Category Archives: Writing

Missouri Confluence Conference

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Saturday, November 5, 2011 a friend and I left early, early in the morning to drive to St. Charles Community College for the Missouri Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators’ Missouri Confluence Conference 2011 in Cottlesville, MO (near St. Charles).
Now that mouthful is out of the way, I have to say that the SCBWI conference was well worth attending. I definitely enjoyed hearing writer Suzanne Morgan Williams (author of Bull Rider)! She had lots of good stuff to give; I took lots of notes. One thing that resonated with me was when she was given the advice to just do research on the internet instead of traveling to where her subject lived and worked, she didn’t agree and went anyway. That’s me right now––trying to raise funds to travel to Surinam to do research for my book about Maria Sybilla Merian, a VIP when it comes to early science. And while we, as writers, always hear “Write what you know,” Suzanne says, “Write what you want to know.”

Suzanne believes that stories and books choose YOU to write about them. Her questions to the conference attendees are:

  • What story, what book, what technique is trying to get your attention?
  • What story speaks to you?
  • What creative places do you need to explore? (Ah, Surinam continues to beckon….)

A useful tip for finding an agent or editor came from Quinlan Lee, an editor with Adams Literary:

  • Look at the acknowledgement page of a book on your subject to find who was the editor/agent.
  • Write the editor or agent mentioned there, saying “I know you edited/agented this book; I think you might be interested in mine.” Then give your pitch.

Don’t think I’ve ever thought of actually mentioning that. Hmmm….

There was so much more; it’s all still whirling around in my brain. Thank goodness I took notes!

I Found Myself Today!

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Yep, that’s right. I was browsing through Google Images for things related to Maria Sybilla Merian for a project I have in mind, when…there on the page was ME staring back at ME! I clicked on my picture and it took me to DevSur.com: Your Suriname News Source. There with that photo of me was the headline “American writer researching Suriname naturalist.”

Check it out! And leave a comment, please.

BTW I found 4 four-leaf clovers near my back door today. Connection…?

Speaking to the Springfield Writers Guild

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On Saturday, March 26, 2011, I spoke to a local writers group about the biography I am writing of early artist/scientist Maria Sybilla Merian.  I talked about the various types of research I have done for the book, including travel to Germany and visits to various museums for information.  Then I talked about my experience with crowd funding and two of those websites, explaining what crowd funding is and how it is done, differences I found on two of those site, and what all needs to be done before you push that “publish” button.   And lastly, I spoke about why I need to travel to Suriname, South America, for that last bit of on-site research in order to complete the book.

I enjoyed visiting with all the people who came up to talk with me afterwards, too.

Leeuwenhoek Microscope

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drawings of Van Leeuwenhoek's microscopes
Last year I contacted Al Shinn about making a replica Leeuwenhoek microscope for me. Leeuwenhoek was a compatriot of Maria Sybilla Merian’s, and he made around 500 very small microscopes.

Mr. Shinn and I talked last week, the results being since he is so busy that I would buy one on eBay. (Yes, I had seen three on eBay.) The little replica microscope I purchased was made by a man in the UK; it is on it’s way and I can hardly stand the wait! I will post a photo when it arrives.

Trying to Learn a bit of Dutch

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Nederlands verkeersbord C14
I’ve been trying to improve on what little Dutch I know, mainly adding to my vocabulary. And I’ve discovered something baffling. Words that have an interesting sound are more likely to be retained. For instance, the word “fietsen” which means to bicycle. Now I don’t plan to bicycle in the rain forest. Or even in the city of Paramaribo, for that matter! And I’m sure I won’t find anything in the old Dutch records of 1699-1701 about bicycling, either. Yet that word clings to my brain while more useful words just slide right off. What’s up with that?

Stuck in Suriname

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Writing this part has been going well…until I realized I needed to address the slavery issue in Surinam in 1700.

By R.R.Purperhart/Lancar Ida-Bagus, Gurubesar van het Vishnuh-Genootschap

Stuck big time!  It was not a good situation and I really didn't want to go into it.  But I cannot ignore it since Maria Sybilla didn't.  I believe that I have finally found my solution, and will see if I can write it today so I can go on with her story.

No Wells in Amsterdam?

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Were there really no wells in Amsterdam in the late 1600s?  While researching material for my book about Maria Sybilla Merian I realized that not once had I come across any reference to wells.  Nothing was mentioned in the books I read.  I had not seen any marked on old maps of the city.  Oh there was plenty of water with all of those canals, but I suspected that the canal water was salty since they did connect with the sea.  So where did the residents of Amsterdam get their drinking water?  Who could I ask?

I finally emailed the information desk of the Amsterdam Historical Museum with my question.  Frans Oehlen answered.  He answered my question and provided even more information.
As I thought, canal water was salty.  It was also polluted.  But it was used for washing, and for cleaning doorsteps.
Some people used rainwater collected in wooden rain barrels for their drinking water.  But there was not always enough.
The best water for drinking was brought into Amsterdam by water barges.  These barges brought water from the Amstel River (upstream), the Gein River, and especially from the Vecht River.  This water was for sale, though, and not everyone could afford it.  Also during the winter it could be a serious problem to keep the rivers navigable when they became frozen over.  (Ice cutters probably had a good seasonal business then.)
I had never given a thought to the possibility that people ever might have to buy water back then.  In fact I assumed that buying water was a more modern phenomenon.  I knew from traveling when I was a child that the taste of local water in various places could be quite different, but nobody ever bought and took water with them anywhere.  Only fairly recently has buying bottles and jugs of water become an option…at least in my area of the world.