Jenna Dawlish

 
I found a wonderful article and presentation on the BBC website today all about a photographer re-creating the techniques used for the famous photo of Brunel stood in front of the massive chains…

 
Robert Howlett who took the famous photo of Brunel, died in his late twenties from poisoning from the mercury and arsenic he used in his photography.

 
Here is the link:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7753000/7753202.stm

 
There are some wonderful photo’s of Brunel’s legacy that still stand today - the Clifton Suspension bridge, the seafront at Dawlish, the Albert Bridge in Plymouth and the wonderful SS Great Britain in Bristol.

 
I just love the civil engineering aspect of Victorian Britain, which is why my first novel “Love Engineered” which is out soon is set in that time and industry.

 
Jenna

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For all you people out there (I say people, rather than just women), here is a fantastic quiz for you to try out your knowledge of cravat’s that have been in period drama’s over the years…

http://justperioddrama.com/Cravat/quiz.php

I got 62% - not bad, some are obvious, others very tricky.

Trying not to give any clues away, I easily spotted Mr Thornton, Daniel Deronda and Eugene Wrayburn. Some of my favourite cravats! ;0)

After you have our results, click on the link at the bottom and it will show the whole picture that the cravat came from….

I thought I would remind you all that I am a regular blogger over on the For Romance Readers blog here.

Other bloggers on For Romance Readers are authors Elizabeth Hanbury and Juliet Archer.

Jenna
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Last night, I crossed the border into Dorset and Lyme Regis to see An Audience with Colin Dexter at the Marine Theatre. I couldn’t resist meeting one of the great authors from the UK.

Mr Dexter was a very funny and engaging man. He spoke with ease and the audience were in stitches a lot of the time. He spent a long time signing books and talking to people at the book stall. I thoroughly enjoyed the evening and it was well worth the money for the ticket.

Anyway, here are a few interesting points he made about writing and Morse.

1. He writes long hand and has never used a typewriter or computer
2. ITV treated him really well. They consulted him a lot about the production.
3. He appears in all the Morse and Lewis episodes as cameo’s.
4. He’s been with Macmillan publishers all his writing career
5. He has been to Lyme on holiday and for one Morse book wrote some lovely desc of the sea at Lyme. He said it was some of the best writing he’s ever done, but his editor told him to cut it and get on with the story!
8. He said writers often feel what they write is rubbish, but if you go back to it a few days later, it’s not as bad as you think.
9. He said if you write a page a day then thats 365 pages ie it all adds up.

November is national novel writing month. The aim is to write a 50,000 novel throughout the whole month. I took part for the first time last year and managed to write about 35,000. Not bad….

This year, I’m finishing off a novel that is half written already. It’s called “The Seeds of Love” and is a kind of sequel to my first novel Love Engineered. I say sequel, it’s not really, it’s got new characters in it, but there are some familiar faces there too.

Anyway, I will post my progress as the month progresses.

In the meantime, here is a link to the song that inspired the title of The Seeds of Love…

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=dgFS9sdsU9U

Jenna

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I always love a costume drama, and I was thrilled when the BBC decided to do another Victorian story.
Well, I say Victorian, because although Little Dorrit was written by Charles Dickens, the story is actually set in 1824…which is a good 13 years before Queen Victoria came to the throne.

Nit-picking aside, I shall be watching this series. There is an all-star cast with some great actors in it and adapted by Andrew Davies who has mastered the art of adaptation.