Meet Memoir Writer Leslie Ferguson: As a child, all Leslie really wanted was a normal family and a mother’s love. Instead, she found herself trying to navigate a terrifying world with a schizophrenic mother, who tried to kill her. Hungry, afraid, and intermittently homeless, Leslie knew she had to leave to survive. But […]
A Short History of New London (Part 3)
The Revolution & Aftermath When the 1770s dawned, New London’s merchants, wharves, and warehouses were booming with the West Indies trade. The British were happy, too, thanks to the heavy import duties on imports of rum, sugar, tea and other goods. Those stiff taxes were an important source of revenue, helping finance Britain’s expensive wars […]
Sheridan, NV: The Sheridan House
A Visit to the Sheridan House Few traces are left of the once-bustling settlement of Sheridan, Nevada. So it was an amazing privilege to be invited to visit the privately-owned Sheridan House, one of the town’s early hotels! The Sheridan House is thought to date to the early 1860s. Back in the day, it was one […]
5 Ways a Beta Reader Can Help Your Memoir
Memoir Tip: Try a Beta Reader! I confess I hadn’t used Beta readers, until my latest book (a novel). But now I’m hooked! My goal in assembling a Beta reader team was simple: encouragement to write regularly. Knowing I had readers eagerly awaiting my next chapter helped keep me on-schedule. That accountability […]
Pet Parrots on the Comstock
The Victorian Parrot Craze Victorians adored their feathered friends. Gold Hill in 1876 was said to boast “more parrots than any city or town on the Pacific Coast.” The Nevada State Journal quipped: “You may walk for miles and miles and never hear anything said but ‘Pretty Polly!’ and ‘Polly wants […]
New London CT’s Loneliest Grave
It was over 50 years ago when I first spotted this ancient, lonely headstone beside the river in New London, Connecticut. The cemetery itself was knee-high in weeds. Modern steel train tracks ran right beside this ancient holy ground. Hoboes who’d hopped off their ride huddled by their warming fires nearby. But even as a […]
Memoir Writing Tips from Margaret Agard
From High-Tech to Arctic Circle – and Peacocks Too! Margaret Agard is right up there among my memoir-writing heroes –with not just one memoir, but two and a half under her belt. (Number Three is currently in the works, and she’s contemplating a possible Book Four!) Her life has included plenty of […]
The Story of the Ridge Route (Part 4)
The Ridge Route’s Later Years (And Efforts To Preserve It): The early Ridge Route didn’t stay un-tinkered-with for long. Less than a decade after the 1919 concrete cap dried, ideas began percolating about expanding its two paved lanes to three. (For the Ridge Route’s earlier history, check out Parts 1, 2, and 3!) Work on […]
Dog Sled Rescuer: Elmer Von Schaible
Old-timers still remember Elmer “Slim” Von Schaible. Because once you met Elmer, you could hardly forget him! For one thing, Elmer stood an astonishing six-foot-seven-inches tall. For another, he eked out a primitive existence in the Eastern Sierra hills for more than 20 years. His camp site shifted with the seasons and his whims, rotating […]
Opium Dens & Errant Youth
Nevada’s Opium Problem, Back In The Day. . . Blame the Civil War, at least in part, for launching America’s opium addiction. Nearly 10 million tablets of the habit-forming drug were dispensed by Union Army doctors, not to mention various tinctures and powders. Opium wasn’t used exclusively to treat war wounds, of course. Soldiers facing […]
An Autism Diagnosis Was Just The Beginning:
GUEST BLOG: Q&A With Memoir Author LeeAndra Chergey Memoir writer LeeAndra Chergey recognized that her son faced special challenges by the time he was two years old. Speech was difficult for him, and his sleeping patterns were irregular. But when she first heard the word Autism as a diagnosis, it was a bolt from the […]
Virginia City: The Black & Howell Story
Call it the Virginia City version of Cain and Abel. Feuding brothers John L. and Samuel Black owned a prominent building at the corner of “C” Street and Taylor in Virginia City’s early days. But there was little about the building’s management they seemed to agree on. Born in Alabama, the brothers had first arrived […]