Global travel 1000 years ago
29-10-2021
Hi, this is Rehan. Welcome to my regular update. This month I shifted my focus from writing novels, to working with designers. We started to mockup some artwork for the cover of Legends of the Tasburai, the final novel in the Tasburai trilogy. We’ve kept the same look-and-feel as the other books in the series, and the first initial concepts drawings look really good.
I also worked with the illustrator for the new eBook covers for the Chronicles of Will Ryde and Awa Maryam Al Jameel series. There were certainly some interesting initial ideas. I’m also expecting to hear from the Editor working on the manuscript for Legends of the Tasburai any day now. It’ll then take me couple of weeks to review before we can send it off for final proofs. And I’m also waiting for the final proofs for A Demon’s Touch to come back to me any day now, which I can then check before that book goes off to the printers.
This month I read an excellent history book called The Year 1000 by Valerie Hansen, who is a professor at Yale. She explains how in the Year 1000, other than the Norse Vikings the major global travellers were the Chinese, the Indians, and the Arabs. The longest maritime route in regular use connected China with the Persian Gulf cities of Oman and Basra. The Persian Gulf–China route, combined two pilgrimage pathways: one for Muslims going from China to Mecca, and the other for East Africans also performing the Hajj. Most of the traffic travelled from the Arabian Peninsula to the ports on China’s southeast coast.
According to Professor Hansen, China and the Middle East flourished, whilst Europe lagged behind. She says that when travellers encountered one other in the Year 1000, they were much closer technologically, as some of the lethal weaponry developed by Europeans such as firearms and canons were not in place.
Professor Hansen explains that one of the fastest ways to advance one’s own society was to convert to the religion of a more advanced society. For example, Prince Vladimir of modern-day Ukraine, chose Eastern Orthodox Christianity as practiced in the Byzantine empire. He weighed the pros and cons of Judaism, Islam, Roman Christianity, and Byzantine Orthodoxy. He rejected Judaism because the Jews had lost Jerusalem. He crossed off Islam because it banned drinking. He rejected Roman Christianity without explaining why. He opted for Byzantine Orthodoxy because of the magnificent Hagia Sophia cathedral in the Byzantine capital of Constantinople, now Istanbul.
It's a great book, with many other stories such as this. As a reminder it’s called The Year 1000 by Valerie Hansen.
Let me leave you with a question I often get asked by those aspiring to become writers. They say they can’t get themselves into a regular writing routine. It’s definitely a challenge for all artists and indeed in any profession.
One of the things I try and do is remove distractions. You need to find a way to enter into a distraction-free mode when you start the actual process of writing your novel. It needs your undivided attention. You might want to look at your diary and block out time in advance, as to when you’re going to do this and where. Creating a distraction-free mode enables you to eliminate almost every controllable distraction in advance so you can focus in a deep way on your novel. Some things you might want to try:
Put your phone in “do not disturb” mode and keep it out of sight or in another room. Simply removing your phone from view and out of grabbing distance, will make a difference to your ability to concentrate. And you’ll be surprised, but it’s really relaxing.
Put on noise-cancelling headphones so you’re not distracted by sounds in your environment.
After completing a deep writing session, leave distraction-free mode, and treat yourself to a limited amount of time getting distracted – if you wish.
Anyway, that’s all for now and in the meantime, peace be upon you.
