Blog Posts - Liz Tyner

Author Note: The Governess's Guide

8/20/2020

The Author Note in The Governess's Guide to Marriage reads:

For a long time, I’d dreamed of writing a secondary character who didn’t let poverty stop her from living life with zest. Someone with a tarnished heart of gold, and who could make the world a better place—even if she had unorthodox methods that would land anyone else in deep trouble.

This character briefly appeared in To Win a Wallflower but she didn’t have a name. I didn’t plan on letting her go. When the Tyner family ancestry was being discussed, I heard, and loved, the name Ella Etta, and I couldn’t forget it. Now my wanderer had a name, and I brought her back in Compromised into Marriage, and now again in The Governess’s Guide to Marriage.

Many names of the past have fallen out of favor, but sometimes when I hear an old name, I'll wish the name would make a comeback. I admit, it's difficult having a name people are unfamiliar with, and I understand that it's often easier for a child to have a more common name.

So for now I'll try to make note of the unfamiliar names I hear from the past, and perhaps I'll decide again to use one in a novel. At least the character will never have to repeatedly spell their name for people...or will they?

Photos From My World

8/7/2020

These pink flowers with red rimmed petals were from a wildflower packet. The other flowers in the photos were growing wild in the fields. The problem with planting wildflowers in a small grouping is that it's hard to tell which are the flowers and which are the weeds when seeds begin to sprout. So it did look like a patch of true wildflowers.

The butterfly below had a friend that may have been a lightening bug on the stalk beside him.

The blue flower was from the package of assorted seeds. A tiny flower that faded quickly.

A Governesses Guide to Marriage

7/25/2020

Writing each book brings happy surprises with it and hopefully, a bit of information.

One thing I was reminded of when writing A Governesses Guide to Marriage was that a duchess remains a duchess when her husband dies and she doesn't become a dowager duchess unless the new duke has a wife, or if he is single—when he marries.

Another fact I found out while writing was that Regency constables are supervised by the magistrate, and the constables are paid for by the person needing the assistance.

The Beau Monde writing group shares information about Regency lifestyles and I've been fortunate to be a member of that group for the last five years.

Signs That Summer has Nature in its Grip

7/17/2020

A tufted titmouse trying to cool off by fluffing its feathers.

Canada geese wading in a pool that's too shallow to float in.

And a cactus flower in bloom.

Snake Chaps

7/11/2020

My shoe. My snake chaps.

I didn't know snake chaps existed when I first started roaming in wooded areas. But after a sportsman told me about then, and a few sightings of reptiles, I decided I needed a pair. And, I do try to wear them when I'm in an area with thick plant growth that would give snakes a chance to be concealed.

So far I've seen several snakes in the woods. Some of the reptiles have been poisonous.

Of course, I wasn't wearing the chaps when I saw the snakes. But at least I wasn't barefoot. Which I have been. When I stepped on a snake. Luckily, I wasn't bitten and it wasn't poisonous. A quick way to increase your heart rate!

A Boat on the Plains

6/29/2020

This boat, sadly shipwrecked on a tiny pond, gave me a huge smile. I didn't even notice the pirate flag at first.

I enjoy seeing evidence of people who express their creativity in humorous ways, and I hope my books have spots in them that give people a chuckle.

In Saying I Do to the Scoundrel, the book has lighthearted moments...even with the woman who hires her own kidnapper in hopes of getting a ransom from the stepfather who married her mother for money.

In The Notorious Countess, the very last line of the book is a punch line for the character who has a rational fear caused by an irrational woman.

Life isn't easy. I hope to sneak a smile for the reader between the pages of my books to give a bit more lightheartedness in the world.

Expectations: Oz verses Ahs…..

6/5/2020

   If you plan something for awhile, your expectations can rise. Then, when the planning comes to pass, you can be overwhelmed or underwhelmed.
    I remember reading the story of Dorothy's slippers in the Wizard of Oz. They had reportedly sold at action for around half a million dollars.
   Little size 5 shoes with red sequins...the color choice made because red shows up better on film.
The tale of the shoes spiked my imagination.
I viewed a pair of the slippers, although they were supposedly not a matched set.
   So these shoes were reportedly worth half a million dollars.
   I tried to see the magic.
   Sadly, it was like taking a peek behind Oz's curtain.
   Just shoes with sequins.
But it's no wonder I wasn't impressed. The movie didn't do a lot for me either.
It starts soon after a tornado hits a little house. It's hard for me to fall in love with a movie that sweeps a little girl away with a tornado, and drops her into a land with a mean witch.
   When I was a little girl, one bad weather day, I heard a roaring noise while I was outside. I wasn't concerned. Okay, maybe I was a little. The next day I discovered that a community member's home had been hit by a tornado, and that a tornado has a roaring noise.
   I hadn't taken cover or been scared. I'd just been curious about the noise.
   No, I don't like stories about little girls and tornados.

Pawnee Code Talkers

5/25/2020

I'd heard about Navaho Code Talkers but didn't know about the Pawnee Nation's own Code Talkers who'd probably lived not far from my house.

These bilingual troops could transmit tactical messages to each other in their native language. Six of the Code Talkers were wounded. Sergeant Echohawk was wounded three times, and one local Code Talker didn't survive combat.

Because there was no written language, it made it extremely difficult for anyone who'd not grown up speaking the language to be able to translate it.

Now I realize how confusing for an opposing side intercepting the messages to try to translate several unknown languages.

The Code Talkers were awarded a Congressional Gold Metal almost 50 years after the event.

I'm fortunate the memorial at Pawnee, OK, included mention of them because otherwise I would have missed this bit of local history.

Green and Vibrant

5/22/2020

The trees were my view the last time I set out on my exercise walk.

Then I get to a small field. The part of the tree that grows to the right is probably tall enough that I could easily walk under it. But, I would be risking meeting poison ivy up close, or stepping on something slithery. Another reason I tend to walk on mowed paths.

Then, there's a winding trail that twists and turns through true woods, and I return back to my yard on a different way because it makes it seem like I've traveled a greater distance. All three of the pictures, the tree and both paths, surround the small field that sometimes it grows up in the summer, with only an area mowed for a walking path.

After I've returned home, this is the view if I turn and look back into the field. You might notice a strap around the tree on the right. That's the back of the trail camera. Quite a few deer travel this path as well.

It seems unusual for someone in this area to have a house with an acreage if she doesn't plan to raise animals.

Most people in the area with an acreage have either a few head of cattle or some horses. Maybe goats and chickens closer to the house. These critters help out with the land, but also require even more work.

It's rare to want to care for an area without financial gain. Cows and pigs can be sold. Horses can be ridden. Goats trim the grass.

You either need critters to graze the pasture, or you mow it, or it will become a forest again.

Frankly, it is work. Either in caring for the animals on the property, or caring for the land itself. A lot of the land has been left to return to nature during my time on the place. But during the quarantine, I've enjoyed having the space to roam even more than usual.

With the world in a troubled mode, the walk helps. Nature is going along as usual which I can see as I stroll. I imagine the land little different than hundreds of years ago when Native American children played in the area. Imagining children at play and at peace with the world seems to briefly solve all my problems.

Photos In My World

5/15/2020

If it's in nature, and doesn't run from me, I'll take a photo of it. And the critters in the area would say, "If it doesn't run fast enough, she'll take a photo." They know me pretty well. I would have missed the mushrooms, though, if someone else hadn't pointed them out.

I think you can buy similar flowers at a nearby nursery, but these were growing freely.

The picture of the fruit tree blooms was taken earlier in the year. I think it's apple but that doesn't mean I expect to have fruit. It seems something else always has first, second and third pick of the apples, peaches and pears. I'm pleased if they leave the tree behind. (The deer do not always leave a healthy tree behind.)

Even the most unattractive weeds are often beautiful if you catch them at just the right moment.

I'm thankful the moderate weather has let me enjoy spring because when the mercury rises in the thermometer, I tend to forget nature and think about the beauty of air conditioning.