#authortoolchest — Public Fediverse posts

June Flower of the Month: Rose

Saturday, June 13, 2026

A YouTube short video of pastel orange roses and a black butterfly

Hello, all.  I hope you’re enjoying a relaxing weekend.   Yesterday we had a much needed, lengthy rain.  I don’t see many butterflies here, other than small delicate white ones.  Although, there are a lot of roses.  I’m sure they all enjoyed the rain.  Unfortunately, the temperatures are already flirting with 100 degrees F again, and even higher forecasted for the coming week.  It was a nice reprieve though, if only for a few hours. Now, it’s time for a little floriography trivia.  Let’s head down a rabbit hole for things about the month of June.

Flowers of the Month: Roses & Honeysuckle

For June, the traditional birth-month flower is the rose.  The modern-day alternate is honeysuckle.  Other symbology includes the colors light-orange and white.  The birthstone, in old classic tradition is the pearl.  Modern tradition adds the moonstone, and color-changing Alexandrite to the birthstones for June.

June’s Animals

The butterfly — but there’s a rabbit hole to get to why.  June is associated with transformation and the soul.  That symbolism was derived from the Roman goddess Juno.  Because of her, the month represents a bridge between earthly life and the divine.  Celtic tradition similarly associates the butterfly with the soul, transition, and transformation. So, June’s primary animal is the butterfly.

However, in Native American tradition the woodpecker represents communication and finding your rhythm.  It’s the totem animal for the second half of June.  Additionally, the raccoon is tied to June in certain Native American folklore.

Heart had a brilliant song called “Dog and Butterfly.”  However, it always made me sad. So, I’m using this retro performance of Dolly Parton singing her whimsical “Love is Like a Butterfly.” The lyrics are charming.  The video above was from the 1975 Country Music Awards.

I appreciate you following me down this June-flower trivia rabbit hole.  Thanks to my fabulous animal models that I created with Night Cafe.  Friendly comments are welcome.   Hugs!

♠  ♣  ♠

Here’s the obligatory shameless self-promotion.

Speak Flowers and Fans: a Dictionary of Floriography and Fanology

Universal Purchase Links

E-book:  relinks.me/B0FK3ZGNQT

Paperback:  relinks.me/B0FK3RH7LY

♠  ♣  ♠

Copyright © 2026 by Teagan Ríordáin Geneviene

All rights reserved. 

This blog is entirely human-written.  Furthermore, the author expressly prohibits any entity from using this publication for purposes of training AI technologies to generate text.  No part of this work may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.  Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights.

All images are either the property of the author or provided by free sources, unless stated otherwise.

Help Me Decide-2: #BookCover Finalist

Wednesday, June 6, 2026

Heartfelt thanks to everyone who visited my midweek post to help me choose a book cover for my upcoming nonfiction book.  It’s a resource book for authors, but it has loads of 1920s details for trivia lovers, and anyone who simply thinks the Roaring Twenties are the cat’s pajamas!

Previously I showed four cover concepts.  Click here for that post.  The fourth option was the most popular.  It was also my pick (probably…) because it used the same flapper silhouette as another book in the “Author Tool Chest” series, Speak Flapper. 

Still feeling the pull to explore ideas, I’ve made one more concept — this one based on that most popular concept.  So today, I’m showing those two.  For your reference, I’ve showed all of the other related books at the top of this post. 

The Previous Idea

Gold flapper dancing

One More Idea

Because everyone “got” my idea with the typewriter, I made it more prominent.  The book covers a wide range of 1920s details for any character in a Roaring Twenties setting.  So, to show that the book is about more than “flapper girls” I used a man and a woman.

Which of these two do you think works best for the book?  Your constructive feedback is welcome.  I hope your weekend is the bee’s knees!  Hugs.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣

I mustn’t leave out the obligatory shameless self-promotion…

Speak Flapper: Slang of the 1920s

Universal Purchase Links

Speak Flapper

Kindle:  relinks.me/B083HNK3BB

Paperback:  relinks.me/1656168553

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣

This blog is entirely human-written.  Furthermore, the author expressly prohibits any entity from using this publication for purposes of training AI technologies to generate text.  This is a work of fiction.  Characters, names, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, locales, or events is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2026 by Teagan Ríordáin Geneviene

All rights reserved. 

No part of this work may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.  Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights.

All images are either the property of the author or provided by free sources, unless stated otherwise.

Help Me Decide — #BookCover

Wednesday, June 3, 2026

Alrightie. Welcome to Grumpyville… I just lost an entire post because my Internet blinked off.   And I was asking so nicely, for your help in choosing a book cover — and I so carefully described what the upcoming book is about.   However, now I’m doing the bare basics.   If you would please be so kind as to help me decide on the cover for my next nonfiction book?  Tell me the one you like best in a comment… A, B, C, or D.  If you could add “why” that would be great.

I’m showing you Speak Flapper above, for your reference, because this book is about the Roaring Twenties.   It’s filled with loads of the kinds of details that authors can use to make their 1920s characters come to vivid life.  Ready?

By the way — I wanted to keep it similar to Speak Flapper, but there were limits on that because of a few reasons… Maybe that isn’t all that important…

A

Black on gold, flapper and car

B

The least similar to the rest of my series, but maybe that’s okay…   

Photo with cut-outs

C

Cut-out flapper with typewriter and border

D

And lastly… Gold flapper dancing

Let me know which of these works best for you, keeping in mind the kind of book it is.  Wishing you a splendiferous rest of the week!  Hugs.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣

Yes, here’s the obligatory shameless self-promotion…

Speak Flapper: Slang of the 1920s

Universal Purchase Links

Speak Flapper

Kindle:  relinks.me/B083HNK3BB

Paperback:  relinks.me/1656168553

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣

This blog is entirely human-written.  Furthermore, the author expressly prohibits any entity from using this publication for purposes of training AI technologies to generate text.  This is a work of fiction.  Characters, names, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, locales, or events is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2026 by Teagan Ríordáin Geneviene

All rights reserved. 

No part of this work may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.  Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights.

All images are either the property of the author or provided by free sources, unless stated otherwise.

Flower of the Month: April

Wednesday, April 15, 2026

Hello, all.  I had over half of this post done when my computer crashed.  What I had saved of the post in WordPress… well, didn’t save.  I’m starting over, but with an abbreviated version.  

Flowers of the Month: Daisies and Sweet Peas

I expect that everyone is familiar with the charming daisy (as in my image at the top of the page).  So the photo here features the delicate looking sweet pea.

Symbolism

Daisies symbolize innocence, purity, and true love, while sweet peas represent bliss, gratitude, and good wishes.

April’s Animals

From various sources the primary animal associated with April is the duck.  That’s my lovely Night Cafe model above.  The duck symbolizes cheer, and endurance — as in “like water off a duck’s back.”  Other April animals include the falcon and the ram.

Oracle Card

The Magic of Flowers oracle cards by Tess Whitehurst has a card for the daisy.  I love the joy and whimsy of the artwork on this card.  In the context of the oracle cards, the daisy can remind us to be mindful of simplicity, health, purification, and wealth. 

“Rather than adding or doing something in order to experience the most positive resolution or outcome in this situation, it appears that it’s time to let something go or to simply let it be.”

So, I’m going to follow that suggestion — since I lost so much work, I’m going to just let this post be, and let it be simple.  Friendly comments are appreciated.  Hugs!

♠  ♣  ♠

Here is the rest of the obligatory shameless self-promotion.

Speak Flowers and Fans: a Dictionary of Floriography and Fanology

Universal Purchase Links

E-book:  relinks.me/B0FK3ZGNQT

Paperback:  relinks.me/B0FK3RH7LY

♠  ♣  ♠

Copyright © 2026 by Teagan Ríordáin Geneviene

All rights reserved. 

This blog is entirely human-written.  Furthermore, the author expressly prohibits any entity from using this publication for purposes of training AI technologies to generate text.   No part of this work may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.  Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights.

All images are either the property of the author or provided by free sources, unless stated otherwise.