Tales from a Slothful Blogger...

Do you ever feel like one more task will simply push you over the edge into numbness? I suppose one shouldn't admit it, but I can say now and then, I give into the urge to curl up with a book and pretend I don't have a looming deadline or   carelessly avoided chores piling up. Or maybe cuddle with a stuffed flamingo?

All that by way of an excuse for not blogging since November. Oh yes, there was Christmas and all that...and my return to Florida. But I really haven't forgotten all the research rabbit holes I fell into...here are some hints about a few.

The hero in my next summer anthology novella cultivates a grove of walnut trees. Did you know that in the early Eighteenth Century, an extraordinarily frigid winter caused the loss of thousands of English Walnut trees? Walnut trees are prized for their nuts and for their timber, used in paneling, furniture, and particularly for gun stocks. 
     Like Catherine Morland in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey who "learnt to love a hyacinth," Lady Laura Newhurst (heroine of the unnamed novella in progress) will learn to love walnut trees as more than the source of nuts to flavor baked goods. Please click to enlarge the pictures below   

Above, left, Dorothea Bland, aka Dora Jordan (1761-1816), long-time mistress of Prince William, Duke of Clarence (later King William IV). She was a famous comedienne on the British stage, as well as mother of William's ten children, the Fitzclarences. Right, a portrayal of one of Dora's renowned trouser roles, Rosalind in Shakespeare's As You Like It. The artist is Robert Walker Macbeth. In my story, Lady Laura and her circle will enact a version of this play. It is filled, as so often in The Bard's comedies, with mistaken identities, misadventures, and cross-dressing characters. Below Rosalind dressed as "Ganymede," who mixes delightfully with the typical Shakespearean flair in romantic twists and turns leading to a happy ever after of sorts. 

 As things stand now in my work-in-progress, the setting is a Berkshire estate in the year 1807, a bit before the actual commencement of the Regency in 1811, but featuring a similar cast of characters:  handsome young women looking for a match and young men enjoying the single life, though some of them are gullible enough to be truly worthy of scandal. And speaking of scandal...

One doesn't have to look very far to find lots of scandals to research. As above, a print by James Gillray, 1782, from the National Portrait Gallery in London, which illustrates the story of Lady Worsley (nee Seymour Dorothy Fleming, 1758-1818) and her marital and extra-marital affairs More about this Lady W. in my next blog post.

In the meantime, I am thinking of this graceful equestrienne as Laura, as portrayed in a fashion print from La Belle Assemblee, March, 1807. But I would prefer to find a better depiction of her face...which will FORCE me to keep wandering the net. LOL

And look what's happening in just two weeks...watch for specials on some of my books, including my novella "The Valentine Poem" in a holiday deal!

Check out Love Kissed: 

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for special prices and a chance to win a $25 Amazon Gift Card. 

​Happy Day for Love...heck, make that Happy Month for Love!