Christy English

Give Away: By the King’s Design

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012 | Christine Trent, Give Away | 13 Comments

I am absolutely thrilled to be able to offer a copy of By the King’s Design as part of this week’s ongoing celebration of Christine Trent’s wonderful jaunt into Regency England. This give away is good in the US only, and runs from now until March 15th. The winner will be announced on my blog on Friday, March 16th. Just leave a comment below to join our give away.

By the King’s Design

Monday, February 20th, 2012 | Christine Trent, Reviews | No Comments

Set during the time of the Industrial Revolution, By the King’s Design tells the story of Annabelle Stirling, a courageous woman searching for a way to maintain her values and livelihood alone in a man’s world. Torn between the proscribed role of a woman and the work of a draper, after the death of her parents, Annabelle must continue her father’s legacy, doing the work he taught her to love. Caught between the expectations of others and the need to make her own living, Annabelle begins to work for the Prince Regent while maintaining her own shop in London.

A tale of betrayal, love, and a woman’s triumph, in By the King’s Design, Christine Trent delves into the world of Regency England as it was, with all its upheavals, rampant poverty, and sumptuous wealth.   Historically fascinating, with characters who draw you in, this fine novel carries you back into the past. I highly recommend this book.

Winner of THE TURNING OF ANNE MERRICK

Friday, February 17th, 2012 | Christine Blevins, Give Away | No Comments

Congratulations to

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Nan!

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for winning a copy of THE TURNING OF ANNE MERRICK by Christine Blevins! A lovely collection of paper and a quill comes with this copy of the historical adventure. Many thanks to all who participated.

Please tune in next week for the celebration of the launch of Christine Trent’s latest novel,  BY THE KING’S DESIGN…

Guest Post & Give Away with Christine Blevins

Friday, February 10th, 2012 | Christine Blevins, Give Away, Guest Posts | 14 Comments

Welcome Christine Blevins, author of the historical adventure THE TURNING OF ANNE MERRICK. Thank you for joining us…

Paper and Quill

There’s a scene in the movie Little Women, when Jo March finishes her novel, and gently tucks a bloom under the bit of twine she’s tied her manuscript pages with, and it’s all done – off to find a publisher!

Louisa May Alcott books are near and dear to my heart, and Little Women is top of the heap. I’ve watched the newest movie adaptation several times, and this particular scene always makes me smile, and then cringe when think about what a complete pain it must have been to be a novelist back then. Just think about writing hundreds of thousands of words with a quill pen that was not equipped with a delete key! Writing without the ability to cut and paste! Without the opportunity make countless and endless revisions with the simple click of a keystroke!

Hmmm… On second thought, that last one might be actually be an advantage!

As an author, handwriting is a device I use to get my creative juices flowing. I always begin a writing session with pen and paper. My pen of choice is a medium tip Liquid Flair, and the paper, an 5” x 8” spiral bound notebook. With these two tools I can curl up in a chair or a window seat and let my mind wander off to the 18^th century. Once my margins become cramped with notes and swinging arrows, and the writing starts to become illegible for the scratch outs and carrotted inserts, I take the pages over to my trusty Mac to be finessed and endlessly revised.

It is said Louisa May Alcott was a very fast writer, able to finish thirty handwritten manuscript pages a day. Keep in mind, novelists of yore had to contend with the mechanics of the quill pen and the often uneven quality of paper made from cotton fiber. A writer had to be a master of the penknife, able to shape and cajole a nib from the heat-tempered quill of a feather into the precision instrument of her craft.

The quill dip pen reigned supreme for over a thousand years. Illuminated manuscripts, Shakespeare’s plays, epic poetry, edicts, law, letters to loved ones – all written by the dip and scratch of a feather. Luckily, bird feathers are a sustainable commodity, as quill pens were notorious for wearing out quickly. Feathers taken from living bird in the spring were considered the prime source for a long lasting pen. The five outer quills of the left wing were most prized by scribes, as the plumes curved outward for use by the right-handed.

The type of feather used made a difference in the quality of your stroke. Though goose feathers were most common, scarce swan feathers were the “Mont Blanc” of the quill pen world. Crow feathers were preferred for fine line work, but the feathers from the eagle, owl, hawk and turkey could all be used in a pinch. Charles Dickens was famous for his need to have a large array of different types of quills at his disposal, so he could easily switch pens to match the quality of his penmanship to the prose he was writing.

And it didn’t end with paper and pen. Beyond the aforementioned penknife, a writer needed all manner of accouterments to write even a simple letter. A sprinkling of powdery pounce – a mixture of cuttlebone, pumice and gum sandarac – was dispensed from the salt-shaker like pounce pot to speed the drying of the ink. Extra absorbent blotting paper was manufactured specifically for the purpose of dabbing up the blips and blobs and blobs inherent in dip pen writing. Wells made of silver and glass held inks made from lampblack and linseed oil were essential, and a mahogany writing box lined with leather kept your writing gear in good order.

As I tap out this blog post, I think about future writers accessing holographic images of us 21^st century folk slaving over iMacs with keyboard and mouse from their bionic nanochip implants, will shake their heads with bemusement, smile, cringe and telepathically sigh, “What a pain that must have been!”

Giveaway: A copy of her latest novel, THE TURNING OF ANNE MERRICK and 18^th Century Notes and Envelopes –perfect for scrieving novel ideas. The bundle is decorated with a feather quill and wrapped for convenient stowing in your writing box. Please leave a comment at the end of this post to enter the give away, open to the US. The give away will run until Feb 16th, with the winner announced on Feb 17th.

Author Christine Blevins writes what she loves to read – historical adventure stories. The Turning of Anne Merrick is the second in a 3-book series set during the American Revolution, and the companion book to The Tory Widow. A native Chicagoan, Christine lives in Elmhurst, Illinois, along with her husband Brian, and The Dude, a very silly golden-doodle. She is at work finishing the third novel inspired by a lifelong fascination with the foundations of American history and the revolutionary spirit.

Christine’s website.

World Building and History

Wednesday, February 8th, 2012 | Christine Trent, Regency Romance, The Writing Life | 4 Comments

With the latest Christine Blevins novel out as well as the latest Christine Trent, I find myself swept up in different historical periods. I am fascinated by the wealth of stories that come into the world, born from the hard work and the passion of their authors.

In The Turning of Anne Merrick, Christine Blevins’ writes about colonial America and about women’s experiences as they build a new country. In By the King’s Design, Christine Trent writes of Regency England. Her heroine does not live in the Regency England where my characters live, a fantasy of handsome brooding men, silk gowns, and lustrous ballrooms. Annabelle Stirling is a draper who is solidly middle class, a shopkeeper who works for the Prince Regent, but who also sees the plight of the poor, people who are thrown into desperate suffering by the Corn Laws and a bad harvest.

I adore my own genres of 12th century historical fiction and romantic Regency England, but it is a thrill to dive into the worlds created by my peers, beautifully researched books that bring the past to life. I am grateful that with each new novel that comes into print, another world is born. As a writer and a reader, I am a world-hopper, constantly looking for the next book to kick back and enjoy.