on February 16, 2021
It’s “hidden history” month over at the Paper Lantern Writers blog, but instead of writing about some hidden history that I’ve uncovered, I wrote about something historic that I’ve kept hidden.
And sometimes…what’s hidden stays hidden on Paper Lantern Writers.
Turntable Photo by Luke Chesser on Unsplash.
on February 12, 2021
You might think you know about historical under garments, but do you really? Do you know the difference between stays and corsets, or how to support a bustle, or what a bum roll is? No shame if you don’t; I had no idea what a bum roll was, and now it’s one of my favorite phrases!
Even if you’re entirely up-to-date on the women’s unmentionables of the past five centuries, I think you’ll enjoy the links I share in this week’s Paper Lantern Writers Link List.
on February 1, 2021
on January 18, 2021
Join members of the Paper Lantern Writers for their first Promotion of 2021!
There will be books. There will be custom pens. There will be other goodies (French Roast Coffee from Café Du Monde, anyone?)
on December 13, 2020
Want to know more about the Paper Lantern Writers‘s new publication? Thought so!
on December 2, 2020
It’s Holiday Season! Finally! Let the holiday baking (and deep-frying at my house) begin!
The Paper Lantern Writers–a collective of historical fiction writers–is excited to share HISTORICAL HOLIDAY DESSERT RECIPES, a collection of recipes that our characters might have eaten in the past, as well as recipes that we are baking now.
Download HISTORICAL HOLIDAY DESSERT RECIPES at PaperLanternWriters/store today! The .pdf is free, but you will need to enter your name/address.
on November 19, 2020
Hey! Here’s my first ever attempt at animation. Just press the arrow to continue….
on November 16, 2020
Yep, you read that right. Jolabokaflod PDX, the annual Holiday Book Fair celebrated in Iceland, Portland (OR), and beyond, is just around the corner.
And I’ll be there (kinda, sorta, be there in Portland), weaving a tale about moonlight, magnolias, and how to make a long-ago historical setting come and stay alive.
Join Paper Lantern Writers Edie Cay, C. V. Lee, and me for Charm City: Historical Settings that Transport the Reader! on Sunday December 20th @ 3:30 pm PST.
And don’t miss Paper Lantern Writers Linda Ulleseit & Kathryn Pritchett at their Finding Women’s Voices panel.
See you there!
on November 15, 2020
I hope you saw Friday’s PLW post where I shared historic holiday menus and recipes.
Not for the first time, I researched and wrote more content than I could include in that post. But in the spirit of holiday giving, today I’m sharing what I couldn’t include. Here goes…
Although author Isabella Beeton was decidedly British and did not celebrate Thanksgiving (which became an official American holiday in 1863), she and other Brits (like Dickens’s fictious Scrooge) certainly celebrated Christmas with gusto.
“In December, the principal household duty lies in preparing for the creature comforts of those near and dear to us, so as to meet old Christmas with a happy face, a contented mind, and a full larder; and in stoning the plums, washing the currants, cutting the citron, beating the eggs, and MIXING THE PUDDING, a housewife is not unworthily greeting the genial season of all good things.”
Mrs. Beeton also recommends (at paragraph 1005) turkey for Christmas dinner: “A noble dish is a turkey, roast or boiled. A Christmas dinner, with the middle classes of this empire, would scarcely be a Christmas dinner without its turkey; and we can hardly imagine an object of greater envy than is presented by a respected portly pater-familias carving, at the season devoted to good cheer and genial charity, his own fat turkey, and carving it well.“
Perhaps the best part of Mrs. Beeton’s book were her glorious illustrations of 19th century dining, which I couldn’t resist sharing here.
*Hopefully, you know by now that lagniappe is New Orleans-speak for “a little something extra”.
on November 13, 2020
Still looking for the perfect recipe for your Thanksgiving feast?
Today on Paper Lantern Writers, I offer some online recipes and menus of the 19th and early 20th centuries that could give your Holiday Season a little more vintage flair.
