Inspiration Everywhere

Ghosts of DC really hit its stride in early 2012 with the discovery of Officer Sprinkle. Apparently, Officer Sprinkle was a badass – he captured Geronimo, was a bodyguard for Wilson, and violated Prohibition. A blog about the history of Washington, Ghosts of DC digs up interesting stories and pictures and shares them with the world like this piece about the Memorial Bridge under construction or this one about the Capitol dome painted in red primer. And the maps, oh, the maps. If I knew how to do emoticon gifs, I would put one of those pulsing hearts here.

A few weeks ago, I read Washington Arsenal Explosion: Civil War Disaster in the Capital by Brian Bergin, edited by Erin Bergin Vorheis (The History Press, 2012). The book was really interesting, and Ghosts of DC let me write a blog about the lives and deaths of twenty-one of the women and girls who worked in an explosives factory on what is now Fort McNair.

In an effort to keep my Ghosts of DC blog on track, I didn’t mention the modern-day interesting aspects of the book. Brian Bergin, the author, was fascinated by the arsenal explosion story and talked about it at every opportunity before finally writing a book about it. He passed away before he could find a publisher, and Ms. Vooheis (his daughter) took on the challenge of bringing the book to the world. Apparently, she succeeded.

Sometime soon, I’ll be going on an agent and publisher search. That’s scary enough. I can’t imagine the dedication it takes to find a publisher for someone else’s book.  I’m glad she succeeded (so I could read the book!) and I’m glad I learned about her writing world success story.