tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4729559664676971737.post2025942413370672016..comments2024-03-29T08:03:49.356-04:00Comments on Years That Answer: Complete LivesColettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13929646037752189809noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4729559664676971737.post-4196509186958396352020-01-14T12:10:32.646-05:002020-01-14T12:10:32.646-05:00It does, doesn't it?It does, doesn't it?Colettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13929646037752189809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4729559664676971737.post-9368885132463280152020-01-12T15:17:40.471-05:002020-01-12T15:17:40.471-05:00Sounds like he got what was coming to him.Sounds like he got what was coming to him.Secret Agent Womanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07564690116156754219noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4729559664676971737.post-13213382793946840292020-01-09T08:48:59.086-05:002020-01-09T08:48:59.086-05:00Well said, Robbie. I have read your novel, Out Of ...Well said, Robbie. I have read your novel, Out Of Arizona, and can attest to your strong women characters. Still waiting for a sequel so I can find out more about Jana Nordmeyer. Colettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13929646037752189809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4729559664676971737.post-43382260425180981132020-01-09T03:53:14.269-05:002020-01-09T03:53:14.269-05:00The first serious novel I wrote concerned two engi...The first serious novel I wrote concerned two engineers - one male, one female - and the way their lives intertwined. My aim was to provide my own tribute to engineers who don't enjoy the same social status as other professionals, notably doctors, lawyers and academics. In my own imagination the male engineer came first, perhaps because I gave him a surname - Hatch! So crisp! So male! - which I knew would stick. Picking good names for characters is vital for any author; you live with them, hand in glove, for at least a year.<br /><br />But as I wrote the novel I became more and more fascinated with the female engineer (Clare. Another good name. Women can't really be identified by their surname if they're married, can they?) Ineluctably she started to dominate the story.<br /><br />Subsequently I wrote three more novels and am a third through a fourth which I fear I will never finish. All have women as central characters; it has become my fictional standpoint. Why did this happen? One reason is that fiction thrives on various forms of conflict and conflict seems woven into women's lives. Then I read your sentence: Women's lives are nearly invisible. Might that be another reason why I'm drawn to their stories? Possibly. I hope that none of my women are invisible, certainly they aren't to me. Trying to make them real helps me, makes me less aggressively male. Damnit, why don't I say it? Women are just more interesting; men - by contrast - are more predictable. And who wants a predictable story?Roderick Robinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16828395545197001637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4729559664676971737.post-84374401448686459762020-01-08T18:27:48.343-05:002020-01-08T18:27:48.343-05:00That is so true about The Marriage Story. For most...That is so true about The Marriage Story. For most people, it just seems normal to dismiss the female's story as secondary.Colettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13929646037752189809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4729559664676971737.post-58344758864429129342020-01-08T16:33:04.032-05:002020-01-08T16:33:04.032-05:00What a tragedy. What an awful life she must have h...What a tragedy. What an awful life she must have had. <br /><br />Are we surprised? Seriously?<br />I just had a conversation with a friend about how women to this day are depicted a secondary, she used the example of The Marriage Story (on netflix and up for an oscar no doubt) where the female side of the story is just crap whereas teh guy who cheated and insisted on his career choices etc. gets all the coverage.Sabinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09015827501648296977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4729559664676971737.post-25005672618338030292020-01-08T09:16:10.049-05:002020-01-08T09:16:10.049-05:00Yes, even today. Yes, even today. Colettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13929646037752189809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4729559664676971737.post-45862175050403718632020-01-08T09:15:44.510-05:002020-01-08T09:15:44.510-05:00She had 6 children, most of them adults by the tim...She had 6 children, most of them adults by the time he left. My hope is that the children helped support her. This happened before the U.S. Federal census included more than just the head of the household on the census data (they didn't start listing the names and ages of all the household members until 1850). So that's why I haven't been able to determine what happened to her. She died in 1840. I'm sure she was happier without him.Colettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13929646037752189809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4729559664676971737.post-27381200553718329532020-01-07T23:52:49.239-05:002020-01-07T23:52:49.239-05:00Gosh this was a tragic story and yet we know that ...Gosh this was a tragic story and yet we know that it happened all too often. Even today.Lindahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09895379382598203558noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4729559664676971737.post-87156882447218044512020-01-07T22:32:04.453-05:002020-01-07T22:32:04.453-05:00I wonder how his wife lived after he ran off, and ...I wonder how his wife lived after he ran off, and how she supported their 6 children. I found the same thing doing genealogy, I wonder about the untold stories of the people. I am writing a small book about our immediate family, inspired by my genealogy interest.Terra https://www.blogger.com/profile/04396481049075747940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4729559664676971737.post-501187141049582132020-01-06T21:29:38.010-05:002020-01-06T21:29:38.010-05:00Aaack. That breaks my heart.Aaack. That breaks my heart.Colettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13929646037752189809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4729559664676971737.post-59313901522042345092020-01-06T21:29:08.667-05:002020-01-06T21:29:08.667-05:00No, they sure aren't.No, they sure aren't. Colettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13929646037752189809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4729559664676971737.post-73304660302010930352020-01-06T21:28:25.496-05:002020-01-06T21:28:25.496-05:00If you paid for the international ancestry access,...If you paid for the international ancestry access, you might be able to go back pretty far. Colettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13929646037752189809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4729559664676971737.post-75975211033770984962020-01-06T21:09:52.451-05:002020-01-06T21:09:52.451-05:00A genealogy researcher located the court document ...A genealogy researcher located the court document of my grandfather ordered to pay child support of his five children. He posted a large bond to remain free. He jumped bond, went west, changed his name and lived a sort of bum during the depression. The five children were essentially orphans. My aunt said the only birthday she ever had was in the Childrens' Home. Joanne Noragonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16601010208310707750noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4729559664676971737.post-5081936300945043612020-01-06T19:31:47.726-05:002020-01-06T19:31:47.726-05:00The first wife was the lucky one that he left her,...The first wife was the lucky one that he left her, but unfortunately, she spent 30 years with a man who probably abused her also. I hope her later years were better. <br /><br />DNA has brought a lot of skeletons out of the closet. My dad was <br />born in 1908. He was an only child till the age of five and then they had eight more children in about 11 years. My cousin spent a lot of time putting the family history together and found out that my grandparents were not married till 1912. We looked further and we came across a newspaper clipping about a man with the same name as my grandfather who was arrested for fighting and causing injuries. We figured then that he spent about four years in jail. Family secrets are no longer secrets. Starting Over, Accepting Changes - Maybehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06032033918798053005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4729559664676971737.post-54425842839209038132020-01-06T18:41:38.254-05:002020-01-06T18:41:38.254-05:00I love what you are able to discover about your fa...I love what you are able to discover about your family and how far back in our country's history your family reaches. Such an interesting story about those times. Why does it surprise me that even back then family dramas were unfolding like this. I wish I could trace my family back that far. I'd have to do research in eastern European records. My mom's family only arrived here in 1921. Thank you for sharing this story. It is truly enlightening about the times.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4729559664676971737.post-73701819495800217852020-01-06T16:00:04.324-05:002020-01-06T16:00:04.324-05:00Very interesting, my dear Emma. Very interesting, my dear Emma. Colettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13929646037752189809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4729559664676971737.post-68456297772472365292020-01-06T15:21:39.224-05:002020-01-06T15:21:39.224-05:00That is true about most women being invisible. I h...That is true about most women being invisible. I have discovered a few interesting things. One uncle had a first wife that I of course knew nothing about. The interesting thing is that he had three children who are my cousins. Two are born in the same year but not far enough apart to have the same mother. Hmmmm?Emma Springfieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10543689047463574012noreply@blogger.com