Follow Friday -- Beth Hull

Today I'm going to look like a dragon eating its own tail, but even if Beth wasn't posting an interview with me today, I would choose her as my first Follow Friday.

I met Beth at an SCBWI event sometime in the spring, and we got to chatting about books and blogging, about our own projects and about our kids.  Turns out her child was about to start at the preschool where I used to teach (and where my kids are now in the elementary school next door) so I immediately invited her to come to mom days at the park.

And started following her blog.

Beth writes about writing.  She writes about not being able to write.  She writes about being a mom, and how hard that can be to reconcile with being a writer (and a reader).  Beth's blog has shaped up to be what I hope will be a model for my own (including the 3-days-a-week posting).  And on top of all that, she's shaping up to be a good friend.

And she makes devastating peppermint truffle lumps.

So if you want to find out about the life of a writer who is on the verge of something great (she just got a request for a full of her YA manuscript from a top agent), start following Beth Hull.

Beth's blog is called Nebula and can also be found by Googling her name.
Beth is also on Twitter.

This Week in History -- Thomas Culpepper and Francis Dereham

This was a bad week for Catherine Howard.  Like, the worst.  Imagine your worst week and multiply it by a thousand.

As you know, my first novel, GILT, tells the story of Catherine from the point of view of her best friend.  My goal is to be as historically accurate as possible, placing people and events as they actually were, but lacing these events through a story with a more contemporary feel -- the story of the friendship between Kitty Tylney and Cat Howard.

The White Tower in the Tower of London

But I'll run through some of the facts here on the blog over the course of the year.  On the 1st of December, 1541, two of Catherine Howard's lovers were put on trial and found guilty of high treason.

Seriously.  Can you imagine how impossible it would seem for an ex-boyfriend to be tried and convicted of treason?  As a teenager, when you fell in love, did you stop and think, "Wait, maybe I shouldn't do this in case I marry the king one day?"  No.  Neither did Catherine Howard nor Francis Dereham.  Unfortunately for them.

But Thomas Culpepper was a different story.  Catherine started the affair with him after she married the king.  And adultery was a very bad thing for a woman (though not for a man.  Especially the king.  Double standard, anyone?)  Adultery with the queen could *ahem* adulterate the royal line, placing a non-royal on the throne, which was even worse.  Treason.

So on December 1st, Catherine heard that her bedfellows were going to die.  And I wonder if she knew then that she might follow.

On December 10, the men were executed on Tower Hill.  Culpepper was beheaded -- his sentence commuted by a generous king.  Dereham was not so lucky.

Not a good week, all in all.  I certainly hope yours is better.

Gift-Giving and Giveaway

I'm blogging over at the YA Muses today, even though it's Monday, because we are kicking off a week of discussing gifts for writers and I have a special wish on my list.

Drop by yamuses.blogspot.com to find out what it is, and a chance to win an Advance Reading Copy of GILT!