Cape Breton Island by Joan Donaldson-Yarmey

http://bwlpublishing.ca/authors/donaldson-yarmey-joan/

 

Cape Breton Island

 I started my writing career as a travel writer, researching and writing seven travel books about the attractions, sites, and history along the backroads of Alberta, British Columbia, the Yukon, and Alaska. While working on them I realized what a beautiful country I live in. Since then I have switched to writing fiction but I still love to travel. 2017 was Canada’s 150^th birthday and to celebrate it my husband and I travelled in a motorhome from our home on Vancouver Island on the Pacific Ocean to Newfoundland on the Atlantic Ocean. The round trip took us nine weeks and we were only able to see about half of the sites and attractions along the roads.

       I have decided to write about the scenery, attractions, and history of my country. This post is about Cape Breton Island.
       The Canso Causeway connects Cape Breton Island to the mainland of Nova Scotia. The rock-filled causeway is 1385 metres (4345 ft) long and has a depth of 65 metres (213 ft) which makes it the deepest causeway in the world.
       The Fortress of Louisbourg is situated on the east shore of the Cape Breton Island and well worth the visit.
       In 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht was signed and France ceded its claims to present day Newfoundland, the Hudson’s Bay territories in Rupert Land, and Acadia (Nova Scotia) to the English. France kept what is now Prince Edward Island, the small islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon as well as Cape Breton Island. The settlement of Louisbourg was founded on the east side of Cape Breton Island in 1713, and between 1719 and 1745 the French built a fortified town. With its several thousand inhabitants it grew into a thriving and busy seaport in North America and was a key trading and military centre for the French in the New World. It was the base for the profitable cod fishery of the Grand Banks since salted and dried fish was an important food in Europe. The value of the settlement’s dried cod exports in 1737 was eight times higher than the value of the fur trade during the same period.

 

       In 1745, war was declared between France and Britain and the English launched an attack on Louisbourg. While the harbour was well defended, the low hills around the fortress provided cover for the attackers. The residents of the fortress held on for forty-six days before being captured. However, three years later the town was given back to the French by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.
       A second attack occurred in 1758. There was no strong French navy to defend the town against the 16,000 troops and 150 ships and after seven weeks it was again taken by the English. They occupied it until 1768. Eventually, they decided that it should never return to being a fortified French base and they destroyed the fortress.

       Although the site was officially commemorated more than a dozen times with monuments, plaques, and cairns, it remained mainly forgotten and neglected until the 1930s when a museum was built and some of the streets and ruins excavated. In 1961, reconstruction began on one quarter of the fortress aided by the Government of Canada. First the area was excavated with the ruins of more buildings and walls being found as well as millions of artifacts. Since then streets, buildings, and gardens have been recreated so it looks as it did in the 1740s.
       The Fortress of Louisbourg is the largest reconstruction project in North America.
       I took a tour bus from the parking lot to the fortress. I visited with the guard at the entrance and began my tour. I walked up and down the streets of the fortress and toured through the buildings seeing the household furniture and goods of the period. There was an ice house where ice was placed during the winter and used during the summer to keep food cold so it wouldn’t spoil. I watched the fife and drum escort the cannon firers up the hill to the cannon and watched it being fired. I listened to the soldiers talk about their daily lives. I checked out the gardens and watched women doing embroidery. Throughout the site were interpreters in period clothing able to answer all questions about the fortress and its history. There is a long list of activities to do such as firing a musket or cannon, sampling some rum, learning a dance, or being a prisoner of the day.

       For those who want something to eat there are restaurants serving 1700s fare and a bakery from which you can buy a loaf of bread.
       From Louisbourg we drove the Cabot Trail, a 300 km (186 mile) scenic highway that took us through lovely villages, beside the ocean, up into the hills, and through Cape Breton Highlands National Park. The trail was named after John Cabot, an Italian explorer who landed in what is now Canada in 1497, and was completed in 1932.

 

       Alexander Graham Bell had a summer residence Baddeck. Now there is the 10 hectare (25 acre) Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site which includes the Alexander Graham Bell museum.

       In Dingwall we visited the Tartans and Treasures Shop to find the Donaldson tartan. They had the MacDonald tartans in skirts, ties, vests, and on mugs and glasses but not the Donaldson tartan. I read a write-up there about Henry Donaldson who was one of the garrison at Edinburgh Castle 1339 to 1340 so the name has been around for centuries.

       Though not on the trail we stopped at Glenora Distillery in Glenville which is North America’s first single malt whiskey distillery. The whiskey made there smells and tastes like scotch but cannot be called scotch. That name is reserved for whiskey made in Scotland.
       There is a restaurant and bar that offers half ounce samples of the whiskey and I had my first, and last, taste. Even though my heritage is Scot, scotch is not my drink.

Why Host a Book Launch?

Click this link for book and purchase information.

Last fall a writer friend asked me, "Is it worthwhile having a book launch?"

I immediately answered, "Yes." I'd hosted launches for my first two novels and planned to have one for my third release, To Catch a Fox. But my friend's question prompted me to ask myself: what is the value of a bookstore launch in this age of e-books and online sales?

So here are my Top Five reasons for hosting a book launch.

1. It is a gracious way to tell people about my new novel. Instead of a Facebook or email notice with a link to a sales site, I am inviting them to a launch party. Some will feel pleased that I included them in my special event. Most won't come to the launch, but they'll have enough details to buy the book online or at their favourite book store if they want, without my asking them to do it.

I'd recommend inviting everyone you come in contact with to your launch. I've given invitations to people in my gym class I'd barely spoken to before.

"You're a writer?" some asked, intrigued.

It started conversations and led to closer connections because I'd shared something personal about myself.

For my last book launch I designed an invitation postcard, but economized by printing invitations at my library

2. If you invite them, many will come. My first book launch drew close to 100 people, my second about 85. A fair number bought copies of the book. Admittedly my novels were both long awaited releases. I'd worked on the first book for years before finishing it and finding a publisher; the second wasn't published until 6 years later. Now with only a two year gap between my second and third launches, I don't expect friends and relatives to be as strongly supportive. But I'm hoping that newer friends and--dare I say it--fans will make up for some attrition and pack the room.

Don't forget the food and drink for your guests

The crowd gathers for my first book launch  

3. Local media is more inclined to focus on an event the public can attend than on a book release. The entertainment editor of my daily newspaper, the Calgary Herald, profiles an author most weeks. When he chooses a local writer, it's almost always someone with an upcoming book launch or major reading. He schedules the piece for the week leading up to the event. Other local print media, radio and television might be similarly event-focused. It's hard to get your books into any media, but a launch gives you a better chance. Independent bookstores also focus on events to draw customers and are likely to display your books and the launch announcement in the store window during the week leading up to the launch.

Owl's Nest Bookstore window in early March, 2017

4.  You might make your newspaper's local bestsellers' list. In its Saturday edition, the Calgary Herald publishes a local bestsellers' list, now called Book List. The tiny print at the bottom states the list is complied by information provided by Calgary's two or three independent book stores. Sales at these stores are so sadly low that any book that sells decently at a launch is almost guaranteed a spot on the Book List. Many newspaper readers look at the list for ideas of what to read. I know of other city newspapers that have this feature. It's worth checking out.

Calgary Herald Bestsellers' List two weeks after my last launch & profile the weekend before the launch  

5. And lastly, a launch is a celebration. You've worked hard on this book and deserve a party with family, friends and your devoted readers. Many venues are free or inexpensive. Food and drink might set you back $50-75, but aren't you, your book and your supporters worth it!

     

       

New Looks For Old Books by Karla Stover

                                 

                                                              New Looks For Old Books                                                         

                                                     BWLAUTHORS.BLOGSPOT.COM

Late at night, when my husband and I don’t want to go to bed, we watch YouTube TV. That’s where I learned that old books could be hazardous to your health. The problems stem from dust, mold, bacteria, by-products of mold and bacteria, applied chemicals, and any by-products. Nevertheless, while clearing my parents’ estate, I swapped all my Anne of Green Gables books with Anne looking like a hippie on the cover for my mom’s old ones.

During my Downton Abbey days, I bought some books by English lady’s maids, cooks, housekeepers, etc. off Alibris because it’s hard to find old British memoirs in the States. How people lived and worked is endlessly fascinating to me. There are no warning labels about dust mites and mildew on these books.

But getting back to old books, when my chores are done and that includes time on my next book, I am addicted to Netflix’s Design Challenge where, occasionally, someone does something fun with a stack of books. (see above) However, my favorite is an old technique called Disappearing Fore Edge.

Here's the story as told by Wikipedia:

First: Disappearing Fore Edge is the art of painting something on the edge of book pages that can only be seen when they're fanned. "Supposedly, Charles II of England had a lady friend, a duchess, ( I'm guessing Barbara Castlemaine, first Duchess of Cleveland ) who often borrowed his books, sometimes forgetting to return them. So, the king commissioned the court painter, Sir Peter Lely, and the court bookbinder, Samuel Mearne, to devise a secret method by which his books could be identified. Between the two, they worked out the clever technique. Some weeks later, when the king was visiting the duchess, he spotted a familiar looking book on a shelf. Taking it down he said, “I’ll just take my book along with me.” “But sire,” the lady protested, “that book is mine.” “Oh?" The king raised his brows. Then, with a sly smile, he fanned out the pages and revealed what had been painted on them--the royal coat of arms. The gilding on the outer edges had completely hidden the identification. Acknowledging that Charles had outwitted her, the duchess sank in a deep curtsy before her king.

"The majority of extant examples of fore-edge painting date to the late 19th and early 20th centuries." Probably, now, it's a lost or barely-surviving art but I wrote a short story where Disappearing Fore Edge helped the sleuth solved the crime.  It's somewhere on a thumb drive.