Karen Marcam - Historical fiction about everyday people facing ageless challenges with universal emotions
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8 Interesting Things About WWI

3/26/2020

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Recruiting poster for farmerettes
I am trying to keep moving forward with my writing, in spite of the pandemic occupying our minds lately.  To that end, I spent some time this week researching WWI.  The  hero in the historical romance I am currently working on fought in the war, so I wanted to have a better idea of what he might have experienced.
 
In the course of my research, I learned several interesting things, some related to the fighting and some to the home front. 







For example:
  • In a precursor to what we know from WWII, many women also entered the workforce during the Great War to replace men who had gone to fight.  Women took jobs like directing traffic, delivering mail and driving city trams as well as working in factories.
  • Other women from the cities became part of the “Women’s Land Army of America” (also called “farmerettes.”)  They were taught basic farming practices and fanned out to provide needed labor on farms across the country.
  • Red Cross volunteers knit about 22 million items for hospitals and about 15 million items for the Army.
  • Sentiment against German-Americans was extremely virulent, in part because they formed such a large portion of the population.  German-Americans had to register with the government and had their firearms confiscated.  Their many social groups were shut down, and speaking the language was essentially forbidden.
  • The first case of the Spanish Flu in the U.S. was in a military hospital at Camp Funston in Kansas in March of 1918.  It killed 675,000 U.S. citizens before it was over, many of them younger adults and many who died within 2-3 days of their first symptoms.
  • One of the reason for the invention and use of tanks was because of the trench warfare which comprised the first several years of WWI.  The tanks were needed to overcome the miles of trenches dug, and to overcome the rolls of barbed wire and machine guns (another new invention) protecting the trenches.
  • Because the U.S. Army thought the war would last one or two years longer than it actually did, they were still training and recruiting more soldiers when the war ended.  They had about 1.5 million new troops training at locations in the U.S. and had just drafted another 250,000 men.
  • The Army was also totally unprepared to disperse soldiers after the armistice was signed on November 11, 1918.  It took about 3 months just to get the men still in the U.S. returned home.  It took many more months for the Army to find enough ships to bring 2 million soldiers home from Europe.
 
There you go.  I hope you found these snippets of history as interesting as I did.  Some of what I learned gave me ideas for future stories – something I am sure many writers can relate to.  Until next week, stay safe and keep reading.

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Ways to Stay Sane While Staying Home

3/19/2020

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With so many people staying home currently, I suspect it won’t be long before some will be climbing the walls.  I thought today might be a good day to make a list of fun things children (or adults) can do to stave off boredom.  Some are old classics, some might be new to you, but all of them use materials you probably already have around the house. 
Enjoy the activities, and stay well.
 
How to Play Children’s Card Games

https://www.todaysparent.com/family/activities/10-kid-friendly-card-games/#gallery/kid-friendly-card-games/slide-1
 
How to Play Dominoes

https://gameonfamily.com/how-to-play-dominoes/
 
How to Play Charades

https://www.thespruce.com/how-to-play-charades-with-kids-3267646
 
Musical Instruments to Make at Home
http://kiddley.com/2013/07/09/10-great-musical-instruments-to-make-at-home/
 
How to Make Shadow Puppets

http://drama4kids.com/activities/31-how-to-make-hand-shadow-puppets
 
How to Make Paper Airplanes

https://www.origamiway.com/paper-airplanes.shtml
 
Quiet Games for Children

https://pintsizedtreasures.com/fun-quiet-games-for-kids/
 
More Indoor Games for Bored Children

https://www.momjunction.com/articles/indoor-games-and-kids-activities-for-this-season_00369105/
 
https://icebreakerideas.com/fun-games-to-play-at-home/


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Some Of My Favorite Signs Of Spring

3/6/2020

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Cluster of yellow daffodils
I have been sitting here looking out the window, and thinking about the various indicators of spring.  Anyone who lives in a place with four seasons knows what I am talking about – the little signs we look for, in a bid for reassurance that winter will end and spring will eventually arrive.
 
One of the first I notice was the group of daffodils popping up in our front flower bed.  (Which also reminded me that we should have separated the daffodil bulbs last fall, but I digress.)  The flower stems are quite tall now, and I can’t wait to see cheerful yellow blossoms bobbing on the stalks.
 
I also saw my first robin of spring hopping on our back lawn last week.  Robins are a sure sign of warm weather coming.  Of course, the robin sighting was followed a few days later by six inches of snow, which is another common occurrence.  Seeing a robin doesn’t mean winter is over completely, but it does give us hope to hang on.
 
Even now, I am watching snow fall on green grass.  I was thinking there was something not right about that particular contrast, and then it dawned on me why I found the sight so unsettling.  Our grass never turned brown over the winter.  It stayed a nice, healthy-looking green.  If I were still in Wisconsin, one of the spring indicators would be noticing the brown winter grass turning green again, but not here.
 
Most of the signs of spring involve what we see out a window, but one of the biggest spring rites is done indoors.  What am I talking about?  Going to a fish fry.  We recently discovered a church near us which offers a fish fry on Friday nights during Lent.  I think we will check it out.  A good fish fry will make me think not just of spring, but of home as well.

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    I write historical fiction, and I invite you to share the journey to published author with me.

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