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Banned in Warrenton? I hope not
I expected this book to be judged on whether it is informative, entertaining and accurate. I did not expect it to be judged on whether it was “sensitive.” Sensitive? A history book? I bring this up because of an email I received last week from a publicist at History Press, the publisher. She wrote that
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Some feedback about the book is puzzling
The Last Lynching in Northern Virginia has been out three weeks, long enough for me to get some feedback. As expected, the results are mixed. I’m delighted when I hear that someone enjoyed the book. “You addressed a very difficult and dark subject very well,” said one reader. “Well done,” said another. I also was
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Klan story stirs reaction and memory of rally in Caroline
A friend said she was surprised to read last week’s blog post about the Ku Klux Klan parade and rally in Warrenton. She is in her 50s, grew up in Fauquier County, graduated from high school in Warrenton, and knew of the Benner Farm where the cross-burning took place. Yet she had never heard of
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Making room for a late arrival
One of the great things about writing for a newspaper is that you can make changes to your story right up to the last minute. That’s not to say that the editors will be happy when you do. But you can, and I did many times. Writing a book is very different, as I learned
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I stand in praise of copy editors
One of History Press’ copy editors reviewed this manuscript and pronounced it fit. Well, mostly fit. The book is “very well written,” he said, but it contains errors of “grammar, style, spelling and consistency.” He made about 40 blue-type changes in the document. Most were violations of the publisher’s house style. That means, in my
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What am I going to do with the rest of my life?
It’s done. It’s gone. I sent my manuscript to the History Press on Friday. With that delivery, I met the second of two February deadlines. The first was for the photographs. This one was for the book itself. Actually the book is still just an email attachment, a Word document of 51 pages, 32,000 words,
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Gather, write, rewrite
Writing this book or a writing a newspaper article is the result of a three-step process: gathering, writing and rewriting. I loop back and forth from one step to the other as long as time allows. So even though my deadline to submit the manuscript for The Last Lynching in Northern Virginia is a month away,
Author & Lecturer
Jim Hall 