An Irish Lathe

I’m thinking about ideas for my next book, and this photograph of a lathe captured my attention. It’s a wood lathe from medieval Ireland. When you see the elaborate carvings that the woodworkers created back then, it’s amazing how skilled they were. I can almost imagine a hero carving a bride’s chest for the woman he loves, perhaps a woman about to marry someone else.

It’s only the seed of an idea right now, but I’d like to have a man who appears to be a commoner, and in reality has a more interesting past. The challenging part is finding a heroine for him. Usually when I write a book, the hero is full-realized in my mind and the heroine starts to emerge as I write. It’s not the best way to work, and I wouldn’t recommend it! Though it usually comes together in the end, it makes the plotting trickier.

Don’t forget–my March contest ends soon! You can have your very own autographed copy of Her Irish Warrior and a kitchen magnet. All you have to do is e-mail me your snail mail address.

It’s Friday! I plan to spend my weekend flying out to Ohio to visit my Grandma and spend some time with her. I have a feeling there will be a lot of shopping in my future. How about you? Do you have any special plans?

Easter Egg Trauma

I’ve learned over the years to hang onto the plastic eggs from Easter Egg hunts because each year I end up having to fill the eggs for some event or another. This year, my daughter’s preschool class is doing their egg hunt again next week. I haven’t heard a word about my son’s class and whether they are doing one or not, but God forbid I should fill plastic eggs for her and not for him. This morning he was sobbing because he was afraid his class wouldn’t have a hunt. I’ve filled eggs for him, too, but we’ll see what they do. It’s hard to believe that silly little eggs mean so much to a five-year-old.

When they were little, the hardest part was figuring out what to fill the eggs with. They’ve had egg hunts even for the barely-walking kids, and a few parents got creative and filled them with animal crackers. Personally, I’m a fan of chocolate.

In our neighborhood, sometimes there’s an Easter egg hunt, sometimes not. This year there is, but it conflicts with the Little League Opening Day. I just hope my kids don’t find out about the neighborhood hunt they’re missing.

One of our traditions in our household is an indoor Easter Egg hunt after Mass on Easter Sunday. My husband and I hide the eggs all over the house and then when we get back, the kids find their baskets and go looking for eggs. Some of the “must haves” in my own basket include Cadbury’s Creme Eggs. Mmmmm….:bow2u:

How about you? What are your Easter holiday favorite candies?

Spring Fever

Spring is in the air, and I’m loving every minute of it. We’ve had a warm spell lately and the flowers are blooming everywhere. I think spring is my favorite season since the weather is warm enough for short sleeves but we haven’t hit the sweltering summer of southern Virginia.

Yesterday I felt like I joined the ranks of Sports Moms. You know, the mothers with minivans who tote around bags of sports equipment, running from one sport to the next, while cheering on their kids. It began with my daughter’s swimming lesson. Ever since she learned she wasn’t Jesus and couldn’t walk on water, each lesson has been a Dramatic Crisis filled with screaming and protests. She somehow blames her falling in the water on her instructor. Each time she sees him, she cries, which makes for a wonderful lesson. Anyway, I bypassed the drama by bribing her. The child will sell her soul for M&Ms, and is quite willing to consider drowning if it means she’ll get a small snack. I suppose this may make me a rotten mother, but hey, at least she’s facing her fear. After these sessions, I’ll probably let her stop until she’s a little older.

After that, we dashed to Mickey D’s to grab some food before my son’s t-ball game. T-ball amuses me. Each time a player throws a ball to another, the catcher looks at him as if to say, “What? You expect me to get hot and tired by chasing that thing? Go get it yourself!” And then there’s batting where the kids bat the ball and then chase after it instead of running to first base.

My last bit of good news is that I received my first book review from Romantic Times Magazines. They gave me 4 stars! Here’s what the reviewer had to say: “Willingham not only delves into medieval culture, she also tells the dark side of being a woman in that era. Abuse, marriages made for gain and the lack of rights for women in that time are prevalent throughout this tale of love. The bright side is that in romantic fiction, a happy ending is expected, and it’s delivered in this excellent, plot-driven, page-turner of a book.”

I’m so glad to have survived my first book review! So, out of curiosity, do you pay any attention to reviews or do you mostly rely on word of mouth to try a new author? For me it’s word of mouth and if I see the book in many different venues (online promotion, book displays, anything where I see it all the time). That, or if the book has a handsome-looking hunk on the cover!

Enjoying Every Minute of the Ride

Even with all the ups and downs of the writing life, it’s worth every minute. There are so many little thrills along the way to enjoy. For instance, today, my second book went up on Amazon for pre-order. Selling one book was a dream come true. Selling a second book is overwhelming. And you know you lead a sad and boring life when an ISBN number excites you.

Another bit of excitement is my first booksigning. I’m a member of Washington Romance Writers, and in April I’m attending their annual retreat at Harper’s Ferry, MD. I’ll be signing copies of Her Irish Warrior on April 27th from 11:30-2:00 p.m. at Turn the Page Bookstore and Cafe, a bookstore owned by Nora Roberts:bow2u: and her husband Bruce Wilder–located in Boonsboro, MD. If you are anywhere in the area, I’d love to see a familiar face. If you love historical romance, don’t miss out on all the great authors! Nora Roberts and Julia Quinn will be there, along with Madeleine Hunter, Diane Gaston, myself, and 8 other authors. I will be the writer in the corner just smiling from ear to ear, happy to be there. Details are here.

As for the current book, I’m wrestling it to the ground. I’m on the homeward stretch and today I found a pretty key bit of Irish history that needs to be in the story since it happens near my fictional setting. It would be the equivalent of having the Revolutionary War in your backyard and whistling like it wasn’t going on. Um…so, have to include that. The question is, whether I want to handle it as a threat to the hero or whether I want it to be secondary. I haven’t decided yet. In any case, I am going to finish this book in the next 30 days (hold me to that promise!) and then May will be revision month. It’s rather frightening how many drafts I go through on each book. I’d say I’m on draft #5 right now. But it works for me.

I’m teaming up with two other authors to host a very cool April contest. We’re not only giving away copies of our first books, we’re going to make up a “pamper me” type of goody basket. So what would you like to see as part of the goodies? Chocolate? Lotions or scented soaps? Handsome hunks? (Okay, can’t promise the last one, but my thought train went down that track…)

Irish tableware

One of the things I love about researching history is seeing artifacts. I think I could have been an archaeologist in another life. My husband truly thought I was nuts, but when I visited Ireland this past summer, I took numerous pictures of the everyday items in a medieval home. Some of these are from a later time period than mine, but you still get a feel for the types of weaving they did. Here is a close-up shot of an earthen jug and a woven table covering. It really does look like the clay was just dug out of the earth. But apparently clay pits were dug up and the potter would let the clay “season.” The sign of a good potter was a man who aged clay for his grandchildren.

The weaving looms of ancient Ireland weren’t like the modern looms. Here is a photograph of a hand loom inside one of the wattle and daub huts. This weaving was tighter and the threads more similar to cloth than the woven covering above. I imagine this sort of loom was used to make tunics and léines (a long tunic hanging to the knees, sometimes longer for women).

I’ve often thought it would be interesting to learn to weave. I know how to crochet and how to make quilts (very addictive), but I’ve never had the chance to try weaving. It looks incredibly complicated. Anyone here ever tried it? Is it time-consuming or what do you think? What sorts of handmade projects do you enjoy?

The Boy’s First Tee Ball Game

My son turned five this past February and my husband signed him up for spring tee ball. Let me just say, there’s nothing funnier than watching five-year-olds learning to play baseball. I think his highlight was getting a ball cap with scary eyes on it (his team is The Storm). He kept pulling the hat down to make himself look evil.

The hilarity began with stretching exercises. Ever seen young boys try to do jumping jacks? They were a mess of arms and legs, a bit like monkeys with too much caffeine.

But my favorite moment came when the coach was teaching them how to catch ground balls (Aside: five-year-olds don’t catch….they watch the ball roll past them). He instructed the boys to hold their gloves facing him on the ground, in order to scoop the ball up.

At last, it was my son’s turn. The coach got ready to roll a ball toward him. But my boy’s glove was up by his knees instead. The coach reminded him, “Put your glove on the ground to catch it.”

Being an obedient sort, my son dutifully removed his baseball glove and dropped it on the ground.

How about you? Have you or your kids ever had any funny sports moments?

Just for fun…a book trailer!

My friend Beth Maddrey, computer programmer extraordinaire, helped me create a book trailer for Her Irish Warrior. You can view the fullscreen version here. Be sure to turn on the sound. We had a blast.

Beth does all sorts of freelance work, so you can contact her at the link above (for those of you interested in doing a trailer of your own). Hope you enjoy it! Let me know if you have any technical viewing difficulties. I’d love to know what you think.

Disastrous Cooking (or why I need a dog)

I am one of those people who might be termed an “adventurous” cook. I love experimenting with recipes, trying new ingredients, and I really do like a variety of dishes.

However, I am married to an engineer. Who happens to like his food cooked in a predictable, ordinary way. Whenever I try a new recipe, I get a raised eyebrow.

Tonight I decided to try a recipe for Jack Daniels Chicken. This sounded like a great idea. After all, TGIFridays makes good chicken. Why not? The problem was, there were about 100 different knock-off recipes and it’s been a while since I’ve eaten that type of chicken. So I ended up choosing the one with the fewest ingredients and decided to give it a shot.

My first clue that this was a disaster-in-the-making should have been the recipe direction where I was instructed to set the pan on fire. With a match. Oh, and watch out for the soaring flames. I, being a safety girl, decided to wait until my husband was at the hardware store before using a grill lighter to set the Jack Daniels on fire. In retrospect, the flames shot a little higher than I anticipated (read: I nearly incinerated the microwave). But it looked like fun, and what cook doesn’t want to try that trick at some point?

The recipe also called for 4 tsp. of tarragon. I had to dig around before I found the spice bottle and then when I dutifully measured out the ingredients, it occurred to me that my chicken dish was beginning to resemble grass clippings. Huh.

Last, I was supposed to boil and reduce the sauce for 25 minutes. At the 15 minute mark, I had approximately one tablespoon of liquid left in my skillet. It resembled a sauteed lawn. Ick. So I went ahead and finished out the recipe, adding the heavy cream and hoping it would taste better than it looked. It didn’t.

My family picked at the dish, and we eventually threw it out and reheated the corned beef and cabbage from last night. Oh well. Worth a shot!

What’s the worst recipe you’ve ever tried?

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

I just wanted to wish everyone a very Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I’ve mailed off several packages of books, but unfortunately it will be Monday before I can mail the books to my Canadian friends. Customs forms–I forgot to pick those up at the post office.

I have corned beef in the crock pot and this morning I made a delicious batch of soda bread. Love it. Outside it’s cloudy and cold, and we have a warm fire going in the fireplace. The children are taking naps, and I’m working on revising Her Wild Irish Rogue. I decided to take a day or two and flesh out some of the earlier scenes, tighten the emotions, and make sure things are going the way they should.

I have to play “catch-up” since I spent the past two days enjoying movies with my husband. We watched “Casino Royale” and “The Departed.” Yes, guy movies. I’m not sure I completely love the new James Bond, but I suppose he does better in the action roles. Pierce Brosnan will always be my James Bond. Now that man is incredibly suave. He was wonderful in the role.

I’ve heard a lot of hype about the new movie “300.” Everything from–it’s terrible, to–go see it now! What do you think? Is it worth seeing or better to rent it on DVD?

And the winner is…

Comment number 16, Maureen! Maureen, e-mail me your snail mail address, and I’ll drop your book in the mail. Thanks so much to everyone who entered my blog contest. If you’re still interested in winning a copy of Her Irish Warrior, there’s a second chance to win on my For Readers page. Good luck!

Last night I was working on a new scene on my book, and I’m researching the Irish festival of Lughnasa (Irish Lughnasadh). It’s a harvest festival, typically held the last Sunday of July. Many centuries ago, it was celebrated for two weeks. I think one of the best parts about researching historical romance is learning new things about a time period. There are so many fascinating customs, that I thought I’d share a few.

Did you know that:
1. The entire community would climb the highest hill in the area on Height Sunday? Sometimes people would climb the mountain barefoot, as penance.

2. At the highest point, the folk would bury the first corn of the harvest for Crom Dubh, the “dark crooked one.” He was said to have brought the secrets of cultivation to the Irish. He was overcome by Lugh, the bright god of knowledge.

3. Bilberries are a huge part of the festival. Boys would gather bilberries and give them to their sweethearts. The women would then bake a bilberry cake to share at the dance that evening.

4. The people would swim their horses through a river to receive a cleansing and special blessing from the element of water. This was different from Bealtaine (Beltane) where the Irish would drive their cattle between fires for a blessing.

Although I’m not yet sure which of these customs I’ll use in my book, I do think it’s fun to learn about them. Incidentally, the above picture was taken at Bunratty Folk Park in Shannon, Ireland. The reenactor was baking soda bread in an iron pot upon the peat hearth. There’s nothing better than home-baked bread!

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day this weekend, here’s a recipe for Irish soda bread with raisins (nicknamed Spotted Dick) for you to enjoy. It was very tasty when my family sampled it!

4 c. plain flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. sugar
2 cups of buttermilk (you can make your own buttermilk by adding 1 Tbsp of lemon juice per cup of milk. Just decrease the milk accordingly.)
1 c. raisins

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Sieve the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Scoop up handfuls and allow to drop back into the bowl to aerate the mixture. Add enough buttermilk to make a soft dough (I ended up using about 1 3/4 cups, not quite all of the buttermilk). Add the raisins. Knead the dough lightly (don’t handle it too much or it will become tough). Form a round loaf as thick as your fist. Place it on top of a lightly floured baking sheet and cut a cross in the top with a sharp knife. Bake for 30-45 minutes. When baked, the loaf will sound hollow when rapped on the bottom with your knuckles. Immediately wrap the hot loaf in a clean dishcloth to keep the crust from hardening too much. Enjoy!