Word Wenches

The WordWenches Have Moved

Hi everyone, Anne here, and this is the last Wench blog on the typepad platform.

We’re now using WordPress, which means the blog has a different internet address.  This is the new one.

https://wordwenches.com/ 

While you’re at it, bookmark the new address so you‘ll find us every time.

If you want the blog emailed to you, you need to go to the new site, and scroll down the right hand column until you see this form, then pop in your email address, and the blog will come to you.  

(The image on your right is just a photo, you need to go to the new site to fill in the form and get our posts by email.)

We won't share your address with anyone.

Thanks so much.

See you on the new blog.

Anne Gracie (on behalf of the Word Wenches)

 

The Wenches Are Moving

Hi everyone, Anne here, and today I’m posting the last Wench blog on the typepad platform.

As well as shifting the blog (which means changing the URL address) we’ve redesigned it. Have a look. We think it’s lovely.

https://wordwenches.com/ 

But it’s also using a different system, so please be patient with any glitches while we each learn how the new system works.

You get to it by clicking here  https://wordwenches.com/  and while you’re at it, bookmark the new address so you‘ll find us every time.

We're still working on the system to get the blogs emailed to you (for those who prefer that) so stay tuned and we'll update you.

The first new post will happen on Monday, so please read it and let us know what you think. And don't worry — we've managed to keep all the old posts.

See you at the new wench blog site. Celebrate with us, and watch for news and giveaways!

💗 Thank you for being a Word Wenches reader! 💗

 

Update - Coming Soon!

Update!

Our New Blog is Coming Soon!

We are so excited to share our new blog with you, and we want you to be able to see it as soon as it goes up - so we have a little housekeeping request.

If you've been following us for a while, your bookmark and history settings may take you to https://wordwenches.typepad.com/word_wenches . . . 
but soon that URL will no longer work. 

Please be sure to bookmark and visit https://wordwenches.com to see the new blog. 

We'll reveal the new design very soon.
Watch for news and giveaways - and celebrate with us!

💗 Thank you for being a Word Wenches reader! 💗

Over the Moon

Susan here, bringing images and thoughts about the moon in honor of the recent full moon and lunar eclipse. Maybe you were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of it.

The moon has always fascinated humankind -- luminous, mystical, reliable in its phases, associated with myth and legends, attributed with magical properties, studied by science, its dust now holds our footprints. The moon will be there for as long as the earth exists, and its stories and magic will last forever. And what uncommon magic it is, accessible to anyone – we have the privilege of being able to step outside to gaze up at it whenever the clouds part of an evening.

Exciting News!

Exciting news!

 

Our blog is getting a new look! 

The Word Wenches blog has been going strong for years, and it's time for a makeover.

So we've been working behind the scenes to create a new design with new features - and we can hardly wait to show you!

This week while we get ready, we'll be posting some "classic" blogs, so check in often.

We'll reveal the new design very soon!  

Life on the River

A cruise on the Hudson River

By Mary Jo

Some cruises are glamorous, like seeing the Mediterranean, others are adventurous like cruising the North Atlantic in the wake of the Vikings. And some are simple and homey, like our last week Hudson River Fall Foliage cruise. 

The Mayhem Consultant has been interested in this American Cruise Line itinerary for years. ACL operates small ships in American waters.  We've cruised with them before and it's always interesting fun, with no passports, intercontinental flights, or money changing.

The Hudson cruise is particularly easy since it starts and ends in New York City, about a three hour drive north of our home in Maryland.  Even easier, we used a great local sedan service to drive to the pier to embark, and then pick us up at the end to bring us home.  I loved using them--going through the Lincoln Tunnel and emerging into the mad traffic of the city is not for the faint of heart. <G>

 

Treasures of Gold and Silver Wire

Christina here. I may have mentioned this before, but back in 2015 something quite amazing was discovered in the little village church of St Faith’s at Bacton in Herefordshire – a piece of cloth from one of Queen Elizabeth I’s dresses. It had been used for centuries as an altar cloth, and the parishioners had no idea what a treasure they possessed. When it was rediscovered, it was rather grubby and worn, and didn’t look particularly impressive. The reason the experts could be sure that it really was one of Elizabeth’s dresses, though, was that it’s made of cloth of silver. Under the so-called Sumptuary Laws of the time, only members of the royal family were allowed to wear it, so it had to be hers. Despite the state of it, it’s priceless, because it is the Tudor queen’s only surviving piece of clothing, even though she reputedly owned about 1,900 dresses in total. Not a single one of them remain, except this small fragment with beautiful embroidered motifs in all the colours of the rainbow. In the so-called Rainbow portrait of the queen, she wears a similarly embroidered gown and this shows how the completed dress would have looked.

What We're Reading in October

Nicola here, introducing the ever-popular Wenches monthly round up of what we've been reading. As always, our virtual shelves are groaning beneath the weight of recommendations and we hope you will share your reads with us - and add to the TBR pile! - as well as enjoy some of the books we're talking about. October is the perfect time to curl up with a good book, so without further ado, let's dive in!

Anne here. The standout read for me in October was Some of it Was Real, by Nan Fischer. It’s a contemporary, and though there’s a relationship, it’s not really a romance. Sylvie Young is a psychic-medium, a rising star on the verge of having her own TV show. Thomas Holmes is a journalist looking to resurrect his failing career by writing a story exposing her as a fraud. Thomas doesn’t believe in Sylvie’s “powers” and calls people like her “grief vampires” who prey on people’s distress.

Mysteries surround Sylvie’s early childhood. Adopted at the age of six, she has no memories of the time before that — and what little she does remember is fractured, comes in dreams, or sparks panic attacks. Sylvie decides to take Thomas on a journey with her to discover what they can about her past. She hopes he will learn to accept and believe in her powers — even though she’s not entirely confident of them, and augments them with research about her audience — which she calls “forming bridges”. It’s a complicated situation. And Thomas is determined to prove her a fraud.

Regency Censorship

Pat here, just back from South America and not quite ready to post on travels. So here’s a shorty, the promised blog on newspapers in the Regency. I’ve already told you how it took nearly half a week for news of Wellington’s victory at Waterloo to reach London. What startled me was learning that the newspapers took so long to report the news because they had NO journalists anywhere—editors simply waited for official court documents before printing an edition telling the British populace that Napoleon had been defeated!

In Command

Andrea here, talking about an often-overlooked element of writing a book—the Author’s  Note. When I started my Wrexford & Sloane series, I decided an explanation about some of the elements in the plot would  be helpful to readers. First of all, early science and technology plays a big part in the stories, many of the things mentioned are esoteric enough that readers might not have a handle on what I was talking about. (As an avid reader, I find that frustrating, and don’t want to have to go haring off to find research material on my own!) And so, I added an Author’s Note to the first book.
 
I confess, they have grown longer with each successive book, as I find it fun to share some of the “rabbit hole” research that tickles my fancy. I’ve gotten a number of letters to indicate that some readers enjoy the nerdy stuff as much as I do. (I figure those who aren’t interested can simply close the covers.)
 
I do try to think of all the things that might need some clarification (without going overboard) But in my latest book, MURDER AT THE MERTON LIBRARY, I got several reader queries about a few scenes in the book where I have a twelve-year-old midshipman in the British Navy was commanding a naval vessel with a crew of adult sailors. “Is that really accurate?” was the question.