A Victorian Vanity

     

       Over the years, I have collected Victorian treasures. I thought my readers, who like such things, would enjoy seeing a few.  From a hairbrush and perfume bottles to a hat pin holder (item with the holes on top),  manual curling irons and a shoe button hook, I am inspired by their beauty, practicality and past. My historical romance stories are the result! 

The Goodbye Lie series, set in the late 1800s, in Fernandina on Amelia Island, Florida reveals the deeds and misdeeds of the Irish-American Dunnigan family. 

The Reader's Motto

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

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This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC

 Bookworms

 Aerate 

The Mind 

     -jmm  

Why and How of Writing

 Goodbye Lie series

Two questions I'm oft times asked at book signings are:

What made you write books?   
     It is always much fun for me to meet new people, especially those who like historical 

fiction. 

     The quick version to why I write is my husband lost his job (the company downsized) and we moved to Arkansas to open a fine dining restaurant with friends with money. (We were the sweat equity.) I was heartsick over leaving Fernandina.  I thought writing a book would be a great way to remember the town. Well, you're supposed to write what you like to read, i.e., historical romance/suspense. Since I'd already taken docent training at the local Amelia Island Museum of History and Victorian Amelia Island was the perfect setting, I began writing one book,The Goodbye Lie to put in my granddaughter's hope chest, for posterity. It was much fun for me and so involving, I had to find out what happened to the other members of the fictional Dunnigan family. That's why I wrote two more with the forth in the works. Oh, after the first book, we moved back to Amelia Island, and my husband, Bruce Malcolm, became the mayor!  

Where do I begin to become a writer?

     So many people have stories to tell and they want to do so, but don't know how. I can only give them my experience, so I simply say, "Just go ahead and give it a try." Begin with short stories. If they are related, they could turn into chapters in a book.  A whole book can be daunting, so try this way.  Find a good friend you trust enough to read your efforts and ask him or her for suggestions on improving your writing and story-line. If you agree, follow their suggestions. If not, and you think the words are best left as originally written, just keep going. Remember, you have to have a thick skin. Remember, too, not everybody will like your style or subject matter.  If you're extremely lucky and determined,  you may eventually get your story out there for the public to discover. But, the bottom line is: Write for the love of the sport. That's what I do.

         

Another Book Title

 

     Occasionally, I am inspired with ideas for future books.  Oh, these will not be written by me.  I am busy enough working on Amelia Island's Sand and Sin, #4 in my Goodbye Lie Trilogy, Plus One and this blog.  Hey, writing such in-depth articles as what you're reading now, takes me into the realm of deep thought.  
     So back to another inspired title of a book I will never write. It's a story about a man on a disastrous blind date and I'd call it: 

Ready, Met, Woe!  

How's that for in-depth thinking?  

Genius Plus The Goodbye Lie Diaries - Leona

     Women are always questing for longer eyelashes.  Layers of mascara, false lashes with glue, they all take time to apply or smear or fall off.           
     Enter what I think of as pure genius: magnetic lashes.  Note the picture above.  The tiny red dot on the "bottom" lash is the magnet.  There is another magnet on the "top" lash. This is how they work. You lay the top false lash atop your own lashes, then add the bottom false lash beneath, snapping the magnets in place, sandwiching your real lashes between. Genius. Am I right? 
     Then here comes all-thumbs and fingers me. I turned on both bathroom lights, squinted into a magnifying mirror 8Xs normal strength and struggled for over seven minutes to achieve the lush lash groove which the directions said should take three seconds with practice. The magnet held fast, no problem there, but my positioning was off.  Instead of them laid against my lash line, as they were supposed to be, they ended up on the tips of my real lashes, crooked at that, thereby extending their length nearly to my brow. I came away looking like a cross between a Twiggy wanna-be, a supermodel in the 1960s with killer lashes, and a hairy spider.     The good news is I saved my receipt and will get my money back.
  

Disclaimer: I did not mention the name of this product because I don't want to hurt their reputation. I only wanted to show my lame attempt at personal beautification. 

**************************
Late 1800s
Fernandina, Florida

Leona writes: I am blessed with naturally long eyelashes. I take a spoon and curl my lashes against my thumb and there you have it. Pity you simple women with only lash stubs. 

*Leona Visper

from The Goodbye Lie series,

available as E-book and in paperback

*Although lovely, Leona Visper, a featured player in The Goodbye Lie,  is less than kind. Self-involved, she avoids acts of charity, in all cases ...

Glory in the Morning plus Goodbye Lie Diaries- Breelan

Present Day
Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island, Florida

     
Jane Marie writes: I had never seen morning glories in this particular area I frequent. But, poof, there they were, in all stages of blooming from buds (look at the lower right of the top photo) to full-blown blossoms.
     A memory from childhood, I recall them climbing on our backyard fence and I thought how pretty they were.  When they wilted, I'd pluck away old blooms to make room for more.
     As I stopped to take these pictures, I thought about the name, morning glory. How simple and wonderfully sweet. The way they open their faces in the a.m. in greeting to a new "glorious" day, well, they are aptly named.  💮
     

     I did a quick search for info and found they are poison to ingest, so don't. They come from South American and have made their way here. There are 500 varieties! They are a vine and will climb on anything vertical.  They are often considered a weed. In Victorian times, they represented either love or mortality because each bloom wilts after one day. They also stand for tenacity because, although their vines twist and turn, they are tough and don't quit climbing.
    So, there are a few tidbits about morning glories, an old-timey flower that deserves appreciation.

***

Late 1880s
Fernandina on Amelia Island, Florida

Breelan Dunnigan writes: I am not noted for my gardening abilities, more my writing, but I do love flowers. Peeper mentioned morning glories one time while talking to herself.  I do not believe I was meant to hear. She said something about how she would love to sit back and watch while they "growed up Aunt Noreena's legs, fat body and around her neck.  Since they are knowed ta chock out plants," she figured they might choke the blather out of her next-door nemesis.  

Breelan Dunnigan

     Those two are always at it. I think they secretly adore the other. Well, not adore, but like each other. Hmm, no. I don't know which one hates the other more. The only good thing to come of their nasty shenanigans is it gives mama an example to tell the little ones about how to NOT behave, and the adults think it's funny. 

***

Breelan Dunnigan is the heroine in The Goodbye Lie series,

the first in the historical romance novels set on Amelia Island in north Florida. A cub reporter for the Florida Mirror, Bree learns while she lives, appreciating all things that may spark a short story or an article for the local newspaper. Her curiosity is known to cause her trouble and her trouble is her family's trouble ... 

A Brother's Gift

     Just look at the very cool T-shirt my sweet brother, retired Navy Chief Bob Harkins, sent me for my birthday.  He knows me so well!  (Insert big smile here!) Thank you,  Bobby!

LIttle Free Library in Fernandina

      I decided to go on a quest to see if Fernandina on Amelia Island, Florida had any of those free mini-libraries I have read about.  You know, where you borrow a book and leave a book?  Well, I am delighted to report, after some investigation on Facebook and Google, etc.,  I visited two out of the seven listed in our town. One is near the gazebo in the Amelia Park development off Citrona and one is located at 103 S. 18th Street.  Each has a bit of a design difference, but all are charming, if for no other reason than because they contain books.  Note the blue bird-knob on the front of the Little Library in the picture at the top of this post.
     To find the Little Free Library in your area, go to https://littlefreelibrary.org/ourmap/, scroll down to just above the image of the map and insert your zip code in the search box.  Once found, add and/or borrow a book.  If you can't find a library box in your town,  get a call out on social media or your book clubs or library or all of the above and build one or more.  Talk about your small town America.  It's a "better thing,"  as our Martha Bear says.

Martha Bear taking a break from her duties as spokesbear for Gracious Jane Marie

Grandmother Peeper's Wisdom-Goodbye Lie Diaries

Fernandina on Amelia Island, Florida
late 1800s

"My ma always told me, if'n ya act like a skunk, the folks about town will smell yur stinky feet acomin' before they see ya." - Peeper, grandmother to the Dunnigan family, 
The Goodbye Lie series

#GrandmotherPeeper

#GoodbyeLie

#AmeliaIsland

P.S.  Just so we're clear, Peeper prefers being called Peeper versus Grandmother Peeper.  It's not because she's embarrassed by her advanced age, but because that is the nickname the Dunnigan children gave her when they were little.  However, I explained that the internet knows her as Grandmother Peeper, and suggested we may have to use the title occasionally.  With a sigh of understanding, she told me, "The more folks that find out about me and my ways 'round the world, the wiser the world will be."  Thank you, Peeper.                                         - Jane Marie

An Irish Welcoming-Excerpt from Amelia Island's Mark of a Man

☘Every day is St. Paddy's Day for the Irish  Dunnigan family from The Goodbye Lie series. Read an excerpt below from my novel, Amelia Island's Mark of a Man, for a taste of their kind of family chatter. 

1898

Fernandina on Amelia Island, Florida:

Amelia Island's Mark of a Man HERE

    Peeking around the corner was a short woman somewhat smaller in circumference than Aunt Noreen. White curls escaped from the bun at the back of her head. The severe hairstyle couldn't conceal the glow of kindness in her eyes. "Is there someone here who might be rememberin' me?"

   "My stars! Is it Kathleen?"

   "No other. And 'tis himself, Michael Dunnigan! It's been eons since last I've laid me eyes on ya."

   Her rich Irish brogue hearkened back to the sweet sound of their mother's voice. As if propelled by dynamite, he sprang forth to hug her. Tears trickled down his face as his wife and family watched the loving exchange.

   "There now, Michaeleen, don't be slobberin' all over me new travelin' costume. Salty streaks will never do for the sister of Fernandina's greatest city father ever ta draw a breathin' breath."  She held him at arm's length to take him in. "Ah, you're lookin' fine. Real fine. And you'll be recallin' me husband, Lawrence?"

     The men shook hands and embraced as well. "What?  Where?  What?" Michael stammered.

   "Michael, darling," Miss Ella helped, "may we share some of that sugar?"

   "Ella! You're as pretty as the day you was weddin' our Michael."

   After identifying each in the gathering, Kathleen said, "We might be arrivin' a bit late, but when we got the invitation from Winnie, we decided to be surprisin' ya.  It appears we've done just that."

   "We all love surprises, Katie," said Peeper. "Specially me!"

   "Would you like to freshen up?" asked Miss Ella.

   "We're good, thank you. Took care of all that business afore we come upstairs."

   "Can we be gettin' ya somethin' ta eat and drink?" Michael asked, lapsing in and out of his own brogue. "Would ya like to rest or visit in the parlor?" His energy renewed at the unexpected sight of his sister, "Whatever ya need.  Our place has taken a hit, but the love in the house goes on strong as ever."

   "We can feel it," said Lawrence. "It was getting late so we ate at that Florida House hotel near the docks. Several locals recommended it.  I'm thirsty for some tea now, though.  How about you, Kate?"

   "That sounds refreshin', it does."

   "Sweet tea, ma'am?" asked a timid Angelique.

   "That would be lovely, missy," and Angelique was gone to get the refreshments. "But if you won't be mindin' any, we'd like to do our visitin' up here with young Jack Patrick. A-course, he's nary so young these days. I remember—"

   "Excuse me, ma'am," Clover said, fitting two more chairs for them in the room.

   A winded Aunt Noreen burst through the door, pushing aside those in her way.  "Land's sake, I wish you people would be more thoughtful and hold court downstairs in the parlor.  It's bad enough I have to trek all the way over here every time I'm needed, but then to climb those steep stairs, again and again, and under threat of rain, too.  It's a wonder my heart doesn't explode from the exertion." After one lengthy sigh, "If it isn't old Kate!  I just heard you were here. That you came clear from Washington, D.C., just to see me?—You have touched my heart."

   "That ain't all that's touched in ya," Peeper added, sincere in her ill will.

   "You sure the floor up here will hold so many people?" Noreen asked her brother, the architect.

   Thinking now was not the time to let Noreen's insults spoil the happy mood, Michael's reply was minimal. "I'm sure."    After they'd hugged, "You're the very same, Noreen," noted Kathleen.

   "Thank you, Kate, but you certainly have changed. Your hair's gone white."

And so it goes in the sometimes squabbling and always blabbering, loving and devoted Dunnigan family.  -Just the same as yours.