Naming the Enslaved

Did you know that: Slave registers were kept for the former British Colonial Dependencies between 1813-1834 The practice began as a result of the 1807 Abolition of the Slave Trade Act of 1807. That law outlawed trafficking in enslaved people between Africa and British colonies but considered those already in place to be “lawfully enslaved.” […]

Holidays Are Upon US

November is evaporating fast, and I, for one, am happy to see it go. My heart wants to welcome the season of joy and light! Hanukkah—one of those seasons—began last night, and Christmas looms over the horizon. We celebrated a lovely Thanksgiving last week. Issues involving older family members had us traveling and running about […]

Falmouth Harbor

Highlighting the facts behind the fiction with Penny Hampson. Most of the action in A Bachelor’s Pledge, the third book in my Gentlemen Series takes place in Falmouth, Cornwall. Now, if you don’t know, Falmouth is a small seaside town on the south western coast of England. I chose this location because, during the Napoleonic […]

Ten Years and Still Learning

Last week was a little rough. Joyful, but rough I’ve been writing much of my life. I’ve been publishing for ten years. This year everything ratcheted up a notch. I recently read something from Virginia Heath. She said, “Being a professional writer, I always have a new story on the go and at least another […]

Rambling Through York

Various characters visit various parts of the city, and now York has moved very high up on my real life travel list. I long to wander through The Shambles, view the city from the top of the medieval Clifford’s Tower (and shudder over some of its darker history), gape in awe at York Minster, the […]

Rambling in Chester

Eli had legal business with the bishop. I stopped to enjoy the medieval cathedral. Its construction dates to the eleventh century, the sort of date that makes my American jaw drop. It was built by the Benedictines and survived the dissolution of the monastery by being promoted to cathedral in 1541. Goodness. It also survived […]

Moving Swiftly

In ten days The Defiant Daughter will go live. I had a note this morning from an advance reviewer who not only raved about the book, but told me I absolutely must write three more of them, for each of three gentlemen introduced in that book. I had already decided on two of them, now […]

Rambling Through Time

I travel. Sometimes I travel by boat, plane, or automobile. Sometimes I travel by book. Sometimes I explore the real world. This week I rambled through San Francisco—and a medieval castle—with Sherry Ewing and To Follow My Heart. Jenna Sinclair is a modern woman with very modern problems. Her live-in boyfriend has left her for […]

Marriage laws in Regency England

Highlighting facts behind Historical Romance with Jude Knight’s research into marriage laws. Most readers of Regency romance have a fair handle on what it was like to be a resident of Regency England, but some of what we think we know is the exception rather than the rule, and some is just plain wrong. Here’s […]

Her Business Advisor

Bonding happens in mysterious ways. Clarion suggested Eli take Fanny to investigate publishing concerns in London. Was he making a business proposal or matchmaking? *** Eli said with a wry grin. “We need a plan.”  “Plan for what?” Suspicion seeped in, and her brows pulled together. Fanny’s writing, too precious, too personal, did not need […]