On Writing

Along the lines of discussing writing craft, maybe some of you could help me with something that's been niggling at me for weeks. I am having trouble with the title of the novella I'm working on, and I want to get it it right because I'm hoping to publish it in August. I would love to know what to think from an industry historical-romance-titling angle. INFO: It's the second of three little books. The first one is Idelle's Inheritance, and the third one is Idelle's Enlightenment.  (In the first, Idelle travels back to Englightenment-era Edinburgh, and her orange-haired, crackling-with-energy "cousin" Moira comes boldly back to present day Edinburgh with her, and loves it.  (In the third book, we will finally have Idelle's story of her romance with her slow-starting modern hero, and they'll probably pop back in time for a bit too.) This second one, I had originally titled as _1__Moira's Modern Mayhem___, though that's ...

I often put on a little Youtube when I'm working at home. This morning, much to my delight, a random little video added the layer of depth that Graeme (Idelle's as-yet-unrequited and confusing love) needed. This is an enchanting little video about the Scotch Irish going to America after the Irish rebellion.  https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=DHOyYQ0Wm_ I Neat line about the Germans, English, Irish: When they came to America, they said the British would build a church, the Germans would build a good solid barn that would last, and the Irish would build a whiskey still! Oh, the millions of tragedies that rolled out from the first and last one... I only know personally one story involving a German barn, but lots of stories of Irish alcoholism and British religious persecution in my own family's 140ish years in Canada. And here's a really lovely musical follow-up, too. A BBC special on  The Scots-Irish musical legacy in the USA   https://www.youtube.com/watc...

The writer who causes me the most lost time is British writer M.C. Beaton / Marion Chesney. Several things about her delight me: 1. She's prolific. 2. She's fun and silly. 3. She only really got revved up in her writing career when she was 43... like me! So there's hope I can be that prolific and beloved too. Working on it. 4. She's multi-genre. 5. My son and I both adore her Hamish MacBeth and Agatha Raisin series audio books, and we listen to them and my son has an amazing memory for them, so we discuss them a lot. Agatha is salty and ... oh, so lovable. MacBeth is... oh, so lovable too. Though at the same time both characters are so sort of naughty (or, well, irritatingly manly, in Hamish's case) that you don't mind when the author causes them all sorts of annoyance. I started off loving ​her historical romances. Light, easy, delightful, quite silly, quite fun. I was SO happy when I went to the used book store in Bath, UK, and t...

I sent my friend Princess the proof copy of the new novella to check out, and she's so excited! She and her cat Priscilla made a pot of tea and settled down to read. They called me up on Skype to tell me all about it!   Um, Princess, that's a little upside down! That's better. They really like the cover. It worked out well!   The story's good, too! The Skype image is a little blurry, across the Atlantic... I'm not sure if she's reading right-side up here or up-side down! It's available on Amazon, either the cute little minipaperback or the ebook (pre-order for July 16). I do send free e-copies of all of my books to readers who will write reviews on Goodreads, so if you would like a free copy, just ask. :) Write me a nice little note at christabedwin at gmail.com and we'll do a deal. https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_8?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=idelle%27s+inheritance&sprefix=idelle%27s%2Caps%2C272&crid...

My writing companion is an 18-year-old black cat. She's our philosopher cat (we also have a military cat who defends us and keeps us in order, but that's my son's cat -- another story). I never meant to have a black cat, but about when I finally accepted that I seemed to be a sad and lonely spinster and that I might as well get a cat, I decided I should go to the humane society. But I procrastinated. Instead of going to the humane society that day, I walked up a hill in the town where I lived at the time and down the hill were coming Ashley, Leanna, and Ashley, and they were carrying this wee black kitten, the last of her litter, and they sorrowfully told me if they couldn't give this little cat named Zipper away, their parents were going to force them to take her to the humane society. So then I had a cat. No collar or litter or cat knowledge or anything but I took her home and the first thing she ever napped on was a stack of manuscript...