By John Ferling

The Committee of Five - the group that was charged with drafting the Declaration

Thomas Jefferson’s draft of the Declaration of Independence was improved by Congress’ attention.

Congress made the Declaration of Independence a leaner document, one that was more forceful and, in its brevity, more likely to be read. Altogether, Congress pruned the draft by nearly a third. Even with the additions made by Congress, the Declaration of Independence runs just over 1,400 words, not much longer than an op-ed piece in a modern daily newspaper.

Only one congressman was anguished by what Congress did to Jefferson’s draft, and that was Jefferson himself. Like any writer, he suffered silently in acute distress as his colleagues critiqued his composition, adding words, tinkering with a phrase here and there, and expunging entire sentences. Seeing his colleague’s anguish, Franklin tried to comfort Jefferson by explaining – as has many an editor to many a despairing author – that brevity can be more compelling.

About the author: John Ferling is a leading authority on late 18th and early 19th century American history. He is the author of many books, including Independence, The Ascent of George Washington, Almost a Miracle, Setting the World Ablaze, and A Leap in the Dark. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

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From WORLD WITHOUT FISH (Workman Publishing) by Mark Kurlansky:

It was in the North Sea in the late nineteenth century that innovations in fishing began to take place. The North Sea is a body of water rich in fish, which is surrounded by the great European fishing nations, such as Scotland, England, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, and Norway. Throughout history, these nations competed with one another for fish and fishing territories. Some of these countries had even gone to war over it: Holland and England battled over North Sea herring during the Anglo-Dutch wars of the seventeenth century; France and England fought over North American cod in the early eighteenth century during the Queen Anne’s War.

For centuries, North Sea nations kept bringing in larger and larger catches, with little sign of any decline in the supply of fish. In the early seventeenth century, the Dutch had two thousand ships in the North Sea fishing for herring. The British responded by banning foreign fishing vessels within fourteen miles of the British coastline (this was the distance visible from the top of a mast).

It was the British that first started using a beam trawler in the fourteenth century. Also called a “wondrychoum,” this was a net suspended from a beam and dragged through the sea. The problem with beam trawlers was that sailing ships didn’t have the power to haul huge nets – if the nets were too large and caught too many fish, they would be too heavy to pull so they had to use small ones.

On the other hand, beam trawlers were quite efficient in other ways. The potential of dragging a net through the water and hauling up everything in its path had obvious advantages over setting lines with baited hooks. In addition to requiring no bait, a beam trawler seemed certain to haul in a much higher percentage of the fish it passed. By 1774, beam trawling had become one of the principal fishing techniques in the North Sea.

In the mid-nineteenth century, new ideas were aimed at improving the quality of fish, and of getting the fish to market fresher. Well boats came into use. These were ships that contained a tank of seawater into which the caught fish would be dumped, enabling fish to stay fresh longer than previously. This meant that fishermen could remain at sea, fishing for a longer period of time. Once the quality of fish improved in England, and most notably in London, the demand for fish rapidly increased.

Then in 1848, a new dramatic technological advance was created in the port of Grimsby on the North Sea at the mouth of the Humber River: a rail connection straight to London. Because it was a large port, capable of storing ice from not-too-distant Norway, (ice was essential for keeping fish fresh on its way to market), the port of Grimsby became a premier port for quality fish in London. In 1881, the Zodiac, the first vessel built for dragging fishing nets under steam power, was launched from Grimsby.

About the author: Mark Kurlansky is a former commercial fisherman and New York Times bestselling author of Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World, Salt: A World History, The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell, and 16 other books. He’s won numerous awards, including the James A. Beard Award, Glenfiddich Award for food writing, ALA Notable Book Award, The New York Public Library Best Books of the Year Award, Los Angeles Times Science Writing Award, Dayton Literary Peace Prize. He has illustrated many of his books himself. Kurlansky lives with his wife and daughter in New York City and Gloucester, Massachusetts. His website is www.markkurlansky.com.

Illustrations by Frank Stockton

Writing can be lonely business.  No one can write your book for you (unless you’re a celebrity or pseudo-celebrity and can hire a ghost writer).  Nope, it’s just you.  You have to wage your own battle with words and ideas…and wrestle them all to the ground.

Three years ago, I read a book that changed my writing life: How to Write a Lot:  A Guide to Productive Academic Writing by Paul Silvia.

It basically says what every serious writer already knows:  get your butt in the chair, set goals, and just do it.  Writing is not about inspiration.  It’s about discipline.

Silvia also talked about connecting with other writers.  You need someone to hold you accountable to your goals.  You need someone who knows how hard writing is and who can give you gentle encouragement or a swift kick when the going gets tough.

For nearly four years now, I have had the fantastic good fortune of being part of an online writing group.  It first started with my fellow professor-friend, Christine who was looking to jump start her research too.  Thanks to Google Docs, she and I kept a shared daily log of the time spent on each of our books and how many words written.  This keep each of us from falling off the radar for more than a few days.

Every Monday, we’d send each other an email outlining our goals for the upcoming week.  Those emails also became spaces where we could talk about whatever roadblocks, obstacles or–more happily–writing triumphs we were experiencing.  And at the end of every month, we did a “text swap.”

Christine and I soon learned that we could trust each other with even the roughest of writing.  Sometimes, I’d give her fragments of Blood Work that were nearly incomprehensible.  I’d ask her to do a “truffle hunt” on them–that is, she’d sniff out the more promising bits from what was otherwise a mess.  And then there were the “surgical strikes,” where I needed her to cut out the digressions and other sections to which I really too attached but needed to excise nonetheless.

She and I were always clear with each other about what we needed:  a proofread, a check of the main lines of the argument, attention to flow, to character, etc.  This helped us get input on precisely what we were needing, nothing more, nothing less. This is important in writing groups, because sometimes even the best-intentioned reader can inadvertently stifle the writing flow if the parameters are not set.

We also agreed that whatever idea or prose fragment that one of us offered to the other was theirs to keep.  This way, there would never be any confusion or hard feelings.  And I can tell you that every time I look at the first few paragraphs of Chapter 4 in Blood Work, I think of Christine and the week she spent at my house during one of our legendary “Writing Boot Camps.”  At different moments during the week, we did a writing swap.  (I love giving things names, so I called it our Freaky Friday speed write.  She’d take my computer; I’d take hers.  And then we’d write for each other.  Sometimes that alone could unlock all sorts of ideas.) There’s nearly an entire paragraph in Chapter 4 that she wrote.  And it’s beautiful.

Not long after we started working together, Christine mentioned our writing group to Eric, a professor-friend at her home university.  They decided to do something very similar…but in person, rather than at a distance. They actually met regularly and wrote together.  Nothing like making sure you’re not goofing around when you have someone across from you saying:  ”Get Busy!”  (Christine or Eric, could I talk you into sharing more details about this?)

In just two and a half years, our little writing group produced THREE books.  I finished the manuscript for Blood Work. Christine finished her book, which is now under review at a great university press.  And Eric finished his book, for which he is finishing up revisions this month.  It will be coming out soon with another fantastic university press.  I’ll let them decide whether they want to share additional details about their successes here.

The three of us are now hard at work on proposals for our next books.  We’ve also expanded the group to include three other members and use a free Wiki hosted through PBWorks to communicate together.

I’ll write more about the nuts and bolts of the Wiki later.  But believe me when I tell you that I could not imagine writing this next book without the support, encouragement and expertise of my generous writer-friends.

Any writers out there?  I’d love to hear how you rely on others for motivation and feedback.  Also, anything you’d like to know about the writing group or the writing process?

By Maria Dahvana Headley

While researching QUEEN OF KINGS, a novel which braids the historic events surrounding the death of Cleopatra with magic, gods, monsters, witches and warfare, I found myself stuck in a research vortex.

Cleopatra offers her soul to an immortal in an attempt to save her beloved Mark Antony, and her country, but in the selling things go terribly wrong, and she’s transformed into a ferocious, bloodthirsty creature who cannot die.

Which goddess should she bargain with?

I knew that what I was looking for existed in the classical world – Lamia, hybrid serpent/maiden blood-drinkers are referenced in Greek mythology, for example – but I wasn’t sure what I’d find in the ancient Egyptian pantheon.

Ra’s daughter, the first vampire, awaited me.

Sekhmet, one of the most ancient Egyptian goddesses, is usually depicted as a lion-headed woman. She famously functioned as a warrior and defender of pharaohs, but initially, Ra sent her to earth to punish human betrayers. In a frenzy of slaughter, Sekhmet nearly destroyed all of humanity by drinking their blood, until Ra laced the waters of the Nile with alcohol and dyed them blood red with pomegranate juice in order to trick her. Sekhmet drank the Nile’s waters and was captured.

It was only a small step from that legend to my story featuring a thwarted and still bloodthirsty goddess, seeking a millennium’s worth of delayed vengeance on Mankind.

About the author: Maria Dahvana Headley is the author of Queen of Kings, the first in a trilogy of historical fantasies about Cleopatra, and The Year of Yes, a memoir of a year in which she went out on a date with everyone who asked her. The only thing these two books have in common is that they are both filled with references to love and to libraries.

Hi everyone. I just stumbled on a newish history website, coming out of University of Texas-Austin’s history department. http://www.notevenpast.org/

It made me wonder: what are some of your favorite history websites? Let’s see how long of a list we can make here!