Last month I watched the fascinating documentary, “The Mountains will Wait for You.” www.themountainswillwaitforyou.com. It’s the story of Grace Hudowalski, the matriarch of the “Adirondack 46ers,” a select group of individuals who have successfully summited all 46 high (over 4,000 ft.) peaks of the Adirondack mountains . A lifelong mountain climber (before it was cool!), Hudowalski was the first woman to climb all 46 peaks in 1937, and was a charter member of the Adirondack 46ers, serving as ... VIEW POST
For Chrissakes Don’t Say That!
One of the tricky aspects of writing about a certain historical period is the use of language in dialogue. You want your characters to sound natural to the modern ear, but not out of place within the context of the era they’re living in. The word choices you make are important, because the wrong ones can really jar the reader. In my new historical romance, The Art of Love, for example, most of the action takes place between 1896 and 1903. Men who lived in that era might have used the expression ... VIEW POST
What? There Was a Time When Women Didn’t wear the Pants in the Family?!
It’s 1903. The heroine of my new historical romance, The Art of Love, has been invited on a mysterious outing, and after telling the hero she doesn’t own any trousers, he has a pair sent to her. No big deal today, right? We’d just slip on our most comfortable pants (Mom jeans, anyone?) and head out the door. But back at the turn of the twentieth century it was practically unthinkable for women to wear pants. Evidence from ancient Greek pottery shows that at least some women wore them (okay, ... VIEW POST
Advice from a Pro: Get Real! (even if you made it up)
One of the presenters at this year’s Idaho Writer’s Rendezvous was the novelist Ciji Ware. (http://cijiware.com.) She’s known for sink-your-teeth-into sagas that explore little known, but fascinating female historical figures, like the fourth Duchess of Gordon (Island of the Swans) and the many English women playwrights who flourished in the 18th century (Wicked Company). Ms. Ware was a journalist before launching her fiction writing career, and her attention to the “truth” of a given situation ... VIEW POST
