Monthly Archives: December 2009

Looking Backwards

Posted on December 31, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

I’ve been looking at the statistics for this blog, and selected some of the year’s most-visited posts for your delectation. My Favorite Girls Dressed As Boys – romance edition. Nifty Stuff That Ought To Be In Romance Novels.Normative Heterosexuality and … Continue reading →

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Visiting Leah Braemel’s Blog

Posted on December 30, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

I’m a guest today over at Leah Braemel’s Blog, chatting about some of my writing goals for the new year.

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Setting and Characterization Through Food

Posted on December 29, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

This post was originally written for the Romance Junkies blog. I love food, both eating it and reading about it, and that interest sometimes translates into my work. I use food for several different purposes, most notably to establish setting … Continue reading →

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Did You Know Bach Had a Father?

Posted on December 28, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

I post this section from Patrick O’Brian’s The Ionian Mission because I love it for what is says about Bach (Johann Sebastian) as well as about Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin. O’Brian was an incredible writer, and I think this … Continue reading →

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Charlotte Mew, "The Cenotaph"

Posted on December 27, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

The Cenotaph September 1919 Not yet will those measureless fields be green againWhere only yesterday the wild sweet blood of wonderful youth was shed;There is a grave whose earth must hold too long, too deep a stain,Though for ever over … Continue reading →

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Rumi, "Love Is the Master"

Posted on December 26, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

I’ve always thought this poem would be a great background or theme for a romance novel. # Love is the Master Love is the One who masters all things;I am mastered totally by Love.By my passion of love for LoveI … Continue reading →

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Father Christmas, 1914

Posted on December 25, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

Christmas, 1914: Father Christmas putting presents in soldiers’ boots.

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Be Like a Bug

Posted on December 24, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

“All that energy we expend to keep things running right is not what’s keeping things running right. We’re bugs struggling in the river, brightly visible to the trout below. With that fact in mind, people like to make up all … Continue reading →

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Alas, Poor Wallis

Posted on December 23, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

I’m on vacation until the new year, but I set up some blog posts anyway. There will be a slight lack of introspective musings on writing and genre in them, but hopefully some entertainment value. Behold one of the most … Continue reading →

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Excerpt from a War Nurse’s Diary: The Retreat

Posted on December 22, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

In The Moonlight Mistress, it’s mentioned in passing that Antwerp fell to the Germans. Here’s a first-person account about that event which I didn’t get to use in my novel (yet!). ### Excerpt from A War Nurse’s Diary: Sketches From … Continue reading →

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