Christmas 2022 is a matter of history and with New Year’s celebrations coming in a few days, I decided not to tax anyone with anything that might be construed as thought provoking. If you’re like me, the post Christmas let-down has you in cruise control right now and you almost recoil at any task that requires more than a few brain cells to complete. In that vein I present an excerpt from book 5 of my Elizabeth Said, Darcy Said…
Christmas is past and now we move into that week between Christmas and New Year’s. I don’t know if anyone else feels this way, but this has always seemed like a week in limbo to me, with little happening other than waiting for the year to end. I am also not much of a fan of New Year’s, for I have never seen the movement of one year to the next as anything exceptional. Maybe I am a bit of…
I love Christmas. The season seems to bring out the best in just about everyone, from friends and acquaintances ready with friendly greetings and holiday wishes, to strangers who wish you the best of the season while shopping in stores or passing on a busy street. My first Christmas celebration with my wife still ranks as one of our best. She was three weeks away from giving birth to our first child, a son, so we limited the length of…
I will freely admit that I love reading or watching a good tsundere love interest – whether it is the female lead or the male lead – and just wanted to briefly touch upon the type. A tsundere character is a character that initially seems mean, harsh, cold, and/or snobbish – only later to show a warmer and gentler side. Because it is a Japanese term, it is not always easy for English-speaking people to pronounce it, but it is…
The last few days of November are upon us and, with Thanksgiving complete, Christmas preparations are taking over. That’s not to say the shops waited until this week to put up their trees and garland. Heaven forbid! Where I live in Canada, the home improvement stores decorated the trees and started playing carols in late September. My thoughts on this are best summed up in the immortal words of Ebenezer Scrooge: Bah, humbug! Don’t misunderstand, I love Christmas and all…
As some of you know, I am in the midst of writing a series titled Elizabeth Said, Darcy Said, where I take well known portions of Ms. Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and expand on them. Each book tells the story first from Elizabeth’s perspective, then reexamines it from Darcy’s point of view. The first two novellas told the story of Our Dear Couple’s initial meeting at the Meryton Assembly. Books three and four explore Elizabeth’s introduction to Mr. Wickham in…
I confess. The details in my fiction are open to interpretation by readers, as well as other authors. In my defense, though, my stories are set in a period more than two hundred years in the past, so many of the situations I put my characters into are dreamed up as I write. That is not to say the conversations and actions I thrust these men and women into are made up of whole cloth. Their words and manner of…
Today is Trivia Thursday, where we intrigue the trivia buff in you with a bit of trivia! I wanted to do something with a tinge of romance to it, and the Eiffel Tower came to mind as a romantic location. Here are some fun factoids: When it comes to monuments you have to pay to visit, the Eiffel Tower is the most visited monument in the entire world! On average, 25,000 people ascend the tower every day. (I cannot even imagine…
It’s my distinct pleasure to introduce you to What’s Up Wednesday, a regular theme day where we post something of our doings, updates, and other items that might be of interest to our readers. Christmas is approaching, and most of the major things that are happening in my life revolve around music and writing. Many times I have referenced my love of music and my activities therein. I am a member of a barbershop quartet group, and we’ll be active…
I’m an author. No, seriously, that’s what I do with myself since I retired. I write variations based on Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice”. But what does it mean when I make that claim? Do I have any published works, or is this something I do in my spare time to stay active and possibly amuse myself? And what is involved in the art of creating and selling a story? Yes, I am a published writer, with nine books available…