PRESENTATION PICTURE

Thanks to the DAR for sending me this picture of my presentation to them.

APPRECIATION FOR COUNTRY AND STATE

This past week I had the privilege of reviewing my book Petticoat Spies: Six Women Spies of the Civil War to members of the Bexar County chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. One of the things that especially impressed me about this group of ladies was their deep respect for our nation and for our state of Texas. You could tell, as they recited pledges to both flags, that they truly meant what what they were saying.

The DAR website explains the background and purpose of this group: 
The DAR, founded in 1890 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., is a
non-profit, non-political volunteer women's service organization dedicated
to promoting patriotism, preserving American history, and securing America's future through better education for children.

DAR members volunteer more than 60,000 hours annually to veteran patients,
award over $150,000 in scholarships and financial aid each year to students, and
support schools for the underprivileged with annual donations exceeding one
million dollars.

WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR IDEAS?

I frequently have people ask me where I get the ideas for my nonfiction books. Sometimes I start out with a definite idea for research, but often it's more of a serendipitous trail. For example, my first published book, Petticoat Spies: Six Women Spies of the Civil War, started with research on nurses, a topic that has fascinated me since childhood when I read all the Sue Barton nurse stories. When I discovered Sarah Emma Edmonds, I learned that she disguised herself as a man during the Civil War in order to be a battlefield nurse. Later, using a variety of disguises she became a spy for the North and infiltrated the Confederate lines. She suddenly disappeared as a spy after contracting malaria. Knowing that her gender would be discovered in a hospital, she returned to civilian life. After hearing her story, I decided that spies were more exciting than nurses and proceeded to look for other female spies during that same war.



Bullfighting Lady

Recently, a critique partner, knowing that I enjoy research and writing biographies, suggested that I take a look at the life of Conchita Cintron, perhaps one of the best known female bullfighters of all time. And so I began. I discovered that she wrote her memoirs and that her mother wrote a book about her as well. Other than that, most of the other sources take their information from those two books.

The life story revealed in the books is especially fascinating because she accomplished her fame in just fourteen years, beginning when she was thirteen and ending when she was twenty-seven. She didn't start out, however, to be a matadora. Rather her interest, from the age of three, was horseback riding. However, she was not satisfied with just riding, and before long had talked her instructor into teaching her to become a rejoneadora (a bullfighter on horseback).

The rest, as they say, is history. I'm looking forward to making her life story one that will be enjoyed by young adults, who don't mind a little blood along the way!

Blog Changes

After a good workshop presented by SCBWI Regional Advisor Heather Powers, I have updated the look of my blog and am in the process of adding pages about each of my published works. I invite you to take a tour of my "new look" blog.

I currently have three books, two collective biographies (Fearless Females and Deerskin Daughters) and one biography (Martin De Leon) looking for homes in the publishing world. My new research concerns Conchita Cintron and her bullfighting career. I never thought I would write anything about bullfighting but find Conchita's life story fascinating--hope readers will also.

Reading List for Writers

Every day I read agent Chip McGregor's blog. Today he published his recommended list for writers, all the way from ancient literature to contemporary works. I was happy to see that works of several authors about whom I have written YA biographies appeared on his list:  Charles Dickens' THE PICKWICK PAPERS, DAVID COPPERFIELD, HARD TIMES, THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP (my book--Best of Times: The Story of Charles Dickens), Ralph Waldo Emerson's selected poems (my book--Self-Reliance: The Story of Ralph Waldo Emerson); Mark Twain's THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN (my book--A Great and Sublime Fool: The Story of Mark Twain). So get busy, writers, to make yourselves well read.

Quiz Time Again

Shakespeare's Hamlet or Bible:  "Eat, drink, and be merry." (See end of post for answer.)

Author Erica Jong once wrote: "When I sit down at my writing desk, time seems to vanish. I think it's a wonderful way to spend one's life."   I agree, although sometimes I get hung up in the research and have to make myself stop and get back to writing. Having a wonderful once-a-week critique group for whom I have to have ten pages prepared helps me stay on track most of the time.






The quotation is from the Bible: Luke 12:19