What You Should Know About BlueStocking

All right. Consider yourself warned.
When I first set out to write after a decade of not writing, my only goal was to construct a story that was truly original and didn't involve a girl being all suicidal over a boy. I HATE reading about girls being suicidal over boys. You know why? Because at one point in my life I was like that and now, looking back, I wonder why I ever wasted my time worrying about those schmucks. Even though at the time they looked like demigods. 
So I wrote my original story with it's carefully twisted and tangled plot. I built a tree on Ancestry.com just for the von Strassenbergs. Yes I did. 
NOW, now, I am not so afraid of the process and I've figured a bit more of it out and it's going to make a BIG difference in BlueStocking Girl. 
I am not big into the paranormal...vampires, werewolves...it doesn't scare me. What truly scares me is the evil lurking inside every human heart. The books I read and enjoy the most, tend to be gritty crime novels, medical thrillers, murder mysteries, where the danger within could actually happen to me. That's scary. But at the same time, I like me some romance. Real romance. Not this dramatic, "O my life is pointless without you," crap.
In BlueStocking Girl, expect more of who I am, as a writer. 
Expect more thrills, more twists and more sweeping romance. 
You'll get mad at me and then you'll love me and get mad at me again. Such is the nature of our relationship. But I'm okay with that. 
So prepare yourselves. 

Keeping Untangled

The difficulty in writing a family saga is keeping everything straight. Dates and genetic traits become vitally important. This is especially true for those super-analytical readers who are turned off by one wrong detail. The von Strassenberg Saga spans more than 200 years. And then add to the tangled troubles of family trees the issue of historical accuracy. When you have characters who were once real people (such as the young lady featured here), you have a greater responsibility to keep your facts straight.

I have so much more respect for Diana Gabaldon now and would love to be able to buy just a smidgen of her scientific, organized mind. Fortunately, it does help that history was my original major. So I have some idea of how to conduct historical research and apply it....The scientific aspect may present more trouble but there I am blessed to have a brother who studied genetics and an aunt who's a nurse. As a writer, it helps to know people, especially people who don't mind being bombarded with technical questions! So now that we are waiting for the paperback proof, I have begun carefully plotting out book 2. Because once you put it in one book you have to hold to it throughout the rest of the series.

After next week there will be no more avoiding it though. My internship will be over and there will be no more excuses. Work on Book 2 will have to begin in earnest. For now I am working on a highly detailed family tree on Ancestry.com. It helps me organize my thoughts and strengthen the plot.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Filter-The-Von-Strassenberg-Saga/150889648309305

Proudly Serving Since 1775

A family project I'm working on. My family has had at least one man in each war this country has fought. I blame it on the Scottish blood! In my mother's paternal line, the first one over was a young Scottish Highlander rebel who was kidnapped and shipped to the US in 1745 as an indentured servant. He was only 14 and had been fighting against the English. On my father's side, which had been here longer, we have at least three great-however many times removed-grandfathers who fought in the Revolution, the French and Indian War, Civil War and so on. My great-grandfather fought in World War I and my grandfather served in World War II, Korea and two tours of Vietnam with the 101st Airborne Division. We have three generation "blood wings" that are passed down each time a man in our family earns his wings. My brother and cousins are currently serving. And my husband, who never should have left the "Big Army" recently re-enlisted but chose to go into the National Guard because my sons are from my first marriage, joint custody and such things...but he is as back in as he can be for now and it's really nice to see him at ease with himself again, back in his element.
I think what I need to do however is add all the women who have waited for their husbands or sons. While I come from a long line of warriors I also come from a long line of strong women who have waited for their husbands and sons to return from war.

A snippet of a mini-documentary I made about my family: