by Joyce Lamb)
The Word Wenches blog has been going strong for either years. Mary Jo Putney joins HEA to celebrate by introducing one (or so) favorite post per Wench to commemorate a fun run ...
Mary Jo: The Word Wenches historical romance writers' blog has just turned 8. That's 110 in Internet years.
The anniversary blog for the first day took the first four Wenches alphabetically, as such things do. It was compiled by Joanna Bourne, who decided to go with her very first Wenchly blog. Her topic is bathing and cleanliness in the 18th and 19th centuries, and many are the kinds of bath, from fresh air to medicinal to the kind of running water that is delivered by a footman carrying a canister.
Nicola Cornick chose an early post on "One Man and his Dog," which allowed her to indulge her passion for pets and Prince Rupert of the Rhine, who was definitely not a dog. She writes a delicious dissertation on pets in portraits, including a kitten fishing in a goldfish bowl. (Bad kitty!)
Cara Elliott/Andrea Penrose also chose her very first Word Wenches blog. The topic is gunpowder, and how can you not like a blog that allows the opportunity to use a picture of Sean Bean holding a rifle in the role of Bernard Cornwell's Richard Sharpe?
Jo Beverley fondly recalls "Getting Naked with the Wenches," a three-day series on the history of nakedness with which we celebrated our first anniversary in 2007. The subject proved to be pretty interesting, and only as prurient as you want it to.
Our second anniversary post was compiled by Anne Gracie. First up is Patricia Rice, who produced the second of the "Getting Naked with the Wenches" posts. She speaks feelingly of the complications of coordinating a bevy of Wenches, and it is demonstrated that Hollywood actresses did not invent public nudity for shock value!
Susan King features the more down-to-earth topic of Wenchly writing offices. Have you ever wondered what our workspaces look like? Take a look, if you dare!!!
My own contribution was a blog called "The Truth about Corsets," in which I interviewed Nina Paules about her experiences wearing an authentic period corset and costumes to a Regency weekend at a historic house in Washington, D.C. It was fascinating how wearing a corset changed her strength, her posture, and her self-image. Who knew??
Lastly, Anne Gracie gifted us with two posts highlighting the culture of her native Australia. First are the hats worn by very fashionable ladies at the grand Melbourne Cup races. Second is the even more fabulous physiques of the athletes who play Australian Rules Football, a sport which produces rather amazing results in its practitioners.
We ended with a comment from our stalwart site manager, Sherrie Holmes, who has produced a series of posts about her hilarious cat, Sparky Tabasco, who came into her life last July Fourth as a 9-ounce kitten, and who has progressed to become the Feline Terror of the Pacific Northwest.
We Wenches are possibly the oldest group bloggers in romance, and perhaps the only ones to do an anthology. Mischief and Mistletoe with Kensington was so much fun we're thinking it would be nice to do another.
But whatever we do, we have fun. Join us at wordwenches.typepad.com!
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