Christmas Tree Lights, Famous NJ folks

I read a lot of magazines, and the Sunday Courier Post, among the even more than  many books that keep me diverted, entertained and informed.  Sometimes I come across a few items that I think a blog reader might find interesting and may not have come across on her/his own.  

Christmas Trees: Most people may be familiar with the German origin of the Christmas Tree - the evergreen that is not defeated by the seasons but stays green all year.    Many may also know that the tradition was brought to England by Queen Victoria's German husband, Albert, in the mid 1800's.  English colonists brought it to America where it spread because for a long time, the major ethnic group was Anglo/German.  (Smithsonian Dec. 2016)  

So, early colonists had something of a decorated tree tradition if they came from Germany, but the decorated tree of splendor as we know it really was a product of the mid 1800's and is, therefore, about 150 years old.  Yes, it is true that some early German colonists hung their trees upside down to keep them safe from rodents because they were deported with edibles such as cranberries strung, and nuts and so on.  I had an Early American Life issue some years back with information on that and also an early 1800's photograph of one.  

When I lived in Germany, in 1969, I had a real tree and real candles, the original tradition for lighting the tree.  It was delightful and, of course, dangerous!  Eventually, back in the USA, I bagged up the candle holders and candles and let them go and went for light bulbs on the tree.  

I was able to do this thanks to Johnson and Edison, two remarkable New Jersey residents who conspired to develop and promote the electric light bulb.  Edison invented the bulb, then Johnson wired and strung red, white and blue bulbs, and hung them on a tree in his parlor by the front window, and called the press.  This  happened in the mid 1800's.  Crowds gathered and so illustrious a newspaper as the New York Times, in 1882, published a piece about the 120 bulbs strung on the tree.  

Now we challenge the dark with tree lights and yard lights and a "Star Shower" of house lights. A science program I heard recently mourned that we are now the third generation to be unable to witness the Milky Way due to light pollution, unless we go to some remote location such as Yellowstone National Park.  I don't mind too much.  I'd rather have street lights than the view of the Milky Way, though it would be nice to have both.  I accept that isn't possible.

Johnson's lit up tree was in Washington Square, in New York, but Edison's workshop was in New Jersey.  And Edison is one of our most illustrious claims to fame, though if you count workshops, Einstein, living and working in Princeton from 1933 to 1955, may outshine him.  You can visit his house too!

In the Sunday Courier, November 20, an article ran with the photos and names of many illustrious New Jerseyans.  They left out a few I would have included and added a dozen I never heard of.  Anyhow, you could change the list by limiting it to people born here, or expand it to people who worked here or accomplished something here, which is what I would do.  Some might expand even further to great events that took place here.

When I worked as a volunteer in the history world, I was astonished to discover how much happened in New Jersey during the Revolution.  Our state is the "Crossroads of the Revolution."  If I recall it correctly more than 700 skirmishes and battles took place here both on the rivers, as in the attack on Chestnut Neck and the Forks, on the Mullica River in the Pine Barrens, where iron foundries made cannon balls, and pirates hid after raiding British ships, or in the farm regions of Cumberland and Salem Counties where for instance Mad Anthony Wayne made his daring cattle raid to feed the starving army in one of the bitter winter encampments, two of which, by the way, were in New Jersey at Morristown - a great site to visit.

The Courier article organized its "Icons" by fields of endeavor.  So they featured musicians like Count Basie, the poet, Walt Whitman, who though born in New York spent most of his adult life here and left a home you can visit in Camden.  One of my favorites in the literary category is James Fennimore Cooper, who wrote The Last of the Mohicans, then there is Stephen Crane and The Red Badge of Courage.  

I won't list  all the famous here because there were dozens, maybe I will add some later, but I wanted to put Alice Paul on the list.  She was the major reason American Women won the right to vote in 1920.  Her homestead in Mount Laurel is an excellent place to visit to learn more about her life and the movement to enfranchise half the population of our nation.  Elizabeth Cady Stanton lived here too.

Another influential woman in New Jerey history was Clara Barton who started the public school movement in the state and you can visit her one-room school in Bordertown.  As you know, she went on to work for our soldiers in the Civil War which turned into the creation of the Red Cross.

Speaking of the Civil War, a little known fact is that between her life endangering trips South to rescue more enslaved people and get them safely North on the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman worked as a cook in the hotels in Cape May.  There, she earned the money to finance her rescues.  There are a number of interesting Underground Railroad sites to visit in New Jersey; other posts of mine have discussed them.

The photographer Dorothea Lange was the model for the photographer in my novel, White Horse Black Horse.  She worked here in New Jersey during the WPA and went on to document the Dust Bowl and the Western Migration in her photographs. New Jersey is covered with WPA sites and you can stumble across them when you least expect it such as the Cooper House Restaurant, which bears a plaque in the foyer stating that it was a WPA building.

I'm skipping sports because this blog is becoming too long.  But before I go, I have mentioned it before and i will mention it again, there is also the grave of Peter J. Maguire, the father of Labor Day. So that gives us a whole other category of people to explore, those not necessarily born here, but who were buried here!

Merry Christmas,
may the Lights of Christmas help keep your spirits bright!
Happy Trails - and don't forget Railroad Day is Burlington and Bordertown - the tree platforms will put a smile on your face!
Jo Ann

Independent Publishing Continued

Today, Wednesday 11/16/16, I got my proof back from Perfect Communications in Moorestown.  To be honest, I have been a  little over sensitive these days, however, it came to me that I have NEVER paid so much to be so disappointed.  I have bought large ticket items before, a car, a sofa, a piano, a trip, but this was $850.00 and I am disappointed. 

1.  Unfortunately, DPI called me last week but it was too late.  I had already accepted Perfect Communications bid and turned over my files and we were in the process.  DPI however, bid $200 less!  I wish I had been more patient but I was in a hurry.  I had a couple of reasons to want this more quickly, and so I pushed on and didn't get the best bid.  First my 71st birthday was coming up and my Riverton Writers' Club was being held at my house, and my high school reunion group that meets informally every other month was getting together in December.  I wanted the book for all of these occasions. 
Well, I won't have it for them anyhow.

2.  The proof of the book was NOT paginated, there was no blank cover in the front or back, it went straight from cover to text, and my copyright and acknowledgements was left off. 

3.  I do not feel as though they wanted to do this book at all and that I was just an inconvenience, so I won't ever be going back to them again.  Customer Service is GONE.  I did speak with a nice man about the proof this morning and he said he would make the changes.  I am hoping my daughter can open the pdf and check it.  My helper has been imposed upon enogh.  My daughter is coming to visit today and she can open my e-mail on her computer.  My e-mai cannot open pdf.

So discouraging in this time of discouragement.  Trump wins the presidency - and I heard a quote from him on the radio railing against "feminist - dykes from the 7 sister colleges" who are going to be stopped because "if women want to help American then they should have babies and stay home and take care of the house."
Then my auto accident and the people I had the accident with trying to grasp something from it.
Then the news is always so sad.

Oh well, on to better and brighter - the books is in the last stage of the process and will soon be done and over.

DPI explained that they do small projects like mine and Perfect is more for bigger accounts like corporations, so in future it will be DPI in Cherry Hill on Route 70 in the strip mall next to Jaguar dealer. 

I will keep you posted when the final books arrive.

November 3rd, Getting the Book Printed

Well, to re-cap for anyone just joining this thread:  I wrote my third book this year, called 1969 A Road Trip, a memoir of a year living on the road in Europe.  Previously, I had written and independently published two other books, both novels.  One was a relationship novel, 181 Days, the other a historical novel, Black Horse, White Horse, based on a writer and photographer working for the WPA in 1937 New Jersey.  Neither of these books had interest to a publisher but i liked them so I decided to publish independently.  

First, I went to a printer I had visited before, Fort Nassau Printing, and their original quote was $1000 for a hundred books, a little too high for me.  Then I tried a company they recommended that they thought could maybe quote a lower estimate, Perfect Printing in Moorestown.  

Perfect Printing quoted $700 for 100 books.  The man who did most of the work for me at the time was named, I think, Joe Avilla, and my account manager was Barb Roberts.  Ms. Roberts is still with the company, but Joe is not.  They eventually printed both books, and one was popular enough that I ended up getting it re-printed twice, so they earned $700, 4 times from my account or $2800.  

At that time, 2005, they accepted my manuscript in Word (a word processing program common to PC as contrasted with Apple products which used ClarisWorks at the time.)  They set it up, showed me a proof, made corrections for me, then printed the books.

I was well satisfied, so I went back to them again with my third book.  The first book had been in 2005, and the second in 2006, so I knew there would be a higher price, after all, it is a decade later.  The quote was for $830.  

The quote was okay, but this is where we went off track because when I turned in my manuscript on Word, they said they needed it print ready on a pdf format, all set up,  and they would have to charge anywhere from $300 to $500 more to convert from Word to pdf and assemble the book.  

So, I went to two other printers, Belia, which has in the past done good work for me on small things like postcards, and Fort Nassau which has moved to Paulsboro.  

Fort Nassau came right out and told me they couldn't match the price, and needed pdf print ready copy too.  Bella never got back to me.  Then, I contacted another recommended printer.  PDI in Cherry Hill couldn't help either, but they were the most helpful in explaining what was needed.  

A worker, not the estimator at DPI, pulled my manuscript up on his computer and told me what had to be done, margins, pagination, assembly, and all converted to pdf and in the 6 by 9 page size format.  He explained that they could do all that 'assembly' for me but at a charge of $80 an hour and it would be from 2 to 4 hours to do it, so $160 to $320 extra, not far from the Perfect Printing estimate.  

Crushed, I went home and tried to convert the files myself, but my Word program is too old and my software didn't have the capability.  

Later that night, on the phone with a friend from a writing club to which I belong, Riverton Writers, I described how disappointed and discouraged I felt.  My writing pal, Carol, generously volunteered to help me convert my Word manuscript on her newer computer, as she had the proper software and the expertise having independently printed a couple of books herself.  

Today at 10:00, I went to her house, and we worked from 10:30 until 1:30, about 3 hours.  She fixed all the required elements, the page size, the pagination, the cover and converted the files to pdf format.  

At 3:00, I returned to Perfect Printing.  John Williams, their estimator had said he would honor the $800 quote if I provided the print ready files, so I dropped off my print ready files on the thumb drive with hopes renewed.

I am telling you all this in case you, too, have a book in you and to assure you that rather than languish outside the gates of publisher acceptance, you can take matters into your own hands and make your own book!  You can do this on the internet, too, but I had no success with my effort to do this.  The internet software crashed both my computer and my daughter's computer, and I gave up.  

I have known a couple of other people who have independently published their works, and I have bought a couple of books that were independently printed,  one was by a Millville author about her parents flight from Nazi Germany during World War II, a worthy book and an excellent read.  I'm sorry I can't remember her name and tell you the title just now but you could find the book at Bogarts Book Store in Millville by asking.  

But the point is, you can do it too!  Now you know how to get started and where to go.  

If you have a modern computer with up to date software, you shouldn't have the problems I had setting up your manuscript.  You may need help, so maybe a friend with experience, or, you can pay the extra and have the printer "assemble" for you, check with them on how to set up your manuscript to minimize cost.  All of these printers can be found on the internet:
Perfect Communications (their name has changed from Perfect Printing)
Glenn Ave., Moorestown, NJ

DPI
2070 East Route 70 (not Wegmans - a strip mall beside the Jaguar car dealer towards Marlton)
Cherry Hill, NJ

Bella
on Broadway,
Woodbury

Fort Nassau Graphics
Paulsboro (they are listed in West Deptford but my gps didn't find them there, Paulsboro worked)

If you have a story to tell, go ahead, Tell It!  Maybe it is family history, maybe it is local history, maybe something else entirely.  Good Luck!  I might also recommend joining a writing group for constructive editing and critique, and remember - Learn to Love Editing.  You can always improve your work.

Happy Trails,
Jo Ann 

ps.  Needless to say, it isn't over yet.  I will have to wait and see if the other shoe drops or if I will get a proof in a few days.  I'll let you know.  Also, my daughter gave me a new modern Apple computer for my birthday and Christmas present this year!  Now I just have to learn how to use it.