Today I welcome author Sarah Lamb as she shares about her passion for using original diaries for research, and her latest release.

Have you ever found a diary and were curious about what was inside? In my new book Christmas Treasure Cottage, Jenna finds an old journal in a cottage and is amazed to discover there’s an incredible story inside! Even more fascinating, is the journal mentions a treasure…right there where she’s spending Christmas!

I think most of us, at one point or another have journaled, be it for ourselves, to leave for our descendants, or just simply to chronicle events in case it might come in handy later. But do you know that diaries didn’t originally exist to do these things?

Writing a book is not only a fascinating dive into the world of these characters, but also history! In this instance, I learned diaries were first used in fifteenth-century Italy, for accounting. It wasn’t until much later that these books because used for private use, not public.

It’s thought that 1660 England is where the diary, or journal, as we know it began, started by Samuel Pepys, a member of Parliament, and an administrator of the Royal Navy. In his diary, he recorded events like the Coronation of King Charles II, the Great Fire of London, and even what he ate, the weather, and arguments with his wife!

Today, his diary is considered one of the most important pieces in English literature, because of the great detail that lies in it about life at the time. His words have helped others learn about what life, weather, and events were like back then. Isn’t that incredible? You absolutely never know, the things that you chronicle today could be incredibly valuable and important to those outside of your family hundreds of years from now. It makes you look at journaling a bit differently now, I bet!

If you’d like to see how a journal led to an incredible romance for Jenna and Riley, pick up my new book, Christmas Treasure Cottage, available November 18th on Amazon in eBook, paperback, and large print.

https://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Treasure-Cottage-Sarah-Lamb-ebook 

About Sarah:

I live in rural Virginia in the Shenandoah Valley with my husband and two boys. When I'm not writing, I'm editing books, helping others to reach their dreams of writing and sharing their stories. Want to be a writer too? Go for it! Writing is a great way to not only create and share stories, but to also help and educate others, which is why I write a mix of fiction and non fiction. You'll find some of my books are written not just to entertain, but also to encourage or inspire.