More interesting facts based on my latest historical novel, The Depth of Beauty... D IS FOR DONALDINA If I were naming a fictional character, I wouldn’t name her “Donaldina.” The name sounds as if a girl’s parents were totally bummed that they didn’t have a boy. Yuck! But Donaldina Cameron was a real person who in fact ran the Presbyterian Mission House in San Francisco from 1899 to 1934. She’s a key player in The Depth of Beauty; her mission, in both the story and in life, was to rescue ... VIEW POST
Musings on The Depth of Beauty A-B-C
My new historical novel, The Depth of Beauty is now out in the world (on sale for just 99 cents here!) and already it's gotten great feedback. I love the story because, apart from the romance, it contains a lot of fascinating material about the time period around the turn of the twentieth century. I've been sharing tidbits on my FB page and I thought I'd collect them in bunches and share them on my blog: A IS FOR ANTIBIOTICS AND ANTISERUM The Depth of Beauty tells the story of a wealthy ... VIEW POST
NaNoWriMo – Yes or No?
NaNoWriMo has officially started, and I signed up just under the wire to begin on time. I’ve taken the national writing challenge for the last two years, and completed it both times. Both efforts spawned the nucleus of what became (imho) really good books. The Art of Love won a couple of writing awards, and the second, called The Depth of Beauty, will be released in January. I think it’s my best work yet. So you’d think I’d jump at the chance to do NaNoWriMo again. Uh, not really. The ... VIEW POST
MAUREEN O’HARA: A TIMELESS ROMANTIC HEROINE
It’s a sad day here in Boise, Idaho. We just lost one of our most celebrated residents, the actress Maureen O’Hara, who died Saturday at the age of 95. Ms. O’Hara was a classic movie star, known for countless leading roles. She co-starred in swashbucklers with the likes of Errol Flynn, Tyrone Power, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Holiday audiences enjoy her when they watch the perennial “Miracle on 34th Street.” She played the divorced mom in the original “The Parent Trap” with Hayley Mills and ... VIEW POST
What does an Authentic Italian Wedding Look Like? (Part Two)
The wedding I include in The Lair is small, family-centered and casual. But, like everywhere else in the world, Italian weddings vary by size and opulence, depending on the budget and mindset of the bride and groom (and often, their families, whether the couple likes it or not!). Here are a few more elements to a real Italian wedding: Arriving at the church. In traditional Catholic weddings, the bride (who hasn’t been seen by the groom, remember) is usually walked down the aisle by her ... VIEW POST
How Flawed Can Today’s Romantic Hero Be?
Everyone who understands fiction knows that the romance genre offers stories in which two people (not necessarily a man and a woman anymore!) work through their struggles to achieve a lasting love relationship. Usually, one of those characters is a heroine, and one a hero. It’s the hero who interests me in this post. I’ve been thinking a lot about him lately: in today’s world, who is he, really? What kind of person can he be in order to both embody the essence of the genre and still be ... VIEW POST
