Please welcome author Dara Young to the blog today. We’re celebrating her debut of THE CANCAN DANCER AND THE DUKE from The Wild Rose Press. I hope you all enjoy this story as much as I did! Since I’m often talking about inspiration and motivation, Dara thought she’d share with us where she gets her…
Week 14 of our 365 Photo Challenge. This week marks the 100th photo posted for the year. As I mentioned, we were on vacation last week for the kids’ Spring Break. We flew across the country to Maryland and stayed near where I grew up. Last year, our daughter and I did the American History…
If you’ve ever come across the phrase “She was at sixes and sevens” in a historical novel and wondered what it meant, you may be surprised to learn it originated from the game of Hazard and generally is used to mean in a state of chaos or agitation. This popular dicing game has been around…
Many historical romance novels feature card rooms at balls, clubs or dinner parties and gaming hells where rakes wager over the turn of a card or toss of a dice. Many games that are no longer familiar to us are rattled off: hazard, piquet, faro, and whist. Often, the games chosen have meaning for the…
Last week in my accountability group’s HOW I WRITE series, I talked about why I love historical romance. This week we’re talking about our mentors, whether they realize they influence us or not. Mentors Who Are Aware They’re Mentoring My local San Diego RWA chapter has a great image it shares with its members. The image…
There isn’t a lot of information available regarding how Valentine’s Day was celebrated in the early 19th Century. Most Regency Valentine’s cards (mostly handmade love letters) were considered ephemera and not held onto except in rare circumstances. You’ll notice I didn’t title this post as a primer, because I didn’t feel I could speak on…
Last week in my accountability group’s HOW I WRITE series, we talked about 3 Things I Love About My WIP. This week we’re talking about why we write in a particular genre and what attracted us to it. Also, we were asked if we like to read any genres we don’t or can’t write? Why? And…
In the last entry in the Regency Primer Series we learned three ways to tie a Regency era cravat. This week, we’re going back in time to the last last frost fair. The last time the River Thames was frozen solid and the ships stood still and Londoners organized an impromptu festival in the middle…
“Writing Advice: What are the top 5 best and worst things you’ve been told so far?” is this week’s topic in my accountability group’s HOW I WRITE series. Last week, we posted our look back at our 2011 goals and how we’re moving forward in 2012. I took this week’s topic in a similar vein….
The last entry in the Regency Primer Series wrapped up our look at Twelfth Night and Wassailing which signaled the end of Christmastide during the Regency Era. This week, we’re going to take a closer look at some ways to tie a cravat. Three knots in which a gentlemen (or his gentleman’s gentleman or valet)…