Happy birthday, Nineteen Teen!

In September 11, 2007, Marissa authored our first post on Nineteen Teen. We promised to talk about how teens lived in the 19^th century (mostly 1800 to 1840 then and focused on England), our writing and books, and “other stuff.” Since then we’ve expanded. A lot.

We’ve now talked about teens and their older counterparts. We’ve shared information from the late 1700s to the early 1900s, in the U.S. and England. We’ve squealed about new publishing contracts and new directions and new books. We’ve let you know about some astonishingly good deals.

Marissa’s given you fashion forecasts and displayed and described fabrics from her extensive collection.

I’ve given you insights into real-world heroines from the time period.

Marissa’s shared 33 posts of fun language I can’t wait to use in a book, or with my husband. 😊

I’ve taken you on the Grand Tour of Europe.

Marissa gave you insights into the Royal Family, from before Victoria to beyond.

We both led you through the various summer spots and beach spas of England.

We watched movies together; read books together.

We had some highly entertaining guest bloggers!

Along the way, we’ve answered your comments and questions, and tried to implement your suggestions.

Most of all, when this blog started, we promised to have fun. We have. Have you?

Happy birthday, Nineteen Teen!

Happy Birthday, Nineteen Teen!

Happy birthday! Marissa and I always look at each other in amazement this time of year. We started blogging together in September 2007, meaning that Nineteen Teen just turned 15! My word!

And there have been a lot of words. We have posted more than 1,300 times on aspects of our writing, our research, and our lives. We’ve posted about a lot of books, too. When we started, we were awaiting the publication of our first YA novels, Bewitching Season from Marissa and La Petite Four (revised and retitled Art and Artifice) for me. Now we both have many more books under our belts, both YA and adult.

We’ve also branched out. Marissa’s latest series, The Ladies of Almacks, is a delightful set of reads that seamlessly blend humor, mystery, romance, and fantasy elements. I’m finishing my Regency-set romantic steampunk adventure series with the incomparable Shelley Adina, The Regent’s Devices.

Along the way, we’ve had our share of wonderful and not so wonderful covers. I don’t know if I will ever get over the pink prom dress on the cover of the original La Petite Four, but I fell in love with the cover for A Distance Too Grand, particularly after my publisher purchased an antique camera for the photo shoot. And I cannot help but adore Marissa’s covers.

One thing that has remained the same is our delight in having you join us on the journey. Thank you for reading the blog so faithfully and commenting when you can. As always this time of year, we’d love to hear your thoughts. What would you like more of? What else can we share with you?

Here’s to another year of Nineteen Teen!

It’s a Celebration!

Cue the music and the confetti cannons! We are celebrating here at Nineteen Teen. 

Why?

First, we have surpassed 1 million views! That is pretty amazing for a lil ole blog devoted to the nineteenth century and books. Thank you all for your support!

Second, this month marks our 14th anniversary for blogging and the beginning of our 15^th year. We didn’t know what to expect when we started, but we’ve had the privilege to guest host or interview wonderful authors like Julie Klassen, Nancy Sanders, Charlotte Henry and her alter ego Shelley Adina, YS Lee, and Patrice Kindl; try a book club and movie watch parties; and dig into everything from fashion to fitness in early Georgian into Victorian times. What a ride!

As we usually do at our blog birthday, we are asking for you input. 

What do you want more of? 

What else shall we try?

Finally, on a personal note, I’m delighted to report two recent developments in the publication side. Always Kiss at Christmas, the prequel novella to my Fortune’s Brides series, is now available as an audio book, once again voiced by the marvelous Jannie Meisberger. Mary Rose has one goal for her mother’s Christmas Eve party: convince her friend Julian Mayes to marry her. Julian is ready to make his mark in London. As the danger to Mary’s future becomes clear, will one kiss prove to him how far he will go to protect her? You can find it at fine online retailers such as Amazon, Audible, and Apple.

And I cannot wait for the publication in October of the finale of my American Wonders Collection, A View Most Glorious. To celebrate, my publisher has put the first two ebooks in the series on sale for September. A Distance Too Grand is only 99cents, and Nothing Short of Wondrous is only $1.99. Grab them while you can!

If you are eager for the third book, you can preorder now. Headstrong beauty Coraline Baxter must rely on rough mountain guide Nathan Hardee to help her reach the top of Mt. Rainier so she can bring attention to a woman’s right to vote and avoid marrying the man her mother has chosen for her. But her mountain man has hidden potential—and so, she discovers, does their future together. 

Baker Book House (40% off preorder, 30% off release and free shipping) 

Baker Publishing Group 

Amazon 

Apple Books 

Barnes and Noble 

Books-A-Million 

Christian Book 

Indie Bound (an independent bookstore near you) 

Kobo 

The Book Depository, free shipping worldwide 

Stay tuned for more tidbits about the mountain and the fun I had writing this book in coming weeks.

More Happy Birthdays, with Presents!

Like Marissa, I find it hard to believe we’re on our 13^th year of blogging. We’ve shared posts on fashion, locations, historical figures, our books, our trips, and all kinds of research. Here’s a few statistics. Nineteen Teen has been

• Viewed more than 930,000 times
• Visited by readers in the US, UK, Russia, France, Italy, Germany, Canada, The Netherlands, Australia, China, Brazil, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, Poland, Spain, Japan, and Qatar.
• Commented on more than 4,000 times

And we’d love more comments!

So, where would you like to see us go from here? What sorts of posts delight you the most? Do you miss the Young Bluestockings Book Club? Would you like to see more guest posts?

Anyone who comments on this post before Thursday evening 9/24 East Coast US time, will be entered into a drawing for an autographed print copy of A Distance Too Grand (October 2019), the first book in my American Wonders Collection. I was delighted to see it getting some love this week from reviewers.

The bloggers behind Lone Star Literary Blogger’s Choice Awards for 2019 named it Best Christian novel of the year and gave it the Perfect 5 award too. That award is for any book the bloggers reviewed last year that earned a 5-star review from every blogger on the tour. Nine of the 52 books received that award. So honored! 

And, in something guaranteed to have a historical author running for her smelling salts, Booklist named it one of the Top Ten Romances for the last year! 

So, got a comment for us?

Happy Birthday to Us…Yet Again!

We’ve done this so many times now that I’ve decided I'm having one of these installed on my keyboard.

Once again, it’s NineteenTeen’s birthday…and this year, we are appropriately able to claim “teen” status as this is our thirteenth year of blogging.

(Marissa pauses to sit back in her chair and stare out the window in shock for a long moment.)

It being our birthday and this being a history blog and all, cake is of course in order…perhaps this “wedding cake” Victorian house would appropriate for a party, for a change of pace? Not very edible, but so very pretty!

No?

Thirteen years. I’m still in shock.

Anyway, 13 years and 1,245 posts later, Regina and I are still at it. We thank you most sincerely for following along our bloggy journey, and that you’ve been amused, entertained, and (occasionally) informed by our posts. If there’s a topic we haven’t written about that you would like us to investigate, or a subject you’d like us to revisit and provide more info on, drop us a line and we’ll do our best to oblige.

And in the meanwhile, please celebrate with us! After I’ve recovered from my shock, that is.
😊

 

And Many More!

It’s that time of year again: NineteenTeen is having a birthday!

Time for party hats...

(Hey, we’re Nineteen-Teen. Our concept of party hats may be a little out of the usual way, but did you expect anything else?)

 

Time for balloons...

(What? Wrong kind of balloon? But latex and mylar are so, like, twenty-first century!

 

And of course, time for cake!

(Lots and lots of cake, please. Especially like this one, without frosting--just pure cakey goodness. Not very historical, but one must make sacrifices where chocolate is concerned.)

This year we’re celebrating twelve years of blogging. Yeah, twelve—we can hardly believe it ourselves. It’s been a busy twelve years: between us, Regina and I have posted one thousand, one hundred and fifty-seven times (including this post), with an average of just under a hundred posts per year.  

We’re writers; story is what we’re all about. But we’re also about the stories behind the story--and that’s where our history geekitude comes in. Sharing the stories behind the stories is what NineteenTeen is all about...and we thank you for listening to our stories for the last dozen years.

Have some cake. 💖 😊

Happy Birthday to Us!

Twelve years blogging! Who could have imagined? (Well, perhaps the little girl in the Victorian birthday card here.) Marissa and I are honored and humbled that you’ve stayed with us all this time. If you are relatively new to Nineteen Teen, or if you simply like to reminisce, we thought we’d look back at some of our most popular posts and ask you what you’d like to see in the future.

Marissa is fabulous (though she won’t admit it) with detailing the fascinating, and sometimes tragic, lives of King George’s and Victoria’s children. This post on Princess Helena has the highest number of hits over the years. 

We’ve also brought you some tidbits of history, including one on the invention of matches (surprisingly, another of the top 10 posts of all time). 

And Marissa’s fashion forecasts, like this one for 1812, remain perennial favorites. 

So, in the coming year, what would you like more of?

What would you like less of?

What else can we do to amuse you and keep you informed about the marvelous nineteenth century?

Happy Birthday to Us!

Yes, well, here we are again, dear readers. Nineteen Teen is another year older. Eleven years, to be exact. And we have passed the 1,000 mark when it comes to number of posts. My word!

As we often do this time of year, we’d like your thoughts. 

What would you like more of? 

What would you like less of? 

What facts about nineteenth century life are you itching to explore? 

What aspects of being an author intrigue you?

Come on! Don’t be shy! Wish us happy birthday and let us know how we can give you presents in the coming year.

Nineteen Teen Turns Ten—Let Me Hear You Roar!

My word—ten years of blogging. Who would have thought? I wasn’t sure how I’d like it. I’d tried journaling and found that the writing pulled me away from my work in progress. Not good for a commercial author. At first the words for blog posts dripped out slowly, somewhat painfully, and at times I struggled to figure out what to cover on a given week. And then I realized—you like research too!

Oh, lovely, lovely research. I spent much of this week going down a long list of questions for the book I’m working on now. Were cats and dogs spayed and neutered during the Regency? (Verdict still out—anecdotal evidence suggests George Washington and other heroes of the Revolutionary War neutered dogs. But cats? More research!) What color are the stones in castles in Surrey? (Tan or warm gold, it seems.) Did cavalry officers’ wives lodge in tents with their husbands or in nearby towns? (Either and both). Which Hussar regiment saw duty in India before the Napoleonic wars? (Apparently none—foot soldiers only.)

Over the last ten years, I’ve learned about pedestrians, hobby horses, the original of matches, and the Grand Tour, research I hadn’t planned to undertake until a blog post beckoned. So thank you, Nineteen Teen readers, for making me smarter on the nineteenth century.

Now we stand on the threshold of a new decade of blogging. As we have in the past, we’d love to know where else you’d like us to venture. Please share your thoughts. We’ve done posts in the past because of your encouragement. What are you hungry to learn?

The writer of any comment with suggestions, or birthday wishes, or even just a stray “hi” will be entered in a drawing for a $25 Amazon gift card and one of my books (any of my self-published backlist as an e-book or select Love Inspired Historical print books from my stash, including this month’s Mail-Order Marriage Promise). The comment opportunity ends at midnight Thursday, September 28. Winner to be announced in my September 29^th blog post.

Nineteen Teen—10 years strong. Let me hear you roar! 

Once Upon a Time...

It's story time, dear readers! 😁

One day, about ten years ago, I plucked up my courage and hit the “post” button on my first blog post, announcing to the world that the immortal words of two debut YA authors explicating the finer points of 19^th century cultural history as it related to young adults would henceforth appear in this place (or something like that.) And with that, NineteenTeen made its debut.

Ten years later—yeah, ten!—Regina and I are still at it, closing in on 1000 posts (this one will be # 972.) We’re still talking about the stray bits and piece of history we run across and how history can intersect with today, still talking about books, and still having a lot of fun.

There have been some unexpected develop-ments along the way. I started collecting early 19^th century fashion prints mostly because I wanted to be able to show what young ladies were wearing in this era, and have ended up a 19^th century fashion diva as a result with several albums of beautiful prints that give me a great deal of pleasure as well as knowledge (and they take up a lot less space than shoes!) I’ve met authors and read books that have become new favorites. I’ve been led down delightful paths of research on different topics, and hope that you have too.

But the best—the absolute best—part of blogging on NineteenTeen has been my partnership with Regina. We had just met back in 2007, nervous new acquaintances rooming together at the RWA national conference in Dallas that July. As I recall it (correct me if I’m wrong, Regina!) I suggested the idea of starting a blog together just as we were saying good-bye in the hotel’s lobby. And now, we’re here, still blogging...except now, I count Regina as one of my dearest, closest friends. So thank you, NineteenTeen readers, for reading our blog—and enabling a beautiful friendship along the way.

AND...since it’s a birthday party, there have to be presents—for you! Everyone who comments today will be entered to win one of two prizes—a $25 gift card to Amazon, and a print copy of any one of my book (winner's choice.) Comments close at 11:59 pm on Sunday 9/24/17, and will be announced in next Tuesday’s post.

That’ll be our 974^th post, incidentally. Thank you for coming along for the previous 973. 

More Happy Returns of the Day

I can hardly believe Marissa and I are still blogging after she first approached me to join her in this venture, which we launched in September 2007. Over the years I’ve enjoyed writing about odd activities such as the hobby horse, pedestrianism, and other fun facts I uncovered researching. But choosing my five favorites? That was really, really hard! So, I admit to cheating a little.

One of my favorite series of posts was when we all took the Grand Tour together. You helped me identify places you’d like to visit, I researched the locations, and together we discovered the wonders of Paris, the beauty of crossing the Alps, and the amazing architecture of Roman and Venice.

Another favorite series talked about real-life nineteenth century heroines, women who lived in that time who did outstanding things. Posts about Ada Byron, the first computer engineer; Eleanor Coade, whose stonework is still copied; and Mary Anning, who discovered a dinosaur, were particularly fun to write.

Finally, I loved writing the series of posts on seashore towns in the early nineteenth century, but it was during that research that I discovered the Shell Grotto, which is now on my ever-growing list of places I want to see in England. 

And now we’re off on another year together. Where do you want to go next? What would you like to see us talk about? You have been a quiet bunch in general, but we really do want to hear from you.

Now’s your chance. Speak up. What do you want more of? What do you want us to try we’ve never tried before? The Grand Tour and nineteenth century heroines posts came about because one of you made a suggestion. Let’s hear your thoughts as we begin our tenth year blogging at Nineteenteen.

Picture credit: Cobatfor

Happy Birthday to Us, for the Ninth Time

Believe it or not, NineteenTeen is turning nine this month! Woo hoo!

• cue confetti and noisemakers
• light candles on cake
• crank up volume on Victrola

Doing anything for nine straight years, especially maintaining a blog, means pretty much one thing—we do it because we’re wicked history geeks and are having fun trying to convert all of our readers to the joys of history geekery. So to celebrate our ninth birthday, Regina and I are going to take a trip down memory lane and recall some of our favorite posts. They may not be the most viewed, but they’re the ones on topics that most fascinated us for whatever reason, or from which we learned the most as we researched and wrote them, or simply had the most fun with.

And you know what? Picking just five (well sort of) was hard. There are so many others I would have liked to include—the stories of Queen Victoria’s and Princess Charlotte’s turbulent teen years still fascinates me, and I had great fun writing the series about my trip to England last year. I expect there are others that I would probably look at and say, “Oh, yeah—that one was so much fun!” except that between Regina and me there are now close to nine hundred posts in our archives. That’s a lot of posts.

So here you are, in no particular order...

What Is the Shocking Truth About Women's Blouses? 

Aside from having fun with the post’s clickbait-style title, I like this post a great deal because it was fascinating to put together the ads and the fashion prints I’d been studying.

Poodle Skirts and Pet Rocks

I had way too much fun thinking this one up—it all sounds so plausible...I mean, can't you just see a teen-aged Queen Victoria having a spitting contest with Lord Melbourne?

 

Meet Mrs. Fish 

I just adore this woman and all her contradictions. I could have added a dozen more anecdotes of her life--some hilarious and some touching (like her habit of occasionally sneaking down to her kitchen to play cards with her cook and kitchen maids.)

Duty Calls, Part 1 and Part 2   

For me these are two of the more important posts I’ve written because they shine a light on the very real cultural differences between the 19^th century and the 21^st, and inform how I create characters for my stories.

You Want to Dance with Me? I Want it in Writing

 Mostly because I like showing my pretties. ☺

Now, what about you? Have we posted on a topic that has fascinated you or taught you something that you didn’t know? And is there anything we haven’t touched on that you’d like to know more about?

Excuse me. I’m going to go eat some celery and try not to think about cake...

What We Want for Our Birthday—Your Comments!

Wow, where did the time go? This month Marissa and I begin our ninth year blogging at Nineteen Teen. Happy birthday to us! And thank you for your comments, your subscriptions, and your suggestions, encouragement, and commiserations. May we have more of the same?

In short, this is your chance to tell us what you like.

What would you like to see more of in the coming year? More posts on historical tidbits we uncover? More insights into the life of a writer who sometimes dabbles in the nineteenth century? More pictures of Marissa’s bunnies? Regina’s beloved sailing ships?

Shall we watch another movie together? Read another book? Which ones?

What guest authors would you like to have visit? (Yes, we tried for Marion Chesney. Alas, she was too busy to respond. L)

At the very least, stop by, have a slice of virtual cake and punch (ours is much better than ratafia, we promise!), and wish us happy birthday as we hop (or sail) into a new blog year.

Happy birthday, Nineteen Teen!

Happy Bloggy Birthday!

More cake all around!  You'll notice mine isn't nearly as symmetrical as Marissa's, but it will taste just as good, I promise!

As Marissa said, this week marks the beginning of our eighth year blogging.  Can’t believe it!  Blogs start out with little baby steps, and before you know it, they’re all grown up!

But, we hope, never old. 

And that’s why we need your suggestions.  I love what’s been mentioned so far.  Please chime in with more.  Are there other authors you wish we’d feature?  We haven’t had the delightful Cara King on in a while with a Young Bluestockings Attend the Cinema.  Should we watch another flick together?  And I know Marissa and I are planning to attend a couple of writers conferences in the next few months.  Do you like when we cover what we learned?

As for me, I have some ideas of what I’ll be discussing in the next year.  Most of my books coming out in 2015 will be set in post-Civil War Seattle, so I have some interesting tidbits to share on my research.  I’d also like to do a series on resources online that help readers navigate stories set in the 19th century, things like maps, costume collections, and period guides to London.  Plus I thought you might find it interesting to know more about the various awards and bestseller lists out there--how a book earns a place on them and what that placement means.  And my wonderful critique partner says I have to share my book triage method--how to weed out those wonderful books that keep piling up all over your house.  I recently had to put it to use in getting ready to move.

So, what else do you want to know?  How else can we delight you?  This is your chance--make your voice count.

Thanks for playing with us through another year.  You are what keeps us going.  Happy birthday!

In Blog Years, We’d be How Old?

Oh my goodness, it’s that time again!

Here at NineteenTeen Regina and I are celebrating our bloggy birthday this week and embarking on our eighth year of telling you about all the fun bits of history that don’t make it into textbooks (or even into our own books.) Yes, that's right, our eighth year--you've been reading us since 2007.

Eight years...if we were a boy in 19th century England, we'd be getting shipped off to Eton about now. 

Like, wow.

So first of all, thank you for subscribing to our feed, stopping by occasionally, or whatever you do as a NineteenTeen reader. Because...well, you're why we post every week.  It wouldn't be much fun if we didn't have someone to talk to.

We plan to bring you more of the same (well, not exactly the same, but you know what I mean.) I’ll be posting a few more Fashion Forecasts from 1917 over the next months in addition to other WWI-centric posts...as well as introducing a new Ackermann’s Repository series (quelle surprise...but I think you’ll like this one a lot.) I’m not sure what Regina has up her sleeve because we like to surprise each other sometimes, so I’ll let her tell you about that on Friday. In short, look for more of what you expect from us.

However, it doesn't have to be that way. As we always do at this time, we’re requesting feedback from our readers. Are there any topics you’d like to see us cover that we haven’t already? Any types of posts you’d like to see more of? Do you want to try a group reading again? More guest posts (and if so, whom would you like us to invite)? Please, let us know how we’re doing...and if you do, I hereby give you permission to eat cake at least once this week. Maybe more.

Because hey, it's our birthday, right?