Today I’m offering a little something from the Bard. I’ve mentioned before that Shakespeare and I go way back. Not that far back. I’m not that old.
😉
My love of Shakespeare began my freshman year in high school. Compelled by the spelling of my last name, my English teacher sat me right next to the scale model of Shakespeare’s Globe Theater. Beside this model sat a stack of corresponding books I could read if I finished my work before the bell rang. I’ve always been a very fast reader with quick comprehension of the written word. Needless to say, the Bard and I had lots of time together. Take a gander at these two snippets and you’ll see what tickled my mind:

“Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs. Being purged, a
fire sparkling in lovers eyes. Being vexed, a sea nourished with lovers tears. What is it else? A madness most discreet, a choking gall and a preserving sweet.”

“No sooner met but they looked; No sooner looked but they loved; No sooner loved but they sighed; No sooner sighed but they asked one another the reason; No sooner knew the reason but they sought the remedy.”

Lovely.
Though people love the screen adaptations of the Bard’s works, many dislike reading Shakespeare because the old language and word-bending can be difficult to interpret. Understanding what he was getting at never gave me trouble, despite the fact he often made up words out of thin air. To understand his mind, you have to take the scene as a whole. Once you do that, it all makes beautiful, poetic sense. Shakespeare adherents claim nearly 2000 never-seen-before words came out of that brilliant mind of his and he often tweaked words. This tweaking consisted of taking nouns and making verbs out of them.

We wouldn’t have these words today if not for his imagination:

academe * accused * addiction * advertising *  amazement * arouse * assassination * backing * bandit * bedroom * beached * besmirch * birthplace * blanket * bloodstained *barefaced * blushing * bet * bump * buzzer * caked * cater * champion * circumstantial * cold-blooded *compromise *courtship *countless *critic *dauntless* dawn* deafening *discontent *dishearten* drugged* dwindle *epileptic* equivocal *elbow *excitement *exposure eyeball *fashionable *fixture* flawed* frugal* generous* gloomy *gossip *green-eyed *gust *hint* hobnob *hurried *impede* impartial* invulnerable* jaded* label *lackluster* laughable *lonely *lower *luggage *lustrous *madcap *majestic *marketable*mimic *monumental *moonbeam *mountaineer *negotiate *noiseless *obscene *obsequiously *ode *Olympian *outbreak *panders* pedant *premeditated *puking *radiance *rant *remorseless *savagery *scuffle *secure *skim milk *sparkling *submerge *summit *swagger *torture *tranquil *undress *unreal *varied *vaulting *worthless *zany* gnarled* grovel*

I’ve used these words in my life and in my writing. Word lover that I am, I fully appreciate his genius. Not having them would mean a little less color to our language.

Today’s cute card is post-WWI. You can tell by the large colorless border.

There was a time when cards and letters exclusively told friends and family you cared. Vintage holiday postcards and greeting cards were often beautifully done things. That and the sentiment behind them were the reason so many were kept as keepsakes. From now until January, I’ll share a vintage holiday postcard for you to enjoy.

Scroll down to see previous vintage postcards and read how postcards became popular greetings to send and what is cost to send them, and about the changes made to the images after WWI. Subscribe to get them in your inbox!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥New!♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

http://www.amazon.com/Exquisite-Christmas-Romance-Authors-Holiday-ebook/dp/B018F4ACSC/

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ My Other Book News ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
Four 5-star reviews of The Changeling!

♥My other recent release has shining stars too!
Entice Me – a multi-author collection. It’s a steal for 99¢.
My story is Heart of Stone
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Words Worth Mentioning for December

“Anyone can carry his burden, however hard, until nightfall. Anyone can do his work, however hard, for one day. Anyone can live sweetly, patiently, lovingly, purely, till the sun goes down. And this is all life really means.”
~Robert Louis Stevenson

http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/
Authors and Industry representatives all month long!

Romance Books ‘4’ Us
The December contest is on! Prizes often include $100 in gift cards for Amazon/B&N, ebooks, print books, audiobooks, additional gift cards, and non-book items. http://www.romancebooks4us.com/