Meredith Allard's Blog, page 27

Why I’m Writing About the Other Oddities

[image error]

This is somebody new in my life. Her name is Poppy and she’s 11 months old. Yes, she’s as cute and sweet as she looks!

I’m so happy to be back after a bit of a break. I had a particularly busy time in my PhD program this past semester, but the good news is I passed my Qualifying Exam, which means I’ve been given the A-OK to begin writing my dissertation. The light at the end of the tunnel of the PhD program is in sight, and I’ll be finished with everything in a year, Spring 2018. And then that will be Dr. Allard to you!

While I’ve been away I’ve been thinking a lot about this blog and what I could do to make it more connected to who I’m becoming as a writer, and as a person, and yet still keep it relevant for the friends who have been part of this blog for many years (you know who you are). Even before I took the hiatus I felt like the blog had become stale, and I struggled to find new topics to post about. I needed the distance to make sense of what I really wanted to accomplish here. What is my intention? When I started this blog in 2010, I did exactly what the blogging and publishing experts said I should. I stayed on message. I was a writer, and I had books I wanted people to know about, so I wrote about my books. I wrote about historical fiction, writing, publishing, and editing. And then I ran out of things to say. And then I got busy with my PhD studies, but that’s another story for another day.

If you know anything about me you know that writing is the way I make sense of the world, so I’ll never stop writing about my books or my writing. But now I want to talk about other aspects of my oddball life. I want to talk about what it’s like living as a teacher, student, and writer with hearing loss. I’ve developed an interest in writing nonfiction, and I’m delving into a genre I love to read but have never written—memoir. I’m also looking to start a career as a freelance writer. I tried freelancing about 12 years ago (I really do think it was that long ago) but I grew frustrated and gave up after a few months. I’ve gained more stamina since then, as well as more confidence. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that my novels have sold over 30,000 copies and Her Dear & Loving Husband, the free first book in the Loving Husband Trilogy, has been bought or downloaded over 250,000 times. So maybe I know a little more about writing now than I did then. And maybe I’m a little older (actually, I am definitely a little older) and a little more patient now. Maybe I have a clearer vision of what I want from my life. At the same time, I’m looking to become healthier, eating healthier, getting back into yoga and maybe an occasional jog on the treadmill. I’m definitely drinking healthier, turning to herbal teas instead of coma-inducing blended coffees or other sugary drinks. I’m working on myself spiritually, attempting meditation, learning to focus on my breath, doing everything I can to stop what Buddhists call the Monkey Mind from taking over my life as it has done on many occasions. In other words, I have different topics to discuss these days.

I know conventional wisdom says to have a different blog for each of your interests, but then again I’ve never been the most obedient person. Maybe at some point in the future I’ll have a different blog for health, a different blog for hearing loss, a different blog for fiction writing, a different blog for nonfiction writing, but for right now I want to write about what I want to write about. I think that will make this blog fresher for my readers and more meaningful to me, and that’s one thing I have been working toward lately—only doing what is meaningful to me and leaving the rest behind.

Filed under: News, Tidbits Tagged: blogging, health, hearing loss, nutrition, writing

When It Rained at Hembry Castle a Best Book of 2016

Hello everyone! Yes, I’m still officially on hiatus, but I wanted to drop a quick note letting you know that When It Rained at Hembry Castle has been named one of the best self-published books of 2016 by IndieReader in the historical fiction category. The article is currently on The Huffington Post. Thank you to the great people at IndieReader. It’s much appreciated!

Filed under: News, When It Rained at Hembry Castle Tagged: Best Books of 2016, IndieReader.com, When It Rained at Hembry Castle

A Blogging Hiatus

As you’ve probably already guessed, things are pretty busy on my end of the stick. My teaching and studies at UNLV are taking up all my time these days as I’m getting closer to finishing my PhD program. I’m finishing my required classes this semester, and I’m in the early stages of preparing to write my dissertation.

I’m lucky enough to have stumbled upon a topic that has really captured my attention. At first, I was going to study how new teachers learn to teach writing. Sounds good, right? After all, writing is my life. For reasons I’m not even sure about, studying the teaching of writing felt lifeless and dry. If you’ve been reading this blog you know that I discovered the joys of art journaling over the summer, and art journaling gave me the idea about the use of creativity in teacher education. Creativity has sadly been removed from education in nearly every way due to the emphasis on standardized testing. Yet creativity is a necessary trait for success in the 21st century. How can we incorporate creativity into the training of new teachers? This is what I’ve been doing lately, but it’s an endeavor I’m enjoying because it’s a topic I’m excited about. If you’re interested in the importance of creativity for teachers, I recommend the book Creative Schools by Sir Ken Robinson (he gave that fabulous TED talk about ‘Do Schools Kill Creativity?’ Yes, they do, Sir Ken. Yes, they do).

Since every waking moment is taken with teaching my classes, doing my work for the classes I’m taking as a student, and reading for my dissertation study, I thought it was best to admit out loud that I’m not going to be able to post here for a while. For now, the hiatus will definitely last until January. I’ll keep you posted about what’s going on through Facebook and Twitter (the links to my social media pages are there in the right sidebar).

All the articles about my novels, writing historical fiction, and creative writing are still here and available for your reading pleasure. Check the Categories link (also in the sidebar) to find the articles you’d like to read.

Thanks to all of you who have been here from the very beginning, and to all the new friends who have signed up to this website. Stay tuned!

Filed under: News Tagged: blog hiatus, creativity in teacher education, News

Charles Dickens Meets Downton Abbey

Here’s the interview I did for Many Books about my experience writing When It Rained at Hembry Castle. Enjoy!

Meredith Allard fell in love with Charles Dickens’ work when she was in college and after watching every Downton Abbey episode multiple times, she decided to create a work inspired by her favorite author and TV show. When it Rained at Hembry Castle is the perfect marriage between the humor and mystery of Dickens’ work and the upstairs/downstairs world of the English aristocrats. As our author of the day, Allard tells us more about what made her want to write a book set in the Victorian era, how she makes her characters come to life and how Hembry Castle has been brewing in her mind for 20 years.

Please give us a short introduction to When it Rained at Hembry Castle

When It Rained at Hembry Castle is set in Victorian England in 1870. It’s the story of American Daphne Meriwether, the granddaughter of the Earl of Staton. When the Earl dies, Daphne and her father Frederick return to England. It’s a challenge for Daphne, learning to live in the upstairs/downstairs world of her father’s family. And she may fall in love with the aspiring writer Edward Ellis while she’s there. Of course, obstacles get in their way. Hembry Castle is a love story at heart, though it has an interesting cast of characters who make life interesting for Edward and Daphne.

Why Victorian England? What fascinates you about this time period?

I fell in love with the novels of Charles Dickens when I was in college and I always wanted to write a book set in this era. The Victorian Era is interesting because it is a time that is both historical and yet in some ways it feels modern. I love learning about history, and writing historical fiction is a great way for me to do that.

Did it require a lot of research to keep your novel historically correct? Which part of the research did you find the most interesting?

This was one historical novel that I didn’t have to do a ton of research for because I already had a lot of knowledge about it from reading Dickens and reading books about the era. I did double check everything I wrote, but since I knew where to look for the information that made it a shorter process than usual for me. I was able to travel to London twice as part of my research, and I absolutely loved that. London is a great city. In fact, I’ve walked many of Edward’s walks through the city. I think being able to visit and see the places for myself make the story much more realistic.

What, would you say, makes the English aristocrats so interesting to read about?

When It Rained at Hembry Castle was partially inspired by Downton Abbey, and the popularity of Downton Abbey is largely based on the curiosity people have about the upstairs/downstairs world of English aristocrats. In America, the upstairs/downstairs world is not part of our culture the way it is in Britain, and I think that accounts for the fascination about that lifestyle. It’s an introduction to a world we knew nothing about.

Privilege and class division are recurring themes in When it Rained at Hembry Castle. Why?

Since Downton Abbey was such a big influence on Hembry Castle, it seemed appropriate that privilege and class division should play a part in the story. My love for all things Dickens also inspired the novel, and privilege and class division are often themes in his stories. While I love watching Downton Abbey and am fascinated by the lifestyle of the upper classes, I can’t imagine ever having to live according to such arbitrary rules and regulations. Daphne represents the way I would look at that lifestyle if I were thrust into that world—with a sense of detachment and maybe some humor about it all. The fact that Daphne falls in love with the butler’s grandson when her grandmother means for her to marry a duke allowed me to probe a bit deeper into what seems to be the pointlessness of class division, but, again, I’m American and would see it that way.

How did you manage to describe England’s countryside and other locations in your book so vividly?

Partially it was through reading, partially it was through photographs on Pinterest, but mainly it was my imagination. I was able to picture the scenery in my mind’s eye and I did my best to describe what I saw. And watching every episode of Downton Abbey many times helped!

Which classic author do you admire the most?

Charles Dickens, if you haven’t already figured that out. I read Dickens for the first time in college and knew that that’s what I wanted to do—write stories that were entire worlds unto themselves. I love his sense of humor, his spot-on observations, his way of pointing out things that were wrong in his world, many of which are still wrong in our world today. He’s the smartest, funniest writer I’ve ever read. Dickens has been the biggest influence in my own writing.

When it Rained at Hembry Castle contains many hilarious scenes. Why do you find it important to use humor in your writing?

This goes back to my love for Dickens. Dickens was a hilarious writer, and from him I learned that if you’re going to write truthfully about people then you have to include the light as well as the dark. People are funny. We do and say funny things all the time (sometimes without meaning to do so—which makes it even funnier). And besides, a sense of humor goes a long way in making a story fun to read.

Your book has a very Downton Abbey feel to it. Was that intentional? Are you a Downton Abbey fan yourself?

I love Downton Abbey and it was absolutely intentional to include the upstairs/downstairs feel of the show. In fact, Downton Abbey gave me an angle from which to tell the story. I came up with the original idea for Hembry Castle about 20 years ago (no joke) when I decided I wanted to write a story set in Victorian England about a writer who would be loosely based on a young Charles Dickens. I went on to write other novels and kept the Victorian story on the back burner for years. After I fell in love with Downton Abbey I realized that I could take elements from that TV show and use it to bring my Victorian story to life.

What are some tricks you use to create such believable characters?

Mainly, I use my imagination. It took me longer to write Hembry Castle than I thought it would because it took me some time to get to know all the characters. I can’t write about a character until I get a sense of his or her personality. Hembry Castle has a larger cast of characters than I usually write about, and it took me some time to get them all straight in my head. Really, it’s about not thinking too much during the first draft, allowing the characters to materialize in front of me, and then writing down what I see. Sometimes I’ll put a favorite actor in the “part” of that character and imagine that actor acting out the scenes. That helps me get a sense of cadence when the character speaks, the types of movements the character might do, and so on. But really, it all boils down to allowing my imagination freedom.

Besides writing, what other secret skills do you have?

Writing is my most obvious superpower, but when I’m not writing I love to read. I also love to cook, and I just started art journaling, which I really enjoy.

Where can our readers discover more of your work or interact with you?

The best place to find me online is my website, www.meredithallard.com. I’m also on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/authormeredithallard/. My favorite social media is Pinterest, and you can find me at https://www.pinterest.com/meredithallard/. I could stay on that all day!

When It Rained at Hembry Castle





Missing Downton Abbey? Read When It Rained at Hembry Castle. A lush historical novel set in Victorian England, When It Rained at Hembry Castle is the story of an aristocratic family, secrets that dare not be told, and the wonder of falling in love.




Historical Fiction




$0.99





Amazon




B&N




Kobo




Apple





About the Author







Meredith Allard is the author of the bestselling novels The Loving Husband Trilogy, That You Are Here, Victory Garden, Woman of Stones, and My Brother’s Battle (Copperfield Press). Her newest release is the historical novel When It Rained at Hembry Castle, a great read for fans of Downton Abbey. She lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. Visit Meredith online at www.meredithallard.com.



Author Links


Website / Blog




Facebook Page




Twitter Profile




Amazon Profile














Filed under: Historical Fiction, Interviews, When It Rained at Hembry Castle, Writing Tagged: Charles Dickens, historical fiction, Victorian fiction, When It Rained at Hembry Castle, writing

Wherever You Go, Go With All Your Heart

While I’m busy starting a new semester at UNLV, I thought I’d reblog this oldie but goodie about my decision to return to college after 20 years. Enjoy!

From Meredith Allard

I’ve been following Catherine Ryan Howard’s blog Catherine, Caffeinated for a few years now, and I love her insights into indie publishing, her sarcastic sense of humor, and I freely admit that I share her love for all things caffeine. Recently, Catherine posted an article about how the hardest thing about a decision is making it. In her post, Catherine talks about her long-time desire to attend Trinity College in Dublin, and how, finally, at the last minute she applied, and how, finally, she’s attending the university she dreamed about. I nodded as I read Catherine’s post because I had the same realization—that the hardest part about a decision is making it.

Like Catherine, I had university dreams for years. I knew from the time I was working on my BA in English that I wanted to pursue my PhD so I could teach at the university level, but you know…

View original post 1,190 more words

Filed under: Her Dear & Loving Husband

The Joy of Art Journaling

I’ve shown this one of my three cats before, but it’s one of my favorites. I found the shape of the cats on Pinterest, then made a stencil of it with card stock.

I fell in love with art as a sophomore in college when I happened to take an art history class. I didn’t know much about art then, but the class fulfilled a humanities requirement and it had open seats so I grabbed it. The class covered the time period from the earliest cave paintings through the Roman Empire. I remember the professor seemed so ancient to my 19 year old eyes, but was probably in his mid forties, not old at all now that I’m in my mid forties myself. He was a slight, slender man in his khaki pants, polo shirts, and sweater tied around his neck though it was summer in the San Fernando Valley in California. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone as excited about their subject as that professor was. He spoke with such enthusiasm, describing the hieroglyphics inside the Egyptian pyramids as though they were indeed messages handed down by the gods. I remember the professor leading a class expedition to the J. Paul Getty Museum, and I remember the feeling of complete enchantment as I studied the Greek statues and pottery. I found the professor, and his subject, endearing, and it was because of that class I developed a lifelong love for art in all its forms.

My first attempt at watercolors. I’ve since learned that you’re supposed to paint watercolors on wet paper. I like the whimsical look because it’s not supposed to be realistic.

As much as I love to visit museum exhibitions of the great artists, I never thought of myself as much of an artist. I was a writer, so I had to content myself with the fact that I got my creative expression from writing. A number of years ago I dabbled in painting with acrylics, but I really didn’t know what I was doing. I tried to take a painting class at the extension university where I was teaching creative writing, but the teacher wasn’t all I hoped she would be. She was a short French woman with the oddly elfin look of Dobby from the Harry Potter books. Her dyed jet-black hair was cut into an ear-length 1920s flapper’s bob and she wore huge round black glasses that took up the whole of her face. She tottered around the classroom shrugging at the students’ paintings the way only the French can. There was no instruction. There were no directions. She put some flowers in a vase on a stool at the front of the classroom and told us to paint what we saw. That was it. I looked around and saw students painting, but I didn’t even know where to start. I had never taken an art class. Yes, I loved to look at paintings, but looking and painting are two very different things. I started painting the flowers in the vase the best I could. Finally, Dobby stopped besides me and shrugged. “You are supposed to paint what you see,” she said. “This is what you see?”

This one is kind of busy but I love the colors peeking through. I was using molding paste for the first time and got a little carried away.

“Yes” was the only answer that seemed appropriate. She shrugged again and moved on. A little while later she stopped near me again.

“Why is your canvas so small?” she asked. Now it was my turn to shrug (I’m French too, you know). I didn’t remember there being a canvas size requirement in the class materials list, I said. Dobby opened her arms wide. “If you want to learn to paint, you paint big!”

For this one I was trying out some new stencils I had just bought. Stencils are great for someone like me who doesn’t draw too well.

I told her the truth. I didn’t think I was going to learn how to paint from her if she didn’t give us any instruction. I was a complete beginner and knew nothing about painting. Her only response was “Hmpf!” as she tottered away. Another student next to me said that was just the way the teacher was. I grabbed my materials, left the room, and got a refund for the money I paid for the class. I practiced a little on my own, but then decided I wasn’t good at it because I didn’t know what I was doing so I stopped painting. I still considered myself a wanna-be artist, but I limited my non-writing artistic experiences to watching craft shows on TV.

Last year I started coloring, which I enjoy. It’s stress free because someone else has done the drawing. All I have to do is choose which colors I’m going to use and have fun. Then earlier this summer I was watching one of my favorite craft shows, Scrapbook Soup on PBS with Julie Fei-Fan Balzer, and she had a guest on who talked about art journaling. Art journaling? What’s this? Certainly, I knew what journaling was. Like most writers, I’ve been keeping a journal for years, but art journaling was something new to me.

This is one of the first art journal pages I did. I was just playing around slapping some paint around the page.

If you’re not familiar with art journaling, it’s really the same as writing journaling except you’re using art supplies like colored pencils, paints, stencils, and stamps. Just as with writing journaling, art journaling is about the process and not about the finished product. When we keep writing journals we don’t worry about what we’re writing—we’re just writing. In Writing Down the Bones, Natalie Goldberg calls it writing practice. It’s the same with art journaling. It’s art practice. We’re not trying to create completed pieces of artwork for display. We’re playing with the supplies, trying out different paints and different styles and different color combinations, not worrying about the final result. We’re doing it just for the enjoyment. You can art journal on whatever paper you have handy—a bound journal, a composition book, even junk mail, old books, or magazines. You need only a few basic materials to get started. You don’t need to take art classes. It’s the same learning by doing mentality that helped me become a writer, and since no one is going to see what’s in my art journal but me, I don’t have to worry about some little wide-rimmed Dobby hovering over my shoulder shrugging as if I had no business even passing an art supply store.

Here are some circles I turned into easy flowers.

With my interest in art journaling piqued, I began watching videos on YouTube. Mimi Bondi’s videos are great. Mimi is a French woman living in Australia, and she’s nothing like Dobby. In fact, she’s exactly the opposite. Her art is all about having fun. She’s the one who taught me that art journaling should be about playing as if you were a kid again. She spreads the paint for the background on her pages with her fingers, and now I do the same. If you’re interested in art journaling, check out Mimi’s videos. There are a whole lot of great art journaling examples on YouTube. I found a wealth of inspiration from Pinterest too since there are thousands of examples of art journal pages to see and learn from.

When I began art journaling, I started slowly, buying some cheap acrylic paint at the discount store, and I already had a pretty good stash of colored pencils, crayons, and markers because of my coloring. I had an old sketch book from the Dobby days when I tried to paint the first time, and that became my art journal. Now that I’ve been art journaling for a couple of months I bought myself more acrylic paints, and I love stencils because I don’t have to worry about my drawing skills. A lot of art journalists use stamps, but stamps are expensive and I haven’t gotten there yet. You can make your own stamps, but I haven’t tried it. I’m happy with my acrylic paints, colored pencils, and stencils. I’ve also started doodling (there are many easy to draw examples of doodles on Pinterest). I added a few paint markers to my stash, and I had a box of patterned scrapbook paper because I’ve created scrapbooks on occasion. Art journaling is simply about playing with what you have and allowing yourself the freedom to express yourself in whatever way you feel in the moment.

My first attempt with mini gelli plates.

Now, if you’re anything like me and have suffered from compare-itis, you’ll find it’s very easy to fall back into that trap when art journaling. Many of the people who make art journaling videos on YouTube or post their artwork on Pinterest are professional artists, so it’s very easy to look at their examples and think, “Well, I suck. What’s the point?” But that goes against the very purpose of art journaling. You need to look at the examples as what they are—examples—and then do what you can do in that moment. You can make your art journal pages look however you want—you can make them more like scrapbook pages, calendar pages, bullet journals. You can paint flowers, stencil flowers, doodle flowers. If you try something and don’t like it you can either paint over it with gesso or try to work with it. You can’t do it wrong. How cool is that?

I watched an Angela Anderson tutorial on YouTube to paint this one.

I feel as if art journaling was invented for someone like me—someone who loves to play with paint and color but doesn’t have much background knowledge about how to actually make art. I’ve been having a lot of fun playing around in my art journal, and that’s all that matters. Some pages I like more than others. For some pages I use examples I’ve been on Pinterest or YouTube as my inspiration, and some pages come completely from my imagination. Some of my pages are kind of cool, and some are kind of weird, but you know what? It’s all good. Anything I do in my art journal is right for me. So there, all you Dobbies of the world!

While I will always be a writer first, I’m enjoying having other artistic pursuits. I can’t write all day, and coloring and art journaling give me something to do that is stressless, fun, and still creative.

Filed under: News, Spirituality, Tidbits Tagged: art journaling

My Summer Reading List

There’s always something special about summer reading. Of course I read during the school year, but with everything I have to do for my teaching and coursework there isn’t as much time to read for pleasure as I’d like.

Normally, I read a lot of fiction, mainly historical fiction (surprised, right?), but this summer I was bitten by the Hamilton An American Musical bug like so many of you. Not only have I listened to the soundtrack more times than I can count (I’m pretty sure at this point I could perform all the roles in the show), but more than loving the rhythmic music and the eloquent lyrics, listening to Hamilton reminds me of the days when I taught U.S. History. I remember glossing over Alexander Hamilton in the American Revolution lessons saying, “Oh yeah, that’s the guy who was shot and killed by Aaron Burr” and not thinking much more of him than that. Man, was I wrong about Hamilton. He was one interesting dude. My interest in Hamilton the musical reignited my interest in early American history, so most of my reading this summer has been biography driven.

Here’s my reading list this summer so far:

In keeping with my American Revolution theme, I’ve read the Alexander Hamilton biography by Ron Chernow as well as Chernow’s biography Washington: A Life. Here’s the interesting thing: George Washington, the first president, the father of his country, was not the most endearing person in the world, at least not to me. He was a great man, Washington, and the fact that we even have a United States is due in large part to Washington’s leadership. Still, Alexander Hamilton, even with his fiery temperament (or because of his fiery temperament) is the more interesting man. But I’m still glad I read the Washington biography. Chernow made me rethink everything I thought I knew about George Washington, which is a good thing. Too often we just accept the stories we hear about our leaders without taking the time to read for ourselves and form our own judgments. Another biography I’ve read this summer is Walter Isaacson’s Benjamin Franklin: An American Life. I have to say I’m kind of digging on Benjamin Franklin right now. He wasn’t perfect—no one is—but I have to say he’s my favorite founding father. If all he ever did was make his discoveries about electricity, that alone would be enough for us to know his name. He was stubborn, determined, gregarious, but most of all he was damn funny, which scores points with me every time.

Since one of my jobs this summer has been to research the Salem Witch Trials for Down Salem Way, I’ve been reading The Salem Witch Trials: A Day by Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege and Six Women of Salem, both by Marianne K. Roach.

 

As I’m trying to move my writing career to the next level, I read the newest nonfiction book from one of my favorite publishing teachers, Joanna Penn (Joanna doesn’t know it, but she is one of my mentors!). Joanna’s book The Successful Author Mindset is great for authors at any stage of their careers. I’m five years into my author/publishing career, and though a lot of what Joanna says is common sense, it’s the kind of common sense you need to be reminded of when you’re feeling the stress to learning how to be an author in the 21st century.

I haven’t been reading much fiction this summer, which is unusual for me, but the one novel I have read is Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. I had read Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane last year and really enjoyed the story’s magical realism, and I’m so glad I tried Neverwhere. You can call Neverwhere a Harry Potter for adults with the invisible underground stations and parallel lives in different dimensions, but that would be too simplistic to explain this quirky dark fairy tale. I already have Gaiman’s American Gods downloaded onto my Kindle.

I’ve also read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. I never thought of myself as a hoarder (at least not by TV standards), but even so I could relate to the idea of keeping things only the things that bring you joy and donating the rest. I’ve downsized considerably since reading Kondo’s book, and it’s true—you really do feel lighter because of it. And also, because I’m about that age (I’ll be 47 next month), I’m currently reading Goddesses Never Age by Dr. Christiane Northrup. The book is a positive look at aging as it talks about staying active, being healthy, and not believing that your body has to break down just because you pass a certain birthday. The older I get, the more I appreciate that message.

I still have a few more weeks of summer so I can fit in a few more books. What have you been reading this summer? I’m always up for recommendations!

Filed under: Book Reviews, Fiction, News, Nonfiction Tagged: book reviews, books, summer reading, summer reading list

Researching Historical Fiction—The Victorian Era

I have an odd habit of choosing to write historical fiction set in eras I know little to nothing about. I came up with story ideas about the Salem Witch Trials, the Trail of Tears, Biblical Jerusalem, New York City and Washington, D.C. during the woman’s suffrage movement, and the American Civil War, and for those stories I had to learn about the history to write the novel. I don’t mind when it happens that way, though. I’ve always been fascinated with history, and I enjoy learning about the past. I often get ideas for the plot from my research, so the research helps to make my novel even richer than it might have been without the historical background.

Writing When It Rained at Hembry Castle was different. I was already familiar with the era because of my love for Dickens. This time, it was more about reminding myself what I already knew (it had been 20 years since grad school by then) and figuring out how to use that knowledge in this story I had been kicking around for two decades. I realized early in the process that now I wanted to include aspects of my favorite TV show—Downton Abbey. The aspiring young writer Edward Ellis was still the focal point of the story, but now I wanted to include upstairs/downstairs elements as well.

To begin my research, I started with the author I know best—Dickens. Of course I’ve read all his novels, many more than once, so I started with the one I knew had the most in common with the story I had in mind for Hembry—Our Mutual Friend. From there, I went back to a few favorite books about the Victorian Era—What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew by Daniel Pool and The Victorian City: Everyday Life in Dickens’ London and Inside the Victorian Home: A Portrait of Domestic Life in Victorian England by Judith Flanders. I had read both of those books previously but reread them for a refresher course. While reading about the Victorian Era, I discovered a new favorite historian, Ruth Goodman, who impressed me with the fact that she doesn’t just talk about Victorian clothing, she makes it and wears it. She’s tried out many elements of living in the Victorian era, which gives her work that much more authority. Her book, How To Be a Victorian: A Dusk-to-Dawn Guide to Victorian Life, is a must read for anyone interested in life during the Victorian period. I also read The Writer’s Guide to Everyday Life in Regency and Victorian England From 1811-1901 by Kristine Hughes. Edward Ellis is loosely based on a young Charles Dickens, but I didn’t need to read anything specifically for that since I’ve read pretty much every biography about Dickens. It was nice to be able to use information I had in my head for a change.

After my refresher course on Victorian England, I realized that I needed to learn more about what the upstairs/downstairs world looked like in the 1870s. To my surprise, it wasn’t so different from the way it’s portrayed in Downton Abbey, which begins in 1912 during the Edwardian era. While I picked up a lot about manor house living from watching Downton, as many fans of the show have, I felt I needed more specifics so I read Up and Down Stairs: The History of the Country House Servant by Jeremy Musson. I gleaned some great information from that book, and it provided good background for me so I could see how the country house servant evolved over the years. The upstairs/downstairs world isn’t part of our culture in America the way it is in England, and I wonder if that accounts for Americans’ fascination with Downton Abbey—it’s a glimpse into a lifestyle we weren’t familiar with.

The way I research historical fiction has changed a lot over the years. I used to do months of research before I ever started writing. Now I do a few weeks worth of preliminary research to get a feel for the era, and then I start writing. As I write, I get a sense of what information I need so I know exactly what to look for. As I was writing, I realized that if Edward was a political journalist then he would know politics. I needed to figure out the political climate of the time, but it wasn’t too hard since I knew what I was looking for—events in British politics in 1870. I remember learning about Gladstone and Disraeli in a class I took years ago, and it was nice being able to put that knowledge to use.

Through the writing process I also realized that I needed information about Victorian etiquette. There were such specific rules for every aspect of life, and since part of Daphne’s struggle is to learn to live in this upstairs/downstairs world, she had to learn those rules. I found The Essential Handbook of Victorian Etiquette by Thomas E. Hill, which was written for Americans during the Victorian era, but after a little digging I discovered that the rules were the same in Britain so I used that book as my primary reference. The etiquette seems so antiquated now. I had a lot of fun writing those scenes because Daphne is rather amused by her grandmother’s nitpicking about how her manners aren’t refined enough for English society.

I was lucky enough to be able to visit England twice prior to writing When It Rained at Hembry Castle. Most of the London locations in the story were chosen because they were places I’ve visited myself so I had seen what I was describing. I stood on the Victoria Embankment near the Houses of Parliament watching the Thames roll as Edward is wont to do. I’ve taken a couple of Edward’s walks through the city. Many of the buildings are different (I’m pretty sure the The Gherkin wasn’t around in 1870), yet some of the buildings are the same, which is amazing to me. Here in Las Vegas buildings are imploded if they’re more than 20 years old.

In many ways, researching When It Rained at Hembry Castle was the easiest work I’ve done so far for a historical novel since I was already familiar with the time. It’s always magical to me when I start to see how I can take this knowledge of history and weave it into the story I have in mind. What is even more amazing is when the history leads the story in directions I had never considered before. That, for me, is the joy of writing historical fiction.

Filed under: Charles Dickens, Historical Fiction, When It Rained at Hembry Castle, Writing Tagged: books about Victorian England, Charles Dickens, historical fiction, researching historical fiction, Victorian England, When It Rained at Hembry Castle, writing historical fiction

Love Paying 99 Cents for Books? My Annual Book Sale is On Now

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer so far. I’ve been getting a lot of work done, but I’ve also been taking some time off. I’ve always felt fortunate that I have summers off to recharge my batteries, especially since things can get so hectic during the school year. I’ve been tapping into my creativity this summer since I’ve recently discovered art journaling, which I’ve been having a ridiculous amount of fun with. The thing with art journaling, like writing journaling, is that it’s not about creating a finished product—it’s about the discovery and the joy in the process. I’ve never taken an art class and I know nothing about how to create art, but that’s why art journaling is great. It’s a pressure-free chance to play and experiment with art supplies and colors. Here’s the page I finished yesterday:

I don’t know if the page is completely done since I might like to add more details. In case you’re wondering, the three cats are my Chuck, Tillie, and Ellie. I’m not ready for faces yet, so rear end views will have to do for now!

Loving Husband Trilogy fans will be pleased to know that I’ve completed the first draft of Down Salem Way. The story is now in the baking stage where I let it percolate a bit while completing the research I’ll need to make the story come alive during the revision process.

I’ve teamed up with Penny Sansevieri and Author Marketing Experts to help get the word out about When It Rained at Hembry Castle. The reviewer at Kirkus Reviews had some very nice things to say about the book:

Allard (History Will Be Kind, 2015, etc.) is a seasoned author, and her experience shows in both the lapidary prose and the sensitivity with which she treats class division. Edward, for example, comes from humble origins, but he’s shown to be actually more comfortable with upper-class stodginess than Daphne is, as he grew up in the castle. Daphne’s father, meanwhile, is marvelously progressive, but it’s intriguingly unclear if he’s completely liberated himself from his affluent station. Overall, this is a delightful, often funny story that also serves as a gimlet-eyed study of class division and the possibility of its transcendence. An unpretentiously philosophical assessment of class and love.

Author Marketing Experts have put together a few book promotions for When It Rained at Hembry Castle so the novel is now on sale for 99 cents. While I was changing the price for Hembry, I realized it was time for my annual summer sale where all my books are 99 cents. Her Dear & Loving Husband, Book One of the Loving Husband Trilogy, is still free.

Here are the books that are on sale for 99 cents:

When It Rained at Hembry Castle

 Perfect for fans of Downton Abbey, When It Rained at Hembry Castle is the story of an aristocratic family, a mysterious death, secrets that dare not be told, and the wonder of falling in love.

When the 8th Earl of Staton dies, his eldest son, the unreliable Richard, inherits the title and the family’s home—Hembry Castle. Soon after, Frederick Meriwether, the new earl’s brother, arrives back in England from America, bringing his beautiful daughter, Daphne, with him.

Though Frederick’s mother has grand plans for Daphne—which may include a duke—Daphne is intrigued by Edward Ellis, a rising author with a first-hand knowledge of Hembry Castle—from the servants’ hall. And Edward, though captivated by the lovely Daphne, has his own hurdles to overcome.

Can Richard come to terms with his new role before bringing ruin on his family? Will Edward and Daphne find their way to each other despite the obstacles of life at Hembry?

Amazon
BN
iTunes
Kobo

Her Loving Husband’s Curse (Book Two of the Loving Husband Trilogy)

  And then, as if he could read her mind, he said, “We’ll be all right, Sarah. Just the two of us. I’ll never leave you ever.”

Finally, after many long and lonely years, James Wentworth’s life is falling into place. With his wife, Sarah, the only woman he has ever loved, he has found the meaning behind her nightmares about the Salem Witch Trials, and now they are rebuilding the life they began together so long ago.But the past is never far away for the Wentworths. While Sarah is haunted by new visions, now about the baby she carried over three hundred years before, James is confronted with painful memories about his time with the Cherokee on the Trail of Tears. Through it all, the persistent reporter Kenneth Hempel reappears, still determined to prove that the undead walk the earth. If Hempel succeeds in his quest, James and Sarah will suffer. Will the curse of the vampire prevent James and Sarah from living their happily ever after?

Amazon
BN
iTunes
Kobo

Victory Garden

  Mr. President, what will you do for woman suffrage?

It’s 1917, and Rose Scofield knows exactly what she’ll do for woman suffrage. She’ll fight with her very life to make votes for women a reality.

A headstrong young woman who yearns to be herself in a time when women weren’t free, Rose comes of age when world wars are new and automobiles, moving pictures, and airplanes are marvels of technology. She falls in love with Adam Bell, a vaudeville actor who travels the country with his brothers gathering laughs and hard knocks, though she denies her feelings for him, fearing he could prove to be her weakness.

Can we trust our government to do what is best for us? What must we sacrifice in times of war? And what must women suffer to be truly equal? Victory Garden is a reminder of how far we’ve come…and how far we still have to go.

Amazon
BN
iTunes
Kobo

  Woman of Stones

  If any one of you is without sin, let him cast the first stone. John 8:7

Though she has remained nameless throughout the centuries, her story is timeless. Who is the woman of stones? How did she come to be at that place, at that time, caught in the very act of adultery, left as a guidepost for the ages, a lesson for everyone always?

She is from a poor settlement in a powerful Greco-Roman world. When Othniel bar-Ismael, a textile merchant from Jerusalem, arrives in her village, he is determined to take her for his wife. But the reality of living as a fine lady is not as grand as she thought it would be. When she meets the man of her dreams, an acquaintance of her husband’s, her life is forever changed.

Caught with her lover, she is beaten and bruised, dragged and kicked to the Temple Courts. Her accusers hold their fist-sized stones, ready to challenge this new teacher and show him to be a fool who contradicts his own teachings. With a few wise words, the teacher makes her accusers go away. In the end, she must struggle to make sense of the second chance she has been granted.

Amazon
BN
iTunes
Kobo

  That You Are Here

On the outside, handsome, successful attorney Andrew Whittaker has everything in life. On the inside, he has everything too, only he doesn’t know it. Andrew hides the love of his life, Mark Bryce, from his family and everyone else where he lives in Portland, Oregon. Soon the weight of the secret becomes too much for Andrew. After wrestling with himself and his place in the world, Andrew must decide how he’s going to live—with or without Mark.

Amazon
BN
iTunes
Kobo

 The books are on sale until August 15. Happy reading!

Filed under: Down Salem Way, Her Loving Husband's Curse, News, That You Are Here, Victory Garden, When It Rained at Hembry Castle, Woman of Stones Tagged: 99 cent books, 99 cent promotions, summer book sale

Productivity for Writers and Other People

It’s interesting to me to see how conversations change over time. Not so long ago everyone was praising multi-tasking as the best thing ever. Hey, I can write the world’s greatest novel while reading blogs while checking every new email the moment it pops into my inbox while keeping track of every ping on Facebook and Twitter while walking the dog while doing my taxes while binge watching Netflix while juggling watermelons while yodeling to the tune of “O Solo Mio.” At the end of the day I’d wonder why I hadn’t written more. Had I really lost an entire day watching cat videos on YouTube? Then I realized that I didn’t want to spend more time working. I wanted to get more done.

Around this time, I started seeing articles about how multi-tasking may not be all it was cracked up to be. We weren’t putting all our attention and talent into any one task; as a result, we weren’t working to the best of our abilities because our attention was too scattered. Enter the discussion about productivity.

I think the reason there are so many articles about productivity is because so many of us are struggling with the same issue—how do we work more efficiently so that we’re getting more and better work done in less time? Here are a few tricks I’ve learned lately that have helped me stay focused while I’m working. I wrote this post from the point of view of a writer hoping to steal back some of her precious time to get more writing done, but I hope anyone who is having some concerns about their productivity will find these tips useful.

I changed my homepage for the Internet.

Since I’ve had the Internet in the mid 1990s I’ve used AOL as my homepage. My email address is through AOL, so by using AOL as my homepage I could check my email as soon as I logged online. But you know how it goes…there are the news links, the entertainment links, the books links, along with any other links that might catch my eye. Once AOL and The Huffington Post joined hands, I was done for. I’d spend an hour reading blog posts and getting no work done in the process. Was it fun? For sure, though there were definitely times when I was wondering why I was reading about celebrities I didn’t even care about. I had just wasted an hour I could have spent getting my work done.

About three months ago I changed my Internet homepage to my own website. That might sound a little self-serving, but it helps me in two ways. First, I can do a quick glance at my site to see if there are comments I need to respond to, which I can often do in under five minutes. Second, there are no news feeds to distract me so I’m able to get right to whatever it is I need on the Internet. Yes, I have to click on one or two more links to get to my email, but it’s worth it to me to skip over the distractions.

I check my email twice a day.

I check my email in the morning to see if there’s anything imperative that needs seeing to, and then I check my email at the end of my work day to see if there’s something that came in since the morning. That’s it.

I removed the Facebook and Twitter apps from my phone and iPad.

Now the only way I can access Facebook and Twitter is to log in on my computer. This extra step helps to scratch the itch that used to lead me to check my social media pages every five minutes to see if someone posted a new cute cat photo. I check Facebook and Twitter twice a day, quick scans to see what others are up to and if there’s anything I need to respond to, which, again, I can usually do in less than five minutes.

I schedule my Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn posts.

I use Hootsuite to schedule my posts on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. It takes about an hour to schedule a week’s worth of posts, and then I’m done and don’t have to worry about what to post on social media.

I started using Google calendar to schedule my daily tasks.

For years I used paper and pencil notebooks and planners, but in my new wish to downsize my belongings (I love Marie Kondo’s books about decluttering) I’ve become totally electronic. Google calendar is heaven sent. It’s free, and all you need is a gmail account, which is also free. You can share your calendar with others, or you can keep it private. So now I know each day what I need to accomplish.

For example, today I had several tasks to tend to: complete my word count for the first draft of Down Salem Way, write this blog post, and find five sites to advertise Her Dear & Loving Husband, which is once again free. When those tasks are finished, I’m done with my work for the day, which is always a good feeling. Knowing what I have to do helps me stay focused. When I wasn’t keeping track of my daily tasks I just floated about looking at stupid stuff on the Internet because I was never sure what to do next so I’d go back to those cute cat videos on YouTube.

On a side note, I also find that it helps to know exactly what I’m looking for when I go onto the Internet. Right now, I’m back to researching the Salem Witch Trials for Down Salem Way, and I’m also looking for places to advertise When It Rained at Hembry Castle and Her Dear & Loving Husband. I have those tasks on my Google calendar too so I know what I’m searching for. It stops me from going back to (you guessed it–the cute cat videos).

I turned off the TV.

Not completely turned it off because I do love my Netflix and Amazon Prime streaming. For years, even if I wasn’t watching a show I had the TV on acting as background noise. Now the TV is off, as in off off, with a blank screen and everything. I started listening to music because music always helps to get my creative juice flowing. I’ve also started listening to podcasts because I realized I’d rather listen to some intelligent conversation than some TV show I don’t care about, and I can listen while I work. Rather than distracting me, the podcasts tap into my inquisitiveness about the world and they help me think, which is always a good thing.

My podcast tastes are pretty eclectic, like everything else about me. I love podcasts about writing and the publishing industry like Joanna Penn’s The Creative Penn. As I’m learning more about productivity, I’m also learning more about how to be centered and healthy in this crazy world of ours so I listen to Shawn Stevenson’s The Model Health Show and Pedram Shojai’s The Urban Monk. The School of Greatness with Lewis Howes is also pretty cool, and Shambhala features talks by famous meditation teachers in their podcast Meditation in the City. There are so many podcasts out there. Just search and you’ll find something right up your alley.

I had to learn to stop checking everything everywhere.

We’ve all heard of the social ill the Fear of Missing Out (affectionately—or not depending on your point of view—known as FOMO). I was right there with everyone else, checking my social media every five minutes, worrying that what was going on over there was more important than what was going on over here. Also, because I’m a writer I was constantly checking my stats on my website and my book sales. Why did I sell more books on Wednesday than Monday? How come this book’s sales have slipped? Why did this post get more views than that post? I’d check my Amazon sales page five or six times a day, as if things were going to be that different between 3 and 5 pm. And then when things were the same I felt disappointed that some magical sales boost hadn’t happened.

Not only is this kind of constant worry exhausting, it isn’t productive. When I was worried about book sales or website stats I should have been writing. There was some time there when I was a writer who wasn’t writing—or at least I wasn’t writing as much as I could have been. I was so concerned about all these other aspects, some of which were beyond my control, and you know what? They don’t matter. Sales don’t matter. Website hits don’t matter. The only thing that matters is how I feel about what I’m doing. I was allowing other people’s perceptions of me (or even worse, my own perception of other people’s perceptions of me) to affect how I felt about myself, and that, my friends, is never a good thing.

As a result, I put myself on my “no checking stats” rule that I live by to this day. I no longer check my Amazon, BN, or Kobo sales pages. I no longer check to see how many page views my latest blog post has. My one exception is that when I’m running a promotion I may check my book sales pages to see if the promotion is worth its weight in beans, but otherwise my Amazon page is a no-go. Because you know what? My books are going to sell as many copies that day as they’re going to sell whether I’m compulsively checking or not. Why make myself crazy and waste time in the process? Yes, it does takes some self-restraint to go from checking 10 times a day to zero times a day, but it is possible. If you’re not able to go cold turkey like I did, maybe try checking just once a day and see how that goes.

I started paying more attention to my health.

There was a time in the not-so-distant past when I wasn’t eating well. I was eating and drinking way too much sugar, and my exercise habits had all but disappeared. As I’m working toward becoming a more productive writer, I’m also learning more about health and wellness (mostly from the afore mentioned Model Health Show podcast from Shawn Stevenson). I’ll have more to say about this in a later post, but for now I’ll say that whoever you are, no matter what your profession, you have to get up and move. You have to put healthy food into your body. You have to drink more water. The better you feel, the more productive you’re able to be because you’re healthier. It’s hard to be productive when you feel lousy. Do what you can to help yourself feel better.

I am definitely getting more work done in less time. I’m no longer wasting time—or, more accurately, I’m wasting far less time. I still spend more time on Pinterest than I need to, but hey, no one’s perfect. For the first time, I’m writing two books at a time, which is something I’ve never been able to do before. By whittling away at time wasters and finding ways to streamline my work time, I’ve been able to get more done. From now on, instead of multi-tasking, I’ll be focusing on productivity.

Filed under: Publishing, Writing Tagged: productivity, productivity for writers, writing, writing tips