I Don't Watch Downton Abbey And Other Confessions of a Regency Writer

Every group has its "popularities". Stereotypes or things that most of the group, or seemingly most of the group, likes or does.

Authors have a lot of them.

Regency authors have even more.

I have decided to come clean and confess that there are a few areas where I don't mesh with my sisters (and the occasional brother!) in writing. So, have a seat and be sure you aren't drinking anything. I wouldn't want you to choke on my shocking confessions.

1. I don't watch Downton Abbey. 

Yes, I know, it's shocking. It seems that most of my Regency writing friends are hooked on it. I watched the first season and then I was kinda over it. The house is gorgeous and you have to love the clothes, but the plot and such just don't do anything for me.

2. I'm not a huge fan of Georgette Heyer.

If you don't hang out in the world of Regency authors, you may not realize that this is an even more shocking announcement than someone saying they aren't a huge fan of Jane Austen. Heyer was the mother of the historical romance novel and many current authors grew up reading her books. Some people I've talked to tell me I just haven't read the right ones, and that's quite possible. As of yet, I am not a Heyer fan though.

3. I don't drink coffee.

Not even occasionally. Take me to Starbucks and I'll order something with chocolate in it.

4. I'm not a cat person.

I've about decided that this is a blessing, given the number of friends I've had that mention the horrors of trying to keep the kitty off the keyboard. I don't have any pets really, but if I were to have a large one it would more likely be a dog than a cat.

5. I don't know a dangling participle from a split infinitive. Seriously. I don't even know what they are. Those are just terms I looked up on Google so I could write that sentence. 

My. Grammar. Stinks. Really. I don't know the third thing about grammar. (I figure the first is nouns and verbs and the second is adjectives and adverbs.) I have a dear friend that edits my grammar, but when I'm writing my first drafts, the pages are full of passive participles axing infinitives while they hang off the side of a cliff. At least, I assume they are since I don't know what those are so have no way of avoiding them. And commas.... I don't think I could place one correctly if you offered me $1,000 to do so, no matter how many times my very patient, dear friend has tried to teach me.

If you've been reading for a while, you know I confessed the grammar thing before. Go check it out - it has an awesome poem about the absurdities of the English language.

So there you have it. My author confession list. Think they'll still let me in the club?

Persnickety P's ~ Life Lessons from Sticky Notes ~ A to Z Blog Challenge

When I began thinking about the A to Z challenge, I thought for a long time about what I wanted to write. I tried to think of ways to find neat things about the English language with each letter. And then I thought, what if that letter didn’t exist? So I am doing an abbreviated version of my Life Lessons series that I normally do on Fridays, but without using the letter of the day. What would life be like without that letter? Let’s find out...

I thought about writing on efforts to toilet-train my daughter, but that is really difficult without the letter of the day... haha. :)

They're colored, lined, AND sticky.
What more could you want?

So, instead I want to look at sticky notes. (And, yes, that is what they really are, unless you are using the brand name ones.) I. Love. Sticky notes. It’s bordering on obsession. I use them everywhere. In college, I studied software engineering, which meant I designed a lot of... things to run on those electronic brains you are likely using to read this. Some of them got rather elaborate.

Sticky notes made life so much easier. I would lay the whole design out on the wall using colored sticky notes. For those who know about writing electronic brain directions, I worked with object-oriented languages, so it leant itself well to division by sticky note. Sometimes I covered entire walls.

I didn't make this, but it's a mosaic made with sticky notes.
How cool is that?!?

I don’t write directions anymore, but sticky notes still factor into my designs. In my “office” corner I have large sheets of writing material on the walls. These hold images I’ve used to enliven characters and scenes in my novels. They hold story lines. As I work, I add things using stick notes. Then I occasionally take them down and transfer the notes to the sheets with marker to make things a little neater.

So what can we learn from sticky notes? I’m not really sure. I just really like them and wanted to write about them. Which I guess is the lesson. Take delight in the little things in life. Sticky notes make me smile. I enjoy using them so I get things done when I make sticky notes involved.

What little things do you enjoy?  What makes you smile?

Check out other A to Z participants using the link below. 

March Madness Fun, Part 1

I made brackets. What little rhyme or reason I had for my picks had nothing to do with basketball. I know enough about the game to be able to follow it when I watch it, but that's about it.

Normally, I would post this on Friday because I intend to draw some sort of life lesson from the results of my random selections. In this case, however, Friday is too late because the tournament will have already started.

Did you make brackets? Want to have some fun and make a random selection like I did? Come on over to ESPN and join my group.

1. Go to espn.go.com
2. Make your brackets (you may have to create an account, but that's pretty easy. You can even connect with facebook.)
3. Join the group Amelia's Drawing Room. The password is CupOfTea. Hehe. Isn't that cute?
4. Come back here and leave a comment telling me if your brackets were thought out or random, like mine.
5. Tell your friends to put their brackets in and come visit the blog.

If you've already made brackets, then you can just come join in our group. The winner will get a lovely mention on the blog, but that's about it. This is just for fun. Got more than one bracket? Feel free to throw them in there. I think you can have up to ten brackets each in the group.

I'm not going to tell you about my brackets yet other than to tell you I have Duke winning the whole thing because I am currently writing a book about a Duke. My logic is terrifying, isn't it?

How did you decide your brackets?

Just For Fun - Best Book Trailer Ever

I got this from Ane Mulligan who got it from Steve Laube. Don't you just love the internet?

This video is a great giggle, even aside from the fact that it's a book trailer. This is the type of book trailer that is actually effective.


How Sermons Work from HeadHeartHand Media on Vimeo.

Enjoy!