Love is worth the risk
This week’s writing challenge from Marketing for Romance Writers gave me flashbacks to the days when I had to endure job interviews. Inevitably someone on the selection committee would ask the dreaded question, “What’s your greatest strength?” The first time I heard it I was stymied. Since I went through a long period in which […]
I’m writing two very different stories this weekend, and spending a lot of time researching background for both. There are tons of things I need to know, but these are a start. What products were being brought into England by smugglers in 1838? What were the excise issues? Who was importing opium to England in […]
Process? I don’t need no stinking process. My book, alas, needs a plot. I’ve read the craft books. I know a scene from a sequel, and I understand the big W shaped romance plot and the four acts that make it up. I get hooks and turning points. I’ve tried outlines, story boards, and scene […]
I’ve always said I can go for weeks on a few good words. My muse feeds on it. Tell me you like my book, and I’ll hustle to write another one. That said, I may get months of forward energy from this particular review. The March issue of InD’Tale magazine published a review for The […]
This week’s starter in the 52 Week Challenge is “Words that make me go ICK,” or maybe just GAG. Simple enough. I might begin with feces, puke, scabies, worm guts, pustules, zit… Need I go on? My least favorite word? Fuck. I know, I know; it is a good plain Anglo-saxon word that cuts through […]
Highlighting Historical Romance Ruth Kaufman shares her research and her passion. Years ago, I had the opportunity to travel to England and Wales and explore some amazing castle ruins and stay in two castles (Amberley and Thornbury). I knew I had to visit Castle Rising, in the village of Castle Rising in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, […]
As is our routine, I reviewed the family calendar and my convoluted to-do list with Beloved. Why convoluted? I use a tool called Toodledo that lets me assign every task a due date, an importance level, and a category or folder. The web-based tool lets me sort on all three of those. Obviously a task […]
In a world in which jobs, family, writing career, and family consume every waking hour, the word “hobby” sounds like a luxury most writers can ill afford. However, after faith, family, and writing there are things in my life that still just demand to be done, at least now and then. They are the interests […]
Highlighting Historical Romance: Jan Scarbrough’s My Lord Raven Writing My Lord Raven was a labor of love. It took a long time with many starts, stops, and twists along the way. I fell in love with medieval history and romance in high school with authors Thomas B. Costain and Anya Seton. Later the romance genre […]
Highlighting Historical Fiction welcomes Joan Leotta History is not a collection of dates and lists of people. We think this is so when we are in school, but for me, history was listening to my Grandma talk about what went on in her life. What were people’s reactions when our entry into World War Two […]