by Roseanna White | Apr 3, 2013 | Remember When Wednesdays, Uncategorized
I am by no means an expert of historical fashion–I leave that to wonderful folks like Rachel Wilder, who my family fondly refers to as “Louisiana Rachel,” and who I have recruited to read my manuscripts and find any errors in how I refer to cravats vs. ties, waistcoats and vests and chemises and panniers and hoops and crinolines and…and..and…
I can’t tell you where the seams were in sleeves in a random year in the 19th century. I can’t tell you exactly when hoops turned to bell-shapes and what fabrics were most common when, and what colors were popular–not without looking it up, anyway. But at this point I’ve researched the fashion of enough eras, from 1770s through the 1920s, that I’m beginning to recognize things before I see a year attached to them. And that’s pretty cool. =)
One of my recent realizations of this was with a book I was reading for WhiteFire. There was no date at the beginning of the book to tell us when it was taking place, and our other editor asked. I said something like, “Based on the fashion described, it has to be 1890s.” I went and checked in the proposal she’d sent earlier, and voila! 1890! I felt so proud, LOL.
This is a pretty handy (and necessary) skill for a historical writer to have attained, and it’s a fun one to learn! It’s also the point where I can recognize a few designers, believe it or not. Every time I see a late 19th-century gown that I just adore, I know it’s from the House of Worth. Haven’t been wrong yet, LOL.
So while we’ve looked at a lot of fashion here as I’m in one era or another, today we’re going to just take a quick tour through the ages that I’ve studied. =)
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| 1770s |
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| 1780s |
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| 1790s |
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| 1810s |
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| 1830s |
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| Early 1860s |
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| Late 1860s (House of Worth!!) |
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| 1890s (also Worth – drool) |
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| 1905 |
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| 1911 |
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| 1920s |
And you know what all these beautiful dresses make me wish? That we still wore such lovely creations on a day-to-day basis! I daresay Charles Frederick Worth would be none too impressed with the trend of yoga pants, LOL. 😉
by Roseanna White | Apr 3, 2013 | Uncategorized
First, sorry there was no post yesterday–had a sick boy-o up all night Sunday/Monday, and it didn’t occur to me until last night that I should have posted something, LOL.
But a special Tuesday evening post to share the winner of the Box of Secrets Giveaway! Yay!
Rafflecopter and Random.org chose lucky #55, posted by . . .
Pamela Hargraves!
Congrats, Pamela! I just sent you an email. =)
by Roseanna White | Mar 28, 2013 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
I sat here for a good while this morning debating what to write about. It’s Holy Week, my favorite time of year. I love reflecting on all He’s given us, on His amazing love in giving up His life to save ours. I think I’ve had some nice insights over the years, LOL–and I’ve shared most of them already. 😉
This year, my weekend is packed to the brim with activities, from egg hunts to a seder-style dinner tonight at church. But what I’m most looking forward to is a concert linked not so much to Easter per se as to the love it represents–and which some friends of ours are living out in the most amazing way. As I sat here debating, I realized I wanted to introduce you to Todd and Erin and their kids. We belong to the same home school group, and this past year have been attending a small bible study with them and two other families with small kids, so we’ve been blessed to get to know them. I realize most of you are too far to come to the concert, but these folks could use your prayers! So here’s an article I wrote that appeared in the local paper the other day.
A local church is
teaming up with a local family to help bring a brother and sister
home to Frostburg from Ethiopia.
Frostburg residents
Todd and Erin Vogtman are a couple with a lot of love to give.
Married for thirteen years, they met in college when both were
studying to be teachers. In addition to now being a primary school
teacher, Todd is a talented singer and guitarist. Erin, a gifted
artist, spent years as a public school teacher as well and now home
schools their four biological children.
Many see this
family with four kids already and wonder at their interest in
adoption—especially international adoption. But for Todd and Erin,
it isn’t a matter of simply wanting more children, it’s a matter
of wanting to improve the lives of children who otherwise would have
nothing. “We believe that those who have much, hold much
responsibility to give. And just living in this country puts us as
some of the most privileged people in the world,” Erin says on her
blog,
One Sought Me.
“Parenting is such a fun adventure full of laughing and learning.
We know firsthand how fast time flies when watching kids grow and how
precious our time is as parents to our interesting and unique
kiddos.”
Though the Vogtmans have immense respect for those who work in the
foster care system of our country, they could not escape the
realization that even those who have the least in America are so
often richer than the majority of the people in third world
countries. And while every orphan is in need of love and protection,
those born in underprivileged nations have virtually no chance for
betterment aside from what comes in from other nations. These are
children who could very well starve and die before reaching adulthood
if no one feels the call to step in. Todd, Erin, and their kids felt
that call.
But the Vogtmans discovered as they began research into international
adoption that it’s a difficult path, especially when a family
already has four biological children. Their choices on where they
could apply soon dwindled down to a few, and they eventually settled
on Ethiopia. They have at this point been approved for adoption and
hope to have their new brother and sister with them by the end of
2013.
Adoption, however, is a costly calling, and so area businesses and
churches are teaming up with the Vogtmans on their loving mission and
sharing in the task of fund-raising. And what better way than to draw
on the talents the family already has? With that thought in mind,
Full Gospel SDB Church, located on Hazen Rd, invited Todd to perform
at their monthly Saturday Night Alive program. Admission is free, but
a freewill offering will be taken up, all proceeds to go to the
Vogtman adoption.
~*~
For those of you online and too far away to come support this amazing family, I do invite you to check out Erin’s blog,
One Sought Me. If you feel so led, there’s a donation button in the right corner. Every little bit helps!
by Roseanna White | Mar 27, 2013 | Remember When Wednesdays, Uncategorized
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I have no clue what color-scheme will used on the cover,
but for purely inspirational purposes, I made a blue title banner 😉 |
I’m on the downward slide (okay, so there’s nothing slide-like about this mounting battle, LOL) of Circle of Spies, and having SO MUCH FUN with these characters! But wow, is there a cast of them necessary! I’m still at that point where I doubt my own ability to draw all my character threads together in a nice little bow by the end of the book–which is also the end of the series, remember–so I’m spending some time gnawing at fingernails over here (metaphorically, anyway). And making copious notes about “Don’t forget to include Elsie at the end! Don’t forget that Barbara needs to be involved in this! Don’t forget to give Granddad Thad a role in this part!”
But one thing I’m having especial fun with in this one is using names of real people for my characters. I don’t usually do this, but as my awesome editor found a few redundant names in
Whispers from the Shadows (three Henrys?
Really, Roseanna??) and we started plugging in names of folks at Harvest House for these mentions, it turned into a pretty fun game. She gave me the challenge of including “Barbara” in a book sometime, and I took her up on it…which got me thinking.
Marietta, my heroine, had no real female friends. Which can work…but I already did that in
Ring of Secrets. I really shouldn’t have
another loner female character in the same series. So yes, she needed a friend, who could be named Barbara. But who was this woman? How does she enter the story? I decided somehow or another that she would be tied to the brother Marietta lost at Gettysburg, the one she loved above all. And then at our fabulous writing retreat, my critique partner gave me the idea of using a photograph to alert Mari to her presence in her life–a perfect solution, though that likely makes little sense to you right now, LOL. Resulting in,
voila, exactly the friend I needed Marietta to have! And a lack I hadn’t realized was there until someone issued me that challenge of including a name.
So then I had the brilliance (inspired by the aforementioned critter
Stephanie Morrill and her next book, The Revised Life of Ellie Sweet) of including YOUR names in this thing! Well…
your spy names. =) Not that I’m going to have that many spies, but every time I need to name a minor character, I’m pulling from that list. (So if you haven’t left me a comment on my
Spy Name Game with yours yet, you’d better!!) I’d already assigned one of the names to a role I needed, an innkeeper in Western Maryland. I had a decent idea of her personality and grinned when I realized she’d be saving my hero’s life at the climax.
Then yesterday I had this realization. Namely, that all my bad guys are Confederates. Yet I don’t want to paint all Confederates as bad guys! And while I know that I also have another Civil War-set manuscript here that is entirely Southern, where “Yankee” is the equivalent of a curse and the highest insult my characters can use, um…readers of the Culper series don’t know that, LOL. And I don’t want to come off as hating the South, which I most assuredly do not. So what I need is a wonderful, amazing, God-fearing, heroic Confederate character in this thing…and my inn keeper is just the one to play the part!
So when some of you ask me how I come up with my ideas…this is a new one for the list, LOL. Quite a few twists and quirks of
Circle of Spies have come about solely as I contemplate NAMES, of all things! Who knew? So seriously, if you haven’t already,
create your spy name!! Never know how it might inspire me. 😉
by Roseanna White | Mar 25, 2013 | Uncategorized
I spent a goodly portion of the weekend fending off the stomach bug going around, and then last night fell prey to a nasty sore throat. So I’m taking a sick day.
But don’t forget that my big Box of Secrets giveaway ends this weekend! Better hurry to get your entries in!
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.