My latest blog. "Being a history teacher: 1 part educator, 1 part actor."
Hey, guys!
I promised a post earlier in the week, but life got in the way, sorry for that. I thought that today I would write about a topic near and dear to my heart, teaching history. There is much negativity out there about teachers and the profession of teaching in general, but there will be none of that here. I love teaching, yes some things drive me crazy, mostly the insane attention paid to DATA and test scores, the word data makes me physically ill come March, but enough of that. Teaching is rewarding, that may be too small of a word. Teaching kids give me such joy that it makes all the data-driven crap worth it. I could write a book about teaching history and the love I have for it, but I wanted to focus just on one simple thing today, instilling a love of history in your students. We all had our fair share of boring history teachers, most of my terrible history teachers were in college. I made it my goal, once I got my teaching license, to entertain kids every day. A good teacher, in my opinion, is 1 part educator and 1 part actor. Standing in front of 12-year-old kids and trying to get them to give a darn about the Viking invasions of Britain requires a little acting, but the payoff is worth it. The best payoff a history teacher gets is when you hook a group of kids on your topic, it's like a drug for history nerds when kids are hanging on every word of your story and wanting more. I work with two other fantastic history teachers that have that gift as well, it is a gift that I am so thankful for because it makes teaching fun. So the next time you think that history is boring, you just have to open your mind and bring it to life.
Friday, July 29, 2016
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
The business side of writing
Over the last couple of weeks, I have been learning a lot about the business side of things that comes with writing. I must say that I am terrible with money and don't necessarily enjoy the business side, I write because I like the experience, and I like teaching people. I love to sit and write in my journal nightly; it is therapy for me, and my historical writing is the same type of experience. I have found that advertising, worrying about book downloads, and the other multitude of things on the business side of writing has taken a little fun out of my last week. To remedy this, I have decided to write a good old-fashioned history blog post, hopefully, to be ready tomorrow.
Thanks guys
Thanks guys
Sunday, July 17, 2016
Finding the voice
Hey guys,
I thought I would share one of the most difficult things that I have run across as a writer. Finding your voice can be a very difficult task depending on what you choose to write about. To obtain a masters degree in American history it requires countless research and writing assignments. I was quite comfortable writing this way I would get in trouble or would lose points when I strayed to a narrative style too much. Writing books for public consumption you want to bring that narrative voice out but also keep the facts and the historical record intact and that's the hard part. I've read through my first two books and at times I felt I was a little too flowing with my narrative and then at other times I felt that I was too straightforward with just historical facts. The difficult part and what I am working on is finding a good voice that is a happy medium between the two. What do you all struggle with when writing? I would love to read some comments
take care
Saturday, July 16, 2016
Historical fiction
Hey guys,
I have begun work on a historical fiction novel about a teenager fighting in the Civil War. One thing I have already discovered is that I will not write this as quickly as my historical books. The reason for that is it is a new genre for me and I have to change the style in which I write. When you write strictly history, you keep to the facts and make it flow as a narrative. In fiction, the sky is the limit so the dialogue and events have to come completely from my imagination, not just sources. I hope to keep people updated on all my work and remember that both of my books are free to all amazon members for a week.
Take care
Friday, July 15, 2016
Book distribution and WV Rebel release
Hey guys,
I have been working diligently in finding possible distributors for both of my books. I have a few lines in the water, but nothing concrete. I will be releasing West Virginia Rebel over the next few days and it will soon have a promotion for free ebook downloads, as will Protectors of the Ohio Valley so be watching for that.
I have been working diligently in finding possible distributors for both of my books. I have a few lines in the water, but nothing concrete. I will be releasing West Virginia Rebel over the next few days and it will soon have a promotion for free ebook downloads, as will Protectors of the Ohio Valley so be watching for that.
Thursday, July 14, 2016
The Greenbrier Ghost
Hello, all! My first blog on my new site!
I thought I would post some writing I have been working on independent from my books. This is an old post about a famous West Virginia folktale that will be published later this year in an anthology of West Virginia Folktales. Hope you enjoy!
I thought I would post some writing I have been working on independent from my books. This is an old post about a famous West Virginia folktale that will be published later this year in an anthology of West Virginia Folktales. Hope you enjoy!
Greenbrier Ghost
Sam Black Church/Lewisburg, Greenbrier County
Written by: Matthew A. Perry
Greenbrier County, West Virginia is a bucolic, outdoor lover's dream. The natural beauty of the Mountain State is no more prevelant than along the shining riverside of the mighty Greenbrier River. It is a rural county with very few large towns, so mountain culture and lore are important to the inhabitants of the area. Hidden in the beauty and the outdoor pursuits, is one of the strangest tales in American history.
Near the turn of the 20th century, the small, unincorporated town of Sam Black Church, would see the unexplained death of a young local woman. Zona Heaster was a 24-year-old girl that worked in a local store. A new man in town started coming around, Edward Shue, and they soon fell in love. Despite the objections of her mother, Zona married Edward after a short engagement.
Things went fine for the newlyweds early on, but Mary Jane Heaster, Zona's mom, despised her new son-in-law. On January 23, 1897, Edward sent a local boy on an errand to his home. When the local boy arrived, there was no answer at the door. The boy noticed that the door was ajar and slowly opened it wider. To his horror, he found the lifeless body of Mrs. Shue lying at the foot of the stairs. Her body position was quite odd, she laid out with her legs together and her hands on her chest. Not quite the position one usually finds a victim from a fall. The local Doctor/Coroner, Dr. Knapp is called in to perform the autopsy.
During the autopsy, Mr. Shue was doting over the body of his dearly departed causing the Dr. much aggrivation. Every time that the Dr. would try and examine the neck of Mrs. Shue, Mr. Shue would become bilidgerant. Even with the odd behavior of Mr. Shue, Dr. Knapp ruled the death accidental and burial was set for two days later. As was common practice in rural areas, the wake was held in the front parlor of Mrs. Heaster's home. This was the tradition of "sitting up with the dead" that was popular near the turn of the century. The reasoning behind it was simple; there were many cases where rudimentary medical practitioners had declared people dead when they truly weren't. This led to many cases of people being buried alive. Unfortunately for Mrs. Shue, she was most assuredly dead. During the wake, Mr. Shue would not allow people to get near his wife. He had dressed her himself (quite out of the ordinary) in a high necked dressed. This behavior seemed odd, but noone attempted to re-open the case. Mrs. Shue was buried and life in Greenbrier County went on.
Life went on for everybody except Mrs. Heaster; she was convinced that her beloved daughter was murdered by Mr. Shue. This is where the story takes a paranormal turn. Starting a month after the burial, Mrs. Heaster claimed that her daughter came to her in a succession of dreams. She said that her ghost spun her head around fully to show that her neck was snapped. Mrs. Heaster pleaded with the local prosecutor to exhume the body and re-open the case. The prosecutor does so, and the Dr. is allowed to examine the body without the interference of Mr. Shue. The Dr. finds that there was massive amounts of burising around Mrs. Shue's neck, finger prints on her neck and her windpipe was crushed. Mr. Shue was a blacksmith, so he had the strength to crush her neck with his bare hands.
Charges of murder were brought against Shue and trial was held at the county seat of Lewisburg. The prosecution used cold hard facts, but the defense wanted to try and make Mrs. Heaster look like a crack-pot, the plan didn't work. Mr. Shue was convicted of murder and was sent to the infamous Moundsville State Penitentary written about earlier in this book. Mr. Shue was the first, and last, person ever convicted of murder in the United States on the testimony of a ghost. Only in West Virginia....
Sam Black Church/Lewisburg, Greenbrier County
Written by: Matthew A. Perry
Greenbrier County, West Virginia is a bucolic, outdoor lover's dream. The natural beauty of the Mountain State is no more prevelant than along the shining riverside of the mighty Greenbrier River. It is a rural county with very few large towns, so mountain culture and lore are important to the inhabitants of the area. Hidden in the beauty and the outdoor pursuits, is one of the strangest tales in American history.
Near the turn of the 20th century, the small, unincorporated town of Sam Black Church, would see the unexplained death of a young local woman. Zona Heaster was a 24-year-old girl that worked in a local store. A new man in town started coming around, Edward Shue, and they soon fell in love. Despite the objections of her mother, Zona married Edward after a short engagement.
Things went fine for the newlyweds early on, but Mary Jane Heaster, Zona's mom, despised her new son-in-law. On January 23, 1897, Edward sent a local boy on an errand to his home. When the local boy arrived, there was no answer at the door. The boy noticed that the door was ajar and slowly opened it wider. To his horror, he found the lifeless body of Mrs. Shue lying at the foot of the stairs. Her body position was quite odd, she laid out with her legs together and her hands on her chest. Not quite the position one usually finds a victim from a fall. The local Doctor/Coroner, Dr. Knapp is called in to perform the autopsy.
During the autopsy, Mr. Shue was doting over the body of his dearly departed causing the Dr. much aggrivation. Every time that the Dr. would try and examine the neck of Mrs. Shue, Mr. Shue would become bilidgerant. Even with the odd behavior of Mr. Shue, Dr. Knapp ruled the death accidental and burial was set for two days later. As was common practice in rural areas, the wake was held in the front parlor of Mrs. Heaster's home. This was the tradition of "sitting up with the dead" that was popular near the turn of the century. The reasoning behind it was simple; there were many cases where rudimentary medical practitioners had declared people dead when they truly weren't. This led to many cases of people being buried alive. Unfortunately for Mrs. Shue, she was most assuredly dead. During the wake, Mr. Shue would not allow people to get near his wife. He had dressed her himself (quite out of the ordinary) in a high necked dressed. This behavior seemed odd, but noone attempted to re-open the case. Mrs. Shue was buried and life in Greenbrier County went on.
Life went on for everybody except Mrs. Heaster; she was convinced that her beloved daughter was murdered by Mr. Shue. This is where the story takes a paranormal turn. Starting a month after the burial, Mrs. Heaster claimed that her daughter came to her in a succession of dreams. She said that her ghost spun her head around fully to show that her neck was snapped. Mrs. Heaster pleaded with the local prosecutor to exhume the body and re-open the case. The prosecutor does so, and the Dr. is allowed to examine the body without the interference of Mr. Shue. The Dr. finds that there was massive amounts of burising around Mrs. Shue's neck, finger prints on her neck and her windpipe was crushed. Mr. Shue was a blacksmith, so he had the strength to crush her neck with his bare hands.
Charges of murder were brought against Shue and trial was held at the county seat of Lewisburg. The prosecution used cold hard facts, but the defense wanted to try and make Mrs. Heaster look like a crack-pot, the plan didn't work. Mr. Shue was convicted of murder and was sent to the infamous Moundsville State Penitentary written about earlier in this book. Mr. Shue was the first, and last, person ever convicted of murder in the United States on the testimony of a ghost. Only in West Virginia....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)