Writing the Westward Sagas

We always hear, “You can’t judge a book by the cover.” Yet readers do that every day. It seems that book buyers look at the cover first when they’re shopping for a book. If the cover doesn’t appeal to them, they aren’t likely to pick up the book.

I had a clear picture of what I wanted for the cover of Spring House, but at one point, it seemed that the cover would be all wrong. You can read all about what happened - and how Spring House ended up with the perfect cover - in an interview at Judge a Book by the Cover.

After the book came out, I visited the area of Tennessee where the second book in the Westward Sagas, Adam’s Daughters, is set. I had the opportunity to visit a home built by William Fain, the son of Nicholas Fain, who was an important character in history and in my books. There I saw a real spring house that matched my vision. You can see a photo of the real spring house and the cover art side by side in an earlier post - and I think you’ll see why I’m so happy about the way the cover turned out.

You can read more about Spring House at In Detail with Nikki Leigh. Nikki asks some interesting questions, including what motivated me to become an author. I hope you enjoy learning more about my story.

Spring House: Book 1 in the Westward Sagas is featured at It Is All in the Setting.

Hope you enjoy reading more about the setting of my story.

Technorati Tags: all in the setting, Spring House

Two hundred and twenty seven years ago today, my ancestors’ farm was turned into a battlefield.

According to the National Park Service Web site Guilford Courthouse: A Pivotal Battle in the War for Independence:

The morning of March 15, 1781, was clear and cold. A light frost had disappeared under the first rays of the sun, but the ground underfoot was soft and spongy from long winter rains and snows. In the damp woods of what had been an isolated farming community in the Piedmont on a major east-west road through North Carolina, some 4,400 American troops, in various uniforms and country clothes, waited for battle.

This backwoods county seat of Guilford Courthouse, North Carolina, was the site of a pivotal battle in the Revolutionary War’s decisive Southern Campaign. The engagement set the stage for the region’s liberation from enemy occupation and impelled British general Lord Charles Cornwall to take the ill-fated road that led him to final defeat at Yorktown, Virginia, seven months later.

My fourth great grandfather, Adam Mitchell, was one of the local militia in country clothes that day. As the battle spread, the nearby Mitchell Farm became part of the battlefield. Adam’s mother, wife, and children hid in the spring house, where Margaret Mitchell defied a British soldier to save the family pewter, which would have been made into bullets if captured.

Spring House: Book 1 in the Westward Sagas tells the whole story of the battle, Adam’s capture by the British, his mother’s negotiations for his release, young Robert being compelled to bury the dead, and the effects on the battle on the children.

Today, I just want to pay tribute to a famous battle on an infamous little farm in Guilford County - a little farm that is now part of the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park.

Technorati Tags: Battle of Guilford Courthouse, Revolutionary War

March is National Women’s History Month, and the topic of the next Carnival of Genealogy is A Tribute to Women. Last year, I recognized my fifth great grandmother Margaret Mitchell for her heroic actions during the Revolutionary War. Now it is time to recognize Margaret’s granddaughter, Rebeckah.

When I first mentioned Rebeckah, daughter of Adam and Elizabeth Mitchell, in Spring House, I spelled the name Rebecca, as several records indicated. However, as I described in What’s in a Name?, I later learned the correct spelling of the name from the family Bible. I’ve spelled it correctly in Adam’s Daughters, my current work-in-progress and the second book in the Westward Sagas. The third book will be titled Rebeckah and will tell my great great great grandmother’s story.

Rebeckah married Thomas W. Smith in Tennessee and in 1836 moved to Stephen F. Austin’s colony in the village of Bastrop, Texas. After Mirabeau Lamar chose Austin as the capital, Rebeckah and Thomas moved to the new city in July 1840. They bought two outlots in the town that had been laid out by Edmond Waller in 1839. Lots 17 and 18 were the furthest north lots in the city, just north of today’s Hancock Golf Course.

Shortly after the move to Austin, Thomas Smith was scalped and killed by Indians about three miles from home. Not long before that, his brother had been killed and his nephew Fayette Smith captured by Comanches.

Following the strong tradition of the women in the Mitchell Family, Rebeckah managed to keep the household together and assist her sister-in-law Angelina Smith in finding Fayette. It took the women almost three years, but they located Fayette, paid a ransom, and secured his return to Austin.

Living in the primitive conditions of the time required endurance and courage, and it took a special kind of woman to be able to support a family and rescue a loved one from captivity by Indians.

The more I research the lives of my ancestors in the early days of Austin, Texas, the more amazed I am by the strength of the women in my family.

Technorati Tags: Carnival of Genealogy, Austin, Rebeckah Mitchell Smith

DearMyrtle, who has been online since 1984 and giving practical, down-to-earth advice for family historians since 1995, recognizes outstanding genealogy resources on the Internet each week.

She lists best blog, instruction, database site, scanned image site, podcast, video, commentary, innovation, most interesting thread, and ethnic studies. All good resources to check out … and I especially liked #9 on this week’s list.

Technorati Tags: DearMyrtle, genealogy

I’ve told you about the Hill Country Family History seminar I recently attended. Now I’d like to pass on information about an upcoming six-week class put on by the Genealogical Society of Kendall County, the same folks who put on the excellent seminar. Harry and Mary Alice Dell will present the course.

The press release announcing the classes states:

A free class, “Introduction to Genealogical Research” will be given Saturday March 1 at the Boerne Library, starting at 11 a.m. following a meeting of GSKC at 10 a.m. This class is open to the public whether they are interested in taking the six-week course or not.

The course will be held on six consecutive Thursday evenings, from 7 to 9, beginning March 6 and ending April 10, at the Boerne Convention and Community Center. Cost for the course is $50.00 for those who have not attended one of GSKC courses previously. Returning alumni of the course who are members of GSKC will pay $35.00.

You can download a flyer for more information or to register. If you’re in or near the Texas Hill Country, I highly recommend you consider this course.

[tags]Genealogical Society of Kendall County, genealogy[/tags}

Helen Ginger at Straight from Hel has awarded me A Roar for Powerful Words Award.

In her post, Helen said this about me: “No matter the subject, he’s passionate.”

One of the things I’m passionate about is good writing, and this award gives me an opportunity to share some tips.

The rules are:
1. Link back to the person who tagged you.
2. List three things that you believe are necessary to make writing good and powerful.
3. Tag five others and comment on their blog informing them that they’ve been tagged with this award.

Here are three things I believe are necessary to make writing good and powerful.

1. Get objective feedback … and listen to it. I’m part of a writer’s group whose members critique each other’s work. I get lots of valuable help from them. One of the most interesting things I’ve found is the differences in the feedback from men and women. Since I’m writing much of Adam’s Daughters in the viewpoint of a female character, Peggy, the advice from women about this character is making my writing better and more powerful.
2. Use details to add richness and power to your writing. I write historical fiction so I like to add details about life in the time period, but every kind of writing can benefit from details to bring it to life.
3. Fast forward or rewind in your writing if you get stuck - you don’t have to write in sequence. I’ve been stuck in 1788 and not making much progress on my book, so I fast-forwarded in the story and am writing a scene that takes place in 1796. Eventually, I’ll rewind to 1788, and after the break, I expect to find it much easier to write that scene.

I know I’m supposed to tag five people, but instead I’m going to tag any of my readers who would like to participate. If you’d like to share your tips on what makes writing powerful and good, post a comment with your advice or a link to your post.

Technorati Tags: powerful writing, A Roar for Powerful Words

Recently, I attended the Fourth Annual Hill Country Family History Seminar sponsored by the Genealogical Society of Kendall County.

Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak (yes, that’s her real name) spoke about tracing our roots using DNA. If you want to know more about the subject, visit her Web site Genetealogy.

The subject is fascinating, and I’ve started the process in my own family. However, I have a long way to go to understand it.

Leaving this seminar, I felt the same way I felt in 1994 after attending a seminar about the Internet. Back then, I didn’t even have e-mail, and I didn’t know anything about the Internet. However, I recognized the Internet was something huge for the world. I wasn’t sure how it would affect me, but I knew it would.

The brief introduction I’ve had to the future of genetics has convinced me that it will be huge for society. Just one small piece of the whole genetic puzzle that will have a dramatic impact will be the ability to predict hereditary diseases and be proactive in preventing them. I don’t know the full impact the combination of genetics and genealogy will have on the world … but I know it will be huge. I don’t know how this will affect me … but I know it will.

In this photo, I’m standing with Harry Dell, active in the Sons of the American Revolution. He and his wife, who is active in the Daughters of the American Revolution, organized the seminar.

Technorati Tags: genealogy, genetics, DNA

The topic for the current edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is: If you could have dinner with four of your ancestors who would they be and why?

Since I’ve been researching my ancestors and writing The Westward Sagas, I have come to know much about my family, but I would like to get to know them - how they felt, what they thought.

If I could travel back to Revolutionary America, I would have dinner in the family home, enjoying the home-cooked meal - and being very thankful that I didn’t have to grow or cook the food. Although I love to cook a roast in a Dutch oven over a fire, I wouldn’t want to have to produce the food … and I wouldn’t want to cook over a fire every meal every day.

I’d like to have the whole family together to hear different perspectives on the events of the time. The most important event in the lives of my ancestor Adam Mitchell and his family was the Battle of Guilford Courthouse.

I would ask Adam how he felt when he realized that General Greene had placed the local militia on the front line. In Spring House, I imagined his thoughts this way:

General Greene considers the Guilford County militia must be capable of stopping Cornwallis’ Army with only sheer determination. He knows very well that we are here to protect our homes, women, and children from assault by the British. We have much more to lose than the Virginians or the Continentals from Maryland and Delaware. As the battle is to be fought here on our lands, he knows that we will fight to the end to protect what is ours. If that is not what the General thinks, then he considers the Guilford County Militia expendable and fodder for Cornwallis’ cannons.

That’s what I imagined, but I wonder if that’s really what Adam thought. Did he understand the general’s battle plan while he faced the British Army or did he realize what had happened only after the fact? And I’m eager to hear about Adam’s experiences as a prisoner of war. Was he treated as badly as I think he was? Did he believe he would be released or did he expect to die in the British camp?

I also have questions for Adam’s mother, Margaret Mitchell. How did she have the courage to face down the British soldier who found her and the family hiding in the spring house? She sat on a trunk containing the family’s collection of pewter ware that could have been used by the enemy to make bullets to kill her son and his comrades in arms. She defied the orders of the British soldier to get up so he could inspect the trunk. How did she find the courage to risk her life and the lives of her family? Was she surprised when the young soldier backed down? Later, she negotiated the release of her son from British captivity. How did she come up with her plan? Did she really believe it would work or was she operating out of desperation and fear? Did she know how important her role was in the Revolution?

Young Robert Mitchell, only fourteen years old at the time, had the responsibility of protecting the family while his father was fighting in the battle. He hid behind his grandmother’s skirts in the spring house tightly clutching his grandfather’s flintlock pistol. What went through his mind when his grandmother defied the soldier’s orders? Did he expect to have to shoot the soldier? Did he fear his whole family would die in that moment? Later, the British burial detail forced the fourteen-year-old to pick up bodies from the battlefield in the family’s cornfield, haul them in a wheel barrow, and bury them in graves he dug. How did that experience affect him? Did he feel like a man at age fourteen or did he feel like a scared young boy?

Robert’s sister Peggy was only six at the time of the battle. She hid with her grandmother, mother, and siblings in the spring house. She watched her grandmother refuse to follow the the British soldier’s order to rise. She heard the sounds of battle and the cries of dying men. She saw her family farm turned first into a battlefield then into a cemetery. Did she understand what was happening? Was she aware of the danger? How did she deal with her fear?

The Battle of Guilford Courthouse was a pivotal battle in the Revolutionary War and the most significant event in the lives of the Mitchell Family who lived through it. If I could go back in time, I would ask them to share how they survived - physically and emotionally - so that two centuries later, there are more than 10,000 known descendants of Adam Mitchell … of which I am one.

Technorati Tags: genealogy, American Revolution, Adam Mitchell