Back to the Research Drawing Board

So  I just moved to Alabama with my husband earlier this week. We're so busy getting settled and everything, but amid all the hubub I've found a new way to get excited about and back into my book....

We live five minutes from the university of alabama!!! And they allow non student community members to use their library and online resources (although these are apparently only accessible from the computers within the library)!!! AND I have access to the email addresses for the history and science department faculty members. I've already been in touch with one and we're planning to meet up so he can go over my research and outline. I don't really want to show anyone except my editor and of course blog followers any chapters...thats classified information that is! But I'm excited to have such resources. Through twitter someone invited me to that website called Temple Illuminatus, and theres a page on there called Alchemists Journey...a lot of good information about modern day alchemy being spread around there, if nothing else. I think I'm going to observe for a while and if some people emerge as knowing what they're talking about I might use them for interviews for my chapter about alchemy in the modern world. Might see about taking a yoga class too...that is definitely a development from the middle eastern traditions of alchemy and although I could just do some research it would be much more beneficial to experience it for myself and be able to speak with an instructor. 

The only downside is that trying to research the religious aspects of alchemy will be difficult around here. Not that there is anything wrong with it, but there are an awful lot of baptist churches, and a good number of others too. That's all well and good for me for looking into alchemy in today's world of Christianity. But doing some research about how alchemy still affects other religions, such as islam, might be a little hard. Even with the university right there, its alabama. The religious studies here are a little.....discriminatory. 

Anyhow, going to the library tomorrow to do some research, im hoping to hear back from my editor soon about a new section I added, and I hope to finish a chapter tomorrow and begin a new one. Wish me luck!!!

Its been a while...

Hello! Seems like it's been forever since I posted. Somehow, I got caught up in way too many projects and just let some things slide.

I didn't make my goal of finishing the book by my birthday, and then of course the holidays came around and there was no way in hell I was going to finish during THAT nonsense.

Then I got really into my EMT training, and had a spectacular idea for a series of paintings, and reached a bit of a roadblock on chapters 6-8...

Really I think the lesson here is that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. I threw myself way too into this, and I got burnt out. BUT....I have found new sources, and found some free time in the hubub of my daily schedule to resume writing. Finished chapter six the other day, and a book proposal that has since been submitted to five publishers. I still intend to self-publish at this point, because it will in all liklihood take less time and allow me to preserve the integrity of what I wrote. But a few of the publishers are interested :) No big names yet, but still it makes me feel good :)

So in the spirit of everything ever, here is a chapter six preview, a little blurb out of the middle. It's the chapter about chemistry, so I tried to a pick a blurb that won't put anyone to sleep :)

Although the above chemical theories are some of the most monumental contributions to modern day chemistry, they are not the only contributions the ancient alchemists made.  Furnaces and other apparatuses, such as the alembic, were invented during the Hellenistic Egypt period[1].  Some of these apparatuses have been credited to one Maria the Jewess, who is largely believed to be a mythical figure. However, the person responsible for giving her credit was Zosimos of Panopolis, whose works are largely fragmentary now but do offer a great deal of insight to the world of chemical thought of the era. Why would a man in that time period in Egypt give credit for such inventions to a woman, let alone a Jewish woman[i]?

Maria the Jewess is mentioned in more than a few alchemical works, and she is not the only female alchemist to be mentioned. Zosimos of Panopolis quoted Maria several times in his own works, and is one of the alchemists to attribute to her the invention of the early alembic. His works can be dated to the 4^th century. In the 8^th century, a Byzantine named George Syncellus, mentions “Mary” as a teacher of the aforementioned Democritus, who is known to have lived in the 4^th century BCE. In addition, Maria is named in the Kitab al-Fihrist as one of the fifty two most famous alchemists and as one who knew the preparation of what is known as the Caput Mortuum, the “dead head,” a useless substance left over from some operation or experiment. This term was also used to refer to a brownish-red metallic compound such as ferrous sulphate[2] or copper oxidule. Maria was also known to Morienus, the Roman philosopher, who called her Mary the Prophetess, and to the Arabs, who called her the Daughter of Plato[3].

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[1] The period after Alexander the Great conquered Egypt and Egyptian culture and science was directly influenced by Greek scholars and resources.

[2] Iron sulfate – FeS0₄, also known as green vitriol

[3] In Western alchemical texts, “Daughter of Plato” was also a name used to refer to white sulfur.

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[i] Author’s note: Although none of Maria the Jewess’ writings survived for examination today, she is quoted and mentioned in enough alchemical texts, which span many cultures and centuries, to reasonably believe she existed. The same could be true of her that is true of Ancient Greek history; there is quite a lot that was written that we have no hard evidence actually occurred, and yet we take it to be historical fact for all intents and purposes. Given the time period and the rarity of credit being given to a woman in a scholarly field, it’s not unreasonable to believe that Maria the Jewess, no matter how else she is referred to, may have in fact lived – most likely in the 4^th or 5^th century BCE.

Progress

So it turns out that Gilmore Girls is great to watch when I need to focus and get some serious work done. I should have known, it's what I used to do in college when I had a paper to write or an exam to study for. No idea why it works so well, but hey. So I'm back to making some serious progress on the book...I'm almost done with the history portion and get to move on the chemistry portion soon, followed by the pop culture portion and the theories and whatnot. I'm excited to get to those...not so much the chemistry because I kind of hate chemistry, but I can't wait to introduce you guys to the ways alchemy has been mentioned in pop culture that you would never guess at...

I do think that I need someone to write the forward to my book. I'm hoping I can get someone that will lend some credibility to the book in general, give it more of a fighting chance. I WISH I could get Deborah Harkness to do it, even though she's a fiction writer. Her book Discover of Witches gave me the original inspiration for the book, and the sequel that just came out sustained me and got me back on track. But even if I asked, it's probably a long shot. Anyone have any better ideas?

Happy 4th (belated)

Well I hope everyone had a good fourth of July...in case you didn't know, those fireworks you enjoyed were originally invented by Chinese alchemists in their experimentation with chemicals and minerals to create the elixir of life. That's right...they are basically a by-product of someone trying to live forever.

I'm starting to get really excited about all the traffic the facebook page is getting (for those of you who haven't bothered looking yet, its https://www.facebook.com/AlchemyHistoryOfTheGreatSecret)! I thought I would feel the pressure of getting the book done and remembering to update my pages, but sometimes I have more fun updating then I would expect. It's kind of nice to know that even on the days I can't get motivated and I have writer's block, there are people speaking at least 10 different languages that like my page and are potentially anticipating more news about my book. I hope that's the case because I don't know about you, but I hardly ever pay attention to the little ads on the side of facebook...it takes something I'm really seriously interested in to get my attention. Not to mention, the stats say that people do return to look at the status updates and whatnot.

Well, no matter what facebook says, the truly dedicated people are the ones who bother to read my blog, which I'm sure gets tedious and annoying, and I promise the book is much better composed. The point is, if you bother reading this, thanks. You've earned a reward. A better preview of chapter four than I bothered putting on facebook or tumblr or twitter:


Unfortunately, the 14^th century saw trouble for alchemists in Europe. Author’s like Dante Alighieri and Geoffrey Chaucer both depicted alchemists as liars and charlatans. In Dante’s Inferno, part of his larger work, The Divine Comedy, alchemy is mentioned by Griffolino and Capocchio as a way to define themselves.

“’I was a man of Arezzo,’” one replied,‘and Albert of Siena had me burned;But I am not here for the deed for which I died.It is true that jokingly I said to him once:‘I know how to raise myself and fly through air’;And he – with all the eagerness of a dunce –Wanted to learn. Because I could not makeA Daedalus of him – for no other reason –He had his father burn me at the stake.But Minos, the infallible, had me hurledHere to the final bolgia of the tenFor the alchemy I practiced in the world.’And I to the poet: ‘Was there ever a raceMore vain than the Sienese? Even the French,Compared to them, seem full of modest grace.’And the other leper answered mockingly:‘Excepting Stricca, who by careful planningManaged to live and spend so moderately;An Niccolo, who in his time aboveWas first of all the shoots in that rank gardenTo discover the costly uses of the clove;And excepting the brilliant company of talentsIn which Caccia squandered his vinyards and his woods,And Abbagliato displayed his intelligence.But if you wish to know who joins your cryAgainst the Sienese, study in my faceWith care and let it make its own reply.So you will see I am the suffering shadowof Caoocchio, who, by practicing alchemy,Falsified the metals, and you must know,Unless my mortal recollection straysHow good an ape I was of Nature’s ways.’”[i] 


Both shades above mention alchemy directly, and the second mentions the falsification of metals – for which there were recipes in the Leyden Papyrus X, as referenced in chapter 1.

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[i] This excerpt is from John Ciardi’s translation of Dante’s Inferno. It is Canto XXIX, lines 109-140.

Damn Research

Well, last night I finished chapter four and sent it off to Chris for editing.

EXCEPT...I was starting on chapter five today, and went back through the notes I made when I originally had the brain-child of my book...and found the name of a man that I had meant to look up, since his was a very interesting story. I was REALLY excited to have that much info to put in chapter five right of the bat, and then I saw the dates for his lifetime. Turns out, he belongs in chapter four. *facepalm*

So now here I am, reading back through my well-organized and completed chapter four, trying to figure out where to put him so that it makes sense chronologically and still sounds good. There is going to be some re-writing involved in this. UGH! One goofy looking dude from the 1300's and my plans for the night are screwed. At least there's plenty of information on him, so my chapter will be a tad bit longer.

In other news, I had another brain child. I seperated the first two chapters by country, and the third was about a very small geographic area. I know Europe is small...but I was thinking that instead of just doing an overview in two chapters I might divide the information into mini-chapters, and give one for each country that played a major role in the history of alchemy. This might take a lot more in-depth research though (and my research is already pretty in-depth and thorough), and might get kind of complicated. All the learned men who studied and/or practiced alchemy traveled around, so then what? Do I put them in the chapter for the country in which they were born or the one in which they died? Or the one in which they lived and did most of their life's work? Do I even want to consider this chapter re-organization considering the extra work I already had to do today?

No matter what I decide about that, I won't be going back and doing that way until the rest of the book is done and off for editing. That way, if I do it and don't like how it sounds or looks I can just revert and it's not like I'll still have a whole bunch of work ahead of me.

Thoughts? Anyone?

Chapter Four

So tonight I finished draft one of chapter four and sent it off for editing. I'm just so happy to be done with it and moving forward again, and that I've managed to avoid the burnout that occurred when I finished chapter three. I DID decide that the information about alchemy in Europe should be split into two chapters, so I ended chapter four at the end of the 15th century...chapter five will focus on the Renaissance ^_^ That is the chapter I imagine will gain the most attention on my blog, twitter, tumblr, facebook. Everyone seems to be SO interested in the Renaissance period, so here's hoping.

I also invested in a Facebook ad...apparently just having the page wasn't enough. Even though a fair few of my friends liked it, no one really comments on my stuff except my dad, and its sort of his job as my dad to do that. So I spent 98 cents per click on my ad to get some more traffic. It worked within ten minutes. I put a budget of 10 dollars a day....so even if it stops people clicking at that point per day...if I get a bunch of people every day between now and when the book comes out I could have a huge following by then ^_^

I'm HOPING to have the book done by the end of August...it would be a really good birthday present to myself and a really big accomplishment. That way, with the cover art all done and all that's left is the writing and editing, I could be ready to publish print and e-books in september. I know that's late for everyone's summer reading, but at least I'm not tooting about a book I don't anticipate spending enough time on and you'll have to wait a year for. Argh I hate those authors. I get so impatient for books I get excited about. I really hope people are getting excited about mine.

BLOCK

So I've never before had a problem with writer's block...

Then I churned out three chapters in under a week. Now I've gone an entire week without doing anything truly productive. I got halfway through chapter four, and book cover was finished (YAY!). But that is really about it. It sort of makes me feel like crap...I'm still really into it and really excited about the book, but it's like I just tried to cram too much stuff into my brain the first week, with the actual writing and all the research (seriously, my bibliography is like five pages long already), then the pages I've made for it that I have to try and maintain (i DID lose a few followers on my twitter feed...I guess it's not okay to not update for a few days. Okay, a week. Anyhow...now I just feel discouraged. Plus some jerk posted on a forum for MY LITTLE PONY (of all the places to diss something) and said in a rather uppity way that they didn't think my book was very promising because it's not a how-to guide for alchemy.

But this...this is my dream. I've been writing since I was a kid. Maybe it's not what I want to do for a career, but I've always dreamed of having something published. Something more immortal than a news article or this blog. So screw the nay-sayers who somehow think that they are experts because they've done a LITTLE bit of research about a LITTLE part of alchemical history. My book is going to be ROCKING.