I appeared at the Lincoln Literacy Open Books, Open Doors events a couple weeks ago for their fundraiser. I was privileged to be asked to attend, and I'm very honored that they would consider my work worthy to both have me as a guest and center their theme around. Here is a photo of the event. A lot of people are in 1930s garb as part of the theme, which was modeled after my book The Great Heist.
They allowed me to sell my books there, and I did, though the number of books I sold was rather small and I'll be sharing some of the profits with the foundation. But the event is still highly profitable.
First, there is simply the fact that it's better for society that foundations such as Lincoln Literacy exists. It helps people who are struggling with reading and trying to learn the English language to read. (Lincoln is a major hub for refugees to go when they leave other countries.)
But in addition to being good for the community, it's also good for us writers. First, it gives the writer credibility. When you speak at a book selling event, you're simply selling your wares. But when you speak at en event simply as an expert, you gain credibility.
Also, your name and your work gets out there. These events often advertise in many locations. Even if people don't flock to the event and purchase your book there, they will often look at who you are and will consider purchasing your work outside of it, or will at least begin following you, which turns them into future readers.
Most importantly, each person who sees you or that meets you will be able to recommend you to others. They are all seeds that can grow into bigger and bigger plants.
The basic point here is a point you'll see me make a lot of times. Don't think just of the immediate return. In today's publishing world, especially in independent publishing, it's all about building a platform and getting people to know who you are. Each time you appear at any event and get any recognition as a writer, more people know who you are and what you do, and this builds over time. Make sure your name gets out there, and appear at every event you can in any capacity you can, because even if you just get one follower, that one person knows other people, who know other people, and as long as you keep to it, those networks will grow.
I will be the keynote speaker at the Lincoln Literacy fundraising event Open Books, Open Doors on March 21 from 5 to 8 pm.
Lincoln Literacy is an organization which helps promote reading and literacy to people. They provide lessons in English, and encourage reading in communities, particularly poorer ones.
One of the things I was particularly impressed with is their ticket price. While normally they are $35 to go to the fundraising event, they provide special tickets for $15 for students and people of low income families.
There will be a costume contest, so come dressed in your best 1930s attire!
If you're near Lincoln, I highly recommend coming to this event, and helping out the Lincoln Literacy Center.
Because
it’s the beginning of women’s history month, I’m actually going to write a
little about my documentary, The Forgotten Grave. It’s not a book, but I do sell it along with
my nonfiction books, and I did write the narration and edited the journals,
diaries, and letters of soldiers and other witnesses the same way I’d write a
book, so I’m including it in this blog.
More
than 600 women disguised themselves as men so they could fight in the American
Civil War. Some even fought out of
disguise, with men knowing they were women the entire time.
One
example of this last was Vivandieres, women who dressed in a long skirt and kepi. This was a style begun in France where some
women would march with the men, sometimes wielding flags, to inspire the
men. In the Civil War, these Vivandiers
also served as nurses, and occasionally picked up muskets from fallen comrades
and fought alongside others.
Most
women who took part in the war did so as nurses and spies, either healing the
men or working behind enemy lines to learn what they could about their numbers
and strength.
Those
who disguised themselves as men to fight risked not only their lives, but their
reputations. When they were discovered,
they were often labeled as “camp followers,” also known as prostitutes. Rather than being appreciated for their
bravery, they were mocked. This was
particularly heinous considering the fact that women did not need to go through
the hardships of campaigning and risks of fighting. They were usually better fighters than the
men because they needed to have a stronger fervor to be there in the first
place.
One
example of a woman who fought with the men was Sarah Emma Edmonds. She had left her home in Canada to escape an
arranged marriage. When the war broke
out, she enlisted under her pseudonym, Frank Thompson. Sarah saw action in both the eastern and
western theaters before at last becoming ill, and she had to desert secretly to
avoid detection as a woman.
Another
woman who fought disguised as a man was Jennie Hodgers, an immigrant from
Ireland who enlisted in 1862. She fought
in campaigns across the country throughout the entire war. She remained disguised as a man afterward so
she could keep getting work and have more options in life. She was at last discovered to be a man when
she was hit by a car in 1912.
Loreta
Janeta Velazquez immigrated from Cuba to be with her husband. When the Civil War broke out, she decided she
wanted to be the next Joan of Arc, so she disguised herself as Harry T. Buford
and raised her own regiment. Her husband
disapproved and sent her home, but after he was killed in an accident, she went
in disguised again, fighting with, and sometimes commanding other soldiers.
Sarah
Rosetta Wakeman joined the Union army in 1862 in order to do something exciting
with her life. For two years, she wrote
home about her experiences in camp at Alexandria, Virginia. In 1864 she was transferred to the Red River
Campaign, where she got sick and died.
Others
include Lizzie Compton, who
served in seven different regiments during the war, having served in the
battles of Fredericksburg, Green River, at Rochester, and was thrown from a
horse. She skipped from regiment to regiment every time she was
caught. At the end of the war she was barely 18 years old. Lucy Matilda Thompson, who signed up when she
was 49 years old, was present at First Manassas, Second Manassas, and all the
Seven Days battles. Wounded in the head twice, part of her skull was torn
away. She went on to have a family, giving birth to her first child at
the age of 51. She went on to have five more children, take part in the
first world war, and die at the age of 112.
An unnamed female soldier who shot herself after being discovered in the
14th Iowa Infantry. Another
unnamed female soldier who was discovered when she tried to put her pants on
over her head. Annie Lillybridge, who
was wounded at Pea Ridge, and swapped her discharge with another soldier to
re-enlist.
There are many more
stories that are known, and many more that are not, as women died in action
with their secrets never revealed, and others who never revealed what they had
done after the war because of the fear of social retribution.
Unfortunately, much of
that stigma remains. When the History
Channel did a documentary called Full Metal Corset, they made fun of the women
who did this, portraying them as crazy.
When I had pitched my documentary to them, the head of development, (who
was a woman,) said, “If it doesn’t play to the guy with a pickup and a gun
rack, we don’t want it.” When I pitched
it to Lifetime, the head of development there, (also a woman,) she said they
only want movies that depict women as the victim. PBS turned me down, then went and made a
documentary just about Loreta Velazquez.
But even then they lied about her allegiance. Apparently afraid of what audiences would
think of a Confederate female soldier, they claimed that her real allegiance
was to the North. (Even though she made
it clear in her memoirs that she was pro-Confederacy even after the war.)
