Sarah Ettritch's Blog, page 25
April 8, 2011
1911 Journal: Social Activities
No TV. No internet. No cell phones. Oh, the horror!
Well, not really. What did Kate do with her free time? Lots! The woman barely had a moment to herself.
Popular activities among Kate's crowd:
Cards, especially 500 and bridge
Over to C.'s in evening to play "500". Played like several kinds of an idiot. — June 12, 1911
Visiting
We all had a cup of tea around the fire-place. — April 15, 1911
Family, friends, even people you didn't know all that well. Coffee and tea by the fire. Good conversation.
Writing letters
Wrote letters in the afternoon. — October 1, 1911
East wind with all the horrors of driving sleat and snow. Did not venture out except to post a letter. — February 2, 1911
The theatre
In evening we went to see "Girls". Good, funny play. — May 24, 1911
One of Kate's favourite activities. She also acted in plays.
Reading, alone and with others
Sat around Miss Johnson's fire and read out loud from "Cape Cod Folks". — January 15, 1911
Apparently there was some controversy around this book. See here.
Walks and motor rides
Russell called for us in his motor in the evening. Marion & Gertrude H. came with us too. Had a jolly good ride. Home about 10.30. Our motor ride was all along the lakeshore… — July 9, 1911
Lectures and talks
In the evening went over to hear Dr. Leacock of McGill give an addess on "What the Universities can do for Canada". — February 8, 1911
Yeah, she saw Leacock in person!
Baseball matches
In the afternoon went with C. to a baseball match between Montreal & Toronto – the latter winning by a score 10-7. Very exciting game. Large crowd there. — July 13, 1911
Moving pictures
C. over in evening. We went to see the moving pictures at Family Theatre. — June 14, 1911
When Kate was in Ottawa, she and C. frequently went to the Family Theatre.
Contrast that to this:
Student Addiction to Technology Similar to Drug Cravings
I'd find it funny, if it wasn't so sad. They could use landline telephones, but nobody thought to call their friends and get together? This isn't progress. Score 1 for 1911.
Enjoy your weekend.
April 1, 2011
1911 Journal: Two Mysteries and a Duh Moment
Mystery #1: What's "Jancy-work?"
If I had a dime for every time Kate mentions "Jancy-work" in her journal, I'd be rich (okay, maybe I could eat at McDonalds). What is she talking about? I scratched my head over this until I realized that it wasn't "Jancy-work," but "fancy-work."
Did some fancy-work but had to rip it out. — August 1, 1911
I've mentioned that Kate's handwriting isn't all that great. Her f's tend to look like j's, and don't get me started on her i's and r's.
Okay, "fancy-work." Maybe you're nodding now, but it was still a mystery to this tomboy. Fortunately the dictionary enlightened me. She's talking about this. Mystery solved!
Mystery #2: The subway?
I came up home alone on the subway, during the rush hour too so it was quite exciting. — January 4, 1911
Okay, she couldn't be talking about the subway as we think of it, because Ottawa doesn't have a subway to this day, much to its chagrin (especially since it's been talking about it since 1915). This challenged my search engine skills, but I eventually stumbled across the following:
Ottawa's Bank Street subway is opened as streetcar number 253 of the Ottawa Electric Railway traverses the tunnel. — Wikipedia
And also this (see two mentions of "subway"):
Significant Dates in Ottawa Railway History
So, she's speaking of streetcars. Mystery solved!
The Duh Moment:
When I first read Kate's journal entry for November 11th, I wondered why she didn't mention any Remembrance Day activities. Yes, I'm an idiot. That is all.
Have a great weekend!
March 25, 2011
Time Travel Fantasy News
I had a great time on Readings in Lesbian and Bisexual Fiction last night. You can listen to the show at the Blog Talk Radio site or on iTunes. I read a short passage from The Accident, a Rymellan story, near the end of the show.
A significant update to the WIP page today: On Wednesday, I finished the first draft of the time travel fantasy story. It's longer than I expected—55,000 words. Depending on whose definition of novels and novellas you believe, it's either a long novella or a short novel. I'm going with novella. For me (and according to some of those definitions), a novel has to be at least 70,000 words.
Now that the first draft is done, I'll talk a little about the story. It focuses on four characters, two from 1910 (Margaret and Jasper) and two from 2010 (Pam and Robin), and how their lives change when they somehow run into each other—you'll have to read the story to find out how the time travel takes place. If I compare it to the Rymellan series and The Salbine Sisters, I'd say it has the lighter tone of The Salbine Sisters and the slower pace of the Rymellan series.
If you're looking for a time travel story with lots of action, where people are traveling through time to save the world or chasing a mass murderer through the centuries, you won't find it here. Nor will you find quasi-historical fiction that describes 1910 in great detail. It's always about the people for me, so I focused my research on the differences in language and attitudes between the two time periods. What frequently used idioms in 2010 would stump someone from 1910? How has word usage changed? How were the attitudes toward women and homosexuals different? That sort of thing.
For example, the usage of the word queer has changed since 1910. It still means 'odd', but people rarely use it that way. In the story there's a brief dialogue exchange about the word—very brief, because it was just too obvious and easy (but also impossible to resist). Many others words meant something different in 1910, including the word lesbian.
Now it's on to the editing phase (the fun part!). I'll send the story to my editor on May 16th.
Change of topic: On her blog today, fellow indie author Zoe Winters talks about where her ideas come from. It sounds like she outlines and creates character back stories much more than I do (not difficult, since I do neither). Apart from that, much of what she says is pretty much what I would say in response to, "Where do your ideas come from?" Especially this:
I don't know. They come out of my weird and twisty mind, and then they are on paper or on a screen. Same for building a world, same for outlining. I just don't know. What I do know is that I have a pretty good relationship with my subconscious mind, and I know how to let go and trust the process (which is the reason I have that good relationship).
To give you an idea of how much I "trust the process," I didn't know Maddy was malflowed when I started to write The Salbine Sisters. I only discovered that rather-important-detail-that-drove-the-whole-flippin'-story later. In fact, it's what I was referring to in my Outlining vs. Winging It post. So yeah, I blindly trust the process. It hasn't let me down yet.
Enjoy your weekend.
March 23, 2011
Reminder: Readings in Lesbian and Bisexual Fiction
Just a quick reminder that tomorrow I'll be on Lara Zielinsky's radio show, Readings in Lesbian and Bisexual Fiction. If you can't listen to the show live, you can download it after the fact. Of course, if you want to ask me a question, you'll have to be there when I am.
Details here.
March 18, 2011
1911 Journal: Made Me Smile
Two short snippets that made me smile on this busy Friday:
Was raining when we came out so Nan and I fit in a taxi. Had a very careless chauffeur – immediately got us locked into another car. Extricated all right. — January 3, 1911
Apparently taxi drivers were crazy back then, too.
Math exam in the morning. Less said about it the better. — April 8, 1911
I think most have us have felt that way one time or another after an exam.
(She failed.)
March 15, 2011
Rymellan Fiction: No Going Back
I've just posted the latest story to Rymellan Fiction, called No Going Back. If you haven't been following along, I'd recommend starting with The Dance.
Enjoy!
March 8, 2011
1911 Journal: Women's History
Miss C. an ardent suffragette which quite disgusted Dr. J. — January 28, 1911
Go, Miss C.!
Of course, the suffragettes prevailed. Thank you, ladies!
Today is the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day, which means that Kate was alive and writing in her journal on the very first IWD back in 1911. She doesn't mention it because Canada didn't celebrate IWD at that time.
In 1918, Canadian women gained the right to vote in federal elections, so Kate didn't have the vote in 1911.
In Canada, women's history month is celebrated in October to coincide with the anniversary of the Persons case, which resulted in women being declared persons under the BNA Act. Up until that time, the Canadian Government had refused to appoint a woman to the Senate because they weren't persons. It sounds ridiculous now, but there you have it.
On October 18, 1929, the British Privy Council announced that women were persons and eligible to sit on the Canadian Senate. A few months later, in 1930, Cairine Wilson became the first woman appointed to the Senate. Apparently her husband wasn't thrilled and told the Prime Minister that his wife didn't want the position. She went ahead and accepted it (ha!).
The Persons case was fought by the Famous Five:
Emily Murphy
Henrietta Muir Edwards
Nellie McClung
Louise McKinney
Irene Parlby
Again, thank you. What a legacy!
Here's more information about the Famous Five. I love Nellie McClung's quote. You know that question about which dead people you'd invite to dinner? I bet these women would have a ton of interesting stories to tell.
March 6, 2011
The Salbine Sisters Sale!
I don't normally post on Sundays, but:
To celebrate Read an eBook Week, I'm offering The Salbine Sisters for 50% off at Smashwords. The book will only cost you $2.50. A steal!
The offer is good from March 6-12, inclusive. Use coupon code RAE50 at checkout.
Spread the word!
March 4, 2011
1911 Journal: Who Was Kate?
* Text in italics is information I discovered through research. I gleaned everything else from the journal.
* In her journal, Kate refers to most people by initial only, so I'll do the same.
On January 1, 1911, Kate was 24 years old and living in Ottawa, Ontario. She was home for the holidays, preparing to return to university in another city to complete her last semester toward a Bachelor of Arts.
She was dating, and probably engaged to, a man named C. They seemed devoted to each other, regularly exchanging letters when she was away and spending most of their free time together when she was in Ottawa.
Cook intoxicated so she left. — May 13, 1911
Kate came from a large family and was close to her mother, a couple of sisters, and one of her brothers. I got the impression that the family was well off. She mentions a cook and a maid, and the family home had a billiards room and a drawing room.
She was very sociable, rarely spending time alone. In fact, her entire society sounds much more sociable than ours is today. With no TV, internet, or video games, people spent their leisure time with each other.
After graduation, Kate accepted a teaching position at a ladies college in Quebec and started her new job in September.
Met "Yes Ma'am" Dobson on the train. — July 12, 1911
. . . had to listen to stupid rural clergymen. — October 18, 1911
In the journal, she comes across as a no-nonsense, "doesn't suffer fools gladly" type of person.
She wrote in her journal most days, except for a period during November/December when she didn't write anything for about three weeks.
I believe the journal was a gift. An inscription inside the front cover, clearly meant for the journal's owner, isn't in her handwriting. Based on other things I know, I suspect one of her sisters gave it to her, but I could be wrong.
So that's a brief look at Kate and what she was doing in 1911. Lots more good stuff to come . . .
There won't be any journals for my (indirect) descendents to throw away. I've tried to keep a journal about three times, all with the same result: wonderfully verbose entries for January 1st to around 4th, followed by nothing but blank pages. It's just not my thing. My descendents will have to settle for my stories.
Having said that, if I did write a journal entry for today, it would read:
Must ride the subway more often. Twenty minutes, two solid story ideas. – March 4, 2011
Enjoy your weekend!
March 1, 2011
1911 Journal: The Dentist
Kate, January 30, 1911:
To the dentist's after that and was nearly murdered.
Ouch.
I was in the dentist's chair yesterday morning for my regular checkup/cleaning. We have a much easier time of it now, though I do sometimes think that the dental instruments lined up on the tray could be mistaken for torture devices.
Dentist: "Does that feel all right, there?"
Patient in 2011: "It did before you shoved that hard metal pointy thingie under my gum."
Future generations: "Oh my gawd! What those poor people had to endure!"
