I really enjoyed Geralyn’s post about hats a few days ago. My husband has been known to reach across the table and whack my son on the head. “Take off your hat.”

I want to talk about ladies’ hats. This Sunday, October 14 from 2 to 5 pm, I’ll be participating in a fun event—the Buns ’n Roses Tea—sponsored by the Richardson Adult Literacy Center and the Richardson Public Library with all proceeds going to Richardson literacy programs. Guests support literacy while meeting some of today’s hottest romance authors, and enjoying a fun-filled afternoon of tea, and, yes—buns and roses. Yes, I’m plugging the event. If you’re in the area, it’s not too late to attend. You can buy tickets at the door. Email me if you’re interested and I’ll put you in touch with the right people.

What I really enjoy about the event, in addition to having an opportunity to spend the afternoon visiting with readers, is all the hats! Lots and lots of hats! You can view many of the hats from last year by visiting: DARA website.

I don’t usually wear hats. I’m not sure if it’s the hat I chose or the shape of my face or the position of my eyes, but I felt like I was walking around with blinders on. I had to keep tilting my head up to see who I was talking to. And I kept thinking someone was approaching me, would turn to address her, and realize it was just my hat. How did women manage in the 1800’s when hats were so popular and so very large?

I’m not sure mine was very 1800-looking. As a matter of fact, I thought I looked more like a woman waiting at the train station for her soldier to come home during World War II. This year I’m wearing a different hat that I hope provides better visibility.

Geralyn Dawson will be at the event. I’m anxious to see if she’s wearing a hat.

And if she takes it off indoors. Why is it acceptable for women to wear their hats indoors and men can’t? Because back in the day, women’s hats required hatpins to stay in place and it was simply too much trouble to take them off. So we didn’t have to. I found a very interesting site that discusses hat etiquette.

It seemed like such a romantic time when women wore hats simply to go out. Or were hats really more trouble than I realize? When was the last time that you wore an actual hat? Not a baseball cap. And yes, cowgirl hats count.

Good Morning!

 Hope that you are all doing very, very well on this beautiful day of 9 October 2007!  Today I thought I’d open up the discussion to talk about a part of our books that is quite a natural offshoot of that gorgeous hunk that we see on the covers of our books, and that gorgeous, wonderful man that we married.

Often today when we think of family, we might consider it in terms of our immediate family, that is, our husband/wife, children, mother, father, brothers, sisters, grandparents.  Many of us might even think of family only in terms of husband/wife, children, since that is where we live and where our attention is directed so much of the time.  Here’s some of my direct family:

My wonderful husband in an oh, so romantic pose and my son-in-law, Patrick; daugher, Alyssa; and daughter, Trina

 But today, I thought I’d share with you the Native American concept of family…and sometimes, you might even say clan.   In Native America, the immediate family consisted not only of one’s children, husband/wife, sisters or brothers, etc., it also composed of anyone related no matter how distantly.  That is to say:  uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, cousins (no matter how distant).  In fact, anything that could be traced to a shared ancestor was considered one’s immediate family.   It also included special relationships — adoption, god-children, etc.

Here’s some of my more of my immediate family:

From left to right — niece and her husband, Mike, me, mother-in-law, Joyce; grand-niece, Rosena and of course, my husband.  Then next picture is my brother, Jim and his wife; my nephew Kurt and his wife; brother-in-law, Bob and last picture is my nephew Greg and his wife.

Then we have my extended family:

From left to right Samantha (sitting) and Patricia combing her nieces hair; next picture Grandfather George & me; next picture Pat, Patricia and me; next picture my god-grandchildren, Tiara and Chase. 

As a matter of fact, most tribes were really clans of a sort, almost all were related and hunted and camped together.  In those tribes where there were distinct clans, one was never permitted to marry inside his or her own clan, no matter how distantly related.

It was the break up of the extended family that probably, more than any other factor, percepitated the downfall of the Native American culture in the latter part of the 19th Century and early 20th Century.  The Dawes Act in the late 19th Century contributed greatly to this, by redefining the definition of “family” to mean only husband/wife and children, and then granting land to only one’s “immediate” family.  It struck at the root of Native American culture.

Which brings me to the topic that I thought we might discuss today.  First, I’d love to hear about your family and how your family is doing in this, our modern world.  And second (and this might be slightly controversial) do you, in your opinion, believe that we, like the Native American of the late 19th Century, have our very roots under attack today?  By roots, I mean the traditional family unit.  Some say yes, some say no.  What is your opinion?

So come on in and join our discussion.

I’m blogging about cowboys today–the modern kind–but I want to mention a couple of unrelated items before I get to that. 

• First, I’m honored to be the guest author at RomanceNovelTV.com this week.  I invite everyone to visit their message boards and say hi.  Please!  I don’t want to be lonely! <g> They have a new video interview with me they’re putting up Monday morning, and since I haven’t seen it yet, I’m almost afraid to recommend it.  They asked me questions about falling in love with my husband, and I’m afraid I sounded wayyyyyy to dippy when I responded.   (I recall using hand gestures.  Eek.)  However, I did promise them I’d mention it here, so I have. 
• Second…and this isn’t nearly as much fun…apparently a significant number of copies of my October release, NEVER SAY NEVER, shipped with a printing snafu on the back cover making the copy difficult, and sometimes impossible, to read. We’re trying to figure out how widespread the problem is, so you are headed to a bookstore in the next week or so and wouldn’t mind checking the back of NEVER SAY NEVER I would VERY much appreciate it. Just shoot me an email at geralyn@geralyndawson.com and let me know where you saw it and the condition of the copies on the shelf.  I’ll be in your debt!

Now on to those cowboys.  I’m wondering if I might stir up some controversy here.

My question to y’all requires a little backstory so here you go.  I am married to a fifth-generation Texan.  When you think of…say…a Silhouette Special Edition Texan hero–that man could be my husband.  He’s the kind of Texan who is just a little-old fashioned, his word, honor, and integrity mean everything, and he’s loyal to a fault.  He learned his manners from his mama, but he learned to be man while working with ranchers and oilmen in the family business while growing up. 
 

So…my dh and I go to dinner the other night in a restaurant near a facility in Fort Worth that was hosting a rodeo.  Halfway through our meal, the servers set up a table for twenty-five.  I watch with avid interest as twenty-five fine-looking men, all between the ages of 30-60, sauntered in and sat down.   Every one of them wore a hat. 

Not a one of them removed said hat when they sat down.Yet, in the real world and even here in Texas, men seldom remove their hats at the dinner table anymore (unless they’re my sons sitting at their father’s table.) 

I’ve been hearing about it ever since.

You see, in my husband’s world, men should take their hats off upon entering a building.  They NEVER wear a hat at the dinner table.  Belch, pass gas, that’s understandable…they’re men.  But to wear a hat at the table???? 

My dh would say “How gauche.”  (Well, not really.  No Special Edition Texan hero would say “gauche” but you get my drift. ) 

So, what say you, readers?  Is this practice Rude or Acceptable? 

Anybody have a theory as to why it’s that way?

LEARN HOW TO FALL …

Some writers believe that after years in the word business, you don’t have to deal with rejection or disappointment.

But after twenty years and twenty-five novels in print, I’ve learned that the secret of how to succeed may be in learning how to fall. In this game more can be learned from stumbling than from success.

Early in a writer’s career we sometimes look at rejection as a failure. But the failure is in not submitting. Like a boxer, a writer needs to learn how to roll with the punches. In my blog, this weekend, I want to talk about ways to remain on course in your writing even when failure knocks you down.

If I could tell new writers just one piece of advice, it would be: “Learn to fall”. There will be times, thousands of them, when this business of writing doesn’t go your way.

You must learn to stop holding onto the safety strap and jump out into the unknown. Leap and the net will appear.

Developing a Plan for Rising after a Falling:

• Bury the corpse.

If a book is rejected over and over again, maybe there is a reason that it is not selling. Perhaps it is time to put it under the bed and start anew.

• Celebrate.

Not only the sales and contest wins, but also times you try and come up short.

• Keep learning and moving.

New fields in writing are constantly opening; be aware of new trends.

Phil Price, an accomplished playwright, once said, “I’ve often wondered why sky divers yell for joy and people who fall off cliffs scream. After all, they’re both seeing the same view. It’s only the last foot that changes.

• Chinese proverb:

Fall down seven time; get up eight.

If any writers have advice for how to handle rejection, please let me know.
For example: Keep a jar of expensive chocolates to open only when a rejection comes your way.

DRAWING TODAY

Thank you for joining me today. From among those who post comments today, I’ll draw 2 names, each person to receive an autographed of my newest release (release date Nov. 6th) Texas Princess. Here is a blurb about Texas Princess:

With Texas Princess, the second novel in the fascinating Whispering Mountain trilogy, NY Times and USA Today best-selling author Jodi Thomas once again lives up to her reputation as one of the romance genre’s most compelling western historical writers.

Tobin McMurray has hated being around people since he was ambushed, while helping to defend his family’s land, at the age of six. Only because of his love of hors­es does he agree to leave Whispering Mountain to deliver a very special stallion to one of the richest men in Texas.

Upon his arrival, he collides with Liberty Mayfield, the nearest thing to Texas royalty. He’s fascinated by her then shocked when her father asks him to kidnap his only daughter.

Alone and on the run from death threats, strong, quiet Tobin and pampered, headstrong Liberty discover they need one another - both to stay alive and to feel alive as passion ignites. 

A perfect combo for this western author - as well as the heroine in my next ‘Bride’ book ~ Lily loves her cowboy and her hot chocolate. While researching beverage servers of the 1800’s, I discovered the wonderful world of antique chocolate pots–like a coffee pot, only specifically designed for serving hot chocolate. They just don’t serve hot chocolate the way they used to. I was intrigued to find out that chocolate was so revered by the Aztecs that they used chocolate as both food and currency. Near the end of the XVIII century, Spanish explorers took chocolate back to Spain where it became the Kings’ Official Drink in New Spain and Europe. Europeans began preparing chocolate with cream and sugar, creating what we know today as Hot Chocolate.

The first chocolate pots, like that of my heroine (shown above - 1852), were made of sterling silver, and sometimes copper. Similar to coffee pots, chocolate pots were designed with shorter spouts and did not have filters, though some had holes through the center of the lids for stir sticks. Ceramic chocolate pots gained popularity in the 1890’s and 1900’s, the leading manufacturer being Limoges, in France. I’m suddenly in the mood for a chocolate party

Four-time RITA winner and RWA Hall of Fame author, Jodi Thomas, will be visiting Petticoats & Pistols this weekend!  We’re privileged to have her, so please come back and give her a proper welcome!

The holidays are fast approaching and many of us have already begun to make plans, buying gifts, making things, stocking up on flour and almond bark.  Sometimes we get stressed out with all there is to do, what with addressing cards and baking cookies for school programs and stopping by all those open houses our friends are having.  This year we’d all do well to take a few minutes and remember just how convenient our lives are in comparison to those of our ancestors.  When you think about it, preparing for a holiday is often as simple as making an online purchase or stopping by the grocery store.  But what did our great-great grandmothers do to get ready? 

In the mid 1800s the festivities were much the same as they are today, with traditions from other countries having been adopted.  Our pioneer fathers and mothers decorated trees, gave gifts, baked cookies, puddings and pies, hung stockings by the fire and attended church celebrations.  On the frontier, away from stores and conveniences, soldiers, cowboys, mountain men and pioneers faced extreme difficulties while bringing Christmas to the plains and the mountains.  They often weathered blizzards and many winters game was difficult to find.  Fruits and vegetables dried or canned from the fall harvest were rationed sparingly.   

The fortunate were able to bring heirlooms and ornaments west with them, but many more had to be resourceful and use whatever nature provided: evergreen boughs, pinecones, holly, nuts, popcorn and berries.  Christmas trees were most often decorated with ribbon, yarn, cookie dough ornaments, gingerbread men, paper cutouts and popcorn strings. 

These men and women didn’t make a run to Walmart for extra lights or unpack plastic totes from their basement storage.  They braved the elements, often spending late night hours sewing and knitting to make meager gifts.

Family members had to work for months in order to create handmade items.  Cornhusk dolls were popular.  The beauty and durability of cloth dolls depended on the talent of the parents who made them.  Some had attractive embroidered faces, while others had painted features.  Wool or human hair was added, and the clothing was similar to that of the child.  

A doll that was popular with boys as well as girls was the dancing doll, sometimes called Dancing Dan or Limber Jack. Its wooden body was jointed at the ankles, knees, hips, shoulders and elbows, and had a hole in the back into which a stick was inserted to make the doll dance. It took skill to make the doll move in time with music or a song. This was a form of entertainment before the days of television.  How long do you think something like that would entertain one of our kids today who are used to video games and computers? 

Among other gifts were sachets, carved wooden toys, such as spinning tops, trains and horses.  Pillows, footstools and embroidered handkerchiefs all took work.  Knitted scarves, hats and socks were practical.  Sometimes children received cookies and fruit.  Remember how delighted Laura Ingalls was to find a tin cup, a peppermint candy and a shiny penny in her stocking on Christmas morning? 

Often, the tree wasn’t cut and decorated until Christmas Eve.  A family would sing carols, and if they were fortunate to have a musician and an instrument in the family, they could even have accompaniment. If there was a church nearby, there was a church service on Christmas Day, followed by a meal consisting of goose or turkey.  Aren’t you glad you don’t have to pluck a turkey?  If fortunate, unmarried men were invited to join a family for their festivities.  People often spent the day visiting friends and neighbors. 

We often think of those as simpler times, times when family and friends and the true meaning of Christmas were the focus, rather than the gifts and the commercial aspect.

Sometimes I think it would be refreshing to peel back all the busyness and glitz and simply celebrate the holiday quietly.  This year my critique group has planned to exchange gifts we make ourselves.  It should be fun to see what everyone comes up with.  I’m still thinking on mine….the thought of fudge won’t leave me alone.  

We can all be thankful that our forefathers kept the spirit of Christmas alive on the frontier, because many of their traditions are still an important part of our celebrations.  What can you do this year to simplify your holiday and make more time for the things that are really important?

It was great fun to hear from so many holiday anthology fans today, so as an extra gift from me, I’m giving away TWO copies of WESTERN WINTER WONDERLAND, each signed by Cheryl St.John, Jenna Kernan and myself.

After I assigned numbers to everyone in order of their post, my husband chose the winning two.

Minna and Lori Barnes!

Yay! I’ll email you privately for your snail mail addresses.

Thank you all for stopping by!

My newest release, WESTERN WINTER WONDERLAND, has hit the shelves! 

 You may already know this is a Christmas anthology with my long-time pal, Cheryl St. John, and Jenna Kernan.  Cheryl and I first met each other about 1990 or so before either of us was published.  I joined her critique group, and over the years, I learned tons with her–and from her.  She went on to sell, and while it took me a few years longer, I eventually sold, too.  When I learned I’d be joining her and Jenna in a Christmas anthology, well, it seemed fitting. 

You see, I’ve always wanted to do a Christmas anthology.  Right along with getting my first letter from prison, being invited to do a Christmas anthology made me feel like a real writer.  It’s an honorable thing being invited, and while this one wasn’t my first (I was part of the Spring Brides, June 2005, by Harlequin Historicals), the fact that it was Christmas made the opportunity extra special.

Besides, anthologies give authors lots of extra exposure. The three of us will split the royalties on this book, but our publisher increased the print run substantially to help offset the shared monies. Also, it’s a good opportunity for a newer author to be featured with bigger-name author(s) to help her build recognition.

Since Christmas has always been magical for me, I wanted a story that would affect my readers the same way. Our editors asked two things of us–each tale must include a child and a recipe. Easy enough. After all, what would Christmas be without children and our best recipes?  A little research, my Sicilian grandmother’s special rosette cookie, the fanciful legend surrounding it and voila!  ONE MAGIC EVE was born.

The past several years have shown the popularity of Christmas anthologies.  Readers love the quick novellas and the variety of stories in one book to flavor the mood of the holiday.  Some books are connected in some way; some have specific themes; some have each story stand alone, as WESTERN WINTER WONDERLAND does.  Authors love the novellas because they’re fast and relatively easy to write (25,000 - 30,000 words, roughly 1/3 of a manuscript), have fewer characters and a straightforward plot.  Of course, the books are chock-full of romance.

October signals the month when Christmas books start filling the shelves.  Last month, I noticed in my B & N that a dump (those cardboard, free-standing displays with pockets filled with books) had holiday-themed books, and the pockets were already looking skimpy.

Here’s a few of this year’s romantic holiday anthologies:

Stockingful of Joy–Mary Jo Putney, Jill Barnett, Susan King, Justine Dare 

The Morgue, the Merrier–Rosemary Laurey, Dianne Castell, Karen Kelley 

Christmas Spirit (re-issue)–Leigh Greenwood, Elaine Fox, Linda Windstead 

I’m Your Santa–Lori Foster, Karen Kelley, Dianne Castell

Santa Baby–Lisa Jackson, Elaine Coffman, Lisa Plumley, Kylie Adams 

A Very Merry Christmas–Lori Foster, Janice Maynard, Gemma Bruce 

And, oh, did I tell you WESTERN WINTER WONDERLAND, by Cheryl St. John, Jenna Kernan and Pam Crooks was available, too?

Some authors who are really big names have Christmas anthologies featuring only *their* stories.  Now, wouldn’t that be nice?  Here’s a couple:

Christmas Wishes–Debbie Macomber

The Gift–Nora Roberts

If any of the Founding Fillies have recent Christmas anthologies to add to my list, by all means, let’s hear from you!

And now, I’m curious.  Do y’all enjoy these romantic novellas?  Do you give them as gifts?  Do you have a favorite?  Or do you prefer something longer and bigger that you can sink your teeth into?:

Let us know, and I’ll put you in a drawing for a copy of WESTERN WINTER WONDERLAND, signed by me, Cheryl AND Jenna!

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Good Morning! Hope everyone’s day is going well. My topic today is prices. I swear, I went to the grocery store recently and carried out two little sacks. I thought there must be some mistake when the bill came to $79.60. Bread was $2.29 and a gallon of milk was over $3.00. That got me comparing prices of things in the 1800’s. Besides, I needed to know the price of coffee for the story I’m working on.

I can’t imagine paying just this little amount for staples. Blows my mind. And remember that the prices varied by location and quality. Prices in mining towns were higher than most anywhere else. These prices were from about 1880 to the turn of the century.

A Pound of Tea —  12 cents to $1.00                                                

A Pound of Coffee —  15 cents to 35 cents

5 Pounds of Flour —  14 cents

A Pound of Preserved Meat — 12 cents to 25 cents

5 Pounds of Sugar — 34 cents

A Dozen Eggs — 20 cents

A Pound of Butter — 25 cents

A Pound of Bacon — 12 cents                                                                    

A Gallon of Syrup or Molasses — 40 cents to $1.15                                        

One can of peaches — 20 cents

I didn’t find any prices for bread since everyone baked their own or milk because most had a cow or a goat. Totally different from today, huh?

Spices were outrageous — $12.00 to $75.00 a pound so not too many could afford it. But most of the spices were imported so they had to figure in the cost of shipping. If you think about it, spices are just as expensive today. I paid around $3.00 the other day for 4 oz. of cinnamon. I think that computes to something like $48 a pound. Yikes!

The pioneer learned to be very frugal with their foodstuffs. If weevils got in the flour, they sifted out the little bugs and used it anyway. They didn’t throw much away. And asyou can imagine, losing their staples to some kind of disaster meant doing without, so they protected their food supply with vigilance. They also planted gardens and raised animals for their meat. They lived off the land and scratched out an existence. It might not’ve been luxurious, but they survived. Life was far from easy. I’ve loved watching a new TV series that called Kid Nation, where they placed 40 kids in the

At http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0873707.html you can find prices for selected items for a variety of years, plus at Info Please.com you see the population of the U.S. from Colonial to present day. Lots of fascinating information and statistics here.

And at www.softwave.info/incanus/sears.html  you can learn that bullets costs between 14 cents to $4.25 a hundred. Revolvers were 68 cents to $13.75. They also list the price of clothing and all kind of household goods. A great website to bookmark.

Try this site http://home.insightbb.com/~d.lawson/  for just about anything pertaining to medieval times to American colonial times to the Old West. This is an excellent site for research. I reference it a lot.

Then, I found a neat website – www.westegg.com/inflation/  – where you choose a year, put in an amount and it’ll tell you what that price equals to today.

For instance….$500 in 1880 is worth roughly $10,438 today

And we’d pay $3.25 for the pound of coffee that was 15 cents in 1880. That’s about what I pay.

Research is a must when writing and especially historicals. Writers want to make their stories as realistic as possible and any tidbit we can learn helps our stories come alive even more. I’m always finding little details about things that can put my reader on the page with the characters. That’s what writers have to do. And, writing has rewarded me with increased knowledge of the world in which my characters lived. History is full of fascinating things just waiting for me to uncover. I’m a sleuth deluxe when it comes to digging for facts.  

Anyway, it’s kinda neat to see how prices compare to things as they were back in the 1800’s. I hope you’ve enjoyed taking a look back. Maybe you won’t cringe too much the next you go to the grocery store.

What do you think about the price of groceries?

Ever yearn for the pioneer life of gardens and milk cows?

Our Big Fall Fest Bonanza is still in full swing. If you haven’t registered, go to the Primrose News Office page. Time’s a wastin’.