An Article about Writing Articles - Tuesday Talk with Helen Hollick

I think it is official. I'm nuts. 

My non-fiction pirate book Pirates: Truth and Tales is out in paperback  - I think this week in the UK and in the US soon... definitely available to pre-order though. And to mark the occasion I have organised an on-line book tour round a wonderful variety of blogs.

Here's the advance notice of where and when I'll be a guest:

These links will take you to the Home Page of each blog host –  thank you to everyone for your interest and enthusiasm! The exact URL links to each article as they are posted will be on my website:  www.helenhollick.net  which will be updated every day of the tour, and on Facebook, Twitter etc.

30^th July: Cryssa Bazos  https://cryssabazos.com/ Dropping Anchor to Talk About Pirates

31^st July: Anna Belfrage  https://annabelfrage.wordpress.com/ Ships That Pass…

1^st August: Carolyn Hughes https://carolynhughesauthor.com/blog/ Pirates of the Middle Ages

2^nd August: Alison Morton   https://alison-morton.com/blog/ From Pirate to Emperor

3^rd August: Annie Whitehead https://rwranniewhitehead.blogspot.com/ The Vikings: Raiders or Pirates?

4^th August: Tony Riches http://tonyriches.blogspot.co.uk/ An Interview With Helen Hollick (and maybe a couple of pirates thrown in for good measure?)

5^th August: Lucienne Boyce http://francesca-scriblerus.blogspot.com/ Anne and Mary. Pirates.

6^th August: Laura Pilli http://fieldofbookishdreams.blogspot.co.uk/ Why Pirates?

7^th August: Mary Tod https://awriterofhistory.com/ That Essential Element… For A Pirate.

8^th August: Pauline Barclay http://paulinembarclay.blogspot.com/ Writing Non-Fiction. How Hard Can It Be?   

9^th August: Nicola Smith http://shortbookandscribes.uk/ Pirates: The Tales Mixed With The Truth

10^th August: Christoph Fischer https://writerchristophfischer.wordpress.com/ In The Shadow Of The Gallows

11^th August: Debdatta http://www.ddsreviews.in/ What Is It About Pirates?

12^th August: Discovering Diamonds https://discoveringdiamonds.blogspot.co.uk/ It’s Been An Interesting Voyage…

13^th August: Sarah Greenwood https://www.amberley-books.com/blog Pirates: The Truth and the Tales

14^th August: Antoine Vanner https://dawlishchronicles.com/dawlish-blog/ The Man Who Knew About Pirates

while you are (eagerly) awaiting my tour, do drop in on the above blogs, they are all cram-full with interesting articles!

However, organising the tour itself was hard work, even harder was the realisation that I had to write sixteen different articles on the general theme of pirates. This was not going to be a simple 'cut and paste' information dump from the book itself but would involve ... work!

And actually, I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Alison Morton, for instance, asked for something about Roman pirates to fit her blog, while Annie Whitehead wanted Vikings. Antoine writes 1800s nautical adventures, Carolyn has a Medieval setting, Lucienne's main passion (and high decree of knowledge!) is Women's Sufferage, while Mary Tod's theme this year is ‘transporting readers in time and place’ . Most of the rest were happy with 'anything' (Phew!) 

Initially I thought all this would be a little daunting (momentary panic) 'What the heck am I going to write?' was closely followed by 'Why on earth did I dream up this silly idea?'  

However, once I took a deep breath and actually started, the panic gave way to enthusiastic enjoyment.  I knew nothing about Roman Pirates outside of the 'invasion' of Britannia by the Anglo-Saxons but I found a chap from the third century who turned out to be highly interesting. Apparently he was responsible for the entire British Fleet - but decided even that was not enough.  Then the Vikings - were they outright pirates or opportunist raiders?  For Anna Belfrage I remembered a short story that we had written together, and Cryssa Bazos - well I know she's loves anything piratical.

So from the Roman era via the Vikings to the Golden Age of Piracy I managed to write a wide variety of articles ... and all I have to do now is hoist the flag to announce 'about to sail'  and hope that you will all enjoy reading my articles each day as they 'go live' as much as I enjoyed writing them.

Mark 30th July in your diaries and join in with my tour! 

pre-order or order from Amazon HERE