‘Trash History’: Historical Accuracy in Film and Fiction

Thought it might not look like it, this idealized painting of the first Thanksgiving is historically inaccurate. According to the notes, the costume of the Pilgrims is inaccurate and Wompanoag Native Americans depicted in the painting would not have worn the feather bonnets nor would they have been sitting on the ground. Painted during WWI, …

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Science, Ghosts and Haunted Houses: Three 19th Century Classic Women Horror Writers

Photo Credit: Mr. T. P. Cooke, of the Theatre Royal Covent Garden, in the character of the monster in the dramatic romance of Frankenstein, 1823 production of Presumption; or, the fate of Frankenstein, lithograph reproduction of an original painting by Nathanial Whittock and Thomas Charles Wageman, The New York Public Library: Tronvillian/ Wikimedia Commons/PD Old …

Catalyst For A Series: My Unexpected “Aha!” Moment from The Blackwater Lightship

Photo Credit: Dark light… come shine in her lost heart tonight, taken on 26 November 2016 by Nikk: The Maniac Macrographer/Flickr/CC BY 2.0 I’ve talked quite a bit about inspiration on my blog. In this blog post I discuss how I believe inspiration is something you don’t sit around and wait for but go out and …

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, …

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 …

Benicia, California, “City of the Straights”

Photo Credit: A photo of the Benicia pier with the dilapidated boat house and boat. Photo taken by me :-). “‘Benicia, the memorable ‘city of the Straits’…” (as quoted in Thompson, par. 9) Back when I first conceived my historical mystery series, The Paper Chase Mysteries, I knew location would be an important factor. One …

Blog Break and Series Fact Sheet

Photo Credit: Illustration from “The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton”, Sydney Paget, Strand Magazine, 1904: Sebastian Wallroth/Wikimedia Commons/PD Art (PD Old 100) Thank you to all the wonderful people who are continuing to check out my blog. The support and encouragement has been overwhelming! I will be traveling abroad for the next several months so …

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 …

Mother Time Musings Blog — New Blog is Up!

Before I went on my Camp NaNoWriMo break in July, I hinted that there would be a new blog coming up that would focus more on historical topics related to America’s Gilded Age and Progressive eras, since this is the direction much of my writing (though not all) has been taking this year. I am …