More Than Just a Gibson Girl: The New Woman

The New Woman prompted a lot of satirical photos and cartoons by the male establishment who felt threatened by her growing popularity and power. This photo depicts the “masculinized” New Woman. Dressed in turn-of-the-century male garb (the straw hat and knickerbocker pants), she stands over her man with a cocky, stern look on her face, …

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Gilded Age Backlash: The Progressive Era

Although this cartoon refers specifically to only one of the reforms during the Progressive Era (women’s suffragism), it is visually a great example of what was going on with all reforms during this era. Photo Credit: Political cartoon about suffrage in the United States. Four women supporting suffrage on a steamroller crushing rocks "opposition". Illustration …

What’s in a Tagline? Picking Apart My Tagline

Photo Credit: Woman with veil, dark Gothic fantasy image, uploaded December 24, 2014 by LoganArt: LoganArt/ Pixabay/CC0 1.0 Last week, the Sisters in Crime organization held a webinar for authors about author branding. The idea of “branding” is relatively new buzzword in business and marketing (when it comes to people rather than products, that is) but …

A Dissatisfying Ideology: Separate Spheres in the 19th Century

Photo Credit: OpenClipartVectors/Pixabay/CC0 1.0 Welcome to the Dream Book Blog’s first post of 2019! I’m not ashamed to say I’m a feminist. I became a feminist in college when I began studying literature and women’s fiction. I came from a very patriarchal house (read: chauvinist) where my parents supported the idea that the men ruled …

An Individual: Gladys Cooper

***This post is part of What a Character! Blogathon 2018, hosted by the Once Upon a Screen…, the Paula’s Cinema Club, and the Outspoken and Freckled blogs. *** ***Some spoilers*** “‘Retire? Whatever for?… Who cares how old I am? Who cares how long it was since I first played Peter Pan?’” (Gladys Cooper, as quoted in …

The Intruders: Joseph Cotten and Betsy Blair in A Delicate Balance (1973)

***This post, though a bit late, is part of The Joseph Cotten Blogathon, hosted by the In The Good Old Days of Classic Hollywood and the Maddy Loves Her Classic Films blogs. Thank you for letting me post late and still participate :-).*** ***Some spoilers*** “I find that joy and sorrow work their wonders on me.” - …

Not So HAE (Happily Ever After)

The epitome of the happily-ever-after romance ending — the handsome couple off against the sunset with the calm waters and the palm tree. Photo Credit: Silhouette of a loving couple against a sunset, uploaded 25 April 2017 by 5187396: 5187396/Pixabay/CC0 1.0 “We are writers and we destroy lives and worlds and ideologies. And sometimes, we …

Adventurous Perception: The Individual Creative Process

Photo Credit: Photograph of Maurits (M.C.) Escher, around 23 Nov. 1971. Photograph probably made by Hans Peters (ANEFO), Ga het na (Nationall Archief NL): Vysotsky/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY SA 3.0 Many artists talk about the creative process. It’s one of those illusive ideas that fascinates non-artists and weighs heavily on the minds of artists because creativity …

The Emotional Badlands of Language, or, Language is Not Just Data

Photo Credit: Canadian singer Leonard Cohen in Trouville-sur-Mer (Normandy, France), taken 26 January 1988 by Roland Godefroy: Teddyyy/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 3.0 “If words are the arrow, we ourselves — our interior landscapes, our outward actions, the authenticity of our lives — are the bow.” (Popova, par. 1) As many of my blog readers know, I …

First Worlds: Writing and Blogging in New Directions

Photo Credit: The Blue Veil by Edmond Tarbell, oil painting, 1898: freeparking/Flickr/CC BY 2.0 “The creative personality never remains fixed on the first world it discovers. It never resigns itself to anything ... “ (Nin, location 3587) I love this quote from Nin because it’s so true of many creative people. The nature of creativity …