Book six of the Elizabeth Said, Darcy Said series is now available on Amazon. An argument with Miss Elizabeth convinces Darcy to end his courtship and that it is time for him to return to his Pemberley estate where his sister misses him terribly. When he arrives, however, Georgiana wants to know all the details about the woman he described in his letters and does not believe his claims that she no longer holds any attraction for him. She…
Today I want to explore popular music in Jane Austen’s time, specifically Franz Haydn, the composer often referred to as “Father of the Symphony” and “Father of the String Quartet”. He was born in 1732 to a wheelright and a former palace cook. Although neither could read music, his father was an enthusiastic street musician who taught himself to play the harp. In later years Haydn said his family was extremely musical and frequently sang together and with their friends…
Today is Funny Friday! Today, I’m going to give a story from my life. There is an element of sorrow to it, but the humor involved made what was a sorrowful situation much more bearable. I once had a black-and-white cat named Minnie. Some family friends brought her to my house as a kitten when I was six. I believe she was part of a litter of farm cats that they were trying to get rid of. Naturally, I begged…
I have been a self publisher my entire writing career. It started with my first release back in 2013, and snowballed from there, with a few releases here and there, what I could fit around my day job, until finally I decided to leave that job and become a full time writer. Only once did I submit to a publisher, and that was not accepted. The only things I have ever done that were not self published were audiobooks, which…
As I have said before, I’m not a huge fan of current musical trends. Call me old and crotchety, but I prefer music with some depth to it and, as far as I’m concerned, there is not much of that to be found today, in any genre. So why not explore one of the greatest and most influential recordings of all time? I’m referring, of course, to Pink Floyd’s 1973 release, “The Dark Side of the Moon”. Rather than boring…
Though my brother spoke of the coming of spring, I have not seen anything of it yet. We are still cold and we are getting enough snow to bury us until June, as this photo from my front window will attest. As I spoke at some length about this in my last post, I will not bore you any further. But you can likely tell by my choice of image that I am eager to leave the winter behind and…
Welcome to my favorite season, which this year begins March 20. Anyone who knows me is aware of my dislike, bordering on hatred, for winter. Those months are depressing, with their colder temperatures and limited sunlight, but I think it’s the snow that bothers me the most, probably because it needs the cold to exist. I’ve often said I might enjoy playing in the stuff if I could do it at 70° or 80° outside (that’s 21° or 27° Celsius)….
Today, I’m supposed to do a glimmer-of-gold post. Looking back, I have already done one on kids, so I had to search for a different topic. I decided to go with writing! Writing is like a moving target. When you write something that you think is pretty good, you feel proud, right? Well, then you come back years later to it with the intent to make a few touch-ups here and there, and you end up completely rewriting each paragraph….
Anyone who knows me well understands that I do not like winter. When I lived in Japan, people would not understand when I told them, given they knew I was from Canada. Being from Canada is exactly what has made me so contemptuous of the colder months. There are some definite benefits to living in a colder climate, such as fewer venomous creatures, less extreme storms and the like, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. Thus, you will…