Monday, September 23, 2013

Anita Birt's Note book

Is it possible to have an attractive frame around a blog? I'll have to investigate. My blog is not much. I'm not famous. Or beautiful. Or clever. Or inventive. I am who I am for good or ill. I read this in one of the newspapers the other day.

"Be gentle with one another's efforts. It's just as hard to write a bad book, as it is to write a good book."

When I'm writing, is it good or bad? For instance, a scene popped in to my head two days ago and would not go away. I sat down and started writing. I'm not sure where it's going but it seems kind of creepy to me as if two characters are not what they seem to be. My protagonist is "normal," it's the two  characters who enter the picture I'm not sure of.

I'm also writing another story, normal in the sense that some of the characters behave badly because they are not nice people. When bad people are in positions of power, the powerless behave heroically.

I'm reading "The Ghost Map," The story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic - and How It Changed Science, Cities and the Modern World.

We're talking about Cholera.

My historical romance, A Very Difficult Man, takes place in 1858, in London, England. While researching the history of the time I read about the cholera epidemic in London; that led me to Steven Johnson's book , The Ghost Map. It's a wonderful read, full of fascinating insights into cities, how they became cities and the problems facing cities as the population grows faster than the underlying infra-structure can cope.

Steven Johnson is a brilliant writer who brings the story of the cholera epidemic to life by describing how and when it all began. How London became such a large city in a relatively short time and the problems it faced. THE GHOST MAP is an interesting read. Mr. Johnson writes like a mystery writer. The Ghost Map is a page turner. Recommended

Anita Birt
www.anitabirt.com (still in transition)

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