24 November 2020 - GREAT QUOTES FROM FAMOUS WOMEN

 

GREAT QUOTES FROM FAMOUS WOMEN

G'day folks,

To celebrate International Women’s Day, let’s zoom in to some beautiful meaningful words of wisdom uttered by famous people who advocated for women's rights and female empowerment. We think everyone will appreciate these inspirational quotes, irrespective of your stance on the women's rights movement or gender.

 

 

Clancy's comment: Attention all men: Take heed, or perish. 

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19 March 2019 - HISTORIC SHOTS OF WOMEN ENTERING THE WORKPLACE

HISTORIC SHOTS OF WOMEN 

ENTERING THE WORKPLACE

G'day folks,

Since winning the right to vote in the early 20th century, women have been hungry for equality and respect in all areas of life — and with good reason! What’s the point of having the right to vote on subject matters in your country and community if your life is spent washing dishes and folding laundry?

Over the past 100 years, women’s warrior cries have shattered the glass ceiling and coined the term “Boss Lady.” That level of achievement in the workplace wouldn’t have been possible without these leading ladies, who put the word force back into workforce.

Clancy's comment: And, mothers of course ... And, Prime Ministers. You go, girls! Australian parliaments could do with more women. After all, the men have been doing it for some time and I wouldn't give them a pass.

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23 February 2018 - WOMEN IN THE CIVIL WAR

WOMEN IN 

THE CIVIL WAR

G'day folks,

In many ways, the coming of the Civil War challenged the ideology of Victorian domesticity that had defined the lives of men and women in the antebellum era. In the North and in the South, the war forced women into public life in ways they could scarcely have imagined a generation before.

Background 

In the years before the Civil War, the lives of American women were shaped by a set of ideals that historians call “the Cult of True Womanhood.” As men’s work moved away from the home and into shops, offices and factories, the household became a new kind of place: a private, feminized domestic sphere, a “haven in a heartless world.” “True women” devoted their lives to creating a clean, comfortable, nurturing home for their husbands and children.

During the Civil War, however, American women turned their attention to the world outside the home. Thousands of women in the North and South joined volunteer brigades and signed up to work as nurses. It was the first time in American history that women played a significant role in a war effort. By the end of the war, these experiences had expanded many Americans’ definitions of “true womanhood.”

 Fighting for the Union 

 

With the outbreak of war in 1861, women and men alike eagerly volunteered to fight for the cause. In the Northern states, women organized ladies’ aid societies to supply the Union troops with everything they needed, from food (they baked and canned and planted fruit and vegetable gardens for the soldiers) to clothing (they sewed and laundered uniforms, knitted socks and gloves, mended blankets and embroidered quilts and pillowcases) to cash (they organized door-to-door fundraising campaigns, county fairs and performances of all kinds to raise money for medical supplies and other necessities).

But many women wanted to take a more active role in the war effort. Inspired by the work of Florence Nightingale and her fellow nurses in the Crimean War, they tried to find a way to work on the front lines, caring for sick and injured soldiers and keeping the rest of the Union troops healthy and safe.

In June 1861, they succeeded: The federal government agreed to create “a preventive hygienic and sanitary service for the benefit of the army” called the United States Sanitary Commission. The Sanitary Commission’s primary objective was to combat preventable diseases and infections by improving conditions (particularly “bad cookery” and bad hygiene) in army camps and hospitals. It also worked to provide relief to sick and wounded soldiers. By war’s end, the Sanitary Commission had provided almost $15 million in supplies–the vast majority of which had been collected by women–to the Union Army.

Nearly 20,000 women worked more directly for the Union war effort. Working-class white women and free and enslaved African-American women worked as laundresses, cooks and “matrons,” and some 3,000 middle-class white women worked as nurses. The activist Dorothea Dix, the superintendent of Army nurses, put out a call for responsible, maternal volunteers who would not distract the troops or behave in unseemly or unfeminine ways: Dix insisted that her nurses be “past 30 years of age, healthy, plain almost to repulsion in dress and devoid of personal attractions.” (One of the most famous of these Union nurses was the writer Louisa May Alcott.)

Army nurses traveled from hospital to hospital, providing “humane and efficient care for wounded, sick and dying soldiers.” They also acted as mothers and housekeepers–“havens in a heartless world”–for the soldiers under their care.

 Women of the Confederacy 

 

White women in the South threw themselves into the war effort with the same zeal as their Northern counterparts. The Confederacy had less money and fewer resources than did the Union, however, so they did much of their work on their own or through local auxiliaries and relief societies. They, too, cooked and sewed for their boys. They provided uniforms, blankets, sandbags and other supplies for entire regiments. They wrote letters to soldiers and worked as untrained nurses in makeshift hospitals. They even cared for wounded soldiers in their homes.

 Many Southern women, especially wealthy ones, relied on slaves for everything and had never had to do much work. However, even they were forced by the exigencies of wartime to expand their definitions of “proper” female behavior.

 Slaves and Freedwomen 

 

Slave women were, of course, not free to contribute to the Union cause. Moreover, they had never had the luxury of “true womanhood” to begin with: As one historian pointed out, “being a women never saved a single female slave from hard labor, beatings, rape, family separation, and death.” The Civil War promised freedom, but it also added to these women’s burden. In addition to their own plantation and household labor, many slave women had to do the work of their husbands and partners too: The Confederate Army frequently impressed male slaves, and slaveowners fleeing from Union troops often took their valuable male slaves, but not women and children, with them. (Working-class white women had a similar experience: While their husbands, fathers and brothers fought in the Army, they were left to provide for their families on their own.)

 A Women’s Proper Place? 

 

During the Civil War, women especially faced a host of new duties and responsibilities. For the most part, these new roles applied the ideals of Victorian domesticity to “useful and patriotic ends.” However, these wartime contributions did help expand many women’s ideas about what their “proper place” should be.

  

Clancy's comment: Sadly, women have always been underated for their efforts. Go, girls!

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17 October 2015 - CATHERINE BROUGHTON - Guest Author

CATHERINE BROUGHTON

- Guest Author -

G'day folks,

Welcome to an interview with an author who runs a successful holiday business in the Charente Maritime, in France, and has four books published with another one due out soon.

Welcome, Catherine ...

1.   TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF AND YOUR WRITING JOURNEY.

I have been writing since I was a child. I have always enjoyed it.

2.   WHEN AND HOW DID YOU BECOME A WRITER?

My first book was published in 2010.  I had tried about 60 or 70 publishers!

3.    WHAT TYPE OF PREPARATION DO YOU DO FOR A MANUSCRIPT? DO YOU PLAN EVERYTHING FIRST OR JUST SHOOT FROM THE HIP?

I just shoot from the hip – I love the expression ! My story often changes several times as I write.

4.   WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT BEING A WRITER?

I am a very creative person, so it really suits me.

5.   WHAT IS THE HARDEST THING ABOUT BEING A WRITER?

Marketing !   Writing the book is the easy part.

6.   WHAT WERE YOU IN A PAST LIFE, BEFORE YOU BECAME A WRITER?

I used to teach French and Spanish in secondary schools, then I had my own real estate business.

7.   WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST WRITING ACHIEVEMENT?

“The Man with Green Fingers” is selling well – more about murder than gardening.

8.   WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON AT THE MOMENT?

A collection of short stories

9.   WHAT INSPIRES YOU?

Difficult to say … I get a story in my head and then I write it.  They are usually triggered by real events.

10.              WHAT GENRE DO YOU WRITE?

For women, absolutely.

11.              DO YOU HAVE ANY TIPS FOR NEW WRITERS?

Yes, the marketing. Do not count on friends and family but only on your own determination.  Friends and family may and may not buy a copy and likewise they may or may not think to share your book on Facebook or Twitter or whatever … but never count on them.  They mean well, but somehow they just don’t get round to it …

12.              DO YOU SUFFER FROM WRITER’S BLOCK?

No, rarely

13.              DO YOU HAVE A PREFERRED WRITING SCHEDULE?

No, I just do what suits, as and when

14.              DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE WRITING PLACE?

Not really.  I jot ideas down off and on all the time, anywhere I happen to be

15.              WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST JOY IN WRITING?

I love poetry and get a real pleasure from it

16.              WHO IS YOUR FAVOURITE AUTHOR AND WHY?

A French author called Christophe Rufin.  I don’t think he has been translated in to English – I don’t know – I read in French.

17.              WHAT’S THE GREATEST COMPLIMENT YOU EVER RECEIVED FROM A READER?

“I couldn’t put it down” !!

18.     WHAT WAS THE WORST COMMENT FROM A READER?

One woman said it was boring. I don’t mind her finding it boring – clearly for her it was – but I think people who write a bad review just because they didn’t happen to like something (book, hotel, rental) are really rotten and small-minded

19.              WRITERS ARE SOMETIMES INFLUENCED BY THINGS THAT HAPPEN IN THEIR OWN LIVES. ARE YOU?

Yes, most of my work is based on true stories.

20.              OTHER THAN WRITING, WHAT ELSE DO YOU LOVE?

I do water-colours and enjoy that very much.  I also run a holiday business in France and that is satisfying.

21.              DID YOU HAVE YOUR BOOK / BOOKS PROFESSIONALLY EDITED BEFORE PUBLICATION?

The first two were … but there were still mistakes and even my English spelling corrected in to Amercian spelling !!

22.              DESCRIBE YOUR PERFECT DAY.

Tea in bed in the morning, shopping with my daughter, wine and supper in front of the TV in the evening … it doesn’t necessarily include writing.

23.              IF YOU WERE STUCK ON A DESERT ISLAND WITH ONE PERSON, WHO WOULD IT BE? WHY?

Paul Mckenna – I’d love to spend time with him.

24.              WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IF YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO SPEAK TO WORLD LEADERS?

Jeez – what a question !  I’d need thousands of pages to answer that, but I bet you get some clueless and naïve answers

25.              WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE?

I am 63 so I just want peace and harmony

26.              WHAT FIVE BOOKS WOULD YOU TAKE TO HEAVEN?

Rupert Brooke’s verse, a massive encyclopedia, an atlas, a collection of short stories by somebody like Rufin and a dictionary

27.              DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN ANY OF YOUR CHARACTERS?

I am the main character in “A Call from France” – it is a true story which ought to be read by all mothers of daughters

28.              DOES THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY FRUSTRATE YOU?

Nah … not really

29.              DID YOU EVER THINK OF QUITTING?

Nah … not really

30.              WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE MANUSCRIPT TO WRITE? WHY?

“A Call from France” served as a catharsis for me.  It was a traumatic story that I needed to tell.

31.               HOW WOULD YOU DEFINE ‘SUCCESS’ AS A WRITER.

Money !   I don’t want fame, but I want to dosh !

32.              WHAT SHOULD READERS WALK AWAY FROM YOUR BOOKS KNOWING? HOW SHOULD THEY FEEL?

I hope my stories stick in their minds for a while afterwards

33.              HOW MUCH THOUGHT GOES INTO DESIGNING A BOOK COVER?

I design my own book covers – they are simply sketches that I perhaps did a long time before.  They seem to work, especially the cover for “The Man with Green Fingers” which has received a lot of praise

34.              WHAT’S YOUR ULTIMATE DREAM?

At my age I just want family safe around me

35.                WRITING IS ONE THING. WHAT ABOUT MARKETING YOU, YOUR BOOKS AND YOUR BRAND? ANY THOUGHTS?

I really ought to write an article about marketing because I am an expert and can give a lot of tips and advice.  I often think of giving a talk about it and perhaps one day I will.  Most people have no idea what to do or where to start.   They often spend a long time paddling up the stream in the wrong direction.

36.               ARE YOUR BOOKS SELF-PUBLISHED?

The first 2 were published but the publisher went bust and so I re-published them myself.

37.              DESCRIBE YOURSELF IN FIVE WORDS.

Intelligent, multi-talented, attractive for my age … well, you asked !!

38.              WHAT PISSES YOU OFF MOST?

People who think they know.  A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing.

39.              WHAT IS THE TITLE OF THE LAST BOOK YOU READ? GOOD ONE?

“Au revoir la-haut” which means “goodbye up there”.

40.               WHAT WOULD BE THE VERY LAST SENTENCE YOU’D WRITE?

“This be the verse you grave for me …”

(R L Stevenson)

41.               WHAT WOULD MAKE YOU HAPPIER THAN YOU ARE NOW? CARE TO SHARE?

Nah …

But I am very happy

42.               ANYTHING YOU’D LIKE TO ADD?

Yes, people often say “never give up” and I don’t agree with that.  Writers more than anybody need to know when to change direction. There is no point in just going on and on and on.  I don’t call it giving up – it is changing direction, which is not really the same thing.

 AMAZON

Clancy's comment: Go, Catherine. I loved your snappy answers. Thank you. Good luck with the new book.

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