Clancy Tucker's Blog, page 153

5 May 2018 - FACTS ABOUT GEESE

FACTS ABOUT GEESE
G'day folks,
These birds are all over the world, but what do you know about them?

A goose is a medium to large sized bird found in Europe, Asia and North America. There are around 29 known speciesof geese around the world including Canadian geese and Snowy geese.




Geese mate and build their nests in order to raise their baby geese (known as goslings) in the north during the warmer summer months and the geese then migrate south in the winter to the warmer climates when the baby geese are strong enough to fly.




Geese tend to have the same mating partners for their entire lives, and if not all of it then most of it. The bond between male and female geese partners is very strong and they will often spend most of their time together with both the male goose and the female goose building the nest and raising their young.

Geese are omnivorous birds but mainly feed on insects, grubs, small fish and planktonin the water. Geese spend a great deal of time on the water and have special adaptations such as webbed feet which make their aquatic life easier.



Geese have a number of natural predatorsalthough, due to the size and strength of a goose, predatory animalsdon't always have an easy time if they fancy goose for dinner. 

The main predatorsof the goose are foxes, wild dogs, raccoons and birds that predominately prey on the goose eggs and newborn baby geese. Humans are among one of the most common predatorsof geese, as geese are hunted all around the world for their meat and feathers.




Geese are strong and hardy birds and are known to get to old ages, even in the wild. The average lifespan of a goose is between 20 and 30 years but a number of geese individuals have been known to live for much longer.

Geese are known to have extremely strong wings as they migrate long distances every year to the warmer climates. Due to the fact that the wingspan of a goose is so large (normally one and half times the size of the goose's body), and the wings of the goose are so strong, a goose is known to be able to inflict severe damage to humans should it become threatenedor annoyed!




Not only do geese flap their wings to intimidate unwanted company, but they are also known to make a loud hissing noise. If these methods of defence fail, it is not uncommon for a goose to simply charge at the intruder hissing and flapping its wings all at the same time.





The term geese is normally used to refer to these birds in general, but more particularly a female. The term gander is generally used to refer to a male. The baby geese are referred to as goslings and a group of geese on the ground is called a gaggle with geese flying in formation being called a wedge or a skein.
  

Clancy's comment: Amazing how they can fly such long distances. And, they were used as security guards in the second world war.
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4 May 2018 - WORDS AND ALCOHOL

WORDS AND ALCOHOL
G'day folks,
I guess you have noticed how people slur their speech when they have had too much alcohol. Here are a few samples that may sound familiar.

WORDS THAT ARE DIFFICULT TO SAY WHEN DRUNK:
1.       Innovative
2.       Preliminary
3.       Proliferation
4.       Cinnamon

WORDS THAT ARE VERY DIFFICULT TO SAY WHEN DRUNK:
1.      Specificity
2.       Anti-constitutionalistically
3.       Passive-aggressive disorder
4.       Transubstantiate

WORDS THAT ARE DOWNRIGHT IMPOSSIBLE TO SAY WHEN DRUNK:
1.       No thanks, I’m married.
2.       Nope, no more booze for me!
3.       Sorry, but you’re not really my type.
4.       No thanks, I’m not hungry.
5.       I’m not interested in fighting you.
6.       Thank you, but I won’t make any attempt to dance.  I have no coordination and would hate to look like a real Fool!
7.       Oh no, I must be going home now as I have to work in the morning.


Clancy's comment: Sound familiar? Hic ...
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3 May 2018 - ROX BURKEY AND CO-AUTHOR CHARLES - GUEST CO-AUTHORS

ROX BURKEY & CO-AUTHOR CHARLES - GUEST CO-AUTHORS -

G'day folks,
Well, today I am fortunate to interview a very successful co-author team from Texas - BREAKFIELD & BURKEY.
Welcome Rox and Charles ...
Clancy, most of these questions are responded to by Rox Burkey, though Charles has made significant inputs. With co-authors it is important to clarify some of the responses. I won with the rock, paper, scissors duel for this honour.
1.   TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELVES AND YOUR WRITING JOURNEY.
My youth was spent in California with sun, surf, and school, pretty much in that order. I was encouraged to do my best in school and work hard. I even took a job in a movie theatre and fibbed about my age to meet their minimum requirements. The real reason was to earn enough to add to my less than fashionable wardrobe and save for a car. With minimum wage and from the perspective of youth, it took eons to save enough.
Charles is the eldest of three sons who followed their parents to multiple military bases, including Germany where he excelled in football, competitive shooting, and fixing motorcycles. He developed a great love of reading and excelled in his studies. He started out as a really smart kid with a great sense of humour, which, with time, has been enhanced to enviable an art form.
Clancy, like many young girls, I wrote an abundance of idealistic poetry in school. The more serious writing really began in college, with commissioned white papers that were focused on technology issues like software pirating, mainframe connections, and microcomputers. This helped supplement some of my college tuition and self-confidence.
My renowned co-author, Breakfield, actually did a serious, albeit controversial, school newspaper publication with a point-of-view on the life and times in Austin TX. Though the actual details are sketchy, there was a hint that the faculty advisor was harshly chastised as each issue subsequently sold out and the circulation numbers rose.
We currently balance a very busy schedule of very enjoyable family life, involved professional corporate careers, our writing, selective speaker engagements focused on customer experience and technology topics, book signing, and family balance. Often the 24-hour workday is simply not enough, argh!
2.   WHEN AND HOW DID YOU BECOME WRITERS?
Charles and I ended up working for a leading telecommunications manufacturer eventually writing documentation and certification tests for various applications.  We co-authored a couple of non-fiction technology books and decided technology was changing way too fast for this point of view to be a relevant exercise for us.
Seven or so years ago, I fiddled around with a portion of a fictional piece that I finally persuaded Charles would be a lot more fun. I totally convinced him that we could take the experiences we observed in the technology marketplace, places we visited separately or together all over the world, the myriad of people, and our knowledge and create a serious of stories with a foundation from the beginning of computers, or the Enigma Machine.



3.    WHAT TYPE OF PREPARATION DO YOU DO FOR A MANUSCRIPT? DO YOU PLAN EVERYTHING FIRST OR JUST SHOOT FROM THE HIP?
We actually chuckled at your ‘shoot from the hip’ suggestion. There are certainly portions of each of our currently available 9 stories in the series and the one we are baking now where that has been the case. We have a bit of process in developing our stories. As Breakfield likes to put it “we begin with a concept and after a lot of work try to turn it into an idea.

2 May 2018 - HARRIET TUBMAN

HARRIET TUBMAN  
G'day folks,
I've often posted information on some amazing women who were ahead of their time. Here is another.
Harriet Tubman (1822–1913) was an escaped slave who became a leading figure in the abolitionist movement. Harriet Tubman also served as a spy for the US army during the civil war and was an active participant in the struggle for women’s suffrage.

Tubman was born Araminta Ross, to slave parents who lived on plantations in Maryland. Little is known about her family background and ancestry, but her maternal grandmother came to the US on a slave ship from Africa (possibly from modern-day Ghana).





Her parents Rit and Ben Ross had nine children together, but three of Harriet’s sisters were sold at an early age by their owners and she never saw them again.

 Even as a young child Harriet was responsible for looking after her younger siblings because her mother was too busy working as a cook. Harriet was also hired as a nursemaid to a “Miss Susan”. She was frequently whipped by her overseers – leading to scars which would last all her life. For periods of time, she was also sent out to work for a planter – checking muskrat traps – and later farming tasks, such as ploughing and moving logs.

On one occasion, Tubman was hit in the head by a stone thrown by a slave owner. The slave owner was aiming at another slave, but the stone hit Tubman in the back of her head – cracking her skull and leading to lifelong headaches, epileptic seizures and dreams or visions. Tubman later attributed her bushy unkempt hair for reducing the impact of the stone and saving her life.





Around 1844, Harriet married John Tubman. Around this time, she adopted her mother’s maiden name, Harriet, in place of her childhood name Araminta.
In 1849, Tubman’s slave owner, Edward Brodress, died. This raised the likelihood Tubman would be sold, and the family split up. With her two brothers, Ben and Henry, she decided to escape from the large plantation in Caroline County where they lived and worked. The escape was successful, but after a few weeks, her brothers had misgivings because they wanted to return to their children; Tubman was forced to return with them.

However, soon after, Tubman escaped for the second time. With the help of the Underground Railroad, she took a 90-mile route northeast along the Choptank River towards Pennsylvania. The journey on foot could have taken a couple of weeks, with great care being needed to avoid slave catchers, who could gain a bounty for catching any escaped slaves. After reaching Pennsylvania, she expressed her tremendous joy.
In Philadelphia, Tubman took on odd jobs to earn some money, but she wanted to return to Maryland to rescue the rest of her family.




 A significant element of Tubman’s life was her strong religious faith. From her childhood, she had learnt aural biblical stories, and although she couldn’t read, she felt a strong faith in the presence and guidance of God. She related receiving intense visions and clear messages coming from God, and on the dangerous missions, she trusted in the direction and protection of God to succeed in her mission.

In 1858, she met the radical abolitionist John Brown, who advocated violence to promote the ending of slavery. Although Tubman never promoted violence herself, she was sympathetic to the aims of John Brown and assisted him in finding willing volunteers. Brown’s raid on Harper Ferry, Virginia failed and he was executed, but Tubman praised his courage in death for trying to fight the institution of slavery.

 At the outbreak of the civil war, Tubman saw a Union victory as a way to advance the cause of abolition. She served as a nurse in Port Royal, treating soldiers suffering dysentery and small pox.




In 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, and Tubman became more involved in the efforts of the northern forces. She offered her services as a guide for scouting trips in South Carolina – using her skills to travel undetected. She also became the first woman to lead an armed assault during the Civil War, when she guided three steamboats to an assault on plantations on the Combahee River. The raid was a great success with around 750 slaves escaping onto steamboats; later, encouraged by Tubman, many of the liberated men went on to join the Union army – forming the first all-black corps. For her courageous efforts, she received favourable press coverage, though as a black woman she received no regular pay or pension (until 1899). During the war, she had to supplement her income by selling pies and root beer.

After the civil war, Tubman returned to Auburn where she continued to look after her family and other ex-slaves. She also remarried (Nelson Davis, 20 years her junior). They adopted a child Gertie.

Denied a pension, her financial situation was poor, but friends in the abolitionist movement helped raise funds.  An authorised biography Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman was written by Sarah Hopkins Bradford. Over the next few years, Tubman often gave speeches on both slavery and women’s rights. She was an excellent storyteller who could capture the imagination of the audience.
Tubman also began supporting the women’s suffrage movement, supporting the work of Susan B. Anthony and others. Tubman spoke of her experiences and suffering in the war and railroad movement as proof that women were the equal of men. This brought her wider national recognition.




She donated her property to the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in Auburn to be converted into a home for aged and coloured people.

After becoming increasingly frail, in 1913, she died of pneumonia, surrounded by friends and family.
  
Clancy's comment: Wow. I admire her brilliant quotes. Love ya work, Harriet.
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1 May 2018 - WEIRD AND WONDERFUL TREES

WEIRD AND WONDERFUL TREES
G'day folks,
Welcome to some more of those weird and wonderful trees around the world.




































Clancy's comment: Mm ... Odd, eh?
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30 April 2018 - TOP AUTHOR QUOTES

 TOP AUTHOR QUOTES
G'day folks,

Welcome to some great quotes from famous authors and writers.


















Clancy's comment: Worth reading. Most of these are common sense, but common sense ain't all that common.
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29 April 2018 - 400 METRES OF ROPE USED IN RELIGIOUS CEREMONY

400 METRES OF ROPE USED IN RELIGIOUS CEREMONY 
G'day folks, Every year, in the second week of October, millions of Roman-Catholic devotees from all over Brazil descend on the city of Belem to attend Cirio de Nazaré, the country’s largest religious festival, and to touch a 400-meter-long piece of rope believed to have the power to heal the sick.

Cirio de Nazaré has been celebrated intermittently in Brazil since 1793. The event revolves around a small statue of Nossa Senhora de Nazaré (Our Lady of Nazareth), an artifact supposedly sculpted in Nazareth that is believed to have performed miracles in medieval Portugal, before being lost in Brazil. 




Legend has it that a cattleman found it in a canal during the 1700’s, but every time he took it out of the water, it would disappear, only to be found again in the original place it was discovered. The people of Belem believed that it was Our Lady’s wish to remain there, so they built a church there, which would later become today’s Nazaré Basilica.

The celebration lasts two weeks, but the climax of the event is on the first Sunday, when the small statue is taken from the city’s Catedral da Sé to the Nazaré Basilica, on a flower-bedecked carriage pulled by thousands of devotees. The night before the procession about 15.000 devotees queue in front of the cathedral to secure a place near the 400-meter-long piece of rope used to pull the carriage through the city. Men and women align on two separate lines, and by 10 a.m. on Sunday, the human density around the rope reaches an incredible 10 people per meter.




 As the statue of Nossa Senhora de Nazaré begins its 3.5km journey to Nazaré Basilica, over 2 million people accompany it through the streets, singing to the chants aired by the speakers along the path, to salute the passage of the Virgin. The most devoted of them squirm and and grope to get a hand on the rope pulling the vehicle, and those that are successful struggle to keep their grip. It’s a daunting task, as the procession moves at a snail’s pace, and the high humidity and temperature (often around 40 degrees Celsius) make it hard to breathe.




Fainting is common during the five-to-nine hours it takes for the procession to reach its destination, but volunteers and doctors are always standing by to provide swift medical attention and evacuate sufferers. Getting to them is not the easiest thing in the world, as the area around the rope is so densely packed, that those feeling sick couldn’t escape it even if they wanted to. Many of the barefoot supplicants finish the journey on their knees, with barely enough stamina to keep from passing out. They view the rope as a link between the Saint and her followers, and most of them would rather collapse then let go.

 But even as the procession reaches its destination, the devotees don’t loosen their grip one bit. Instead they wait for someone to cut the rope in small pieces, maneuvering the tight space between their hands, so they can keep them as holy souvenirs of their struggle and evidence of their strong faith. The tiniest thread of rope is believed to have miraculous healing powers, and many believers go through this whole ordeal in the hopes of curing themselves or their loved ones of serious health conditions.

This year, the pressure on the rope was so great that it broke halfway through the procession. It is estimated that 8,000 people got the chance to reach it.

 

Clancy's comment: Wow! That's a long time to be holding a rope.

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28 April 2018 - SIR DONALD BRADMAN

 SIR DONALD BRADMAN
G'day folks,
Welcome to some background on one of Australia's greatest sportsman. 
Sir Donald Bradman is the greatest batsman ever to grace the game. His test average remains far above anyone else. In 52 tests he managed 29 hundreds and scored just below 6,000 runs at an average of 99.94. If he had scored 6 runs on his last test innings at Lords in 1948, he would have finished with an average of 100. However, the greatest cricketer of the era was out for a duck – a paradoxical end to a stupendous career.




Donald Bradman was so dominant that the English team resorted to ‘bodyline’ bowling on the Australian tour of 1933. It was in the era of the great depression, when cricket provided a relief from the gloom of the Great Depression. The Australians were up in arms at the ‘uncricket’ like nature of the English bowling. The tactics were criticised back in England and were even raised in parliament. Don Bradman finished the series with an average of ‘only’ 53. If it had not been for the second world war, Don Bradman’s career would have been even more amazing.




 During the war, he initially volunteered for the RAF, but was later persuaded to join the army (a safer option). However, in 1941, he suffered a bout of fibrositis. Due to the pain he was invalided out of the army, and suffered bouts of fibrositis throughout his life.




After the war, he was able to return to the national side. His final tour was the 1948 tour of England, which captivated a nation. It was said, Bradman was second only to Churchill in the degree of fame. Despite his waning powers, he still managed to score 11 centuries and 2,432 runs on tour. The Australians won the tour 4-0. In the last test at Lords, Bradman went out to bat with an average of 101. He was given a standing ovation as he left the famous Lords pavilion. But, he was bowled for 0. England lost by an innings and he never batted again. 




After retirement Sir Donald Bradman remained a great ambassador for the sport. He was knighted for his services to cricket and remained open to an adoring public, even though he remained publicity shy throughout the period. In 2001, the Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, said he was the greatest living Australian.




Clancy's comment: A great average for a cricketer.
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27 April 2018 - JOYCE ISAACSON - GUEST AUTHOR

JOYCE ISAACSON - GUEST AUTHOR -
G'day folks,
Today, I interview an aspiring author from Chicago, USA.
Welcome, Joyce ... 
1.   TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF AND YOUR WRITING JOURNEY.
I have been happily married for 27 years; I have one son and my baby, Taylor, a cat. Working for the Chicago Tribune Editorial Department for ten years, I gained invaluable skills, primarily in Art and Journalism. My love of fantasy and the paranormal, coupled with my fascination with Rock and Roll compelled me to write Wish You Were Here Badfinger “A Rock Fantasy”. This is my second novel.
2.   WHEN AND HOW DID YOU BECOME A WRITER?
My writing Journey began after I dislocated my hip as a young child. Due of my injury, I couldn’t go home for lunch. The lunch monitor believed I belonged in a school for handicap children but my mom disagreed. Just to be mean, the lady sat me with the toughest girls in the school. They began to beat me up every day. I’m sure a lot of people know what it is like to be bullied. Being tormented had a profound effect on me. I became shy and withdrawn. On one unusual warm day in the winter, my third-grade teacher gave the kids an assignment to write a poem for our annual school poetry contest. With misery and agony at the forefront, I spilled my guts on paper. I never expected it when I was told I’d won the contest and received a certificate for best poem. From that point on I had some respect from my peers but the tough girls still beat me up during recess until a sister of one of the girls told her sister she would defend me if she continued to harass me. I was still pretty shy and out of frustration after everything I’d endured, I started to write a comic about a popular girl name Deana and a unpopular but street smart girl named Tammy. Through their friendship Tammy and Deana became best friends with Tammy always giving the impulsive Deana advice. Thanks to this comic my art and writing blossomed.
3.    WHAT TYPE OF PREPARATION DO YOU DO FOR A MANUSCRIPT? DO YOU PLAN EVERYTHING FIRST OR JUST SHOOT FROM THE HIP?
That is a very good question. In my mind I usually know how the story should start and where it should end. I enjoy just making it up along the way.
4.   WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT BEING A WRITER?
Conveying a story which helps my readers escape just for a little while from the humdrum of life.



5.   WHAT IS THE HARDEST THING ABOUT BEING A WRITER?
I think the hardest part for me is the editing, formatting and promotion of the story. At first it was so much fun just writing. After a while that realty of getting the book out kicked in.
6.   WHAT WERE YOU IN A PAST LIFE, BEFORE YOU BECAME A WRITER?
Before I became a writer, I was singing solo on stage in preschool.
7.   WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST WRITING ACHIEVEMENT?
Writing this current series is my greatest achievement.
8.   WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON AT THE MOMENT?Right now, I am almost ready to publish part one of a series of books called Wish You Were Here, Badfinger “A Rock Fantasy.” It’s a quirky novel that crosses the love between band brothers with the pop-paranormal, set to a killer soundtrack. Badfinger’s Tommy Evans, after years of depression following the death of a beloved bandmate, slips into heaven by the skin of his teeth. Guided by Gabriel, an angel, he sets out on a Dantean voyage through the strata of the afterlife to reunite with his lost lead singer, Pete Ham. Along the way, Tommy encounters a repertoire of famous faces—chafing against, laughing with, and learning from each one in the fierce quest for his best friend’s soul. It is a novel about after-death adventure, rules and posthumous love. It features the overtly fictionalized spirits of real-world artists, performers and thinkers to explore questions about legacy—but not always to answer them… and to say “Blimey” from time-to-time.


9.   WHAT INSPIRES YOU?
I was inspired to write this story in a strange way. In 2013 my husband had a little internet radio station and asked me to find some CDs for him. I came across The Best of Badfinger, decided to put it on and I listened to Rock of All Age. It sounded like a Beatles’ song and I loved it. I read the liner notes and found out a little about the band. My husband was familiar with the group Badfinger on Facebook so I joined it. I found out everybody was hurting, including a deceased band member’s wife. 

Badfinger’s manager had stolen their money, consequently two members killed themselves, one in 1975 and the other in 1983. I wrote to her, letting her know that Tommy was looking down at her from Heaven and she would always be in his heart. She liked my sentiment so I decided to write a blurb about Tommy and Pete on that site that they were all doing fine in Heaven. I got a lot of positive feedback and comments. From that I created my own Badfinger page and began writing segments of a story about Tommy and Pete in Heaven. That has since morphed into Wish You Were Here, Badfinger “A Rock Fantasy”.


10.              WHAT GENRE DO YOU WRITE?
I love fantasy and adventure stories.
11.              DO YOU HAVE ANY TIPS FOR NEW WRITERS?
I would tell new writers to write what you know and also to get a good editor like my editor and now good friend, Dennis De Rose. I had given several samples to different editors and they basically tore the story apart, something Dennis didn’t do.



12.              DO YOU SUFFER FROM WRITER’S BLOCK?
Yes, I am blocked right now, Recently,I had some devastating things happen in my life and I couldn’t write anything new. I’m sure once I finally get the book out my inspiration will come to me to finish the second series of the story.
13.              DO YOU HAVE A PREFERRED WRITING SCHEDULE?
No, I do not. I write when I feel inspired. I could be washing dishes and through that a part of the story might come to me. Once it is in my head I can sit down when I’m finished doing things around the house I can get the information down on paper.
14.         DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE WRITING PLACE?
Yes, I write in my living room where I can keep an eye on my Taylor and I’m close to the kitchen so that I can make my recipes, clean the central area and of course through all this busy work I become inspired.
15.              WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST JOY IN WRITING?
I believe there is an afterlife and I know I am helping my readers to escape the tragedy that happened to the band and also to keep all the Rock stars, actors, and thinkers’ memories alive by writing about them in my story.
16.              WHO IS YOUR FAVOURITE AUTHOR AND WHY?
I admit I enjoy reading Clive Cussler because his action and storytelling is very vivid.

17.              WHAT’S THE GREATEST COMPLIMENT YOU EVER RECEIVED FROM A READER?
My heart is in the right place while penning my story.
18.              WHAT WAS THE WORST COMMENT FROM A READER?
That I’m trying to cash in on Badfinger.

19.              WRITERS ARE SOMETIMES INFLUENCED BY THINGS THAT HAPPEN IN THEIR OWN LIVES. ARE YOU?
I had a very tough life with extreme ups and downs coming from a poor background. I believe my frustration helped me become the writer I am today.

20.              OTHER THAN WRITING, WHAT ELSE DO YOU LOVE?
I love to draw and come up with different recipes and be there when my friends need me. I also like to go shopping in order to get out of the house now and then.
21.              DID YOU HAVE YOUR BOOK / BOOKS PROFESSIONALLY EDITED BEFORE PUBLICATION?
Yes, my friend and editor, Dennis De Rose, edited my book and we’ll continue to work together once the second book is written.



22.              DESCRIBE YOUR PERFECT DAY.
Knowing I am getting this book into the hands of the people who want to know more about my imagination.
23.              IF YOU WERE STUCK ON A DESERT ISLAND WITH ONE PERSON, WHO WOULD IT BE? WHY?
My husband. He has been a big supporter in my life.
24.              WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IF YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO SPEAK TO WORLD LEADERS?
Stop the hate.
25.              WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE?
To break even on my book and visit my brother since he lives in another country.
26.               WHAT ARE YOUR VIEWS ON BOOK TRAILERS? DO THEY SELL BOOKS?
I have a trailer but I don’t know the answer to the question. I guess I will have to wait and see.
27.              DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN ANY OF YOUR CHARACTERS?
I actually see myself in every single one. I feel like I am one with my characters.

28.              DOES THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY FRUSTRATE YOU?
Very much so. I went through a period where I wanted instant gratification when it came to publishing my first book and I recently found out that the publisher I sought was at the top scammer list. They will take your money and say they will do the editing but I found out they just care about making money and I heard stories that they didn’t professionally edit or help promote my book. The publisher I used basically wanted me to buy my books and when you do that sort of thing you don’t get a royalty for your book. I was told I could do book signings and approach bookstores. When I did they told me they wouldn’t deal with anything from that publisher. I was dead in the water after that.  The other thing that frustrated me is trying to get the attention of traditional publishers. They really don’t want to take a chance on somebody new. Of course if I were Stephen King that would be another story.
29.              DID YOU EVER THINK OF QUITTING?
Yes, several times in the four years I have been writing my book I have run into some road blocks and just wanted to give up.
30.              WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE MANUSCRIPT TO WRITE? WHY?
Writing this story Wish You Were Here, Badfinger “A Rock Fantasy” because it is now polished and I feel a satisfaction knowing I can help somebody else even for a little while to escape from reality.
31.               HOW WOULD YOU DEFINE ‘SUCCESS’ AS A WRITER? 
Having a polished book, a professional book cover and knowing you are able to convey what you intended to your reader.
32.              WHAT SHOULD READERS WALK AWAY FROM YOUR BOOKS KNOWING? HOW SHOULD THEY FEEL?
I hope they walk away feeling a sense of great enjoyment and peace.
33.              WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE YOUR BOOKS MADE INTO MOVIES? EVER WRITTEN A SCREENPLAY?
I have written several scripts for television, one for Quantum Leap and the other for the sitcom Herman’s Head. A TV critic I know loved it but I didn’t have an agent and without one they just honestly throw unopened work in the garbage. It didn’t matter because both shows were canceled. I had several people say the story I am writing now would make a good movie.



34.              HOW MUCH THOUGHT GOES INTO DESIGNING A BOOK COVER?
Oh my Gosh! I think a book cover is one of the hardest parts of the story because it is like your resume. If you don’t have an appealing cover nobody is going to want to look further into your project. It needs to be eye candy online and in bookstores.
35.              WHAT’S YOUR ULTIMATE DREAM?
I really don’t know at this point. Maybe to fix up the house we live in, help my family out and get to visit my brother.
36.                WRITING IS ONE THING. WHAT ABOUT MARKETING YOU, YOUR BOOKS AND YOUR BRAND? ANY THOUGHTS?
Right now I have 1077 members in my FB group Wish You Were Here, Badfinger “A Rock Fantasy”. I post a segment of the second story five days a week and am getting positive feedback in my group. But I am also messaging members who may not be active to see where they are at in terms of how they feel about reading the story.
37.               ARE YOUR BOOKS SELF-PUBLISHED?
I am taking a giant leap into self-publishing. That way I will have control of my book and where I want it to go.

38.              DESCRIBE YOURSELF IN FIVE WORDS.
Sensitive, curious, helpful, introspective, vulnerable.
39.              WHAT PISSES YOU OFF MOST?
Two things really piss me off. The first one is when somebody judges you too quickly and the next, when people look at the glass half-empty.

40.              WHAT IS THE TITLE OF THE LAST BOOK YOU READ? GOOD ONE?
Pure Attraction and it was definitely a page-turner.

41.               WHAT WOULD BE THE VERY LAST SENTENCE YOU’D WRITE?
Why can’t we all just get along? (Thank you, Gilda Radner)

42.               WHAT WOULD MAKE YOU HAPPIER THAN YOU ARE NOW? CARE TO SHARE?
Everybody getting along with each other.
43.               ANYTHING YOU’D LIKE TO ADD?I am hopefully going to get this book on Amazon on June 5th, my main character’s birthday. Anyone wanting an autographed copy can get it directly from me at sharonj0023@yahoo.com. Those that buy the book will get a copy of the eBook and Rock Dreams, drawings I created from 1979 until 2015 at no cost and I am running a one-month contest to win a signed copy of No Dice, an album by Joey Molland from Badfinger. Also, a percentage of each sale will go to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. I just want to mention the title and position of my name on the presale video is different than the title of my book. I kept the video on YouTube because it has almost 800 hits since I put it up December 23.




  YOUTUBE VIDEO 


Clancy's comment: Go, Joyce! Thank you. Keep going!
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26 April 2018 - THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF ELIZABETH COTTEN

THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF ELIZABETH COTTEN
G'day folks,
 Elizabeth Cotten was never famous, and almost slipped into total obscurity. However ...




“Domestic, 71, Sings Songs of Own Composition in ‘Village,’” rana New York Timesheadline in November of 1965. The piece, about a woman with “five grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren, a guitar, a banjo and about 20 old-time folk songs,” heralded the return of then-unknown folk songstress Elizabeth Cotten, who was poised to play the Gaslight Cafe, on Macdougal Street in a Greenwich Village still quaintly set off by single quotation marks.

Though many had never heard Cotten’s name, they’d heard her most popular song, “Freight Train,” which became a hit when the crunchy folk ensemble Peter, Paul and Mary recorded and released it in 1963. (Many others have since recorded their own versions of the tune.) It was a song she’d written at 11 years old. But though it became a standard, Cotten was never famous, and she’d slipped into total obscurity for four decades while raising a family of her own and working as a domestic in North Carolina, then New York City and Washington, D.C.



While working briefly at a department store in the late 1940s, Cotten helped a lost little girl find her mother, and was offered a job as a maid for the family. The little girl was Peggy Seeger, who would go on to find folk-singing fame, and her mother was Ruth Crawford Seeger, a composer and folk music specialist. Cotten began doing the “washing, cleaning and baking” for the family of folk lovers — Charles Seeger, the patriarch, was a well-known musicologist; brother Mike was a musician and folklorist; and Pete Seeger was Peggy’s half brother — and it wasn’t long before she picked up a guitar and blew their minds.
‘’When she worked for us,” Mike Seeger toldthe New York Times in 1983, “I’d be playing a song in the kitchen and she’d be doing something there. Then she would play the song back to me and say, ‘Do you know that song?’ And I’d say, ‘Well, I’m not sure,’ and she’d say, ‘Well, you just sang it and played it.’ But it would sound different — she would make it her own.’”
Elizabeth “Libba” Cotten was born in 1893 near Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Her mother was a cook, and her father was“a sometime moonshiner who also set dynamite in iron mines.” Libba Cotten began borrowing her brother’s banjo (against his wishes) from a very young age — “My head was always full of music,” she said — and around age nine she saved her wages and bought her own Sears, Roebuck guitar. (She was already working as a domestic, making 75 cents a month.)



Because she was left-handed, Cotten taught herself to play by turning her brother’s banjo upside down so her right hand was on the fretboard and her left picked the strings. Most notably, this also meant she played the treble notes with her thumb and the lower bass notes with her fingers. Her smooth, masterful two-finger picking, which sounds warm and full, became her signature style, known as “Cotten-picking,” and it’s worth watching vintage video of a cardiganed Cotten playing “Freight Train” or “In the Sweet By and By,” her eyes gently closed as she plucks the notes.
Although it was an outgrowth of the Old Left of the 1930s and ’40s and was largely espousing the message of social progressivism, the commercial folk music revival of the 1960s was, in the words of sociologist William G. Roy, “distinctly white.” In his 2010 book Reds, Whites, and Blues: Social Movements, Folk Music, and Race in the United States, Roy writes that although the sixties folk project was dominated by white musicians like the Seegers, Bob Dylan, Arlo Guthrie, and Peter, Paul and Mary, the scene loved the pared-down contributions of those they saw as the “real” authentic people. 
“The cultural elite of the folk project have valorized folk music precisely because it is the music of the common folk,” Roy writes. “The more marginal, humble, and unsophisticated the makers of music the better, at least from the perspective of the educated, urban folk enthusiasts.” While it may sound cynical, Roy claims that this “inversion of cultural hierarchy” was one of the things that drew left-wing activists to folk music in the first place. As the “people’s music,” it could be used to “galvanize social movements and especially to bridge racial boundaries.” Folk music became hugely influential to the civil rights movement, though Roy points out that activists were more likely to use the songs for their unifying emotional resonance than to try to sell records, as their Old Left brethren had.



For her part, Elizabeth Cotten was about as “marginal” and “humble” as could be, but her music had sophistication, bearing the nimbleness of a musical master and the mark of a lifetime of experience. She played her first live show with Mike Seeger in 1959 and before long had launched one of the more glamorous careers among grandmothers, at the intersection of folk and blues, playing alongside stars like Taj Mahal and Muddy Waters. Cotten also played the legendary Newport Folk Festival in 1968, as well as the Philadelphia Folk Festival, the Smithsonian Festival, and others. She later relocated to Syracuse, New York, though she was frequently on the road. Cotten recorded seven albums and toured nationally and abroad for the duration of her life. She died in Syracuse at age 95.
In 1985, at 93, Cotten won a Grammy for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording for her album Elizabeth Cotten — Live! “I was so excited when they gave me this,” she toldthe Elmira, New York Star-Gazette. “I was sitting in my seat just watching and listening and when the man said my name I got so weak and scared I didn’t think I could go up there myself.” But Cotten did ascend the stage to accept the award. “All I could think of to say was ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you. If I had my banjo with me I’d play you a tune.’”



 Clancy's comment: Go, Elizabeth! Love ya work!
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