To leave a message, click on “comments” above

 

Author R. Ann Siracusa welcomes you to her blog

Remember: It’s not the destination that matters;
It’s the journey that counts.

 

A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT APPROACH TO DEVELOPING CHARACTERS
Part II
  

In Part I of this blog, I introduced the idea that because people, and therefore our fictional characters, are the products of genetics, environment, and experience, the events which took place and the attitudes and values which prevailed during the first fifteen years of their lives have a big influence on their core values, beliefs, expectations, and self-image.  Writers can use this approach to enrich their characters on the page.

Part I deals with the events that took place between 1910 through 1939.  Individuals born during these decades would be 71 to 100 year-old age group in 2010.

Part II, covering 1940 through 1960, would apply to your characters in the 50 to 70 age group.  Think about how the following events might have contributed to their attitudes and values.

PEOPLE BORN BETWEEN 1940 AND 1950 WOULD BE FROM 60 TO 70 YEARS OLD IN 2010
This age group would have been influenced in the formative years by the following events

1940 - 1949      Top films of decade include:

                           Pinocchio (1940), Fantasia (1940), Bambi (1942), This is the Army (1943), The Bells of St. Mary's (1945), Duel in the Sun (1946), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Song of the South (1946), Mom and Dad (1947), Samson and Delilah (1949)

 1940 - 1949     New foods introduced: M&M’s, Cherrios, Post Raisin Bran, Dannon yogurt, Chiquita bananas, Redi-Whip, Fritos Corn Chips, Almond Joy candy bar, V8 Vegetable Juice, Kraft American cheese slices.

 1940-1950       Most popular TV shows:  The Milton Berle Show and Kraft Television Theatre

 1940 - 1949      Top popular songs: Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered (1940), When You Wish Upon a Star (1940), Chattanooga Choo‑Choo (1941), White Christmas (1942),  Ac‑cent‑tchuate the Positive (1945), There's No Business Like Show Business (1946), Riders in the Sky (1949)

 1941 - 1945      Holocaust

 

 What they grew up hearing about:

1940 - P.Goldmark invents modern color TV system

1941 - The first computer controlled by software
1941 - Aerosol spray cans and neutronic reactor invented
1941 - Japanese Attack Pearl Harbor
1941 - Jeep invented
1941 - Manhattan Project begins
1941 - Mount Rushmore completed

1942 - First nuclear Reactor built

 

1942 - Anne Frank goes into hiding
1942 - First electronic digital computer built by John Atanasoff and Clifford Berry
1942 - Japanese‑Americans held in camps
1942 - T‑shirt introduced
1942 - Max Mueller designs a turboprop engine.

1943 - Italy Joins the Allies
1943 - Synthetic rubber, the slinky, silly putty invented
1943 - The hallucinogenic properties of LSD discovered
1943 - Aqualung invented/ E.Gagnan & Jacques Cousteau

1944 - The kidney dialysis machine invented/Willem Kolff
1944 - Ballpoint Pens go on sale
1944 - D‑Day
1944 - First German V1 and V2 Rockets Fired

1944 - Hitler escapes assassination attempt

1945 - FDR Dies
1945 - United Nations is formed
1945 - The atomic bomb invented and dropped

      
1945 - First computer built
1945 - Germans surrender
1945 - United Nations founded
1945 - Bikinis introduced
1945 - Juan Perón becomes President of Argentina
1945 - Nuremberg Trials

 1946 - The microwave oven invented by Percy Spencer.

 1947 - Dennis Gabor developed the theory of holography.
1947 - Mobile phones first invented.
1947 - Earl Silas Tupper patented the Tupperware seal

           
1947 - Polaroid cameras invented
1947 - Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier
1947 - Dead Sea Scrolls discovered
1947 - First holography
1947 - The Marshall Plan

1948 - Columbia Records introduces "long playing" vinyl record.
1948 - Berlin Airlift
1948 - The Frisbee and Velcro invented
1948 - Arab-Israeli conflicts
1948 - "Big Bang" Theory Formulated
1948 - "Dewey Defeats Truman" in the newspapers

 

1948 - Gandhi assassinated
1948 - State of Israel founded
1948 - Ghandi assassinated

1949 - Mao Tse Tung / China Becomes Communist
1949 - The first cake mix introduced
1949 - First Non-Stop Flight Around the World
1949 - George Orwell Publishes Nineteen Eighty Four
1949 - NATO Established

 

PEOPLE BORN BETWEEN 1950 AND 1960 WOULD BE FROM 50 TO 60 YEARS OLD IN 2010
This age group would have been influenced in the formative years by the following events:

1950 - 1953     Korean War

1950 - 1959     Top films include:

                          Cinderella (1950), This is Cinerama (1952), Peter Pan (1953),
                          The Robe (1953), Lady and the Tramp (1955), The Ten
                          Commandements (1956), Around the World in 80 Days (1956),
                          South Pacific (1958), Ben-Hur (1959), Sleeping Beauty (1959).

 

1950 - 1959     Most popular TV shows:

                          I Love Lucy, Texaco Star Theater, Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts,
                          The $64,000 Question, Gunsmoke, Twilight Zone, Bonanza,
                          As the World Turns, What's My Line, Perry Mason, Ed Sullivan.

1950 - 1959     New Foods Introduced: Kellogg's Sugar Pops, Minute Rice,
                          Lawry's Seasoned Salt, Swanson TV Dinners, Lipton's
                          Onion Soup Mix, Clarence Birdseye introduced forzen peas,
                          Cheeze Whiz (Kraft), Star-Kist canned tuna, Eggo frozen waffles.
 
What people in this age group grew up hearing and reading about:

1950 - The first credit car (Diner's Club) introduced
1950 - First organ transplant
1950 - First Peanuts cartoon strip
1950 - Korean War begins
1950 - President Truman orders construction of first hydrogen bomb

1951 - Color TV introduced
1951 - Truman signs Peace Treaty with Japan, ending WWII

1952 - Car seatbelts introduced
1952 - Jacques Cousteau discovers ancient Greek ship
1952 - Polio vaccine created
1952 - Princess Elizabeth becomes Queen at age 25

1953 - Queen Elizabeth II coronated

1953 - DNA discovered
1953 - Hillary and Norgay climb Mt. Everest
1953 - Joseph Stalin dies

1954 - First atomic submarine launched
1954 - Report says cigarettes cause cancer
1954 - Roger Bannister breaks the four-minute mile

1955 - First fiber optics invented
1955 - Disneyland opens
1955 - James Dean dies in car accident
1955 - McDonald's corporation founded
1955 - Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a bus
1955 - Warsaw Pact signed

1956 - Elvis Pressley makes his appearance on Ed Sullivan show

1956 - Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier III of Monaco
1956 - Suez crisis
1956 - TV remote control invented
1956 - Velcro introduced
1956 - Hungarian Revolution

1957 - Dr. Seuss publishes The Cat In The Hat
1957 - Russians launch Sputnick
1957 - Small dog Laika becomes first living creature in space

1958 - Pope Pius XII dies
1958 - Charles De Caulle becomes President of France
1958 - The modem, the laser, and the Hula Hoop invented
1958 - Lego Toy Bricks introduced
1958 - The integrated circuit invented by J.Kilby & R. Noyce
1958 - NASA founded

1959 - Castro becomes dictator of Cuba

   
1959 - Nixon-Khrushchev Kitchen Debates
1959 - Sound of Music opens on Broadway
1959 - The internal pacemaker invented by Wilson Greatbatch
1959 - First Barbie Doll (She's over 50 now)
1959 - The microchip invented

Are you beginning to detect a difference in what values and expectations people in this age group might hav?.  Do you think about that when you read or write a novel?

Make comment by clicking the word "Comments" at the very top.  I want to hear from you.

 

To leave a message, click on “comments” above

 

 

Author R. Ann Siracusa welcomes you to her blog

Remember: It’s not the destination that matters;
It’s the journey that counts.

A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT APPROACH TO DEVELOPING CHARACTERS
PART I

Nearly all craft classes for writers teach, in one way or another, that people (and therefore our characters) are the products of genetics, environment, and experience.  These three factors are keys to identifying character goals, motivations, and conflicts.  While human beings are influenced by external events and the resulting attitudes and technology throughout their lives, the formative years between the ages of five and fifteen are significant in establishing individual values, beliefs, expectations, and self-image.  Naturally, people continue to change, but these formative years set the stage.

Years ago, in a former life, I ran onto this approach to character development in a class to given to government employees who dealt with the public.  The purpose was to help them better understand the needs and attitudes of the people they were trying to serve, with the intent of providing better service.  It was a great class and, believe it or not, made a difference.  Years later, after I began to write fiction, it occurred to me that looking at the events that occurred during a character’s formative years could give insight to their core values and expectations.  This has to be used in conjunction with the more traditional approaches, but it can provide writers with another tool for developing vivid and realistic characters.

How you use this information depends on what genre you are writing.  Regardless, it provides some insight into character, and it’s just plain interesting.

PEOPLE BORN BETWEEN 1910 & 1919 WOULD BE FROM  91 TO 100 YEARS OLD IN 2010
This age group may not be important to authors who don’t write historicals, but you might end up with a character this old.  People in this age group would have been influenced in the formative years by the following events.

1910 - 1920   The Mexican Revolution

1910 – 1919  Top popular songs: Alexander's Ragtime Band (1911), My Melancholy Baby (1912),On Moonlight Bay (1912, St. Louis Blues (1914), Over There (1917), Rock‑a‑Bye Your Baby(1918), Swanee (1919)

1914 - 1918   World War I
1915               Release of one of first movies-The Birth of a Nation

1916               President Woodrow Wilson makes "The Star‑Spangled Banner" the national anthem.

1917 - 1921   The Russian Revolution

1918               Armistice in Europe

PEOPLE BORN BETWEEN 1920 AND 1929 WOULD BE FROM  81 TO 90 YEARS OLD IN 2010
This age group would have been influenced in the formative years by the following events:

1920 ‑ 1929   Top popular songs: Whispering (1920), Ain't We Got Fun? (1921),  April Showers (1921), Someone to Watch Over Me (1926), My Blue Heaven (1927), Ol' Man River (1927), I Can't Give You Anything But Love (1928), Star Dust (1929), Ain't Misbehavin’ (1929)

What they grew up hearing and reading about:
1920 - Bubonic Plague in India
1920 - First Commercial Radio Broadcast Aired
1920 - League of Nations Established
1920 - Prohibition Begins in the U.S.
1920 - Women Granted the Right to Vote in U.S.
1920 - Ida Rosenthal invented bra cup sizes

1921 - Treaty of Versailles

1922 - Jazz musician Duke Ellington organized his band
1922 - Soviet States form USSR
1922 - Tomb of King Tut Discovered
1922 - The Reader's Digest Published
1922 – Mussolini’s march on Rome

1923 - Hearing Aid invented
1923 - Charleston Dance Becomes Popular

1923 - Teapot Dome Scandal
1923 - Time Magazine Founded

1924 - First Olympic Winter Games
1924 - J. Edgar Hoover Appointed FBI Director
1924 - V.I. Lenin Dies
1924 - Hitler writes Mien Kampf
1924 - Liquid rocket fuel invented

1925 - Flapper Dresses in Style

1926 - ATalkie movies invented
1926 - A.A. Milne Publishes Winnie‑the‑Pooh
1926 - Houdini Dies After Being Punched
1926 - A woman swims the English Channel
1926 – R.H.Goddard invents liquid‑fueled rockets.

1927 - PEZ candy and bubble gum introduced
1927 - The quartz crystal watch, Technicolor, a complete electronic
            TV system, and the iron lung invented
1927 - Babe Ruth sets the Home‑Run Record
1927 - The First Talking Movie, The Jazz Singer
1927 - Lindbergh Flies Solo Across the Atlantic
1927 - Erik Rotheim patents an aerosol can

1928 - First differential analyzing computer invented
1928 - Jacob Schick patented the electric shaver.
1928 - Penicillin discovered
1928 - First Mickey Mouse Cartoon

1928 - First Oxford English Dictionary Published
1928 - Sliced Bread Invented

1929 - The car radio and the yo-you invented
1929 - Byrd and Bennett Fly Over South Pole
1929 - First Academy Awards
1929 - New York Stock Market Crashes
1929 - St. Valentine's Day Massacre
1929 - Gandhi's Salt March
1929 - Pluto Discovered
1929 - Great Stock market crash/ Great Depression

PEOPLE BORN BETWEEN 1930 AND 1939 WOULD BE FROM  71 TO 80 YEARS OLD IN 2010
This age group would have been influenced in the formative years by the following events:

1930 - 1939     Talkie films first produced.  Top films of decade
       include:
       Hell's Angels (1930), Frankenstein (1931),
       King Kong (1933), Snow White and the Seven
       Dwarfs (1937), Gone With The Wind (1939), The
       Wizard of Oz (1939), The Woman in Red (1935),
       San Francisco (1936), Lost Horizon (1937), Mr.
       Smith Goes to Washington (1939).

1930 - 1939     New foods introduced: Birds Eye Frosted Foods,
       Wonder Bread, Hostess Twinkies, Bisquick, Ritz
       Crackers, Kit Kat Bar, Life Savers, Kix Cereal,
       Lawry’s Seasoned Salt, Lay’s Potato Chips.

1930 - 1939     Top popular songs: I Got Rhythm (1930), Mood Indigo (1931),
       Brother Can You Spare A Dime? (1932), Stormy Weather (1933),
       Begin the Beguine (1935), I've Got You Under My Skin (1935),
       Summertime (1935), They Can't Take That Away From Me
       (1937), God Bless America (1938), Over the Rainbow (1939)

What they grew up hearing about:

1930 - Scotch tape patented by 3M engineer
1930 - Frozen food process patented by C.Birdseye.
1930 - The analog computer invented
1930 - Jet engine invented by F. Whittle and Hans von Ohain

1931 - Al Capone Imprisoned for Income Tax Evasion
1931 - Auguste Piccard Reaches Stratosphere
1931 - Empire State Building Completed
1931 - U.S. Officially Gets National Anthem
1931 - Harold Edgerton invented stop action photography.
1931 - Germans co-invent the electron microscope

1932 - Radio City Music Hall opens featuring Rockettes
1932 - Polaroid photography invented/ E.H. Land
1932 - Air Conditioning Invented
1932 - First woman flies solo across Atlantic/Amelia Earhardt

1932 - Lindbergh's Baby Kidnapped
1932 - Scientists Split the Atom
1932 - Zippo Lighters Introduced
1932 - Loch Ness Monster First Spotted
1932 - Prohibition Ends in the U.S.
1932 - Wiley Post Flies Around World in 8 ½ Days

1933 - Adolf Hitler Becomes Chancellor of Germany
1933 - FDR Launches New Deal
1932 - The zoom lens, light meter, and parking meter invented.
1932 - Karl Jansky invents the radio telescope
1933 - FM radio and stereo records invented
1933 - R.M. Hollingshead builds a prototype drive-in movie theater in his driveway

1934 - Chas.Darrow claims creation of  Monopoly game.
1934 - Bonnie and Clyde Killed by Police
1934 - The cheeseburger introduced
1934 - The Dust Bowl
1934 - First tape recorder for broadcasting and first magnetic recording.

1935 - Wallace Carothers and DuPont Labs invent nylon
1935 - Alcoholics Anonymous founded
1935 - The first canned beer made.
1935 - Robert Watson‑Watt patented radar

1936 - Electric guitar debuts

1936 - Spanish Civil War
1936 - Hoover Dam completed
1936 - King Edward VIII abdicates
1936 - Nazi Olympics in Berlin
1936 - Samuel Colt patents the Colt revolver

1937 - Chester F. Carlson invents the photocopier
1937 - Amelia Earhart Vanishes
1937 - Golden Gate Bridge opened
1937 - The Hindenberg disaster

 1937 - First jet engine built
1937 - Picasso paints “Guernica”

1938 - The ballpoint pen, Strobe light, and Teflon invented
1938 - The first working turboprop engine
1938 - Panic over War of the Worlds broadcast

1939 - First Commercial Flight over the Atlantic
1939 - Igor Sikorsky invents the first successful helicopter
1939 - The electron microscope invented
1939 - Germans occupy Czechoslovakia
1939 - World War II begins
1939 - Helicopter Invented

1939 - Leon Trotsky Assassinated
1939 - Nylon hose on the Market
1939 - Stone Age Cave Paintings Found in France
1939 - Pope Pius XI dies after being Pope for 17 years

Think about what kinds of values and attitudes would be likely for people who grew up without TV, frozen food (even refrigerators in some cases), computers, cell phones, and singing ‘Ole Man River.  Next Monday, we’ll take a look at the decades between 1940 and 1960.

I’d love to hear what you have to say about this idea and if you find the approach helpful.

□

 

PLEASE WELCOME MY SPECIAL GUEST
AUTHOR RANDI ALEXANDER

Hi, I'm Randi Alexander and I write cowboy erotic romance. Thank you so much, Ann, for hosting me today. It's the last day of my blog tour, and the last day to sign up for my big contest giveaway. (more on that later!)

I've done a lot of research on horses since I started writing about cowboys. For Her Cowboy Stud, my new release from The Wild Rose Press, I've learned a great deal about horse stud farms. Trace, my hero, owns a stud ranch, and I wanted to understand what his life was like.

I watched videos of live horse breeding, artificial sperm collection, and shipping and freezing sperm. It's a very interesting profession, being a horse breeder. We had neighbors, a few years ago, who bred paint horses. Beautiful animals. I enjoyed talking to them about how they choose the horses to match up to attain certain markings. It's more complicated than I could explain.

They invited us to watch a live horse breeding. We brought the kids but left them in the house with the rancher's kids. Out in the corral, the breeding happened just as I explained it in the excerpt below, except the stallion needed a little help finding the…um…entryway, and the man reached up and guided him in. That was unforgettable and eye-opening.

After the deed was done, we went into their house to collect our kids. All the children were inside playing, and their youngest daughter and our oldest had their My Pretty Ponies all lined up on the table. My girl said, "Guess what? We're going to breed our ponies." Yep, eye-opening and unforgettable, too, but we had a good laugh. That's life on farm, I guess!

When I win the lottery, I'm going to buy a horse stud ranch somewhere in Texas. I would love to try breeding paints because they're so interesting with all their unique markings. My brother owns leopard appaloosas, and they're lovely, too. Of course, rodeo broncs are amazing, too, and that would be an adventure, to breed them.

I'd love to hear from you. Do you like horses? What's your favorite breed? (If you don't like horses, I'd love to hear the story behind that, too, and I'll share my horse injury story in a comment.)

Trace McGonagall’s quiet life on his Houston stud ranch is shaken up when gorgeous Macy Veralta arrives to claim an inheritance left to her in his uncle’s will. Trace sees her as just another gold digger, but he also can’t resist her curvy body. When she hints at being the perfect submissive to his Dom, he has to have her.

Macy wouldn’t have been three months late to claim her inheritance if she’d known Trace was sin in jeans. The cowboy’s dominant bearing and the smoldering glint in his eyes send shivers to her toes and stirs images of being bound in his bed and disciplined at his hand. But could Trace’s perfect seduction be part of his plan to reclaim her inheritance?

EXCERPT:  Over 18 only, please.

A loud whinny erupted from a corral followed by male shouts. Trace stared over Macy's shoulder. “Sorry, I need to tend to this.” He glanced down her legs. “You bring any sensible shoes?”

She stared at her pink painted toenails. “Yes, I have—”

“Put ‘em on and head over to the first barn. I’ll meet you there.” He took off at a lope.

She hoped everything was okay. As she watched him go, her mind blanked. Wow, she could watch him from behind for hours. His form fitting jeans showed off his really nice ass. As he jogged, his thigh muscles bunched. Impressive. Not only was he built like a stud, he owned a stud farm. Ironic? Maybe.

Maybe not.

She popped the trunk, dug out her flip flops, and slid into them. Dusting off her “take me” sandals, she set them carefully in the trunk. If all went well, she’d get to wear them again today. It was getting late, the sun nudging closer to the horizon. Would he ask her to stay for dinner? Maybe after, he might offer her a tour and a leisurely walk around the grounds. His hand on her lower back to guide her…

“Ugh.” These fantasies she had going on in her head were getting her nowhere but into trouble. She did not want to appear easy to Trace. Nor would desperate, trampy, or horny be appropriate, either. She needed to get her mind off sex.

“No. Sex.” She stole another glance at the cowboy as he climbed over a fence.

She closed the trunk and headed to the corral where Trace stood holding a rope at the head of a regal black horse. Two other cowboys led a white and black horse toward Trace’s. The big white and black looked wild-eyed, reared up, stomping down hard, baring its teeth, and snorting.

The tail of Trace’s horse was braided. As the white and black horse danced closer, she looked at what protruded between its hind legs and… “Oh. My. God.” They were going to breed them. Right there in front of her.

Macy bit her lip as a flush of embarrassment warmed her neck. She glanced around, hoping no one saw her watching. It seemed so public. Shouldn’t they do this in a barn? With dim lighting and maybe—she grinned—soft music?

Breathing deep of the earthy scent of grass and animals, she murmured, “You’re not in Chicago anymore.” This was nature’s way, a beautiful thing. Animals did this in the wild all the time. It was only humans who had issues about the splendor of the body and its inherent sexuality. This should not shock and embarrass her. Especially in her line of work.

Trace’s voice rumbled low and calm as he talked to the female horse. Mare? She knew very little about horses, except what she read in books. The male horse—stallion—seemed out of control. The cowboys each kept a tight hold on their rope as they drew nearer.

The stallion mounted the mare, driving his extra-large penis home while biting the back of the mare’s neck. The mare seemed compliant. Submissive. She liked being held tight. Mischievous thoughts flooded Macy’s mind. Ideas of Trace and her tangled together, leather and ropes.

Macy glanced at Trace, and, of course, he was looking at her. Despite her nature-girl self-talk, her cheeks warmed at his stare. But she didn’t look away.

The act was over in seconds. The stallion dismounted and the two horses brushed their noses together for a short time before going their separate ways. No awkwardness, no promises to call each other soon. No hurt feelings.

Damn. Why did that depress her? She’d rarely indulged in one-night stands, but if this cowboy offered, it would be hard to say no.

Trace handed off his horse, walked toward her, and climbed over the fence. Macy enjoyed every move he made.

Even in his dressier clothes, he was all rugged cowboy. He'd rolled his shirtsleeves to reveal heavily muscled forearms with a light cover of dark hair. The way he walked, so self-assured, made her all gooey inside. As he drew closer, her heartbeat picked up, and a zap of desire shot through her.

“Enjoy the show?” he asked, a grin curving his lips.

 *********
To celebrate the release of Her Cowboy Stud, I'm giving away, to one lucky *commenter, an e-copy of my new erotic romance short story anthology Cowboy Bad Boys. Just leave a comment today and we'll choose a winner tomorrow. *Commenter must be 18 years of age or older to win.

I'm also giving away a custom-made messenger bag and a $50 gift certificate to Pureromance to one subscriber to my newsletter. For more details, and to sign up for this contest, please go to my website, RandiAlexander.com  And while you're there, you can read the first chapter of Her Cowboy Stud.

Good luck, and thank you!

Randi  "Rode Hard and Put Up Satisfied"

RandiAlexander.com
WildAndWickedCowboysBlog
Her Cowboy Stud available at The Wild Rose Press Wilder Roses
Kindle version is available at Amazon.com

Rome, The Eternal City

Of all the places I’ve been, my favorite city is still Rome. Perhaps because I lived there, know my way around, and have many wonderful memories of falling in love and getting married. The smog can be bad, it’s miserably hot in the summer, the traffic is a disaster…and I love it.

So, I want to share with you the Rome I knew. Not so much the famous parts, but the everyday things about living in the Eternal City in the mid-1960s.

After graduating from UC Berkeley in 1963, I went to Rome to study at the University of Rome. There I met the man I married (an Italian policeman) on my first day in Rome at the Fountain of Love in Piazza Esedra (also called Piazza Della Republica).
      
Piazza Esedra (Piazza della Republica)                Ann and Luciano at the Fountain of Love

I’d just arrived by train from London and was looking for the American Bar on Via Nazionale so I could buy a hamburger. In the summer, Italians sat around the fountains in the afternoon when it was hot. The only cool place. I sat down next to Luciano on the rim of the fountain, and the rest is history. I’m not sure how we communicated. He spoke a little English, I spoke a few words in Italian. He took me to dinner and to EUR. Things got a little friendly on the steps of the Palazzo Della Civitá, but it was dark by then…thank goodness.

Under other circumstances, I probably would have slapped him and taken off, but I had no Italian money and didn’t know where I was or how to get to my pensione. Well, I was young, inexperienced, and not the brightest bulb on the tree. Although he did win my heart, and we got married in a civil ceremony at City Hall (Campidolio) six months later.

 
          Palazzo Della Civitá                                             The Campidolio (City Hall)

The Pensione

My first residence was a rooming house (pensione) on Via Del Corso. I shared a room with two other girls from California whom I met in my Italian class at the language school. The pensione, run by a husband and wife with several children, catered to students. Via Del Corso was a busy street with lots of traffic day and night. Eventually, I got used to the constant noise and would wake up in the middle of the night when there was no traffic for a minute or three. The quiet never lasted more than that.

We had a sink and bidet in our room but had to use the toilet down the hall. The owners acted shocked that we washed our clothes in the bidet, but they were pretty strange, too

Although the landlady worked hard, her husband spent his entire day lounging on a couch—in his pajamas—just inside the front door, smoking cigarettes and dropping the butts on the tile floor.  (All building had tile, terrazzo, or marble floors.)  One night, when we came home late, we found him on the floor in front of the water closet staring at whomever was inside through a tiny hole in the door. When we checked, all the toilets and rooms had unobtrusive little holes in the doors, right up again the corner of the molding around the panels.

It got to be a game with us. When we left for school in the morning, we’d stuff something in the little hole—gum, waded up paper, whatever we had. That evening the hole would be open again, so we’d try something else. When it mattered, we’d just hang a towel over the hole. I think he was glad when we moved out.

Rooming with a Family

After that, I rented a room with a Sicilian family (the Vinci’s) near Piazza Fiume. Water heaters were electric and very expensive to run, so the family never turned theirs on. I had a sink in my room, but no hot water. To take a bath, I had to give the Signora Vinci a day’s notice and the cost was around $2 in lira. However, every time I asked to take a bath, the lady of the house had some reason she couldn’t turn on the water heater.

During the six months I lived there, I never got to take a bath. I bathed once a week at the train station or Luciano’s (he rented a room with a family, also). The rest of the time I washed in cold water. And in the winter it was really cold in Rome. For the first time in my life I had to wear wool underwear, a novelty for a southern California girl. Finally I splurged on a hot plate and a pot, then hid them under the bed so I could have hot water to wash with. You can keep quite clean that way, but it’s not very convenient. I’m not sure if the landlady ever found out. She didn’t clean the room; I did.

When I got married and we rented a small apartment, I was expected to strip down the bed every morning and hang out the sheets to air all day. All double beds were composed of two beds, slightly larger than twins, pushed together. The sheets were huge (bigger than king sized) and very difficult to wash by hand in the bathtub, which is where you did your laundry. It took about four weeks for everything we owned to turn from white to grey. There were a handful of Laundromats in Rome in the 60’s, one not too far from our apartment, but I had to carry everything by hand. No car. Still, I refused to strip down the beds every day; also I wouldn’t iron my husband’s underwear, either.  He was so disappointed in me, but he got used to it.

Most people shopped for groceries daily because they didn’t have refrigerators. Those who did had quite small ones. It was customary to shop after work, prepare dinner, feed the children and put them to bed before the adults sat down at the table at around 9 pm. It made for a long day. Six o’clock came very early.

When a working woman shopped, it was either at 5 to 6 am or 8 to 9 pm. If one didn’t have the luxury of shopping at the morning farmers market, you shopped in the evening…but not at a grocery store. You went from shop to shop with your plastic net bag which expanded as you filled it with parcels wrapped in newspaper. First, the Alimentari for cheese, salami, pasta, and other general supplies. Then to the Panificio for bread.

Meat was hung for display at the butcher shop. In Rome, you rarely saw meat hanging outside under the awning, but that was still common in smaller cities and towns.

I always went to the shop that sold wine and olive oil last, since those items were the heaviest to carry. If you needed salt or postage stamps, you had to go to a tobacco shop. By law, only tobacco stores were franchised by the government to sell those items.

The Italian paper money in the 1960s was still the old style and were quite large. I don’t know the exact measurement, but I’d guess about 5” x 9”. I used to get paid (in cash) in a fat 9 x 12 envelope. You didn’t carry much cash around.

Snow Covered Monuments

The second winter I lived there, it snowed in Rome. It had been a long time since that happened and everyone went nuts. The buses stopped running, no one went to work for at least two days, and it was general chaos. Ancient monuments covered in snow were amazing sights.
   
 The Roman Forum in the snow                                  The Colosseum

One of my favorite parts of winter was buying a small bag of roasted chestnuts from the street vendors on the way to and from work.

I remember so many different things about everyday life in Rome close to fifty years ago. Some of them inspire incidents and background for my books. I can easily find photos of some things on the Internet, others now seem to be lost forever and live only in memories. It’s wise to take the time to enjoy the little things of everyday living while you can.  Remember: It's the journey that counts.
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For Part II - Working in Rome in the Sixties, go to the Romance Books R Us Blog on April 10 at:   http://romancebooksrus.blogspot.com/

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Please welcome my special guest blogger, Suzie Kue.


Many people remember from recall that the Chinese were instrumental in building the Transcontinental Railroad.

They had come to America in the 1840s with the start of the Gold Rush and never left. The arduous journey across the ocean was long, perilous, and extremely uncomfortable. Many Chinese died before ever reaching our country.


But few people know why they were so willing to leave their country to battle harsh traveling conditions within a ship’s hold, to come to a country where they were not always welcomed with open arms. Here is an extremely condensed background.

The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty to rule over China. And it was a government where the emperor was not even Chinese, the ruling class was in fact Manchurians that had adopted their ways and took over their country: a fact that made the people very unhappy.

   The Qing felt that China was [the center of the world] and thus had no need to learn from outsiders nor to trade for any foreign goods. Silk, tea, and porcelain left the country in abundance, but the only item allowed in was silver. This uneven trading practice led to England, whose national beverage was quickly becoming tea, to resort to unsavory methods to equal up trade when they ran out of silver. They brought opium to China and through a system of smuggling and free sampling; the country was soon addicted to the powerful narcotic.

Liz Zexu, imperial commander in charge of eliminating the illegal opium trade, tried many methods of ridding his country of the drug, but his attempts were largely unsuccessful because the addiction was so widespread. An open letter to Queen Victoria complaining about how unfair it was for her to allow her barbarians to sell opium in China and wondering where her conscience was pretty much started of the downfall of the Chinese empire as they knew it.

Fast forward to where the Opium War against the British had left the country weak and disorganized, and segregated into spheres of influence by foreign powers, like Germany, France, England, and Portugal. The Chinese were already unhappy with the poor management of the country, but then to be bossed around by hairy barbarians led to widespread rebellion.

Rebellion coupled with war and high taxes, drought, floods, famines, and every other misfortune that could befall a country happened all at once, causing the deaths of more than 30 million Chinese. The conditions were so bad that when American traders came and talked about mountains of gold, they practically swam across to California.

The conditions aboard the brigs that sailed to America were nothing less than atrocious. The Chinese were herded like sheep into the ship’s hold and kept in unsanitary conditions with little to no light.


Sleeping Condition on ships stacked 3 high                                    Or worse
Men, ages 16 to 25, left China in hopes of a better life in the Land of Plenty where they could earn enough to return home as heroes.
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P. T. Barnum's traveling carnival exhibited the "most     New arrivals at Angel Island, San Francisco
the "most extraordinary curiosity yet: "a living
Chinese family.

BIO
Suzy Kue started writing short stories when she was in junior high and excelled in crafting believable stories to tell her parents, so she could get herself out of heaps of trouble.
   Armed with a degree in History, which prompted her mother to ask, “What in the world are you going to do with that?,” Suzy Kue stated, “I’m going to write books!”

She currently lives in Southern California and survives on too little sleep in her quest to become published in historical romance while surviving a full time day job, 3 kids, and husband.
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Pictures courtesy of
http://chineseimmigration.weebly.com/pictures.html
www.latinamericanstudies.org/chinese-immigrants.htm
memory.loc.gov/ammem/award99/cubhtml/cichome.html
www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/angel/gallery.htm

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Author R. Ann Siracusa welcomes you to her blog

IT'S THE JOURNEY THAT COUNTS

Pack your bags, pour a goblet of 1998 Far Niente Cabernet Sauvignon, settle in a comfortable first class seat with one of my novels, and get ready to travel to exotic foreign lands for romance and intrigue—and a good laugh. Enjoy the adventure. It’s not the destination that matters; it’s the journey that counts.

Ah, the male view point in Romance fiction. Female Readers and Writers always wonder if the heroes in romance novels are realistic or just what we (the females) want them to be. Well, hold onto your hats. Here’s the real thing.


Thanks so much Ann for having me on your terrific blog today.

Hi everybody. I’m Bob Richard. I write romances and am a member of RWA – San Diego. I hope you’ll check out my blog on the secrets of the male POV.

In so many romances I have read, the hero has his time on the stage. He thinks (usually in summary thought) in a logical straightforward fashion and we move on to the heroine.

I’m an ex-physicist/engineer/1st in my math classes/trained in logic, but I don’t think that way. Not exactly. I understand summary thoughts are cleaner, clearer, and tend to be straightforward.

When I ponder a complicated problem, I may be investigating various branches of the problem at the same time. I may make a tentative decision subject to future events, more in depth analysis, and/or interaction with the heroine or the villain. I may stop to admire the hummingbird that just landed on me because I have a red and white shirt on. Or pet my dog and realize how important unconditional love is. I might go over what I could say to win the heroine’s heart. In short, I may be heading in all directions at once.

At my blog, http://romancetheguyspov.blogspot.com I look for the exceptions and/or otherwise ignored ways guys think that might enrich your presentation of the male POV.  I started the blog in January 2012 and have written about how some men:

Guys are introspective - posted 1/22/12

Studies say women speak 20,000 words a day, and men, 7,000. But men are more introspective to make up for the lack of words. Yet many writers want the male POV to be straight forward, logical, and short. Consider all that was left unsaid, which a male would mull over during or after an encounter.

An example from a romantic comedy:

A girl who is attracted to a guy friend walks up to him in their place of business and says, “It’s warm in here.” She just wants to talk to him and breaks the ice. (Joke, unintended)
The guy really likes her and wants to protect her (yep, men do that) so he says what might be thought of as the dumbest thing by the gal. “Well, look at what you’re wearing.” Said with the warmest smile. She’s wearing a sweater.

“It was colder over there.” She becomes defensive.

He starts staring at the ceiling, inspecting air ducts (to figure out if there’s something wrong with the air-conditioning). She walks off feeling unloved and wondering why the guy thinks she doesn’t know enough to take her sweater off.

The guy might mull over all sorts of things in an effort to repair the relationship. He’d think about how she might interpret his words, if she felt sad, rejected, etc. About how he could have said it better (maybe, “I know I just took my sweater off, and then the air-conditioner, you know, will kick in again. He’d likely reject asking her to take all her clothes off, as too bold. He’d worry about how to make it better for her. He’d worry if she’d think he was showing off as smarter than her because he took his sweater off first. He’d wonder if he could ever explain himself, since his thoughts are so complicated. He’d think: well maybe she didn’t want him anyway, and fine if she thinks so little of him. He’s liable to have all these thoughts occur at the same time and then sort them out.

Will our too-hot heroine and hero get together? Well, you’re the writer. I have a feeling, they’ll lock themselves in the boardroom and damn, their productivity will suffer… or will it?

Okay, some men can get carried away with their thinking. Remember he’s your hero. Guys are introspective. Whatever choice you make with your hero regarding the amount of interior monologue, if you bust a stereotype, make sure your male POV is deep enough to not only show his way of living, loving, and thinking, but you’ll write the POV so well, people will think of you as the next Judith McNaught…”

I hope you visit me when you have time. Leave a comment or follow my blog and I’ll follow yours. For my romance writers try: http://romancetheguyspov.blogspot.com

BIO

Bob Richard grew up in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He is married, has two daughters and two grandsons. A man of many talents, he has an MBA, was a physicist and an engineer, and is a chess master.

         Author Bob Richard indie-published his first novel, Neanderthals and the Garden of Eden

The author of four novels, a novella, and several short stories, he writes romantic comedies and contemporary romantic suspense. His first novel, Neanderthals and the Garden of Eden, is the only non-romance although all the love stories are happily ever-afters. It bends genres as a pre-historical multi-protagonist epic, using the palette of magical realism and romantic fantasy to depict the everyday challenge to survive.

His novella, The Wolves of Sherwood Forest, is coming soon.
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Leap Year

We all know that ever four years February has an extra day for the purpose of keeping our calendar in alignment with the earth’s revolution around the sun. Our year has 365 days, but it takes an additional 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds for the earth of revolve around the sun. Without adding the extra day every four years, our western calendar would lose about 6 hours every year and within a hundred years, we’d be 24 days off.

Instead, we accumulate those hours for four years and add a day to February. Pretty simple concept, and it works.

Who figured this out?

In ancient times, all cultures had created ways to track the year, usually using the seasons, the sun and the moon. Probably the oldest is the Chinese lunar calendar which doesn’t number years, but counts in 60-year cycles, divided into five 12-year cycles named after different animals.

The Hebrews also used a lunar calendar. The ancient Egyptians and Greeks followed the sun with a 10-month calendar, each month from 20 to 35 days in length. The early Romans added two months, with the year starting in March. That calendar had 355 days, and, in order to keep festivals occurring around the same season each year, a 22 or 23 day month was created every second year.

Needless to say, after hundreds of years the Roman calendar was in serious trouble. In 46 B.C., called the Year of Confusion by the Romans, Julius Caesar adjusted the Roman calendar to 445 days, beginning the year in January, changed, Quintilis to what we call July, and divided the months into 30 and 31 days — except for February which had 29 days and 30 every fourth year. So it was Julius Caesar who is the Father of the Leap Year.

           

 Julius Caesar - Father of the Leap Year               Pope Gregory XIII

The Julian calendar was off by only 11 minutes and 14 seconds, but those added up. In 1582, under Pope Gregory XIII, a correction was made and eleven days were dropped. And I believe the Gregorian calendar we use today is considered almost completely accurate with the additional day in February.

Obscure Facts about Leap Years

Basically, leap years occur every 4 years, and years that are evenly divisible by 4 (2004, for example) have 366 days. This extra day is added to the calendar on February 29th. According to Mary Bellis in the About.comGuide.

“However, there is one exception to the leap year rule involving century years, like the year 1900. Since the year is slightly less than 365.25 days long, adding an extra day every 4 years results in about 3 extra days being added over a period of 400 years. For this reason, only 1 out of every 4 century years is considered as a leap year. Century years are only considered as leap years if they are evenly divisible by 400. Therefore, 1700, 1800, 1900 were not leap years, and 2100 will not be a leap year. But 1600 and 2000 were leap years, because those year numbers are evenly divisible by 400.”

Also, in about 530 A.D., when the monk Dionysius Exiguus (know as Denis the Little) took on the task of calculating the exact date of Easter, he created a formula counting back to the birth of Christ, a historically unknown date at that time. However, it later came to light that he’d miscalculated by four to seven days. He also counted from A.D.1, not the Year Zero, so our present millennium began with 2001, not 2000.

Leap Day Tradition of Women’s Privilege

Most of us associate Leap Day with the tradition of women proposing marriage. According to Louis J. Boyle, a professor of medieval literature and Arthurian legend at Carlow University, Leap Days comes with a variety of medieval Urban Legends which are impossible to document.

One suggests on the origin of Women’s Privilege comes from St. Brigid, a patron saint of Ireland who died around A.D. 525 and is known to have founded a convent in the Kildare region of the country. Named after the Celtic goddess Brigid (Brighid), she was born to a Druid king and his Christian wife in the exact moment the sun rose so that a beam of radiant light burst around her forehead like a flame. She is credited with a number of miracles.

         

Celtic goddess Brigid                                   Saint Brigid

Over time, stories of the patron saint intertwined with those of the Celtic goddess Brigid who was the goddess of fire (the forge and the hearth), poetry, healing, childbirth, and unity.

The origin of the legend dates to the 5th century, around the time St. Patrick supposedly drove the snakes out of Ireland. The tales says St. Patrick was approached by St. Bridget, who had come to protest on behalf of all women the unfairness of always have to wait for men to propose marriage.

After due consideration, St. Patrick offered St. Bridget and her gender the special privilege of being able to propose marriage to men one year out of every seven. St. Brighid disagreed, and they finally settled on one year out of four—leap years, specifically.

It’s not clear to me why St. Patrick had the final say on this matter, but what do I know?

In one version of the tale, after the deal was cut, unexpectedly (because it was a leap year and St. Bridget was single), she got down on one knee and proposed to St. Patrick on the spot. He refused, of course, bestowing on her a kiss and a beautiful silk gown in consolation.  This is reflected in a statement from Professor Boyle.

"The tradition was that if the man said 'no,' he had to provide a gift to the woman. Traditionally, [the gifts] were a garment or money. Sometimes the tradition reads there was some penalty designated or the woman had the right to say, 'This is what you have to do for turning me down.' "

In another legend, Women’s Privilege resulted from a law passed by Scottish Parliament in 1288, of which one of the many quoted versions reads:

“It is statut and ordainit that during the reine of hir maist blissit Magestie, ilk maiden ladye of baith highe and lowe estair shale hae libertie to bespeak ye man she likes; albiet, gif he refuses to tak her till be his wif, he sall be mulcit in ye sume of ane hundredth poundis or less, as is estait mai be, except and alwais gif he can mak it appear that he is betrothit to ane other woman, then he shall be free.”

Because this text cannot be sourced, it was considered suspect, even by the Victorian authors who quoted it. The only authority for the statement is the Illustrated Almanac' for 1853, and scholars believe the statue was “manufactured” as a kind of joke.

Queen Margaret of Scotland is also given credit for this 1288 law (even though in 1288 she was five years old and lived in Norway). In this version, the law required that fines be levied if a marriage proposal was refused by the man.

The earliest verified reference in the English language is a couplet from an Elizabethan-era stage play called The Maid’s Metamorphosis, first performed in 1600, a leap year.

Master be contented, this is leape yeare,
Women weare breetches, petticoats are deare.

TimeandDate.com indicates that Leap Day is known in some places as "Bachelors’ Day.” The tradition here is similar to the story about the Scottish statute in that a man was expected to pay a penalty, such as a gown or money, if he refused a marriage proposal from a woman on Leap Day. In certain European countries, tradition has it that if a man refuses a proposal on Leap Day, he has to buy the woman twelve pairs of gloves (so she can hide the embarrassing fact that she doesn’t wear an engagement ring).

Persons born on Leap Day, are called “leapings” or “Leapers”. There’s actually a society “leapings” can join. It was once thought that leapling babies would inevitably prove sickly and "hard to raise," though no one remembers why.
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Resources
http://www.timesledger.com/stories/2012/8/hellman_all_2012_02_23_q.html
http://inventors.about.com/cs/inventionsalphabet/a/leap_year.htm
http://www.terracestandard.com/community/139765403.html
http://www.toledoblade.com/Mary-Alice-Powell/2012/02/19/Leap-Day-2012-is-nearly-upon-us.print
http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/historical/a/leap_year.htm
http://www.timeanddate.com/date/leap-day-february-29.html
http://www.goddessgift.com/goddess-myths/celtic-goddess-brigid.htm
http://www.annistonstar.com/view/full_story/17573876/article-A-leap-forward?instance=home_opinion

Will The Real Saint Valentine Please Stand Up?

Finding out about the origins of our holidays and celebrations can sometimes be a real buzz-kill.  So often they turn out to be something different that we’ve always believed or been taught.

Still, it doesn’t hurt to be informed, and that doesn’t need to spoil the holiday for you.  I find that in ways adults are just like children:  If they want to believe something, they believe it, no matter what you tell them or how convincing your proof is.

So just keep on believing that Valentine’s Day is all about romance, love, and fealty.

Earliest Link

In the ancient Greek calendar, mid-January to mid-February was the month of Gamelion, dedicated to the sacred marriage of the god Zeus and the goddess Hera.  That appears to be the earliest link to February festivals.

Lupercalia

Yup.  We’re back to the Romans again.  Lupercalia, an archaic rite connected to fertility and local to the city of Rome, was celebrated February 13 thru 15.  The more general Roman celebration was called Juno Februa (“Juno the Purifier” or “The Chaste Juno”), February 13 and 14.

It appears that the purpose of the festival and the rituals are a bit obscured by time, but one historian describes the rite in the following manner:

“Celebrated at the ides of February, or February 15, Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.

To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, would gather at a sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. The priests would sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. They would then strip the goat's hide into strips, dip them into the sacrificial blood and take to the streets, gently slapping both women and crop fields with the goat hide.

Far from being fearful, Roman women welcomed the touch of the hides because it was believed to make them more fertile in the coming year. Later in the day, according to legend, all the young women in the city would place their names in a big urn. The city's bachelors would each choose a name and become paired for the year with his chosen woman. These matches often ended in marriage.”

    ● Valentine of Rome (Valentinus presb. m. Romae) was a priest in Rome who was martyred about AD 269 and was buried on the Via Flaminia. His relics are at the Church of Saint Praxed in Rome, and at Whitefriar Street Carmelit Church in Dublin, Ireland. Not much else about him is documented, and what we know for sure isn't very romantic.

The legend, however, spices it up, telling us that when Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families and, therefore, outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine defied the Emperor’s decree and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When this was discovered, he was put to death on February 14, 269 (Some sources say the year 270 or 273 A.D.).

Some references indicate that Valentine’s cause to unite lovers with holy vows of matrimony landed him in prison, which is likely to be true. During his incarceration, he struck up a friendship with the blind daughter of his jailer, Asterius. (In one version of the legend, he miraculously restored her sight). Supposedly, they exchanged love letters and on the day of his execution (February 14th, 269 A.D.), he left a final letter for his love and signed it "From your Valentine."

Still another variation recounts that Claudius took a liking to this prisoner – until Valentinus tried to convert the Emperor to Christianity – whereupon he condemned the priest to death. Valentine was beaten with clubs and stoned. When that failed to kill him, he was beheaded outside the Flaminian Gate.

     ● Valentine of Terni (Valentinus ep. Interamnensis m. Romae) was bishop of Interamna (Modern Terni) about AD 197 and is said to have been martyred during the persecution under Emperor Aurelian.

He is also buried on the Via Flaminia, but in a different location than Valentine of Rome. His relics are at the Basilica of Saint Valentine in Terni. There doesn’t seem to be much more known about him. 

● A third saint named Valentine is mentioned in the Catholic Encyclopedia, also executed on the date of February 14. He was martyred in Africa, along with companions, but nothing else is known about him, either.

When did February 14 become associated with romance and love?

“For this was on seynt Volantynys day
Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make.”

["For this was Saint Valentine's Day, when every bird cometh there to choose his mate."]

The treaty providing for the marriage was signed May 2, 1381, and Richard and Anne were married eight months later. (Both of them were only fifteen at the time). While many assumed Chaucer meant February 14 in his reference to Valentine’s Day, in fact, in the liturgical calendar, May 2 is the saint’s day for St. Valentine, the bishop of Genoa who died around 307 A.D.  Not too many birds mate in February.

On February 14, 1400, Paris established a “High Court of Love” which addressed love contracts, betrayals, and violence against women. I only found one reference to this and couldn’t find out more about it or its significance.

The earliest surviving valentine card, as we know it, was written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans to his wife. It now resides in the British Library in London.

Je suis desja d'amour tanné
Ma tres doulce Valentinée...
—Charles d'Orléans, Rondeau VI, lines 1–2

Not many years later, King Henry V hired writer John Lydgate to compose a valentine note to Catherine of Valois.

Shakespeare mentions Valentine’s Day in Hamlet (1600-1601).

In the sixteenth century, the Bishop of Geneva, St. Francis de Sales, tried to get rid of the custom of Valentine’s Day cards and failed. Their popularity grew and they became decorated with naked Cupids armed with arrows dipped in love potion.

http://www.amazon.com/forum/romance/ref=cm_cd_dp_rft_tft_tp?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=FxM42D5QN2YZ1D&cdThread=Tx1U9IFOLVQRGXV

There are 62 pages of interesting reading.  Over 1,500 comments from readers.  I had to restrain myself from writing responses.  While some of them are a little [or a lot] off the wall, many of the readers had something worthwhile to tell us.  Many of the don'ts we’ve heard from agents, editors, and other authors.

As authors, we may not agree, but each comment represents the personal reaction of a reader.  To me, they speak volumes about what people read and what is getting published by today’s industry.

The posts gave me the impression that readers [at least romance readers] want “realistic fantasy” in that they want the setting and indicators of everyday real life but at the same time fantasized situations and satisfying endings.

To be sure, these comments come from different people—some want one thing, others want another, and tastes vary—but I couldn’t help comparing statements about not giving the hero (or heroine, for that matter) a moustache or a smoking habit or restraining from giving heroines green eyes, with other comments such as:

● “Don’t describe many bouts of love-making without at least once reaching for a wash rag or the proverbial handkerchief”

● “Don’t have your main characters make love every night for months without referring to that monthly challenge”

A couple of my favorites, which I believe are good advice, include:

● “Don’t allow your hero behave like a sociopath. If the hero is, in fact, a sociopath, then the heroine should kill him and get on with her life.”

● “Don’t over dramatize the alpha male to the point where, if he was a real person, he could be diagnosed as clinically insane.”

Just to give you a sample, I’ve grouped the comments into loose categories, although they don’t appear in this order in the thread.  I didn’t repeat any readers’ names, but these are quotes.

Names:  Dear Author, Please Don’t…

● “…name your heroes Hunter, Connor, or [insert any other over-used name here] no matter how much you like the name. If you must use an over-used name go with classics like John, Sam or Robert. You guys are killing the 'exotic' names by making them common!”

● “…give your characters 20 different names (nicknames).”

● “…name several characters with the same first initial in their name: Cindy and Cissy or Tom and Todd. For goodness sakes, you've got the whole alphabet to choose from.”

● “…give the heroine a name which could be mistaken for a male: Morgan, Joey or Danny (Believe me, I've seen each of these!!)”

● “…give the hero or heroine names that are so unusual that the reader doesn't know how they're pronounced. It's very distracting when you're trying to enjoy the book and you don't know how to "read" the name. At the very least, have a character (the person him/herself, or a sibling, etc.) demonstrate the pronunciation, even if it's by correcting someone.”

Characterization:  Dear Author, Please Don’t…

● “…forget about your secondary characters, even if you have limited space. Try to have them all as real as possible; it takes away from the overall effect if they're all cardboard cutouts.” and  “Please, flesh out your secondary characters.”

● “…make your villains one-dimensional.  Since everyone has a reason to do villainous things why not the ones in books?”

● “…base your characters (especially in a series) on yourself, your current husband/lover or a close friend/family member. We can tell and it burns us; we hate it...especially when you get divorced and turn the hero you make us love in books 1-4 into a prick we are supposed to hate in books 5-7.”

● “…make the villains easily identifiable by their greasy hair and bad fashion sense.”

● “…have everything your character does automatically be the 'right' thing to do.”

● “…let your heroine behave like an idiot and write it so that the hero finds this stupidity cute, winning, charming or adorable. There's a difference between making an error and lacking any common sense.”

● “…Don’t forget that not all heroines have to be petite and blonde with huge breasts.”

● “…make your heroine's innocence unrealistic.  Your heroine experiencing her first kiss at age 25 is odd.” And “If you're writing a twenty-five year old college student, don't make her act like a 60 year old matron who’s never seen a guy naked.”

● “…have your hero and heroine unite after several years apart where he was a slut during that time, and she didn't have another relationship.”

● “…forget to develop your characters along with your plot. Loveable, well-rounded characters are what make a story stay with a reader long after the book is finished.”

●“…wait until halfway through the book to begin describing your characters. On too many occasions I have felt I was left to my own devices to envision the characters, then --BAM-- suddenly my Kate Beckinsale is supposedly a Gwyneth Paltrow. VERY aggravating.”

Love/Sex Scenes:  Dear Author, Please Don’t…

● “…forget to put a little variety in your love-making.”

● “…tell the reader what a great lover the hero is, then give him only a short paragraph or two to prove it. Speed sex is not sexy, spend some time on these scenes and give it at least a few pages.”

● “…discuss the amount of body hair your heroine has.”

● “…have a fight in the bedroom while they are naked in bed and then allow him to stomp out and jump in the car…without any clothes on.

● “…forget to give your characters some sexual quirks. Not every character is going to like it the same way.

● “…muddle through the sex. Either dedicate yourself to more than just a sigh and light touch, or let the scene fade away with dignity . . . Spice things up. Characters are people, and every person in the world has a kink. Big or small, discovered or un-, every person has something just a little out of the ordinary that turns them on.”

●“…give graphic descriptions of the hero's and heroine's genitals and please do not use pages and pages of explicit sex, either in the character's imaginations or their reality, to cover up the fact that there is a paucity of plot! Boring, boring!”

● “…have the heroine lose her virginity, then go on to have sex 8 times the same night in 6 different positions (Can you say ouch??)”

● “…have the hero stop after 3 solid pages of foreplay, look deep in the heroine's eyes and ask "are you sure you want to do this?" Duh! If she has been enthusiastically participating for said 3 solid pages, why would the hero suddenly decide to double check just before hiding the you know what?? Talk about a mood killer.”

Plot:  Dear Author, Please Don’t…

● “… forget to include a plot. The days when I read romance novels for sex are pretty much over. A storyline would be nice.”

● “…make me read the roller coaster ride of a plot you've put the hero through and then, on the last page, in the last sentence, a shot rings out and I have to wait for the sequel except it won't come out until two years from now.”

● “…make every hero a man whore. Sometimes less experienced guys are hot too.”

● “…forgive too easily. No matter how much love is between two people, when one makes a mistake, the other doesn't just forget about it. There are always consequences for stupidity.”

●“…have your character set out to ruin someone's reputation. Usually this is the hero ruining the heroine in historicals, but recently reading a heroine who is setting out to ruin a man's reputation for cash and I find it extremely unattractive plot device.”

● “…have the entire book hinge on some stupid misunderstanding that could be cleared up with two sentences. Please, let's have some books with real relationship issues!”

● “…have the hero and heroine bicker like children for most of the book.”

Dialogue: Dear Author, Please Don’t…

● “…talk slang, outside of the dialogue, in the narration.”

● “…include too much girl talk. I don't have a clutch of gossiping girlfriends who dis men, and reading about it is boring. I can't enjoy the heroine if she's acting like a gossiping cat.”

● “…sermonize in your fiction. I don't care if its vegetarianism, your favorite brand of shoes, or social responsibility. Having your character lecture your readers is annoying!”

● “…have the hero or heroine say those dreaded words, "We have to talk." “

Writing Craft and GMC:  Dear Author, Please Don’t…

● “…explain things to me. I like to figure it out on my own.”

● “…use foreign words or phrases unless you know what you're talking about. A little research would be appreciated.”

● “…sanitize awkward situations. Sometimes a little awkwardness is exactly what the story--or the character--needs.”

● …give the reader “too much stuff about...feelings.  Do we really need five (or seven, or ten) paragraphs about someone's emotions? . . . I mean, I know it's a romance, and the conflict is important, but to have the same song play out every third or fourth page... it gets old.”

● …give the reader a reason to say, “Why do I hear the director in the background crying "Reach deep into yourself! What's...your...MOTIVATION???"

● “…don't resolve the conflict in a few sentences just because someone cried or said, "I Love You."

● “…shy away from the hard stuff.  Don't wallow in it either.

Technical Craft:  Dear Author, please don’t…

● “…forget to proofread carefully.

● “…send a manuscript to the publisher without having at least five people--other than yourself--read it. Misspellings and plot holes are the most annoying mistakes, and the easiest to fix.

● “…allow Microsoft Word to suggest your writing style. Contractions are important. I downloaded a book today and couldn't get past the first five pages because the writer never used them.

● “…write without a dictionary, thesaurus, and an atlas at your side.

● “…forget to let the reader know how much time is passing. Was it a day, a week, an hour? Help me keep up; I can't read your mind.

● “…give detailed descriptions of how to get somewhere on a freeway across town including the turn right and left thing.”

● “…write the book in first person.”

● “…jump POV's to the hero's baby momma's cousin.”

● “…switch tenses throughout your whole story.”

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Why write about Bagpipes?

My husband is Italian (from Sicily), and we watch Italian television (RAI) daily.  At Christmas time, there was a Nativity Pageant produced on RAI, and the shepherds in the background were playing bagpipes.  My grandchildren were amazed, so I thought other people might be surprised also.

When Bagpipes pipe their mournful sounds, most people (Americans, at any rate) associate the instrument with the Highlands of Scotland, but in fact the bagpipes were introduced into Scotland by the Romans.

What are Bagpipes?

Bagpipes are musical instruments classified as aerophones. They are reed instruments that utilize an air reservoir.  The reservoir allows an uninterrupted stream of air to be directed through the reeds.

        

It's generally agreed that the bagpipe arose from the desire to make reed instruments easier to play, especially for lengthy spells.  Connect your local reed instrument to a bag, add a blowpipe for putting in air, inflate fully and squeeze.

An early version of the bagpipes was constructed using animal skin.  The hollow leg bones of small animals were attached to the instrument with holes drilled into them.  These holes gave the player the ability to play various pitches and tones

Ancient Origins

While there several theories about the first bagpipes, many scholars believe they originated somewhere in the in the Middle East before the time of Christ -- Mesopotamia, Sumaria, or perhaps even India or Persia – in the form of a crude instrument comprised of reeds stuck into a goatskin bag.

Various forms of bagpipes appear in ancient records in many parts of the western world including a textual reference from 425 BC, in the play The Acharnians by the Greek playwright Aristophanes.  Also, one website indicates a style of bagpipe is mentioned in the Old Testament of the Bible.

On Oliver Seeler’s website, Universe of Bagpipes, the photo below of an Assyrian palace wall carving (from Nimrud, circa 800 B.C.) clearly depicts a warrior fording a river with what could be the earliest depiction of an inflated leather bag as an air reservoir.  The bag is equipped with a blow-pipe through which the swimmer can replace air that has leaked.  Tie a simple reed-pipe into this device and you would have a bagpipe.

The Oxford History of Music claims that a sculpture of bagpipes has been found on a Hittite slab at Eyuk in the Middle East, dated to 1000 B.C.

While there is strong evidence that the Romans and Greek had early versions of bagpipes, the exact form isn’t well documented.  The instruments themselves were made entirely or almost entirely of organic materials (wood and skins) and not durable in the long-term.  They tended to be instruments of the "common" people, were used, probably somewhat roughly without concern, outdoors.  Being an instrument of the common people, bagpipes didn’t get much “Press” since no one wrote about the peasants.

Two exceptions to this are writings from the Dio Chrysostom in the 1^st century A.D., describing the Roman sovereign as playing the tibia (the pipes) with his mouth as well as with his “armpit.”  In the 2nd Century A.D., Suetonius wrote that the Roman Emperor Nero was a talented bagpipe (or Tibia Utricularius) player.  Whether or not he was really talented, or only described that way by some scribe who wished to continue to live, is speculation.  But it does mean that the instrument was somewhat familiar to these writers.

Regardless, the Romans are credited by most for bringing the bagpipes to Scotland and other parts of the world they conquered.

Bagpipes Today

It is speculated that bagpipes were used by shepherds in ancient times.  The early Romans used them as outdoor instruments during the building of roads or gathering of the harvest.  Pipers would march through the village to announce the beginning of the workday.  They also used them during religious ceremonies for the sacrifices to the gods and for funerals.

Early Roman soldiers and later Scottish soldiers used the bagpipe as an instrument of war. The resonating sound of the pipes could be heard up to 10 miles away. In 1745, when the British defeated the Scottish at the Battle of Culloden, the use of bagpipes was outlawed. The ban was later lifted in the 1800s.

Today bagpipes are used frequently at funerals. The music enhances the grief of the family of the dead and the other mourners. It also serves to escort the fallen to the final resting place. This scenario has been played out for centuries and the tradition has been carried forth from the ancient battlefields of Ireland and Scotland to the ceremonies honoring slain peace officers and firefighters.

But in Italy, bagpipes are a most common Italian Christmas sound. The zampognari, the shepherds who play the bagpipes, come down from their mountain homes at Christmas time and perform melodies adapted from old folk tunes in the market squares.

In Italy, the tradition of bagpipes goes back to ancient Roman times. Legend says that the shepherds entertained the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem. Today, the zampognari perform their own private pilgrimage, stopping before every shrine to the Madonna and every Nativity scene. Take a listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKCtg0hLh50

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References
http://www.mid-east.com/info/bagpipe.html
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090516234156AAvtLkQ
http://www.hotpipes.com/history2.html
http://www.bcfpb.com/id11.html

Please welcome my special guest, author Cathy Yardley

 

THE THING

New Year’s tends to be a time for resolutions and bucket lists. It’s exciting – there’s a whole empty year ahead of you, full of promise. This could be the year that you (finally) do “the thing.”

The Thing

The “thing” can be like a mirage: always on the horizon, never getting any closer. Which is why resolutions tend to derail somewhere around March at the latest – and why bucket lists remain unchecked.

“This year I’m going to sell that series!”

“This year, I’m going to Paris!”

“This year… This year… This year…”

Check the GMC

The term “GMC” stands for goal-motivation-conflict, and it’s the foundation for any story. Your characters need to be clear about what they want. They need to have a really good reason for what they want. And then, they’ve got to overcome challenges to get what they want.

Motivation

Let’s say your character wants to climb Mount Everest to prove to herself that she’s not a failure. What if she’s never failed at anything? What if her family is consistently, unconditionally supportive? It makes no sense for her to want what she wants if that’s the case… and we, as readers, won’t be rooting for her because we won’t know why what she’s doing is important.

Writing my life

To me, pursuing The Thing isn’t any different. If I’m serious about getting something, I need to know why I want it…. and the why behind that.

Do I really want to go to Paris? Well, why? And what’s the why behind the why?

Is it because I want to do something I haven’t done it in years? Is it because I want an adventure?

If that’s the case… is Paris the only way to do that? Are there other mini-adventures I can have in the meantime that don’t take quite as much planning, time and money?

Is it because I adore Paris – the art, the cafes, the whole nine yards? Again, is there a smaller way to start infusing that in my life? Some street cafes I could visit? A French restaurant? Some street art fairs?

What if nothing but The Thing will do?

That’s when I’d move to the next step: conflict.

Going back to the Everest example. If the heroine decides to climb the mountain, and then in the next chapter she simply goes over there and does it… well, that’s a pretty boring story. There have to be obstacles. That’s where the story lives.

The best stories are when the heroine is in a tough spot, and the writer manages to come up with an unexpected but completely plausible solution.

Doing The Thing isn’t any different. There’s a solution – if the motivation is strong enough, then the solution is there. It may not look at all like you’d expect, but it’s there.

My Thing

This year, I’ve got a series coming out called The Player’s Club, from Harlequin Blaze. In it, the members go through a hazing where they’re innocently asked what they’d do if they had one month left to live – and then, they have one month to do those things if they want to join the Club. It’s a lot of fun, but it also got me thinking. What would I do?

For the past two years, I’ve wanted to go to a creativity conference. It’s not cheap. I have writing deadlines, I teach classes, and I’ve got editing and promotion clients. Oh, and I’ve got a five year old.

I’ll be going in July. And I’m so happy, it’s ridiculous. It took some hoop jumping and a lot of juggling, but it’s already been worth it, just to know that I can.

What about you? What’s on your bucket list? And what’s your Thing?

 

BIO:

After years in the corporate world, Cathy Yardley managed to tunnel her way out of her cubicle with a spoon she’d stolen from the break room. She now writes urban fantasy and romance, provides editing services, and generally celebrates her freedom from the cube farm in an undisclosed location somewhere near Seattle, WA.

Look What I've Been Up To

Since the end of November, when Sapphire Blue Publishing went out of business and my books were left homeless, I've been considering my options.  While I do that, I've spent some time on my hobby, quilting.  Those of you who quilt know that quilters always have lots of unfinished project.  I've spent some time finishing several.

This one was not completed when the photo was taken but it was finished for Christmas and is now on my son's bed.

       
          Quilting class project                         Donation to Art Auction at Liberty Academy

The Art Auction at Liberty Academy is to raise money to help the fourth grade classes take a trip to the state Capitol.  I offered to donate a quilt.  My granddaughter picked the fabrics and the result is the quilt above (which is still waiting to be bound).

But I had another idea.  With the cooperation of the teacher, I had each 4th grader draw a picture with permanent marker on a block of white fabric.  They picked a patriotic theme.  I'm putting the results into three wall quilts (wall hangings) which will also be auctioned.  There are no art prodigies in this class, but here are the results so far.
  

   

This one isn't sewn together yet.  I love the drawing in the middle on the bottom row.  The soldiers raising the American flag appear to be all in the nude except for green belts and helmets (or maybe they're wearing skin-colored uniforms).

I'm awesome!

Please welcome my special guest, multi-published Author Heather Long

My Child Will Do It Differently
by Heather Long

 

She will do everything differently.  Realistically, we didn’t do things as dramatically different as our parents did.  In fact, I didn’t do half the things my mother did, but I have a feeling my daughter won’t do much of what I did either…she’ll do it differently.

Reading … my child will do it differently.

She has an entire genre devoted to her.  The young adult explosion is taking over bookstores, websites, blogs and even my Amazon recommendations list.  Do I mind? Of course not.

I’m jealous. 

At her age, I was making the transition from chapter books to Harlequin Presents because the only YA we had was Nancy Drew and if you didn’t like mysteries you were out of luck.  I did dive into science fiction and fantasy about the same time I started reading Harlequin…that may explain my paranormal western romance Marshal of Hel Dorado…but I digress.

Watching television … my child will do it differently.

When I was growing up, we loved reruns because it was the only time to catch the episode you might have missed.  Sure we’d just started getting VCRs, but if your timer was even a minute off, you lost parts of an episode, hiccups in scheduling messed with your recording and worse, if you had a power blip -- pfft.  No T.V. for you.  

Hell, if you weren’t tuned in when J.R. was shot, you were seriously out of luck because you may or may not EVER get to see that episode again.  Worse still if you missed the big reveal.  Today?  No sweat.  You can download seasons from iTunes, watch them on HULU or any number of websites.  There’s no rush to get home, no fervent desire to be planted in front of the television, because you can watch it anywhere.

I should know, I downloaded the season one series finale of Vampire Diaries via Amazon Unbox at 8,000 ft when I was taking a Margie Lawson Immersion Class.  That’s right, not even altitude comes between my vampires and I!

Going to School … my child will do it differently.

When I went to school, if you got in trouble your parents got a phone call or worse, you had to carry home a note to them so they could sign it.  It was always some hideous pink or other egregious color.  When it came to keeping track of your homework, projects, test dates and assignments, if you didn’t do it, you were out of luck. 

Today? 

My daughter’s teachers email me newsletters every week so that I know everything they are doing, the hit me with calendar reminders for tests and projects and hey, if she forgot an assignment at school, a quick email turnaround gets the attachment sent to my computer.  I added it up the other day, I spend five to six hours a week acting as an administrative assistant for my fifth grader.

That might explain why I won’t check my email before I write my chapters every day.

Writing a Book … my child will do it differently.

When I was growing up, I always knew I wanted to be a writer.  When I was in the fourth grade, my teacher actually had us draw picture books, write a story for them, a title page and an about the author, then she had them professionally bound.  It was the coolest thing ever with this dark, navy blue cover and my title and name embossed in gold on the front.

Today, my daughter has Kindle Direct Publishing and she’s working on her first novel that she’s asked me to edit and then help her find a cover artist for.

This is why she’ll probably make the New York Times Best Seller list before me, and that’s okay.

Because my kid may do it differently, but she’s still doing it!  How about yours?

 

About Author Heather Long

Heather Long is a full time writer, mother, friend and student.  She can often be found at 4 a.m. hiding in her garage with a cup of coffee and a new story idea unfolding on her laptop.  Her Fevered Hearts series launched in October 2011 with Marshal of Hel Dorado. The second book, Brave are the Lonely, will release in March 2012.  You can keep up with these and all of Heather’s upcoming releases via her website, Facebook page and occasionally, Twitter although she swears she’s pretty bad at remembering to Tweet even when she reads them.

http://www.heatherlong.net

http://www.facebook.com/HeatherLongAuthor

http://www.twitter.com/HVLong

Link for:

Marshal of Hel Dorado

 

Can you believe we're only a few days away from Christmas?  Time flies.  And by the way, here's a critical note from Father Christmas.

I'm writing this note to inform you

That taxes have taken away

The things that I found most essential:

My workshop

My reindeer

My sleigh.

I'm now making my rounds on a donkey,

He's tired and crippled and slow,

So if you don't see me on Christmas

I'm out on my ass in the snow.

                                                                          Sincerely, Santa

It's Not Christmas Without You

By HelenKay Dimon

I've always been an avid reader.  I was trying to think back the other day and remember if I liked holiday-themed books before I started writing.  Can't remember.  But now?  Love them.  I've been lucky enough to write three holiday novellas over the last few years.  The most recent one just came out, It's Not Christmas Without You in the Holiday Kisses anthology from Carina Press.

When the editor asked me to join in this anthology, my answer was easy – yes. I even knew what I wanted to write.  It's Not Christmas Without You is a "second chances" romance about an on-again, off-again couple who grew up together and seemingly grew apart.  He's a country boy at heart.  She wants to try the big city.  He believes everything is fine as is.  She wants their relationship to change. At heart, the hero is charmingly clueless and the heroine is frustrated by the hero's cluelessness.  I even knew where I wanted to set the book, back and forth between West Virginia and Washington, D.C.

All the parts fell together and the plot seemed clear.  Then I started thinking about why I was so excited to write this story.  Yeah, I love to write.  That wasn't it. This was something bigger, something about holiday romances that made me smile.  I turned it over in my mind, analyzing and contemplating.  Finally, I figured out that the books work for me, the theme makes me happy, because the books are filled with so much hope.  I already view hope as the point of romance novels.  Some folks say romance and love, but I truly think romance novels are about hope.  They’re about wading through all the tough stuff in life and finding that special someone.  The bad guys get caught.  People forgive wrongs.  The barn gets built.  Whatever the task, it gets resolved in a way that turns out to be the right way.  Combine that with the holiday spirit and all the good parts of the season (minus family fights at the dinner table and burnt turkey) and you get books about hope in the most hopeful season of all.

So, will my hero and heroine figure out their problems?  Yes.  It's a romance after all.  Will the holiday season play a role in the book?  Definitely.  Will holiday romance continue to bring hope and smiles?  If we're lucky, then yes. And those of us who write them and read them (and I do both) will know that there's nothing better than a romance to end the year.

Happy holidays!

HelenKay Dimon Bio

HelenKay Dimon, award winning author of romance and romantic suspense, was a divorce lawyer specializing in unhappy endings. One day, during a particularly difficult string of cases, a co-worker handed her a romance novel with the promise of a much-needed escape and a happy ending. She’s been reading -- and writing -- romance ever since.  Click Here to see a list of her many books available on Amazon.com.

 

My December 10 Blog is still up at RBRU

Read about the Christmas Eve tradition, the Feast of the Seven Fishes. http://romancebooksrus.blogspot.com/  It's still there to read.  If you've experienced this celebration, please leave a comment about it.

My Books Are “Homeless”

As of November 30, my publisher, Sapphire Blue Publishing, closed its doors and went out of business.  All the SBP books have been “taken down” from the sales sites.  For now, they are available only through this site (full length novels $2.99 and novella length $1.99).  Until there is a “Buy” button installed, contact me through my contact page.  "Family Secrets: A Vengeance of Tears" is available in hard cover and paperback from Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com

I suppose these rough spots are part of the journey.

Comment by clicking on "comments" above and win an e-book 

The cathedrals of St. Petersburg are among the most magnificent buildings in that amazing and beautiful city.  Not so surprising?  In this case, maybe it is.  But to understand my point, you need a little Russian history.

St. Petersburg was founded by Peter the Great in 1703, so it is not an ancient city like some in Europe.  It’s only four hundred years old.  The Tsar hired European architects to design the city to be as European as possible, so it resembles just that, but with a definite unique Russian flare.  That, in itself, isn’t so remarkable.

What I find remarkable is that the Russian churches and cathedrals survived at all.  According to what I learned while traveling in Russia, and confirmed through research, after the October Revolution of 1917, thousands of churches and monasteries were confiscated by the government and either destroyed completely or converted to secular use.

But still, religion survived.

During the 1920s and 1930s, nearly all the clergy and many of the believers of the Russian Orthodox Church, were shot or sent to labor camps.  During this period, many of the churches were looted and left in shambles or converted to government use.  Many of the wonderful artifacts and artwork was lost.  In spite of new political and social freedoms under Mikhail Gorbachev in the 1980s, which resulted in many church buildings being returned to local parishioners, religious persecution continued until the fall of the Soviet Union.

It is, in my opinion, remarkable that the churches have survived long enough to be restored and some returned to religious purposes and some of their former glory.

A few of the many examples follow.  The Church On Spilled Blood is my favorite, and figures prominently in the title of my new romantic suspense release, All For Spilled Blood, so let’s start our tour there.

Church of the Savior On Spilled Blood (1883-1907)
This Russian Revival-style church is known as Resurrection of Christ Church and The Church of Our Savior On The Spilled Blood, but it is generally called The Church On Spilled Blood.  Everyone questions the word “on” in the name, but there’s a reason.  It marks the exact spot where, in 1881, Emperor Alexander II was fatally wounded in an assassination attempt by a group of revolutionaries who threw a bomb in his royal carriage.  Alexander II died of the wounds, and his heir and younger brother, Alexander III, insisted on building the church on the exact spot of the assassination.

 

  

After the Revolution, this church was looted and closed for services in the late 1920s.  It served briefly as the venue for an exhibition of revolutionary propaganda and gradually fell into decay.

After World War II, it was used as a warehouse for an opera theater.  In 1970, it became a branch of the St. Isaac's Cathedral museum and restoration began.  It was reopened in 1997 as a museum and for weekly requiems and sermon readings.

Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul (1712-1733)
Designed in the Baroque style, this was the first wooden church to be erected at SS Peter and Paul Fort on Valsilyevsky Island.  It is the burial site for nearly all the rulers of Russia since Peter the Great through Alexander III.

As the tallest structure in St. Petersburg, the bell tower was often stuck by lightning and burned down in 1756.  The bells were destroyed, but the iconostasis was removed in the nick of time.  In 1766, Catherine the Great ordered the bell tower rebuilt exactly as it had been.

Smolny Cathedral (1748-1761)
This cathedral was part of a complex planned by Empress Elizabeth to include a nunnery and a school for girls.  The cathedral was completed, but when Elizabeth died, the work on the monastery came to a halt.  By the early 1830s, much of the cathedral had fallen into disrepair until it was restored in 1832 by Nicholas I. 

 

After the revolution, the cathedral suffered a similar fate to most of the churches in St. Petersburg.  In 1922, its valuables were looted, and a year later the cathedral was closed.  It stood in decay until 1972, when the iconostasis was taken out and the building was converted first to a museum and then to a concert hall, which is still one of its primary functions today.

St. Issac’s Cathedral (1818-1858)
St. Isaac's Cathedral was at one time the largest cathedral in Russia.  Today, the rebuilt Church of Christ the Savior in Moscow exceeds its size, but St. Issac’s gilded dome of still dominates the skyline of St. Petersburg and it boasts much more impressive façades and interiors than its competition.

 

The church was closed in the early 1930s and reopened as a museum.  Although the building was designed to accommodate 14,000 standing worshipers, today church services are held here only on major ecclesiastical occasions.

Karzan Cathedral (1801-1811)
Inspired by the Basilica of St. Peter’s in Rome, this cathedral was intended to be the country’s main Orthodox Church.  Instead, it became a monument to Russia’s victory against Napoleon in 1812.

 

Cathedral at SS Apostles Peter and Paul at Peterhof (1895-1904)
This cathedral is part of Peterhof, the luxurious imperial palace and gardens built by Peter the Great.  Everything about the palaces and gardens is so overwhelming that there is little information on this cathedral.

 

Church of the Birth of St. John the Baptist / Chesme Church (1780)
This is another of my favorites because the fairytale Gothic design makes it exceptionally unusual and delightful.  And it’s off the beaten tourist path between St. Petersburg and the Summer Palace at Tsarskoe Selo, although now it is within the St. Petersburg city limits.

Welcome to my special guest Lisabet Sarai 

Click on "comments" above to leave a comment.

Pack your bags, pour a glass of 1998 Far Niente Cabernet Sauvignon, settle in a comfortable first class seat with a one of my novels, and get ready to travel to exotic foreign lands for romance and intrigue—and a good laugh.  Enjoy the adventure.  It’s not the destination that matters; it's the journey that counts.

TRAVEL TO EXOTIC FOREIGN LANDS FOR ROMANCE AND INTRIGUE
with a novel by R. Ann Siracusa

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The eyes are an important and complex part of our body language deserving special attention.  Eyes are among the hardest parts of our body (and body language) to control.  Unlike nearly all other aspects of body language, the pupils and eye secretions are impossible to control consciously.

Eyes are sometimes referred to as the windows of the soul because they can send many different non-verbal signals.  In fact, the reason humans have larger eye whites than animals is because it aids in our complex communications.  When reading body language, looking at people's eyes is useful because that is an accepted part of communication, whereas gazing at or studying other parts of the body may be considered rude or offensive.

But don’t forget, as with all body language, eye gestures and movements can mean more than one thing and should be interpreted only in relation to other gestures, activities, and other kinds of information (particularly since it is possible for a person to control the body language gestures).

The technique of Neurolinguistic Programming was developed by American psychologists Riachard Brandler and John Grinder.  They concluded that based on eye movements, humans reveal what their brains are focusing on by telling if the person is imagining something or remembering something.  Specifically, the direction of the eye movement is useful in predicting channels of thought accessed by a person.  They can signify recalling sights, smells, tastes, or tactile memories. 

● Direct eye contact
Direct eye contact between two people is a powerful act of communication and may show:
            ▪ Interest
            ▪ Dominance
            ▪ Affection
            ▪ Intimidation
            ▪ Assurance other person is paying attention/ listening.

● Breaking eye contact
Because steady prolonged eye contact can be perceived as threatening, when we are conversing with someone we frequently look away and back again.  But breaking eye contact can send other signals, such
as:
            ▪ Unpleasant emotional reaction to what was just said (threat, insult, etc.)
            ▪ Uncomfortable reaction to what was just said (causes internal discomfort)
            ▪ Loss of Interest
            ▪ A simple interruption of the conversation.

● Looking Upward
Looking upward usually means a person is thinking, making pictures in their head, recalling (such as prepared words for a speech or a memory), or it can simply mean boredom.  In particular, when people remember thing they saw, their eyes will move upwards.

Looking upwards and the right can indicate imaginative construction of a picture (which can betray a liar).  Be careful with this; sometimes the directions are reversed.

Looking upwards and to the left can indicate recalling a memory.

Head lowered and eyes looking back up at the other person is a coy and suggestive action as it combines the head down of submission with eye contact of attraction.  It can also be judgmental, especially when combined with a frown.

● Looking down
Looking directly at another person can be an act of domination, a show of power.  Therefore, looking down is often a sign of submission.  In many cultures where eye contact is a rude or dominant signal, people will look down when talking with others in order to show respect.

Looking down can also indicate that the person is feeling guilty or ashamed.

When recalling emotions, a person will look downward and to the right.  Looking down and to the right may also indicate the person is attending to internal emotions.

When accessing constructed memories, people will look down and to the left.  Looking down and to the left may indicate that the person is talking to themselves.

● Looking sideways
Much of our field of vision is in the horizontal plane, so when a person looks sideways, they are either looking away from what is in front of them or looking towards something that has taken their interest.

People look to the side if they are recalling something they heard or a sound.  Looking sideways to the right can indicate that they are imagining the sound.  As with visual and other movements, this can be reversed and may need checking against known truth and fabrication.

A quick glance sideways can just be checking the source of a distraction to assess for threat or interest.  It can also show irritation.

● Lateral eye movement
Eyes moving from side-to-side may indicate shiftiness and lying, as though the person might be looking for an escape route in case their deceit is discovered.

Lateral movement can also happen when the person is being conspiratorial, as though checking that nobody else is listening.  Be careful, because checking for others listening may occur for simpler reasons.

Eyes may also move back and forth sideways (and sometimes up and down) when the person is visualizing a big picture and is literally looking it over.

● Dampness / Shining Eyes
The tear ducts provide moisture to the eyes, both for washing them and for tears.  The eyes have a tiny gland on the bottom of the eyelid secreting liquids such as tears for use as lubrication.  When a person is interested or excited, the glands tend to secrete liquid thus giving the eyes a shiny appearance.  This is an uncontrollable reaction.  Damp eyes can also indicate suppressed weeping, indicating anxiety, fear or sadness, and tiredness.

● Eye rolling
Rolling the eyes around in a semi circle from bottom to top, or looking straight up reflects disbelief.

● Eye widening
Eye widening is a positive nonverbal cue indicating that someone is observing positive stimuli that bring them joy and happiness.  The size of the eyes directly indicates how positive someone is about a topic or other stimuli.  It can also indicate surprise or disbelief.

● Pupil size
One of the uncontrollable body language signals is the dilation of the pupil.  The ring of color around the pupils, the iris, is actually a muscle tissue that expands and contracts to change the size of the pupils to allow more or less light into the eyes.  Pupil dilation and contraction are subtle signals that are usually detected subconsciously by both the sender and the receiver.

Other than allowing more light to enter the eye in order to see, dilated pupils means attraction, excitement, or arousal.  Sexual desire is a common cause of pupil dilation.  When another person's eyes dilate, we may be attracted further to them and our eyes dilate in return.  In most cases, while the individuals feel the attraction, neither is aware of the specific of the signals being sent.

Likewise, when another person’s pupils contract, ours may contract also.  Contraction of the pupils indicates dislike, perhaps in an echo of squint-like narrowing of the eyes.  Contracted pupils may also result from any negative reaction or from anger.

● Gazing
A gaze is looking at something with particular interest.  According to my research, it is not just the act of looking at something.  The gaze can also be a defocused looking at the general person.  A defocused gaze can indicate disinterest, as though the person is thinking about something else.

When you gaze at something, others who look at your eyes will feel compelled to follow your gaze to see what you are looking at.  This is a remarkable skill as humans are able to follow a gaze very accurately.  It is difficult to conceal a gaze as we are particularly adept at identifying exactly where other people are looking.

One source says that gazing at a person's mouth can indicate that you would like to kiss them.  However, BodyLanguageSignals.com indicates that looking at the mouth is an assessment of the other person.  According to that article, when you meet someone for the first time, it takes that person 3 to 7 seconds to make a judgment about you.  We all do it unconsciously.  We decide how comfortable we are with that person.  And remember, we are wired for self-preservation.  And the most crucial body language signal to influence our first impression is the smile.  This is also the most recognized signal in nearly every country and culture.

Looking up and down at a whole person is usually sizing them up, either as a potential threat or as a sexual partner.  Gazing can be insulting since it may indicate a position of presumed dominance, as though the person effectively says 'I am more powerful than you, your feelings are unimportant to me and you will submit to my gaze'.

In conversation, gazing at a person’s forehead or beyond them indicates disinterest.

● Following
Sorry, I realize editors won’t let a character’s eyes follow, but following is the term used by all the articles and scientific papers to refer to the phenomenon of eyes naturally keeping track of movement of any kind.  If a person is looking at something of interest, then the eyes/gaze will naturally keep looking at it even when it moved.  Eyes will also follow neutral or feared things in case the movement turns into a threat.  Your editor will change “eyes” to “gaze.”  It’s okay for your “gaze” to follow.  Go figure!

● Eye Color
While the actual color of the eyes, which is determined by the amount of the pigments melanin and lipochrome, does not change with mood, the appearance of the eye color can change.  That is the result of the way light reflects off the iris, creating the impression that the color of the eye has changed.

The face constantly makes voluntary and involuntary expressions.  During changes in mood, the muscles around the eye contracts or relaxes, which changes the shape of the eye opening.  While some of these changes are very small, even minute changes affect the amount and angle of the light hitting the eye.  The amount of light can also cause contraction or dilation of the pupils which can affect the appearance of eye color.

These small effects change the way light is reflected, and in some instances, the eyes appear to change color.  Also, make up and colors surrounding the face can make the eyes appear to change color.
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Additional Body Language References
http://sapientology.com/body-language/eyes/
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-attraction-doctor/201105/you-dont-say-persuasive-body-language-flirting-and-dating
http://changingminds.org/techniques/body/parts_body_language/eyes_body_language.htm
http://www.bodylanguageproject.com/dictionary/bodylanguage-dictionary-e-eyebrow-flash-eye-direction-eye-flash-energy-displacement-emblems
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Guide_to_Social_Activity/Body_Language
http://www.wikihow.com/Understand-Body-Language
http://changingminds.org/techniques/body/parts_body_language/eyes_body_language.htm
http://www.wikihow.com/Read-Body-Language
http://sapientology.com/body-language/palms-and-thumbs/
Causes of Dilated Pupils | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_5042633_causes-dilated-pupils.html#ixzz1R5bgZrXb
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When I finished the copy edits for one of my recent releases, I felt compelled to vent a little about editor comments about flying body parts.

International travel is the inspiration for my novels, which are set in different parts of the world and which, hopefully, capture the uniqueness of other cultures.  Being an architect, my interest in travel began with ancient cultures and the ways in which those cultures manifested themselves in structures, buildings systems, and design.  I never imagined my passion for travel would eventually blossom into a major source of insight for writing novels.

But it has.  So pack your bags and get ready to travel to Peru, where I spent the week between Christmas 2010 and New Years and the first week in January 2011.  One of the highlights of the trip was visiting Machu Picchu, the Lost City of the Incas.

The toughest trip I’ve ever taken
Don’t get me wrong.  Machu Picchu, a 15^th century Inca site, should be on everyone’s bucket list.  You have to go there before you die.  It’s awesome!  The trick is to go while you’re still in relatively good shape.  But, then, if I could make it, anyone can.

So where, exactly, is Machu Picchu?
While nearly everyone has heard of Machu Picchu, not everyone knows what or where it is.  Let’s start with location.  Everyone agrees on that part.

Machu Picchu is located in the Andes Mountains on a high mountain ridge above the Urumba Valley, about fifty miles northwest of the City of Cuzco.  The altitude is approximately 8,000 feet above sea level.  That’s high.  High enough to get altitude sickness and have difficulty breathing (which I did), but not the highest inhabited point in Peru.  Cuzco is 11,000 feet above sea level, and Puno is 13,000 feet—not quite as high as Mt. Whitney, the highest point in the lower 48 states.

Who Were The Incas?
I always thought the Incan civilization was ancient, but I was thinking of a pre-Incan culture which dates back thousands of years.  The Inca civilization and empire lasted only three hundred years, from the 13th to the 16th century.  It began as a tribe of the Killke culture and remained a small group for the first 200 years.  Around 1438, Emperor Pachacutec's aggressive military expansion turned them into the most powerful nation in South America.  For a while.

Historians don’t have a lot of information about the Incas because they had no written language as we know it and passed their history down orally from one generation to the next.  What we know is pieced together from archaeological evidence and the oral history still present in Peru.

I didn’t find this in my research, but traveling in Peru, the locals insisted there was a written language which consisted of knots tied in ropes and cords.  This form of written language was used to send messages and keep certain records.

Why Did the Incas Build Machu Picchu?
It is generally believed Machu Picchu was built as an estate for the Incan Emperor Pachacutec, 1438–1472.  It’s the most famous of the Incan archeological sites, but there are other Incan ruins all over Peru and elsewhere in South America.

Built on steep cliffs above the Sacred Valley (Tampu), its location was a military secret (according to some) and very inaccessible (agreed upon by all).  Because the city was not visible from anywhere and had limited access, it was never discovered or looted by the Spaniards.  At some point after the Spanish conquest, it was abandoned and lost to the collective memory.

Wow!  How could you lose a city built to accommodate several thousand inhabitants?  Just take a look at the road up to the site in the photo.  Today, it’s a forty-five minute ride in a bus, twisting and winding on a narrow one-lane road.  Think about it reaching it without a motorized vehicle.

What is it like up there in the clouds?
For me, the outstanding feature of Machu Picchu, other than incredible location, is the architecture, considered by many to be among the finest prehistoric architecture in the world.  Please note that prehistoric isn’t my word.  I don’t consider the 1400s to be prehistoric, but what do I know?

The structures were built in the classical Inca style, with polished dry-stone walls shaped so perfectly and set so tightly without mortar you can’t fit a knife blade in between them.  You can see in the photos, some of the stonework is very refined and finished while other walls and buildings are constructed in a rougher style.  This has led to some rather bizarre theories about extraterrestrials.  The tour guides explained the difference as this: The palaces and temples and places used by the aristocracy were refined and finished.  The servants and less elite of the society had to be satisfied with more rough-cut walls.  Makes more sense than being built by aliens.

     

The rediscovery of Machu Picchu
The forgotten city of Machu Picchu was rediscovered in 1911 by Hiram Bingham, a Yale University historian.  In 1908, he served as a delegate to the First Pan American Scientific Congress in Santiago, Chili.  On his return home, via Peru, he became convinced by locals that an unexplored Incan city still existed.  Fascinated by the possibility, Bingham returned in 1911 with the Yale Peruvian Expedition.  He was led by Melchor Arteaga to Machu Picchu, which had been largely forgotten by everybody except the small number of people living in the immediate valley.

Bingham returned to Peru in 1912 and 1915 with the support of Yale and the National Geographic Society.  Each time he went, the expeditions took crates of artifacts and skeletons back to Yale to be studied.  Those artifacts have resided there for a hundred years.  In fact, at that time, the Peruvian Civil Code of 1852 was in effect and permitted finders of artifacts to keep them.

At the beginning of the 21^st century, the Peruvian government decided, for a variety of reasons, it wanted the Machu Picchu artifacts back.  Yale and Peru have recently reached an agreement which will return to Peru thousands of Incan artifacts to Peru this year, 2011, the hundredth anniversary of Bingham’s discovery.

If you ever get the chance to visit Machu Picchu, don’t miss it.  But do some reading about health consideration.

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