History is Full of Fascinating Women You’ve Never Heard Of
I spent a week reading about them in History of Women
Roughly half of the people on earth are women. This has been true since people first started to walk in this world. But crack open a history book and it can be hard to find them.
Linda Caroll’s delightful little publication, History of Women, seeks to right this wrong, one fascinating story at a time.
I’m on the downward slope of a month-long reading challenge where I’m choosing a different publication every week and reading each new story published. This week I picked History of Women.
HOW is a fairly small publication and has only recently become active. But it packs a punch well above its weight.
I may be the only person to ever call it HOW, but the acronym is perfect.
HOW fascinating.
HOW wild.
HOW is it possible I have never heard of this amazing woman before?
The tag line is
If history was a Hollywood movie, the editing room floor would be littered with the stories of women clipped to make room for men’s stories. We’re here to tell those stories.
Sign me up, please!
I love small niche publications like this one. Someone with a passion decides to create a publication to share and promote their own stories and those of others with the same passion. The result, with a good editor at the helm, can be a delight for both readers and writers.
New writers often think they need to aim for big publications if they want to make a splash and build a following. Nothing wrong with going big, but a small publication that fits your writing style and interests can work even better for you as Caroll illustrates from her own experience in her write for us story.
Niche publications are great for readers too. If you feel like the algorithm is always feeding you the same old same old, seek out some publications where a real live person is reading and choosing the best stories to offer up for your reading pleasure and edification.
It can be hard to find great niche publications. Here are the tricks I use. When you read a story you enjoy and you don’t recognize the pub, click on it to see if they’ve got more great stuff. Or use the search bar to type in something you are interested in reading or writing about. Choose one of the tags that will come up on the right-hand side of the story search results. See which publications have stories with your tag.
No need to search right now though because I am already telling you about History of Women. Here are my favorite stories from the past week.
From the editor Linda Caroll herself comes this gem:
The pictures in this story are great but add in the humorous commentary and you have a simply delightful read. This one is worth your time for the running handkerchief gag alone. It’s always fun to watch a master writer at play.
On a more serious note, Sterling Page tells the heroic tale of Lois Jenson.
Jenson was one of the first women hired to work in the mines of Minnesota. She and her few fellow female miners faced incredible levels of abuse and harassment. Jenson fought legal battles for years against this abuse. Her tenacity made the working world better for all women and we should all learn her story.
Jen Writes Nice goes much further back in history.
Artemisia was a widow, a pirate, and a Queen. She wasn’t afraid to think outside the box and if the men around her had just been a little more willing to listen to this brilliant woman’s advice, history could have been different. Apparently, some trends go way back.
I went further back than one week to find this story by Art Nunymiss but reading HOW stories is kind of like eating potato chips. How can you stop before you’ve finished the whole bag?
Nunymiss tells about her brush with the homeless, eccentric artist Lee Godie.
I think Lee always felt rich and famous, believed she was A-list even before other people got it, the classic temporarily embarrassed millionaire. And then over time she insisted we all play along, eroding our version of reality until she was selling her paintings for six digits.
I know nothing of the art world and wouldn’t normally read something about an artist but I’m so glad I clicked on this delightful story.
Writing for HOW is almost as great as reading. History isn’t my normal writing niche so I found researching and writing a story for HOW a delightful change of pace. If you are feeling stumped, stymied, and stale in your normal writing ruts, consider plucking a woman from history and writing her story.
The character, drama, and events are already laid out for you so you only need to find them and bring them to life in an intriguing way for the modern reader. I had a blast diving deep into the life of Mary Edwards Walker so I could write her story.
Just as there are countless stories of amazing women hidden away in the depths of history, recent and ancient, there are numerous brilliant little publications like History of Women. Seek them out and you may find a hidden gem yourself.
Read more about my reading challenge and the publications I have profiled below:
