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Home » Weekly Roundup of History, Archaeology and Writing Wisdom Feb 15-21

Weekly Roundup of History, Archaeology and Writing Wisdom Feb 15-21

Here are the finds on the web that I found interesting this week. While buried in my current Hittite mystery manuscript, it’s nice to wander out and hear what other people in publishing, archaeology and the historical fiction world on up to.

Judith Starkston author of Hand of Fire, Fireship Press Sept 2014I’m putting together the bits and pieces that go toward a book launch. I now have a professional author photo. Once my reworking of my website is complete it will be up “officially” along with Hand of Fire‘s book cover and all those good supporting pieces, but here it is just for fun today.

A.
Ever wonder exactly what a copyeditor should be doing/does do? This interview in The Millions gives all the details and I found it fascinating. Do you get all this from your copyeditor? Thanks to Barbara Kyle for the link. And thanks to Susan Bradanini Betz for her insightful comments into the world of copyediting. Link here

B.
book cover image The Cross and the Dragon Fireship Press
Kim Rendfeld, author of The Cross and the Dragon, in a blog hop on her writing process. Currently her work explores the lengths a medieval Saxon woman will go to protect her children—a side of history rarely heard. I enjoy writers who look at the less well-known moments in history and those whose voices have not been heard. I’ll be joining Kim on this blog hop on March 3rd. Link here

C.
Want to write like Hemingway? Now there’s an app for that. January Magazine says this app highlights long, complex sentences, adverbs, and purple words and suggests simpler ones, strong verbs to replace adverbs. I suspect my prose would light up like a bonfire by these criteria, at least early drafts. Simplify is usually what I’m doing in revisions. There are features to Hemingway I wouldn’t want to adopt, but this sounds pretty cool. Link here

D.
book cover image A Burnable Book Bruce Holsinger Poisoned PenIn the category of most enjoyable review to read: The Washington Post’s Ron Charles on Bruce Holsinger’s A Burnable Book: I quote just one delectable sentence, which will give you a taste of his humor combined with erudition/book-induced joy, but you have to read the whole review just for the fun of it. (Not to mention Burnable sounds good too…) “This doesn’t say much for the efficacy of poetry as a defense against blunt-force trauma, but it gets the novel off to a rousing start.” Link here

E.
As if Egypt didn’t have enough troubles. To “prove” their alien invader theory, 2 Germans vandalized the Great Pyramid at Giza. Apparently they bought their way into areas restricted to archaeologists and cut away samples. Link here

4 thoughts on “Weekly Roundup of History, Archaeology and Writing Wisdom Feb 15-21”

  1. The Burnable Book sounds right up my reading alley – added it to my list.

    Nice photo; you look very writerly. 😉

  2. Marvelous photo, Judith. Very dignified, with just the hint of a wicked sense of humor in the dimples.

    You should be able to use it for many, many books to come.

    Rosemary

  3. Your picture captures your wonderful personality. I look forward to these weekly updates and learning about all the items I would miss without you their pointing the way.

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