Beginnings

Is this crisp weather we’re having here in the urban wilds the end of summer or the beginning of winter? We went from one to the other rather abruptly. Meanwhile, Bluestocking Belles and Friends are looking at the very end of a project, the day Love’s Perilous Road is launched into the hands of readers […]

A Lion in the Museum

Courtney McCaskill joins us to day to give us surprising facts from her novel One Bed for the Bluestocking Kit emitted a high-pitched scream as the Upper Museum’s most popular resident strolled over to greet them. He grabbed Nathaniel’s arm, pulling him toward the door. “Mr. Sterling! Run! There’s a lion!”   While researching the University […]

Progress!

We had a productive week here in the urban wilds—with a little help from my friends. The big news is that Merry Belles is now up for preorder! I will go live December 20. I think you’ll like my little holiday homicide, “The Angel’s Announcement.” It begins, “They found the shepherd eight days before Christmas. […]

Moving Ahead

Carefully. The big lesson of the month is “don’t rush!” I’ve read through the first of the books in the Great Rewrite Project. With the help of Caroline Warfield’s Fellow Travelers I am close to a series title. This week I plan to send the first for cover specs to the artist. Covers will motivate […]

Not So Fast

Is it Monday? No? TUESDAY??? Oh dear. You may suspect things have been peculiar. Just as a reached a sense that I am back and my writing is in a groove, I fell. Details unneeded, except to say nothing is broken/no permanent damage. What are a few days in the hospital, follow up appointments, home […]

To Be Jewish and Wealthy in Regency London

Welcome Sara Adrien who brings the facts about Jewish families in the upper society of the Regency Era as they appear in her book, Margins of Love. If you’ve read even a handful of Regency romances, you know the world well: Ballrooms—Dukes—Family names that carry centuries of entitlement. But what if I told you some […]

Back to Work

I’m back at my desk, rested and energetic. If you read my newsletter that went out yesterday, you will have read that I feel like my writing picked up speed this summer until it is almost back to normal. Since I got back I did a final edit on Well Done, Harry for the Winter […]

Jewish Jewelers to the Crown?

The UK Crown Jeweler couldn’t be a Jew–or could he? Join Sara Adrien to speculate about what might have been and the secret history behind Instead of Harmony It sounds like fantasy: a Jewish man rising to the title of Crown Jeweler in Regency England. But peel back the layers of fiction, and you’ll find […]

Working Hard

I write this on Labor Day and I am reminded that labor comes in many forms. It be done with hands, with shovels, with machinery, with cloth, with muscle, with mind, or even with a keyboard. However it occurs, it should be done lovingly and with pride. I’m a believer in Lincoln’s statement that capital […]

Is August Still Summer?

While the western US continues to suffer from dangerous heat, here in the urban wilds of eastern Pennsylvania, we’ve cooled down a bit, and there are other signs the season is waning. I’ve been peering over my monitor at the apple tree next to my patio. It is an aging tree covered in woodpecker holes, […]