TBM Forum:   Working on the Web Round-Up

The Working on the Web articles this month include instructions on how RWA members can set up their myRWA Forum Biography and signature line. The SEO article this month explains the basics on how a web site’s navigation links can be used to further optimize a web site to help improve its search engine rankings.

Next month, the Working on the Web forum will take a look an obvious opportunity for self-promotion which many authors overlook. Our series on SEO will explain some of the advanced navigation options which can be employed to improve the SEO for that same web site.

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The Two Wives of George IV   By Cheryl Bolen

During the so-called "Delicate Investigation," Caroline, Princess of Wales, was asked if she had ever committed adultery after she had come to England and married George, Prince of Wales. She replied that indeed she had, but only with the husband of Mrs. Fitzherbert. In today’s article, Cheryl Bolen provides the salient details of the curious relationship between the Prince Regent and his pair of wives.

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Claude Glasses and Mirrors

A cross-post from The Regency Redingote:



At leisure, then, I viewed, from day to day,
The spectacles within doors, — birds and beasts
Of every nature, and strange plants convened
From every clime; and, next, those sights that ape
The absolute presence of reality,
Expressing, as in mirror, sea and land,
And what earth is, and what she has to show.

William Wordsworth
The Prelude
1805 — Book 7, Lines 245 -251

The "mirror" to which Wordsworth refers was the Claude mirror, an optical device used by many artists and devotees of the picturesque during the Romantic period, which includes the decade of the Regency.

Wordsworth did not approve of the use of either the Claude mirror or the Claude glass, both of which rendered views of the natural world in a manner he considered unnatural. But both of these devices had been popular in the later part of the eighteenth century and continued to be so in the first decades of the nineteenth century.

So just what are Claude glasses and mirrors?

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Essential and Nonessential Reference Books for Authors   By Cheryl Bolen

Many authors have turned to the Internet as their reference source of choice. But there are a number of sources still in that more traditional format, the printed book, which can also be of great value to authors, providing more convenient and sometimes even faster access to needed information.

Today, Cheryl Bolen shares her list of reference books which can be a valuable source of information to authors as they write. However, she does divide her list into two parts, the first part containing the writer’s reference books which she considers essential, the second part listing those reference books which may not be essential, but they can certainly provide authors with just that necessary bit of information as they wrestle with their current WIP.

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The Golden Glory of the Amber Room During the Regency

A cross-post from The Regency Redingote:

For nearly two and a half centuries, the stunning achievement of the Amber Room stood as one of the world’s most exquisite works of art. Conceived and originally constructed in Prussia, it was soon thereafter presented to one of the most enlightened and forward-thinking of the Russian Tsars. There it was expanded and enhanced by his successors until it ranked as one of the wonders of the world and a powerful symbol of the glory of Mother Russia. It reached the apotheosis of its design and ornamentation scant decades before the Regency, and was famous across the Continent, indeed, the world, as a treasure beyond price. It survived Bonaparte and his invasion of Russia, yet like the Royal Hanoverian Creams, what Napoleon could not destroy, the Nazis ultimately did. But during the Regency, visitors to Russia with entrée into royal circles would have had the opportunity to behold this magnificent masterpiece.

The Amber Room, from its conception to the Regency …

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Article 1:   So You Want To Write A Novel by Gaelen Foley

Bestselling Historical Romance Author, Gaelen Foley, has generously given the Beau Monde permission to post her series of articles on the profession of writing, in particular, that of writing romance novels. We will be posting one article of her series every month for your edification and enlightenment over the next few months. This month, she will share her views on the many things a new author should take into consideration if they are planning to become a romance novelist.

If you are considering a career as a romance novelist, or have even started writing your first book, you may find Gaelen’s advice especially valuable in actually achieving your goals and being able to enjoy your success once you have done so.

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Regency Promenade ~ Robert Southey by Nancy Mayer

 

Robert Southey
Robert Southey (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Robert Southey was a poet who suffers from competition of his friends and enemies. He was a friend of Coleridge and Wordsworth and  publicly made mock of by Byron.  His name is almost unknown except to teachers of literature and even they usually pass him by for the poems of Wordsworth, Shelley, or Byron. Southey’s reputation has been harmed by Byron’s disparaging remarks about him in various works , but especially Don Juan. Very odd that even people who don’t think much of Byron or his poetry seem to accept his evaluation of Southey. Perhaps it is time to give Southey another chance?

During the Regency period he was quite well known though perhaps not as popular as Walter Scott. He became poet laureate in 1813 and remained in that post until he died in 1843.

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The Pocket Housewife

A cross-post from The Regency Redingote:

No, this is not the married version of the "pocket venus" who makes her small but mighty appearance in the occasional Regency novel. Yet both terms did have their origins in the mid-eighteenth century. However, though "pocket venus" was a term for a beautiful, curvaceous woman of small stature, the housewife to be discussed here was, and is, even today, extremely useful and can be quite lovely, but is not human at all. This small item found favor with both women and men during the Regency.

Recently, Charles Bazalgette published a brief article on his blog, Prinny’s Taylor, about an item which was supplied to the Prince of Wales’ household by his ancestor, Louis Bazalgette, who was tailor to the Prince for thirty-two years. This item, "a striped silk Housewife," is described as being filled with various sewing notions and intended for the use of the Prince’s pages. Mr. Bazalgette was not quite sure what this item actually was, and I realized that there are probably many others who might not be familiar with these "housewives," and how they were made and used during the Regency.

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