation like the other three men on Mt. Rushmore.
Who was the youngest president? At the age of 42, he became president, younger than JFK. Which one busted big companies who were trying to control certain industries like the Sugar industry and Oil industry? Teddy was a trustbuster. Who helped millions to earn a living wage with the Square Deal? Who built up the Navy establishing America as a major world power? Who began the Panama Canal? Who won the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating the end to the Russo-Japanese War? He was the first American in 1906 to win any Nobel Prize too. Who reduced the national debt by over $90,000,000? Who secured the passage of regulation of the railroads? Who promoted the Inspection Act to have meat inspections? Who secured consumer protection with the Pure Food and Drug Act? Theodore Roosevelt. These were done when he was president. He had other accomplishments as New York governor and a private citizen who founded National Collegiate Athletic Association.
Just as Abraham Lincoln advocated freedom for slaves this Republican believed in women's rights. As the leader of the Progressive or Bull Moose Party, he welcomed women into leadership positions as no major party had before. The party advocated women's rights including voting. He said, "Women should have free access to every field of labor which they care to enter, and when their work is as valuable as that of a man it should be paid as highly." in An Autobiography, 1913. And "Alone of human beings the good and wise mother stands on a plane of equal honor with the bravest soldier; for she has gladly gone down to the brink of the chasm of darkness to bring back the children in whose hands rests the future of the years. "
He had many famous quotes like: "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far." And "Every thinking man, when he thinks, realizes that the teachings of the Bible are so interwoven and entwined with our whole civic and social life that it would be literally—I do not mean figuratively, but literally—impossible for us to figure what that loss would be if these teachings were removed. We would lose all the standards by which we now judge both public and private morals; all the standards towards which we, with more or less resolution, strive to raise ourselves."
Born October 27, 1838, he is often overlooked because of his niece Eleanor Roosevelt who was First Lady during a war. Most of the more promoted presidents were vanguards of our nation like the other three men on Mt. Rushmore.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Book review on Deanna Klingel's book
Book Review by Jan Parys
Avery’s Battlefield
By Deanna K. Klingel
Avery’s Battlefield is the story of a boy, a dog and their search for peace in the first years of the Civil War. This historical fiction book is for young adults but its facts and insights in the novel will be interesting to adults as well. Author Deanna Klingel has “notes” at the end of the book about “What’s True and What Isn’t” that shows her research delved even into the weather. Weather played an important role in the fourteen year old man’s travel from Kanawha Valley to Alexandria by foot. The battles, towns and events are true history and even some of the names such as the photographer, Matthew Brady, are real.
The Kanawha Valley became West Virginia and the Quakers who lived in it were the main characters in the story. The story told by Avery Bennett’s viewpoint makes it almost neutral. Avery and his dog, Gunner, are truly amazing and have knowledge and skill far above the average boy and dog. The book is about the years 1861-1862 and falls on the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War. In September Ms. Klingel second book in the series, Avery’s Crossroad, will be available and may be bought from Amazon just as this book now can be. The adventures in this book are quite astounding and their solutions are very clever. The book is ideal for any young man to learn about history and natural health.
The people and subplots make the story move quickly and are educational at the same time. The educational aspect is slipped in among the story so the reader will learn and not even realize it is like a textbook. So many people don’t have fond memories of school and history so they don’t think they like history. Enjoyable books like Avery’s Battlefield help make history interesting and even exciting. The story is available on Kindle also for $2.99.
Avery’s Battlefield
By Deanna K. Klingel
Avery’s Battlefield is the story of a boy, a dog and their search for peace in the first years of the Civil War. This historical fiction book is for young adults but its facts and insights in the novel will be interesting to adults as well. Author Deanna Klingel has “notes” at the end of the book about “What’s True and What Isn’t” that shows her research delved even into the weather. Weather played an important role in the fourteen year old man’s travel from Kanawha Valley to Alexandria by foot. The battles, towns and events are true history and even some of the names such as the photographer, Matthew Brady, are real.
The Kanawha Valley became West Virginia and the Quakers who lived in it were the main characters in the story. The story told by Avery Bennett’s viewpoint makes it almost neutral. Avery and his dog, Gunner, are truly amazing and have knowledge and skill far above the average boy and dog. The book is about the years 1861-1862 and falls on the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War. In September Ms. Klingel second book in the series, Avery’s Crossroad, will be available and may be bought from Amazon just as this book now can be. The adventures in this book are quite astounding and their solutions are very clever. The book is ideal for any young man to learn about history and natural health.
The people and subplots make the story move quickly and are educational at the same time. The educational aspect is slipped in among the story so the reader will learn and not even realize it is like a textbook. So many people don’t have fond memories of school and history so they don’t think they like history. Enjoyable books like Avery’s Battlefield help make history interesting and even exciting. The story is available on Kindle also for $2.99.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
A Great Conference save the date
Announcing Write2Ignite! 2012 at North Greenville University in Tigerville, SC, March 16-17, 2012. Mark your calendars and spread the word.
Dedicated and helpful teachers and speakers. These Christians practice God's love and inspire attendees. Plan now to go.
Dedicated and helpful teachers and speakers. These Christians practice God's love and inspire attendees. Plan now to go.
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