Remember When . . . The Skirts Had Hoops?

Well, I finally did it–I got to The End in my 1861-set manuscript. Yay! It took longer than I thought it would–and ended up longer than it should have in word count, LOL, but it’s finished. Not counting edits, revisions, cuts, chops, rewrites, what have you. ๐Ÿ˜‰
So before I dive back into the 18th century, I wanted to linger a bit on the truly awesome styling of the mid to late 19th century. Because seriously, I love a good hoop skirt. Don’t you? I’ve put together a board on Pinterest for my favorite finds, many of which were repinned from the board of my friend Rachel Wilder, who’s an expert on 19th century fashion. She has, in fact, a blog geared toward answering reader/writer questions on fashion, which I highly recommend you check out.
Now for some fun. =) Let’s start with one of the most important articles of Victorian clothing–the corset. Though they get a bad rap in modern times because of how they were used to reform the figure, but the boning and stays provided the structure needed to pull off these gowns–you can’t have a period dress without one. (Though we certainly don’t have to reduce our waists to 17 inches with them!)

Then, of course, we need a hoop.

And now to pick what to wear. How about a day dress?

And don’t forget your accessories! A perfect parasol for instance . . .

And a lovely bonne.

But don’t stay out too long this afternoon. You’ll have to dress for the evening, you know!
And of course, a lady goes nowhere without her fan–it’s an essential tool for social interaction. =)

Lovely, isn’t it all? And before we object to how hot they’d be, let me assure you that those who do reenacting say that you get so accustomed to it that you aren’t drenched in sweat while in them–you’re freezing when you take them off. ๐Ÿ˜‰

Hope everyone enjoyed the brief tour through 1860s fashion!

We Have Winner #2!

We Have Winner #2!




Given that I’m a little behind on selecting my second winner for the Great ANNAPOLIS Giveaway, I figured I’d better spend my blog time doing that this morning. ๐Ÿ˜‰

I want to thank you all for following me around the blogosphere and making the release of Love Finds You in Annapolis, Maryland so fun! I loved seeing the pictures you guys sent, reading your comments, and hearing about your creative ways of spreading the word.

And now, drum roll please.

Dddrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

And the second and final winner of the Great Annapolis Giveaway, including doll, mug, hot cocoa, journal, quill, and book is. . .

Ddddddrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Apple Blossom!

Yay, congrats, Apple Blossom! She won this by pure devotion to the cause, LOL, commenting on absolutely everything she could. Sending you an email now. =)

Special Announcement – Vote for Jewel of Persia!

Special Announcement – Vote for Jewel of Persia!

I just learned that Jewel of Persia  is a finalist in the 2012 About.com Friendship Readers’ Choice Awards!

What is this, you ask? Well, to be eligible, your book has to have friendship as a central theme. I entered Jewel of Persia because, as anyone who’s read it knows, the friendship between Kasia and Esther is what paves the way for the events we all know from the book of the Bible. But honestly, I’d totally forgotten I’d entered, LOL.

I LOVE that this is a reader’s choice award–it means that you have a voice! If you read and enjoyed Jewel of Persia, I would be totally honored if you would visit the voting site at About.com between now and March 21 and cast your vote. It’s here: http://friendship.about.com/b/2012/02/22/vote-2012-fiction-book-about-friendship.htm

And just FYI, this award comes with bragging rights only, no big, sparkly prize. ๐Ÿ˜‰

Thoughtful About . . . Soon

I tried to think of a blog post for today, I really did. But you see, every time I turned my mind over to pondering, it defaulted to pondering the last three chapters of my work-in-progress. I’m mere days away from finishing it and in a total book haze. So my apologies. No inspiration for you here. ๐Ÿ˜‰
I’m also a bit overdue on drawing the second and final winner of my Great Annapolis Giveaway–rest assured I haven’t forgotten, just haven’t taken the hour necessary to tally up all those entries and do the drawing. That’s scheduled for right after I finish my manuscript, so hopefully SOON.
In the meantime, I hope everyone’s having a great week! If you haven’t already, scroll to yesterday’s post to have some fun with Shakespearean insults, and otherwise say a prayer that these last few scenes go smoothly for me, will you? Tricky balance to strike with this book–but hey, if I don’t get it right, that’s what revisions are for. ๐Ÿ˜‰
Happy Thursday!

Remember When . . . Shakespeare Insulted You?

It happens to me all the time. (No, not that Shakespeare insults me . . .;-) I’m barreling full-steam through a heated scene on-page, when, wham. I come against a blinking cursor and don’t know what to type. Because one of my characters is insulting the other–and my vocabulary fails me.

Why? Because our favorite insults today don’t fly in a historical context. I can’t have Delia call Phin a jerk. He’s scowl and say, “I’m not tugging on you. What are you talking about?” He can’t call her a snob (see Monday’s post, wink, wink), or she’d say, “Whatever do you mean? I’m not pretending to my gentility, I was born to it, as you well know, you . . . you . . .”

Yeah. Back to square one. So I’m compiling a list of historical insults, and boy is it fun! From scalawag to rogue to jackanapes, from slimy toad to delightful imp, I’m trying to make sure I have all the fun ones–and the truly low-down ones–on my list. Without getting vulgar, of course.