The Writing Routine of David S. McCracken, author of Far Beyond Woman Suffrage: The Prices of the Vote

 

Every writer has their own writing routine that helps them to be the most productive. Today, author David S. McCracken is sharing his with us, plus an excerpt from his book Far Beyond Woman Suffrage: The Prices of the Vote. Follow the tour for even more. Best of luck entering the giveaway!

Far Beyond Woman Suffrage: The Prices of the Vote

It isn’t just about women in long skirts finally voting. The racists and the rich know that, and the politicians worry.

Mercy Martin has an inside view as the battle for woman suffrage nears a climax, but she encounters many puzzles:

• So many women and Southern states oppose votes for women;
• So many people are afraid it would bring on free love, abandonment of family, economic catastrophe, or communism.
• So many suffragists are willing to abandon black women voters.

From an innocent teen to a young adult, Mercy has a central role in the campaign. She advances from confinement in a suffragist jail cell to the national campaign for the suffrage amendment. She campaigns around Tennessee, ending at the capitol for the explosive climax in the last state that might ratify the amendment and grant the vote to women.

Why should something so clearly right be so hard, and why were some bitter compromises made? Mercy is right in the middle, relied on by key players. Along the way, she acquires a husband, a baby, and better parents than she was born with.

This is an intimate view via alternative historical fiction, as accurate as it can be and as thoughtful and moving as it must be. In this first novella of a series, Mercy jumps into the campaign for woman suffrage and prepares for a vital role in the coming decades. She’ll continue on into the wider civil rights struggle growing out of woman suffrage.

Read an excerpt:

Adjustments 2/19/1918
I’m glad to say my mood swings have evened out pretty much, but I fight to control my anger at my rapist. I don’t want the innocent baby to feel the rage. It’s kind of like my blocking knowing about sex up until a few months ago. How could I have been so good at that? I guess it’s like blocking knowing about Santa Claus. I didn’t let that truth in until I was eight, when all the girls were laughing at me.

Meeting Joe at the Line, 3/8/1918
I met an impressive young officer today after my shift on the line, tall, handsome, and strong-looking. I can imagine men following him into battle. I would. Joe Hamblen had come from the War Department to see what is going on at the White House. He kept looking at me standing at the fence, and I kept looking at him. We talked for a long time after my duty ended. We couldn’t stop talking until I had to go home for supper. I’m so glad that, with my long dress and coat, he couldn’t see my bulging tummy. He wants to see me again tomorrow for supper at a café near here. Well, I’m almost as tall as he is, and my baby isn’t that much of a bump, only four months along. I shudder to see his reaction when I must break my news. He has the dearest, kindest blue eyes. I’ll enjoy his company for now, my first almost-boyfriend. Then, what will ever become of me?

Buy on Amazon

(affiliate link included)

Just $0.99 during the tour!

Your writing routine

I start by reviewing the highlighted changes I made up to the current point, removing the highlights or changing them further. If any new passages in furtherance of the text at this point seem necessary, I do those. Then I start on brand new passages, maybe pausing for needed research, maybe for a long time. I start on the Washington Post and frequently check CNN and Gmail to see if my plans must change because of looming disaster. Next, I check Amazon and Goodreads to see if I’ve gotten any new reviews on my two books, as well as Amazon KDP to see how my sales are doing, and my website to see if I’ve gotten any comments or questions. Then, finally, I can start new writing, checking with Grammarly what careless mistakes I’ve made as I go along. Eventually, I need a break for food, family, home duties, for fifteen minutes of my favorite computer game, Starcraft. Then the whole process starts again. Finally, there’s supper and the evening news with my wife. I have about an hour for more writing until it’s time for Rachel Maddow on MSNBC--and maybe Lawrence O'Donnell. Finally, I work on marketing like this or write more to get sleepy. I may write some more in my sleep, until I see I might as well get up to do it for real.

Read another excerpt and an interview with the author at my site Candrel's Crafts, Cooks, and Characters.

David McCracken became a political activist when the Supreme Court ruled against school segregation. Fellow students joined him in urging the school board in Winchester, KY, to integrate immediately. He campaigned for a Democratic governor and joined the ACLU before he graduated from the University of Kentucky. After debating at U.K., he got a degree in economics and a job with the U.S. Department of Commerce.

When his daughters approached school age, he became increasingly concerned with how he wanted them schooled. Researching that, he decided teaching was what he really wanted to do. He got a master's degree in elementary education at Murray State University. He taught for several years, until the fact that his girls qualified for reduced-price lunches based on his salary got to him. Ronald Reagan's anti-government policies prevented him from returning to government work, so he took programming courses and shifted careers again. Programming was like being paid to solve puzzles all day, but teaching eventually drew him back until retirement.

For many years of this time, he was working intermittently at a novel that became Fly Twice Backward: Fresh Starts in Times of Troubles. This concerned his waking on his twelfth birthday, trying to figure out what had happened, following his new opportunities, and ultimately outliving an evil president resembling Donald Trump. After thirty-six years, David finally published it as an interactive alt-history Kindle novel. He soon started, Far Beyond Woman Suffrage: The Prices of the Vote, an alt-history novelette dealing with the campaign for woman suffrage. He finished this piece in just ten months. At 81, he is bold(?) enough to plan this as the first of a six-volume set dealing with the far-reaching results and implications of woman suffrage. His completed novels and another in the works are presented for discussion on a new website, DoFancifulFlights.com

David now lives with his third wife, stepdaughter, and step-grandson near Winchester, VA. He has a son from his second marriage, six grandchildren, and two stepchildren. And a wonderful black dog with four white feet.

Website: http:// DoFancifulFlights.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/702749.David_McCracken

David McCracken will be awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Far Beyond Woman Suffrage: The Prices of the Vote by David McCracken

Far Beyond Woman Suffrage 

The Prices of the Vote

Book One

David McCracken

Genre: Alternative History

Date of Publication:  8/25/21

ISBN: 979-8464929616

ASIN: B09DPSTN35

Number of pages: 104

Word Count: 32,514

Cover Artist: PixelStudio

Tagline: “It isn’t just about women in long skirts finally voting!”

Book Description: 

It isn’t just about women in long skirts finally voting. The racists and the rich know that, and the politicians worry.

Mercy Martin has an inside view as the battle for woman suffrage nears a climax, but she encounters many puzzles.

So many women and Southern states oppose votes for women.  

So many people are afraid it would bring on free love, abandonment of family, economic catastrophe, or communism.

So many suffragists are willing to abandon black women voters.

From an innocent teen to a young adult, Mercy has a central role in the campaign. She advances from confinement in a suffragist jail cell to the national campaign for the suffrage amendment. She campaigns around Tennessee, ending at the capitol for the explosive climax in the last state that might ratify the amendment and grant the vote to women. 

Why should something so clearly right be so hard, and why were some bitter compromises made? Mercy is right in the middle, relied on by key players. Along the way, she acquires a husband, a baby, and better parents than she was born with.

This is an intimate view via alternative historical fiction, as accurate as it can be and as thoughtful and moving as it must be. In this first novella of a series, Mercy jumps into the campaign for woman suffrage and prepares for a vital role in the coming decades. She’ll continue on into the wider civil rights struggle growing out of woman suffrage. 

Amazon

(affiliate link included)

Excerpt  

Anita and I have taken a circuit northwest from Knoxville and back around to the northeast. We’re canvassing as many legislators and their key supporters as we can track down. Finding them is the tricky part. Sometimes we go as far as the road goes and finish the journey to an isolated farmstead on foot, with our dresses trailing in the dust. We’ve been drenched by rainstorms, chased by watchdogs, and even had to change a flat tire, which isn’t that easy in a long dress, but we find our men.

Some seem to be avoiding us, like Representative Cletus Jacobs. He keeps barely visible off in his woodlot. We mark him as a “no.” Senator Phil Gridley graciously, really graciously, says we are communists betraying our gender, our state, and the country. Fortunately, the next two are warm and positive. However, Sen. Billy Broadus says he is nervous the women’s vote will support that anti-American League of Nations. He seems mollified when we point out it would first have to go through a vote in the U.S. Senate, where it is sure to fail.

“Anita,” I ask, back in the car, “why is there such a fear of communism here?”

“Well, with the recent Russian Revolution and the widespread unrest in European countries after the war, people are nervous, especially people with property. You may not realize that Communism seemed on the verge of sweeping across Europe after the war, with uprisings all over. I guess women are considered softies who might vote communists in or go easy on them. Maybe they’re especially sensitive in the South on the loss of property since their human property, slaves, were ‘taken’ at the end of the Civil War.”

“I guess big business is hyping the fear for their own purposes, against labor unions.”

“You’ve got it, Honey!  That started before the Russian Revolution, as a way to smear and foil labor unions.”

“I don’t guess we could ever reach people so concerned about communism, however they got concerned!"

“ ’Not bloody likely,’ to use a term  Alice Paul picked up from a friend over from England. (The shocking phrase was uttered by Eliza Dolittle in George Bernard Shaw’s new hit play, Pygmalion. Alice loves throwing  it out.)”

Driving east from Livingston, on a dim overcast day, we have a scare. Three white-robed riders and horses are moving into position as if to stand astride the road and block our path. Behind us, we see three more horsemen trotting out of a grove we had just passed and following us.  We look at each other and gulp. It doesn’t look good, even if their robes look rather shabby. A lonely road doesn’t seem ideal for a twilight chat with six mounted Klansmen. Luckily, they hadn’t reckoned how fast our Blue Knight moves or how well Anita can handle it. Just as the ones in front are getting into position, Anita swerves far over onto the left edge of the road and races onward. The nearest horse nervously dances back, then rears and throws his rider as we roar around them.

“I thought the Klan was dead,” I say.

 “Apparently, that Birth of a Nation propaganda film of a few years back is reviving them. Next, they’ll burn a cross.”

 “Well, they’re eating your dust. Great driving!”

“I hope we’ve seen the last of them. How’d they know where we were?”

I think and respond, “Was Senator Broadus actually less friendly than he seemed?”

“I wondered why he spent so long in idle chatter before he let us go,” offers Anita.

About the Author:

David McCracken became a political activist when the Supreme Court ruled against school segregation. Fellow students joined him in urging the school board in Winchester, KY, to integrate immediately. He campaigned for a Democratic governor and joined the ACLU before he graduated from the University of Kentucky. After debating at U.K., he got a degree in economics and a job with the U.S.  Department of Commerce.

When his daughters approached school age, he became increasingly concerned with how he wanted them schooled. Researching that, he decided teaching was what he really wanted to do. He got a master's degree in elementary education at Murray State University. He taught for several years, until the fact that his girls qualified for reduced-price lunches based on his salary got to him. Ronald Reagan's anti-government policies prevented him from returning to government work, so he took programming courses and shifted careers again. Programming was like being paid to solve puzzles all day, but teaching eventually drew him back until retirement.

For many years of this time, he was working intermittently at a novel that became Fly Twice Backward: Fresh Starts in Times of Troubles. This concerned his waking on his twelfth birthday, trying to figure out what had happened, following his new opportunities, and ultimately outliving an evil president resembling Donald Trump. After thirty-six years, David finally published it as an interactive alt-history Kindle novel. He soon started Far Beyond Woman Suffrage: The Prices of the Vote, an alt-history novelette dealing with the campaign for woman suffrage. He finished this piece in just ten months. At 81, he is bold(?) enough to plan this as the first of a six-volume set dealing with the far-reaching results and implications of woman suffrage. His completed novels and another in the works are presented for discussion on a new website, DoFancifulFlights.com

David now lives with his third wife, stepdaughter, and step-grandson near Winchester, VA. He has a son from his second marriage, six grandchildren, and two stepchildren. And a funny black dog with four white feet.

https://dofancifulflights.com

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Read an excerpt from Sunder of Time by Kristin McTiernan

On Tour with Prism Book Tours

Welcome to the book tour for Sunder of Time by Kristin McTiernan! I have an exclusive excerpt from this time-travel story for you today. After you read it, be sure to download your own copy. And then follow the rest of the tour for even more!

Sunder of Time

(The Mason Timeline #1)

By Kristin McTiernan

Time Travel/Alternate History

Paperback & ebook, 380 Pages

May 12, 2015

Isabella Jaramillo is accustomed to getting what she wants.

Living a comfortable life as the daughter of the world’s sole time travel magnate, Isabella has never suffered the irritation of being told no.

Only now she has gone too far and her soon-to-be ex-husband tells her no in the most vengeful way possible—by sabotaging her trip to the past, sending her to a distant land where the locals do not speak her language and are far from impressed by her haughty demeanor.

Now a slave, Isabella makes some surprising allies and discovers the truth behind her father’s rise to power and the terrible price the entire world paid for it. Somehow, she must break free and find a way home, not only to save herself, but to restore history to its rightful direction.

(Affiliate links included.)

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Bookshop

Other Books in the Series

Fissure of Worlds

(The Mason Timeline #2)

By Kristin McTiernan

Time Travel/Alternate History

Paperback & ebook, 323 Pages

October 9, 2017

Knowledge isn’t power. It’s dangerous.

At first, she thought they’d do the right thing. A new timeline created by a misbehaving time traveler, a whole society crushed under theocratic oppression. Surely, the council would see reason. Surely, they’d help her fix the timeline.

They didn’t.

Now jailed and under the constant, unblinking eye of her own personal guard, Shannan must fight not only for her freedom, but for her own sanity.

Her one ally is Paul Canaan, a member of the Council but not truly one of them. Living a life of secrets and lies, Paul works in the shadows to free Shannan, and himself, from the artificially created timeline oppressing them both.

Together, Shannan and Paul will have to escape their watchers—before they, and the world, are trapped in a history that should never have been.

(Affiliate link included.)

Goodreads | Amazon

About the Author

Kristin McTiernan was born the daughter of a career military man and spent her childhood bouncing from one country to another. Her love of writing surfaced early, and upon discovering the double threat of comic books and Star Trek in middle school, Kristin spent the majority of her spare time creating new worlds and interesting people to populate them. Following in her parents' footsteps, Kristin enlisted in the Marine Corps at 17 and, upon her discharge three years later, settled into a life pursuing her love of words. She achieved her bachelor's degree in English from Emporia State University in her home state of Kansas and works as an editor to support her writing addiction. She lives in Kansas City with her husband and dog.

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Pinterest 

Tour Schedule

Tour Giveaway

One winner will win a Kindle gifted copy (gifted directly through Amazon) of Kristin McTiernan's supernatural mystery trilogy: Black Magic Omnibus: Books 1 - 3 of the Siren Song Series (US only)

Ends February 24, 2021

ENTER HERE