Romance with Old World Charm

Friday Question: Fabrics and Maternity Clothes

2012-01-27T06:00:00.000-06:00

Today I'm answering two questions from readers and fellow writers. The first is from Sandra Ardoin.

I'm particularly interest in materials--what was available, when was it being used and for what clothing articles, details to better describe them in our stories. For instance, I don't think muslin was the muslin of today, so how did it differ?

The simple answer is cotton. Cotton was king of fabrics for most of the 19th century. I won't go into a lot of detail here, but the history of cotton is fascinating and revolutionized fashion. But, cotton was not used in ball gowns. And there were no synthetic fabrics either. Other fabrics included wool gauze, silks of all kinds, taffeta, organdy, one called crepe de chine that I'm really not sure what it was, wool of varying gauges for colder climates and things like coats and capes, linen, and muslin. The ubiquitous calico was not a special kind of fabric. It merely referred to cotton fabric decorated with a small print. Just like today.

Muslin is the one most likely to be described wrong by a modern person. Back then muslin was a fine fabric, very soft and used for undergarments. During Napoleon's Empire, in France sheer muslin dresses worn over pink body tights was a very popular look for the merveilleuse. Today we'd call them fashionistas or divas. There are surviving examples of Egyptian muslin with a thread count of over 700. The fabric is so fine you can see through it. It was also very soft.

The second question is from Margaret Brownley.

I have a pregnant heroine. How did women accommodate their unwieldy figures in the 1890s?

In short, about the same as today. Corsets were still worn because the corset was the equivalent of a bra today. Its purpose was support. Not restriction. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of 1890's maternity dresses, but I do have this one dated around 1859 in England.

The lines would basically be the same for the 1890's, though with a smaller skirt and different sleeves. I hope that helps.

On Monday, come back for a post where I'll share some fashion resources that in my opinion every historical writer should have on the shelf.

Ensemble Inspired by a Spoon Bonnet

2012-01-25T06:00:00.000-06:00

This first "rave" post was going to be a dress. But then I saw this hat Monday evening and knew I had to do this instead.

Hats don't pop up often when you're looking at fashion online. And it's even rarer to find a picture of just a hat. This one is magnificent!

Near as I can tell it's a spoon bonnet, circa 1862. The spoon bonnet was all the rage throughout the 1850's and the first half of the 1860's. They're quite comfortable and a lot more practical than the poke bonnet that preceded it in the 1830's and 1840's.

It looks to be made of velvet. The frame underneath the velvet is probably wire. The ribbons look to be satin, and the flowers most likely silk. Most artificial flowers back then were silk. I wish it was on a head form to know for certain if it's a spoon bonnet. The most popular hairstyle at the time was worn low on the back of the head with a center part, and the spoon bonnet fit over the hair without messing it up or giving the lady hat hair.

I'm in love with it for three reasons. First, it's purple. Purple! My favorite color. And did I mention it's velvet? Velvet! Second, it's a spoon bonnet. One of my favorite 19th century hat styles because it's so versatile and comfortable. Third, it's iconic to the part of the 19th century I'm writing about right now.

Not to mention I already have in my "collection" the perfect pair of boots to go with it. And the perfect dress to finish the look.

And there you have it. The only thing the lady still needs is a pair of gloves and a shawl.

One final word. Nowadays there's such a notion as being too "matched" in fashion. Or, as my sister puts it, "matchy-matchy". In the 19th century there's no such notion. It's also entirely possible to see this dress paired with a chartreuse straw bonnet.

This and that and some news

2012-01-17T07:00:00.000-06:00

I don't know how many people are still reading this, but I need to get it up and going again. Have some ideas on what I can do.

So, the news. Everyone and their mother knows by now I had two requests for a full at conference last fall. From Tamela Hancock Murray and Rachelle Gardner. Well, it's finally off to them! I've conquered my first series proposal at Tamela's request, including conquering the dreaded synopsis. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I got stuck for a few days trying to figure out the end of book three. That one is the least developed.

I'm considering a new weekly thing on my blog. Maybe more than weekly. I love 19th century fashion. Love love love it. Especially the middle part of the century. Other writers I hang out with are always asking me fashion questions. My Pinterest account is full of dresses from the 19th century, heavily favoring the 1860's right now. Because that's what I'm writing right now and because it happens to be my favorite decade of the 19th century.

Instead of me just raving about dresses I'm in love with, I'd love to answer questions about historical fashion. Specifically from writers, but I'm open to questions from others too. I think it'd be fun.

The wonders of Tumblr

2011-12-13T07:00:00.000-06:00

A few months ago I joined Tumblr so I could participate in photo scavenger hunts with my sis and SIL. Haven't done much of that to be honest. BUT I've had a grand time finding cool Tumblrs to follow.

I follow Historical Non Fiction, All Things Europe, Historiful (pictures of 30's, 40's and 50's movie stars), My Daguerreotype Boyfriend, Soviet Post Cards, 18th Century and my new favorite Old Rags.

Old Rags is entirely fashion. 18th and 19th century fashion to be precise. With lovelies from the 1770's, the 1870's, 1850's, 1830's and pretty much everything else from the 1600's to the 1920's. I see myself carving out time from somewhere to sit and scroll through all the pages of Old Rags. My inner historical costume nerd is in heaven.

I won an award!

2011-11-16T07:00:00.000-06:00

Thanks to Rita Gerlach of Stepping Stones Magazine for Readers.

Review: His Steadfast Love

2011-11-14T07:00:00.000-06:00

His Steadfast Love
by Golden Keyes Parsons

This book is totally separate from the Darkness to Light series, but related at the same time. One minor character is a Clavell descendent. And as in her previous series, each character struggles with doing what is right in a world turned upside down, where each side believes they're right.

Amanda Belle is a woman caught between the sides of the Civil War. Her father is a slave owner, her brother fights with Terry's Texas Rangers, and the man she loves is an officer in the Union army.

What drew me to this book isn't just that I know Golden and consider her a dear friend. I'm also a sucker for Civil War stories, and in this book she mentions the oft-forgotten, destined to fail Red River Campaign of April-May, 1864.

I'm a Confederate through and through, just so you know. I thought Golden handled the complexities of the war with grace, humility, and a light touch without ever playing down the wounds inflicted on both sides. Wounds the South still struggles with and lives with every day. Not once does she tell the reader what to think. Nor does she take the easy way out of turning every Southern character into an abolitionist. I hate it when authors do that.

At first I wasn't sure how the title related to a Civil War story. I kept thinking it was odd. After reading the book, no other title would work. It beautifully sets forth the theme of the book, without slapping you upside the head with it.

If you love Civil War novels, this one is a must-read. My only complaint is I wish more of Kent's POV had been included. In a romance, his POV is always my favorite.

Another milestone

2011-10-25T06:00:00.006-05:00

I love it when the milestones start piling up.

First you have to finish it. Check!

I was asked to cut The Color of Love down to 100,000 words. Check!

Every writer needs to edit their manuscript. Check!

Now I'm curious as to how many more passes I'll have to make. For the sake of time and the fact it's been requested by two agents, I really hope two more will be enough. There comes a time when you get sick of it and I'd rather not put a check mark next to that milestone.

Yet.

ACFW Conference report

2011-10-13T07:00:00.024-05:00

It's been three weeks since the ACFW conference. It goes down in memory as one of the best weekends of my entire life.

My Facebook friends and my fellow European lovers found this out the day it happened. But I haven't shared it here yet.

I went with a completed novel, for the first time. I pitched said novel to Tamela Hancock Murray and Rachelle Gardner. Both fall into the category of "dream agent".

Both of them asked for the full manuscript! And Tamela asked for the series proposal too. So I get to put my first proposal together. I'm still in edits and revisions, but they both know that. And besides, I want to send in the best work I am capable of right now. And if that means I don't submit till November, I'm fine with it.

I didn't come home with any new amazing breakthroughs in craft. But I did come home poised for the next step in the writing journey, and completely refreshed in spirit. God did indeed give me this gift of writing and an over-active imagination. And He wants me to develop it and use it to the best of my ability. Who am I to argue with God?

And the cherry on top is my mom--and probably everyone else who knows me--is praying I'll have to choose between the two of them. I might faint if that happens!

Why is Russia a hard sell?

2011-10-10T07:00:00.029-05:00

Earlier this week a comment was left on a previous post, and I think it deserves a long-ish response.

The comment was left by Margaret Piton:

I too am trying to sell a novel, suspense variety, set in Russia in the 1990s. I have tons of credentials in non-fiction, but the novel is going nowhere so far. Why do you think Russia is such a hard sell?

Well, I have some thoughts on this, but they are by no means "the answer".

First and foremost, I think a big part of the problem is pronunciation of names and words. For example, SCHEGOLEVATYH, SHESHUKOV, ZMYZGOV, DJAVAHISHVILI. These are all last names pulled from a Russian surname website that I refer to when creating characters. I can pronounce all of them--albeit slowly--but I'd wager most Americans can't.

Second, for many Christian fiction readers, publishers, and editors, Russia was the enemy for much of their lives. Russia was the antithesis of freedom and democracy. In some ways it still is. I was 6 when the Berlin Wall came down, and had just turned 10 when Boris Yeltsin and his tanks took down the Soviet Union. I don't remember the "Red Menace". I understand why it was important to get rid of it, but my fascination with Russia coincided with their rediscovery of the treasures of the Russian Empire.

Third, the Russian mindset is so foreign to Americans. We don't understand why Russians think the way they do, why they revere Stalin and deny the existence of the gulag. We don't understand Russian societal and class structure. There is no understanding of basic human rights from property to religion to freedom of speech. Winston Churchill wasn't kidding when he said Russia is a "riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma." It's also true that the only real danger to the Russian people is the Russian people. They have not been conquered by an outside invader since Genghis Khan. And they overthrew Khan control many decades before everyone else.

It takes time and thought and more than a little fascination and study to even begin to grasp the Russian mindset. Most Americans simply aren't willing to spend time on something like that. In most ways, it's the opposite of the American mindset. We value our right to private property, whether it be land or personal possessions. Until 1860, there was no concept of private property in Russia. The average Russian had no idea it was possible to own your own land, instead of renting it from the nobles, who in turn usually rented it from the tsar.

So why do a few of us continue to write about Russia, even though it's the closest thing to an impossible sell in existence? Simple. We dug past the surface, found a culture rich beyond belief, and got sucked through the looking glass. Totally and completely. For me there is no going back to pre-Russia obsession, or even the desire to go back. It's hard to explain to someone who hasn't taken the time to go past the surface taught in history class.

Most never make it past the riddle of Russia. Those of us who do are quickly caught in the mystery, and it's a very short hop to enigma. For me, the more I read and study, the more I want to know.

There's also the whole religion aspect, particularly when dealing with a historical. To be historically accurate, you have one choice: Russian Orthodox. You can find ways to make them other things, but it requires a lot of careful set-up and back story. There exists a huge bias against Catholic and Orthodox characters within Christian publishing. I don't understand why, but it is definitely there.

So there you have it. My thoughts on why Russia is such a hard sell. Unless your name is Michael Phillips, Judith Pella or Tom Clancy, it is extremely difficult to sell a book set in Russia. But I will continue to try. Even if I have to eventually go the small press route.

Review: Wings of a Dream

2011-09-07T06:00:00.000-05:00

Wings of a Dream by Anne Mateer

I signed up to influence for this book because I've known Anne for several years through one of my writer's groups. I was so excited when she finally sold this book.

It is in first person, and that's my only complaint. But I knew that going into it. As long-time readers know, first person is not my favorite viewpoint because it usually does not include the hero.

I loved this glimpse into life on a farm in early 20th century Texas. And not just any farm, but a cotton farm. Something I've been doing a ton of research on the last few months.

The setting is common enough--Texas--and it's the year that sets it apart. 1918. It opens six weeks before the end of World War One and touches on the Spanish flu epidemic that killed hundreds of thousands of people.

Rebecca is a girl longing for a life bigger than what she sees before her. That's something we all want. Her journey to accepting God's plan for her life resonated with me.

It's not a romance, so don't pick it up looking for that. There's a strong romantic element with a HEA ending, but it's not a romance. Still a most enjoyable read and one I highly recommend.

Love versus Passion

2011-08-10T17:27:00.000-05:00

People who know me well, whether writers or friends or family, know that my passion is Russia. When I first joined ACFW, the project I was working on is what I call The Epic and what my sister calls my Three Volume Novel. (bonus points if you know what movie/play that comes from!)

Unfortunately for me, making a first sell with something set in Russia is pretty close to impossible. The only setting more difficult is probably medieval Japan. Michael Phillips and Judith Pella I am not.

With that in mind, and since I'm serious about this writing thing, I decided it was time to change tactics a little bit. So I started thinking about things I love. The first thing that popped into my head was the South. Kind of obvious since I live here...

Specifically, Louisiana. And plantations. Louisiana is unlike any other state in the country, especially the southern states. We're French. Even now, on the eve of our statehood bicentennial, we're French. Our legal code is French in origin, those of us who grow up here default to French pronunciation when we see strange words, and in Lafayette the street signs are in English and French. When you cross into Louisiana over the Natchez, MS bridge, the welcome sign is in English and French. I'm not Creole, or French, but French things come natural to me because I've lived in Louisiana all but the first 18 months of my life.

From September 2003 to September 2007, I worked at Kent Plantation House. First as a part time tour guide, then head tour guide, then archivist. I spent the most pleasurable five months of my life typing up the ledger/day book of the second owner, Robert Cruikshank Hynson.

In the pages of that book, a plantation was born in my head. Four years ago I decided to turn it into a novel starring the mulatto son of a French Creole cotton planter and the South Carolina born governess he falls in love with. It started out as my "yellow fever story". Naturally it morphed and grew and turned into a three book series, the fever became typhoid, and lo and behold I finished my first novel!

Why did I do that? Because it's something that stands a better chance of getting me in the door and making that crucial first sale. And it's part of a plan. I love my state, I love French Creole history and culture.

But my passion is still Russia. My passion will always be Russia. I've spent the last three years looking for a way to bring a Russian to 19th century Louisiana. I finally found it, and with that book I will introduce my love of all things Russian.

I'm still Russian Rachel! The only difference is I now have a plan. A way to make that crucial first sale, build a reputation as a writer in love with exotic and slightly foreign cultures, and open the door to actually selling The Epic. (which is what I'm working on right now, to reset my brain before starting revisions)

I did it!

2011-08-08T13:32:00.000-05:00

I finally did it. I typed THE END on my very first completed novel. At 1:54 pm yesterday afternoon.

Everything has changed now. And yet everything is still the same. I am now completely at ease with calling myself an author, a writer, and a novelist.

I can't remember the statistic for the number of people who want to write a novel. It's big. Very big. But less than a fourth of them actually finish one.

My final word count clocked in at 110,320. I've got some cutting to do, but not as much as you think. I'm targeting Revell, and I love 100K+ books. So that's what I wrote. I only need to cut about 7,000 words. Since I build in scenes, this won't be too difficult. And I'm actually excited about it.

I'm setting it aside for a week or so, to let it settle before I start revisions. I've been wrapped up in this thing for three years so I need a little distance. In the meantime, The Epic is calling. Loudly. So I plan to indulge.

Browsing through Google Books

2011-07-11T09:00:00.001-05:00

Writing in 1857 Alexandria, I often find myself wandering through Google Books looking for little pieces of information about this city that have been lost to time. When a city is burned to the ground, finding info prior to the fire is difficult at best, and impossible at worst.

At the time, the only semi-reliable transportation in the southern half of the state was by water, via the Mississippi, Red, and Atchafalaya Rivers. The only way to Alexandria from New Orleans was by steamboat, which is how my heroine arrived there.

While looking for more information on the steamboat routes, I've come across something helpful (I think...) and something that's a little on the ridiculous side. For your reading pleasure, from The American Traveller by T. Addison Richards, published in 1857.

"The exhalations from the marshes in the long hot summers poison the atmosphere, and make Louisiana, in much of its territory, dangerous to the acclimated, and quite unapproachable to strangers at the season when the especial features of the landscape may be seen in all their greatest glory."

Further down the page, I found this little gem.
"Besides the Mississippi and Red rivers, of which the reader will find accounts elsewhere in our volume, the streams of Louisiana do not offer very great attractions to the traveller."

Sounds ridiculous to the modern ear. But it's true! Even 154 years later, it's true. The streams of Louisiana do not offer very great attractions to the traveler. Only to the fisherman. The marshes don't poison the atmosphere, but our climate conditions do make it unapproachable to a large number of people during the summer "when the especial features of the landscape may be seen in all their greatest glory".

This same book makes mention of a railroad line from New Orleans to Alexandria and on into Texas. That line wasn't completed until the late part of the century. Even today, the bulk of our shipping is still done via the Mississippi and Red Rivers. The Port of Alexandria is one of the busiest inland non-MS River ports in the entire country, and boasts the highest military traffic in and out of any inland port.

Happy Independence Day!

2011-07-04T09:00:00.000-05:00

The invitation says it all.

And now here on my blog....

A couple weeks ago I found myself writing a Fourth of July picnic into the WIP. It's set on a central Louisiana French Creole plantation, and the Creoles tended to keep themselves apart from the Americans. Even in 1857.

There's only one surviving record that I know of that records Alexandria's Fourth of July celebrations. Unfortunately I don't have access to it right now and couldn't remember what Mr. Hynson said for 1857, so I made it up.

A picnic seemed like a safe choice, considering the culture I'm writing about. French Creoles weren't usually a terribly patriotic bunch of people when it came to the United States. They much preferred their own culture to that of the crass and boorish Americans.

Plantation residents always looked for an excuse to get together outside of church. Tossing in a picnic seemed like a good setting for that particular scene and sets the stage for the next Door of No Return.

I'm still going to do some stuff about French Creole architecture, but I still have to put it together. I spend yesterday writing on the WIP instead and clocked in a new daily word count high: 3,540!

ACFW Conference: On Being A Sponge

2011-06-28T09:00:00.045-05:00

This year's conference in St. Louis will be my fifth conference. I guess I'm somewhat of a seasoned professional.

Or not.

Like many other writers I'm an introvert. The prospect of attending my first conference was both exciting and terrifying. I'd made friends through the email loop and blogging, but what if I didn't have the nerve to talk to them? What if I end up at a table with an editor or an agent and they ask what I'm working on and I don't know what to say? What if nobody sees me?

I did find the nerve to talk to my new friends. I did end up at a table with an agent or editor and was able to talk about what I was working on. Lots of people saw me. I talked to my favorite author and she was sweet as can be. I had a great time!

A first conference experience does not have to be scary. It can be the most thrilling, exhilarating thing you've ever experienced. How?

Be a sponge.

I attended my first conference in 2007 with the mindset that I was there to have fun and learn. And that's exactly what I did. I learned new things in every class and had more fun than a barrel of monkeys. I arrived home exhausted, but happier than I'd ever been in my whole life.

I still take this mindset with me every fall. I'm not there to make that first sale, or meet that editor, or talk to that agent. If God makes it happen, great! I'm there to learn and have a good time with 600 other people who know exactly what it's like to argue with people who exist only in your head. Who don't think it's weird that someone is on the floor in the corner scribbling like a madman.

I also made the choice that first year to not make any appointments. I think that was the best choice I ever made. No pressure. At least of the pitching kind. This year, I'm doing appointments. But the thought doesn't scare me because I took the time to just observe and enjoy myself.

So if you see someone looking like a sponge, it's just me, enjoying myself and soaking up everything I can. (And if I have that glazed look in my eyes that says I'm in another world--while I'm walking--step out of my way. I won't see you in time to keep from running over you.)

New photo!

2011-06-27T13:55:00.000-05:00

When I started using this template, I wondered if there was a way to change the photo at the top. Turns out there is, I just had to scroll through all the HTML code until I found it. Obviously, I did.

The above photo is probably the most famous balcony in all of the French Quarter. It's above the River's Edge Restaurant on the corner of Decatur and St. Ann. When you orient Jackson Square to the points of the compass, it's a diamond shape with the cathedral on the northwest side. This balcony in at the point where southeast meets northeast. Jackson Square itself is to the left of this picture and the French Market three blocks to the right.

This particular picture was taken by my friend Ria in 2006 when she came to visit me. We stared at it the whole time we ate beignets across the street at Cafe du Monde and she just had to have a picture of it. It's in mid-September.

Since I'm currently writing about French Creole culture, what better picture to have than the first mental image people get when you say French Creole?

Review: The Lady of Bolton Hill

2011-06-10T09:00:00.034-05:00

The Lady of Bolton Hill
by Elizabeth Camden
Purchase at Amazon, B&N, or CBD.

I signed up to be an influencer for this book based partly on the cover, and partly on the prologue that Elizabeth has posted on her website. What I read intrigued me, largely in part because it starts out in the man's POV. I'm a total sucker for that.

The rest of the book did not disappoint. An excellent debut from a wonderful new author and one I am very much looking forward to reading more from.

I'll let the back cover blurb speak for itself. You can read it at any of the links above. I wish you could see the back cover of the book. It's even more beautiful than the front.

Clara Endicott is a reporter, the daughter of a well-off, influential pastor in 1870's Baltimore. Danial Tremaine is the son of a steel worker killed in a horrible accident, bent on revenge against the mill owner. Wrong side of the tracks romance; done to death, right? Elizabeth makes it fresh!

There's a good suspense thread throughout, though it is light. This is a historical romance, not a suspense. The secondary character of Bane is very intriguing. Clara shows herself a true Christian, that she's not just talk.

The writing throughout is more formal than I'm used to seeing in modern historical romances. But it worked. Well. Very evocative of the year it takes place in. The speech patterns, while stilted to modern ears, are exactly the way the people spoke back then.

It also covers another aspect that many historical writers ignore: Unions. The unions of Baltimore play a crucial role in the plot. I was very pleasantly surprised. Unions have been in the news an awful lot this year.

The passion that binds Clara and Daniel together is music, specifically Chopin. I love it when historical authors use "contemporary" composers in their books.

There's also a strong thread of redemption throughout the story, and how God will go to whatever lengths it takes to rid us of our idols. Daniel's idols are his inventions, his patents, his thirst for revenge. Sometimes threads like that can be overdone or melodramatic, in my opinion. Not this one. The entire progression was believable and never once made Daniel seem less of a man. He remained committed to his goal throughout, and allowed God to change that goal. That's a real man!

I don't believe in rehashing the back cover copy or giving you a synopsis of the book. This is what I liked about it. This is what made it fresh for me. These are the things that stood out to me.

Character ruminations

2011-05-26T10:00:00.006-05:00

I don't identify at all with the "modern woman" or the career woman or any of that. As a consequence I really struggle with making my heroines believable. Everything that a woman was expected to be in the 19th century (and in most cases actually wanted), is my ideal of the perfect life for a woman.

The seeds of how I need to create my heroines were planted last fall in a mentor appointment with Tracie Peterson at the ACFW conference. At first I was running with the whole "fish out of water" thing and just not fitting in.

This week I've discovered that wasn't quite right. I've been having lots of troubles with the heroine in my current WIP, The Color of Love, set in 1857 central Louisiana. Turns out I've been trying to create her based on the wrong components of my personality!

So I've totally redrafted her, chunked everything I thought I knew, and started over. Now I'm going with intelligence that threatens men, a desire to learn all she can and share that with the generation behind her, while still desiring all of the things that make the typical 19th century woman.

A historical heroine doesn't have to be a suffragete or a royal pain or a journalist or a college graduate to be forward thinking. That's a huge revelation for me. She can be forward thinking simply in the way she views the world and the books she reads and daring to have an opinion on anything and everything.

That I can relate to.

Guest post from Michelle Griep

2011-05-05T09:00:00.000-05:00

Today I have Michelle Griep here to us about her new Viking time travel, Undercurrent.

Top 5 Reasons to Admire a Viking

Guest Blog by Michelle Griep

1. Sweet Texting Skills

The Viking alphabet, the Futhark, is a series of straight lines. Super easy to carve into a stick, a skull, what-have-you. Much of their communication has been unearthed by archeologists, down to shopping lists, threats, and love notes.

2. Viking Men Put Metrosexuals to Shame

Contrary to popular belief, Vikings were a meticulously clean and well-dressed people group. Unlike the English, they didn’t hold any ridiculous superstitions about bathing opening the door to demon possession. Once a week they soaked in their bubble bath and daily combed out their hair. Clothing was bright and fashionable, often incorporating imported silks and furs.

3. Debt Free Living

These people paid their debts and paid them fast—or were kicked out of the country. Everything had a monetary value, even a life. If you killed someone, you had to reimburse the deceased’s family (called wergild).

4. CEO Determination

They knew what they wanted and went after it. Gold and silver, mostly, though land was high on their list as well. And if a Viking showed up on your doorstep, you’d probably better cooperate. They employed ruthless practices such as the ‘blood eagle’ (I won’t go into detail to spare the squeamish at heart, but let’s just say this activity involved surgical skill, bone cracking, and organ removal).

5. Packers Suck

Enough said.

Now that your appetite is whetted for big, beefy Vikings, there’s a book you really shouldn’t pass up. Take a trip back in time and experience these wild and winsome people in UNDERCURRENT…

People go missing every day. Many meet with foul play, some leave the social grid by choice, but others are never accounted for. Such is the fate of successful linguistics professor Cassie Larson. She leads a life her undergrad students hope to attain, until she tumbles into the North Sea and is sucked into a swirling vortex…and a different century.

Alarik, son of a Viking chieftain, is blamed for a murder he didn’t commit—or did he? He can’t remember. On the run, saving a half-drowned foreign woman wasn’t in his plans.

Ragnar is a converted pagan shunned by many but determined to prove his Cousin Alarik’s innocence. He didn’t count on falling in love with Cassie or the deadly presence of evil that threatens his village in Alarik’s absence.

UNDERCURRENT…dare to be swept away. Available now at Amazon or Risen Books

BIO:

Michelle's been writing since she first discovered Crayolas and blank wall space. She resides in the frozen tundra of Minnesota with 5 other mammals (both human and canine). And don't forget to check out her debut novel, GALLIMORE...a Wizard of Oz tale with a Medieval Twist, available at Amazon or Black Lyon Publishing.

Review: Shadowed in Silk

2011-04-30T10:00:00.001-05:00

Shadowed in Silk by Christine Lindsay.
E-book release date:May 1
Paperback release: September 1.
Read the back cover blurb here.
Purchase for you Nook here.

Even though it's the printed word, Shadowed in Silk is a feast for the senses. Christine paints India with words that bring it to life. The textures and scents and culture of India almost breathe on the pages of her debut novel.

No part of Indian culture is left out of this book. Christine weaves Hindu words and beliefs into every chapter and does it beautifully and naturally. The themes of redemption, forgiveness and God's grace live on every page and in every decision Geoff and Abby make.

Geoff is a man struggling with his faith in the aftermath of World War One and losing many of the men under his command. I found many things in his spiritual journey that I identified with. He struggles with forgiveness, as I have over the last year.

Abby starts out a little naive. The India she returns to is not the India of her childhood. Even without knowledge of God until the end of the story, she is a woman of faith, ministering to all those around her. Especially the untouchables and orphans. The fact that she "sees" everyone around her is what draws Geoff to her.

But she's a married woman. The way Geoff dealt with those feelings is one of the rare times I've seen this done in a realistic manner in a Christian romance. He doesn't just pray about it and it magically goes away and he can be around her all the time. No, he struggles with it throughout the book, tries to avoid her, tries to see her as nothing more than a sister. In the process he hurts Abby. And grows from it.

The secondary characters are also richly drawn and just as fleshed out as the main characters. Eshanna in particular is well done. A young Hindu widow cast out by her family, she embraces a God who makes her a princess. Christine is able to give the reader a true representation of the musical accents most Indians have when they speak English. And never once does she use any sort of dialect to do it.

This book has it all. Love, betrayal and sacrifice. Spies, gun-running and suspense. Christine's love for the people of India also shows on every page. Her passion gives the story life.

Shadowed in Silk is a rich historical romance that is not to be missed. Don't let the unfamiliar setting put you off. It is well worth the time.

As of this posting the Kindle version of the book is not live yet, but keep checking. For some reason there's a delay in the book being posted on Amazon.

Review: At The Captain's Command

2011-04-11T08:00:00.003-05:00

The third book in Louise Gouge's East Florida colony series did not disappoint. The rich prose and characters with deep convictions that I've come to expect from Louise were richly evident in this novel.

Thomas Moberly doesn't understand why the colonists are rebelling against England's rule. Dinah Templeton, younger sister of Jamie Templeton from The Captain's Lady and a devout Loyalist, captures his attention at first sight. Already aware that this is his brother-in-law's sister, he takes it on himself to make sure she's being taken care of. Unbeknownst to him their families have been scheming for years to get them together.

Dinah is living with her foster sister in St. Augustine and assists the doctor at the fort. It's there she first sees Thomas Moberly. Their romance develops quickly, but believably. I particularly loved the elegant language Thomas used to express his affections and the proposal scene goes down as one of my favorites. Dinah is a strong character, but still period appropriate. Her Quaker upbringing shows in her strong convictions that never waver.

From the moment Captain Thomas Moberly entered the scene in The Captain's Lady, I wanted to know more about him. He struck me as a man of deep character. He did not disappoint. He and Dinah are Loyalists and I found it very interesting and wonderfully written. That's not a viewpoint seen often in fiction set during the Revolutionary War. Louise made me see their side of the issue and how it mattered to them.

Having Thomas on the cover of the book is also a huge plus. The book lives up to the promises made by the cover.

Historical accuracy vs. political correctness

2011-02-25T10:25:00.002-06:00

In one of the writer's groups I belong to, we've recently had a discussion about historical accuracy versus political correctness when trying to portray the antebellum South. It's been quite interesting and very eye-opening to learn just how many editors are out there who think political correctness should trump historical accuracy.

This bothers me. A lot. My family has lived in the South for over 200 years. My family roots go all the way back to the Mayflower. And yes, members of my family owned slaves. But they were greatly outnumbered by the tenant farmers and share-croppers in my family tree.

I think the whole hullabaloo with Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer illustrates this very thing that we, as a society, are grappling with. I also think it's a giant neon red DANGER sign that political correctness is going too far.

Rewriting history to make it "less offensive" serves no one. If we white-wash the past, how can future generations learn from it?

Yes slavery and racism was a very real problem in the South. Racism still is. But guess what? Slavery and racism have existed since the dawn of time, and neither will go away until Jesus returns. How does removing it from history make it any less of a problem?

The job of a historical novelist is not to rewrite the past. It is to paint it with the truest colors possible while not offending, so that people can learn from it and not repeat those mistakes. My current novel WIP deals with slavery, in a rather blatant manner. It's crucial to the plot. There is a character who uses "the N word"( and I don't mean the one that ends with "o"), because that's the kind of person of he is. He doesn't see his slaves as human beings. People like that really existed and we shouldn't ignore it.

If we start changing Mark Twain's written words, who's next? Will we sanitize other pieces of great literature that have "offensive" things in them? Will we go after The Picture of Dorian Gray because it might offend old people? What about Poe, or Dickens? Will they be safe?

This is a very dangerous path to tread. As a historical writer, I find it very disturbing.

Great is Thy Faithfulness

2011-02-23T09:00:00.001-06:00

I've been reminded over the last few days how God never abandons His children. When you're in the middle of a storm it's so easy to lose sight of His hand cupped around you, shielding you from the dangers. I get so caught up in just keeping my head above water that I forget I don't have to do it on my own.

My words disappeared at the end of November, 2009. After two new personal best word counts, the week of Thanksgiving is where my life really turned upside down. I moved halfway across the country and the man I thought I knew turned out to be a lie. I was shattered and broken.

There were a few trickles here and there over the last year, but nothing consistent. Nothing really worth keeping. It took me a year to add 8,000 words to my WIP. It was torture! The desire to write would peak its head out every now and then, but it never translated into actual words.

I'd been living in a desert and forgotten how sweet it is to have the words and plot points and ideas flowing freely.

Well, the desert is being watered, the dam has broken and MY WORDS ARE BACK! It all happened last week. I'm at my Mimi's house, helping her out after surgery on her broken leg. I came up here hoping I'd get some good writing in. I would have been happy with 2,000 words.

God had other ideas. I've added 4,000 words to The Yellow Flag since Thursday. I haven't tracked the daily word counts to see which day was the most productive, but it doesn't really matter. The word count is climbing steadily again, the sub-lots are focused, all necessary characters are talking, the set-up for the sequels is being built in, and I'm having the time of my life!

Look out, world, here I come!

Yes, I am alive

2011-01-28T19:49:00.002-06:00

If anyone actually reads this anymore, I am still alive.

Shortly after my last post to this blog, as cliche as this is my life turned inside out and upside down. And not in a good way. I'm back home in Louisiana. I won't be returning to New York.

I'm not going into any details here on the 'Net. Too risky. I've got some tough decisions to make the next couple months and I covet all the prayers I can get!

Much of last year I didn't write. The words dried up. It's only been in the last three months that things have unlocked again. I hope to get my blog back up and running this year, preferably by the end of spring. But that depends on "real life" and what all I end up having to do. I've got some ideas on better ways I can use it and keep it interesting, while building my platform.

So if you think about me, pray for clear direction on what I need to do next. Once everything is resolved I may share a little more.

Life, or something like it

2010-03-02T18:02:00.003-06:00

My blog has been languishing lately, I know. Lots has happened over the last few months. So bear with me here and I will update anyone who's actually still reading this.

1: Hubby got a job!!! It was officially offered and accepted the week of Thanksgiving. Talk about plenty to be thankful for!

2: The job is in New York. As in state. 1400 miles away. Yikes!

3: December was spent finalizing moving details, getting ready for Christmas, seeing all the grands one more time and playing Killer Bunnies.

4: Packing commenced in earnest on January 3rd. Our move date was January 15th. We got it all done, the movers came, we spent two nights on an air mattress and I took him to the airport. He flew up here, then I followed a few days later with my parents and The Munchkin.

5: The last 6 weeks has been spent acclimating to being 1400 miles from home, surviving my first blizzard, looking for a place to live and yes, writing!

We have found a place to live and will be moving into it next weekend, if all goes according to plan. I can't wait!!! It's an apartment, but it has a very nice kitchen, bright rooms and a patio! It's also a corner unit and we're at the back of the complex. As far as apartment living is concerned I think we done good. The complex itself is also very nice and very close to work.

More milestones have been reached. The Yellow Flag has topped 13,000 and I'm seriously considering entering it in the Genesis. Working through it with CP's right now.

So where exactly in New York is this Southern country girl? Long Island, almost exactly in the middle of said island. And moving to a town that was founded in 1744. My history geek side is ecstatic. Since limbo is officially over and the next stage of our lives has begun, it is my goal to get the blog going again and post regularly. It is also my goal to finish the first draft of The Yellow Flag.

I invite you to join me as I walk the path into the next phase of my life.

Interview with Erica Vetsch

2009-11-20T06:00:00.003-06:00

Today I'm chatting with my friend Erica Vetsch about her debut novel, The Bartered Bride from Heartsong Presents. She won the Barbour contract at the 2008 ACFW conference and I was privileged to be there and share in the joy and excitement.

Since I'm a research junkie, that's what we're talking.

Which do you like better, the writing or the research?
You know, each has their joys and trials. I love it when something unexpected and serendipitous happens while I'm writing a story. I'm going through that right now, where pieces I didn't even realize were out there, groundwork I'd laid in two previous books, are falling together into the third book in a series. That being said, I also love research. I'm a self-admitted history geek. I love all the interesting bits of information I glean when doing research. I never quite know how I can use them when I first see them, but I file them away for later.

I have yet to meet a writer of historical fiction that isn't easily sidetracked on research rabbit trails. How do you deal with that temptation? I don't always avoid the temptation, because story ideas are often spawned from something I didn't know I was looking for until I found it.

Have you ever gotten a good story idea from a rabbit trail? Oh yes. I have stumbled upon a couple of story ideas while reading old newspaper articles on one topic and something in another article in the paper jumps out at me from another column. I try to jot these ideas and bits down so I won't forget them for later.

What was your favorite time period to read about before you started writing? I love American History, westward expansion, Manifest Destiny, the Industrial Age, the Gilded Age. Egyptology and the British Empire have always intrigued me, too. Really, anything historical.

What period is your favorite to research in? The easiest for me to research is Minnesota History. We have, seriously, the best historical society ever. The MN Historical Society was founded when the state was still a territory. And the access scholars have to the archives is amazing. I recently went on a back-stage tour of the archives, and the collections are just stunning. And the state is so diverse in its history, I'm always finding something fascinating to me.

What are some of your favorite research websites? www.mnhs.org Hands down. Beyond that, I don't rely too much on internet research. I prefer to hold books in my hand, to be able to verify the accounts, and to know that the works were published by reputable, scholarly publishers. University and Historical Society presses are usually reliable. Wikipedia, not so much. I spend a lot of time at my local library, and I purchase books online and at historical site bookstores all the time.

If you could go back in time to one historical event, what event would it be? Wow, how do you choose just one? I'd love to witness creation, the birth of Christ, the building of the Pyramids, the signing of the Magna Carta, the building of the ark, the crowning of Elizabeth I, the invention of the telephone, the list goes on and on.

I know that you did a lot of research at your historical society about the ships of the Great Lakes. Any suggestions to pass along to writers researching on location at a local historical society? First, don't be intimidated. The curators at these local museums are ACHING for someone to take an interest in the artifacts and stories they have been entrusted with. They are dying to talk to you. So ask.

Second, ask if there is a publication, a book, pamphlet, DVD, anything, that is specific to the area. These history books, though not widely circulated, often have gems hidden in their pages that you can't find anywhere else.

Third, check the archives of the local newspapers. Nothing will give you a snapshot of the society you're studying like the daily news will. The language, the mindset, the social-strata, they're all there waiting to be discovered.

Do you have any research books that you consider invaluable and would never part with? There are different books I treasure for each subject I'm studying. For The Bartered Bride, one of my favorite books was actually a Paper Doll book. Fashions of the Gilded Age by Tom Tierney, published by Dover. One of the dresses I had my main character wear came out of that book. The real dress, from Worth's in Paris, is on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. For each of the plates in the book, Tierney gives a detailed description, which makes it easier to portray in the story. I highly recommend any paper doll book by Tom Tierney for research.

Oh I completely agree about the Tierney paper dolls! Those are a treasure trove of costume research and very affordable too.

Please leave a comment to be entered into a drawing for a copy of The Bartered Bride. Erica, thanks so much for stopping by!

Milestones

2009-11-18T16:15:00.002-06:00

So far this month has been one of writing milestones.

1: New personal best daily word count. Twice! First one was 1,525. Second one was 1,580.

2: Brainstorming sessions with a CP that were actually helpful. For both of us.

3: Finally finding the lie for the heroine of The Yellow Flag, my 1857 Louisiana historical. I've been trying to crack her open for two years.

4: Topping 10,000 on The Yellow Flag. This is the second time topping 10,000 has happened to me, but the first time doesn't count. I scrapped it all. But this 10,000 I'm keeping. The story is started in the right place.

I've come to the conclusion that having CP's is a good thing. It keeps me motivated to write so that I have stuff for them to read. I'm learning a lot too, which is always a good thing.

Amusing but true video

2009-09-26T12:34:00.001-05:00

I know, I'm still being a bad blogger. Still lots going on that takes precedence.

Saw this video on Angie Hunt's blog and was highly amused by it. Saddened too because it's true.

Review- The Blue Enchantress

2009-08-18T15:10:00.000-05:00

The Blue Enchantress is the sequel to The Red Siren, and book two in the Charles Towne Belles series. Mary Lu brings her love of the sea and pirates to every book she writes, and this one is no exception.

One of Mary Lu's great strengths is characterization. Hope is a deeply flawed woman with a shameful past who would be easy to hate. Yet the reader is drawn into her story and filled with compassion for her, even though she richly deserves everything that's happening to her.

Having lived through a few hurricanes myself, Mary Lu's descriptions of the hurricane are spot-on. She easily captures the fear of everyone on board, and the superior arrogance of someone who's never been through one and doesn't think it can be that bad.

I also very much enjoyed the spiritual warfare angle. It began in The Red Siren and she continued to build on it in The Blue Enchantress. Spiritual warfare is something that's often overlooked in Christian historical fiction.

All in all a very enjoyable read with vivid characters, memorable settings and plenty of "meat". I eagerly look forward to the release of The Raven Saint, the final book in the series that will feature Grace Westcott.

SoE review: Ransome's Honor

2009-08-12T08:00:00.004-05:00

Ransome's Honor
by Kaye Dacus

Regular readers may remember that I am no fan of Jane Austen. However, I love Horatio Hornblower, and not just because of Ioan Gruffudd. That is part of what drew me to Kaye's Ransome trilogy. That and watching her perfect it, pitch it and finally sell it.

Click on the above link for a plot synopsis from CBD. I won't repeat it here.

The book was an absolute delight! I loved every page. All of the characters are fully developed and well-rounded. It's hard not to fall in love with William Ransome. I'm very much looking forward to getting to know certain members of his crew in the next book, Ransome's Crossing.

It was also refreshing to see a Regency heroine with guts and pluck who still remains true to what women were like then. That's another part of why I don't usually read Regencies. I know so much about the daily life of the period and the thought patterns and customs that few people can get it right enough to hold my interest. Kaye got it right!

I found William's character arc the most interesting, but anyone who knows me won't find that surprising. Sometimes one can hide in honor and duty, and William realized that. His character was flawed, but not to the point that it was off-putting. Same for Julia. By the end of the book each has realized their flaws and is working on overcoming them.

If you like Regencies or high-seas adventures, this book is not to be missed!

More on character thoughts

2009-08-10T08:00:00.002-05:00

I just finished Ransome's Honor by Kaye Dacus. (excellent book, btw. If you haven't read it yet, do so post haste!) The hero, William Ransome, is a captain in the Royal Navy. That can be a difficult type of character to bring to life, yet Kaye did so beautifully and in such a way that I am convinced he's real.

So how did she do that? A large part of it, to me anyway, was in her use of inner monologue and thoughts. William always thinks like a sailor. When Kaye is describing things in his POV, she describes things as a sailor would. He views things in terms of his vocation and finds his strength in the familiarity of his ship and the sea.

To me this is one of the strongest ways to bring a character to life. When done well, it flows seamlessly with the narrative and dialogue. Kaye does it very well in all of her books, but I think it's most clear in the way she writes William Ransome.

Which brings me to my own character. Nick, one of my SEAL's. He's Russian-born, adopted by an American family and grows up in Colorado on a cattle and horse ranch, then joins the Navy. His thoughts are a mixture of horse terms, cowboy slang, love of the mountains, Russian phrases and an intense love of the sea. Once he stands on the beach for the first time and looks out at the vastness of the Pacific Ocean nothing else will do. As he progresses through his training, more and more of his thoughts take on the images of the Navy and the ocean, and the slang that goes with his chosen profession.

I hope it all makes for an interesting character and shows his progression from someone with little to no self-confidence, to an officer in charge of a SEAL team.

Losing history

2009-08-07T15:32:00.003-05:00

The last living link to World War One, the war to end all wars, has died. He passed on July 25th and his funeral was yesterday. His name was Harry Patch and he was the last surviving veteran of World War One.

The Daily Mail has an article online, complete with pictures.

WW 1 was not the war to end all wars, as so many believed. Rather it was the war that started it all. Every conflict of the 20th century can trace its roots back to WW 1. Yes, *every* conflict. Even the fighting in the Balkans, the debacle in Bosnia, and the split of what used to be known as Czechoslovakia.

One of the books in my research pile is "King, Kaiser, Tsar" by Catrine Clay. Kaiser Wilhelm II, Tsar Nicholas II and King George V were cousins. Nicholas' wife Alexandra was George's niece, Wilhelm's cousin and one of Victoria's favorite granddaughters. Victoria called her Sunny. These three men found their fates intertwined. Only one survived the war with his kingdom and throne intact.

I've often wondered how family could do that to each other. George refused his own niece asylum and Wilhelm financed the man who was ultimately responsible for the deaths of the Romanovs. Here in the South that sort of treachery against one's own family is unthinkable. This whole relative thing is one of the dynamics that makes the World War One so fascinating to me.

Spotlight on Europe

2009-08-05T07:00:00.000-05:00

Today it's Surrender the Wind by Rita Gerlach! It just released on the first, so look for it! Here's the back cover blurb, taken from Rita's website.

Surrender the Wind . . .

A quick~match tale of unexpected love . . .

A fuse that burned rapidly ...

After a harrowing escape from the British, patriot Seth Braxton finds his father dead at Yorktown. Now battle scarred and grieving, he endeavors to settle down for a peaceful life along the shores of the Potomac by restoring the land his father loved.

Thinking he will forever stay in the secluded wilderness, he receives a message that he has inherited his grandfather's estate in faraway England. Seth is torn between the land he's fought for and the prospect of reuniting with his sister, Caroline, who was a motherless child at the onset of the Revolution, taken to England in order to spare her the horrors of war.

With no intention of making his stay at Ten Width permanent, he journeys to England to do his duty. When he arrives, he finds his sister in the throes of grief after being told her young son has died of a fever. In the midst of so much tragedy, he meets Juleah, the daughter of an eccentric landed gentleman. Her independent spirit and gentle soul steal his heart, and she becomes his wife and lady of the manor, enraging the man who once sought her hand and hoped Ten Width would be his own.

From the Virginia wilderness, to the dark halls of an isolated English estate, Seth inherits more than a crumbling ancestral home. He uncovers a sinister plot that leads to murder, abduction, and betrayal --- an ominous mix that threatens to destroy his new life and new love.

Rita is a fellow HisWriters member. Over the last two years we all had the privilege of watching Rita finish this novel, tweak it, submit it to just about every publishing house in the industry and garner enough rejections to wallpaper a bathroom! Then we all celebrated with her when Abingdon Press bought it. I will never forget her joy at getting that contract.

By going to her website and clicking on the "Surrender the Wind" link at the top of the page, you can go to Abingdon's website and read the first chapter of the novel. Rita also has the privilege of being the debut novel for Abingdon, and they have shown a great willingness to look at and buy novels with non-American settings.

Interesting article

2009-06-08T16:17:00.000-05:00

I found this article on the website for Vision Forum. It's about the constant and worsening attacks on the Biblical family model, and in particular about the worsening attacks on Christian homeschoolers. As a homeschool grad and a newly married woman who plans to homeschool my own kids someday, it is of concern and interest.

The Return of the Child Catcher of Vulgaria

I'm back!

2009-06-06T15:44:00.003-05:00

Yes, this is my third post with this title over the last two years. It's been a busy spring. The last personal post was back in November, when I told my readers that I was falling in love with a man named Huston. He proposed on December 13th, and we were wed at Grace Presbyterian Church in Alexandria, Louisiana on May 16, 2009.

He was laid off 10 days before the wedding and is still without a job. Next week will be one month. Prayers are coveted for a job for him, in God's timing and in the place where God wants us to be.

In the meantime, I've been settling into married life. I finally have my desk back, after being forced to take it apart after the hurricane last September. It felt so good to get it set up earlier this week! I'm once again in front of windows, with a lovely view of trees. This is my first time living in an apartment, but it's a very quiet complex and I like it so far. As much as one can like apartment living when all you've ever known is a house...

Anywho, the view is lovely and we're at the back of the complex and back off the highway. Looking out the windows here in the guest room gives me the feeling of still being secluded in the country. Which is my favorite thing in the whole world!

I'm still unpacking and arranging things, and just made cookies. Even Zoe is settling in nicely, though she is lonely and misses Aisling, the crazy orange tabby.

I haven't written anything of note in over 9 months now, but I'm hoping that will begin to change. I have my research books out again and characters are talking. It's hard to figure out my writing routine for this new season in my life, since my husband is always here right now. Not exactly conducive to me getting lost in 19th century Russia for hours on end.

So I hope to get back into the swing of things and back to my regular postings. I will continue the Friday Fact starting next week, and get back to Spotlight on Europe. There have been quite a few European historical releases in the last few months!

Warning- Political post!

2009-01-17T09:00:00.003-06:00

I'm not one to post much about politics on my blog because I'm one of those very passionate people who is very easily drawn into debate and argument over it. But I just can't keep quiet about this.

I'm extremely conservative. I discovered yesterday that the current "in" word for my brand of conservative is paleoconservative, which means "old". I am NOT a neoconservative, even though I voted for Bush. I don't like being called a neocon either because I think their views are warped and dangerous.

Whenever the guard is changing on Capitol Hill, accusations are thrown around like darts, truth is distorted and the blame for all the world's ills are laid at the foot of one man. I'm not going to sit here and defend everything that Bush has done. I don't agree with a lot of it. But please people! This is getting out of hand.

I remember when things changed from Bush to Clinton and I don't remember the newly-energized conservatives being this nasty about Clinton's legacy. Which is one of deceit and immorality. That man did more harm to the office of president than Bush could ever do. An affair in the Oval Office is far more devestating than relying on possibly faulty intelligence to get rid of one of the most evil men the world has seen since the deaths of Stalin and Hitler.

We don't know all of the informtation that Bush was presented with for every decision he's made in the last 8 years. Much of this information we will never know and we do not need to know. We don't know all of the information he had that led us into Afghanistan and Iraq. We will never know. Obama will also make decisions based on information we will never know.

As for the economic mess we find ourselves in, it is just foolhardy to lay the blame at the feet of one man. The blame is collective and it goes all the way back to 1992 and a man known in Arkansas as Slick Willie, who began to de-regulate the banking and stock industries within weeks of taking office. When you take away the rules things fall apart. That's almost a law of nature. Society cannot exist without rules and boundaries. Chaos only creates more chaos. That is a law of nature.

It's not Bush's fault we're in a meltdown. It happens and it would have happened if Gore or Kerry was president. It would have happened if Obama was president, or Bob Dole. Look at the facts, people! Who de-regulated the industry? Wasn't Bush. He just got stuck with the problem. But that doesn't mean he created it.

Obama does not have the magic wand to fix all of this. The problem has been ignored for too long. The blame for that does partly go to Bush, but it also goes in equal measure to Congress for allowing the de-regulation to take place in the first place. And also to Clinton and his advisors for cooking up the plan in the first place. The US is not a monarchy. It takes a joint effort to pass every law. Just because the president signs it doesn't mean he's responsible for its consquences. Every senator and congressman who votes "yes" on a dangerous or flawed piece of legislation carries just as much blame for it as the man who signs it.

Obama is inheriting a mess created by the man whose wife will be dogging his every step for the next 4 years at least. How on earth is installing Clinton cronies going to fix or change anything? These are the people who started all this mess in the first place. Every administration inherits problems from the previous administration. That is the nature of our system. Obama has a whole boatload of stuff to deal with leftover by Bush AND Clinton. Even a few problems from Bush #1. He will not be able to fix all of it. I have my doubts that he can really fix any of it because of his complete lack of experience. But that's another issue entirely...

Don't lay the blame on Bush for this. Tell your congressman and your senator to stop being so irresponsible with your money, to pay attention and to stop messing with things. And for that matter tell those who voted yes on the bailout money that it was the worst thing they've ever done.

It's going to take a long-term plan--and by that I mean 10+ years--to fix this problem. It took 15 years to create it. It's not going to be fixed in a matter of months.

Spotlight on Europe- Interview!

2008-12-17T07:00:00.000-06:00

Today I'm talking with Linore Rose Burkard, author of Before The Season Ends, available now from Harvest House and sold wherever you buy books.

What first drew you to Regencies?
Georgette Heyer and Jane Austen books gave me a love for the period, and there weren't any Christian regencies to be found. I wanted to change that.

How much time did you spend researching before you began writing Before The Season Ends?
Well, I researched a great deal, but in spurts, and over a long period of time, so it's hard to say. I put in hours at the library (before the internet became such a resource) and I collected books on the Regency, too. I gleaned information over a period of a few years.

What sparked the plot idea for Before The Season Ends?
I was watching a BBC show about drawing, and the woman on the show was attempting to draw this immense tree with tons of interlocking branches. I suddenly thought, "What a great tree on such a beautiful landscape!" I imagined my heroine trying to draw it, but in the book I changed that to a more adventurous scene as she gets stuck in the tree, instead. It didn't give me the whole plot idea at all, but my books generally start with ONE scene that speaks powerfully to me.

What was your reaction when Harvest House made the offer?
I was glad. By then, I'd been in contact with Nick Harrison, the editor who first approached me, for more than a month, and I was ready to get off the "self-publishing" platform. I love Harvest House--honestly, every person who works there that I've had any contact with is just wonderful. I love partnering with them to get my books out.

Having been self-published and traditionally published, what are some of the biggest differences you've noticed?
There's a big bias against self-published books--and their authors. But here's the real difference between the books: among the self-published crowd, there are many books that need a really good edit, and probably a few that never should have been published. Among the traditionally published books, there are many that need a better plot, or better characterization, or just plain better writing, BUT their 'i's' are dotted and their 't's ' are crossed. In other words, the copy-editing is usually far better. But we all know that a poor book can be published traditionally. Until self-published authors all begin to recognize the importance of good editing before going to print, however, the bias will remain. The bottom line is we should all be striving for excellence, no matter how we are published. Before leaving this question, I 'd like to add that having a traditional publisher has opened a lot of doors for me, helped me make some wonderful new friends, and is a joy for me as a writer. (I realize that not all publishers are created equal. Again, I can only say that I love working with Harvest House.)

I'm a stickler for historical accuracy, and I'm also an Empire/Regency re-enactor. Even though Regencies aren't my genre of choice I very much enjoyed the level of historical detail that you wove into the plot and setting. How do you balance inserting those little tidbits without bogging down the pace?
I think what you're asking is how do I create a scene that has enough detail to ground the reader in the time and place, but not bore them?

Exactly!
For me, the answer is that I put myself in the shoes of my heroine (or whoever I'm writing in that scene), and I want to see what they see, and feel what they feel. Then I describe it. I see my scenes like a movie unfolding before me; I'm the camera, so to speak. Whatever appears on the "screen" in my head is what I want to let the reader see as well. But I try to keep my camera focused on the action--I'm not going to describe what's up in the right-hand corner of that scene, unless it's something that matters. If it doesn't matter, it has no business being there. If it adds to the atmosphere--quickly--then it can stay. To other writers who may struggle with creating scenes, I would say, everything you write in must have a reason for being there. If you don't have a good reason for including something, no matter how nice it sounds, or how pretty--cut it. Actually, there's a question I ask myself when shopping that works just as well for writing--"Is it nice? Or is it necessary?" In writing--at least for genre fiction--you should only keep the "necessary."

Thank you so much, Linore! The sequel to BTSE, The House On Grosvenor Square, comes out on April 1.

Be sure to check out Mary Lu Tyndall's blog and Christine Lindsay's blog for more information about Linore and her writing.

If you love Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer, and the Regency period, this is one book that you will love. We are giving away a copy of the book if 10 or more comments are left.

A Christmas Post

2008-12-12T16:02:00.002-06:00

I just finished reading this "interview" on Novel Journey and thought I would share it here. What a novel idea!

In Which We Speak With Ghost of Author Past, or An Interview With Charles Dickens.

Spotlight on Europe

2008-11-26T07:00:00.003-06:00

My reveiw of "In The Shadow of the Sun King". A little late I know. I please real life.

I finished it nearly two months ago and WOW! Very impressive debut novel. Rich storytelling, finely crafted characters and just the right amount of real feeling romance. You all know one of my biggest beefs with CBA romance is the lack of sensuality and passion. Being a Christian does not mean you are immune to the physical feelings of love, longing and loss.

Golden's research on the time period and on Versailles showed on every page, but will not overwhelm the average historical reader. The secondary characters draw you in just enough that you want to learn more about them. Which we'll get to do in the second book that releases next year.

The plot itself also addresses aspects of French history that are very much overlooked in the history books. The persecution of Protestant Christians was a very real problem in France in the 17th century and this book tackles the subject head on, sparing nothing. The historical reasons for the persecution are outlined, as well as what is believed to have been Louis' motive for it. The information is also presented in a way that blends seamlessly with the plot, and it's a crucial part of Madeline's motivation.

There are also little costume and hair dressing tidbits scattered beautifully throughout the book. It was a wonderful read, totally engrossing, and one that I will read again.

The Long Awaited Update

2008-11-24T13:32:00.003-06:00

I've been a bad blogger I'm afraid. Won't be getting better any time soon either. When one is falling in love with the man of her dreams blogging just isn't that important. Especially when one is a romance writer who likes to write about characters from different cultures falling in love, and that is exactly what is happening to me. Research doesn't get any better!

His name is Huston and he is a design engineer. He's originally from India and is of Portuguese descent, so everybody thinks he's from Mexico when they're first introduced to him. I met him online, at eHarmony. Yes, I did the eHarmony thing and I must say I had some pretty wonderful results with it.

We have the same goals and desires for our lives, and with the things I've posted here about wanting for my life that's not an easy thing to find in a guy. We had each just about given up on finding the person God created for us. He doesn't want a career woman, he wants someone who wants to stay home and raise a family. I want someone who wants a woman who wants to stay home and raise a family. He's also very open to adoption, which is another thing that's important to me.

He lives in Mississippi, so I'll be moving there next year after the wedding. We've met in person 3 times and he's coming here to my house for Thanksgiving. He's met most of my immediate family, but none of the crazy cousins yet.

The cherry on top (even though I don't like cherries on top of my sundae) is that he is very supportive of my writing, always asking me if I've written anything and how it's going. That means so much to me that it's important to him.

But that's still not the best part. The best part of all is that he is willing to pursue this relationship my way, which is an approach that is based on Biblical purity and the Biblical model of courtship. We have not kissed yet, and that's still a ways off. He has expressed to me that he wants to do nothing that will dishonor me in any way, whether it's physical or just thoughts. That is the most important thing to me.

Here's a picture of us, taken on November 8th at Destrehan Plantation on the River Road.

After Thanksgiving is over, on Spotlight I'll have an interview with Linore Rose Burkard, a fellow HisWriters member and author of "Before The Season Ends", a Regency romance in the style of Jane Austen. There will be a book giveaway, which is dependent on people commenting. If you love Regencies, romance and Jane Austen stop by for a chance to win this book!

Spotlight On Europe

2008-10-29T08:50:00.003-05:00

This release snuck up on me! Ruth Axtell Morren's "A Man Most Worthy", set in Victorian England. It's a Love Inspired Historical and hit shelves on October 14th. I picked my copy up last week but haven't had a chance to read it yet.

From Amazon:
He was her father's poor bank clerk. She was a wealthy young lady. Though they were worlds apart, their innocent friendship bloomed into a mutual admiration. Then suddenly Nicholas Tennant was wrenched from Alice Shepard's life.

Now, years later, he has returned to London society wealthy and influential, determined to seek revenge on Alice's father—and Alice herself. But she is no longer the spoiled schoolgirl Nicholas remembers. She is a beautiful young widow of conviction and faith, raising a son on her own. Now Nicholas must look deep into his heart. For only in abandoning his thirst for revenge can he finally become the man most worthy of her love.

One of the members of His Writers has put together a list of upcoming and recent releases set in Europe and I hope to get that up this weekend. Eventually the page will become a widget on our blogs that stays updated.

I just don't get it

2008-10-09T14:52:00.003-05:00

There's a trend in historical fiction right now that I just don't get and that is the use of first person POV. It's no secret to my friends that I don't like first person. It annoys the heck outta me and I just don't like it. Most of the time.

First person has its place, just like every other POV and narrative style. It's synonymous with chick-lit, locked room mysteries and hard-boiled P.I. stories. And that's great. This POV serves those types of stories very well. I have the first book in the Allie Fortune series now and I can't wait to read it. It's first person. It's also a P.I. novel.

I don't like chick-lit. I do enjoy a good locked-room mystery though, and a good P.I. book. So long as it's not all about sex. Hence my intense excitement about Miss Fortune.

But I don't understand why all of a sudden every other historical that comes out seems to be in first person. Seeing that POV in a historical automatically makes me put it BACK on the shelf, no matter how interesting the plot or setting may be. I'm sure I'm not the only person who does this and I wonder how many good historicals suffer in sales because they're not the third person POV most historical readers prefer.

I bring this up because yesterday I bought A Constant Heart by Siri Mitchell. Elizabethan is not something I know very much about and she's a fellow HisWriters. The plot intrigues me. Not to mention the cover is drop dead GORGEOUS. The close-ups of the lace on that dress make my inner costume historian squeal like a fangirl.

I didn't open it to look at the first page like I usually do, because I was so excited about the book itself and the fact that it was another European book that was not a Regency. You can imagine my shock, and a bit of dismay, when I learned today that it's in first person.

I still plan to read it and review it here for Spotlight on Europe. But a little bit of the enjoyment will be spoiled for me because it's first person. Though I am intrigued to find out she handles the alternating first person between the hero and heroine. Part of my biggest problem with first is that you're locked into one character's head and it's usually not the character I'm most interested in getting to know. It's no secret that I love the hero in a book. Nine times out of ten I prefer his viewpoint to hers in a romance.

There's nothing wrong with trying to pull in new readers or people who wouldn't necessarily read a historical because it's in third. But it shouldn't be done at the expense of the faithful readers who prefer historicals in third.

Spotlight on Europe

2008-09-24T11:58:00.003-05:00

Historicals are heating up in CBA, and with that heating up some new European settings are coming out. This has me excited!

Just released last week is a book titled "In The Shadow Of The Sun King" written by fellow HisWriters member Golden Keyes Parsons. The cover on this book is nothing short of stunning! It's one of those I would have bought based solely on the cover.

I had the pleasure of meeting Golden in the bookstore at conference on Thursday night and telling her in person what an awesome cover it is. Got to sit next to her in a couple of workshops and had my copy signed at the booksigning Saturday afternoon.

This is the first book in the Darkness to Light series and it's loosely based on Golden's family history. The hero and heroine of the book are French Huguenots, which means they were Protestants in a Catholic country. Not exactly a good combination in the 17th and 18th centuries.

I've been absent from blogging for quite some time now. I'll post later this week with a life update.

Writer's Meme

2008-07-15T16:49:00.003-05:00

Copied from Kaye's blog.

What’s the last thing you wrote? It was at the last LA-CFW meeting. Everyone wrote an opening line or two so we could identify the hook. That sentence will most likely end up being the opening line for an idea I'm working on.

What’s the first thing you ever wrote that you still have? It's in a spiral bound Lisa Frank notebook, written entirely in pencil. It's gosh awful and I wrote it when I was 13. The main character is still alive and well, though vastly different now compared to then.

Favorite genre of writing? Historical!!!

Most fun character you ever wrote? Hmm.... I think that would be Misha in The Epic. He's a bit of a troublemaker before the war breaks out. The lawyer, who is also sort of the bad guy, is also fun to write because he's a weaselly little snot who thinks he's smarter than he really is.

Most annoying character you ever wrote? I haven't gotten to this stage yet.

Best plot you ever wrote? If fan fiction counts, that would be the plot for Rhapsody In Murder. Hardy Boys Nero Wolfe style! It was grand fun to write and research because I killed a pianist on the stage in front of thousands of people.

Coolest plot twist you ever wrote? That would be Sasha's secret wedding mere weeks before he's captured by the Germans.

How often do you get writer’s block? Not very often. It's more of a lack of discipline of making myself sit down and actually write. I've been unemployed for the last 3 weeks and haven't written a single word. Bad me!

How do you fix it? I haven't yet figured that out.

Write fan fiction? Yup, but not currently. Most of it is posted here.

Do you type or write by hand? Both! I do love the speed of typing since my brain moves so fast. When I write long hand I often forget words and once missed an entire sentence. My hand can't keep up. But sometimes I just have to hold a pen and write that way.

Do you save everything you write? I do now, but I didn't always. I've thrown away a few things that I now regret.

Do you ever go back to an old idea long after you abandoned it? So far I haven't. I went through a spell where I thought I might like to write YA and I had a cool horse series idea but it's abandoned now. I highly doubt I'll ever go back to it because my writing has evolved and that sort of thing no longer holds any appeal for me. Though you will still find lots of horses in my stuff, and not just because I write historicals.

What’s your favorite thing that you’ve written? I love The Epic. It is the book of my heart.

What’s one genre you have never written, and probably never will? Comedy/lits. I do like the occasional funny read, but for the most part I don't even read books like that. So of course I'm not really going to want to write them either. And I can't say I've never written or will never write mystery because the Hardy Boys are mystery.

How many writing projects are you working on right now? Two are actively being written on and several others are having their plots and characters worked on. I have written openings for half a dozen others but haven't actively worked on the plot details yet.

What are your five favorite words? I don't know. I guess that makes me a bad writer.

What character that you’ve written most resembles you? Nick's wife Tatiana. She's very strong and independent, but at the same time longs for children and a home. A lot like me.

Do you ever write based on your dreams? That would be a resounding yes. A dream once inspired a plot. But don't ask me which one it was because at this very moment I don't even remember.

Are you concerned with spelling and grammar as you write? Oh yes!! The policy manual that goes with my new job is most painful for me to read because of the all the spelling and grammar errors. I don't even read the local paper anymore because the grammar and spelling is atrocious. And so is the writing.

Does music help you write? Heavens no! It's too distracting. But then I'm not much of a music listener anyway. Usually just in the car.

How do people react when they find out you write? They ask me what I write and if I've finished anything.

Quote something you’ve written. The first thing to pop into your mind. In my defense, I did have to open the file to copy and paste this.

Pulling her hand out, she looked at the ring on her left finger. Even in the dim light cast by the bedside lamp, the diamond glittered. He'd completely surprised her with the cut and design, and even with the tiny emerald chips that surrounded the oval cut. The emeralds represented his family, their roots. A trademark of sorts. She pulled it off and as the warm metal left her finger bare, the chill created in the now bare place seemed to invade every pore of her being.

Spotlight on Europe

2008-07-02T08:00:00.002-05:00

Book trailer for MaryLu Tyndall's August release, The Falcon and the Sparrow!

New look!

2008-06-28T19:06:00.003-05:00

The blog has been revamped. Again. The old look just wasn't "old" enough for me. In looks. But this one looks ancient and I like it. Still playing around with a few things. Not quite sure I like the graphic of St. Basil's, so any ideas are appreciated. This one isn't quite so easy to insert a custom banner at the top.

And yes, I've been a bad blogger again. I'm currently unemployed and have spent the last week catching up on a whole bunch of stuff I'd had to let slide the last couple of weeks because of work. I don't know quite yet what I'm going to be doing for the next little while but I'm looking around at different things. It's all complicated by being short on vehicles this past week. My sister was in a wreck last weekend so she's been using my mom's car. Which pretty much leaves me and my mom stranded here at the house! Not that I mind.

So, let me know what you think about the new look!

Random Fun

2008-06-23T15:24:00.001-05:00

Grace Bridges of ACFW told me to watch this. Being a Picard fan I had to...

Sentimental Journey

2008-06-10T18:57:00.003-05:00

Writers are a sentimental bunch. We also tend to love reading about famous writers of the past, famous fictional writers like Jo March. This writer is also easily amused and completely in love with the Victorian Trading Company.

They're most well known for their stationary and notecards, although the company has expanded to include home furnishings, reproduction jewelry and clothes, among other things. One of the neatest things they have is their line of Victorian writing instruments.

To this writer, there's something very sentimental and romantic in thinking about how so many of my favorite books and so many of the classics were written with a dip pen and bottled ink. There's just something about all of that that makes me feel connected to all the great writers who have come before, in particular the ones who paved the way for women to publish. I'm talking about Ann Radcliffe, Jane Austen, the Brontes, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Louisa May Alcott and Kate Chopin just to name a few. They all wrote with a dip pen and bottled ink.

I've been drooling and lusting over this for quite some time now. VTC put it on sale a couple weeks ago so I decided to go ahead and buy it. It came last week and I am very pleased with my purchase. Will I actually write a book with it? Probably not. My brain moves so fast that my fingers can't keep up with it unless I'm at a keyboard. But it will be used to write notes, thank you cards, and things like that.

Someday I'd love to have the Chandler's Writing Chest and learn the art of Spencerian writing.

The Friday Fact

2008-05-30T09:00:00.002-05:00

Today is counted cross stitch. My addiction of choice! I was going to do images, but that's just too time consuming, so there's lots of links to click if you're interested. I love showing off my work to anyone and everyone.

I'm not sure how it came about and evolved into the art form it is now though. Separating its history from other forms of needlework is a little difficult. But it does date back to at least the 1700's and I think it made its first appearance on a sampler.

Counted cross stitch is made up entirely of little x's. You start out with a blank piece of fabric, your chart and floss (aka embroidery thread). Each symbol on the chart corresponds to 1 x on the fabric. Designs can be everything from simple and monochromatic to detailed containing over 100 colors. I'm working on 2 that have 90 colors each and are reproductions of actual pieces of art.

This one is my "baby". It's called St. Petersburg White Nights and was designed by Martina Weber, a German designer. I've identified most of the buildings in the completed design. She releases hers in 12 parts, and this is parts 1-4. The buildings start on the next part! I just haven't figured out which palace it is. Here's what the finished piece looks like.

This piece is from a fantasy artist named Nadia Tate. I adore her mermaids. This one is called Kimono Butterflies Mermaid. It was charted by Heaven and Earth Designs, a company that charts art work for stitching. Mostly fantasy, but they do a lot of pre-Raphaelite paintings too.

And this one is called A Favour, also from HAED. The artist is Frederick Leighton. It's a lady in Empire leaning over a metal railing with the sea in the background. I like to think it's the Mediterranean. Yeah, there's a lot of sky and that's the top of her head all by its lonesome.

I'm also in love with this one, of course. It's St. Basil's Cathedral as imagined by Terrence Nolan of Dimples Designs. The fabric is a hand-dyed fabric. I have the frame for this one now, just need to frame it so I can hang it on the wall.

I like stitching Christmas tree ornaments too. The tree is formed by a word. Guess the word!

This one was the second "big" one I ever finished. A mermaid of course, the Queen Mermaid from Mirabilia Designs.

This piece nearly drove me insane. The designer is Teresa Wentzler and she's known as the Queen of Blends. That's when you take one strand of two different colors and put them together to make a new color. This piece had 64 blends in it! But it is gorgeous. The shading is magnificent.

It's kind of amazing what you can do with colored floss and a bunch of x's.

The Friday Fact

2008-05-23T09:00:00.001-05:00

Continuing in the series on needlework.

This week is needlepoint. NOT to be confused with counted cross-stitch. The two are totally different.

Needlepoint is one of the oldest forms of needlework. It dates back to the middle ages at least, and very likely even earlier. Tapestries were originally worked in needlepoint, and later on they were woven.

It's worked on mesh canvas in a stitch known as the tent stitch. Traditionally needlepoint was always worked with woolen yarn, but nowadays the fiber possibilities are endless. Your options include everything from cotton to bamboo. I've actually stitched with bamboo floss and my word! The stuff is SO soft and the colors are so vibrant.

Because of the canvas it's stitched on and the use of wool, needlepoint pieces are very sturdy and durable. During the Victorian era needlepoint seat cushions were extremely popular. The heroine in Hearts In The Highlands does needlepoint.

Next week will be counted cross stitch and I'll show off some of the things I've done. It's my addiction of choice when it comes to needlework.

Spotlight on Europe- Interview!

2008-05-21T09:00:00.001-05:00

Today I'm interviewing Ruth Axtell Morren about her recent Love Inspired Historical, "Hearts In The Highlands".

Outside of Indiana Jones and the required dinosaur obsession, few people pay attention to archeology these days. Was Reid's occupation a conscious choice on your part or just what he told you he had to be?

Originally I had toyed with the idea of making him an archaeologist, then I'd decided on an art history professor, thinking that required less research. But my editor, Melissa Endlich, preferred a more exciting profession like archaeologist, so I rose to the challenge! It worked out well. I kept picturing Reid as Indiana Jones and Robert Redford in Out of Africa--rugged adventurers!

I'm also a fan of the Naked Archaeologist, so I loved the way you included the Holy Land as it was during the Victorian period. Why there and Egypt instead of Rome or Athens?

I was doing research on the Victorian period and found out how popular 'Egyptology' was at the time. Then it seemed a neat idea to make Maddie's parents former missionaries from somewhere in the region.

Tell us about your writing process.

When I get an idea (which can come from anywhere--from history books to a secondary character to a dream), I begin researching that time period both from books and online. The more I find out about a period, the more my plot starts forming. Sometimes the idea just comes to me almost complete (ie, the plot). Then the research just helps fill in the holes. Other times, it's a lot more sketchy and I need to think a lot about possible what-ifs for the hero & heroine.
Once I start writing, I aim for 10 pp a day, preferably working mornings till about 1 or 2 in the afternoon. Then I take a long walk, where I continue mulling on the plot, generally getting idea for the next day's scene. After finishing a first draft (anywhere from 2 months to 4), I start rewriting--then I send it off to my critique partner, then I further revise at least 2 more times before sending it to my editor for her suggestions.

And the big question: Are you a plotter, pantster or somewhere in between?

definitely somewhere in between. I used to be much more a plotter, but the more I write, and the more I know my historical period (and the tighter deadlines get), the more I begin writing before I'm quite ready to. That means, winging it more, knowing the ideas will come as I write.

What's your favorite time period to write about or research?

Definitely both Regency England and Victorian England. Growing up those were the periods I most like to read about. This doesn't mean I don't enjoy other settings, esp. exotic. Right now, I have an idea for a post-Napoleanic Paris-set story. And, I do enjoy the late 19th century downeast Maine setting I've used.

What advice would you give a beginning novelist who wants to write historical romance?

Read as many classics written in the time period you are writing in as you can. This give you a feel for dialogue and slang and what some of the everyday things people used were--things that aren't always easy to find in the history books.

Ruth can be found online at her website and her blog, which is linked in my blogroll.

Spotlight on Europe

2008-05-14T09:00:00.001-05:00

I finally finished Hearts in the Highlands, so today I'm doing my review. Next week I'll have an interview with Ruth. Since the hero is an archaeologist I decided to time the interview posting with the new Indiana Jones movie.

Hearts in the Highlands was Ruth's first LIH, and my first book by her. I thoroughly enjoyed every page. Reid had just the right amount of tragic past to suit my tastes, and a big secret that prevented him from acting on his feelings towards Maddie.

And Reid's aunt... What a character! I loved her and hated her. She was the perfect stuffy high-society matron that you just want to throttle. A lot like Mrs. Harris in the Anne of Avonlea movie. (who actually shows up as a character in Anne of Windy Poplars) Or as the movie is called currently Anne of Green Gables: The sequel. (how lame is that?)

I loved the Scottish highland setting and the little glimpses of Scottish life. Some of my family roots are Scottish, so those books are always special to me.

The progression of the romance between Reid and Maddie was very well done and never once felt forced or contrived. Their mis-understandings in regards to each other's feelings was very believable, as were all of Maddie's incorrect assumptions about him.

I also really enjoyed the little touches of how quickly the world was changing in 1890. There's a wonderful scene with Reid teaching Maddie how to ride the new-fangled bicycles.

If you like Scottish settings, well-written romances and touches of the exotic, you will love Hearts In The Highlands.

The Friday Fact

2008-05-09T15:22:00.005-05:00

Yeah, I forgot last week.

So, I want to talk about all the different kinds of needlework. If you haven't noticed yet, I'm kind of obsessed with/addicted to it... This week is a forgotten needlecraft called candlewicking.

And no, it's not done with candle wicks. The only stitch used in candlewicking is the French knot. It was very popular during Colonial times. Basically, the outline of a shape was drawn on the fabric and then those lines were covered with evenly spaced French knots. Very simple and very elegant.

Candlewicking is pretty much a dead artform these days, but one of my great-grandmothers used to dabble in it a bit and there is a pillow at my Mamaw's house that was candlewicked. The fabric is red and the thread is white. The design is 3 candles, Christmas type candles.

***
Doug Phillips has continued his series about Marxism and motherhood on his blog, so please do check those posts out. There are 4 more posts and here's the link. The Peter Marshall he mentions by name is the son of Catherine Marshall who wrote Christy.

The Evils of Motherhood

2008-05-08T16:28:00.003-05:00

Yes, you read that title right. I'm borrowing it from Doug Phillips, founder of The Vision Forum.

I don't talk about politics much on here, but his two posts today struck a cord in me. About a month ago, we HisWriters ended up in a discussion about the Biblical model for womanhood and how today's society frowns on women just wanting to stay home. So many Christians have fallen prey to the attitude that raising children in a Biblical way isn't as important as providing every material comfort you can imagine. Many have also adopted the view that a woman should always have a back-up plan "just in case" marriage doesn't work out. I personally have major problems with that attitude and refuse to allow it into my thoughts.

I admire Doug Phillips a great deal. I've had the pleasure of meeting him several times and listen to him speak on many subjects. He's a very entertaining speaker and his heart for the Biblical family is obvious to anyone who spends more than 30 seconds talking to him. I read his blog every day and the posts today are title "Lenin on the Evils of Motherhood". You can read the posts here and here . He quotes from Lenin and the most disturbing thing about it is how Lenin's words mirror the thoughts of many Christians.

Since I'm obsessed with Russia, I know more than the average American about the atrocities committed by the Russian Communist Party. They had the Russian people so thoroughly brainwashed that most of them do not believe the Gulag system continued to exist after Stalin's death. The last gulag prisoners were not released until 1993, and even after that many Russians refuse to believe they were really in the gulag. Even after the book "Gulag" by Anne Applebaum, Russians refuse to believe it. The family unit in Russia was systematically destroyed--by the government no less--nearly 100 years ago and their society is now spiraling out of control. It may be legal to be a Christian again, but in no way does that mean the government will let you practice what you believe.

The same thing is slowly happening here in the US. It's not as overt because nobody makes speeches on the subject like Lenin did, but that doesn't mean it's not happening. Christians, and I mean ALL of them--not just the ones who share my particular brand of conservatism, should be appalled and outraged by this. And yet the majority stand silently by and many of them propagate those words to their own children and demean the Biblical family model. I bet most of them don't even know they're doing it.

The downfall of the Biblical family model is a major part of what's wrong with the world. God instituted the model the way He did for a very good reason, and we are now reaping the consequences of ignoring it. I've been accused more than once of being old-fashioned and unrealistic in my wants and desires, but gosh darn it I'd rather be in line with what God wants than what the world wants. If that makes me "unrealistic"' and "out-of-touch" with reality, so be it.

This young woman does NOT want to work. Even now. I am ready for this part of my life to be over so that I can move into the part that God made me for. Raising a family and upholding traditional, Biblical family values. I've also taken some flak for having a cast of characters in my head made up, in large part, of a big homeschooling family. That's what I know and that's what I believe, so why shouldn't I write about it? The one single theme that runs through every story idea I have is that of family unity and the Biblical model.

Consider this my shouting from the rooftop statement. I AM NOT AFRAID TO EMBRACE MY CALLING TO BIBLICAL WOMANHOOD.

Case of the Blahs

2008-05-06T17:29:00.005-05:00

I've got a major case of the blahs lately. It's really hit hard today. I'm restless, ready for the next part of my life to begin. Whatever that is. I'm so tired of feeling like I'm in a holding pattern, waiting waiting waiting... I'm not all that great at waiting to begin with.

I haven't written much, practically nothing. Still plotting and working on things in my head, just not much actual writing going on.

I did finally get started reading With The Armies of the Tsar and just as I suspected it's turning into a gold mine of info. I'm only a few pages in and have already come across one of those little things that historical authors dream of finding. You know what I mean, that one little authentic tidbit that history never records but you *know* will bring your scene to life if you can just find it. And oftentimes you don't even know you're looking for it until you find it. I have a feeling this book will be full of little sticky flags by the time I'm done with it. I'm hoping maybe it will also help me crack Yelena open a bit more. I don't know much about her just yet.

Interview with Susan May Warren!

2008-05-03T09:00:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately it was not hosted by me. Christian Woman Online did it and it's a radio interview. Susie spends the first part of it talking about her next release, Wiser Than Serpents and the issue of human trafficking, then she goes on to talk some about her life now, life in Russia and towards the end there's a little bit about the next Josey book.

Susie's interview!

No Spotlight

2008-04-30T17:38:00.003-05:00

There's no Spotlight today. I've been completely engrossed in the sometimes strange ways God works things out for us.

The agent at the top of my list is a member of my European group. The announcement last week that Rachelle Gardner is open again to historical romances set us all atwitter and we started discussing her in particular and agents in general. I mentioned that she was on my list and some of the things others had shared would come in very handy. But Rachelle was not at the top of my list. Someone else is. Never in my wildest dreams or most overactive imagination did I think I'd get an invitation to query A Time For War.

Kelly Mortimer is a dear!!!! As with all agents, she won't offer representation on an unfinished manuscript. Which makes perfect sense, this is a business after all. But she does have a heart for new writers and wants to encourage us and help us on the path to publication. That's her purpose in letting me query.

So I've spent the last 3 days crafting my first query letter, running it through my crit partners and tweaking and cutting and shortening to one page. Finished it today and sent it off to Kelly's inbox. I'm anxious to read her comments and see what advice she has to offer.

The Friday Fact

2008-04-25T17:57:00.003-05:00

Today we'll wrap up the unofficial series on lace. This post will exhaust my knowledge of the artform!

One of the most popular forms of lace currently is knit lace. It's also one of the oldest forms of lace making, being nearly as old as knitting itself. However, it's not as delicately sturdy as crocheted lace and is used mainly as clothing. A knit doily just won't hold up very long and it would be a very bad choice to protect a chair from pomaded hair.

Knit lace is used mainly in shawls, like this beauty here designed by my friend Laura Patterson. Gorgeous isn't it? I haven't tackled knit lace yet, but I do have my first pattern picked out.

Next week I think we'll start wandering through some of the different kinds of embroidery.

Spotlight on Europe

2008-04-23T14:04:00.002-05:00

As High As The Heavens by Kathleen Morgan

From CBD:
It is 1568 and Mary, Queen of Scots, is imprisoned in Lochleven Castle. But her supporters, including noblewoman Heather Gordon, are planning a rescue. Heather travels to a cottage in the frigid Highlands to teach a simple man, who just happens to resemble someone with access to Lochleven, how to act the part of a nobleman in order to gain entry to the castle. But in the close quarters of the cottage there is more stirring than political rebellion.

This one is a relatively recent release and appears to be rather popular. I've heard lots of good things about Kathleen's writing but have yet to read one of her books. I think this will be the first one. Partly because the publisher is Revell and partly because it sounds very interesting. This is not a plot that's very common right now. This time period in general is also doing well right now with last year's "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" starring Cate Blanchett and "The Other Boleyn Girl" from last month starring Natalie Portman and Scarlet Johansen.

Review- Better Than Gold

2008-04-22T13:40:00.003-05:00

Better Than Gold
Lily is tired of her one-horse town. Lily Reese can't wait to escape Browning City, Iowa. She's sure she'll be happier in the big city, if only she can save enough money to get there. But then Ben Purcell rides into town, threatening not only Lily's place of residence and growing sense of family, but her safety and peace of mind, as well. And Ben has every intention of sticking around and becoming a small-town guy. How can Lily even consider the feelings he evokes in her? Rumors of a long-lost cache of gold bring danger swirling around them, but Lily and Ben find themselves on a quest for something more. Will releasing their plans and desires bring heartache or a reward they had never imagined?

This was my very first Heartsong. Yes, me. I read one and enjoyed it. Though I have a feeling it was mostly because of the person who wrote it, Laurie Alice Eakes.

This book is the third in a continuity series, but it's not necessary to read the other two in order to enjoy this one. Laurie Alice sprinkles enough backstory in that you know what all is going on. The romance was sweet and completely believable, and the spiritual thread was also very well done. You know from the beginning of the book how it's going to end, but the journey to the end never once felt contrived or that it was lacking chemistry or attraction between Lily and Ben. And I also did NOT figure out who the bad guy was! Laurie Alice gets major points for that.

My favorite part though, was that Lily crochets lace! She does needle lace too, but mainly crochet. It wasn't as popular in the 1870's as it was 15-20 years later, so the way the townsfolk snatched her lace up and begged for it was spot on.

I also got a real sense of Iowa, which is good considering the state theme for the series was Iowa. I've never been there, but do have a couple of friends who grew up there. I still have a hard time imagining wide open spaces without cotton fields being involved, but the sense of small town community that Laurie Alice portrayed was very real and beautifully done.

The Friday Fact

2008-04-18T09:00:00.001-05:00

Crocheted Lace

How many of you remember the old crochet doilies that were at your grandmother or great-grandmother's house? Or Diana having to have more doilies than Josie Pye when she got married? In terms of years, especially when compared to other forms of lace, they're really not that old.

Crocheted lace as a lady's artform has only been around since the mid 1800's, when Irish nuns started doing it. Before that crochet was not something that nice ladies did. I've been unable to verify what I'm about to write, but it's still a fun story. It's said that the term "hooker" came about from crochet lace factories where the crocheters, who work with hooks, were expected to turn tricks on the side for the factory owner. Read that in a book called The Happy Hooker and yes it's about crochet.

Anywho, Irish nuns are said to have gotten ahold of crochet lace and turned it into a respectable artform by selling it and teaching it to their students. To this day crocheted Irish lace is very highly prized and is exquisite.

Doilies were a necessary part of life for the Victorian lady, especially from about 1875 on. Hair pomades were all the rage and ladies didn't want that greasy gunk getting all over their beautiful furniture. So doilies were crocheted and pinned to the tops of chairs. Later they were also pinned to the arms, then used as table toppers, runners, dresser scarves, etc.

Nowadays it's commonly referred to as thread crochet and it's an artform that I dearly love. The intricate lacy patterns hold my attention in a way that regular crochet doesn't.

Just musing

2008-04-07T15:02:00.002-05:00

Two posts in one day, ya'll are probably going to faint. I've been a bad blogger again. Work's been really busy the last few days. REALLY busy.

Last week I hit my first real milestone. I topped 11K on first draft of A Time For War. Needless to say I was totally thrilled. This is the most I've ever written on something.

I seem to be settling into a sort-of routine in regards to writing. When work is slow, I keep something open to be working on. Haven't written a word since Wednesday though. Busy, like I said.

Am in the midst of reading A Passion Most Pure. The book lives up to the hype! It is one of the best books I've ever read. I have seen a few questionable words and phrases, but the year is 1916-1917, so it doesn't jerk me out of the story like it would if the year was 1816. The characters are very well done and very gripping. Julie is a very talented author. The second book comes out in September.

Genesis results are out. I didn't final, but one of my crit partners did. CONGRATULATIONS, Rachel!!! And congratulations to Erica Vetsch for double finaling in Lit and Historical Romance. Mine was entered in HR and I'm nowhere near as good as Erica is. Yet. I plan to continue giving her a run for her money though.

Historical Scavenger Hunt!

2008-04-07T14:58:00.002-05:00

Back in February there was a historical scavenger hunt going on. It's still going! The day the game went live the organizer had a baby. All the details area here. The game will end this Friday, April 11. So you've still got time to play and try to win these awesome books! The game started back in February, so you may have to go through some blog archives to find all the clues.

I've read two of the books and thoroughly enjoyed them. Have fun hunting!

Spotlight on Europe

2008-04-02T14:41:00.003-05:00

Today is Hearts in the Highlands by Ruth Axtell Morren. It's part of the Love Inspired Historical line and hit the shelves yesterday.

From Amazon:
Maddie Norton had long since resigned herself to her spinster's lot. Her life was devoted to her simple yet enduring faith, to good works and to the elderly lady whose companion she was. She believed herself content. But that was before her mistress's handsome nephew returned to London, after many years spent abroad as an archaeologist.The shadows in Reid Gallagher's memory-haunted eyes touched Maddie's heart. When he asked her to travel with his family, to help with his work, she could scarcely refuse. And as she came to know this man better, amid the breathtaking beauty of the Scottish Highlands, she began to wonder if two solitary souls might yet find new life—and love—as one.

My family roots on my mom's side of the family are very Scottish. Doesn't get much more Scottish than Stewart! Unless your name is MacGregor or Bruce. The world's most popular plaid is my family tartan and I wear it with pride.

The hero, Reid, is an archaeologist who's just returned to Great Britain from Egypt. That's another subject that I enjoy reading about it and talk about perfect timing! The next Indiana Jones movie opens next month. Hopefully I will have a copy of this book in my hands before the day is over. As I'm typing this my mom is about to go to Wal-Mart. :D

Once I've read the book, watch for an interview with Ruth.

Spotlight on Europe

2008-03-26T14:18:00.003-05:00

Today I'm finally going to post my review of The Briton! That I finished a month ago...

Author is Catherine Palmer, and the book launched the new LI Historical line. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The plot blurb:
The Britons, had lost all she held dear. She had been widowed in war, then robbed of the ancestral home that was her birthright. And now her last hope was a stranger-one with whom she'd shared a single tender kiss.

The foreign knight Jacques le Brun begged her to let him defend her honor-nay, her very life. But he owed fealty to the hated French who had conquered her country, England, and to the new faith they brought with them. Could Bronwen place her trust in the pure, untainted love she saw shining in this man's eyes-and follow him to a new world?

The book is set in the 12th century and Catherine did a marvelous job of capturing the turmoil that the isle of Britain was experiencing. This was the age of the first crusades and the Normans fighting over who was going to rule the island. Loyalties were divided and friends were hard to come by.

Bronwen immediately captured my attention. She's a very strong woman who is determined to uphold her family's legacy, but she does it all with grace and style. That's the kind of strong heroine that I like. Her first experience with Jacques is her first experience with the invading Normans and Christianity. The relationship grows slowly, but very believably. Jacques is just the kind of hero that I like to read about, strong and committed on the outside and a total mushy romantic on the inside. His offer of protection, with no strings attached, is what begins to soften Bronwen's heart towards the Normans and their God.

A highly enjoyable book and you should check it out even if you don't like medievals.

Dreams

2008-03-24T15:21:00.003-05:00

I grew up listening to the oldies. Music from the 50's, 60's and 70's. When you live in the middle of nowhere that's in the middle of nowhere and detest country music, that's pretty much your only choice. The first Christian station didn't arrive until just before we moved, so I would have been about 13. By that point I had already fallen in love with The Beach Boys, The Righteous Brothers, and Creedence Clearwater Revival.

One song that seems to reverberate in my head is All I Have To Do Is Dream. It's the refrain that I can't ever seem to shake. I have a novel named Dream. The title is after the horse in the book, but it also fits the theme of the novel very well. Broken dreams and finding the strength to dream again.

One of the side effects of a medication I take is weird dreams. Let me tell you I have had some doozies! Including ones that resemble acid trips or I wake up so mad that I could hit something. They're always in vivid color and full of details. I don't remember most of them, just fleeting impressions. I've dreamed about my characters before, but last night I dreamed about one of my characters going to Russia. That was a first. It definitely falls into the weird category and isn't anything that I can use in this person's story. Michael, kids on roller skates, glass hotel lobbies and a hot mineral spring in the middle of Red Square are not things that one should use in novels that are set in the real world.

Every character needs to have some big dream. It makes them real, makes them human. In the horse novel, Evan had dreamed of competing at the Olympics, but a false accusation and a monkey trial left him in jail and he was stripped of all the medals he'd won in international competition. He lost his dream, the driving force in his life, the one thing that might make his father see that he really was worth something. So he has to find a new dream. Without Windswept Dreamer, his beloved horse. His is a story of a young man who refuses to grow up, and then is forced to grow up and start over in a totally foreign way of life. Imagine a lad born in Ireland the son of a filthy rich businessman who runs the family empire. Then take this spoiled rotten kid with a too big ego who grew up just outside NYC, and stick him on a Colorado cattle ranch in the middle of nowhere. Yeah, he has to grow up whether he likes it or not.

Nick dreams of having his own large family, providing the same type of safe haven for troubled Russian orphans that his own adoptive parents provided for him. But his past haunts him, both literally and figuratively.

Michael dreams of being the next Bing Crosby and taking Broadway by storm. He does, but he's haunted by a lost love and the tragic death of his best friend. His dreams come true, but they're empty without her.

A character's dreams are so very important. Everyone has dreams and desires. These need to translate into our writing and make us root for the character, make us want to see the dream come true. But it can't just happen, they have to work for it and strive for it, make the reader believe that this is what they truly want.

What's your character's biggest dream? The one thing they would give anything to have happen?

No, I'm not dead...

2008-03-23T11:57:00.002-05:00

I'm not dead, I didn't fall off the face of the earth and I didn't move to Timbuktu. Surely by now they have Internet in Timbuktu... Which would have been a vast improvement on my situation.

I had every intention of doing a late posting of Spotlight. Work was extremely busy Wednesday, and I usually write blog posts in between jobs. And I had every intention of posting the Friday Fact and finishing up the series on lace. The weather had other ideas.

Twas a very blustery day Tuesday and the wind was blowing so hard that it was making the electric transformers pop and surge. Which fried the wireless router that my Internet runs through. Papa fixed that one, but I spent the day working at a desk that I don't like. Wednesday went great. Until about 2:30 that morning, when the other router died.

Right as Papa had to work for 2 days, so he couldn't fix it. I didn't get to work Thursday or Friday, didn't get to check my email, read my blogs or post on my own blog. It was a tough two days, let me tell you! I finally hightailed it to House of Java Friday afternoon to download my mountain of email.

It's fixed now. Hopefully. So far it's been 24 hours since anything acted up. That's a good sign. *knock on wood* But did I use that time to write? Nope. Ended up running errands for my mom, helping her clean a closet out and getting ready for my sisters BD party. Much fun was had though, so it's all good.

Blog tour- Laurie Alice Eakes

2008-03-17T21:32:00.003-05:00

Welcome to the second stop on Laurie Alice's blog tour. The book we're featuring is Better Than Gold.

For the question to this first answer, plus another chance to win a copy of Better than Gold, visit: http://www.mltyndall.com

This question is difficult to answer without perhaps offending someone, and I'll take a stab at it.

Poor research. The Internet, though possessing some great resources, is not the definitive source and needs to be augmented. Neither is reading one novel of the time and making an inference from it that that was how things always were. Especially before World War I, class distinctions were profound, and if someone doesn't understand this, they make stupid, avoidable mistakes. Too few authors understand this.

Dialogue is another one. Authors have started substituting dialogue for emotion and tension. Although dialogue can convey these things, pages of it in expository form is contrived and forced. No one talks like people put dialogue in books. This is mostly common in contemporary fiction.

Too many books are just plain boring. It has nothing to do with length. I've read 900 page books I couldn't put down, and 200 page books that made me sleep before the end of the table of contents. Seriously. I just put a book aside because the table of contents sounded like the subsequent chapters—fiction—would be utterly tedious and pointless.

Which brings me to the final problem—pointlessness. I read too many scenes in books or books themselves where my first reaction is: So what? Why should I care? Apparently someone did, since they're published, but I encounter it so much along side books I can't put down, I haven't yet figured out the appeal of the tedious ones.

1: Which do you like better, the writing or the research?

That's a tough one. I love them both, and they use different parts of my brain. Research is more left-brain, and writing more right. I think I am subconsciously writing with the right half while researching with the left. So I get the pleasure of doing both together. Pushed for an answer, probably the writing is more fun, but I do love research.

2: I have yet to meet a writer of historical fiction that isn't easily sidetracked on research rabbit trails. How do you deal with that temptation?

I'd like to say I'm really disciplined and stick to a schedule, and I cannot lie. I tend to follow them because they can turn out valuable. I'm so bad about research that if I read about something in an historical novel that doesn't sound familiar to me, I go research it. The Sarmacians for example. I recently read a book by Gillian Bradshaw called Island of Ghosts that was about a Sarmacian. I'd never heard of the Sarmacians, let alone that they were in Roman Britain. I spent a day reading about them. Totally irrelevant to my current work, but I had to know more.

3: Have you ever gotten a good story idea from a rabbit trail?

Oh, yes! In my newest book, Better than Gold, I got sidetracked reading newspaper accounts of the time in which my story was set—1876 Iowa. I had plenty of material for the story, but I couldn't stop reading these actual newspaper articles from the Davenport, Iowa paper. I read one that led to not only the sort of homey, community event that played well into the theme of my book, but gave my brainstorming partner and me an idea on how to solve the mystery. That's only the most recent one. It's happened many times over the years.

4: What was your favorite time period to read about before you started writing?

Revolutions—the American and the French. Both fascinated me since I was a child. They're not unconnected, you know. And I suppose they fulfilled my rebellious spirit. But by the time I started writing, no one wanted American Revolutionary War stories. I have one set in that time period, but mostly in England. It has some serious flaws, but I may try to rework it one day. It's still one of my favorite stories.

5: After Regency England, what period is your favorite to do research in?

Hmm. The whole Georgian period, encompassing Regency, is great. But probably the Restoration—Charles II was just a romantic figure, though he was, in truth, a bit of a reprobate and quite immoral. Still, the romanticism of his story re-collected a shattered kingdom and got them through some terrible times like wars with Holland France and the black plague epidemic and the great fire of London. But I haven't been inspired to write in that time period—yet. I've just researched it extensively. Probably one of those rabbit holes.

6: If you could go back in time to one historical event, what event would it be?

To get the answer to this question, plus another chance to win a copy of Better than Gold, go to
http://www.louisemgouge.com

The drawing here will stay open until Saturday. To be entered, just leave a comment and if you're not one of my regulars please leave an email address where you can be contacted.

Laurie's blog tour!

2008-03-16T14:58:00.001-05:00

Here's the schedule for Laurie Alice's blog tour. I highly recommend reading each interview. Each participant is asking a different "category" of question.

Monday: Marylu Tyndall
http://www.mltyndall.com

Tuesday: Rachel Wilder
http://www.rachelwilder.net

Wednesday: Louise M. Gouge
http://www.louisemgouge.com

Thursday: Susan Lohrer
http://www.inspirationaleditor.blogspot.com

Friday: Melanie Dickerson
http://www.melaniewrites.blogspot.com

The Friday Fact

2008-03-14T18:01:00.002-05:00

Bobbin Lace

Bobbin lace is one of the oldest forms of lace making and is also one of the most delicate. It's estimated to have been in existence since at least the mid 16th century. Here's a link to more detailed info about the history of bobbin lace. Back then, each region had its own pattern variations and you could tell where a piece of lace had been made based simply on the pattern

It gets its name from the bobbins that are used in the process. The bobbins can be made of wood and can be very plain, or they can be very ornate and carved from things like rosewood and ivory. There are 3 things you MUST have to make bobbin lace. The bobbins obviously, and the other two are flat head straight pins and a pillow. The lace itself is made by setting the bobbins up in pairs and then twisting and looping them around the pins that have been stuck in the pillow. The pins make the template for the pattern.

Bobbin lace is another one of those beautiful dying arts, and another thing on my list of Crafts That I Must Learn The Basics Of Before I Die. I have the beginner's kit that is sold by The Victorian Trading Company, but I haven't yet made the time to sit down with it.

If you're interested in pictures of the lace or bobbins or pillows or how it's made, check this site out.

Historical Fiction 101- Part 4

2008-03-13T15:25:00.003-05:00

Today, I'm going to take a look at some of the CBA publishing houses that have a strong presence in the historical fiction genre.

Bethany House pretty much created CBA historical fiction with Janette Oke and Gilbert Morris. Both of these authors started writing in the early 80's, when Christian fiction was still in its infancy. The first House of Winslow book was the second "adult" book that I ever read. They've also published much of Michael Phillips' writing, as well as Judith Pella. Recently the entire structure at Bethany was turned upside down, and their historical division isn't getting as much attention as it used to. The current VP of sales wants to branch out and cut back on the number of historicals Bethany publishes. I find that rather sad.

Heartsong Presents from Barbour is an extremely popular book club that has a line of historical fiction, Heartsong Presents Historicals. They tend to be on the shorter side though, between 40 and 50,000 words. And that's just fine for some people, but I'm not one of them. I've never actually read a Heartsong. Brief guidelines can be found here.

The parent company of HP, Barbour, also publishes historical fiction in their trade paperback line. They have just re-released Susan May Warren's "Olga", now titled "The Sovereign's Daughter" and I also know that they will very soon be re-releasing Gilbert Morris' Appomattox Saga series. If you love Civil War fiction, this is THE series to read.

The recent launch of Steeple Hill's Love Inspired Historical line catapulted them very firmly into the historical genre. Submission guidelines can be found here. At this point they're open to pretty much everything except the American Revolution. As I've said before, there are multiple Regencies in the pipeline. The word count for LIH is 70-75,000.

Tyndale House has published all of Tricia Goyer's novels so far. Unfortunately she recently announced on her blog that Tyndale will not be publishing any more of her historicals. I think it has something to do with the Spanish Civil War Chronicles sales numbers. I don't know what the current status is for them accepting historicals, so if anyone who reads this does know, please leave a comment.

Zondervan also publishes a few historicals, but they're more well known for their thrillers, suspense, non-fiction and the NIV. They have Brandilyn Collins and Terri Blackstock.

Revell also has a growing presence in the historical genre. They published the blockbuster hit All The Tea in China, and they've published Deanne Gist's A Bride Most Begrudging and Courting Trouble. Revell and Bethany are both owned by the Baker Publishing Group. Revell is also the publisher of A Passion Most Pure that's making all kinds of waves in the CBA. I plan to order the book this weekend and will be posting a full review. Revell seems to be open to content that's edgier and a little more passionate. I'm looking forward to seeing what else Revell will publish.

This is just a very very basic list, but it should give you a pretty good idea of what all is out there. In the realm of historical fiction there is truly something for everyone.

Next Tuesday, please stop by for an interview with Laurie Alice Eakes. She has a Heartsong coming out. I'll post the full blog tour schedule over the weekend. We're doing something pretty unique with the interviews and in order to read all the answers you have to go to every blog on the list. But don't worry! There's only 5.

Historical Fiction 101- Part 3

2008-03-10T14:21:00.002-05:00

OK, so we've looked briefly at what historical fiction is and what time periods qualify as historical fiction. Here's where the waters get kind of muddy.

Are you writing historical fiction or historical romance? There is a difference, and that's what we're going to talk about today.

Historical romance is exactly what it sounds like. It's a romance set in a historical period. Usually, the romance is the focus of the plot. The only technical difference between historical romance and contemporary romance is the setting. The subtle differences between the two is almost a craft series in itself.

Straight up historical fiction isn't always so easy to identify. The line can be very blurry. The general rule of thumb is this: If you can remove the romance element without losing any of the plot, then you're not writing a historical romance. That said, even most straight up historicals still have a romance element in them somewhere.

Gilbert Morris is the author who first comes to my mind as the author who straddles this line and helps make it blurry. But he does it so well that I personally don't really mind. He does not write romance. He writes historical fiction with a strong romance subplot. Much of his writing does meet the test though. If you remove the romance thread, you still have a good book. Maybe not as riveting, but still a good book.

In my mind, the most classic modern example of historical fiction is Michael Phillips' Secrets of Heathersleigh Hall series. It's not one of his better known series, but it is one of his best written. It follows the life of a family in England, who live at Heathersleigh Hall. When the series opens, no one in the family is a Christian. In fact, the father fully believes and endorses Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and encourages his children to question everything. Even his authority as their father. As the series progresses, he wisens up to the errors of his ways and watches the evolution lies destroy his daughter. Being as this is Christian fiction, she does eventually come back home and accept her father's change, but at a great personal cost. It's a story of redemption really, and how much fathers love their daughters. It's riveting and some of Michael's best writing IMO. But it's not a romance.

Another hallmark of straight up historical is that the historical events are as much a character in the novel as the characters themselves. This particular plot could not happen believably in any other setting because it needs this particular event to make it happen.

Historical romance was pretty much created by Janette Oke. Unfortunately, far too many people associate the term "historical romance" with the prairie westerns that Janette is famous for. That's something that is slowly changing. Today's masters of historical romance include Catherine Palmer, Deanne Gist and Tamera Alexander.

Much of my own writing is very difficult to categorize using just these two terms. The Epic is not historical romance. There's a strong romance subplot going on with Yelena and Dmitri, but if I remove that subplot I don't lose any of the story. But at the same time marketing it as just historical fiction doesn't feel right either. I'm glad I'm not the one who will make the final decision on where it belongs.

Historical Fiction 101- Part 2

2008-03-06T14:22:00.003-06:00

My apologies for not posting the Spotlight yesterday. My sister was kind enough to bring home a nasty cold and share it with her siblings. (don't slip in the puddle of sarcasm...) I could barely keep my head on straight enough to work, much less write a coherent blog post.

Time Periods

There is actually quite a bit of confusion out there as to what the different time periods are that make up historical fiction. I'm going to give a pretty basic list and not go into a whole lot of detail. This is 101 after all.

Biblical- This is the sub-genre that covers Genesis through the 1st century Christians in Rome. The series that most CBA readers will think about for this period is Francine Rivers' Mark Of The Lion series. Also, the Thoene's AD Chronicles series falls into this sub-genre. There's not a lot out there in the CBA market that goes into the later years of the Roman Empire. I would guess that the reason has something to do with the pagan culture of ancient Rome, as well as the pagan cultures the Romans encountered during their conquering of much of western Europe. The Roman period sort of segued into the Byzantine/Ottoman Empire, which also seems to be a taboo period right now because of the emphasis in this period on the creation of Islam and the Eastern Orthodox church.

Medieval/Middle Ages- This period also is not very popular in the CBA. A big part of the reason is that Christians at that time were 95% of the time Catholic. For some reason I don't understand, many CBA publishers seem to have a hang-up about novels with Catholic characters--historical or contemporary. At one point many years ago, there was an editor who didn't think it was possible to be a real Christian before the Reformation. Which is utterly absurd. The thoughts on medievals in CBA seems to be changing though. Love Inspired launched their historical line with a medieval, The Briton, and Lisa T. Bergren's medieval set trilogy has been getting fantastic reviews.

Elizabethan/Renessaince/Reformation- Think Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Martin Luther, the Sistine Chapel, Venice at its height of glory. This period is also a hard sell, but you have more belief system options for your characters. Catholicism was still the way of much of the western world, but the Church of England was emerging at this time, as were the Puritans and the Pilgrims. This period also gave birth to the greatest Christian allegory ever written- The Pilgrim's Progress.

Awakening/Georgian/Colonial- Also a hard sell for some strange reason. The 18th century was generally known in England as the Georgian era, and here in the Colonies it was the time of the Great Awakening, a huge spurt in popularity for non-Calvinist denominations, and the seeds of revolution were planted all over the Western world. You have the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the rise of Napoleon, the downfall of England and the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution all happening in the same stretch of years. It was a very busy century, and one that most publishing houses won't buy. Kinda sad in my opinion because there was so much going that is absolutely crucial to the reasons why the Colonists were so dead set on overthrowing British rule.

Regency/Empire/Federal- This period is enjoying a huge moment of popularity thanks to the 2005 version of Pride & Prejudice, the new Jane Austen movies made by the BBC and Disney's "Becoming Jane" starring Anne Hathaway. This span of time covers about 1795-1830. In England it was the Regency, in France it was the Empire, and in the newly formed USA it was the Federal. This period is most noted for its simple, comfortable clothing and clean lined furniture. The 1830's don't really fit in anywhere because they were so vastly different from the preceeding and following decades. The 1840's were just as gloomy and dark as the 1830's were gaudy and brash.

Victorian- This is actually a HUGE span of time and many other periods fit into it. Technically speaking the Victorian era stretched from 1837-1901--the years that Victoria reigned as Queen of England. Women were all about copying Victoria. Her tastes in furniture, clothing, books and music ruled Western society for nearly 3 generations. Her reign is often seen as England's Golden Era, and it's also my favorite period to read about. She encouraged innovation, experimentation and family devotion. The American Civil War falls into this category, as does Reconstruction and Antebellum fiction, along with a host of other stuff like British India and British Africa.

Edwardian- Not to be confused with Victorian! Edwardian started in 1901 and went until about the time of the Titanic. Anne of Green Gables is set in the Edwardian period, as is the American Girl doll Samantha Parkington. The Gibson Girl is usually associated with the early Edwardian period with her sweeping updos, angelic face and leg o' mutton sleeves, but she actually had her start in the 1890's.

WW1- After the Titanic disaster, the world started gearing up for war. World War One, or The Great War as it was called by the people of that time. Again, it's a hard sell in the CBA. My personal thoughts on that is because the war didn't have a clear rallying cry. There was no central "evil" to fight. It was just a bunch of kings and arch dukes playing with their toy soldiers. This led to the Russian Revolution and the overthrow of the Russian monarchy, the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and the rise of communism.

Roaring Twenties/The Depression- The Roaring Twenties are most known in the US for jazz, Prohibition and the mob. Also a hard sell in the CBA because of the very loose societal morals of the day. While felt the most in the US, the effects of the Depression stretched into every corner of the modern world. It was a time when Communism was very appealing with its promises of food for all and world peace. Nobody knew then how much of a lie it was and how many millions of people were dying in Russia because of Stalin's paranoia and a government induced famine.

WW2- The first truly global war with battles fought in all hemispheres and on nearly every single continent. With a good, gripping story that hasn't been told yet, you can sell a WW2 story easily in the CBA market. Judith Pella sort of blazed the way for Cold War spy novels with the last book in her Daughters of Fortune series, and I for one would love to see more of those types of stories. Guess that's why I'm writing one...

And that's pretty much where historical fiction ends right now. Some houses consider the Korean War as historical, some don't. Ditto for the 60's and Vietnam. Those two are a very difficult sell because of the culture you have to write about. I imagine in another 10-15 years, the line for what is a historical novel will move forward a decade or two.

Historical Fiction 101- Part 1

2008-03-04T14:49:00.002-06:00

What exactly IS historical fiction? That's what I'm going to answer today.

Webster's defines historical as "of, relating to, or having the character of history". I like that definition. It works well with historical fiction.

I think we all know what fiction means. So when you put the two together, we get something along the lines of "a work of fiction that relates to or has the character of history." I particularly like this because I love historical novels where the actual history is as much a character as the characters themselves.

Having spent 4 years working at a plantation, I regularly encountered the opinion that history is boring and dull. That it was just a list of numbers, dates and facts. Any history nut will tell you otherwise. History is fascinating. Why did people think like that, what forces shaped their world, how did societal values affect daily life. I believe it is the duty of the historical fiction author to portray these things in a manner that the public can relate to, then bring it to life and help people see that history is not boring or dull.

Every culture in the world needs to know their history. Those who do not know the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat those mistakes. Unfortunately that seems to be happening more and more here in the U.S. So if it's happening here, I would imagine it's happening in other countries as well. We must know our history. We must preserve it for the next generation and we must make it real. I believe that is an integral part of writing historical fiction.

The next installment will be Thursday, and we'll look at the different time periods that fall under the heading of historical fiction.

Historical Fiction 101

2008-03-03T16:58:00.002-06:00

I'm about to do my first craft series! I'm terribly excited about it. The plan right now is to post it on Mondays and Tuesdays and possibly on Thursdays. I don't expect it to take more than 5 posts to do. But I reserve the right to change my mind.

The series will talk about the differences between historical fiction and historical romance, go through the different time periods that are included under the historical umbrella and hopefully impart some of my history passion to my readers.

We'll kick things off tomorrow by finding out exactly what historical fiction is.

The Friday Fact

2008-02-29T22:18:00.002-06:00

Hairpin Lace.

I had planned to do a lace series before I saw this week's episode of Project Runway. Chris's use of hairpin lace in one of his looks only made me to decide to move hairpin up the list. I imagine there are an awful lot of Project Runway fans who haven't got the faintest idea what hairpin lace is. I shall attempt to remedy that.

Hairpin lace isn't an old form of lace, relatively speaking. It's done with a crochet hook, so it's only been around since the early 19th century. It gets the name "hairpin" from the loom that's used to make the strips. It looks like a hairpin, only the sides are straight and both ends are closed. Here's a picture of a lovely walnut loom. This form of lace was extremely popular in the late Victorian period.

The lace is woven in strips on the loom with the use of a crochet hook, and then the strips are crocheted together to form scarves, shawls and edgings. And here is a tutorial with pictures, written by Sandra Petit, ACFW member, published author and my brother's mother-in-law. Just for the heck of it, a lovely hairpin lace shawl. You can really see the strips and the weaving in that picture.

Spotlight on Europe

2008-02-27T12:42:00.002-06:00

This week's feature is a little different, not something I would usually feature. But it's such an amazing concept that I have to tell about it!

The book is titled A Curse Dark As Gold, and it's a YA historical fantasy. This novel is the debut novel of Elizabeth C. Bunce. I met her over a year ago on one of my cross stitch message boards, and go to watch her go through the final edits of the book, get it turned in and then start on all of the promo stuff. The book is getting amazing reviews, and I know for a fact that it's already sold out twice on Amazon.

It's a retelling of Rumpelstiltskin, set in the old mill towns of England. I had found the year a few days ago, but now I don't remember what it was...

From Elizabeth's web site:
As Charlotte struggles to manage the difficulties she inherits along with Stirwaters Woollen Mill, she discovers a shadow world at the fringes of the familiar: Dark magic, restless spirits, a mysterious Helper. A wicked uncle, an age-old curse.... How can Charlotte prevail with such forces allied against her? In this novel inspired by “Rumpelstiltskin,” the miller’s daughter of the fairy tale comes to life as a young woman determined to save her family and her mill--whatever the cost.

Just as an FYI, this is NOT a Christian novel, so the fantasy elements are probably not light fantasy. I haven't read it yet, but I plan to. It's based on a fairy tale, how can I not?

Elizabeth also does Renessaince Faires and is an amazing seamstress.

The Munchkin is sick

2008-02-26T22:20:00.003-06:00

The Munchkin has a cold. Her eyes are watery, she's sneezing her little head off and she can't breathe through her nose. So her mommy has to call the vet in the morning and get her some drugs.

It really is funny to listen to a cat sneeze though. Especially the way Zoe sneezes. On and on and on....

Romance.... or Love Story?

2008-02-24T11:54:00.003-06:00

Like most females, I love a good romance. Boy Meets Girl. Girl Hates Boy. Boy Hates Girl. Girl Falls in Love With Boy. They Fight. They get married. Good romance follows a formula. Writing to a formula does not make something inherently bad. Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys are based on a formula, and a very successful formula at that. How many other teen detectives are still sleuthing after nearly 80+ years? None!

But I've never been comfortable applying the romance label to my own stuff. For one thing, I rarely start at the beginning of the relationship with Boy Meets Girl. More often than not, the story begins in the middle of the relationship and is usually centered on some sort of tragic event that drives a wedge between them, and they have to work through the tragedy in order to stay together. Even though my life has had very little tragedy in it, that's just the way my brain works.

Yesterday, I read that Nicholas Sparks' refers to his romances as Love Stories. The reason for this is that he doesn't end with a Happily Ever After. The HEA is crucial to a successful romance formula. His books end happily, usually with some sort of tragic element that leaves you happy and satisfied, but reaching for the Kleenexes. The end of The Notebook gets me every time.

So that got me to thinking, and I've pretty much come to the conclusion that this particular romance sub-genre is what fits a lot of my romance. Contemporary and historical. I usually have some sort of tragic element, and I rarely have a HEA. They're happy at the end of the story, but you get the feeling the troubles aren't over. But you do know that the couple can survive whatever life may throw at them, because they have God and each other.

So that's what I write. Historical and contemporary love stories. And the more tragic the setting, the better I like it!

The Friday Fact

2008-02-22T17:45:00.002-06:00

All Tied Up

This week I'm going to tell you about tatting. It's a form of lace that is made with knots. It's also one of the oldest known ways of making lace.

The most important part of tatting is the shuttle. They're about 3 inches long with a hook on one end, and a bobbin in the middle. The bobbin usually pops out and this is what you wind your thread on. Then the bobbin goes back in.

Tatting can only be done in circular motifs. These motifs can then be stretched out in a single line, or formed into other shapes. But it's all based on a circle. With knots. Kind of like macrame.

Tatting was at its height of popularity during the Elizabethan period. It was very fashionable for ladies of the court to wear a tatting shuttle on their belts. Some of these were very ornate and made out of things like ivory, mother of pearl, silver and pewter.

Nowadays there's a form called needle tatting. I'm determined to conquer shuttle tatting though. Especially after I found out that one of my great-grandmothers used to do it all the time. I would love to have her shuttle, but one of my great-uncle's ended up with it and there's no telling what happened to it.

In Michael Phillips' "Secrets of Heathersleigh Hall" series, all of the ladies tat.

Interview with Lynette Eason

2008-02-21T11:56:00.002-06:00

Today I have a short interview with Lynette Eason, author of the LI Suspense novel Lethal Deception.

Where did the initial idea for Lethal Deception come from?
I was sitting the Department of Motor Vehicles thinking I would NEVER get out of that "jungle" when I just started brainstorming the first chapter of Lethal Deception. I had a screaming two year old in front of me who became the daughter of missionary friends who needed a guardian. I threw in a few bad guys, a hero to the rescue and a loving God and voila! I know, that's a really weird way to get a story idea, huh?

Not as weird as where some of mine have come from!

Did you choose the human trafficking issue on purpose, or did it just happen? (this issue is something I follow very closely and address in my own stuff, so you could say it's very close to my heart)

I had seen something in the news or in the paper, I can't remember which, about this issue and it's just horrifying. Then the light went on, and I thought that would be a GREAT platform for my heroine. So, I worked it in the story. Plus, it's a major issue in Brazil and Venezuela and other countries and I feel like people need to be aware of it. Great question! Thanks for asking it.

I'm a total sucker for guys in a uniform, especially if they have the Navy SEAL trident pinned on it. Where did Gabe come from?
Oh, I'm like you. I love SEAL stories, RANGER stories, etc. I picked Navy SEAL for Gabe because it just fit him. And I'd already done some research on SEALs so everything seemed to work together in the story for him to be a SEAL...with a troubled past!

Will we ever find out exactly what happened to Micah? I don't believe for a minute that he's really dead...

YES! You will find out in book two. RIVER OF SECRETS is coming out in August of 2008 and you'll know exactly what happened to him... I LOVED writing that story.

Thanks, Lynette! I for one am very much looking forward to RIVER OF SECRETS.

Spotlight on Europe

2008-02-20T16:04:00.003-06:00

Today we're going to take a look at a Ruth Axtell Morren's Winter Is Past. It's the first book in her Regency series, and was also her debut novel in 2003.

From Amazon:

A rising star in Parliament, widower Simon Aguilar needs a reliable woman to care for his gravely ill daughter, Rebecca. He finds an exemplary nurse -- and much more -- in the indomitable Althea Breton.

Raised amid privilege, Althea renounced wealth and social position to serve God, and is reluctant to work for a man who became a Christian only to further his political career. But realizing that all things are possible with God's love, she accepts the position in the Aguilar household.

Despite Simon's skepticism, Althea comforts Rebecca by teaching her about God and salvation. Meanwhile, an attraction grows between the darkly handsome MP and the understated beauty whose integrity and competence win over his entire household. Althea admires Simon's devotion as a father, his sense of justice as a politician and his tenderness as a man, but his antipathy toward her faith divides them. When Simon's world suddenly falls apart, can Althea convince him to open his heart to God's love -- and her own?

The series is up to 4 books now, with the most recent addition being The Rogue's Redemption.

Ruth will also have a couple books coming out later this year in the LI Historical line.

In other Spotlight On Europe news, I have The Briton in my hands and have thoroughly enjoyed the first chapter. I'll post a review once I've finished it.

And now...

2008-02-16T14:32:00.002-06:00

Welcome to RachelWilder.net! My blogger address will still work, as does www.rachelwilder.net.

I'm not ready to have actual content on my website, but I am ready to start building name recognition. I did make the banner, and it'll do for now. Historical fiction is my first love, and I've already established a history presence on this blog, so I think the new banner captures that. It also uses the image that I want associated with my name. Whenever people hear "Russia", one of the first images their mind presents is St. Basil's Cathedral. Someday I hope to be able to use my own photograph of St. Basil's on my website. But for now, I'll make do with clip art.

The Friday Fact

2008-02-15T15:28:00.003-06:00

Napoleon is most remembered as a military genius. If you ignore Waterloo... He had a far more lasting effect on the world of fashion.

The French Revolution decimated all levels of French society. People were starving and the economy tanked. That's part of how Napoleon was able to come to power with very little opposition. One of the first things that he did, and one of the least known things, was to set about reviving the French fashion industry. This included making of fabric and the lace industry. Before the Revolution, French lace was the best lace in the world.

He did this by issuing very strict court apparel guidelines. Every single time a woman appeared in court, she had to wear a different dress. Even if she appeared 3 times in the same day, she couldn't wear the same dress. This led to an unnaturally high demand for fine fabrics and lace, thereby giving the stagnant lace industry the exact boost it needed to come back to life. Sometimes the dresses could be remade, but most ladies chose to just get another one.

This edict had many other side effects. Seamstresses never ran out of business, lace exports went back up and dress shops abounded. It put France back on the forefront of European fashion. During the Revolution years, that honor belonged solely to England. The Spencer jacket is English in origin, and is the one clothing item most associated with the Regency/Empire period.

From my perspective, the best side effect was the vast number of beautiful dresses that were left behind by all these court ladies. Since they could only wear the dress once, the fabric wasn't repeatedly exposed to body oils and sweat. Fabric lasts longer that way. There are literally hundreds of surviving Empire gowns for costume historians to go nuts over. No other pre-20th century fashion era has more surviving clothing than the French Empire.

Spotlight on Europe

2008-02-13T14:58:00.003-06:00

Recently released is the third book in Tricia Goyer's Spanish Civil War series. You may have noticed the book mentioned Monday when I posted about the scavenger hunt game that's going on.

From CBD:
The fighting between the Nationalists and the Republicans grinds on across Spain, threatening to destroy everything and everyone in its path. International volunteers Sophie, Philip, and Deion are slowly coming to grips with the fact that if they are going to survive to help the people of Spain, they must escape this foreign land soon. But the line between friends and enemies is increasingly blurred, and the journey out of the country is fraught with danger. And then there's the gold. Walt has a plan for the treasure that he promises will help the people of Spain if Sophie will help him get it out of the country. But Michael is hot on their trail with plans of his own for the precious metal. The Whisper of Freedom reminds readers that victory is often unsure in times of war. Danger and darkness can threaten to silence all courage and faith. But as this committed band of volunteers and Spanish patriots learns-hope is more precious than gold.

This series has been getting a lot of buzz because of the time period. The 1930's. Tricia's been getting a lot of flak for having characters who are Communist. In my mind this is how it should be. Back then Communism was very appealing. People all over the US and Europe were starving and Communism promised food for everyone. Lenin's Bolshevik rallying cry was "End the War and bread for everyone!". The cry worked, even though the bread for everyone part never came true. But Americans didn't know that part then.

To me, this is another classic example of people trying to judge history according to what we know today. It doesn't work that way. What we know now about Communism, we didn't know back then. Nobody knew that Stalin was a despot dictator who killed more Jews than Hitler. Nobody knew he was paranoid or that the Russian people were starving to death.

***

I've been a really really bad blogger the last couple weeks. My excuse is that I've been caught up in training for my new job and I've been totally focused on that. To the exclusion of everything else, lol. But training is just about done so I hopefully shall be returning to the land of regularity very soon.

It's a Historical Scavenger Hunt!!!

2008-02-11T13:20:00.000-06:00

It’s a Historical Scavenger Hunt!

Playing is easy. Get the list of clues at www.ChristianReviewofBooks.com. Then visit the links below to learn about the authors and their books—you’ll find the answers to the clues in the Q&A posted there! Once you have all 18 answers, send an email to review@ChristianReviewofBooks.com to be entered to win:

Six autographed books!

A Whisper of Freedom by Tricia Goyer

The Lady of Milkweed Manor by Julie Klassen

A Passion Most Pure by Julie Lessman

The Sovereign’s Daughter by Susan K. Downs & Susan May Warren

The Rogue’s Redemption by Ruth Axtell Morren

On Sparrow Hill by Maureen Lang

Visit these sites for the clues!

www.triciagoyer.blogspot.com

www.novelinspirations.com/blog

www.julielessman.com

http://sovereignsdaughter.blogspot.com

http://ruthaxtellmorren.blogspot.com

www.maureenlang.com

2008-02-05T14:18:00.000-06:00

I love characters. That's part of why I love reading series. I get to watch the characters grow and mature. As a writer, I'm all about the character arc.

It's very important to have well-rounded characters that you might meet on the street or in line at the grocery store. Yesterday I talked about my football player. His name is Seth. Yeah, he's a professional athlete and he loves football. Lives and breathes it sometimes. But there's more to him than just football. There has to be, otherwise he is nothing more than cardboard. And cardboard characters are dull, boring, bland and nobody wants to read about them.

Seth lives in Colorado. He has a basement. Louisiana doesn't have basements, so I'm rather fascinated with the idea of basements. The tempermental hot water heater is in the basement. So is his Spiderman collection. Yeah, he likes Spidey. When you think about a college grad signing a contract with the NFL or the NBA, you might imagine that he would spend part of the signing bonus money on a fancy new car, or a Rolex watch. Not Seth. He went and tracked down a copy of the first issue of Spiderman and was able to finally buy it without feeling guilty about spending that much money on a comic book with 20 pages in it.

Is any of this information important to the part of his story I've chosen to tell? Not really. But it makes him real. Gives you a way to identify with him as someone besides a celebrity.

The Epic has dual heroes. Two brothers, 5 years apart in age but still the best of friends because of how they were raised. They have what would appear to most people to be a very silly ritual. When it's storming outside, they like to read scary stories out loud to each other. In the dark of course with just one candle to illuminate the pages. I'm talking Poe, Dracula, etc. The Telltale Heart and The Cask of Amantillado are two of their favorites.

This little thing isn't terribly important to the plot, and I may not even use it. But it's still there and it makes them real.

Nick knits socks. Tanner harbors a secret love of Disney animation and has a weakness for WDCC pieces--particularly Finding Nemo pieces. David's favorite book is Jane Eyre. Reese is absolutely fascinated with ancient Egypt and he once sculpted the entire Valley of the Kings out of sand. Connor's kitchen, car and bedroom are red because that's his favorite color. Michelle makes tatted lace and uses it to trim the Civil War gowns that she makes. Michael owns every song that Bing Crosby ever recorded and Irving Berlin ever wrote. Duncan plays Rachmaninov.

None of these things are important in the grand scheme of plot, but they are all important in characterization. It's the little things like this can breathe life into an otherwise stale character. Do your heroes/heroines have hobbies or collections or fascinations?

Football!

2008-02-04T12:51:00.000-06:00

(no, Elizabeth, I haven't turned to the dark side...)

I did not watch the Super Bowl yesterday. But I still watched a football game. More than one actually. In That's My Boy starring Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin. It was not one of their better movies, and it was very obvious that it was one of their early ones. The classic Martin & Lewis formula wasn't there. They're also a little too old in 1951 to be playing college athletes.

I've never given one whit about football really. Except for the annual Tigers-Hogs game the day after Thanksgiving. I don't understand the rules, I have no idea what's going on and don't even understand the scoring system. If you ask me what a first-down is I'll just give you a blank look. I don't even have a real desire to learn more about the game.

So why on earth do I have an NFL player in my head? At some point I will have to learn more about football. I will have to try and understand the rules because it's so important to Seth. Why did he have to be 6 foot 3 and not 5 foot 3? If he was a jockey I wouldn't have to learn a new game...

More Russian fiction

2008-02-02T12:59:00.000-06:00

I discovered another set of Russian fiction set during WW1 and the Revolution. Amazon has the series listed as the Crossings of Promise. It's three books: Calm Before The Storm, Eye of the Storm and Out of the Storm. The author is a new ACFW member, Janice Dick.

Naturally the setting grabs my attention. Quickly followed by the time period. If there's one trilogy in this time period out there already, then there's got to be room for one more that takes a different narrative point of view.

The characters in Janice's books are Mennonites. Russia had a very large Mennonite community in the late 19th century and many of them emigrated to the US and Germany during the Revolution and ensuing civil war.

As my perusal of Russian set Christian fiction continues, I am more and more convinced that my characters are very unique. They're not Mennonite, they're not Jewish, they're not Baptist. They're Orthodox. Faithwise they represent the majority of Russians for that time. I'm not afraid to make my characters Orthodox. Heck, I'm not even afraid to let a character be Catholic if that's what suits the character.

Yes my characters are wealthy and own land. But my heroes also have peasant roots so they see both sides of the society they live in. The issues that Michael will be struggling with as he is fighting with the Whites are issues that many of the revolutionaries dealt with too. Another thing that sets me apart is that I don't have a main character who is a revolutionary. I have a couple of very minor ones, but they don't play a huge part in the plot.

The Bolsheviks view of what all was going in gets a lot of screen time in novels and movies. What you don't hear about is the Whites side of things. Their lives changed too. Many of them were sent to prison or executed simply for owning land or having a lot of money. Overnight an entire class of people became criminals. That's what I've chosen to focus on and that's what continues to make my writing different from the other Russian set fiction that's out there.

Changes coming soon!!!!
The URL of this blog will be changing VERY soon. This weekend if I can get it out figured out. It's time to move past the casual writing stage and into the author-pursuing-publication stage. To that end, the blog will be getting a bit of a makeover, a new URL and a shifting focus. The Friday Fact and Spotlight on Europe will remain the same.

The Friday Fact

2008-02-01T18:02:00.000-06:00

Some Adoption Facts

As usual, I have Russia on the brain. I'd had a great thought to do for today, but somewhere along the way I've lost it and I can't find it. My mind used to be a steel trap, now it's a sieve! So I'm falling back on something else.

Russia first opened for international adoption in 1993. I forget where I saw that though, I've been to so many Russian adoption sites in the last year. No, I'm not planning to adopt a child anytime soon. I'm just doing research. When you have multiple Russian orphans living in your head you need to know everything that you can possibly find out about them. At least that's my excuse, lol.

The number of children adopted in that first year was somewhere around 325. I had the number written down somewhere, but I've lost it...

China and Russia are now the #1 and #2 countries that American families adopt from. Guatemala is the #1 South/Central America country. In 2000, 64% of foreign adoptees were girls and 36% were boys. These numbers reflect China's #1 status. I expect these numbers will start to change though because China is now realizing all its men don't have anybody to marry so they've just started limiting the number of adoptions that they'll approve. Almost 90% of all internationally adopted children are under the age of 5.

My adopted characters are older than the average. Quite a bit older in fact. But I've always enjoyed a challenge and I wanted them to be old enough to retain the Russian language and be able to enjoy being Russian and being American. If I believed in re-incarnation, I would think that I'd been a Russian in a past life.

Spotlight on Europe

2008-01-30T16:18:00.000-06:00

February is bringing something very exciting to the world of Christian historical fiction. Steeple Hill's Love Inspired is launching a new line, Love Inspired Historical. This has me very excited because easy to read, well written historicals will be available at practically every Wal-Mart in the country. This is fabulous!!

What really has me excited is the book that's launching the line. The Briton written by Catherine Palmer. Not only is it a historical novel, it's a European historical. And a medieval too! I don't see myself ever writing a medieval, but I certainly do love reading them. CBD has it listed as available in March, but Amazon and the LI website both have it available next week.

I also know for a fact that there are several Regencies in the LIH pipeline and that the editors are open to European set manuscripts. In fact, there are several Regencies coming out this year that aren't LIH. I see this as a very good thing, as I've said multiple times in the past.

My Wal-Mart is FINALLY carrying LI books, so next week I shall be haunting the book section waiting to see if the Historical line will be put on the shelves.

The Friday Fact

2008-01-25T22:37:00.000-06:00

Muslin Disease

I mentioned muslin disease on my European historicals loop a little while back and was kind of shocked to find out how many of my fellow history fanatics didn't know about it. Well, maybe I should excuse them from it since they do focus on Regency England and Muslin Disease was rampant in Empire France... :D

Muslin was an extremely popular fabric choice for dresses in the Empire period. (1800-1814) It was lightweight, easily affordable, and best of all it was clingy. I'm pretty sure only the merveilluese took full advantage of the clingy properties though.

The merveilluse were the "loose women", and their male counterparts were the "incroyables" or dandys. Napoleon was all about classical Greece. He thought Alexander the Great was the best thing that ever happened to human kind. After Napoleon's first foray into Greece, he decided that members of his court were going to dress like that.

Back then, they didn't know that the ancient Greek statues had once been brightly painted. This is why plain muslin was so popular for a little while. Bright, garish colors and gaudy prints were also popular. These are the French we're talking about after all.

So the merveilluse decided they wanted to look exactly like the Greek statues. They wore white muslin dresses over pink body tights. Often they would splash water on their dresses to enhance the clinginess. They didn't care what the weather was like that day either.

Naturally they would get sick. Since it seemed to be happening the most to the ladies who wore muslin dresses, somebody started calling it Muslin Disease. In reality, it was just good old-fashioned viral pneumonia.

Muslin Disease eventually died out as muslin favoritism was replaced with cotton and silks. But not before claiming its most famous victim--The Empress Josephine. Muslin Disease on a death certificate seems more romantic than just plain ole pneumonia.

News and reviews

2008-01-24T15:29:00.000-06:00

There's some exciting stuff coming here in February! Lynette Eason's blog tour, a European historical scavenger hunt, a review of Ruth Morren's "The Rogue's Redemption" and possibly an interview with her. I'm excited!

I'm over halfway done with The Midwife of St. Petersburg. And I'm disappointed. I am not enjoying it like I thought I would because of one little thing. Too much dialogue! This is the best example of how NOT to write a middle that I've come across in a long time.

Too much dialogue you say? Yes, too much. Too much talking about things that don't move the plot forward. A full 2/3'rds of the book takes place in the span of about 10 hours and is one long speech after another that does not move the plot forward. Yes the causes of the Revolution are interesting, but I don't need to be subjected to lecture after lecture after lecture from one particular character on what all is wrong with autocratic Russia. This book is supposed to be about Karena, not her brother.

The hero and the heroine still don't even really know each other and there's less than a 4th of the book left. They're not even in St. Petersburg yet! I don't feel like I know Karena or Alex. I know her brother very well though. But he's not a main character and he shouldn't be getting so much face-time. The bulk of the plot should NOT be revolving around him.

The back cover blurb also isn't jiving with what's going on. There is no romance between Karena and Alex. Just physical reactions to each other's presence. They've spoken maybe 100 words to each other that don't have something to do with Karena's brother. The book is nearly over and since it is supposed to be a historical romance I expect the hero and heroine to have already made their declarations of love to each other and they're fighting for recognition that they're doing the right thing. Considering their very different backgrounds, that would be a lot more interesting to me than listening to Karena's brother and uncle.

There's a very interesting sub plot going on with a jeweled brooch, which I feel should have been given more importance than the brother's situation because the brooch directly affects Karena. Who is supposed to be the main character.

Mrs. Chaikin has written over 30 books. I expected more from this one. Seeing as how Russia is my favorite subject and I write Russian historical fiction, this worries me. A lot.

I want to read her Silk House series, but I think I'll be checking my library for it first.

Spotlight on Europe

2008-01-23T13:58:00.000-06:00

To celebrate the re-release of Oksana as The Sovereign's Daughter, today's feature is the Heirs of Anton series by Susan May Warren and Susan Downs.

The series consists of 4 books: Ekaterina, Nadia, Marina and Oksana. What I like best about this series is how Susie tells the story backwards. She starts in the modern day with Ekaterina and by the end of that book the reader knows almost the entire story of what's been going on since the October Revolution.

It's not until Oksana that it's revealed just who these women are descended from. It is a "lost Romanov" tale, which has no basis in reality anymore since the last two skeletons have been found, but nevertheless it's an engaging, well-written, wonderful story that is believable. That's the key to these lost Romanov stories, keeping it believable.

This is the series that got me hooked on Susie. I was drawn to it because it was set in Russia. So of course I HAD to have it. And then I decided, well, Susie's really good at this whole writing thing. Let me check out some of her other stuff. So I did and I've never looked back. Susie being a member of ACFW is what finally got me to join.

Nadia is also falls into the Cold War spy thriller category. And Marina is set in WW2. This series has something for everyone. Whether you devour historical fiction or not!

Oscar Noms

2008-01-22T11:43:00.000-06:00

The Oscar nominations are out. Here's the full list.

Once again, I've never heard of most of these movies. What is it with Hollywood and nominating all of these movies that nobody ever sees?

I have seen a few of them. Bourne Ultimatum, At World's End, Sweeney Todd and Enchanted. My biggest beef this year though is not that they're once again nominating movies that nobody's ever seen, but that they are nominating movies that don't deserve it.

Sweeney Todd has been nominated for Best Actor, Best Picture, Achievement in Art Direction and Costume Design. This movie was NOT THAT GOOD. It was ok. There were a few moments where it was even mediocre. I don't regret going to see it, but I'm in no hurry to ever see it again.

This movie was not Johnny Depp's best performance. I wouldn't even put it in his Top 5, maybe not even his Top 10. Cap'n Jack is better, Benny and Joon was WAY better, even Blow (which I can't stand) was better from an acting standpoint. His character in Benny and Joon was just wonderful, he was a Buster Keaton wannabe and did a fabulous job. It doesn't get much better on the comedy front than watching Johnny Depp make grilled cheese sandwiches with an iron and "smashed" potatoes with a tennis racket.

Sweeney Todd does however deserve the Costume Design Oscar. The costumes were amazing! For once it wasn't a whole big mish-mosh of periods and decades. The designer actually knew what she was doing and paid attention. She did a marvelous job on that front. It's up against Elizabeth: The Golden Age, so that'll be interesting. The costumes I saw from Elizabeth are pretty awesome too.

Enchanted has also been nominated, for all 3 of its songs. Which were wonderful. I love That's How You Know. I've a sneaking suspicion Alan Menken will be going home with another Oscar for that one. (His other one is Under The Sea)

I'm also glad to see Pirates FINALLY getting some Oscar noms. Visual Effects and Make-up Design. I still wish Hans Zimmer's genius would be acknowledged on the music front though. But I'll take what I can get. The make-up design for all the pirate lords was pretty doggone awesome.

The Friday Fact

2008-01-18T22:39:00.001-06:00

I've been thinking about dishes a lot the last couple of weeks. Part of this stems from inventorying my hope chests and discovering no less than 3 dozen complete place settings among my possessions. As well as a curious little casserole dish that has the words "Fire King" on the bottom.

Anybody who keeps up with the collectibles market knows what Fire King means. This post is for those of you who don't.

Fire King was a line of dishes produced by AnchorHocking from 1942 to around 1972. My little dish is probably 70's judging by the color of the fruit painted on it. It originally started out as a type of glass called jadite. Also known as milk glass. Jadite is a specific color though--sea foam green. These dishes were originally produced for use in restaurants because they're very resilient and Fire King was the first brand of oven-proof glassware.

The dishes are very hot collectibles and my little casserole dish is probably worth about $50. My uncle has a few Fire King pieces worth over $100.

So why am I talking about Fire King specifically? Went to the flea market today and, as usual, there were several Fire King pieces and one entire set. But one seller had some Anchor Hocking glass labeled as Fire King. It wasn't Fire King and things like that just bug me.

Spotlight on Europe

2008-01-17T12:39:00.001-06:00

So I realized at 10:40 last night that I forgot to post this yesterday. As Ann Landers used to say, 10 lashes with a wet noodle!

This week is The Lady of Milkweed Manor by Julie Klassen.

From CBD:

Charlotte Lamb, a fallen vicar's daughter, hopes to secret herself away in London's grim Milkweed Manor. But once there,she is mortified to find herself in the care of a former suitor, a physician whom her father long ago rejected as unsuitable, a man who now hides secrets of his own. Both are determined, with God's help, to protect those they love. But neither could guess the depth of sacrifice that will be required of them.

This book is a Regency, and even though I don't generally like Regencies I'm very heartened and upbeat about its release. Regencies being picked up and published by CBA houses bodes VERY well for non-American historical fiction in general. This year is bringing the release of a lot of Regency books in the CBA, and I wonder if it's at all connected to the buzz over the new Jane Austen movies and the recent success of the Pride and Prejudice adaptation that starred Kiera Knightley.

As a writer with a passion for European historicals, I choose to see the upcoming Regencies as a positive sign for the world of historical fiction. Readers who devour Regencies tend to pick up anything that's set in Europe, hoping to get that same "flavor". While I personally don't care for them, I know that readership is going to be a huge part of any marketing efforts I may to have be involved in later in the future.

***

And a Genesis update! I have my pages all done, 15 this year. I have one more round of edits to make thanks to the CP's and then I'm sending my precious baby out into the world. This will be the very first time that these characters have ever been seen by judges. They've been living in my head for nearly 15 years now. It's both exhilirating and frightening to let them take flight. Exhilirating because I know this is an important step in my journey to become an author, and frightening because it's the first time I've sent my writing out into the world, so to speak.

Am I nervous? You betcha! Am I excited? Of course! I've had a couple people tell me that it's good enough to final, and maybe even win. I selfishly hope so. That would be amazing. But I also know that the outcome is in God's hands and that no matter what happens to this story, I'm on the right track and I am where He wants me to be. And that's what this whole writing journey is all about anyway.

The Little Mermaid

2008-01-13T22:29:00.000-06:00

Disney's newest stage production, The Little Mermaid, is being blasted by the reviewers. I'm not terribly surprised actually, after having seen the show. Which I loved every minute of and the box office receipts agree with me. The show has consistently been in the top 5 for the last month, that's made most impressive by the fact that it's only been officially open for 4 days.

For some strange reason, I feel compelled to respond to a particularly scathing review in the Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail. The review itself is here. Now, as a HUGE fan of the movie, I spent the last two years waiting with baited breath for this show to actually make it to the stage. They've actually been working on it for at least the last 5 years. And knowing Disney, probably longer. TLM is the most popular Princess movie among fans.

The director, costumer and set designer hail from the opera world. Because of that, the show is very different in appearance. Like nothing Broadway has ever seen before. So, IMO, the reviewers hate it for being different and not fitting into the box they've built for Disney Broadway. I for one was entranced with the somewhat abstract way the show was staged. I mean really, how else can you put an ocean environment on a Broadway stage? Yes, some of the staging and choreography fell a little flat, but most Broadway shows fall a little flat in the first couple months of performances. It's the nature of the art form.

My main beef with this particular review is this little piece here:
Wright recasts the story as a dysfunctional family drama writ large: Ursula is Ariel's aunt, upset because she has been banished by her brother for her black magic.

My problem is that the reviewer is assuming that Wright added new material that he came up with on his own. This is not the case. All die-hard TLM fans know that this very plotline hails from 1991 and originated with the writers of the TLM TV cartoon. That episode was never made and the plotline was transferred to the Marvel people to use in their short-lived comic book series. (which is a real shame, because it was superbly done. It took me 4 years, but I finally tracked down all 12 issues) Again, the plotline was never done. So it's been sitting in the Disney vault.

Wright did not make this up. Disney writers made this up. Therefore it is what fans call Disney canon, even though not very many of us like the idea. But Poseiden was Triton's father, so I guess it's conceivable that he could father an octopus too. TLM fans prefer to pretend that Melody and Morgana from TLM 2 just don't exist.

This section of the review is also Disney canon:
Wright also roots Triton's fear of the human world in the death of his wife, who was apparently caught in fishing nets.

Again, this plotline was developed, BY DISNEY, for the comic book series. It was scrapped when Marvel canceled the comic series. The forthcoming TLM 3 movie will address this very thing. Last we heard anyway.

This reviewer also has a major problem with the ending. Yeah, they rewrote it from the movie and yeah it's a bit deflating and kinda flat. But if the reviewer has a way to re-enact Ursula's spectacular death by impalement on a stage, please sir, share it! Because no one else knows how. I'm a Disney traditionalist and I didn't howl at the ending. I wasn't totally pleased with it, but I know it's better than the ending they were using in Denver. It fit with the other changes that were made, and I for one thoroughly enjoyed the fleshing out of Eric's character. He has substance now, he's not just another cardboard Disney prince. Yes he is still entranced by Ariel's voice, but in the show he also realizes that Grimsby is right when he says "A girl of flesh and blood is far better than any dream girl". What's right in front of him may very well be his dream girl. In If Only, Eric is wishing his mystery girl would show up while Ariel wishes he would see her for who she truly is--the mystery girl with the spellbinding voice. And then he ends his part with the realization that if the mystery girl shows up at the singing contest, he may just very well lose this mute girl who's stolen his heart. He's not the least bit surprised when he finds out that this mute girl is his mystery girl. He already knew it anyway.

So there's my soapbox for the month. I've even emailed the critic. Doubt he'll read all of it, but I've done my civic duty as a loyal fan of The Little Mermaid. Movie, tv show, comics and Broadway musical. Now if my cast recording would just hurry up and get here...

The Friday Fact

2008-01-11T15:06:00.000-06:00

The Hope Chest

So, I just got finished inventorying my hope chest and have them on the brain. I also have enough dishes to feed an army...

The Hope Chest dates back to medieval times. Back then a dowry consisted of things that could be used in the couples' new home. Everything from linens to dishes to furniture. Over time it evolved into the hope chest.

The hope chest is generally a wooden box. Since 1919 the box has been lined with cedar to keep the moths out of the girl's linens. The chest was slowly filled with items that the girl would find useful after she was married. Linens, dishes, quilts, lingerie, cookbooks, special items from her childhood, etc.

The Lane Company is responsible for the cedar lined hope chests. During WW1 they won a contract to produce pine ammunition boxes. After the war they converted that factory into an assembly line for cedar lined chests and began an ad campaign for the Lane Hope Chest.

My mother was given her hope chest when she was 13. She carried on the tradition with me and my sister. My hope chest is cherry on the outside and cedar on the inside. In the chest are some of my treasured Little Mermaid clothes from my childhood and all sorts of linens and things made of fabric. I have some WW2 lingerie in there that I plan to use on my wedding night and a beautiful linen tablecloth with matching napkins that belonged to my great-grandmother Smith.

The tradition had slowly begun to die out with the first wave of liberal feminists and was almost unheard of when I got my hope chest in 1995. None of my friends had one and didn't understand why I was so excited about getting a big chest for my birthday. In that chest lie all of my hopes and dreams for my future married life. I very rapidly filled it up and have 4 more "hope chests" out in the garage. These are actually Rubbermaid boxes. And in those boxes are the things that Louisiana humidity can't destroy. Including my obscene number of dishes that I could use to feed an army. And I really need to go buy yet another one. There's not just a whole lot I'm going to have to buy when I get married.

If you're by chance interested in reviving this tradition for yourself or your daughters or if you're just curious about it, I recommend the book The Hope Chest: A Legacy of Love by Rebekah Wilson. The book can be purchased from The Vision Forum or Amazon.

Spotlight on Europe

2008-01-09T16:35:00.000-06:00

This week it's The Galway Chronicles by Brock and Bodie Thoene.

I'm really at a loss as to how to summarize the series! It's set in the 1840's in Ireland, amidst the potato blight and great political upheaval. I read these books when they first came out nearly 10 years ago and was completely enthralled. Anyone who's read a Thoene book knows exactly what I'm talking about.

I want to say that somewhere, I read that these books are loosely based on Brock's family history. Spent some time flipping through the books themselves to see if that was in there but I couldn't find it.

Not only are the books rich in setting, but they're rich in dialogue. Bodie manages to convey the beautiful Irish brogue without bogging the reader down in dialect. It's done almost entirely with the sentence structure. Beautiful writing.