Mariel Grey's Blog, page 6

A modern woman in the Regency: Letty Lade. Gotta love her. What’s real in Surrender of Trust, Blog series #11

I referenced Letty Lade in my book, Surrender of Trust. She was indeed a real person and quite a character. Letty was a woman who flouted convention and lived her life the way she wanted. Details are sketchy and a little contradictory (gee, what’s new when you’re researching that time period?), so, I’ll do the [...]

The luck of being a woman in the New Year

With it being the New Year and all, a lot of us look back on the last year and wonder how they will be different or better this year. For me, it’s trying to improve in my craft of writing and bring a better story than my last book. But as I prepared to write [...]

Listening to your gut when it comes to a relationship may be more important than you thought

It may seem like a cliche when you hear someone say “listen to your gut” when it comes to  a relationship (or anything else for that matter), but it’s true! At least when it comes to relationships. “Listen to your gut” is an expression I have always taken to mean “listen to your inner self.” [...]

Bet You Never Gambled Like This. What’s real in Surrender of Trust? Blog series #10 Regency Wagering

Gambling was most definitely a way of life for the ton. The expression “the idle rich” was never more true than during the extended Regency period. Those people routinely bet on anything and everything. And we’re not talking nickle and dime ante poker like I’m fond of playing. We’re talking serious, potentially ruinous betting where [...]

You wear you heart on your…sneaker? Thought it was your sleeve

Body Language: I first became conscious of what I was already aware of on a subconscious level when I read Body Language by Julius Fast in 1970. I’ve been a fascinated student of non verbal communication among people ever since. Sometimes it’s not what we’re saying with our lips that is the most important. Case [...]

Messy Creativity- Something I can relate to, especially when I’m writing

I just saw a study about something I can totally relate to: a messy desk!!! While I’m reasonably tidy with most things, I simply cannot keep my desk neat. My work area is always a disaster zone (no, not the hazmat kind of environment, just a messy space filled with books and papers). It’s always [...]

Getting focused at the ACRA conference

Just got back from the ACRA (Ancient City Romance Writers) annual conference on story craft held last weekend in St. Augustine. I always say what a wonderful group ACRA is, and the conference only reinforced those feelings. Wish I lived a little closer and could attend their meetings more regularly. I thoroughly enjoyed the conference [...]

And you thought red was just for romance, roses, valentines, and wine. How about your waistline?

Those of us who read and write romance novels (and even those of us who don’t) usually associate the color red with romantic or sexy things. We started out in grade school with those cute red hearts on valentines, graduated to those naughty red pumps, underwear and lipstick, and then became more sophisticated with the [...]

Living together and dying together in love

Wow- another incident of along term couple dying so close together.  I’ve blogged about this subject several times- you know, about hearts beating in synch and all that. But, hey, I write romance, so it’s natural I would be interested. I think our emotions are the biggest guiding forces in our life. You know old [...]

A Silky Trademark. What’s real in Surrender of Trust? Blog series #9

Preface to today’s topic……   You may not realize it if you read my last romance novel Surrender of Trust which is set in England in the early 1800′s, but there is a great deal of research which went into the background. I literally spent hours researching obscure details because I wanted those details to [...]