...to have friends who share my obsessions: the other day Ysabeau Wilce sent me a link to what may be the most dangerous website I have ever visited: Ruby Lane/Robbin's Roost Antiques. Needless to say, it went straight onto my "Booksmarks" menu so I could come back to it regularly and sigh and drool and whimper and then sigh some more. Ohhhh, how I wish I had a spare $1-2000 sitting around to spend on a beautiful Georgian-era ring! (Either of those two would do nicely...if only the proprietor wanted to lower the prices to, say, $50 apiece?) Or this awesome, snake-framed Georgian-era lover's eye brooch. Or, or, or--!

Luckily, once my coma of helpless period-jewelry lust had finally subsided a bit, I found a much less dangerous, but equally fascinating site: Candice Hern's Regency collection, which includes lots of photos of (safely not-for-sale) Regency pieces. I had no idea that was what a quizzing glass really looked like! (I'd always imagined them quite differently.) And oooh, all those lover's eyes are really creepy as well as cool - I already know I want to work them (as sinister magical pieces, of course) into the next Kat novel...and I LOVE the fact that there was a common kind of brooch (discussed and shown in Hern's wonderful Sentimental Jewelry article) called a "witch's heart", and symbolizing the message I am bewitched by you...you just know I have to find a way to get one of those into my novel now!

I could surf that site for hours, even if it just meant looking at the same pieces over and over again. I don't know how other historical writers work, but for me, there's nothing quite as stimulating as seeing real pieces of jewelry, accessories, anything people really wore or touched or used in that period. It makes it feel vivid and real to me, and it always, always gives me more story ideas.

I just have to keep my wallet safely hidden while I look!