This week I ended up returning to Chapter 3 of my novel after uncovering comments from my writers group that I had not fully addressed. It felt a little unhappy moving backward in the manuscript instead of forward, but revision often works that way. Sometimes the foundation needs attention before the upper floors can beContinue reading “Before They Were Rivals–Lincoln and Douglas”
Tag Archives: fiction
The Speech That Helped Make Abrham Lincoln President
When we look back at Abrahma Lincon’s life, it is easy to assume that his rise to the prsidency was inevitable. It wasn’t. Lincoln experienced political defeats, business failures, and years of uncertainty before he became a national figure. For much of his career, he was known primarily as an Illinois lawyer and plitician. OneContinue reading “The Speech That Helped Make Abrham Lincoln President”
The Stories Abraham Lincoln Told About Himself
Lincoln is often remembered for great speeches, great debates, and great decisions. This week while visiting The Lincolns at Home exhibit at the Allen County Public Library and watching a new documentary about Lincoln’s early life, I was reminded about what a great storyteller he was. The documentary spent considerable time on the stories, jokesContinue reading “The Stories Abraham Lincoln Told About Himself”
How Abrahm Lincoln Crafted His Public Image
Abraham Lincon’s public persona was no accident. He carefully shaped the way people understood him. His frontier origins were real. He lived in a world of physical labor, limited schooling, rough travel, and borrowed books. But he also realized that those experiences carried politcal power. The image of the rail splitter was not simply biography.Continue reading “How Abrahm Lincoln Crafted His Public Image”
How Reading Shaped Abraham Lincoln
One of the most remarkable things about Abraham Lincoln is how much of his education cam not through formal schooling, but through reading. Lincoln grew up in a world shaped by physical labor and limited opportunity. Books were not abundant on the frontier, and education often came in fragments. Yet he read whenever he could,Continue reading “How Reading Shaped Abraham Lincoln”
Why Abraham Lincoln’s Lyceum Speech Still Matters
One of the moments that I refer to in my study of Abraham Lincoln is the Lyceum Address. At the time, Lincoln was still a new young lawyer and politician in Illinois. He was not yet the national figure history would later remember. But in this speech, it is possible to see the beginnings ofContinue reading “Why Abraham Lincoln’s Lyceum Speech Still Matters”
Visiting Edgar Allan Poe’s House and What it Reveals About His Life
I’ve just returned from a trip to Baltimore, where I had the chance to visit the home and grave of Edgar Allan Poe. Both the house and grave impressed me. The house was so small, sad and desperate. Standing inside, it was impossible not to feel how confined life must have been there. The twoContinue reading “Visiting Edgar Allan Poe’s House and What it Reveals About His Life”
The 161st Anniversary of Lincoln’s Death and What Might Have Been
This week marked the 161st anniversary of the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln. There have been a number of posts about it on social media, which has made me think more about the event and the impact it had on our history. In writing about him, I often find myself considering not only what happened, butContinue reading “The 161st Anniversary of Lincoln’s Death and What Might Have Been”
Writing a Lincoln Historical Mystery Series Based on Real Events
This week I began thinking about what lies beyond the current book. I’m revising the current book, so it is actually all written. I want to be able to start my next book immediately when this one is being published. For a number of years, I had planned to make this a series, but IContinue reading “Writing a Lincoln Historical Mystery Series Based on Real Events”
Writing in the Midst of Life
Today has been a full day and not an easy one. I went to Indianapolis to attend my brother-in-law’s funeral. It was a military service. He had served in the Navy, and the ceremony carried a sense of formality and honor. It was moving and an appropriate funeral with flag at half mast, bells ringing,Continue reading “Writing in the Midst of Life”
The View From The Imaginarium 