Monthly Archives: May 2012

With my body I thee worship…

Updated on February 7, 2013 by Elena Greene

Last Sunday at church the sermon topic was “Sex and Attraction: An Embodied Spirituality.” (I go to a really cool church.) The minister made the point that religion has sometimes, though not always, created this duality of “spirit=divine and therefore good/body=beastly and therefore evil”. A lot of our culture has embraced this duality, along with the implication that what is good must be boring and what is fun must be evil. It ignores the intimate connection between the spiritual and the physical. Love as an abstract concept doesn’t mean much; it needs to be expressed through the physical: smiles, words, loving acts, including sex.

I think most romance authors understand this body-and-soul thing. But I have heard some authors of so-called “sweet” romance imply that their books are about the relationship and that the so-called “hot” books are “only” about sex. I don’t think so. The hottest erotic romances I’ve read are the ones with strong emotions driving the characters. The most moving “sweet” romances I’ve read are those where the author used the power of simple things like a smoldering gaze, the touch of a hand.

An erotic romance I read a few years ago bombed for me. The characters were so generic and the situation so contrived that it felt as silly as Benny Hill. On the other extreme, I’ve read several inspirational romances which were so careful to avoid not only the act of sex, but any hint of sexuality, that it felt unnatural. I don’t need to always read about sex and stories shouldn’t go further than makes sense for the characters and their situation. But if it’s a romance, I want to feel the sexual attraction, even if it’s expressed in subtle ways. If they kiss, let them enjoy it!

The other thing I’ve been ambivalent about is the fade-out, where the h/h start making love and the next thing we know they are smiling at each other over breakfast. I don’t think authors have to make a scene of it every time the hero and heroine make love. But if it’s the first time or at a turning point in their relationship, it feels like I missed something.

Anyway, what do you think? Does the dichotomy of “sweet” vs “hot” ever bother you? How do you feel about fade-outs? Who does “body and soul” best?

Elena

www.elenagreene.com

www.facebook.com/ElenaGreene

Posted in Reading, Writing | Tagged sex, sex in Regencies | 7 Replies

Sleep On It

Updated on February 7, 2013 by megan

Inspiration comes from so many places.

Mother’s Day is tomorrow, and as usual, what I want for Mother’s Day can be summed up in one word:
Sleep.

Now, I know I can be a bit…obsessed about getting more sleep. I never get enough, and I always want more. But there’s more to it than that: I’ve found that I am able to work things out while I sleep, which means that when I am stuck in terms of writing, I take a bath and then a nap, and usually the answer comes to me while I am unconscious.

My friend described the brain process like a funnel–you’ve got all this stuff jammed up in the top part, then something shakes loose, and it comes pouring down. Being asleep lets stuff shake loose. So you’ve actually assembled the elements before you go to sleep, it’s just that it shakes loose while your mind is free to wander.

I’m working on the second book for my Loveswept releases, which means I am finding myself with the urge to nap–for work purposes, of course!–quite often. Just this morning I had some plot epiphanies, which were pretty cool, and this weekend my Mother’s Day gift will be writing time, so I’ll get a chance to implement them in the book.

When does your best creative time occur? How do you shake things loose?

Megan
PS: I’ll be relaunching my website next week, with a cool new design! Woot!

Posted in Writing | Tagged Inspiration, Megan | 5 Replies

To Mothers

Updated on February 7, 2013 by Diane Gaston

Yesterday was Mother’s Day, a lovely day for me. My daughter gave me a gift, selected from my Amazon wish list- a vegetable grilling pan for the outdoor grill. And this lovely card:

This image is called “Another World” by artist Paul C Milner

To me it perfectly conveys that feeling of being lost in a book

My daughter’s boyfriend gave me flowers, which one of the cats promptly chewed on. We rescued this one:

Along with the dh, we went to brunch, sat outside in beautiful weather and had a very enjoyable meal.

So in my lazy afternoon, I went searching for Regency quotes about mothers for today’s blog:

Let’s start with the Bard, earlier than the Regency, of course, but known to them:

Thou art thy mother’s glass, and she in thee
Calls back the lovely April of her prime—
William Shakespeare

I found a quote from Coleridge:

The love of a mother is the veil of a softer light between the heart and the heavenly father—
Samuel Taylor Coleridge

That was it! That was the only Regency era quote I found. There were plenty of quotations about mothers in the later years which made me wonder if Motherhood only started to become revered during the Victorian era.

Here’s a really beautiful example:

Women know
The way to rear up children (to be just)
They know a simple, merry, tender knack
Of tying sashes, fitting baby shoes,
And stringing pretty words that make no sense,
And kissing full sense into empty words–
Elizabeth Barrett Browning

And here’s one, no time frame known, just for fun:

A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest—
Irish Proverb

Do you have a favorite saying about mothers?
Did you have a good Mother’s Day?

Posted in Regency | Tagged Mother's Day | 4 Replies

Sleeping Beauty

Updated on February 7, 2013 by Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

Happy Tuesday everyone! I can’t believe May is already halfway gone. I am buried in revisions and new projects here, but like Megan I seem to have only one major thing on my mind lately: sleep. I can never seem to get enough of it! So I started to wonder (as I lay awake last night thinking about all sorts of things), what would characters in historical novels take to help them sleep?

People have had trouble sleeping since time began. I have no idea what cavemen took, but in the ancient world (Egypt, Greece, Rome) there were various herbs and things that don’t sound effective at all, such as lettuce juice, mandrake bark, something called “herbane,” and the one thing that was very effective indeed, opium derived from poppies. (Hypnos, god of sleep, was often portrayed holding a poppy).

Nothing any better came along for a long time. In 1805 a chemist named Frederick Setumer synthesized opium, which didn’t really change the effectiveness of the drug but led to the synthesis of various other sedatives. By the 1850s chloryl hydrate was developed in Germany and became popular, but like opium it had a myriad of side effects and it was easy to overdose (especially when mixed with alcohol). There also came about a variety of bromides (originally meant to cure epilepsy, but they didn’t really work for that).

By the beginning of the 20th century barbiturates such as Veronal became available, but they also had myriad unpleasant side effects. It wasn’t really until the ’70s that benzodiazepines like Xanax and Valium were in widespread use. Now the trend has swung back around to herbal solutions such as St. John’s Wort (which my liver doctor warns me not to try…)

What historical sleep solution sounds wackiest? Lettuce juice? What do you use to help you sleep? Now I feel in need of a nap…

And now something that has absolutely nothing to do with this post but which i feel I must share: I love this dress the Duchess of Cambridge wore last week! I want to knock her down and steal it, if I didn’t know how ridiculous it would look on me since I am at least 2 feet shorter than her:

Posted in Research | Tagged Kate Middleton, sleep | 5 Replies

Nice Work and a Rant

Updated on February 7, 2013 by Janet Mullany

Since this is my writing day I’m sitting around in my nightie, listening to a CD of music by (mostly) Bach that I bought almost three weeks ago, and seeking inspiration of many kinds. And in case you’re wondering about the rest of my writing day it will consist of taking old paint cans to a recycling depot, getting a pedicure (it’s about time, they’re disgusting) and going to my local romance writers’ chapter meeting, where the lovely and smart Stephanie Dray aka Draven will be speaking. Well, it almost counts as writing, doesn’t it?

Today’s birthdays include those of William Jenner, who developed the polio vaccine, and you can see my earlier post about him here (the contest is long since closed, sorry). Also it’s the birthday of the unhappy wife of Prinny, Queen Caroline, and I thought about bloggin about her, but lord, it’s a depressing and sordid story where no one behaves well and stars two of the most unlikable protagonists ever. I know there’s been some talk about celebrating the “real” start of the Regency–2012 is the 200th anniversary of when Prinny officially took over–but I don’t know that it’s much to celebrate.

So I guess it’s time for a rant.

Mantitty.

We’re still in the era of mantitty. Several decades ago when I came of age, many of us were adamant about the gratuitous use of images of women’s bodies to sell … just about anything. We thought it showed disrespect, it categorized women as bimbos, it meant we were marginalized. And now god help us all over the web our eyes are assaulted daily by those waxed, buffed, hairless, overmuscled images that represent romance. Most of them don’t even look like human beings.

Now come on, confess. Do you really find them sexy? All that static perfection? I think I could take the waxed, buffed, hairless, overmuscled glory of it all if they were actually doing something–like moving. However, the worst ever has to be the Porn for Women book. What is remotely sexy about a man doing housework? Sure, it’s nice. But (1) why should a guy doing chores be something out of the ordinary, and (2) if the title is Porn for Women, why doesn’t it deliver? That’s not porn in my books (or on my internet). As a joke it falls flat in all respects.

Here’s an excerpt from one of my favorite novels, Nice Work by David Lodge. The main characters are Robyn Penrose, a feminist lecturer who specializes in the industrial novel (lots of North and South references) and industrialist Vic Wilcox, and it’s set in the 1980s. Here’s a discussion of the calendar Vic’s company produces:

“What about a bit of prick and bum, too?” said Robyn.
Everthorpe looked satisfyingly taken aback. “Eh?” he said.
“Well, statistically, at least ten percent of your customers must be gay. Aren’t they entitled to a little porn too?”
“Ha, ha,” Everthorpe laughed uneasily. ‘Not many queers in our line of business, are there, Vic?”
Wilcox, who was following this conversation with amused interest, said nothing.
“Or what about the women who work in the offices where these calendars are stuck up?” Robyn continued. “Why should they have to look at naked women all the time? Couldn’t you dedicate a few months of the year to naked men? Perhaps you’d like to pose yourself, along with Tracey?”
Vic Wilcox guffawed.
“I’m afraid you’ve got it wrong, darling,” said Everthorpe, struggling to retain his poise. “Women aren’t like that. They’re not interested in pictures of naked men.”
“I am,” said Robin. “I like them with hairy chests and ten-inch pricks.” Everthorpe gaped at her. “You’re shocked, aren’t you?”