I Used to Think… Now I think…
What: Group activity to get students to reflect on new learning. The Hattie’s War website contains a lot of background information about the book and how it was created. In addition, the site includes backmatter …
The Cover: See – Think – Wonder
See – Think – Wonder activity comes from the Harvard School of Education Project Zero. This strategy is a fun and non-threatening way to introduce the book. It is designed to get students thinking about …
Library of Congress – Liljenquist Family Collection (Portraits)
Galleries The Library of Congress collection of Civil War material is so big that it’s sometimes hard to navigate and find what you’re looking for. This page shows the search results for the Lijenquist Family …
Library of Congress – Drawings and Sketches
Galleries The Library of Congress collection of Civil War material is so big that it’s sometimes hard to navigate and find what you’re looking for. This page shows the search results for the Drawing and …
Library of Congress – Civil War Glass Negatives (Photographs)
Galleries The Library of Congress collection of Civil War material is so vast that it’s sometimes hard to navigate and find what you’re looking for. This page shows the search results for Photographs, which will …
Research – it’s more than Google and Wikipedia.
I love Google and Wikipedia as much as the next guy, but if you are going to write historical fiction, you better be prepared to understand the facts and details from the era in which …
Research – Books
Books A treasure trove of written materials exists on the Civil War era ranging from memoirs to historical fiction to academic writings dating from the time of the conflict up until today. Below, you’ll find examples …
Becoming a writer
Hattie’s War is my first novel. I’m almost 70 years old. I always wanted to be a writer but never could quite find a path to pursue that dream. Growing up, I wasn’t interested in …
Draft #1 – Show, don’t tell.
April 11, 2020 – 3:10 p.m. I began the Hattie’s War manuscript by writing a series of letters between Hattie and her uncle Bryon. That is how I got started. Day one was April 11, …
Use all the senses
My copy editor, Becky, had an eye-opening suggestion. Use ALL the senses in describing a scene. What? Duh! I’d never thought much about that. From her notes: Smell Sound Taste Here’s what I did From …