My path to writing history and historical novels.

[@angelacross2216]

When I was homeschooling my children and trying to decide how to teach history I remembered being hopelessly lost and totally bored with history classes in my schools. At the same time I was deeply fascinated by history itself, reading voraciously outside of school. So eschewing textbooks, I took them chronologically through history by reading aloud world literature starting with the Laws of Hammurabi. For each period of history each child would also have a personal stash of age appropriate historical fiction to help make it “stick”. Also so many maps…..and archeological “evidence”. We really do need multiple streams of information to open our minds to our past. It’s wonderful that you contribute both fiction and non fiction writing.

[@VLSG]

Roman Warfare was my first work of yours. This was 2015, I was in 8th grade, in that time I had been experiencing the same type of teenage years you describe. That book, along with the many others I have read and collected since, has had a profound impact on my development as a scholar, but especially contributed greatly to my development as a writer. You were precisely the reason every teacher I had between the ages of 13-19 were made to read through my latest attempt to bend the rules of whatever given assignment or paper I had into a canvas by which I could articulate my latest dream of 3rd century cataphract Decurions and soldiers on the Mius front LOL. Now these wonderful instructors of mine always expressed excitement at what I had provided them, even if it was really quite obvious that writing about cataphracts meant that I did not in fact, respond to the prompt, they vehemently encouraged me to pursue writing in a more involved capacity. I suppose the true value of school lies in fostering such positive intellectual pursuits, not hammering arithmetic. I think I was aware of this through grade school, but I suppose I didn’t internalize that until I was out of university haha. Thank you for being you, and writing what you have written. :)

[@anneneill5009]

What a lovely personal insight! I always love to hear how that ancient history bug bit others.

[@pattenicus]

I'm loving these videos. Did you ever read the Asterix books?

[@jannarkiewicz633]

Nice topic. Alas, my 12 books are all tech, nerd stuff. 2 yers after being written it is obsolete.

[@adamdavies1068]

I understand you enjoyed the "Sharpe" novels. My history teacher in my senior year got me onto "Flashman" novels

[@marijntaal1531]

Really liked this personal video today. Lots of familiar feelings for me personally, I'm studying classics and history, and I would like to write a book someday.

[@armada854]

How you do research for both novels and nonfiction would be interesting to hear from a professional. When reading, do you take notes seperately, highlight sections, or maybe mark sections with book tags so you can easily return to parts of a book that captured your interest? I see all these historians with clean books, and I refuse to believe people just read and remember everything and re-read whole books all the time. Thank you.

[@niccolorichter1488]

Its often begins with chilhood

[@cracklingsoda]

Childhood to chillhood

[@niccolorichter1488]

@cracklingsoda Well , both so its accidently correct

[@dewetmaartens359]

Great channel, thank you. I am reminded by you of all those Rhodies who came to Natal and how much more they were British than even her queen. God bless them. Rhodesians do not die since you need a country to die in. At least us Boers have them now. We have become brothers, it only took a few wars.

[@dewetmaartens359]

I texted here because of the sensors, should I make a new post they usually remove it. I don't even use profanity or anything like that. I'm from SA is enough for them, and they, leftist platforms, scoff at history almost as much as the truth. Great channel sir.

[@warpedweft9004]

It did with me, growing up in the UK, but as Adrian mentioned, life gets in the way. My parents emigrated with us to Australia and it took me away from my history, to the point where my new high school didn't even allow me to study history because the class was too full and Latin wasn't offered. It's only now that I've retired that I finally have the time and energy to start studying history at university. I have another undergraduate degree in a field I disliked but it paid the bills for the past 40+ years. History is solely for my edification. It's my time and I intend to make the most of it. There won't be any illustrious career in history for me because I don't have that much time left on this Earth, but I can at least indulge myself for a while.