Debbie Robson's Blog, page 8
July 10, 2011
On Heroic Women
At this stage it looks like my main character may be working at one of the units of the Scottish Womens Hospitals. I have been reading about the amazing Olive Kelso King and her experiences in Greece and Serbia. I am staggered by what she achieved during her war service. I've also been researching the two Australian doctors involved with the SWH - Dr Agnes Bennet and Dr Violet Cooper. Suddenly I am nervous at putting my character into the middle of the danger and terrible working conditions of the Eastern Front in 1918. Never mind that these women actually lived and worked there! I am worried about having to face it all just on the page!
I am, unfortunately in some respects, very thin-skinned and was crying in a cafe last week when I read again about Vivien Bullwinkel and the massacre at Bangka Island. I mean I know that Vivien was the only survivor of 21 nurses gunned down at Radji Beach and I was okay when I first read about what happened but then was done for when I came to Matron Drummond's word:
"Girls, I love you all and I'm proud of you. Walk into the water with your chins up. Don't be afraid." You can't get more heroic than that!
Yep, it's not going to be easy putting my character into a similar sort of danger. It's going to be challenging not just emotionally but in getting the historical context accurate. Now back to the past!
I am, unfortunately in some respects, very thin-skinned and was crying in a cafe last week when I read again about Vivien Bullwinkel and the massacre at Bangka Island. I mean I know that Vivien was the only survivor of 21 nurses gunned down at Radji Beach and I was okay when I first read about what happened but then was done for when I came to Matron Drummond's word:
"Girls, I love you all and I'm proud of you. Walk into the water with your chins up. Don't be afraid." You can't get more heroic than that!
Yep, it's not going to be easy putting my character into a similar sort of danger. It's going to be challenging not just emotionally but in getting the historical context accurate. Now back to the past!
June 16, 2011
More problems with shipping
Well, I didn't get to the Mitchell (State Rail doing track maintenance) but I did find a ship through the wonderful website AIF project. http://www.aif.adfa.edu.au:8080/index...
Working between the AIF Project and the Australian War Memorial embarkation section http://www.awm.gov.au/research/people...
I was able to find some details about the Hospital ship Kanowna. She departed Sydney on 25th September, 1917 and had nineteen doctors and six nurses on board. Definitely room for my character Miss Summerville to depart with them.
Now here is the new problem! After several days searching I was unable to determine that voyage's ports of call or disembarkation. I couldn't find anything on google, no shipboard diaries on Trove, the brilliant website of the National Library of Australia http://trove.nla.gov.au/ or the previous two websites. Peter Dennis of AIF had some suggestions regarding the NAA http://www.naa.gov.au/ and finally their ISS Department came up with the answers: a logbook of the Kanowna, a two page document detailing the 7th voyage of the Kanowna and a book entitled Sea Transport of the AIF - all available to view in Sydney. Yay! So I'll be back down there again soon!
Working between the AIF Project and the Australian War Memorial embarkation section http://www.awm.gov.au/research/people...
I was able to find some details about the Hospital ship Kanowna. She departed Sydney on 25th September, 1917 and had nineteen doctors and six nurses on board. Definitely room for my character Miss Summerville to depart with them.
Now here is the new problem! After several days searching I was unable to determine that voyage's ports of call or disembarkation. I couldn't find anything on google, no shipboard diaries on Trove, the brilliant website of the National Library of Australia http://trove.nla.gov.au/ or the previous two websites. Peter Dennis of AIF had some suggestions regarding the NAA http://www.naa.gov.au/ and finally their ISS Department came up with the answers: a logbook of the Kanowna, a two page document detailing the 7th voyage of the Kanowna and a book entitled Sea Transport of the AIF - all available to view in Sydney. Yay! So I'll be back down there again soon!
June 11, 2011
Trouble With Shipping
For a month now I've been having trouble with my research for my novel The Grey Silk Purse. I need a ship to get my heroine Miss Summerville from Sydney to England departing October 1917. I've been through Trove to no avail. I can easily find details of say the RMSS Britannia departing Sydney, 14th December, 1887 with Mr P.S. Tomlin in command and Mr Peter Leverage officiating as purser on the voyage. Easy peasy! But for the year I want - not much else except the troopships and they are listed on the excellent Australian War Memorial webpage.
The penny didn't drop until I spoke to Francis from the Vaughan Evans Museum at Darling Harbour. She informed me that shipping departures and arrivals were not advertised in the papers during wartime. Obvious now of course but gosh I wish I'd worked that out a few weeks ago, lol. She advised me to try the State Records Office and ancestry.com but it's still going to be tricky. Hoping to come up with something in the next 36 hours as I'm heading to the Mitchell Library on Monday. Stay tuned.
The penny didn't drop until I spoke to Francis from the Vaughan Evans Museum at Darling Harbour. She informed me that shipping departures and arrivals were not advertised in the papers during wartime. Obvious now of course but gosh I wish I'd worked that out a few weeks ago, lol. She advised me to try the State Records Office and ancestry.com but it's still going to be tricky. Hoping to come up with something in the next 36 hours as I'm heading to the Mitchell Library on Monday. Stay tuned.
May 11, 2011
Chasing More Authors
I'm still going through my list (when I get a chance) and contacting all the authors still alive and many of them kicking whose books appear in my novel. Since my last blog I've received well wishes from Nick Bantock who is proud to be one of the 52, Christopher Phillips who is very intrigued by my project and June Sawyers.
I am giving my very first talk on Crossing Paths and Bookcrossing next week and I'm so excited!
http://library.lakemac.com.au/page.as...
Debbie
I am giving my very first talk on Crossing Paths and Bookcrossing next week and I'm so excited!
http://library.lakemac.com.au/page.as...
Debbie
April 24, 2011
Chasing Authors
Well, I've definitely been slack lately with my blog but I'm back and I'm chasing authors as I once chased bookcrossers back in 2004.
I have decided to contact all the authors of the 52 books (at least all those who are still alive) to let them know that their book or books are featured in Crossing Paths. So far I have been able to contact Alain de Botton who wished me well with my book, ditto Gaby Naher and also the marvellous Elizabeth Spencer (nearly 90) who thanked me for including her book. I'm looking forward to contacting many more and will update my blog as I go.
Happy Easter everyone.
Debbie Robson
I have decided to contact all the authors of the 52 books (at least all those who are still alive) to let them know that their book or books are featured in Crossing Paths. So far I have been able to contact Alain de Botton who wished me well with my book, ditto Gaby Naher and also the marvellous Elizabeth Spencer (nearly 90) who thanked me for including her book. I'm looking forward to contacting many more and will update my blog as I go.
Happy Easter everyone.
Debbie Robson
January 15, 2011
Messages in Bottles
I've just heard from a goodreads member that one of my bottles has been found on Stockton Beach which is exciting. It must have got caught up in the local current and washed ashore there before hitting the main ocean current.
Here I am at Swansea:
http://www.marycelestepress.com/books...
I do hope one or two of these get picked up.
I was very careful with both lots of releases, making sure I caught the outgoing tide but I have still received an angry email accusing me of being a litter bug. To my way of thinking a glass bottle with a message inside is something that most people will pick up -not so for a lot of the stuff, large ships and fishing boats throw over the side.
Oh well, you can't please everyone!
Debbie
Here I am at Swansea:
http://www.marycelestepress.com/books...
I do hope one or two of these get picked up.
I was very careful with both lots of releases, making sure I caught the outgoing tide but I have still received an angry email accusing me of being a litter bug. To my way of thinking a glass bottle with a message inside is something that most people will pick up -not so for a lot of the stuff, large ships and fishing boats throw over the side.
Oh well, you can't please everyone!
Debbie
January 8, 2011
Swansea Book Launch
Everything went off like a dream. Ten messages in bottles launched into Lake Macquarie near the Swansea Channel. I had my supporters around me - Ann Maree, Danuta and new friend Michelle and the delightful Kitty the Newcastle Herald photographer who took great pains to get some good shots. The local fisherman were amused, the weather was beautiful and the tide had turned - all good omens for a successful "bottle/book" launch.
Here are a few pics from yesterday.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/69586232...
A very fun day. If anyone would like to get involved you can contact me and I can personalise a flyer for you to drop into your local ocean!
Debbie
Here are a few pics from yesterday.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/69586232...
A very fun day. If anyone would like to get involved you can contact me and I can personalise a flyer for you to drop into your local ocean!
Debbie
January 1, 2011
Newcastle Book Launch
Well, it was a launch with a difference. My publisher, his partner and my friend Ann Maree all helped launch 10 messages in bottles containing a slip of paper advertising Crossing Paths. Each slip referred to one of the 52 books in my BookCrossing novel. The ten that were "launched" yesterday referred to the wonderful novel by Italo Calvino - If on a Winter's Night a Traveller. The ten bottles I will be launching next week off Swansea Heads will refer to a Daphne du Maurier novel.
Here's hoping the bottles head down south and that some drift safely to shore.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/69586232...
Debbie
Here's hoping the bottles head down south and that some drift safely to shore.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/69586232...
Debbie
November 7, 2010
The cheapest postage
Just a quick note for potential buyers. The cheapest way to buy this book (as it turns out) is through Amazon rather than Createspace. The postage is considerably cheaper and there seems to be a discount on multiple copies bought.
The book is now in quite a few readers hands TBR soon and I'm biting my nails in nervousness, worried like a worried mother that my book is enjoyed but quietly confidendent at the same time.
The book is now in quite a few readers hands TBR soon and I'm biting my nails in nervousness, worried like a worried mother that my book is enjoyed but quietly confidendent at the same time.
October 25, 2010
Mixing up names and books
The Sydney unconvention last weekend was my fourth and I had a wonderful time. I attended the Friday BBQ at Ultimo with marvellous food and a "to die for" pavlova. Also attending was a box of very famous macaroons.
On Saturday morning we all met at the Queens Victoria Building for our release walk. The old queen herself was decked out rather flamboyantly as part of "Art and About" and so were quite a few other statues including pigs that were really ready to fly.
Along the way I left 19 of the books that are in Crossing Paths and mixed up the names of several BookCrossers. Suddenly putting a real name to a BookCrosser you might have been messaging off and on for years can get tricky when (at least for me) it is impossbile to remember two names at a time!
Below is a link to a few photos to get the feel of the release walk.
The unconvention finished for me with a great dinner and amazing company at the Australian Heritage Hotel in Cumberland Street in the middle of The Rocks.
I can't wait for the next one.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/69586232...
On Saturday morning we all met at the Queens Victoria Building for our release walk. The old queen herself was decked out rather flamboyantly as part of "Art and About" and so were quite a few other statues including pigs that were really ready to fly.
Along the way I left 19 of the books that are in Crossing Paths and mixed up the names of several BookCrossers. Suddenly putting a real name to a BookCrosser you might have been messaging off and on for years can get tricky when (at least for me) it is impossbile to remember two names at a time!
Below is a link to a few photos to get the feel of the release walk.
The unconvention finished for me with a great dinner and amazing company at the Australian Heritage Hotel in Cumberland Street in the middle of The Rocks.
I can't wait for the next one.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/69586232...
