Here we are! A new year, and back on schedule for blogging. =) I had a lovely holiday, and I hope you all did too!

So today, back to a word I’d looked up for the last section of The Outcast Duchess. I use it because it rhymes with a character’s name, but I had to make sure it would have been used like that, after all. 😉

Brat. The word dates back to about 1500 as slang for a beggar child. It’s taken directly from the word for a cloak or ragged garment–Old English taken from the Celtic. The etymology sites tell me that the modern meaning came from a notion of the word being applied to a child’s apron, but I don’t think I quite get that leap, LOL. But the evolution from “beggar’s child” to “spoiled, contemptuous child” doesn’t seem as long as it may at first glance. Insults often stretch over the years, after all.

I hope everyone’s off to a wonderful (non bratty) 2015! On the blog, I’ll have some cover design posts coming up this month and should have the first peek at the cover for The Lost Heiress soon too (not that I’m designing that one)! I’ll also be sharing a bit about my St. Nicholas story, entitled Giver of Wonders, as I write it in the next month or two and get it ready for a late-fall release. It’s the Visibullis family again, just a few generations down and set in a town in what is present-day Turkey, though was Greek at the time.

In the meantime, back to the homeschool grind today (speaking of the possibility of bratty behavior…LOL). Have a great week!