The Cinderella Princess. Anne Stuart Future Queen of England Part One by Rosemary Morris

 

To learn more about Rosemary and her work please click on the cover.

At heart I am a historian. Before I begin writing a #classi#historical#omance I research the background. I hope you will enjoy this month’s insider blog based on my notes.

When Anne, Stuart was born on the 6^th February1665 neither her uncle, the second King Charles, nor her father, James, heir to the throne, imagined she would become Queen. The king’s seven illegitimate children proved his virility. There was every reason to believe he and his queen Henrietta Maria who he married three years ago, would not have legitimate heirs If they did not, James and Anne, the Duke and Duchess of York’s son would succeed. Unfortunately, he only lived for six months.

Infant mortality was high. Fortunately, Anne and her older sister, Mary, survived the Great Plague, which broke out in the year of the Cinderella’s birth. The little princesses grew up in their nursery but their brother James, a younger brother and two little sisters died. One can imagine the effects of these deaths on a small girl suffering from poor health, whose weak eyes watered constantly.

With the consent of Anne’s uncle, the king, her parents sent the four-year-old to her grandmother, widow of the executed first Charles, who now lived in France, to have her eyes treated.

A portrait of the Anne as a small girl painted by an unknown artist at the French Court depicts a plump, adorable little girl, dressed in brocade and playing with a King Charles spaniel. Yet her eyes, set in an oval face with a mouth shaped in a perfect cupid’s bow, are wary.

 

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Rosemary Morris’ #classic#historical#romance novels set in Queen Anne Stuart’s reign – 1702 -1714

 

Far Beyond Rubies.

Tangled Love

The Captain and The Countess

The Viscount and The Orphan

 

With firmly closed bedroom doors, the reader can relish the details of emerging romances.

 

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To purchase my novels choose an online click onto the book cover to choose an online bookstore at https:bwlpublishing.ca/morris-rosemary.

 

To read the first three chapters please visit my website. www.rosemarymorris.co.uk

To Curmudgeons by Julie Christen

Here's to all the curmudgeons in my life, including the one you will meet in Nokota Voices coming in April.

Check out my BWL Author page

Julie Christen Author Page

To Curmudgeons by Julie Christen

I know a man who’s not what he seems.

On the outside, in fact, he looks downright mean.

His brow is all crinkled in the shape of a V.

His mouth is a grimace. He sure acts cranky.

Hands crammed in his pockets or crossed over his chest.

Stand-offish. Skeptical. Unimpressed.

Mad at the world? Just mad at you?

Mad about change and politics too.

A crabby old man, just mean to the bone.

Wishing that we would all leave him alone.

But …

Hidden in shadowy depths unseen

Lie stories of pain and places he’s been.

He loves with his whole heart. Mourns those he’s lost.

He’ll fight to the death for you - damn the cost.

His hands are gnarled, tender and strong

To pray, caress and work all day long.

Wisdom courses through his veins.

So much knowledge. Zero fame.

He’s been there, done that. Got the t-shirt and then some.

He’s a man with a story, not just a curmudgeon.

So next time you see him, maybe give him a chance 

To prove he’s much more than you see at first glance.

Editing essentials by donalee Moulton

 Editing essentials
Revising, reworking, revitalizing

Great writers don’t need an editor. They demand one. What first-rate writers understand is that another pair of eyes or a fresh pair of eyes are essential to successful communication. This second looks brings a new perspective, the distance that only time (even a little time) can offer, and renewed energy to improve content.

Let’s try this exercise. You’ll need a piece of paper, 8.5” x 11” if possible. Now transform that flat piece of paper into the world’s most wonderful flying machine. The goal is to fly as far as possible. Take a few minutes to play with different designs, then stand up and launch your creation. How far did it go?

Now let’s rethink, or edit, the exercise. What did your flying machine look like? Something similar to a paper airplane?

Let’s review the instructions, the language. Nowhere did it say to build a paper airplane. It said a flying machine. The goal was distance. What would be an easier way to build a flying machine? What would get us great distance?

Crumpling the paper into a ball would.

That’s what editing does. As we write, whether for a reader or a listener, we dive in. Ideas flow. We create content. We think about our audience. We identify important points to make. We’re in the midst of our content, our characters, and our creativity.

When we edit, we take a step back. We come up for air. We have a different perspective – and a draft on which to overlay a fresh set of eyes. Even short pieces of writing should be edited. We need to think before we walk away. We need to give ourselves time to review and revise. To take one last read through (or think through). You’ll be surprised at what you missed or decide to revise.

Editing is essential to clear, concise, compelling writing. But editing isn’t just one thing. Just as pizza isn’t just one thing. There is deep dish pizza with red carnival spinach. Thin crust pepperoni and Bloomsdale spinach. New York-style pizza with Tyee spinach. Notice though that although the type of pizza is different there are common elements.

That’s also true when it comes to editing. There are three broad types: substantive editing, stylistic editing, and copyediting.

I thought we could spend a little time exploring these different types of editing in future blogs. Until then, I’d love to hear from you about your editing process, what drives you nuts, what makes your heart sing.

Happy New Year from BWL Publishing Inc.

 Wishing all of you health, happiness and prosperity in 2023.

Our new releases for 2023 reflect the optimism we at BWL feel about a brand new year.

Click here to purchase

A champion barrel racer disappears from her trailer on the eve of the Black Hills Roundup. Two hundred miles away, female remains are discovered at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. Doug and Jill Fletcher, assigned to investigate the crime at the national monument, quickly determine that the remains are the missing rodeo champion. Thrust into the unfamiliar world of calf ropers, bull riders, and barrel racers, they team up with the Belle Fourche police to investigate the murder.

A trucker reports seeing a ghost driving the victim’s pickup across Montana the night of the murder. Other witnesses report seeing a rodeo clown near her trailer. Fletchers locate the victim’s stolen pickup and horse trailer, but not her horse. The evidence seems to point to horse theft as the motive, but the complicated reports of ghosts and rodeo clowns leaves them feeling that there’s more to the crime than a simple horse theft.

Click here to purchase

The North Country Series invites the reader into the wilds of Canada’s Yukon Territory, with its men and their loyal sled dogs, both as rugged as the mountains in which they live. Strong-willed women bring a softer touch to the long, snowy nights under the grandiose spectacular northern lights.

Brooke faces challenges every day as the only vet in a Yukon town, where sled dogs outnumber people. Life becomes even more complicated when her husband is murdered and she finds he has emptied her bank account and racked up a mountain of debt.

Veterinary medicine was not her first career choice. On the verge of her becoming a physician, a hospital tragedy derailed her plans. She turned to treating animals, her next love.

The loss of her husband uncovers a web of intrigue that she had no idea existed all around her. Her new neighbor, Dexter Weiman, appears to know more than he lets on. She is attracted to the handsome stranger, but she cannot trust him, especially when he appears unexpectedly on the Iditarod Race trail, where she is acting as a volunteer vet.

Click here to purchase

Alone in Canada after her parents retire to Scotland, Sophie Grant is content to finish her degree without partaking in the rowdy university lifestyle. So it seems like Fate when at the single party her roommate Tessa forces her to attend, she meets the charming and chivalrous Brandon Chase. In a whirlwind, Sophie finds herself smitten and living with the man of her dreams.

Everything is perfect. Until Tessa is found dead.

Soon after, Sophie realizes her own studies have taken a backseat to Brandon’s strange lifestyle. She decides to escape from the web she’d not even noticed was entangling her. However, it isn’t until one horrific morning that she realizes how far he’d go to make her stay.

Our very best wishes for a wonderful 2023.

Party Time by Priscilla Brown

 

Australian journalist Jasmine, stuck on a small Scottish island after a difficult assignment, finds herself learning reel dances at the local  Hogmanay party.  New Year's Eve had never been...so, well...so sexy...and is this stylishly kilted guy really who he says he is?

 

Find this contemporary romance at

  https://books2read.com/Dancing-the-Reel 

💖

 As teenagers many years ago, my cousin Sally and I hated family parties. The worst were those at Christmas and New Year hosted alternately by my parents and by hers. Having survived the excesses of Christmas at one house, we metaphorically took deep breaths and braced the New Year scene at the other.

Our mothers would sit at the kitchen table, their gossiping accompanied by rapidly depleting bottles of white wine and quantities of strawberry jam tarts. If a reason had ever existed for these specific edibles, it was lost in the annals of long ago New Year's Eves. If we took our clothes off and danced on the table, we doubted they'd have noticed. Our fathers occupied the living room, hers thumping away on the piano and mine making excruciating noises on his violin. Lucky the houses in this street were detached, so unlikely the neighbours would have their ears assaulted, but even so, anyone outside would surely cringe at the volume of noise. But the 'oldies' were having fun. 

For our 'fun,' and I don't remember how old we were, one year at my house Sally and I took from the wine rack a bottle of red wine which the parents probably thought they had hidden in a shoe cupboard, two glasses, and the few leftover mince pies. In my bedroom, we sat on the bed, disappointed there were no more pies, testing the wine while wondering how people could drink this disgusting stuff but nevertheless sipping away, and giggling over stupid boys in our respective high school classes. Neither of us felt at our best the next morning.

Chatting with friends about previous New Year's celebrations, mid-summer here in Australia, one described how his parents had hired a jumping castle to be installed in their large backyard for their extended family of children. Aged about ten, he and his twin brother had a fight while jumping, both fell off and each broke an arm. Another recalled how when teenagers their family joined with two others for a picnic in a park. She and a boy from another family ran a contest to see who could catch the most cicadas in ten minutes. Children nil, cicadas safe.

May 2023 be kind to you, with lots of good books to read. Stay safe. Priscilla.

 https://bwlpublishing.ca

 

https://priscillabrownauthor.com