Thought for the day:
I have never written anything in one draft, not even a
grocery list, although I have heard from friends that this is actually
possible.
~Connie Willis~
A gift for my writer friends:
Here are a couple of links I think you
will find valuable.
This is a good time to think about writing scary stories.
Even though it’s after Halloween, it’s a good time to write for next year’s
Halloween issues. A great blog post about How to Write Scary: http://childrenspublishing.blogspot.com/2012/10/wow-wednesday-gretchen-mcneil-on-how-to.html
From Writer’s Digest – 7 Reasons Agents Stop Reading Your
First Chapter: http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/7-reasons-agents-stop-reading-your-first-chapter?et_mid=587312&rid=3028165
From Writer’s Digest – 10 Hidden Gifts of Rejection Letters:
http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/10-hidden-gifts-of-rejection-letters?et_mid=587312&rid=3028165
As I’ve oft stated, I read a lot of blogs and get a lot of
books from other blog writers. Lots of blog writers give books away like I do,
and, if I see something interesting, I enter the drawing. A long, long time
ago, I won a book on a blog written by Michelle Fayard who is presently on
hiatus from blogging. She wrote a wonderful review of the book All Different Kinds of Free by JessicaMcCann. I put the book in my TBR pile and it sank and rose several times before
I finally found time to read it. I’m sad it took me so long. It’s quite a
wonderful book.
I mentioned last week how much I like historical fiction
when it is well-researched and well-written. All Different Kinds of Free is both. The story is based on
important happenings in the Antebellum South that laid some of the issues bare
that led to the Civil War.
Margaret Morgan was a free woman of color, living in
Pennsylvania with her husband and three children, when a bounty hunter named
Prigg came to her home to take her and her three children to Maryland, claiming
she and her children were the property of a woman whose husband had owned, then
freed, Margaret’s parents. Because Margaret had been born free (after her
parents were freed), she had no papers to prove she was free. There
were good people in her town who helped her, preventing Prigg from taking her,
but he came back and got her later. There were court fights and even one action
(Prigg vs. Pennsylvania) that went all the way to the Supreme Court, but the
real story here is the story of Margaret and what she and her children endure.
“The overseer gallops up on his
stallion from the other direction for his weekly inspection. He rides through
the gate and heads toward the fields. He looks my way, just for a moment, and
fear comes over me like a burlap blanket, all prickly and hot.”
 |
| Jessica McCann |
The woman who claimed Margaret had run through her money,
and her son and daughter-in-law convinced her to go after her “property.” Margaret
and her children were taken back to Maryland and sold through auction. Her young
daughter was kept with her, but her sons were sold away separately. The agony of
losing her freedom and sons and surviving all she has to is horrible and
fascinating.
Margaret was strong, a survivor, and someone the reader will cheer
for from the moment she is introduced. I don’t want to tell any more about the
story. I just want to encourage you to read it. It is well worth your time.
I hope a lot of teens will read this book, although it is
really an adult book. But it gives such a clear and compelling picture of the
horrors of slavery that it might well become required reading in high school
classes.
I have a gently-used review copy I am giving away this week.
Just leave a comment and I’ll put your name in the hat. Blog, link on Facebook,
or Tweet a link to my blog and let me know for an extra entry.
On the book giveaway, this is for U.S. only. Sorry, but it
would be too expensive for me to send books out of the country. But please
leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you. Remember, if you have trouble
leaving a comment, click on the title of the post and it will give you just
this post with a comments section on the bottom. Also, if you haven’t signed up
by email, please do. Just look in the upper right-hand corner of this page, pop
your email address in, and you will receive an email each time I put up a new
post. Your information will not be shared with anyone.
