One of the advantages of independent publishing is the freedom to genre jump. Traditional publishers are not keen. They say readers prefer author consistency.

Publishing wisdom also says that emerging authors should write in ‘hot areas’. Like thrillers. And not, as an agent told me recently – historical fiction.

“But,” the agent backtracked a little, “if there’s lots of sex…”

Oh dear. There’s not a lot of sex in the Gallows Bride, my upcoming historical trilogy. I’ve always been leery of describing in detail something we can well imagine without prompts.

But, in researching the Gallows Bride, I did discover hundreds of slang words for the vagina.

Every one of those terms is political. Each is designed to define us by our sex organ and nothing else. History bulges with words to demean women. The start of the Victorian era no less than any other.

So I decided to name each book in the trilogy with a vaginal euphemism.

The Ducking Pond, the Lady Star, and the Cloven Inlet take us from London in 1838, across the sea and to the new colony of Australia.

Here’s a great link to a timeline of lady bits slang – as researchers prefer to describe our favourite flower.

The Gallows Bride is a very different story to How to Make a Baby. But at heart the issues are consistent: our struggle to make choices free of coercion, to find authenticity and a place to stand.

The Gallows Bride will now begin editing, design, formatting and marketing. I’ll keep you updated as we move forward.

The feeling of finishing a work that has occupied a part of my brain for at least 25 years is a joy and a freaking relief. Thank you for being here and for being a reader.

Warm eyes.

Sadie