My first novel is done and published! I am including some new items here on my blog that were not included in the book. I decided to keep my first product simple to ensure it's possible acceptance and financial success. I may decide to include the new information, photos, and maps later in a paperback and hardback version of the original product. There may even be an audio version along with being available in more languages. My original intent was to include it all right up front. But when I got hung up on attempts to download the photos and maps into the publishing program, I found that the efforts didn't meet what would be a worthwhile final product due to the details being too small in electronic viewing. My skills needed to improve to better introduce the information visually. There was also the risk of negative copyright issues since some of the inserts were taken from the internet where sufficient proof of ownership could not be found to get permission to use. I didn't want it to be messy so I left them out and may consult professional legal aid, if needed, for peace of mind at a later date. Right now, it is my best effort and I hope you find it an interesting and enjoyable read!
Of course, the following photos and maps will have more meaning after you read the book. But I have included some brief narrative on each that may help you understand how it relates in the story. Maybe you will read this blog post first and hopefully will be curious enough to buy the book afterward. I know my blog has many followers overseas and this may also be a way they will find access to my book.
WATERSHEDS are "an area or ridge of land that separate waters flowing to different rivers, basins, or seas. It is the area or region drained by a river, river system, or other body of water. It can also mean an event or period marking a turning point in a course of action or state of affairs."
In my book, I parallel boundaries defined by nature and those made by man. Historical timelines are a great way to see changes in mankind's growth and development...the good, the bad, and the ugly. Nature in contrast, remains constant to itself. Yes, mankind can really mess it up as well as be good stewards of the land. But in the end, nature can renew itself and is the ultimate survivor! Nature has no freewill and the ability to make choices and own them. Nature and natural laws answer to the Highest Power whereas mankind can covet power to use freewill. Mankind should be good stewards of the land in order to survive and make choices compatible with nature. Those are good choices and will ensure our survival!
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| Overview of Major Watersheds in Europe |
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| Elbe River Watershed |
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| Danube River Watershed |
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| Europe Before and After World War I |
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| Europe 1919 |
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| Czechoslovakia Area in 1928-1938 |
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| Czechoslovakia Linguistic Map 1930 |
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| Kingdom of Bohemia within the Holy Roman Empire in 1618 |
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| Historical City of Strakonice, Bohemia |
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| The Holy Mountain at Sveta Hora, Bohemia |
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| Washington, D.C. Neighborhood around DuPont Circle |
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| Historical DuPont Circle, Washington, D.C. from the U.S. Library of Congress |
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| Washington Monument View from Under the Blooming Cherry Blossoms in Washington, D.C. |
My book work file is done and ready to file away after this project that produced my first novel. In it I have documented my thought process with definitions, outlines, and sources available. Timelines from various sources were correlated and assimilated to bring history together that tells a story of my heritage. Much genealogical research was done over the major part of my adulthood along with a passion for reading fiction and non-fiction books of that time period. I also have some first-hand narrative from family members. But in the end, I made this a fictional novel instead of a non-fictional biography. So many gaps were still missing from the complete story over these 50 years that in order to make the story flow I had to answer many questions that will never have documented answers. If it didn't actually happen the way I presented, well, it could have. No one in the story is still alive to validate and if evidence was presented to make it worthwhile, I have the ability in this format to make changes. I'd like to think that I was inspired and guided by those family members no longer with us. This is our story.
I had fun researching and writing my first novel! It didn't take very long actually. I started on what would have been my father's 100th birthday in December 2016 and wrote a lot in the first 3 months before taking a break as the weather warmed up and I got outdoors with activities. Then I started up again the three winter months of 2017-8, took another break, and started up again for three months in 2018-9 finishing for the most part in February. It took me one day to publish following the Kindle Direct Publishing process through Amazon.
It was easy for me maybe because I had 30+ years as an appraiser which consisted of assimilating massive amounts of researched data into a narrative report correlating basic perspectives into one final value that I had to defend to powerful political people. I know how to do my homework and keep a defensible work file readily available. I got so I loved a good challenge and was always open to change when better evidence was presented. I missed that since I retired in 2011! I also tried to use my intuitive skills developed over many years of experience and knowledge in my field but started butting heads in the final few years as evidence relied mostly on documents. In theory, this would be best. But the lack of true documents was turning in the direction of watering down the data available to hit the values wanted by the mortgage lenders. The battles were being fought between intuitive values based on years of experience and knowledge vs values based on who could produce the paperwork that supported statistically manipulated values. I felt I was wasting my time and energy. In the end, I likely would not survive. Time to retire and own my own time to develop and use my intuition. It is this intuition I relied heavily on when I needed to fill in the undocumented gaps in my story. As in Nature, it's all about the flow. Go with it!
I already have begun some of the thought process on where I will go from here. I am considering a book that begins where this first one ends only I will be the main character and it could be my autobiography. I can begin with over 65 years of chronological photo albums I had kept up; most in hard copy and about 10 years in digital. That's a lot of data to assimilate into an interesting story of my life! I may look to Forrest Gump for guidance! I may just start out with simple children's books for fun and see what evolves. I hope you, the reader, join me on this journey in my retirement continuing with this blog to wherever my intuition leads me!
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