I am a wordsmith. I respect the power of my words and the words of others. I strive for conciseness, sometimes failing, but I don’t mind terseness or verbosity in others. What I expect and demand from myself and others is that words are carefully presented.
I have and do write both fiction and non-fiction. My historical fiction short story “The Speech of Hortensia was published in 2013. In 1994 I had a handful of short “science-fiction” stories published. Around 1999 I wrote at least two dozen articles on the history of ancient Egypt, for TourEgypt.net. That site still exists today as do the articles that I (and other contributors) wrote. My topics-carefully researched, with bibliography, while intended for a general readership- included an overview of the Early Pharaohs, Childbirth and Childhood, Tomb-robbers, Abu Simbel, and more.
About fifteen or so years ago, as I embarked on a research project into the history of Sardinia, I came across an academic website where students and scholars and researchers can upload their work. A feature of that website is that one can receive notifications if one’s name appears in other articles. So I learned that a few of my Egypt articles have become footnotes in academic papers.
That makes me happy, albeit bemused. I hold no degree beyond a Baccalaureate. I always describe myself as an independent researcher. I have never participated in any archaeological or historical projects, never assisted any experts in the field. The history I write is always offered as a synthesis of the work of others, properly attributed thereto.
Just today, while crafting a brief bio for myself in preparation to submit my Sardinia history manuscript for publication, I came across more recent evidence of my work being a footnote. In a book about the culture of Ancient Egypt, published by Oxford University Press, one author of which is Eric Cline, whose name is familiar to me as a well-published scholar of the Near East and ancient Egypt, my name appears as footnotes in a chapter on Childhood.
This discovery fills me with some humility but pride at the same time. I am reminded that our words -casually meant or not- are liable to always echo round and round in the universe.
More specifically, I am energized to polish my Sardinia history manuscript. Who knows where my next footnote might appear!
Marie Antonia Parsons 