A brief history of the written word - Part One - by Vijaya Schartz

CURSE OF THE LOST ISLE CELTIC LEGENDS - "Edgy Medieval, Yay!" 5-stars Amazon - B&N - Smashwords

I was always fascinated by the multiplicity of languages, cultures, and different kinds of writing. My research about the origins of the written word only proved that not all the experts agree, but this is what I gathered. 

In every Asian country, there is a legend saying that writing was a science of the gods, and they taught it to man as a means to impart their knowledge. This explains why the most ancient writings are religious in nature and tell of the life and exploits of the ancient gods, as well as ancient teachings, like the knowledge of medicinal plants, acupuncture, etc.

 

In China, Cangjie, who, according to legend, brought writing to the court of the Yellow Emperor, was a very unique individual. He was described as having four eyes. Not your typical human being. 

A Chinese character is an entire word in itself, often a graphic representation, an image that evolved over time. The pictogram for rain, for example, represents a stylized window and the falling rain seen through that window, with a flat cloud above. The writing is read from top to bottom and from right to left, allowing continuous writing on long scrolls. 

Since Chinese is an agglutinant language, it doesn’t use prepositions or other small connecting words. The placement of the word inside the sentence clarifies the meaning (who is doing what to whom, how, why, where, whether it’s a noun, a verb, an adjective, etc.)

 

In the late 6th Century AD, a mass political exile saw large numbers of Chinese emigrating to Japan. They took with them the teachings of Confucius and their system of writing. Since the native islanders of the time (the ancient Ainu tribes) didn’t have writing, they used the Chinese ideograms to write their own language. Then different emigrants came to the islands and mixed with the Ainu and the Chinese to form the Japanese people. They wrote with Chinese characters, same meaning, different pronunciation, using the same brush strokes. 

However, the Japanese used a number of one-syllable connecting words to form sentences, and there were no phonetic syllables in Chinese. So, they added a number of small, simple connecting characters, called Hiragana, representing phonetic syllables, which are also used today to teach children to read and write, before they can memorize the thousands of complicated pictograms or ideograms (Kanji) necessary to read and write the main language.

 

Legends of India say that the Mahabharata, an ancient epic depicting the exploits of the gods during their time on Earth, was recited by the sage Vyasa from the oral tradition, while Lord Ganesha himself (the Elephant God) penned it down… implying that only the gods could write.

 

Other legends of India also portray the gods teaching writing to their people. Sanskrit is one of the oldest forms of sophisticated written language, used to write the Vedas. But it doesn’t use images, only letters linked together to form sounds and words. Sound is very important in India. Some sacred sounds are so powerful (like the mantras) that they are believed to manifest divinity.

 

In 3400 BC a cuneiform type of writing developed in Mesopotamia. Legend says it was given to the Sumerians by their Anunnaki gods, those who from the heavens came. The oldest tablets tell of the interactions of the Anunnaki with their human workers, stories of the flood, etc. The characters represented stylized Sumerian or Akkadian objects. Soon, these symbols were also used to represent specific sounds.

 

Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs seem to have derived from Sumerian cuneiform writing. Sometimes they represent an object, an animal, a river, a sacred symbol. However, a bird doesn’t necessarily mean a bird, but the phonetic sound of the bird’s name, which is used as a syllable in a longer word or name. To indicate that, the full name of a Pharaoh, for example, is enclosed into a cartouche. 

Since I want to keep this post brief, I will continue this history of the written word in parts 2 and 3, in the next two months.

In the meantime, you can read my CURSE OF THE LOST ISLE series, where history and Celtic legends collide. Years of research went into it, and the result is an edgy medieval fantasy saga. Find it at - Amazon - B&N - Smashwords and more.  

From history shrouded in myths, emerges a family of immortal Celtic Ladies, who roam the medieval world in search of salvation from a curse. For centuries, imbued with hereditary gifts, they hide their deadly secret, stirring passions in their wake as they fight the Viking hordes, send the first knights to the Holy Land, give birth to kings and emperors... but if the Church ever suspects what they really are, they will be hunted, tortured, and burned at the stake.

HAPPY READING!

Vijaya Schartz, author
Strong Heroines, Brave Heroes
http://www.vijayaschartz.com
amazon - B&N - Smashwords - Kobo - FB 

So we think we have it hard—Tricia McGill

Find all my books on my BWL author page

For my next book, I have been researching London during WW11, specifically around 1940. This got me thinking about how it compares to what we are experiencing around the world right now with restrictions placed on our normal routines. Rationing in London continued until 1958 and I can still recall my mother sitting in the chair with her ration books in front of her and a worried frown on her face. How she coped with feeding her large family I will never know. I do remember that one sister who worked in a factory would sometimes come home with sugar that she had purchased on the ‘black market’. As a child, I had little idea of the meaning of all this as, being the youngest and spoilt, I was well fed and at times even had butter on my bread and not margarine, but that was after the war had ended. Add to this our Mother’s worry over the three of her sons serving overseas in the armed forces. Thankfully, they all came home.

The government introduced rationing as a means of ensuring the fair distribution of food and commodities and began at the start of the war with petrol. By January 1940 bacon, butter and sugar were rationed, and by 1942 many other foodstuffs.

A typical weekly ration of food for an adult would consist of:

4 ounces of Bacon & Ham 

Other meat to the value of 1 shilling and 2 pence (equivalent to 2 chops)

2 ounces of Butter              

2 ounces of Cheese                  

4 ounces of Margarine 

4 ounces of Cooking fat   

3 pints of Milk     

8 ounces Sugar    

1 pound of preserves every 2 months. (I guess this was why my mother often asked the grocer for sugar instead of her jam ration)

2 ounces of Tea         

1 fresh Egg (plus allowance of dried egg)

12 ounces of Sweets every 4 weeks.

Thanks to: https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Rationing-in-World-War-Two/

After the fiasco of people rushing out to purchase ridiculous amounts of toilet paper at the outset of the pandemic, (I am still trying to work out just why that idiot started the stampede) I got to thinking about how people coped during the war years in that department. One of the first things some of the older generation that I spoke to said in response to this was, “We had to manage with newspaper—how would they like that?” This was cut into squares, which would then hang on a hook in the little room. Some lucky people even managed to acquire tissue paper.

Two of my sisters were married in 1946 and even then they had to buy the fabric for their dresses using their allowance from their ration books. Fruit and some vegetables were in short supply and many people grew their own. If someone heard that a delivery of say oranges had arrived at the greengrocers then the women would rush to get on the mile long queue to wait for their share.

So you see, we may complain that we cannot get to hug our loved ones, but there is a light at the end of this current tunnel and soon you can welcome home your children and grandchildren. We have online shopping where we can still order to our hearts content and have it dropped off at our door. We have our trusty phones and can keep in touch with our family and friends and even chat face to face with them.

Funnies are flying back and forth each day. Here are some of my favourites:

I am starting to understand why pets try to run out of the house when the door opens.

Does anyone know if we can take showers yet or should we just keep washing our hands??

I’m so excited; it’s time to take the garbage out. I wonder what I should wear? 

You think it’s bad now? In 20 years our country will be run by people home schooled by day drinkers… 

Day 7 at home and the dog is looking at me like, “See? This is why I chew the furniture.” 

My Mom always told me I wouldn’t accomplish anything by laying in the bed all day, but look at me now! I’m saving the world...! 

I swear my fridge just said: “what the hell do you want now?” 

Coronavirus has turned us all into dogs. We roam the house all day looking for food.  

If anyone owes you money, go to their house now. They should be home... 

I’m giving up drinking for a month. Sorry, punctuation typo... 

I’m giving up. Drinking for a month.

Stay safe, and always look on the brighter side of life.

Visit my web page for more on all my books

  

Ten Top Ways to Know You've Had a Good Day Writing by A.M.Westerling

We’ve all had those days where we’ve sat down at the keyboard and – nothing. Writer’s block has dug in its nasty claws and no matter how hard we try to get something going, we sit staring uselessly at a vacant screen until admitting defeat and getting up to do laundry. I recently had such a bout with my current work in progress, Leah’s Surrender, Book Two of The Ladies of Harrington House series. Turns out my heroine, Lady Leah Harrington did not have a goal of her own. It’s pretty hard to write an engaging story about a spirited heroine when all the other characters push her around! 


However, what about those other days? The ones where we sit down and the word magic takes over and we become lost in the zone? That’s what happened to me with Sophie’s Choice. Sophie had her story to tell and the words literally flew from my fingers. It’s the fastest I’ve ever written a book – just over four months. (You can find Sophie's Choice at your favourite online store HERE.)

Okay, other than the obvious – words on the page – what are the other ways we can tell we’ve had a good day writing?  With a nod and a wink to David Letterman, the ten top ways to know you’ve had a good day writing are:

10.       You go for a walk at 3 in the afternoon and realize you haven’t combed your hair yet.  And then realize it’s windy and no one can see it, anyway.

9.         You emerge from your cave and your husband, after taking one look at your blank      face,  says, “Hon, instead of you cooking, why don’t we go out for dinner?”

8.         Your written world has become more real than this one for a moment or two and        when someone asks, “What did you do today?” , you can honestly say “I was on a                 Royal Navy frigate on the Atlantic Ocean that was on the verge of sinking during a                 winter storm.” Spoiler alert – yes, that is a scene in Leah’s Surrender.

7.         You take a break from writing for a minute and discover a 5 star review on Amazon    for your latest release. (Thank you Theresa for the awesome review of Sophie’s                     Choice!)

6.         Your publisher emails with words of encouragement while you’re working on a            difficult scene, leaving you with the fire in your belly to prove her right for signing                   you and darn it, you will conquer that scene. And you do.

5.         Your husband knocks on the office door and asks, “Honey, are you still alive?”

4.         You’re writing on a legal tablet in the bath, the water’s turned cold and your                significant other knocks on the door to ask if you’ve drowned.

3.         Your dog puts a guilt trip on you and you realize that it’s gone 6:00 p.m. and you’re    still in your pj’s and slippers with a half full cup of cold coffee.

2.         Your kids call you from their cell phone and say, “Mom, can you stop writing for a        minute and pick us up? We’re the last ones here.”


And the number one way to know you’ve had a good day writing?

1.           You type the words “The End” on your current work in progress!



All my books are available through BWL Publishing HERE.

BWL Publishing Inc. May New Releases

In book 4 of the Settlers Series, we catch up with most members of the extended family from the previous three books. Annie at 18 is the eldest Carstairs girl. She has lived out at Bathurst west of the Blue Mountains, where she was born just after her Mama, Bella and Papa, Tiger settled there back in 1824. After visiting her brother Tim and his wife Jo just before Christmas 1843, Annie decides to stay in Port Philip, seeking adventure much as her brother did when he set out with Jo the previous year. Annie has inherited her mother’s independent streak, a character trait that sometimes leads her to make the wrong choices.

Jacob O’Quinn works for her brother, and the likeable young carpenter catches Annie’s eye. Jacob is quiet and reserved in his manner, having spent his life with his widowed mother. When handsome Zachary McDowell, the complete opposite to steady Jacob comes along, he sweeps Annie off her feet. Heedless of advice given by others, Annie makes a choice that turns out to be the worst she could ever make.

Restless, Annie decides to return to her home, and Jacob makes the decision to escort her. The journey back across the mountains proves to be a lot more eventful than she assumed it could ever be. The road itself may have seen improvements through the years but there will always be unexpected incidents to turn life around on its axis. A suspected murder brings the might of the law down on the shoulders of the young couple.

* * * * * 

https://bookswelove.net/hovey-dean/

In Devil's Fall, Doug Fletcher Book 5,  Doug Fletcher's Thanksgiving vacation is interrupted by a phone call from his Texas U.S. Park Service superintendent. A Wyoming coroner determines that a climber’s fall from Devils Tower isn’t the accident it first appeared to be. Doug is thrown into an investigation where he peels back the layers of rumors and lies provided by colorful Black Hills residents to find a murderer in a region where the deer hunting season is winding down and everyone has a gun in their pickup truck.  

* * * * *

https://bookswelove.net/baldwin-barbara/

Legend states that hanging a Dreamcatcher over your bed will catch the bad dreams and only allow the good ones to flow through to the dreamer. Willow has been told “if you believe, then it will be so”, but her nightmares about the events causing her amnesia still haunt her, and while she knows she doesn’t belong with the Blackfoot tribe, it is the only shelter she has...

…until Garrison York appears. Montana rancher and blood brother to the Chief’s son, he is given charge of helping Willow discover her past, but the instant attraction between them makes him want to concentrate only on current pleasure. With neighbors trying to steal land for railroad expansion and relatives willing to kill for fortunes in gold, can Garrison keep Willow safe until they determine her true identity?

* * * * *

https://bookswelove.net/hovey-joan-hall/

Night Corridor: 2nd Edition 2020  

After nine years in Bayshore mental institution, once called the lunatic asylum, Caroline Hill is finally being released.

There will be no one to meet her. Her parents who brought her here…are dead.

They have found her a room in a rooming house, a job washing dishes in a restaurant. She will do fine, they said. But no one told that women in St. Simeon are already dying at the hands of a vicious predator. One, an actress who lived previously in her building.

And others.
And now, as Caroline struggles to survive on the outside, she realizes someone is stalking her.

But who will believe her? She's a crazy woman after all.

Then, one cold winter's night on her way home from her job, a man follows and is about to assault her when a stranger intercedes.

A stranger who hides his face and whispers her name.

I loved this book and stayed up all night reading it! The characters were so well-drawn that I could almost hear them breathing, see them laughing, feel their emotions. It's rare that I feel like I KNOW the characters THAT well, but I did here, in THIS book - especially the main character, Caroline, but also the minor characters - every one of them! I could see and hear Caroline, almost feel her breath on my skin. The writing and the plot drew me in, from page one. I was fully engaged and up all night, reading and enjoying this book, to the very last word. M. Lewis

What Writing Has Cost Me by Victoria Chatham

AVAILABLE HERE

During a recent conversation with someone who has enjoyed all my books, I was asked what writing had cost me. This wasn't meant in a financial way, more in terms of what social or personal changes I may have experienced. 

As a child, books were always my best friends. I’m not sure if this was the result of being an early reader or the fact that being an army brat and constantly on the move taught me very early on the pain of parting from friends. After the second or third posting, I didn’t bother trying to make them and kept pretty much to myself. I became an observer rather than someone who participated in whatever was going on.

The bonus, though, of each new school was discovering its library and there, I excelled

because I read books way above my grade and so became popular with the librarians who were often the English teachers, too. Yes, I sucked up big time in order to get my hot little hands on more books than the curriculum required.

In my early teens, I switched from reading to writing. I was absolutely convinced I had what it took to be an author. I tinkered with writing, gaining on the way prizes for essay writing at school and good passes in English Literature and Grammar (taught as separate subjects back then) in my GCE exams - this, I think, would have been the equivalent of graduation.   

Once I was married and had a family, I was always writing something, from annual reports at work to stories for my kids. But then I decided to write a book for my daughter. It took me two years to complete but it satisfied me in a way that reading did not. Writing days were

Sundays, when I shut myself in my bedroom tucked up on the window seat with a flask of coffee and a plate of sandwiches. It was known that I was not to be disturbed unless there was lots of blood or something on fire. Writing became a constant friend, the one to whom I never would have to say good-bye. Sure, there were and are moments of au revoir, but then a new idea grabs me, and the writing begins again.

Over the years I know my writing has set me apart, a little. The days when I’ve said ‘no’ to this or that proposed outing because I wanted to write has caused coolness in some friendships and ended others. The times when I have been uncommunicative because I was deep in my story have not necessarily been understood, either. Joining a writing group was the best thing I ever did because being with other people who ‘get it’ is a great place to be.

Overall, writing has given me much more in terms of satisfaction than just about anything else, so for me, there has been far more reward than cost. 

  

 ​AT BOOKS WE LOVE

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 MY WEBSITE

 

A woman doctor, unheard of, by Diane Scott Lewis

Even as a small child I thought all doctors were men. When I had my first female doctor I was surprised, looked at my mother in dismay, and wondered if this was a mistake.

In researching my novel, Rose's Precarious Quest, set in 1796, I discovered how difficult it was for a woman to become a licensed and respected physician. Women weren't even allowed to attend college.

However, there were instances of females performing as doctors throughout history. In medieval Germany, an abbess, Hildegard of Bingen, wrote extensively on medical treatments, c. 1151-58. Women of this era worked as midwives, surgeons, and barber-surgeons, especially in rural areas.
When universities developed medical training in the 13th century, women no longer had access to advanced medical education.

Hildegard of Bingen

In the 17th c. physicians were the college educated, top-tiered men. They examined, diagnosed, but never got their hands dirty. Women often worked as barber-surgeons, taking over from their fathers or other male relatives where they'd studied as apprentices. Limits were put on their practice, where men had full rein. Female surgeons worked unlicensed for the most part.

printers' medical symbol

One of the first females to earn an MD was Dorothea Erxleben of Germany in 1754. She was taught and encouraged by her father. The majority of women MDs wouldn't be licensed until the 19th c.

There were exceptions. Lucretia Lester of Long Island practiced midwifery for years, but she was respected as a nurse and doctoress to the women she treated in the latter half of the 18th c..
A Mrs. Grant attended lectures by professors of Anatomy and Practice of Physick in Edinburgh, also in the 18th c.. She had a certificate and practiced as a doctoress in Scotland.

 

In my novel, Rose studies illegally as a physician in 1796. Assisting the local doctor, she uncovers a dreadful secret that threatens his livelihood. Catern returns to the village to face the man who raped her and worse. When Rose’s sister is betrothed to this brutal earl, Catern struggles to warn Rose of the truth. And who is the mysterious Charlie who wanders the woods?

Purchase Rose's Precarious Quest (scroll down) and my other novels at BWL

For more info on me and my books, check out my website: Dianescottlewis

Sources:

Medical History, 1998, 42: 194-216

Women in Medicine, Wikipedia

Diane Scott Lewis lives in Western Pennsylvania with her husband and one naughty puppy.

Recipes for Cooking Over the Campfire by J.Q. Rose

Terror on Sunshine Boulevard
Paranormal Mystery
Click here to find more mysteries by JQ Rose
from BWL Publishing

Hello and welcome to the BWL Publishing Insiders Blog!

Cooking over the campfire.

Recipes for Cooking Over the Campfire by J.Q. Rose

A few years ago we camped with our daughter Lee Ann and family over the Memorial Day holiday weekend near Stony Lake in West Michigan. Always the "event" planner, she invited our other daughter, Sara, (who is not a camper) and family to join us on Sunday for a fun dinner with Dump Soup as the main entree.

I bet you've heard the folk tale Stone Soup, the story of hungry strangers who convince the townspeople to share a small amount of their food in order to feed everyone. We weren't exactly hungry strangers, and we didn't ask fellow campers to contribute to the soup pot.

Lee Ann coined the term "Dump Soup" because we all brought ingredients to dump into the soup pot. There is NO recipe. That's the fun part. Just whatever is offered is added to the pot. Lee Ann poured in beef broth, beef consomme, and I added mushroom soup as a base for all the other stuff e.g. beans, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, onions, cans of veggies, etc.

All ready to cook over the campfire.

Lee Ann stirred it all together and placed the pot over the campfire for the men to watch while the ladies took a walk. Of course, we came back to check on the progress of the soup. After an hour and one half over the fire, we gobbled down the soup. It was delicious. The soup must have been good because the kids loved it too, especially with lots of crackers.

Another of our family faves for dinner over the fire is "hobo dinner." I've heard it called foil packet dinner too. We spray the foil with vegetable oil, place bacon on the first layer, hamburger or chicken next, and then add whatever fresh veggies you like to the foil e.g. potatoes, carrots, green pepper, onion, butter, and celery.

Ingredients ready to wrap.

Be sure to wrap the packet tightly so the grease doesn't run out. Then place the foil dinners in the coals or on a grate over the fire. Depending on how you cut the veggies and how hot the fire is, the packets need to cook 30--45 minutes. Chicken may take longer. 
PS--This dinner can be cooked on your grill at home too.

Dinner wrapped in foil packets.

Clean-up is easy. Just wrap up the foil and throw it away. THEN it'll be time to roast the marshmallows to make S'mores! But first, you may want to go for a swim or a hike!

What are your easy go-to recipes when having a crowd over to your house or when camping?

Click here to connect online with J.Q. Rose

Tests and Interview for Science - Janet Lane Walters #BWLAuthor #Testing group #Sraying home

 

About ten years ago, my husband and I were part of a testing group. The group consisted of normal people older than 70 and those with Alzheimers and other such conditions. The last results I have are from 2012. These tests were fun. I used to call it game day and this happened once a month. I will say I went from average to well above average on some of the tests. My husband and I stopped going when he needed dialysis and wasn’t available to do the tests. I went once alone, though.

What does this have to do with a long phone interview I did? The reason I was called was because this goup of researchers at the Nathan Kline Institute were basing their interviews on the Covid virus and the effect it was having on people. They had done a study of younger people and thought they should look at the elderly. They called and asked if I would participate. “I told them yes.

When the interviewer called, the first thing she asked was about my emotional state with having to stay at home and not seeing people. I told her, I was rather unique as I had a career I was pursuing and that I wrote every day, usually from nine to five. That sort of threw her for a moment.

There were about 7 sections of questions with a variety of ways to answer. Some sections were yes and no, some wanted you to rate from one to I believe five on a scale and some wanted longer answers.

When we finished, she said my answers were very different in many areas that both the younger and older people, especially in the section that dealt with death of others and of one’s self. Not sure why the difference unless it’s because I’m rather a realist and I had recently dealt with the death of a loved one. I remember when she asked me if I ever got angry and of course I do, but she said in the last two weeks. My answer was yes. This was concerning my husband’s pension which he arranged that I would receive after his death. I have been filling out papers since the first week in February. The last form I sent in hopefully is the last one I’ll have to do. The kicker was, If you don’t hear from us in 60 days contact us. That makes this the middle of July.

At the end of the session she asked if I would like to play games at the institute again. I said I would since I’m curious to see if or how much I’ve deteriorated in eight years.

Nature can be so cruel, by J.C. Kavanagh

  

The Twisted Climb - DarknessDescends 

Book 2 of the award-winning Twisted Climb series

The animal kingdom often reveals that life is a test of survival of the fittest. Or sometimes, being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Case in point: my neighbour has a mini-farm housing a good variety of birds. She's got Guinea Hens (think bread box with a clown face), swans, chickens, geese and a pen full of peacocks. All these birds make noise. And eggs. Lots of eggs. Who doesn't love fresh eggs, straight from the chicken? Actually, what doesn't like eggs is more the question. Weasels love eggs, fishers love eggs, racoons love eggs, snakes love eggs, and so does the sly fox.

Clown-faced bread box aka the Guinea Hen

My neighbour's geese occasionally come to visit

Newest adult male peacock visiting my home. I call him Turkwise.

Percy, the one-year-old male peacock, shaking his booty.
Note the still-developing tail feathers.

Percy and his brother, Snickety. 

My Ian feeding the peacock brothers

Percy and Snickety are peacock brothers, approximately one year old in the pictures above, which were taken a couple of weeks ago. Their 'human,' my neighbour, gives them free rein of her property and since her Guinea Hens come to visit me, the peacock brothers have decided that our home is also worthy of a daily visit. The young peacocks are quite domesticated and will run to me the moment I'm in view. If I'm inside, they'll peck on the windows for my attention and my endless supply of bread.

Alas, this is the part where nature can be cruel.

A fox has been seen wandering about our properties. It has a lame front paw and is often seen during the day. My neighbour notices that chicken eggs and goose eggs are disappearing. She reinforces the metal fencing surrounding the pens, ensuring an animal cannot easily dig its way in. Then she lets the peacock brothers out of their pen - the parents and one sibling prefer to stay in the pen but the brothers love their freedom. Out they go and are immediately joined by the newest peacock, a blue and white new fellow who came out of the woods and adopted them. I named him Turkwise, due to his turquoise colour and the fact that my granddaughter pronounces the colour as 'Turkwise.'
Shortly after they are released, the sound of shrieking peacocks fill the air. Peacock feathers drift down. My neighbour runs out in time to see a fox slinking away with one of the peacocks in its mouth. She chases it to one of her outbuildings where she discovers two young fox kits. Mother fox has caught their dinner.

Nature giveth and nature taketh away. Poor Percy.

Stay safe everyone.

J.C. Kavanagh, author of

The Twisted Climb - Darkness Descends (Book 2)

voted BEST Young Adult Book 2018, Critters Readers Poll and Best YA Book FINALIST at The Word Guild, Canada

AND

The Twisted Climb,

voted BEST Young Adult Book 2016, P&E Readers Poll

Novels for teens, young adults and adults young at heart

Email: author.j.c.kavanagh@gmail.com

www.facebook.com/J.C.Kavanagh

www.amazon.com/author/jckavanagh

Twitter @JCKavanagh1 (Author J.C. Kavanagh)

Using TikTok to promote your book

“Another platform for book promotion? Aren’t we swamped already?”

Good question.

TikTok is not for every author, but for some, it could really help in book promotion. To understand how, let us look at TikTok first.

TikTok is the newest and fastest growing social media platform of 2019 and the trend is continuing. It started in China and is the visual equivalent of Twitter. Where Twitter posts are composed of short written prose, TikTok posts are composed of short videos. Users can create videos of fifteen seconds (or string togehter videos into posts of sixty seconds each.) Most users create videos on their phones, edit it using the easy-to-use but professional tools, add music, and download it on to TikTok. Most users use the platform on their mobile devices.

Is TikTok worth it? It depends on the audience for your book. Sixty percent of TikTok users in America are between sixteen to twenty-four years of age. For a young adult title, this is the perfect demographic and can help in author-branding. It is also extremely popular in places like China and India, with five hundred million monthly users in China while about the same number of Indians download TikTok videos every month. Targeting these geographic areas specifically is an option.

By its nature, TikTok is visually driven. Graphic novels are prime candidates for TikTok promotion. . Large companies such as Guess jeans and Chipotle have used TikTok with great success and many more are joining the trend. TikTok is a fun and visually-appealing platform. It doesn’t lend itself to serious topics and is not a place for making sales pitches.

TikTok has made available several marketing tools available. The videos can be linked to websites and the social engagements (likes, impressions, clicks, etc) are measured, allowing a marketer to know how well a campaign is doing. Use of hashtags, games and challenges allow for viral promotion.

TikTok is very easy to use and understand. It is this ease of entry that is its main drawing card. It is not for everyone, but for a product or book with a good fit, it can work well.

Mohan Ashtakala is the author of "The Yoga Zapper" a fantasy and "Karma Nation" a 

Literary Romance. (www.mohanashtakala.com)

He is published by Books We Love Ltd. (www.bookswelove.com)

A surprising thing about Shakespeare...by Sheila Claydon

Click here for my books at Books We Love

A heroine whose problems are far distant from what the whole world is coping with today...but if you want a happy ending, this is the book to give you one while distracting you from real life!

I know we are all fed up with hearing about Covid19. After all, we are living with it, so we know how it is affecting our lives and the lives of our loved ones, so thinking about something different would be a good thing...except.  Because we are going to have to live with it for a long time to come, maybe now is the time to get a few things into perspective, literary wise.

Did you know, for example, how much of William Shakespeare's writing is peppered with references to the bubonic plague, which was the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries equivalent of what we are living with today. A disease which started with animals (rats and fleas in this case) and which had no known cure. Nor, in those far distant times, any hope of finding one.

Think of Romeo and Juliet, when Mercutio, mortally wounded in the feud between the Capulets and the Montagues, called out 'a plague on both your houses.'  Or when King Lear tells his daughter Goneril, 'Thou art a boil. A plague-sore, or embossed carbuncle.' Then, less malevolently, Olivia, in Twelfth Night, marvelling at the speed with which she has fallen in love, says, 'How now? Even so quickly may one catch the plague? 

There are many more such instances but the one that stands out the most is, again, in Romeo and Juliet, when the friar who was asked to deliver a crucial message to Romeo about the drug that will make it look as if Juliet has died when, in fact, she will only be sleeping, fails to carry out his task. In those far off days, friars had to travel in pairs. Unfortunately the friar's travelling companion was visiting the sick when he went to look for him. This meant that the public-health officers (the searchers of the town), suspecting them both of having been exposed to the plague, put them in quarantine by nailing the doors of the house shut! By the time the quarantine ended it was too late...'I could not send it - here it is again - Nor get a messenger to bring it to thee, so fearful were they of infection.'

It wasn't the plague that did for Romeo and Juliet but the dreadful social disruption it brought, which led to Romeo thinking she was dead, and so committing suicide, only to be copied by Juliet when she heard of his death.

In the year Shakespeare was born the plague killed a fifth of the townspeople of Stratford on Avon while sparing the Shakespeare family, and the fear of plague was something he had to live with throughout his life as it waxed and waned, disappearing for a while and then reappearing without any warning. History tells of the innumerable preventive measures that were used, most of which were useless (Fake News at its best!)

• Although bubonic plague was caused by the fleas on rats, dogs and cats were killed. Possibly the fleas transferred to them although this is not clear.
• Dried rosemary, frankincense, or bay leaves were burned in a dish as it was believed that the smoke would clear infection from the air.
• If there were no herbs available the doctors' favoured replacement was to burn old shoes!
• In the streets people pressed oranges stuffed with cloves against their noses, which was the closest they got to a medieval mask.

Even in the sixteenth century it was recognised  that the rate of infection was far higher in densely populated cities, so the wealthy people with country retreats would escape to their second homes, much as many people are doing today. In addition, civic officials took measures to introduce social distancing when they realised that crowds heightened contagion.  They also collected data from parish registers so they could track weekly plague-related deaths. When those deaths surpassed 30 they banned assemblies, feasts, sports and any other form of mass gatherings.

As it was considered impossible to become infected during the act of worship, churches were kept open, although anyone suspected of being ill was banned from entering. What was closed, time and time again, however, were theatres, which was economically devastating to Shakespeare, who was not only an actor and a playwright but also a shareholder. It is thought that during the severe outbreaks of bubonic plague that infected the country between 1606 and 1610, Shakespeare, frequently in lockdown, wrote and produced some of his greatest plays. During this time the London playhouses were unlikely to have been open for more than a total of nine months, but somehow he made what must have been a fearful and difficult time work for him.

The only time Shakespeare wrote directly about the plague was in Macbeth. Mostly he merely  referenced it in his writing as an accepted part of everyday life, something to be lived with, feared, but hopefully kept at bay by social distancing, quarantine, and the equivalent of using a mask.

The challenge to us twenty-first century writers is to copy him by putting our own quarantined, socially distanced selves to work, even though we can't hope to emulate his success. And while we are doing that, stay safe.