Tag: #BluSkyFriday
Black History Fun Fact Friday – Timbuktu
Timbuktu is a city in the West African nation of Mali, situated north of the River Niger on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. Founded by nomads, it is most known as “The City of Gold.” While some scholars and proposed travelers attempt to debunk the “myth” (claiming to have reached the city where the homes are made of mud bricks), Timbuktu was one of the most important centers of trade and intellectual life in West Africa, flourishing through participation in long-distance trade networks directed north across the Sahara. The city is known as having traded goods that flowed through the center including salt, ivory, and gold. One of the reasons for Timbuktu’s wealth is the water supply. There are many wells containing sweet water in Timbuktu, where the Niger in flood canals delivers the water to the city. Grain and animals are abundant, so that much milk and butter is consumed.
During the fourteenth century, the story of Timbuktu as a rich cultural center spread throughout the world. The beginnings of which can be traced to 1324, when the Emperor of Mali made his pilgrimage to Mecca via Cairo. In Cairo, the merchants and traders were impressed by the amount of gold carried by the emperor, who stated that the gold was from Timbuktu. Furthermore, in 1354 the explorer Ibn Batuta wrote of his visit to Timbuktu and told of the wealth and gold of the region. Thus, Timbuktu became renowned as an African El Dorado, a city made of gold.
A great book to read is “From Babylon to Timbuktu” by Rudolph R. Windsor:
“Until comparatively recent times, knowledge that black Africa was the seat of highly evolved civilizations and cultures during a time when Europe stagnated was limited to a small group of scholars. That great empires, such as Ghana, and later, Mali flourished for centuries while Europe slept through its Dark Ages almost has been ignored by historians. Thousands of years before that, civilization began with the black races of Africa and Asia, including the Hebrews, who were jet black. Because of the scarce literature on the contributions of blacks to world civilization, most people today hold the erroneous opinion that the black races have little real history. It was not known, for instance, that the ancient Hebrews, Mesopotamians, Phoenicians, and Egyptians were black. Now, a growing body of literature is presenting the illustrious history of blacks and their enormous contributions.”
And that’s it for this week’s episode of Black History Fun Facts. Below is last weeks episode in case you missed it:
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
May you join me? – New writing challenge
Sounds fun! Plus May is my birthday month…yesss.
Hello Blogging World,
May I take this moment to invite you all to join in a brand new challenge. The Challenge is pretty simple. The word MAY is not just a month such a popular word, I’d like you to use it every day in May and create a post on your blog.
I’ll post a quote every day at 9.00am bst featuring the word may on it to inspire you. You may use that or indeed create your own. Try to write a memory, short flash fiction, poetry or whatever may take your fancy and pingback.
Let’s prove the adage that “Everyday maynot be a good day but there is something good in every day”.
May your words make you happy and help find your voice.
May inspiration find its way to you and help keep you writing.
May others find you and enjoy the peice you create.
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EC Quote Friday
Well hello there lovelies, and welcome to week one of EC Quote Friday. I suppose it could’ve been EC quote Monday or EC quote Tuesday. However, I just made this up. No, seriously, like just now.
I love quotes. Quotes that inspire. Quotes that uplift. Quotes that bring truth, peace, and tranquil. So, I thought to myself, “Self, why don’t you start to incorporate your own quotes?” Well, I must say that self that is a very good idea!
OK, let me stop talking to myself before yall think I’m crazy for real lol hee hee.
But no, seriously, welcome to EC Quote Friday, where I’ll be posting some of my own quotes. I’m re-posting a tweak of a recent quote so these quotes can be on accord with what I post to social media. I hope that they are inspiring and uplifting to your Friday as you ease on into the weekend.
Established Lies
Wherever you are in your life, as long as you allow your emotions to get in the way of the truth, you will always miss the deeper message.
Dear Chandelier,
Some of us are just too close to the ground to see what the sky looks like and yet you, in your own way, have become the hanging crystal of inspiration. You stand unaffected among grand halls and ballrooms; of corporate offices and living rooms. I watch at the coming and going of guests. Some of them important, some not. They wrap themselves in fruitless conversation and rest their bottoms in chairs that hug the table beneath you. They shout with laughter and hold their noses in the air and yet they live on the ground. They have to look up to you and gasp in awe. So modest and rooted is this simple fixture in a room. I watch as your radiance pulls their mouths to the floor. Watch your occasional swing shift their eyes; watch your gracefulness stop their breaths. Softly and delicately, your crystals spark reflection like the conviction of a mirror, in which we are all forced to see ourselves. We try to move to a less luminous part of the room, but we are powerless to scorch your light. Voices rise to distract from your daintiness. The people scream and yell, come and go, but they are incapable of stealing your glory, let alone catch its shadow bouncing off the walls and chipping at the faces of guests. It is you oh Chandelier. You who remains steadfast and immovable, yet moving. Silent, and yet you sing. Fragile, and yet strong. Beautiful, and yet delicate. Modest, and yet shinning.
The Snowflake Method For Designing A Novel
I don’t usually use an outline when writing my books but I found this really neat method I’d like to try. While I can’t say I’ll stick to it like glue, it looks like something that will help me to organize my thoughts without the confusion. For my next project I’ll be using The Snowflake Method. Click Here to check it out. After your reading, research, and daydreaming is done (when you have an idea of what the story is about), here is Step #1 from the article:
Step 1) Take an hour and write a one-sentence summary of your novel. Something like this: “A rogue physicist travels back in time to kill the apostle Paul.” (This is the summary for my first novel, Transgression.) The sentence will serve you forever as a ten-second selling tool. This is the big picture, the analog of that big starting triangle in the snowflake picture.
When you later write your book proposal, this sentence should appear very early in the proposal. It’s the hook that will sell your book to your editor, to your committee, to the sales force, to bookstore owners, and ultimately to readers. So make the best one you can!
Some hints on what makes a good sentence:
- Shorter is better. Try for fewer than 15 words.
- No character names, please! Better to say “a handicapped trapeze artist” than “Jane Doe”.
- Tie together the big picture and the personal picture. Which character has the most to lose in this story? Now tell me what he or she wants to win.
- Read the one-line blurbs on the New York Times Bestseller list to learn how to do this. Writing a one-sentence description is an art form.
Another important point: It doesn’t have to be perfect. The purpose of each step in the design process is to advance you to the next step. Keep your forward momentum! You can always come back later and fix it when you understand the story better. You will do this too, unless you’re a lot smarter than I am.
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Sounds exciting! There is also a book which you can find here. Are you writing a book? Share the method to your madness! How do you stay organized?
The PBS Blog 