It's All Genetic

I come from a family of packrats. Can’t help it, it’s genetic.

Before you pooh-pooh my reasoning, let me just say I learned about these genetic quirks the hard way. My husband showed up for our first date fifteen minutes early (can I get a sympathetic murmur?). I wasn’t running late or anything though I was a bit worried. I had worked that day and came out to my car to find I’d left the lights on. I had a date to an Abba concert (stop working out the math) and needed to get ready. Thankfully I also had a manager with a romantic streak as well as jumper cables. I rushed home and was actually quite pleased with myself that I would be ready on time—on time being the operative words. Fifteen minutes before he was due to arrive, my tall handsome date rang the doorbell. I remember calling out to him while he waited in the living room. “God will get you for this.” After twenty-six years, I’m not really sure who God got.

Fast forward a couple years. Phil took me back to New York for the first time. His dad’s side of the family was coming over for a BBQ that was to start at noon. So there we were—my mother-in-law, my sister-in-law and me—feeding little ones and having a bite of breakfast for ourselves when we heard a car pull in. It was nine o’clock in the morning and the guests were starting to arrive. That’s when I realized it was genetic. I also thanked God that Phil only had a mild case—I could live with an obsession to always be fifteen minutes early. Three hours would have caused either divorce or homicide.

That’s also when I started looking at habits I’d picked up. I still have my grandfather’s journals, my great-aunt’s greeting cards and newspapers of major events that my mother collected. And that doesn’t even begin to count all the pictures and notes and cards I’ve collected on my own. It drives my husband a wee bit batty but then I figure turn-about is fair play.

Do you have any genetic quirks (and I say that with the nicest of definitions) that you can blame on family? Or, better yet, does a loved one have a genetic quirk you blame on someone other than you? Please share—don’t leave me to think it’s only my family. You’ll feel better if you tell.

Abundant blessings!
Jenny

Jenny Cary here again for Cindy.

I teach gifted classes at my school. The fifth graders are really getting into colonial/revolutionary American history which I am so excited to teach. I’ve collected books and artifacts for years with the hope of finally sharing this love of history with students who might just get excited with me. It’s finally happening.

Last fall we talked about the Mayflower. I was able to share that I had an ancestor come over on it and so did my husband. They thought that was funny but the truth is, we are so inter-related, it’s like a six degrees to Kevin Bacon kind of thing.

And that isn’t all. A cousin wanted to do some family history a few years ago. She sent me what she had and asked if I knew any more—I didn’t. But what I did notice was that a certain name showed up in both my family and my husband’s family. A little more digging and I learned my side had migrated to Indiana from NY where his side, with that name, still lives. We haven’t located a center point—a single person where the two lines come together—but think about this: I grew up in Indiana and moved to Arizona as a teen. My husband was raised in upstate New York and moved to Arizona as an adult and we both ended up working at the same retail store where we met and began to date. We both had family on the Mayflower and we have a common family name from the same geographical area. Is there something in family that just calls out to each member?


I received an e-mail from my friend Belinda today—which is what really brought all this to mind. She told me that another Crockett descendant had been in contact with her and a Robert Crockett of Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Belinda had introduced me to Robert—a lovely man, retired farmer who writes and recites poetry. Well, it seems that the Crockett descendant here in the states had a DNA test done and sent a kit over to Robert to see if the Crocketts from Ireland and the Crocketts of Davy’s line here are kin. Belinda said the verdict is in and yes, we are all related.

I could have told them that without the DNA test. Though it might go back ten generations, there’s something about family that comes through. I could see a familiar something in Robert’s face when I first met him. The tug of kinship was real.

So I ask you, have you ever stumbled onto family? Do you know what I mean by a tug of kinship? On a family tree, Robert and I would be on distance branches. My husband I and on even more distance ones (the kids are really happy about that!). So I’d love know what you all think.

Until tomorrow,
Abundant blessings!

Have you ever stood in the middle of a moment of history and known that God had His hand on you even before your parents took their first breaths?

When Cindy asked me if I’d like to play substitute for her this week, I didn’t have to wrack my brain long before I knew what to share. I’ll tell you about my experience with that surreal moment in time.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve known how to verbally trace my ancestors back several generations. It was something my father drilled into my sister and me as we grew, mainly because he was teased as a child and called a liar. However it wasn’t until I was in high school that I learned about my great, great, great grandfather’s great, great, great grandfather—Antoine Deseaure Permonette de Crocketagné, the first Crockett in the linage of Davy Crockett. My mother wanted to find college scholarships for us and went on an in depth search for documented proof—Davy’s father fought in the American Revolution so we would qualify for entry into the DRA if we could come up with the evidence, another possible source of college money. Mom located the documentation she needed in a long out-of-print series of books called Notable Southern Families housed in the research library at the Alamo. The book on the Crockett family listed the generations from Antoine through my grandfather—she already had birth certificates for the rest so this was an amazing find.

It also set my brain to whirling about all those people mentioned who made at least a physical contribution to me.

Fast forward a few decades and I finally stopped just mulling over the names and started looking for more. My plan had been to write their stories so I began sending out e-mail queries and reading through tons of research on the eras and locales. I learned that Antoine’s third son, the one in my lineage, is the one who brought the family to what was then the American Colonies. His name was Joseph. A few discrepancies with dates gave me a story idea that wouldn’t let go. I learned Joseph had married Sarah Stuart and they had lived in County Donegal, Ireland before moving to Bantry Bay and then across the Atlantic to New Rochelle. So I took a chance. I found a small newspaper in Donegal with an e-mail connection and wrote the editor to see if he might know of someone to be my eyes and ears there. He printed my letter in the paper and I received numerous replies, among them a note from a librarian who was highly interested in what I knew—enter Belinda.




Then my daughter, Alyssa, got a job at the airlines.

Alyssa and I flew over and spent the week of Saint Patrick’s Day 2005 in one of the most amazing places on earth. Belinda picked us up bright and early our first morning and played tour guide non-stop for two days. She took us to Edenmore, the Crockett ancestral home, and we visited with people who now call it home, people knowledgeable about the area.


I saw buildings that had been built about the time Joseph and Sarah left Donegal and a two hundred year old map of what Edenmore looked like at the height of its prosperity. It was more than I had dreamed.

Then Belinda asked if I’d like to see where Sarah grew up.



I think I must have nodded because I’m sure no words could escape my mouth. I had no idea I would get to see anything so concrete. Sarah had lived and bloomed in my brain for years but this was different. I was about to touch what she had touched, walk where she had walked.


I don’t remember much about the drive, just arriving and getting permission from the owners to walk about the ruins of the tower house Sarah had called home on the banks of Lough Swilly. Though there wasn’t much left and trees grew up in places that had once been rooms, there was enough to see what it had been. Then Belinda shared the traditional story of how Sarah had walked to the landing and taken a boat across the lake to the abbey at Rath Mullin where she married Joseph Crockett.

Belinda knew where they had married?



After a walk toward the banks of the lake where Belinda pointed out Rath Mullin, we climbed back in her car and took the less romantic trip around to the abbey. Again there was little left but enough to see and touch and experience the room where Joseph and Sarah pledged their love, a love I hoped I could honor well in my writing. Just for a moment, I think the DNA of those ancestors that still races through my veins recognized where I stood.


My own blog is called Abundant Blessings. I call it that because God has proved over and over that He loves us and blesses us even when we don’t see. But at that moment, I could see. He's had His hand on me and my father and my children even as Sarah and Joseph knelt at that alter.


I love that Ireland will always feel a bit like the home I never knew. But most of all, I’m blessed, now and always.

Thanks, Cindy for letting me share. I'll be back tomorrow with another thought about our yesterday.

Abundant blessings, all!

We have a winner!

Becky is our winner for a copy of Lynn Austin's book Gods and Kings. Congratulations Becky! And thanks for posting!

Please contact with your email address at jill at jilleileensmith.com. Thanks!

Review of Brigid of Ireland from Sharon Hinck

Greetings, historical fiction lovers!

Cindy is a gifted writer and also a dear friend and encourager on this rocky road of writing, so I’m happy to pop by today to comment on her novel.

I constantly have a stack of new novels waiting to be read, but when Cindy’s book, Brigid of Ireland, released, it disappeared shortly after arriving. My daughter, Jenni had nabbed it. Although the book is intended for the adult reader, I found it interesting how strongly Jenni related to the story, so I asked her to write a review from her perspective as a fourteen-year-old.

Jenni’s Review

My name is Jenni and I’m a freshman at Concordia-Academy Bloomington (a Lutheran high school). I love to read and am currently working on writing a novel of my own. I like fencing and archery, playing flute, piano and guitar, and I hate geometry (but like algebra).

I took Brigid of Ireland from the stack of my mom’s books because the description on the back cover sounded interesting, and the cover was pretty. I liked the chapter openings with quotes – some Bible verses and some Celtic blessings or sayings.

But most of all, I absolutely loved the STORY of Brigid of Ireland. It has such a gripping plot, and is a great inspiration to my faith.

I've recommended it to all of my friends, knowing that they would love the suspense and heartbreak in it, as well as the spirituality. I admire Brigid's strong faith throughout all her troubles. It gives me strength to go through tough things.

In addition to sharing this terrific book with adult friends, consider buying a copy for a daughter, student, niece, or other young woman in your life!

---Sharon Hinck is the author of The Secret Life of Becky Miller and Renovating Becky Miller (both from Bethany House Publishing). Visit her at www.sharonhinck.com

Interview with Cindy Thomson Part II

Welcome back to the second half of my interview with Cindy Thomson

Which character do you identify with most and why?
It would have to be Brigid because she is the main character. However, I was never separated from my mother. I doubt I could ever be as self-sacrificing as she was. That’s why I focused the story on her human side. We have all been separated from God by own doing at times, and I can relate to trying to do the right thing and then falling back into selfish habits. Also the quest for finding your roots and then discovering that there was something more important to find came out in this story.

Brigid is also sold in the U.K. Can you share the publishing story there?
Actually the publisher is in the UK and it’s distributed here in North America by Kregel. Monarch took a chance on me since they don’t normally publish fiction. Christian fiction does not sell well in Europe. Christians there don’t buy it. They buy mainstream fiction. So it hasn’t done well there, yet anyway. Monarch doesn’t publish fiction anymore. They do well with missionary type nonfiction books. They were great folks to work with, however. And Brigid is available in many different countries because of how Monarch (imprint of Lion-Hudson) distributes. Also they sold translation rights to a German publisher so it will be available in German!

What are some things that you find most fascinating about Irish history?

Definitely the story telling. During the time Brigid lived the Irish had no written language. But they did have a vast and colorful history handed down orally. Monks recorded this history in the centuries after her, and several ancient illuminated manuscripts still exist in museums, like the Book of Kells. The keeper of the stories, the seanachie, was and is held in high esteem. Sometimes it was the bards who told the stories in song with a harp. The people were in the stories. It was who they were and without the stories of the past they were lost. If you had a book, or you had the stories, you were a very important person. I think that’s why the ancient monks memorized all 150 Psalms.

You have two blogs devoted to history. In addition to Favorite Pastimes, you have a blog called Celtic Voices. Tell us about some of the thoughts you explore there.
Oh, it’s anything related to Celtic Spirituality (http:celticvoices.blogspot.com). The Celts were very spiritual people before Christianity took over. They believed that there was very little dividing us in this world with the next. They had a close connection to nature and were very open to learning about the God of Creation. Celtic Christians believe that God is in us because we were created in His image, and likewise we are to look for God in others and love them. Many people think of Celtic spirituality as being New Age, but the spiritual side of the faith speaks to me and to many Christians. The name Celtic Voices comes from St. Patrick. He was kidnapped from his home in Wales (or somewhere on the coast of Britain) and brought to Ireland as a slave when he was a teenager. He connected to God during his lonely days working as a shepherd. He escaped and returned home, received training as a bishop, and then heard the Voice of Irish speaking to him, begging him to return to them. He did and was one of the fathers of our faith.

Why the interest in all things Celtic?
It’s my heritage. There is a saying: There are the Irish, and then all those who wish they were Irish.

From Brigid of Ireland to the story of baseball legend, Mordecai Brown. That seems like such a big departure. How did you come to write this?

Again, it’s a history story. Mordecai Brown, a Hall of Fame pitcher from the Cubs glory days (yes, they had glory days in the early part of the 20th century!) is my grandfather’s first cousin. Everyone has more than one interest, right? I’m a huge baseball fan. Got it from my mother (yes, my mother, again! Have to give the Irish connection to my dad since that’s the side of the family I have researched.) My mother is the Brown. We didn’t know we were related to Three Finger Brown (check out the site http:www.threefinger.com) until my cousin, Scott Brown, discovered the connection. Scott and I co-authored the book and Scott has started a non profit foundation in Mordecai’s memory: http://www.mordecaibrown.org.

What are some interesting facts about this story?

Do you have all day? Hmm, he pitched with much success with a deformed hand. He endured death threats to beat the New York Giants in a one game play-off for the National League Championship in 1908. I have a children’s historical fiction story based on him coming out in Focus on the Family’s Clubhouse Magazine in March. There is so much more to tell. I hope people will read the book!

Tell us about some of your other writing projects.

Other than magazine writing, which I continue to do, I’m working on two new novels. One, Brendan the Navigator, is based on the life of St. Brendan, another ancient Irish saint. Some believe he actually sailed to North America in the 6th century! The other is a contemporary, one in which a young woman learns her family history going back to ancient Ireland and how secrets have affected the generations since. This information sheds light on her own life.

Any parting words to history fans or historical writers?

Continue to support historical fiction if you love it. We are hearing in the Christian market that publishers aren’t open to new authors. If you disagree and want to read works by new historical fiction writers, leave reviews, let people hear your voice. And if you’re an author, congratulations on taking on a genre that is hard to write and research but tremendously rewarding. Remember that we are called to tell the stories of the wonderful things God has done (Exodus 10:2).

Thanks so much Cindy! It's been great blogging with you and I wish you much succes with your books as well as Favorite Pastimes.

Join me tomorrow for a quick review of Brigid of Ireland as author Sharon Hinck's fourteen year old daughter shares with us how this book impacted her life.

Blessings!
Beth.

Interview with Cindy Thomson Part I

Cindy Thomson writes fulltime from her home in Ohio despite the distractions of two young adult sons and another in high school, two dogs, and countless numbers of lizards. (Fortunately her sons take care of the zoo!) A former teacher and amateur genealogy buff, Cindy has always had an active imagination and a love of history. Preserving our spiritual and genealogical histories is her passion.
Cindy and her husband Tom are active in their church and small group ministry.
Brigid of Ireland is her first novel. She is at work on another novel set in ancient Ireland. Her biography (co authored with her cousin, Scott Brown) on her relative, baseball great Mordecai Three Finger Brown, was released in October 2006 by the University of Nebraska Press.

Besides books, Cindy writes freelance articles. She has been published in Family Chronicle, History Magazine, War Cry, Christian Networks Journal, Wonderful West Virginia, Rural Missouri, and other publications.

Thank you for joining me for my interview with our very own Cindy Thomson! I should have done this sooner.

I have to tell you, Cindy, when I started researching more about you to do this interview, I discovered many interesting facts about you. And here I’ve been blogging with you for months!

First, tell us about yourself and your family, i.e. where you grew up.

This is not too interesting! I grew up in Ohio, but I was born in Ft. Riley, KS. My dad was in the Army and went to Korea for two years right after I was born. We stayed behind with family in Indiana. Then we lived in Arizona, then Alaska (we survived the strongest earthquake to hit the North American continent and I was too young to remember), then back to Arizona. When I finished First Grade we moved to Ohio, so I consider myself an Ohioan. I’ve been married to Tom for 24 years and we have three boys: Dan, 21; Jeff, 19; and Kyle, 16. I taught preschool and kindergarten for nearly 20 years and now write full-time.

What books do you feel have influenced you most in life? In history? In writing?

I’m really no good at this question. My answers keep changing. But I’ll give it a shot.
My mother read Charlotte’s Web to me at bedtime when I was kid, even after I was old enough to read myself. That’s a great memory and what characters in that story! I love it still. But unfortunately, I did not do a lot of reading from the time I was about 12 to about age 30, other than college stuff. I keep bringing up a book that I can’t remember the title of. I’m sure I had to read it in elementary school, but it was a historical fantasy and it started my curiosity with history. English and history were my favorite subjects in school—no surprise, huh? The two writing books that influenced me the most were Self Editing For Fiction Writers by Brown and King and Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass. I went to a workshop by Maass a few years back that was truly enlightening.

You are a HUGE history buff with articles published in several historical periodicals, including History Magazine, and Internet Genealogy. Tell us how this all came about, what sparked that interest in history?

When I was 13 my mother gave me a book for recording family history. That started it all. I interviewed family members and collected what they had on the family. Then I sent for death records and the like. Mostly I collected family photographs. No one seemed to want those and when my grandmother died they were given to me. (Ha! They thought the end tables and lamps were the valuable things!) Pretty soon everyone in the family who wanted information on our roots started coming to me. I realized I really didn’t have much information. Luckily, the Internet took off about then and my husband is a computer expert. Using the Internet really launched my family history research. When I developed my writing, I started querying genealogy magazines.

On your website, you have a page devoted to genealogy. Give us some tips on research.

The best thing is to start with what you know and work backward. Interview living relatives. Their memories are the best treasures you can preserve and hand down. They also will give you clues you can then use to track down primary sources. I have tips on my site http://www.cindyswriting.com (Click on Genealogy 101.) These are notes from a talk I have given on the subject.

What is your favorite part of genealogy research?

Oh, my gosh! It’s finding that elusive relative or that elusive proof that you have been searching for for years. Genealogists often talk about “hitting a brick wall.” When you can break through it, it’s a major victory. My husband and I took a research trip once to a dusty little courthouse to look through records. There were journals stacked on shelves. The first day didn’t provide anything. The next morning I just decided to look for the oldest looking journal there and try that. I found it on a shelf behind a stool. There I found my relative, Thomas Little. It was a tax record and showed how many horses and cows he owned. But mostly it showed me when he was no longer recorded there. That was when he moved on from Virginia to Kentucky and that was the missing piece of information I was looking for. (Later I discovered that this was on microfilm, but finding a 200 year old book was more fun!) This experience actually became my first print publication!

Or perhaps my favorite part is the people you meet. There are many people out there researching the same family line you are. These are distant cousins that you never knew existed.

Tell us the path in your genealogical research that led to your finally writing Brigid of Ireland.

I was never satisfied with just names and dates. I wanted to know about these ancestors. Who were they? Why did they do the things they did? What did they believe in? The more I searched the more I learned about the Scots-Irish and the Irish. I soon learned that bloodlines were not the most important thing linking us to the past. The people who went before us left us a legacy of faith. Without their trials and the things God taught them, we would not have the beliefs we have today. I learned about Brigid while attending an Irish festival; and I was there because I wanted to learn about the Irish people.

Tell us about Brigid of Ireland.

The book is based on legends surrounding St. Brigid who lived from about 452 to 525AD. My story covers the early part of her life. Some of these legends are quite fanciful. I started to think about what an incredible woman she must have been to perform all the miracles she did and to give constantly to the poor. How does someone get to be that kind of person? They go through trials and God teaches them along the way. I knew that the legend was that she was born to a slave woman and the woman’s master. And that the master sold her mother, but not Brigid. I decided to start with Brigid being separated from her mother and tell how she grew up to be the kind of God-loving woman she was—and in the midst of a land filled with unbelievers.

Please come back tomorrow to read the second half of my interview with Cindy.

Blessings!
Beth.

Interview with Author Lynn Austin! Part Two

Welcome back to part two of our interview with author Lynn Austin (Don't forget to leave a comment to win one of Lynn's books!)

Jill: Do you have any concerns or opinions about the direction and future of Biblical fiction in the CBA?

Lynn: I think that good Biblical fiction will always have as its goal a deeper understanding of Scripture. In other words, the novels bring the Bible story to life and flesh it out so that readers are better able to understand the Bible and how it relates to their own life. That was what I tried to do. To me, it’s very much like old-fashioned expository preaching. I believe that this approach to Biblical fiction will always find willing readers.

The other type of Biblical fiction is the kind that has a hidden agenda. The authors have an ax to grind or have already made up their minds what they want readers to believe and they set out to make their case. This approach is more like the style of preaching that pulls out passages of Scripture from their context to prove the sermon’s main points. The goal isn’t so much a better understanding of the Bible as it is to sway the reader to the author’s point of view. If this approach becomes the norm for Biblical fiction, I doubt if it will have much of a future in the CBA.

Jill: I read a quote once that referred to Biblical fiction as the “ghetto” of writing—as though it was at the bottom rung of the Christian fiction ladder. How would you respond to that thought?

Lynn: That was exactly the attitude that I encountered when I finished my first “Chronicles” book and tried to get it published. It is also the attitude in many Christian “literary” circles today. I have no doubt that some critics consider my Biblical fiction a black mark on my record as an author. The reason this is so, I believe, is because in the past, much of Biblical fiction was very poorly written. The genre has changed a great deal over the years and there are some wonderful examples in the marketplace today—but old opinions die hard. Unless critics read the good examples (and many critics admit that they haven’t done so) they are not going to change their opinion and give the genre the respect it deserves.

I have to say, as an author, that I don’t give much time or thought to what “they” say. If I’m in the “ghetto” of writing, so be it. I wrote the “Chronicles” because the story and the characters fascinated me. My goal was to bring the Bible to life so that readers could better understand Scripture when they read it for themselves. I have received many letters from readers that have told me the books have done just that.

Jill: How has God used Biblical fiction in your own life, personally speaking?

Lynn: I think that for me, the biggest benefit I’ve gained from reading Biblical fiction is that it showed me that the people in the Bible were real people, just like me. It’s easy to read the stories of the great heroes of the faith and imagine them as larger than life—people who never struggled with their faith or had doubts or questions. But well-written Biblical fiction portrays these people as very human, very fallible individuals—just like me. Now when I read Scripture, I am able to put myself in Noah’s place, or Elijah’s place or Esther’s place and believe that what God did in their lives He can also do in mine.

Jill: What one thing have you learned that you would pass on to writers interested in writing in this genre?

Lynn: I would advise authors to choose a lesser-known Bible character and let the more well known ones play supporting roles in your novel. Most readers don’t know much about my main character King Hezekiah, for instance, and even less about his wife, Hephzibah. But these same readers probably have formed an opinion about what the prophet Isaiah was like, and they don’t like to read stories that damage that view in any way. The more well-known the character, the more likely an author is to annoy readers if their new portrayal doesn’t match their pre-conceived one. The other advantage is that readers won’t know how the story of a lesser-known character will end.

Jill: When I’m studying the life of a Biblical character, I often wish I could transport back in time and view the scenes in real time as on a movie screen. Which Bible character’s life would you like to view in that way if you could?

Lynn: I would love to view King Hezekiah’s life. I would love to stand alongside him on the morning that he awoke after a long, desperate night of prayer to discover that 185,000 enemy Assyrian warriors had died in their tents during the night. What a celebration must have followed! I know it sounds corny, but I spent so many years writing and researching this dear man’s life that he will probably be the first person I want to meet in heaven. (After Jesus, of course!)

Second on my list would be Isaiah, closely followed by Jeremiah. I have a feeling that if we did view their lives on a movie screen we would see that they were very much like us with our daily struggles to remain faithful and serve God.

I agree! Thank you, Lynn! I appreciate your insight, and I love your writing. I hope your Biblical series sells well and that one day you can write your "Restoration Chronicles" series in this genre. To bring the Bible, particularly the Old Testament to life for readers is a daunting task but well worth the effort.

I hope you have enjoyed my interview with author Lynn Austin. Don't forget to leave a comment to enter the drawing for a free book - a copy of the first book in the "Chronicles" series - Gods & Kings.

Join us tomorrow for Beth's interview with author Cindy Thomson!

Interview with Author Lynn Austin!

Good morning! Today I am privileged to interview author Lynn Austin! (If you leave a comment today or tomorrow, you'll be entered in a drawing to win one of Lynn's Biblical novels Gods & Kings.) This is a great story you won't want to miss! Now on to our interview.

Lynn is a former teacher who now writes and speaks full time. She has won three Christy Awards for her historical novels Candle in the Darkness (which was very good!), Fire by Night, and Hidden Places. She and her husband have three children and make their home near Chicago, Illinois.



Jill: Why did you choose to write Biblical fiction in addition to all of your other genres?

Lynn: My Biblical fiction series, "Chronicles of the Kings," were the first books that I ever wrote. When I began writing them in 1982 there wasn’t nearly as much variety in Christian fiction as there is today. I didn’t give the genre a great deal of thought when I chose it—it just so happened that the story of King Hezekiah gripped me and I wanted to bring him to life. I taught myself how to write by re-working that book, over and over.

(Jill's side note) - Lynn's entrance into writing sounds much like mine. I learned to write by rewriting my first book about King David's life about a zillion times!

Lynn: After I completed the first book in the series and began researching the mechanics of getting published, I discovered that Biblical fiction was very much out of vogue in Christian publishing, and that very few—if any—publishers would print it. I ignored everyone’s advice and kept writing the series. Some twelve years—and many submissions later—my first publisher, Beacon Hill, decided to take a chance on printing it in 1995. I think they chose it not so much because of the genre but because they liked my writing. The series eventually went out of print when Beacon Hill discontinued their fiction line.

Recently my current publisher, Bethany House, secured the copyrights to the series and the books have been re-edited and re-issued with new titles and covers. But Bethany has cautioned me that the readership for Biblical fiction is still quite limited compared to other genres of Christian fiction.

Jill: That saddens me. I love Biblical fiction, to read it and to write it, and I wish readers would reconnect with it the way they did in the 1980s. There are some great Biblical novels out there right now, yours among them! People are missing out on a wonderful trip to this era of the past.

What Bible characters have you written about so far, and if you care to tell us, which ones do you hope/plan to write about in the future?

Lynn: The five books in my “Chronicles” series tell the stories of the Old Testament King Ahaz, his son King Hezekiah, and his son King Manasseh. The prophets Isaiah and Micah also have roles in the novels since they were contemporaries of these kings.

As for the future, I would love to write “The Restoration Chronicles,” telling the stories of Ezra and Nehemiah and the restoration of Israel after the Babylonian captivity. But at this point, it’s just a wish. I have too many other projects to complete, first.

Jill: I would love to read "The Restoration Chronicles!" Sounds intriguing! But back to the "Chronicles" series - what drew you to write about this/these characters?

Lynn: Believe it or not, I got excited about King Hezekiah’s story a LONG time ago when I was still in high school. I was taking a year long confirmation class at my church and we had weekly assigned readings in the Bible throughout that year. When I came to the story of Hezekiah, I couldn’t put it down! The Assyrians had surrounded Jerusalem and were demanding Hezekiah’s surrender. When he refused, choosing to trust in God, I couldn’t stop reading! And, of course God honored his faith and saved the city by sending the Angel of Death to destroy 185,000 Assyrians during the night.

What also impressed me, besides his astounding faith, was the fact that his father had been such an evil king, even sacrificing his sons to Molech. Yet scripture says that Hezekiah began his religious reforms in the first month of the first year of his reign. How did such an ungodly father produce such a godly son? Where did Hezekiah’s faith come from? I started writing his story to try to answer that question.

At first, I didn’t want to write about Hezekiah’s son Manasseh at all. After all of the reforms Hezekiah made and all the good he had done, along came his evil son and led the nation right back into idolatry. It was too heartbreaking to even consider, even though scripture said that Manasseh repented in later years and returned to God.

Then, in the course of my research on Hezekiah, I came across a Jewish Midrash about Manasseh. (A Midrash is a non-Biblical oral tradition that has been handed down through the centuries.) The story said that Manasseh had been so thoroughly evil, that when he began to pray for forgiveness, the heavenly host closed all the windows and doors of heaven so his prayer wouldn’t reach God. But God opened a hole beneath His throne of grace to receive Manasseh’s prayer so that people throughout all time would know that no one is beyond the reach of His love and mercy. After reading that story, I knew that I had to write about Manasseh, too.

When I read the Old Testament (which I love to do) it comes to life for me in 3-D. I see it almost like a film, inside my head, and my imagination begins filling in all the “holes” in the story. For years, I thought everyone read Scripture this way. Then I found out that many people find the Old Testament boring, and can barely struggle through it. That’s when I decided that I wanted to write some of these stories the way I “see” them and bring the Bible to life for others the way it comes to life for me.

Jill: Oh, me too! I LOVE the Old Testament, and as I read it I feel like I'm there and I "see" the landscape and the people and sometimes I can hear them talking and smell the food cooking. There are SO many amazing stories there.

When you set out to write a Biblical novel, what steps do you take to research the story?

Lynn: When I started to write this series, the very first thing I did was read and re-read the Biblical accounts endlessly until I had them memorized. There are quite a few scriptures that refer to these kings and the times of their reign including information from the prophets. From these passages, I outlined the entire story and let that serve as my book outline.

Next, I read every commentary I could find on those books of the Bible and the passages of scripture that I had already found. I wanted to know what every commentator had to say about these Biblical passages. As I read, I found that the story and characters were already coming to life in my imagination and I was imagining various scenes. I added these scene descriptions to my outline.

By this point, I knew that I had to research other historical books and reference materials to fill in the blanks on the culture of the times. I had access to a seminary library at the time, which helped a great deal. In 1989 I had the opportunity to travel to Israel and take a course in Biblical Backgrounds and Archaeology, and I spent a month there, volunteering on an archaeological dig. I also walked through Hezekiah’s tunnel, still intact beneath Jerusalem. On the way home from Israel, I spent time in London at the British Museum which has one of the finest Assyrian collections in the world.

But no matter how much I learned, I always made sure that my primary source was the story that is presented in Scripture.

Jill: An archaeological dig sounds amazing! The closest thing I've gotten to one is Biblical Archaeological Review magazine. But minus the trip to Israel, we research much the same way.

Some Biblical stories say very little about the characters and even the plot leaves many holes, giving the Biblical novelist much room to fill in the blanks. But others give us much detail, and we know how the story ends. How do you weave the tale so that it doesn’t come across predictable?

Lynn: I found that very few people actually knew the story of King Hezekiah. Even fewer knew about King Ahaz and King Manasseh, so the suspense was relatively easy to maintain. One of the reasons why I chose Hezekiah was because I felt that he wasn’t given “credit” for the astounding faith that he exhibited. Most people, if they are familiar with him at all, remember him for his downfall of pride. But the story as presented in Scripture, is told out of sequence. His prideful “downfall” occurred before the Assyrian invasion—and probably contributed to it. He obviously grew in faith from that experience and was able to trust God completely when the Assyrians attacked.

When I outlined the story as told in scripture, the plot was quite complete, and enough detail was given to provide a complete story. I filled in the blanks with sub-plots involving secondary characters.

As for predictability, I was told by one publisher that the reason people don’t read Biblical fiction is because they already know how the story will end. I didn’t let that deter me. In each novel, I’ve also created minor characters and sub-plots that aren’t from Scripture so that an element of suspense remains. Readers might know how the big story ends, but they will keep reading to see how all of the other stories are resolved.

Jill: In the general market there are a number of Biblical novels written from what I call a “revisionist” point of view. These writers use the Scriptures as a backbone for their story but have no problem revising the traditional Biblical view of the characters. As a Biblical novelist, what is your opinion of revisionist Biblical writing? From a critic’s point of view, isn’t one opinion as good as another in how these characters are seen?

Lynn: I probably wouldn’t read Biblical fiction from a “revisionist” point of view. Many revisionists have an agenda or a point of view about Scripture that they want to promote, and they revise the traditional interpretation of these stories to fit that agenda. In terms of literary criticism, I agree that each author is entitled to his own opinion. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that I agree with that opinion—or that I want to read an entire novel based on it.

Every novelist—Christian or secular—writes from his own worldview. We can’t help it. My Biblical novels are based on my view of Scripture—and I happen to believe the traditional view. In fact, when I was researching my novels, I discovered that other historical reference books, as well as the archaeological evidence I unearthed, support the traditional interpretation of Scripture. For instance, the great miracle in Hezekiah’s time when the Assyrian army was destroyed during the night is collaborated by the Greek historian Herodotus—and by the curious silence about further conquests in the Assyrians’ own historical records. The reason the view is “traditional” is because the historical evidence supports it.

Jill: On the other hand, Christian Biblical fiction most often portrays the Biblical story in what I consider an “apologist” fashion, staying true to the Scripture where the Scripture speaks and only offering what might have been where the Bible is silent. In your opinion, how hard is it to keep to the text, yet weave in enough conflict to keep the story interesting?

Lynn: Again, this is where the use of fictitious secondary characters and sub-plots come in handy. Woven into the Scriptural story, they can provide on-going conflict and keep the story interesting. I also use sub-plots to explain historical details that aren’t provided in Scripture but that enhance our understanding of it. For instance, the Bible doesn’t tell us how horrifically brutal the Assyrians were. I used a sub-plot in my second book in which the Assyrians took a woman captive, to demonstrate how violent and cruel these warriors were. By the time they surround Jerusalem in the third book, readers should be trembling with fear along with King Hezekiah and everyone else. (By the way, I would have run the other way, too, if I had been Jonah and God had told me to preach to the Assyrians!)

The other way I try to stay true to Scripture yet weave in conflict is by delving into my characters’ motivations. For example, Scripture says that King Ahaz ordered his high priest, Uriah, to shove God’s altar aside and build an Assyrian altar in its place. And Uriah obeyed. I wondered why he would do such a thing. I decided to weave in a fictitious background story about Uriah’s life that provided a possible motivation for his actions. But I first studied real-life people who were once in positions of trust, to learn why they had compromised their beliefs. It so happened that at the time that I was doing my research, a prominent denomination was wrestling over the issue of staying with tradition versus adapting to the changing times, and I was able to use all of their arguments—pro and con—in Uriah’s story.

Thank you Lynn! Join us tomorrow for part two of our interview! And don't forget to leave a comment to win a copy of Lynn's first book Gods & Kings about King Hezekiah. I read this book when it was published by Lynn's first publisher - even read it to my kids as part of our historical reading for homeschooling. I promise you, it is some of the best Biblical fiction you will ever read!

Until tomorrow...

And the Winner Is ... Drumroll, Please!

The lucky winner of our drawing for a free copy of Deeanne Gist’s A Bride most Begrudging is… Karen Wevick! Congratulations, Karen!! I’ll have Bride on the way to you in a couple of days. I know you’re going to enjoy it!

Thank you to everyone who posted a comment this week! I enjoyed our dialog.

Special Announcment

Next month, if all goes well, we’re going to start featuring regular weekly columns. More details will follow in the next couple of weeks. One feature we’re planning is “Ask Us Anything,” in which Tiff/Amber Miller will answer your questions about all things related to historical fiction. To submit your burning questions, please e-mail Tiff directly at askhfblog@ambermiller.com. She will research your question and bring us the answer the following week.

That’s all for now. Jill and Beth are up next week, so be sure to come on by and find out what they have in store!

Review: Loving Liza Jane

Loving Liza Jane, the forthcoming new novel by Sharlene MacLaren, follows 21-year-old Eliza Jane Meriwether from Boston to Little Hickman, Kentucky, in the year 1895. Naïve, but full of confidence and zeal, Eliza will assume the job as Little Hickman’s schoolteacher.

But when she first rides into town on a ramshackle buckboard, her initial thought is, “Oh, Lord, what have I done?” Kentucky is nothing like her native Boston. Will she ever grow accustomed to its rolling hills and wide open spaces, not to mention the lack of modern conveniences?

Although filled with doubts, she is convinced God has led her to this point, and soon the new schoolteacher is beloved by all, including Benjamin Broughton, a handsome widower with two young children. The trouble is that her contract implicitly states, “marriage or any other unseemly behavior by women teachers is improper and will thereby result in immediate dismissal.”

Liza has a lot to learn about God’s perfect plan for her life.

My Review

I love this author’s writing style and enjoyed her first book. When I first received Loving Liza Jane I thought it would be just another prairie romance novel. Typical characters ... Attractive, single, schoolmarm, and hunky widower with young children who is suddenly in need of a wife. However, this was not the typical story at all, and though it contained the basic sketch of characters, it strayed from the usual outline. I enjoyed the variation from typical plot scenarios and experienced more than a few surprises in this one!

The author made this novel shine and I love the author’s voice. She uses metaphors and similes with finesse—not to many and not too often—and they enhanced the story even more. Ben is the ultimate hero, and Liza, the ideal, strong heroine. They had flaws, but lovable ones. The romantic tension between them was divine, and thankfully it wasn’t one of those one-kiss-at-the-end stories. This one sizzled! I loved all of it.

While tastefully done, the first kiss was too-die-for, and the subsequent ones perfectly orchestrated to enhance the plot. The child characters and bullies were very believable. I also enjoyed the spiritual arc. The hero starts out the spiritually strong one, but the heroine quickly overtakes him in the faith department as the Lord stretches her through her trials. Wonderful story! I can’t wait for the sequel!

Loving Liza Jane is published by Whitaker House and will be released in April 3, 2007.

Michelle Sutton (pen name)
“writing truth into fiction”
ACFW Volunteer Officer - voloff@acfw.com
writer/book reviewer - check out my latest reviews! http://edgyinspirationalauthor.blogspot.com
http://www.michellesutton.net

Be sure to watch for my interview with the author of Loving Liza Jane, Sharlene Maclaren, coming up in February.

Later this afternoon, I’ll post the results of this week’s drawing for a free copy of Deeanne Gist’s A Bride most Begrudging. You still have a chance to enter by posting a comment, so jump in and let us know what form of the historical you write or enjoy reading the most. And be sure to stop by later to find out if you’re the lucky winner!

Breathing Life into the Past

Okay, so I lied! Our reviewer extraordinaire, Michelle Sutton, had some unexpected zig-zags pop up in her week, so instead of a book review, today I'm going to delve into the different forms of the historical novel. Hopefully we'll be able to bring you Michelle's review tomorrow.

In mulling over topics for today’s post, I started thinking about the different historical novels I’ve written over the years. And it occurred to me that there are three different ways to write a historical. (There could always be more, but none occur to me at the moment.) The first novel I wrote (still unpublished), entitled Falkenberg, was a medieval epic tragedy, i.e., the main characters were all dead at the end, a la Hamlet. In fact, I was deep into Shakespeare’s tragedies at the time, and they served as the model for my plot structure.

Although Falkenberg is set in thirteenth-century Europe, the action takes place in the fictional kingdom of Sehnthal, which I located below the Jura Mountains and between France, what is now Germany, and Switzerland. The characters are completely made up by moi, as is their world. There is little reference to any real kingdoms, people, and world events of the time. I researched the period very carefully, and the details of my characters lives are solidly grounded in the actual thirteenth-century European social, political, and religious culture. But everyone and everything that happens in the story is purely a product of my fertile imagination.

This story was immense amounts of fun to write. I created detailed genealogies for my characters as well as complete histories for these ancestors, wrote sonnets and epic songs for my troubadours, and created an entire, complex world full of kings and princes, knights and ladies, romance, passion, intrigue, adventure, and peril. I felt like God. LOL! This kind of novel is probably the easiest to write and is, I'd guess, the most popular form of the historical novel.

The first two books of my American Patriot Series, Daughter of Liberty and Native Son, however, are quite different. This time the actual people and events of the American Revolution became the basis, the core, of my story. I then created fictional characters and set them down in the middle of the historical people, places, and events of the time. My fictional characters live and travel through a variety of settings that are as accurate to the real places of the Revolution as I can make them. They interact with the real political and military movers and shakers as well as with the more humble folk who actually lived at the time and were involved in one way or another in the events that created our nation. My characters don’t just watch these things happening—they actively participate in them as they occur so that readers, in effect, become eyewitnesses to the Revolution. Needless to say, this series is requiring considerably more intensive research and much more careful plotting than Falkenberg did.

Last summer, my cousin, author Bob Hostetler, and I met for the first time and discovered that we both were toying with the idea of writing a fictional account of our ancestors’ story. Amish Mennonites who came to this country in 1738 seeking freedom to live according to their religious convictions, they settled on the borderlands between the white settlements and Indian territory. They were pacifists, and in an ironic twist of fate their home was attacked by a band of Indians during the French and Indian War. Because they refused to take up guns to kill, three members of the family were killed and scalped, and the three survivors were carried off into Indian captivity, returning years later.

After talking, Bob and I decided to join forces on this massive project, which we’ve entitled Northkill for the name of both the creek along which the massacre took place and the Amish congregation our ancestors were a part of. We are very fortunate to have a considerable amount of research material to work with. In 1911, the 1,200 page Descendents of Jacob Hochstetler (DJH), well known in genealogical circles, was first published. It included not only an extensive genealogy of our family, but also a brief history of the Amish and Mennonites and a more detailed account of our ancestors’ story, compiled from research materials available at the time as well as stories that had been passed down by family members.

However, there are pitfalls to anecdotal material like this. Stories handed down through the years and through multiple voices tend to mutate quite a bit from the original facts. Thankfully, our family also has an organization, the Jacob Hochstetler Family Association, which includes members who continue to research the story of our ancestors. They have published a number of corrections to the DJH as well as intriguing additional details gleaned from sources such as the Pennsylvania Archives, which are helping us to keep Northkill as close to the real people and events as possible.

A fictionalized account of a true story is the most difficult form of the historical novel to write, I’m discovering. Because this story is very well known among the Amish and Mennonites and is important to so many people, especially to the members of our extensive Hochstetler family, Bob and I are committed to doing the best job possible in bringing our ancestors to life and giving a true account of their experiences. For one thing, we don’t want to incur the wrath of our relatives if we make a hash of this!

While many details of the story are known, such as the site of our ancestors’ farm on the Northkill Creek where the massacre took place; an approximation of what their house, barn, and other outbuildings looked like; how the attack played out; where the survivors were taken by the Indians and roughly when they were returned, other details are not so easy to discover. The humble details of daily life are rarely recorded, and so we are left with many questions as we try to capture their story. What were their marriage, birth, and death customs? What were their worship services like? How different was the German dialect they spoke from what is spoken today.

For one thing, we can’t be certain how the Amish of that time and place dressed. I’ve had to do a lot of guesswork there. The idea that Amish dress has remained virtually the same since the sixteenth century was very quickly dispelled through my initial research. Despite their plain lifestyle, costume, customs, and even dialect have undergone a gradual, but noticeable shift over the centuries, as is to be expected. The trouble is, nobody thought to take notes as changes took place!

Just one of the problems we encountered up front was the fact that the name of our ancestor’s wife had never been recorded, as women’s names frequently were not. Their infant daughter, who, with her mother, was also one of the victims of the massacre also remained unnamed. So we had to do some digging and speculating to come up with the most likely name for each of them. And once we found those names, it was as if we had breathed life into this mother and her baby and had again given them a voice after all these years. That has been the most gratifying part of this project—to finally see them emerge from the shadows of the past to tell their own stories.

To be honest, that’s really why I love writing historicals. What other work gives you the opportunity to recapture long-forgotten people and places of the past and breathe life into them so they can share their stories with readers of today and into the future. That is a delight I will never grow tired of.

Be sure to post a comment today to be entered into tomorrow's drawing for a copy of Deeanne Gist's A Bride Most Begrudging. And tomorrow, if all goes well, we'll have that review of Sharlene Maclaren's forthcoming novel, Loving Liza Jane. If not, then I'll have another topic for us to talk about!

Fixing the Calendar

In spite of the addition of regular leap years, the calendar established by Julius Caesar overestimated the length of a year by 11 minutes and 15 seconds. The result was the addition of a full day every 128 years. By the sixteenth century it had accumulated an error of 10 full days, and a fix couldn’t be put off much longer.

By now the Roman Empire was history, so to speak, and the calendar issue was dropped in the lap of Pope Gregory XIII. In 1582 he decreed that the calendar be reformed by removing the excess minutes from the year, along with the 10 extra days that had piled up. Pope Gregory carried over the order of months and number of days per month from the Julian calendar, but a year would now be 365 days, with an extra day being added every 4 years, or leap year. The Roman Catholic nations of Europe fell in line quickly in adopting this system, called the Gregorian calendar.

Europe’s Protestant nations, along with the Eastern Orthodox Church, however, had other ideas. The Catholic pope wasn’t going to tell them what to do, and they stuck with the Julian calendar. That put London 10 days ahead of Paris. Protestant and Orthodox believers celebrated Christmas 13 days later than did Catholics, on the equivalent of the Julian calendar’s January 6. In fact, in some parts of Great Britain people still call that date Old Christmas Day. England also continued to celebrate New Year’s Day on March 25th instead of on the new date of January 1. Imagine what this did for business.

The result was that by 1751 England was eleven days ahead of the Continent. The situation had become so confusing that Parliament gave in to the inevitable and passed the Calendar Act to try to get back in step with the rest of the world. In an exquisitely simple maneuver, they decreed that in England and her colonies the day following September 2, 1752, would become September 14. Astonishingly, this was too difficult for many people to comprehend. They believed that the government had actually stolen 11 days from their lives, and riots broke out as the uninformed demanded that the government return their 11 days!

Although the original purpose of the Gregorian calendar was to regulate the ceremonial cycle of Christian churches, today it also serves as the international standard for civil affairs. Years are counted from the initial epoch defined by Dionysius Exiguus, a sixth-century scholar, beginning with the assumed birth of Christ—which today we know to be in error—and are divided into two classes: common years and leap years. Common years are 365 days in length. Leap years are 366 days, with February 29 inserted before March 1. Every year that can be divided by 4 is a leap year … xcept for years that can be exactly divided by 100, which are leap years only if they can be exactly divided by 400. For example, the year 2000 is a leap year, while 1900 and 2100 are not. Clear, isn’t it? I thought so.

Bede, an eighth-century English historian, is the one who began the practice of counting years backward from the year AD 1 to account for time before the birth of Jesus. The year AD 1 is preceded by the year 1 BC, without an intervening year 0. That caused all sorts of trouble for astronomers, but they came up with a solution that’s beyond our interest here. However, it should be noted that the Gregorian calendar accumulates an error of one day in roughly 2,500 years. That’s going to cause problems one of these days, but at this point, no one is doing anything about it.

Today there are approximately forty different calendars in use around the world, divided into three distinct types. A solar calendar, like the Gregorian calendar, is designed to synchronize with what is called the tropical year, and days are regularly added to correct accumulated errors. A lunar calendar, like the Islamic calendar, strictly follows the lunar phase cycle, with the result that its months continue to shift in relation to the Gregorian calendar. Lunisolar calendars, like the Hebrew and Chinese calendars, base months on the lunar phase cycle, but insert an entire month every few years to correct their built-in error.

As long as we’re talking about sun and moon cycles, let’s assume you have a romantic scene going, your handsome hero and beautiful heroine are in a clinch gazing longingly at each other, drenched by silvery light of a full moon, their hair blowing in the warm breezes of that white sand beach in Key West on New Year’s Day, and he bends to her and their lips draw closer and….

Hold it! Come to think of it, would there have been a full moon on New Year’s day in the year your story takes place? And if there was, would it have been high in the sky at that exact hour? ACK! Before you can complete your scene, you have to find out what phase the moon was in on the night in question as well as when it would appear to rise and set in Key West.

If you’re obsessive about making sure every detail in your story is accurate and you haven’t already discovered these sites for calculating the phases of the moon and the position of the sun on a specific date and time, here are the two best sites I’ve found for digging up historical data. For that matter, for all you sci-fi folks, it would also work for the future—but only for earth.

The US Naval Observatory offers a wealth of information about all things celestial. Click on Complete Sun and Moon to look up historical as well as contemporary and future dates.

The NASA Eclipse Home Page gives a readout of moon phases beginning in 1701.

Well, that’s all for today. Don’t forget to post your comments to be entered in this week’s drawing for a free copy of Deeanne Gist’s A Bride most Begrudging. And be sure to stop by again tomorrow for Michelle Sutton’s review of Loving Liza Jane by Sharlene Maclaren, due in bookstores in April.

Figuring out Time: The History of Calendars

We all know that George Washington was born on February 22, 1732, right? That’s what we learned in school, and that’s what the majority of texts about Washington tell us. You might be surprised to learn that the truth is slightly different.

February 22 is indeed Washington’s birthday … if you’re using the Gregorian calendar, which is the way we measure time today. But on the day Washington was actually born, the English—and thus the American colonists—were still using the Julian calendar. Consequently, when the future commander in chief of the American Army and our first United States president made his debut in the world, the calendar actually read February 11.

Let’s take a brief overview of calendars through the ages. What is a calendar? Simply put, it's a system of organizing and measuring months, days, and years. Days are based on the length of time it takes for our earth to make one complete rotation on its axis. Months are based on how long it takes for the moon to revolve around the earth. And years are based on the length of time it takes for earth to make a complete circuit around the sun. The problem is that not only do these astronomical cycles have slight variations in length, but they also don’t exactly line up with each other. That makes it impossible to come up with a formula for calculating a calendar that is completely accurate. Every calendar humans devise needs regular tweaking to keep these built-in errors from accumulating over time.


If you’re like me, well before New Year’s day, you were already searching avidly for just the right calendars for your office and home. I couldn’t function without my Daytimer. In addition to our clocks, we all depend on calendars to keep our lives organized. Not only are calendars important for helping us keep a grip on our personal business, but they also provide the basis for agricultural planning; predicting solar and lunar events such as eclipses; determining when the seasons change; and maintaining cycles of civil and religious events.

Our ancestors had many of the same needs and concerns. Throughout human existence, the sun, moon, planets, and stars have been important reference points for measuring the passage of time. From ancient times, civilizations have depended on the perceived motion of celestial bodies through the sky to determine seasons, months, and years. Although we don’t know much about how the earliest humans calculated time, ancient records and artifacts show that people have always measured and recorded the passage of time.

Over 20,000 years ago Ice Age hunters in Europe carved lines and holes in sticks and bones that modern researchers believe may calculate the days between phases of the moon. Five thousand years ago, Sumerians in the Tigris-Euphrates valley in modern-day Iraq devised a calendar that divided the year into thirty-day months, divided days into 12 periods, each corresponding to 2 of our hours, and then divided these periods into 30 parts that correspond to 4 of our minutes. The alignment of the massive stones at Stonehenge, which was built over 4000 years ago in England, strongly indicates that this ancient formation was used to determine seasonal or celestial events, such as lunar eclipses and solstices.

The earliest Egyptian calendar was based on the moon’s cycles. Later Egyptians, however, determined that the “Dog Star” in Canis Major, now called Sirius, rose next to the sun every 365 days, roughly at the same time the annual flooding of the Nile began. They used this discovery to establish a 365-day calendar that appears to have begun in 4236 BC, the earliest recorded year in history.

Before 2000 BC, Babylonia, which covered a part of modern-day Iraq, observed a year of 12 alternating 29-day and 30-day lunar months, which resulted in a 354-day year. The Mayans of Central America, who flourished from around 2000 BC until about 1500 AD, relied not only on the sun and moon, but also on the planet Venus, to calculate 260-day and 365-day calendars like the one above. According to Mayan records, they believed that the creation of the world occurred in 3113 BC. The great Aztec civilization that followed incorporated Mayan calendars into their own calendar stones, one of which is shown in the image below right.

The ancient Romans used a lunar calendar, a system that is highly inaccurate. On the advice of his astronomers, Julius Caesar established a sun-based calendar and decreed that one year would consist of 365 and a quarter days, divided between 12 months. The Romans renamed the month of Quirinus July to commemorate his reform. This Julian calendar continued in common use up until it was replaced by the Gregorian calendar.

We have a slight change of order on this week’s posts. Tomorrow I’m going to delve into how the Gregorian calendar we use today was developed. I’ll also include links to several sites where you can find historical sun and moon data. I’ve found these sites to be particularly helpful whenever I set a scene on a specific date and time and want to describe the moon or show when the sun rises or sets.

Then on Thursday we’ll have Michelle Sutton’s review of Loving Liza Jane by Sharlene Maclaren, which will hit bookstore shelves in April. Michelle is still reading it, so you’re going to get it hot off the press! Friday ... well, it's still up for grabs.

As always, be sure to get in on the action! Post a comment, and you’ll be entered in Friday’s drawing for a free copy of Deeanne Gist’s A Bride most Begrudging.

Sparking Your Historical Muse

The rhythmic pounding of drums, the silvery click-click of rattles, and the ethereal, high-pitched piping of flutes had my blood pulsing to a primal beat, transporting me far away in time and space to Ohio Territory in 1776, among the embattled Shawnee. Draped in the fresh pelt of a great, grey wolf, the shaman, Wolfslayer, was leading his followers in a hypnotic dance to seek a new vision from their god Moneto. Meanwhile, my hero White Eagle watched from the shadows, brooding over his adversary’s designs to wrest leadership of the tribe from him.

Sounds like a mystical experience, doesn’t it? In a way it was. That morning I was weaving my Mini around Highway 70’s tight curves below sheer rock cliffs along the Harpeth River, heading west to my office in Nashville, Tennessee. Mentally and emotionally, however, I was in a scene in Wind of the Spirit, book 3 of my American Revolutionary War series. I could see it unfold in my mind’s eye, and I groped for my trusty digital voice recorder to capture the vision before it could melt away.

Do you ever use music as a sort of muse to spark your imagination? I suspect many of us do, perhaps casually, as is the usual case for me—or perhaps intentionally, as I’m finding myself doing more and more. They say music has power to tame the savage beast. I’m discovering it also has power to bring scenes in my stories to vivid life. As a result, I’m putting the CDs I’ve collected over the years to a use I never intended when I bought them.

For example, back in December I was looking for a CD of colonial Christmas music, and on Amazon I found Sing We Merrily: A Colonial Christmas. The first time I listened to it, I immediately came up with a scene that will take place near the end of Wind of the Spirit. Following a separation of almost a year and a half, my heroine, Elizabeth Howard, has found her beloved, Jonathan Carleton, among the Shawnee in Ohio Territory. She brings him back to rejoin Washington’s army, and on Christmas Eve they find the bedraggled colonials encamped just across the Delaware River from Trenton, New Jersey, where they have been pushed by British General Howe’s forces after being driven out of New York City.

Ragged, hungry, without supplies, the badly mauled and outnumbered remnant of Washington’s battered brigade huddles around meager, smoky campfires all across the snowy Pennsylvania fields during that bleak night. For many, their enlistments end New Year’s Day, and regardless of their commander’s pleas, most intend to give up the struggle and return home, effectively breaking the back of the rebellion. Now, at their darkest hour, a soldier at one of the campfires impulsively begins to sing. And one by one, his fellows join in.

A virgin unspotted by Prophet foretold,
Should bring forth a Saviour which now we behold,
To be our Redeemer from death, hell, and sin,
Which Adam’s transgressions involved us in.

Then let us be merry, put sorrow away,
Our Saviour, Christ Jesus, was born on this day.
Then let us be merry, put sorrow away,
Our Saviour, Christ Jesus, was born on this day …

As yet unknown to them, the following night Washington will lead them across the ice-clogged Delaware on a desperate gamble to attack the Hessian outpost at Trenton in the teeth of a nor’easter the like of which few had ever experienced. Two men will freeze to death in their tracks while waiting to board the Durham boats ferrying them across the Delaware. Raked by gale-driven sleet, snow, and hail, the troops stumble through snowdrifts, many with bloody feet bound in strips of rags. But the morning of December 26, 1776, against all odds, they win an astounding victory over the formidable Hessian troops. As a result, many who had planned to abandon the cause will choose, instead, to reenlist and hang in there with Washington for a little while longer, thus saving the rebellion for another year.

If you haven’t yet discovered the power of music to practically write scenes for you, start to think about what songs or genres of music would fit with the stories you’re writing. What kind of music does your hero/heroine love or dislike? What kind of music would your characters commonly hear being played around them as they go about their daily lives? What hymns are sung at their church services? I know my buddy Lori has been checking out spirituals for her family saga set in 1790s North Carolina, and I think she’s even writing one for her characters to sing. Now that’s exciting!

Over the years, I’ve collected a rather eclectic mix of music CDs, and I often play one or another while I’m taking that one-hour drive from my home to my office in Nashville and back again. Offhand, I don’t know how many scenes I’ve written as a result, but there have been several. Just a few of the CDs in my collection are Mesa Sunrise and Ancient Canyons, modern Native American music by John Huling that has inspired more than one scene in Wind of the Spirit; Colonial and Revolution Songs by Keith and Rusty McNeil; a number of CDs of medieval carols and motets, chant and polyphony by Anonymous 4, which will enliven my medieval epic tragedy once I get back to it; Elohim, modern Jewish worship music—who knows what story that might spark; classical music from several different eras; 4 CDs of popular WWII songs that are giving me lots of fodder for my WWII era Mennonite romance; and country (for my Nashville-based music industry-centered contemporary romance), gospel, and contemporary music in a variety of genres from the 1950s to today that harbor endless possibilities. I’m even tinkering with a story based on Randy Travis’ award-winning song “Three Wooden Crosses.”

Searches on the Internet, including on retail sites like Amazon, yield all sorts of fascinating and helpful music as well as information that can lead you further. Don’t overlook this rich source of inspiration and creativity!

This is shaping up to be an eclectic week as far as topics are concerned. I’m going to hop around a bit. Tomorrow I plan to dip into a subject that’s especially appropriate for the beginning of the New Year: the history of our calendar. Do you know what our calendar is called? How did our calendar develop? How old is it? What calendar was in use before the one we’re using today? Does everyone use the same calendar? I’ve come up with lots of fascinating information on the subject, so be sure to drop by tomorrow.

On Wednesday, reviewer extraordinaire Michelle Sutton is going to share a sneak peek at Loving Liza Jane, an excellent historical romance coming out in April. I’m working on getting an interview with the author for next month, so keep watching for that.

Thursday and Friday are up for grabs, i.e., I haven’t definitely decided on topics yet. If you’ve been harboring a question or idea you’d like to see covered, post it in a comment, and I’ll consider it for our discussion.

If you post a comment this week, you'll automatically be entered in the drawing to win a copy of Deeanne Gist's A Bride most Begrudging. The lucky winner is going to be in for a treat, so be sure to jump into our dialog. See you tomorrow!

The 3 R's -- Research, Reading and (W)riting

It's funny when I think back to my school days and the teacher would stand at the front of the room, getting ready to deliver the dreaded assignment...

Research Paper

Oh no! Anything but that! For me, however, it was exciting, because I knew I'd get to learn something I never knew before and get to explore the pages of the books I'd be using. All right, so I was weird and far from "average" as students go. Still, school never really challenged me, and I made the best of what they assigned. Earning high marks came easy, and I confess that I too often took it for granted.

With just a little bit of information, I could let my creative juices go to work and craft the details of a story without ever having set foot anywhere near the setting of the story I'm writing. Readers would often comment on how "real" I made it feel, how they felt like there were right there. Even those readers who had actually been to the places I described asked me if I'd ever visited.

For my books, however, the reality didn't come so easily. :) Stories could be crafted without all the detail. A book requires to much more. Depth and development of the big picture as well as the little pieces that pull it all together meant I had to spend a lot more time digging into the background, the culture, the day-to-day lives of those who lived during the setting of my books, etc. And for that, I needed resources.

With this set of books, that meant a trip to the Historical Society of Delaware and the Research Library next door. It meant multiple visits to the town that was, at the time, the capital of Delaware, to take pictures, walk the cobblestone streets, gain a perspective of life as it might have been lived during Colonial times. It meant attending what's called "Colonial Days" where the town comes alive with reenactors and guides, and the homes/shops open their doors to give you a glimpse of life 250 years ago. It also meant spending time with the research librarians and coordinators, asking questions, seeking information, and recording what I'd learned.

By far, the most fun I had was writing a letter to the current owners of the house I used as the setting for the 3 books in this series. The home is what inspired me to write the first book and the idea caught the attention of the editor who ended up reviewing my manuscript and giving it the recommendation that led to the sale. This home has a sign by the driveway (circa 1740). I drive by this house several times a week. One day, I saw that and stopped. The ideas started flowing, and wouldn't let me brush them aside.

When I received a reply and an invitation to visit, I had to be pulled down from the clouds. The tour, the information, the ambiance. All of it transported me back to 1740 when the home was first built, wondering at all that had happened in almost 300 years. The phrase "if these walls could speak" took on new meaning for me. Oh, the stories they could tell.

From that day on, I was determined to tell that story...even if I had to take a little creative license to do it. *winks* Along with this house came the desire to shine the light on Delaware's significance during Colonial times and give Colonial Williamsburg a run for its money. :) They think they're such hot stuff, they've even used the "history.org" domain, as if they're the be-all and end-all of history.

Seriously, though, that's a fantastic resource for everything and anything Colonial -- from teacher and student resources, to books, to activities, to planning a visit and so much more.

Have you been there? If so, share your thoughts with us in the comments.

Thanks so much for sticking with us this week and sharing your comments as well as your time. I hope Kaye and I managed to broaden your minds a bit and entice you to look at things from all sides before forming an assumption...especially when it comes to history.

Getting Original and Critical with Research

As I read Tiff’s post yesterday, I had to laugh at my own reaction to it. She wrote:

“Britain was causing unrest amongst the American colonists due to what colonists termed ‘unfair taxes’; many colonists began seeking a better way of life separate from British rule; Britain tried maintaining a hold on their colonies while fighting against the French for greater control of this 'new world' land…”

My immediate reaction was to come to the defense of the British; after all, they were engaged in a war with France at a dear cost—in lives and in gold. They saw the New World as a source of new natural resources, which were, even in the 18th century, beginning to run low in the British Isles. They were losing young men by the scores and hundreds as younger sons made their way west across the Atlantic to make their fortunes—if they stayed in England, their choices were limited; and with the conflict with France escalating, most faced entering the army or navy (or being pressed into service) and being sent to war. I could go on about how those in England felt it was only right that the British subjects living in North America should also help support the war effort by funding it . . . but I think you see the point we’ve been trying to make this week.

Because most of my research has focused on the Regency/Napoleonic era of British history, I have been fascinated by how little “play” the War of 1812 got from the popular authors of the time in their stories and novels. My novel begins the summer of 1814, shortly after Boneparte’s abdication in April. Most of the Royal Navy has been recalled to England, the officers and sailors dismissed to civilian life. There is an air of celebration throughout the country—finally, after decades’ continual conflict with France, the war is over. As someone in the 21st Century, I know this peace is to be short-lived, but I have to remember that my characters had no prescience of Boneparte’s impending escape from Elba and the final culminating battle at Waterloo. (Again, getting myself into the headspace of my characters at the moment in time I have placed them.)

I have, unlike Jane Austen, brought the American war into my novel. In one conversation about the “other” conflict, my heroine remarks she is glad of the blockade of American ports—especially those in the Gulf of Mexico—as it has kept sugar from Louisiana from getting to market, lowering the supply when the demand was ever increasing and driving up the price, which benefits her family’s sugar plantation in Jamaica. And yet she can also sympathize with those sugar growers whose crops are rotting in the fields because they have no way to get their product to market, because of the fear of something like that happening to her.

So, how do we get into the mindset of our characters at a given time and cultural setting in history?

The absolute best way is to read books and periodicals published in that time and place (I know, this is hard to do the further back you go in history). For centuries, people kept diaries or journals, recording everything from how many eggs were gathered that day to important historical events. After the 15th or 16th Century, when printed materials started to proliferate, newspapers came into existence and more and more books were published. Although difficult to read, original source materials are the best resource for understanding the people of a historic era.

Another source to help us in understanding an era is to read literary criticism of the works published during our time periods. Academics who have studied the literature can offer insights to some of the tiny details we might miss because we do not have the cultural background to pick up on them. As an undergrad, I did quite a bit of critical work on Jane Austen’s novels, focusing mainly on the themes of wealth and social status. Most of my work was researching the historic context: what were the laws of inheritance, the value of the Pound, the meaning of being a landowner versus a merchant or even a barrister, why were men’s fortunes given in annual figures while women’s in total sums? While I did turn to a few history texts, most of my information came from critical essays about her novels which explained these topics using examples from the stories and making the concepts that much easier to understand.

Because there are not a lot of local resources in Nashville for British history, I do much of my research online. One of the tricks I’ve learned when doing a websearch is to include “.uk” in my search so that it brings up websites originating in Britian. That way, I am more likely to get sites written from the British perspective.

For even more information on places I’ve found source material for research, see the entry I posted in October 2006: Favorite PASTimes: Getting Creative with Research.

What are some of your favorite sources for research? Some of the most unique resources you've found?