To Blog

Blog, verb, the act of updating a website on which one records news, opinion, thoughts, and insights.

This relatively new English verb out lasted the short-lived noun weblog, on which it was based. It is now ubiquitous. I blog, he blogs, you blog, they…I wonder what a Latin conjugation would look like?

Painting by Gerard ter Borch

Ahem. Sorry. I got distracted. I blog. Oh boy do I! I just hope people read, and, based on statistics, I believe they do. I use this space to record thoughts and updates about my writing. After an extended holiday I am back to the discipline of a weekly post. (More new language! I post, he posts, you post…never mind). It occurs to me that readers of this space may not know how many other places I blog.

History Imagined  sits at the intersection of history and fiction, a spot very dear to my heart. My partners, Becky Lower, Linda Bennett Pennell, and I write on a wide variety of historical topics, generally gleaned from research related to our novels. It is my hard core history challenge every three weeks when my turn comes up. Among my most popular ones have been The Sad Fate of Wellington’s Brother-in-Law, Pistols for the Uniformed, After the Bonny Prince (about the Jacobite heirs), and a series on colorful Victorians.

Teatime Tattler  serves up Regency-style gossip twice a week. When the Bluestocking Belles set out to create a blog they decided a fictional scandal sheet would be way more fun that “how we write” or “yet another blog about the Regency era,” and it has been. I help manage guest posts and contribute my own approximately every eight weeks. The Tattler gives writers a chance to promote their books, while presenting backstory in a fun way. Often the reports about the goings on of heroes and heroines come from nosy neighbors, interfering relatives, snooping reporters, purloined letters, or servants. I sometimes add links to my own posts on the pages for the books being promoted. The Tattler hosts guests weekly, and interested authors can find information here.

Per Ipsum does not relate to writing. It is a semi-private (insofar as a blog could be called private) spiritual journal I add to intermittently as thoughts strike me.

Guests work both ways. Blog hopping enables me to promote my work to the readers of other folks’ blogs. I do quite a bit of that when I have a new release. Sometime links to the meatier ones turn up on my book pages as well.  The other way guests are important is that I host other writers in this space.

Highlighting Historical Romance provides a platform for writers of historical fiction. I actually welcome not only historical romance, but also mystery, time travel, fantasy, and straight up historical fiction as long as it has HISTORY in it. I ask them to give us a few interesting facts, tidbits from their research. Authors interested in appearing can find information here.

Other ideas come to mind periodically. I have considered adding a Friday Gentlemen’s Club, so that I and guest authors can feature our heroes regularly and give the boys a chance to chat with one another. Now, if I could just find five minutes to scope that out, set it up, and promote it. Maybe in the spring. Maybe.

For now, I have a made-to-order story to write. But first? Coffee!