Category: literature

  • Vertigo in the Regency

    Vertigo in the Regency

    In January of this year, after having 4 barometric migraines in 5 days, I found myself on the floor in my library, vomiting into the trash bin. For the next two weeks, I was told I had positional vertigo, but they didn’t want to treat it beyond medications to control the dizziness and nausea until…

  • An Interrupted Proposal Cover Reveal

    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!…

  • Thaddeus Ever Valiant

    Thaddeus Ever Valiant

    There’s always the hope that there might remain a brilliant female writer from the 1700s or early 1800s who has been lost to obscurity. That’s why, over the years, I go back once in a while to read someone new to me. One of these is Jane Porter, who along with her sister Maria became…

  • Dear Grandmamma

    Dear Grandmamma

    Hello! I am taking a break from editing to give you an update and share a little bit I wrote in order to fill a hole. By the time you read this, An Interrupted Proposal should be on its way to the editor. (Next month, I’ll share the cover.) Before it can go, I have…

  • Did Austen Speak Posh?

    Did Austen Speak Posh?

    In our last blog, we heard how Shakespeare’s English much more resembled the accents of the provinces than the “proper” English favored today by actors and newscasters, the latter being an accent called “Received Pronunciation” or “RP.” Jane Austen had knowledge of and appreciation for Shakespeare. There are parallels between her social comedies and his, Willoughby reads…

  • Celebrating the Release of “Lyon in the Way” from Dragonblade Publishers

    Celebrating the Release of “Lyon in the Way” from Dragonblade Publishers

    Today, I am taking off my “Jane Austen hat” and putting on my “Regency” hat, for on June 18, the first book of my mystery series for Dragonblade Publishers will release. It is a five book series, of which I have finished four to date; they are in different stages of production. They will release…

  • Like Living in a Book

    Like Living in a Book

    Good morrow, fair readers. How are you this glorious June morn? I know ‘tis Friday the 13th, but I still wish every good thing upon you all! When introducing some of what I learned through our five years with the Amish community, I thought I would share what first opened my eyes to the practical…

  • ‘To Bay or Not to Bay’: Did Shakespeare Talk Country?

    ‘To Bay or Not to Bay’: Did Shakespeare Talk Country?

    When I was in college, the drama department at the University of Arkansas wanted to do a bang-up job on Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” Over the summer, they sent the actor playing the lead role off to study proper enunciation. He returned with an impeccable rendition, but no one anticipated the disconnect for the audience caused by…

  • Parallel Tracks

    Parallel Tracks

    Uncovering Similarities under Differences There are times when we get lost in the differences between Darcy and Elizabeth. One is filled with pride in his position, which informs his prejudices, while the other suffers from injured pride after a single insult uttered by another person. She sets her face against the author of her discomfort,…

  • Return to Longbourn Part II

    Return to Longbourn Part II

    Hello, hello, hello! I hope that everyone’s 2025 is beginning on a fantastic note and that this year will be filled with a multitude of blessings. Mine has been a bit of a rollercoaster, but I am so glad to share the next excerpt of my current WIP with you. If you want to get…