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 […]

Horses for Hire: Travel Over Land in the 19th Century

Highlighting Historical Romance today presents the brilliant Jude Knight’s research into nineteenth-century travel over land. Land travel in Regency England required negotiating rough roads and weather on foot, or on an animal or a vehicle pulled by an animal. Anyone with the money could purchase a seat on a stage coach, or even the mail […]

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 […]

English Coastal Defenses: Martello Towers

Highlighting Historical Romance with Jude Knight today. Jude shares her research into Martello towers once used for the coastal defense of England. I saw them on a show about turning old historical buildings into homes for modern families and was impelled to go find out more. Once I did, I had to have a Martello […]

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 […]

All he needed was a good map… or the means to use it.

Highlighting History with Lizzi Tremayne, in honor of ANZAC Day. As a new citizen to New Zealand in 1993, I first learned of the ANZACs and of the importance of map-reading. On 25 April, “down under” in New Zealand and Australia, in the UK, and at Gallipoli, we commemorate ANZAC day, honoring the fallen, as […]

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. […]

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 […]