Moving Swiftly

In ten days The Defiant Daughter will go live. I had a note this morning from an advance reviewer who not only raved about the book, but told me I absolutely must write three more of them, for each of three gentlemen introduced in that book. I had already decided on two of them, now […]

Her Business Advisor

Bonding happens in mysterious ways. Clarion suggested Eli take Fanny to investigate publishing concerns in London. Was he making a business proposal or matchmaking? *** Eli said with a wry grin. “We need a plan.”  “Plan for what?” Suspicion seeped in, and her brows pulled together. Fanny’s writing, too precious, too personal, did not need […]

Teasing the Hero

I’m making good progress on The Forgotten Daughter. Eli has determined to protect Fanny, who is visiting London and who has had at least one frightening encounter. The ladies, both Fanny and Eli’s ornery sister-in-law Lucy are a bit weary of over-protective males and lack of privacy. They’ve decided to test his diligence with a […]

An Arrow of Righteousness

My current focus is on The Forgotten Daughter. Deadlines loom—Yikes! This one begins with a shop clerk in Manchester on the brink of ruin. *** Frances Hancock—Fanny to those who cared—always knew she was a bastard. Her mother’s husband made sure of that. She didn’t know her father was an earl until her mother died. […]

Consanguinity

The list of those a man may not marry begins with Mother, Daughter, Father’s mother…Son’s daughter, etc. and continues down a long list that includes such unlikely situations as marriage to one’s Daughter’s son’s wife The entries pertinent to my research were:Father’s daughterMother’s daughter Why did it matter? The hero of The Forgotten Daughter is […]

Weary and Sad

The week dawns with your author weary and sad. The end of last week and the weekend brought several phone calls about friends and associates in health crises, some of them covid-related, and the unrelenting drum beat of bad news from California, Louisiana, Haiti, and Afghanistan. It is down right debilitating! But I managed to […]

WIP: Fanny’s Daydreams

***** What would a hero do if a lady in need appeared on his doorstep? Lift her gently in his arms and carry her inside? Fanny puzzled over the question as she rode down Clarion Hall’s lane in a pleasant little gig, Mr. Benson at the reins. Sally forth, sword in hand, to attack the […]

Gigs and Pony Carts

…there were a variety of types of vehicles made to transport passengers in use in the Regency era. A carriage is a horse-drawn four wheeled vehicle; a coach is a variety of carriage with four corner posts and a fixed roof. Private carriages generally required 2-4 horses and were expensive to buy and maintain. Wealthy […]

WIP: Eli’s Troubles

A bit for WIP Wednesday. I made start on The Forgotten Daughter. A young woman in Manchester has discovered the identity of her natural father. Her siblings need help and she is determined to get it. Meanwhile, Eli Benson is feeling entirely too self satisfied. Two points of clarification. Earlier in the chapter Eli notes […]

Travel by Mail Coach

That the coaches carrying the Royal Mail in the first half of the 19th century took passengers and were superior to travel by stage coach in a number of ways. They were faster. They stopped for nothing. They even flew through toll gates. They traveled at night Their schedule was strict and predictable They had […]