Publishing Lightning on the Levee

Still working on publishing Lightning on the Levee!

I THOUGHT I SHOULD LET YOU, MY FAITHFUL READERS, KNOW ABOUT MY PROGRESS TOWARD PUBLISHING LIGHTNING ON THE LEVEE. It’s been over a year since I first considered the book complete, and I’ve been looking for an agent or publisher on and off since. I say “on and off” because every time I read back over the book, I find something that needs to be changed. So Lightning on the Levee, although “complete”, has been in improvement for all this…

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Ladies’ Edwardian Makeup

LOOK WHAT I FOUND FOR YOU – AN ARTICLE ABOUT EDWARDIAN MAKEUP FROM 1909! While writing a post for you about ladies’ makeup in the Edwardian era (you’ll see that post in the near future) I was perusing the California Digital Newspaper Collection online. And there I found this treasure of an article that was in the Sacramento Union, Number 63, 25 April 1909. The Edwardian makeup text is hard to read on the old newsprint, so I’ve transcribed it…

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Interesting Facts About Life in 1908

LIFE IN 1908: AT MIDNIGHT ON JANUARY 1, 1908, A BALL SIGNIFYING THE NEW YEAR WAS DROPPED FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER AT TIMES SQUARE. We’re still dropping balls, but so many other things have changed since 1908. What a difference a century makes! I found some interesting facts and statistics about life in 1908 for you. Enjoy! Wages – Life in 1908 The average wage in 1908 was 22 cents per hour. It will be 30 more years before…

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1908 Ladies Clothing Fashions – Part 3

IN LIGHTNING ON THE LEVEE, MOLLY B O’CONNOR WAS ABDUCTED IN 1908 (EDWARDIAN ERA) WHILE OUT FOR AN AFTERNOON WALK WITH HER FRIENDS. When she arrives in our current time, she’s dressed in the same beautiful Edwardian Afternoon Dress she was wearing then. You can see a photo of the dress, a gift from her father, HERE. Be sure and read “1908 Ladies’ Clothing Fashions – Part 1”, where I talk about the Edwardian period and La Belle Epoque, and…

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1908 Ladies’ Edwardian Clothing Fashions – Part 2

IT WAS 1908 WHEN MOLLY B O’CONNOR WAS ABDUCTED WHILE OUT FOR AN AFTERNOON WALK WITH HER FRIENDS. When she arrives in our current time, she’s dressed in the same beautiful Edwardian Afternoon Dress she was wearing then. You can see a photo of the dress, a gift from her father, HERE. I talked about the other clothing choices that were important to her, and to her friends in 1908 here: “1908 Ladies’ Clothing Fashions – Part 1”. But that’s…

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1908 Ladies Clothing Fashions – Part 1

IN LIGHTNING ON THE LEVEE, MOLLY B O’CONNOR COMES TO OUR CURRENT TIME FROM 1908. When she arrives, she’s dressed in the clothing she had been wearing on the spring afternoon that she was abducted by aliens. I’ve shown you a photo HERE of the dress that Molly B was wearing. But what other clothing choices were important to her, and to her friends, at the time? Fashions in American society in 1908 were heavily influenced by both the Edwardian…

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Flint Arrington: Character Bio

A NATIVE OF THE DEEP SOUTH, FLINT ARRINGTON GREW UP IN A SMALL CITY IN MISSISSIPPI, the youngest of three children. His architect dad always placed a great emphasis on the children’s education and their future careers, encouraging all three to make a decision early about what career path they would take for their lives. He would sometimes be cold toward his children when they didn’t live up to his expectations. Flint’s mother, a second grade school teacher, worked to…

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Writing Lightning on the Levee

LIGHTNING ON THE LEVEE BEGAN WITH A DREAM, a literal dream, where the dreamer awakes from sleep with a vision and a memory of scenes and events. I wrote down the dream, as I frequently do. Instantly, I knew that this one had to become a book, rather than to lie forgotten in a growing stack of filled-up yellow pads – what a certain songwriter called “Yellow Mountain”. And so it became the opening scene for Lightning on the Levee.…

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