I express my passion for the medieval period in Freely Given

Author Anne O’Brien says, “I have a long-held passion for the medieval period which has fuelled my writing in recent years.”

I have to agree with Anne. I too have a “passion” for the medieval period. And I’ve enjoyed reading medieval romance books as I explain in my blog about Anya Seton’s book Katherine. I recently enjoyed Phillipa Gregory’s series about “The Cousins’ War,” and faithfully watched The White Queen on Starz.

Nevertheless, I find writing about the period a challenge. My Lord Raven is my one and only full-blown medieval romance. When I wrote it, I tried to research carefully and stay true to the time. Because of the difficulty of writing a good, long medieval novel, I’ve opted to take a shortcut with my most recent endeavor.

Freely Given is a series of short romances about women in the time period. I hope they are accurate enough. Yet, in writing them, I’ve let my imagination wander—from a would-be nun to a scandalous runaway heiress. I’ve used Ms. Gregory’s technique of first-person present tense which should provide an immediacy to the tales.

This collection is my second self-publishing endeavor. I want to thank Calliope Designs for the beautiful cover, and my dear husband for the technical work. Without him, the book would languish “under the bed” collecting dust. A special thanks also goes to my editor Karen Block who is there to whip my writing into shape.