Category: A Writer’s Life
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The Wit of Jane Austen Revisited
Letters to Cassandra This was a post that I wrote four years ago. But I just had to go back to it. It’s my laugh for the day. Jane Austen had a biting wit that I just love, and her letters to her sister usually had at least two or more samples of it. Enjoy!…
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Coffee Adventure: Cold Version
My books have largely been fueled on coffee, late nights, and early mornings. What wouldn’t we give for a supply of coffee always at the ready, always close at hand, maybe even always in the fridge? This summer I learned that it’s a do-able thing.
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Your opinion on which next story
Yes, it is that time once again. Time for the ramblings of Melanie. This time is one of my favorites and least favorites in the year. Why? Because of all the delicious produce. I grew up in a farming community in central Illinois. When the produce came on, you were busy. Green beans, peas, and…
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An Interrupted Proposal Cover Reveal
Wow! It has been a long time coming, and you have been soooo patient! First, I am really excited to get this book out in print. There have been a few challenges as my life erupted in the past couple months, which has caused some delays, but we are finally coming down to the wire!…
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Excerpt from “Reputation, An Easy Thing to Lose”
Please enjoy this excerpt from my first novel, Reputation An Easy Thing to Lose.
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The Weight Your Calling Card Holds
One tradition that has been kept, and for the better, is the calling card, though it is now the business card. As I was designing one, I wondered more about the calling cards of the Regency. One fun fact is that the lady’s card was actually a little larger than a man’s. There were so…
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All the World’s A Stage – Sense and Sensibility, the theatre, and a new novel
I am most fortunate to live within an easy drive of one of North America’s best summer theatre festivals, the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. We are great theatre fans in this family, and make a point of going to several performances each summer. Sometimes we spend the night, other times we drive there…
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Setting the Stage
For a JAFF author, the plot is queen. A simple statement, I think, revealing a fundamental truth about our genre. An author can comfortably use the geography supplied by Austen to offer stories to readers thoroughly familiar with the lay of the land or building. Hundreds of stories have spoken of Pemberley glowing in the…
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The Land May Vary More
The land may vary more;But wherever the truth may be—The water comes ashore,And the people look at the sea. They cannot look out far.They cannot look in deep.But when was that ever a barTo any watch they keep? (Robert Frost’s “Neither out far nor in deep”, end of) I’ve spent most of the last seven…
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To Epilogue Or Not to Epilogue
As you know, I am preparing my latest work, An Interrupted Proposal, for publishing. It is currently with the editor, but I have also received feedback from readers. One of the requests I received was for an epilogue and it got me thinking. For years, I heard that writers should not write epilogues, but readers…