June. Weddings!

The connection between June and Weddings is inevitable. Among romance writers, the temptation to write about weddings—and use them in promotion—is inevitable as well.  My good friends and fellow escape artists at Great Escapes Books have created a June promotional piece that includes excerpts from The Renegade Wife. The past few weeks I’ve been working […]

Fortune Telling in the 19thCentury

Highlighting Historical and Time-Travel Novels with Nancy Thorne Her novel, Victorian Town, is a YA paranormal romance novel set in 1876. Researching the 19thcentury led her to countless interesting topics. Fortune telling was one of them. In the 1800s, Marie-Anne Lenormand secured her reputation as a famous card reader. For over 40 years Marie-Anne was […]

Pollen and the Fog of Spring

How can something invisible make me so miserable?  I spent much of the weekend languishing in the recliner. I watched four lengthy documentaries and two feature films and also read three books. Why? Pollen people. When my breathing shuts down I get lethargic and wander around in a brain fog. It’s hard to write when […]

Squirrel Wars

I looked out this morning to see a squirrel hanging upside down on our new squirrel proof bird feeder. Because it is designed to close under the weight of a squirrel, he eventually got frustrated and jumped to the ground I wondered how he got on it, but when I saw him try a vertical […]

African-American Mail Order Brides

Highlighting Historical Romance with Michal Scott Today Michal sheds light on a little-known part of American history, the migration of African-American men who chose to go West after the Civil War and the women who followed them. The lives of African Americans in the Post Civil War era is a rich and varied saga. Newly […]

Warfield: Author in Bloom

Ah Spring at last! Much thanks to Dianne Vennetta for inviting me to be part of Authors in Bloom. There are prizes! How can you participate? Read on to the end. Spring in My Neck of the Woods I confess that I am more an admirer of gardens than I am a person dedicated to gardening. […]

Weather, Atmosphere, and Storytelling

Lately, I’m obsessing on the weather. Winter has been unrelenting and the swings have been dramatic—rather like a well-plotted novel, but much less satisfying. Saturday night we ate out on our patio, enjoying a dead perfect evening—not too hot, not too cold, no bugs, bright sun—knowing full well such evenings are rare. It was 80 […]

Beer, Science, and the 18th Century

  We’re Highlighting Historical fiction with Elizabeth Ellen Carter today. She explains how shape enhances our enjoyment of beer. This is important. After all, as Benjamin Franklin is reputed to have said, “Beer is proof God loves us and wants us to be happy.” When doing some research on ale glasses for my upcoming title […]