How do you outline a book or novel you plan to write? More importantly, why do you outline a book? This depends on who you ask. Recently, I compared three different websites offering advice on how to outline. Here’s what I found. According to Pen and Paper: Include all the key plot points and characters […]
Critique Groups for Writers
Critique groups are an invaluable resource for aspiring and established writers alike. These groups can be online or meet face-to-face, but either way they provide a valuable service. Why are critique groups for writers so useful? “As writers, we are generally voracious readers as well,” the website Writing Craft explains. “You may not realize it, […]
At This Rate It’ll Take Me 100 Years to Finish My Novel
It is difficult to believe, but it has been more than a year since I last posted an update. At that time, I was taking a break from blogging, as I had written about all the topics I wanted to cover, and I was going to begin the process of again rewriting my novel Angel […]
An Update on My Writing Career
Loyal readers of this blog no doubt noticed there were very few posts in June. There are three reasons for this break in my writing routine. Exhausted Ideas I have come to the end of my list of topics that relate either directly or indirectly to Angel of Mercy. Certainly, there is a never-ending list […]
Origins of Angel Surnames: Accuracy in Historical Fiction Writing
In the course of writing Angel of Mercy, I did some research into the origin of the family’s surnames. This is what I found out: Bartlette – English with some pockets in Scotland Steward – Scottish-English Goodwin – English Grey – Anglo-Saxon Taylor – English with French origins Winthrop – from Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Appleton […]
A Family Church: St. Andrew’s, Barrie
The Steward family’s church in Angel of Mercy is St. Andrew’s in Barrie, Ontario. Why St. Andrew’s? The church is Presbyterian which kept with the family’s Scottish roots and also because Presbyterian was a very large denomination at the turn of the 20th century. History of St. Andrew’s St. Andrew’s began in 1843. It was […]
The Inspiration Behind an Angel’s Hometown
The hometown of my main character in Angel of Mercy, Henrietta Steward, is Barrie, Ontario. Many real-life buildings were the inspiration for her family and friends’ homes and workplaces. Without leaving many spoilers, here are a sampling of photos that inspired places in the novel: These houses were the model for the Steward home which […]
Toronto Normal School: Establishing Standardized Teaching Practices
Hettie Steward, in my novel Angel of Mercy, is not the only woman in her family to have a profession. Her mother blazed the trail, becoming a professional teacher after attending the Toronto Normal School in the 1880s. What is a “normal school”? It is what today we call a teaching college. The purpose of these […]
A Brief History of Royal Victoria Hospital — Barrie, Ontario
My fictional character Hettie Steward worked at her hometown hospital, Royal Victoria, between finishing nursing school and joining the Canadian Army Medical Corps, Even though the hospital plays a very small role in Angel of Mercy, its history gives us an interesting glimpse into medical care during the first part of the 20th century. Some […]
Nursing School in the 1910s — the School of Nursing Toronto General Hospital
Hettie Steward, my main character in Angel of Mercy, is a 1913 graduate of the School of Nursing Toronto General Hospital. By the time of her graduation, it was the largest and among the most prestigious nursing schools in Canada. Competition to be accepted into the program was stiff and had been since 1894. Let’s […]
The True Stories of World War One Nurses
My novel, Angel of Mercy, focuses on a young woman serving during the First World War with the Canadian Army Nursing Service. While her experiences are fictional, she and her colleagues are based on the brave nurses who served overseas during nearly five years of war. “In his much-admired book published in 1975,” Baroness Williams […]
Canada: Our Fascinating Neighbor to the North
I have always been a history lover, and I am obsessed with World War One to the point of addiction. In recent years, this focus has grown to include Canada and its history. Why, you may ask, would an American be interested in Canada? It began with the conception of my novel, Angel of Mercy. The […]