Author Archives: BoamtiT14

Writing and Resolving

Have a Great 2017

As a new year approaches, I find that–like always–I will not be making any New Year’s resolutions. I’m firmly in the camp that believes failing at them is more discouraging than keeping them would be encouraging, so I don’t bother. However, writing resolutions are another matter.

If you’re writing for money, you have a business. It’s only sensible to have a business plan. You may not be able to write goals like: sell so many articles each month, earn “X” amount of money, or other similar wishes that writers have no control over. There’s not much you can do to make editors accept your proposals or give you go-aheads on your timetable–anyone who’s waited months for an acceptance on a book knows better than that. But you can create goals in areas where you do have a certain amount of control.

When I was a freelance magazine writer, I made it a goal to always have two dozen queries circulating. I had no problem generating article ideas, and I knew that I was bound to get a certain number of rejections. Editors aren’t always prompt, either, so I knew that the odds of my getting ten article go-aheads all at once were basically nil. The great thing about this goal, though, was that I always had a big dose of hope out there in the void where great ideas circulate and look for homes. No matter how many rejections I got, no matter how long it took for answers, I always knew that I had over 20 possibilities out there waiting on me.

I suggest that you take a look at your own writing dreams and start generating resolutions that will help you reach them. Make resolutions only in areas where the outcome is solely up to you. Just knowing that you have a plan you can execute can be enormously encouraging and motivating–and in this business, we need to do all that we can to keep the excitement stirred up.

Happy New Year!

Writing Advice that Misses the Mark

Attendees at an Association of Writers & Writing Programs Conference

When I first began writing as a career, I turned for advice and inspiration to the many professional magazines available to writers. Though their practical content usually kept me motivated as I endured the pain of a creative career, I sometimes found their motivational material a bit over the top.

I remember reading solemn advice (or warnings) from successful writers along the lines of “writing has to be the most important thing in the world to you” or “you have to put writing first–before anything else.” One writer went so far as to say, “writing has to be as important to you as breathing.” This sounds good, but oh, it is such dangerous advice.

Unless you’re the one-in-a-million writer who hits the bestseller list, makes a lot of money, or at least becomes well-known, writing had better not be the most important thing in your life. When you try and try and try and get nothing but rejections or mediocre sales, you’d better have other, more important–more stable–aspects of life to fall back on. Just think: If you are one in 10,000 authors submitting to an editor who has slots for only 80 books that year, 9,920 hopeful writers are bound to be disappointed. (And you will probably be one of them.) If you pin your self-esteem and value only on what the world decides to give you, you will be unhappy and defeated much of the time.

No. Writing should be important to you, just as any job should be. You should strive to do your best, help yourself all you can, and enjoy the opportunities you make or receive. BUT, God, family, friends, and community are all more important. Your hobbies and other joyful activities matter just as much.

Do what you love, but keep your priorities straight.

Getting it Dead Right

A Vault to Prevent Death by Premature Burial

I had an interesting experience during recent research on a strange Victorian obsession–premature burial. This situation occurred when people fell into a coma or coma-like state that fooled doctors into believing they had died. Apparently, “corpses” revived at their own funerals (or unfortunately, afterward) just often enough to keep people wary that it might happen to them. When graves were re-opened for some reason, gruesome evidence of a mistakenly buried victim’s frantic attempts to escape made for great news copy and kept the public terribly aware of the horror they might endure from the same mistake.

People invented various devices to alert the living to such a disaster. These generally consisted of bells and alarms that a buried person could ring, and shovels were sometimes buried with people so they could work their way out of the grave. A person’s family might also check on the body via tubes in specialized caskets, that allowed them to see the corpse. Once decomposition set in, the survivors could feel assured that their loved one was really dead.

One device I have read about–and even seen mentioned in reference materials–was called a Bateson Revival Device or more commonly a Bateson’s Belfry. This device, “of proven efficacy, in countless instances in this country and abroad” according to its advertisements, relied on a sturdy metal bell mounted on the lid of the casket. The bell was connected to the dead person’s hand by a cord that went through the casket; the slightest movement would set off an alarm to alert the living that the “corpse” had awakened.

The information about this device and its mechanism was similar to other so-called “safety coffins” on the market. The problem is, the Bateson Revival Device is completely fictional. Michael Chrichton invented it for his novel, The Great Train Robbery, and did such a convincing job that researchers relying on secondary sources have been taken in. The Bateson device is mentioned as fact, simply because many writers did not trouble to find a primary (original) source of information about it.

This huge mistake shows how historical misinformation can be perpetuated as fact.

Your Idea’s Next Step

An Inspiring Quote

I wrote in my last post that writers generally approach an editor/publisher with a nonfiction idea through a proposal. An advantage to the proposal process is that you don’t have to write the entire book. The disadvantage is that you have to expend enough time and money to do the research for the first few chapters out of pocket. If you can’t convince an editor that you know what you’re doing and can do it well, you aren’t going to get that contract. Unfortunately, it’s absolutely to your advantage to suck it up and do what it takes financially and time-wise to make the first three chapters sparkle.

You will want to avoid costly trips and/or buying a lot of books or other resources that you may eventually need if you get the contract, but you still need to show an editorial team that you know what you’re talking about and can handle the topic. That’s why thinking through the material you need to cover is so important–you’ll go on fewer unproductive tangents right from the start. When you have a structure and know what you’re going to discuss, you have an efficient road map for your research.

There’s no one way to conduct research or present information for all nonfiction, of course, but in a general way, here are some things to consider:

For original research or first-hand information, is there somewhere fairly close that you can visit to give a flavor of the type of research you’ll be doing?
Is there someone relevant that you can interview for your first chapters?
Are there studies or reports from reputable sources you can reference?
Are there clubs/associations/professional groups devoted to your topic that you can tap?
Is there anything strong enough in your own background to use as expertise?
Can you at least suggest the sources you’ll use when you actually write the book?

Your job at this point is to give an editor confidence that you’re familiar with the subject matter and know where to go to dig deeper. Combine that with two or three strong chapters, and you may have a book deal.

So You’ve Got an Idea

Sample Proposal Outline

Not many writers–or at least writers who aren’t already famous–will have a publisher approach them to write a book. The normal process is the other way around–the author approaches the publisher to see if his or her idea seems appropriate for that particular business. I don’t use the last word lightly, either. Publishers are as driven by the bottom line as any other business. That’s why you have to build a good case that your idea for a book is one that will make them money.

Most writers I know really, really dislike the business aspect of writing. We want to write, dream, research, and get our words out more than anything. With fiction (and I’ve written plenty of it!), sometimes it’s best to just jump in and get going, and then present your finished product to an editor. Nonfiction plays out a bit differently, and there are some distinct advantages and disadvantages to that.

With nonfiction, you seldom need to write an entire book to get a contract. Some conservative publishers want to see the whole work if you’re an unknown or have few credentials, but many times you can get a decision based on a proposal. Proposals have several elements: a quick synopsis of what your book is about, a list of chapters and two or three sample chapters, and a marketing section that shows you’ve thought this through and know where your book fits and what its competition will be. There’s still plenty of room for creativity, but you’re basically giving publishers (through an editor) enough information to see that there is a market for your book. One side benefit to all this work is that you will have to think through your topic all the way, and that will help you in the long run.

I will discuss the proposal process a bit more in my next post.

Obscure Information

Archival Center in Boston

On the website I maintain to support my book, Vanished in Hiawatha, someone wrote to me and asked me to help them find information about an ancestor who had been a patient in a New England insane asylum. Of course I don’t do research of that sort, but I do like to answer anyone who has taken the trouble to write. Other people may have similar questions, and I know it can sometimes be like trying to grope through a maze to get at a speck of information you need.

The first thing I have to say is that unfortunately, information sometimes just isn’t there. Documents of all kinds are destroyed over time for legitimate reasons–sometimes just because there’s not enough room to keep storing them. This may not be a problem in the electronic age, but it has certainly been one prior to it.

If your particular record still exists, one of the starting points for you to look for it would be within the institution that originally housed it. By that, I mean that if you’re looking for records on a patient who was in an insane asylum, try to research the original institution to see if it has changed its name (or moved) over the years. If the place still exists and is now a hospital of some sort, for instance, its administrators may have stored these original records somewhere. In the worst case scenario, the administrators will probably still be able to tell you what happened to them.

If records are not readily available at the institution, the next most likely place to look would be in a local, and then state, archive. Again, either of these places may be able to tell you where the records are if they don’t have them. If they were destroyed, you’re probably out of luck so far as detail is concerned, but you can still go to a library (at the original location) to see what they have. A library probably wouldn’t have actual patient records, but many libraries have town/county/family histories which may mention your relative’s name.

Each place you look may lead to another, so don’t automatically give up just because a record isn’t readily accessible.

Remarkable Women

Susan La Flesche Picotte, courtesy Smithsonian Institution

As I write this post–interestingly enough on Election Day–I have just finished some research on a remarkable Native American woman named Susan La Flesche. Her achievements are especially striking when you consider the barriers that existed for women in her time; women today are frustrated because of an uneven playing field in certain areas of life, but La Flesche lived in a time when women couldn’t vote, and as a Native American, didn’t even have citizenship.

La Flesche was born in 1865 in a buffalo-hide tipi on a Nebraska reservation. Before she died at age 50, she had attended the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania (graduating at the top of her class), become the nation’s first female Native American doctor, and established a modern hospital on her impoverished Omaha Indian reservation. La Flesche was a crusader of staggering energy, fighting against land fraud, whiskey peddlers, and poor health conditions among her people. Before her own health failed her, she served more than a thousand patients scattered over nearly 1,500 square miles of reservation territory.

I have been continually amazed at the achievements of women who lived without the right to vote, own property, or sign legal contracts. My own paltry achievements are nothing in comparison, and during this season of thanksgiving and appreciation, I am indeed grateful for the inspiration and example they offer.

Insanity and Stereotypes

Patient With Acute Melancholia

I believe that one reason insane asylums became popular–initially–is that they broke down traditional stereotypes about what it meant to be insane. For years, people viewed insanity as both incurable and hereditary. As views changed in the 1830s, hope became possible for families dealing with insanity. Alienists believed the condition could be cured, especially if it were nipped in the bud during what they called the acute phase. Asylums were looked upon as “hospitals for the mind” and alienists held out the possibility of curing diseases of the mind just as they did for diseases of the body.

At the same time, alienists began moving away from the idea that insanity was heredity. This belief shows itself in the many Victorian-era novels where heroes/heroines refuse to marry because of the “tainted blood” they might pass on. Alienists began to think that at most, heredity only gave a predisposition toward insanity, just as it might give a child a predisposition toward certain physical conditions. But, just as “weak lungs” might be prevented through fresh air and exercise, a predisposition toward melancholia, for example, might be thwarted by brisk mental activity, interesting hobbies, social involvement, and so on.

This new thinking was so encouraging for families who had a member with mental health issues!

What Next?

Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum

Writers need to keep busy with writing projects, even though there’s a lot out there to distract us. I’ve been wanting to write a book about insane asylums in general for a long time, and after Vanished In Hiawatha was published, got busy with an outline and some thoughts on how to present the information.

Next came a round of reading and researching, and then the re-immersion into the writing process. It can be a real chore to write again once you take a break from it, but I find that I always enjoy it once I make myself sit down and get started. I finished a couple of chapters and wrote a proposal, hoping to send it out with a quick turnaround–approved, of course!

That hasn’t happened yet, so I am staying busy with an e-book on insane asylums. This will be quite different from the history that I have in mind for a hardback, but it will still give readers a lot of interesting information. I’ve been writing a blog about the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians for several years, and I’ve included many snippets of information about insane asylums in general, their history, and some of the practices and routines followed by many alienists (early psychiatrists). I hope that many readers will gamble on exploring a new topic or diving more deeply into one they’re already interested in with this e-book, since this format is so inexpensive.

Here’s hoping!

Ups and Downs

Museum of the American Indian, courtesy Smithsonian Institution

Writers know that working on a book can be both exhilarating and frustrating, but at least at this point, most of the outcome you desire depends on you. Once the book has been published, though, much of the control leaves your hands and seems to fly out into an indifferent world. This can also be exhilarating and frustrating.

There are several wonderful things that happen when a book launches: You get a box of books in the mail or via UPS that contain “x” number of copies of your masterpiece, which you are then free to inscribe and distribute to your nearest and dearest. Everyone you know is interested in the book and promises to help you publicize it. You know your publisher/publicist/mother–whoever–is trying to get reviews for you. You may or may not be waiting anxiously to read those, but the world is pretty exciting at that point.

After awhile, though, your publisher moves on to other things, and no one seems to be that interested in helping you get the word out. That’s when you have to take delight in the things that do happen. My husband and I took a trip to Washington, DC and visited the Smithsonian’s Museum of the American Indian. I wanted to give the bookstore manager a copy of my publisher’s flyer if the store wasn’t carrying the book. When my husband spotted Vanished in Hiawatha on the bookshelf already, my face probably lit up enough to illuminate the store! I, instead, went over and thanked the manager for carrying it.

Not too many exciting things have happened since then, but I make sure that I remember that moment. Nothing is too small to enjoy or be grateful for, and I’m grateful for the moments I’ve had.