Today in History: The Penny Black

  This Friday will be a Cat-alogue of Pupdates, so please send in pic of your furry friends to juliaspencerfleming care of Gmail, using the subject line "Pet pics."

 

 

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Regular readers of this blog know I'm an historical buff. I love historical fiction and historical mysteries, listen to historical podcasts, and even consume my daily news with a dose of historical context. So it's no surprise when it's my turn at the wheel at JRW, I pop over to This Day In History to see what interesting events occurred on my week's dates.

A lot of times, there's nothing I want to write about. Battles, sieges and treaties are important, but not really fun to read over your morning coffee (which is how I always picture you, dear reader.) Scientific discoveries yielding unexpected results are always good - one of these days, I'm going to have August 26 and do a deep dive into the discovery of the world's first synthetic dye.

The best historical titbits are the ones that still affect our daily lives, which is why I'm happy to share the information that today, May 6th is the 185th anniversary of the very first postage stamp, the British "Penny Black."

Up to that point, the recipient of a letter was required to pay for it, a charge that might be based on the weight, or the distance it had traveled, or, who know, whether or not you tipped your local post man.  One can imagine a poor but well-loved granny going broke as her family members send her a letter a day. 

But besides poor granny, a confusing, non-standardized mail system was a drag on the ever-expanding economy of the British Empire, so reformer and inventor Sir Rowland Hill suggested a pre-paid stamp (among other innovations) with the idea that it would smooth business and eventually make more money for the Royal Post because more people would send letters. And he was right! In the Penny Black's first year, the volume of letters in the UK doubled. Within ten years, it doubled again. 

 

 

Other countries took notice, including the young United States of America, which established its first stamps in 1847: the Ben Franklin (5¢) and the George Washington (10¢.) Just as in the British Isles, the use of stamps brought in so much more income within four years the USPS was able to reduce the cost of a first-class letter to 3¢. (I calculated the inflation, and that three cents would be $1.25 today, so we're still getting a bargain!)

Sir Rowland's simple but brilliant idea allowed commerce to flourish world wide, kept families in contact across oceans, and undoubtedly helped to spur the westward expansion in the United States. I wouldn't be surprised if the cultural norm behind "the sender pays" is part of the reason we've switched so broadly to free shipping for our internet purchasers. It turns out the idea that NOT making the recipient pay will increase income still holds true 185 years later.

Dear readers, do you still use stamps? What sort of mail do you send and receive? And can you think of any other tiny innovations that led to huge changes?

Crazy, Productive

This Friday will be a Cat-alogue of Pupdates, so please send in pic of your furry friends to juliaspencerfleming care of Gmail, using the subject line "Pet pics."

 

 

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: We’ve shared a lot about productivity on JRW. I used the blog’s search function to look for “productivity” efficiency” “time management” and “get to work” and had SO MANY hits I couldn’t pick just one or two to share here! We’ve talked about the Pomodoro method, and making lists and writing in sprints and the importance of physically moving and not just sitting on our keisters. (I’m trying to bring back the word ‘keister’.) We’re always open to trying new things to write better and more consistently, not to mention managing the busy, distracting lives we all share.

But you know, there are some weird productivity hacks out there. I remember back when I was going through menopause, and would wake up like clockwork around 3am and be unable to fall asleep again for hours. (Then Mr. Morning Lark would wake me at 6 and I’d have to restrain myself from mariticide.) I read an article urging women to use these hours to exercise, paint, or get the week’s meal prep done. First of all, excuse me? It’s 3am! It’s dark outside, and everyone in the house is asleep! I don’t want to be greeted at breakfast by the smell of the meatballs I made three hours earlier. I don’t want to get all sweaty and have to shower before going back to bed for what would be a half hour. And the only thing I’d be inspired to paint would be a reproduction of Edvard Munch’s THE SCREAM.

 

 

I recently discovered The Most Dangerous Writing App, and yes, that’s its real name. You set a time - three minutes, five minutes, etc. - and then write. If you stop typing for FIVE SECONDS the screen will blur and everything you’ve written during that set period will disappear. Forever! There’s a slightly gentler version, Write or Else (formerly Write or Die) that gives you the option to replace sudden death with a loud screaming noise.

I recognize this would work for some people. After all, efficiency hacks like “stop eating and only drink your meals standing up” also works for some. But it’s not gonna be me.

How about you, Reds? Have you seen any productivity/efficiency advice that makes you think, “Oh, no thank you…”?

 

 

HALLIE EPHRON: That “Most Dangerous…” writing productivity tool would make me want to give up writing completely. Because sometimes you just need to sit there, in a pool of quiet, and THINK about what you want to say. Or go rummaging around in your file directories to find the document that contains some previous thoughts you had on whatever topic you’re writing about. Or take a detour to Google for facts and inspiration. And it sounds like the app doesn’t count editing as writing. Which it SO is… because my first drafts are crappy.

 

 

DEBORAH CROMBIE: No way am I waking at 3 a.m. and going to write! Or do laundry or plan next week’s meals! As for the Most Dangerous Writing App, that would pretty much end my chances of ever writing anything. I’d be too anxious to have a coherent thought.

As for productivity hacks that DO work, nothing has ever worked so well for me as our little Reds writing accountability group. I do not want to be the one with no pages done at the end of the day. And we encourage each other, which helps enormously.

 

 

JENN McKINLAY: I’m with Debs. Our Reds writing accountability group has kept me on task, especially as a deadline LOOMS.

I had a friend who used an app where if you stopped writing it started to eat the words one at a time like a little Ms. Pac-Man. No thank you. I can’t write and have a panic attack at the same time.

RHYS BOWEN: Absolutely no hacks of any kind for me.  I’m a really disciplined writer. I sit down after breakfast and write 1500 words. I’m not allowed to stop until I’ve completed this. Some days it goes easily and get even more done. Some days I look up and it’s two o’clock and I had no idea. Other days I walk around, fling a load in the washer, get coffee and keep working. It’s like pulling teeth but I am not allowed to quit. I think what I have written is cr*p. But the next day it doesn’t always look so bad. Everyone has to find what works for them!

 

 

LUCY BURDETTE: I HATE the idea of those punitive apps. It doesn’t work for kids or pets, so why would anyone think this would encourage writers? I agree with Debs and Jenn–our little sub group is SO helpful. Though honestly, I’ve mostly been watching Jenn pile up her words for the last two weeks. Hopefully now that we’re back sort of settled in Connecticut, I’ll get back on that horse! 

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: The very idea of that app makes me cringe! Yow. Absolutely the opposite of anything that's gonna make me write. Write  at the gunpoint peril of your own words?  Yikes.  I’m already panicked enough!  I have a words per day chart, my deadline is set in my mind, I’m reliable. 

 

I DO set a timer to keep me focused...34 minutes at a time, NO switching projects or doing the laundry or getting a diet Pepsi or checking  Instagram.  Solid 34 minutes of writing. It works beautifully, and most often, I’m so immersed that I just hit the start again and do it again. But yeesh, don’t threaten me.

 

 

 

JULIA: How about you, dear readers? Have you encountered any extreme productivity tips? (Apparently, getting up to work at 4am is the latest thing on LinkedIn...) What do you think of them?

Celebrating Le Creuset

DEBORAH CROMBIE:  One hundred years ago this year, a couple of Belgian entrepeneurs, one an expert in cast iron, the other an expert in glass-based vitreous enamel, built a foundry in northeastern France to produce their latest innovation, enamel-coated cast iron cookware.

Le Creuset cookware was an immediate hit in Europe, but it wasn't until the 1950s that it began to trickle into the US market. In the 1960s, the growth of Pottery Barn on the East Coast and Williams Sonoma on the West Coast introduced the colorful cookware to an even bigger market, and as Le Creuset brought out ever more colors and products, it became the darling of collectors as well as of serious cooks.

I have to say that I was a late adopter. I started out my just-out-of-college kitchen with a couple of hand-me-down Paul Revere pots (remember those?) and maybe some aluminum Faberware. Then I discovered Cuisinart stainless pots and pans, which I still own and still use. But it was my mom who started my love affair with Le Creuset, although not in the way you might expect. 

For some time after my parents were no longer able to keep up their big house, they lived in a nice apartment complex. My mom was famous for her daily walks, and one morning she spied a large cardboard box, open, sitting next to the trash dumpsters, so of course she had a peek. Inside was a set of brand sparkling new, black Le Creuset cookware. She picked it up (ouch! Le Creuset is heavy!) and carried it back to their apartment, then called me to see if I'd like to have it. Of course I said yes, and we had a lot of fun speculating as to why someone would have left hundreds of dollars of new cookware by the trash. Wedding gift, and they both hated black? Wedding gift, and the bride left the groom holding the cookware?

At any rate, I was hooked, and not too long after that I discovered that there was a Le Creuset outlet store not far from where I live. Color fiend that I am, I started with the Dutch oven that matched my apple-green kitchen, and added more colorful pieces. The black set was passed on to my daughter, as it's much better suited to her neutral kitchen. My pieces live on my cooktop, as you can see from the first photo above. Partly because they are in constant use, partly because I just like looking at them.

However, I can't call myself a collector, because these three pieces and an aubergine grill pan are all I have room for. Serious Le Creuset fans build entire kitchens around their collections! It is tempting, when the company comes out with some lucious new color, but I just have to turn my face away and say "No room at the inn."

Le Creuset cast iron cookware is still made in that foundry in northeast France, although some of their other products are made overseas.

Reds and readers, What is your cookware of choice, and what did you start out with in your kitchen?