Broke a Cardinal Rule

As a new author one of my challenges is obtaining numbers of reviews. Amazon likes numbers. The more reviews you have, the better they like you.  Numbers. Really. I’ve been blessed that most of the reviews for Dangerous Secrets have been five stars. None have been less than three. Everyone likes to read those five […]

Art and the Working Author 2: My Hero

In a previous piece I described how I look for public domain graphics to illustrate blog posts, Facebook posts, and memes about the Regency era.  Today i want to write about a particularly knotty problem.  How do I find a portrait to stand in for my hero? When I envisioned Richard Hayden, the Marquess of […]

Art and the Working Author

If you read my blog posts here, on the Teatime Tattler, or on History Imagined, you will have noticed they are frequently illustrated with paintings. They provide period atmosphere and imagination starters. Since the Dangerous Works, Dangerous Secrets, and Dangerous Weakness are all set during the late Georgian period of English history (also know as […]

Second Edits

This morning I thought to do a final pass through the current Dangerous Weakness manuscript to look for extra spaces at the end or beginning of paragraphs. That may not sound like much because you can’t see them in word processing, but the make life difficult for folks who format the document for Kindle, print, […]

Journey and Return, or Honey, I’m Baaack

I have braved the winding (rail)road and crossed Time, or at least Times Square, though the hordes of dwarfs, ogres and strange gawking fairies. I have banqueted, formed alliances, met my fellows, and sat at the feet of giants (well, at least of Susan Elizabeth Philips) and arrives safely home. What have I learned? 1. […]

La Déesse Noire: Diversity in Action

The Regency era was complex and diverse.  Regency novels tend to be fairly homogenized. I seek out more exotic settings for my Regency characters. My colleague, Mariana Gabrielle creates characters that actually demonstrate diversity in that world, as her latest release shows. Diversity is a passion with her. The book is available for pre-order now […]