by Roseanna White | Jul 8, 2015 | 20th Century, Remember When Wednesdays
I found myself in an interesting place in my story the other day. I needed my heroine to be out somewhere, away from her chaperones, where she could meet with another young lady of whom they didn’t approve. It needed to be someplace public, but that wouldn’t raise any eyebrows. I had a hunch that a tea room might be perfect…but I wasn’t quite sure. So away I went to look it up.
What I discovered was absolutely perfect. The idea of a public tea room first gained popularity in the late Victorian age and soon became quite trendy. In London, there were a few rival establishments that were the epitome of posh–gorgeous decor, orchestras, etc. These were beautiful establishments which were perfectly acceptable places for young, unmarried ladies to go without chaperones. They would often attend their correspondence there, enjoying a few hours out and about on their own.
What’s more, they were one of the first places where a young lady could work without anyone frowning about it–even well-to-do young women often took on part-time jobs at tea rooms just for a little extra spending money. I had no idea!
I discovered most of this on a fun blog called Edwardian Promenade – go take a peek if you’re interested in the era!
And I know this is short, but you’ll have to excuse me. I’m getting ready to leave for a writing retreat, where I will hopefully get to The End of this last Ladies of the Manor book!!
by Roseanna White | Jun 24, 2015 | 17th-19th Centuries, Remember When Wednesdays
It’s my day at Colonial Quills! So you know what that means. =) For a bit of fun history, hop over there, where I’m talking a bit about the paper-making process in Colonial America.
These days there’s a lot of talk of going “paperless.” Why? Because
paper clutters things up. We have stacks upon stacks of it. Reams
sitting, waiting to be used. In my house, there are desks full to
bursting with sketches and crayon drawings on paper of all weights and
colors and sizes. Need a bookmark? Grab a slip of paper. Need to make a
note? Grab a Post-It. Everywhere we look, there it is: paper.
But paper wasn’t always so bountiful, nor was it cheap, nor was it made
from wood pulp like today’s paper usually is. Paper, in Colonial days,
was like most things: precious, and coming as a result of much toil.
Read the Full Article
by Roseanna White | Jun 17, 2015 | Remember When Wednesdays
(This is an updated repost from, gosh, FIVE years ago! Man, time flies!)
Fourteen years ago today, I pledged myself to David. The man I loved since we were 15, the man I knew with all that was in me was The One. Sometimes, I think he’s much more than that.
It seemed an appropriate day to muse (not for the first time, I know) on Love–and to share some of the awesome pictures from our gorgeous beach wedding. =)
Through my life
, I’ve known a lot of love.
That feeling that Mom and Dad will always be there, always encourage, always believe in my dreams–even when those dreams defy convention (like when I get engaged at 17 and married just before I turn 19).
I’ll always have a place on Daddy’s knee.
Mom will always be there carry my burdens with me.
That knowledge that for every storm (like the one that raged up the coast the day before The Day) in life, God sends me a rainbow.
That we have friends and family willing to travel hundreds of miles to share our Joy. And that after traveling all day, they’ll put more hours into decorating the rental house hosting our big day.
Love is looking into David’s eyes and knowing, each and every time, that this is the man God planned for me, and for whom I was planned. Knowing we are perfectly matched, perfectly balanced.
Love is that security that comes with resting my head on his shoulder.
Love is laughing over nothing, rejoicing in each moment.
It’s dancing barefoot in the sand when you forget your shoes for your own wedding (ahem, David!;-)
It’s standing together, beside all those that matter. It’s standing together always, through whatever the years bring you.
These days, love is also cuddling warm little bodies with damp curls pressed against your cheek, it’s watching graceful ballerinas beam with pride. It’s running “scared” when little “dinosaurs” chase you through the house–and looking over into each other’s eyes and thinking, “This is us. These are ours. This is family.”
Love is building a life on much more than one day. It’s building a life on every day.
Thank you, Lord, for all those you’ve put in my life. For my family, for my friends. For editors and agents who believe in me. For those who know how to read my heart in the lines that I write.
Thank you most of all for the man who bends over backwards to make my dreams come true–who not only believes in them with me, but who chases them down for me when my legs begin to fail.
David–you’re my everything. Here’s to way more than 14 years to come!
by Roseanna White | Jun 3, 2015 | Remember When Wednesdays
I admit it–I’ve long had a fascination with gemstones. It started with memorizing birthstones and just blossomed from there. And I’ve always leaned toward the bright, clear colors.
So naturally, when it came to diamonds, my teenage self said, “Psh. Diamonds. They’re so boring–they’re clear! Unless, of course, they’re colored…” I had every intention of being rich and famous, remember, so I declared that rather than some boring engagement ring with a clear/white diamond, I wanted a colored one.
Ahem. Yeah, um…reality took over, LOL. Neither David nor I turned out to be stinkin’ rich, so there you go.
But the fascination never quite left. And so, it should come as no surprise that it’s worked its way into my books. Back in college, I wrote a contemporary about an artist, and there was a character who was a jeweler. I loved delving into the world of jewels in my research!
And it comes up in my upcoming historical series from Bethany House too. One of my editors asked if the jewels I mention really are as rare as I say in the book…which reminded me that the whole world might not have done the research I did on colored diamonds, LOL. But in case you’re interested… =)
Diamonds can occur naturally in gray, white, blue, yellow, orange, red, pink, green, purple, brown, and black. The color is caused by impurities…yet they happen rarely, so they can dramatically increase the value of a diamond. IF they are bright colors. Faint colors can just dull the brilliance and usually degrade a diamond rather than making it more valuable. These bright colors are called “fancy colored diamonds.”
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| The Hope Diamond |
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The most famous, of course, is the blue diamond called the Hope. At over 45 carats, this thing is huge, and has quite a history attached to it.
The most expensive blue diamond to date, however, is a 7-carat one that sold in 2007 for $9.5 million. (The Hope hasn’t been sold in a long time). But that record was broken in 2013 by an orange diamond that sold for–brace yourself–$35 million.
Yeesh!
The largest red diamond ever mined is the Moussaieff Red Diamond, at a bit over 5 carats. It was discovered in Brazil in the 1990s. Before that, most red diamonds came from Africa or India.
The largest purple diamond (purple! love purple!) is the Royal Purple Heart, from Russia. Its origins are rather shrouded in mystery…but even more mysterious is the Supreme Purple Heart. Which is round, not heart-shaped (go figure). Believed to have been mined in the last 30 years, experts can’t even verify it’s size. They guess somewhere between 2 and 5 carats, and that it came from somewhere in the Amazon. It’s said to look deep purple from one angle and deep red from another.
Such a lovely, colorful world of gems! Do you have a favorite stone?
by Roseanna White | May 20, 2015 | Remember When Wednesdays
Are you a Pinterest lover? The craze has spread to all reaches of society, for sure. I tend to use it for very specific purposes that have little to do with recipes or decorating, and today I’m talking about them over on Go Teen Writers.
Link will be live at 6 CST!
by Roseanna White | May 13, 2015 | Remember When Wednesdays
So after flying on British Air last month and having a layover in London–for all of 40 minutes–my husband has finally jumped on my “We should totally go to England someday!” idea (which he has been denying for a decade). We’re now toying with the idea of traveling there for our 15th anniversary next year. With that idea in mind, David asked me last night, “So were in England would we want to go?”
?!?!?!
Oh gracious. I want to see every place I’ve written about…or plan to write about. But that kinda means going from Whitby in Yorkshire…
to The Cotswolds in Gloucestershire…
and then of course down to Brighton and Hove…
and maybe over to Land’s End in Cornwall…
and I’d really love to go to Loch Morar in the Highlands…
but given that it’s not even on this map…yeah. Might be over-reaching there. 😉
To which my husband said, “So you want to see England. Just…all of England.”
Yeah. Pretty much, LOL. And why wouldn’t I? We’ve gotten rolling moors filled with bracken and heather…white chalk cliffs and a pebbly beach…beautiful dales filled with honey-colored stone houses with thatched roofs…rocky cliffs tumbling into the sea…a foggy loch with castles about.
Is it any wonder I love setting books in England? Right now I’m brainstorming another idea, for after I finish my Ladies of the Manor Series, which is where Cornwall might come in.
But surely I’m not the only one who has long dreamed of visiting different parts of England. So tell me–if you could go anywhere on the British Isles, where would it be?
In the meantime, take a look at what just arrived yesterday!!!
Makes it all seem a little more real. =)
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.