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Research can take a writer in odd directions. This morning, I decided to spend a “few minutes” researching slang from the 1920s for the post-WWI romance I am writing. A good hour later, I had a lengthy list of words and phrases. Some were words I had heard before, but never knew when they originated. Some were a bit strange, and some were just plain fun. I also quickly noticed that because liquor and criminal activity were on everyone’s minds during Prohibition, much of the slang is tied to one of these. Regardless, they were all interesting.
I decided to share the bounty with you in my blog today. So here is a partial list of some of the slang I found. Some may sound familiar to you, some may make you scratch your head, and some may make you chuckle.
What did I tell you? If you’re like me, you knew some of these, but others were totally new. I think it would be fun to reintroduce some of these into general use. Which ones would you want to bring back?
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After seeing a few photos of bird nests today, and because it’s been some time since I did a blog on “If These Walls Could Talk,” I decided to combine both for this week’s blog topic. In honor of the first official day of summer tomorrow (and because I think those nest pictures were telling me something) our house this time around will be – bird houses. Take a look at some fun examples I found online. (The first photo is actually the final bird nest photo which pushed me into doing this topic.) I’m not even going to try to guess what the walls of these birdhouses would say, if they could talk. I’m sure at least one of my siblings probably called me a birdbrain when I was young, but I couldn’t begin to imagine what – if anything – birds think about.
I suppose this could also be a topic on crafts and creativity. Because the sample bird houses above show that people can be very ingenious when it comes to designing them. A bird house can be as simple as a few scrap boards nailed together, or an elaborate bird condo complex. It can be a great starter project for someone learning basic carpentry skills, or it can be an elaborate, hours-long endeavor. Whether the designs are simple or complicated, it is fortunate so many people take the time to build them for the many birds who would otherwise have difficulty finding a home. So come to think of it, maybe I do know what these walls would say if they could talk. I think it would be a simple yet heartfelt “Thank You” to the builders. That’s it. Simple and sweet, like summer itself. I hope you enjoy these pictorial reminders of summer. See you next week.  It’s been a long time since I wrote a blog, so it’s good to be back in the saddle. Unfortunately, moving twice in less than a year (and buying a house earlier this year) kept me so focused on other things that many of my writing activities got put on hold.
Because we knew last year that we would be moving twice, most of our possessions stayed packed in boxes for nearly a year, until we moved three weeks ago into the house we (hopefully) will be in for a while. This included my many boxes of books. So it felt really good to finally be able to unpack all of my favorite romance stories I collected over the years. I have mentioned my large “keeper shelf” in the past, I’m sure most of you aren't surprised to hear I had 15 bank boxes of romance paperbacks to unpack. (This doesn’t include the many other boxes of research books, writing craft books, and other types of fiction and nonfiction on bookshelves in our house. It also does not include the three boxes of cookbooks I haven’t unpacked yet because I do not yet have a place to put them. But I digress.) As I said, finally being able to unpack my books was a milestone I eagerly anticipated. Even so, when the day came, I was surprised by how good it felt to pull books out of each box. It dawned on me that seeing those books again was like seeing old friends after a long time apart. And why not? They are old friends – friends who helped me through stressful times, celebrated with me during happy times, and who readily forgave me for ignoring them most of the past year. Like other true friends they were always there for me, patiently waiting until I was ready to open their pages and visit them again. So here’s to friendship. Maybe it doesn’t matter who or how long or what type of friend any of us have. Whether human or pet or paper or digital, good friends are something to cherish. To someone who doesn’t love books, including books in this might sound odd. But I’m betting most of you are nodding and agreeing with the sentiment. So thank you, my friends, for patiently waiting through my long blog absence. Now, I’m going to pick out one of my book friends and have a long conversation with it, one page at a time. I’ll be back to visit with you next week. |
AuthorI write historical fiction, and I invite you to share the journey to published author with me. Archives
December 2022
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