Author Archives: Elena Greene

About Elena Greene

Elena Greene grew up reading anything she could lay her hands on, including her mother's Georgette Heyer novels. She also enjoyed writing but decided to pursue a more practical career in software engineering. Fate intervened when she was sent on a three year international assignment to England, where she was inspired to start writing romances set in the Regency. Her books have won the National Readers' Choice Award, the Desert Rose Golden Quill and the Colorado Romance Writers' Award of Excellence. Her Super Regency, LADY DEARING'S MASQUERADE, won RT Book Club's award for Best Regency Romance of 2005 and made the Kindle Top 100 list in 2011. When not writing, Elena enjoys swimming, cooking, meditation, playing the piano, volunteer work and craft projects. She lives in upstate New York with her two daughters and more yarn, wire and beads than she would like to admit.

New Year’s Plans and Giveaway

Updated on January 2, 2014 by Elena Greene

Happy New Year! I hope everyone is safe and warm despite the recent storms. It is so pretty in my backyard and I’m glad I haven’t had to drive anywhere.

I’m not much into New Year’s Resolutions. I get the appeal of the idea of starting fresh. The problem is that a year is an awfully long time to strive to be good. Frankly, I can rarely make it through a day without messing up in some way or other. I think it’s better to try to start fresh at any time. Even, say, halfway through a bag of potato chips I hadn’t intended to eat. Though admittedly hard to do!

So while I think it’s a good idea to take stock now and then, I prefer plans to resolutions. I want to change something, I make a plan and I try to make it fairly specific. Once things make it onto my To Do List, there’s a good chance they’ll get done eventually. At the very least they aren’t forgotten.

This year, one thing I want to do is see if I can learn to write faster. My writing time is still constrained by being a stroke caregiver and mother of teenagers (one of whom is headed for college SOON!) but maybe I can make that time more productive. I’ve heard some prolific writers imply that slow writers like me just need to work harder. In my case, I think it’s more about working smarter. I write quickly once I get my ideas together, but it takes me a while to connect (or reconnect) with the story and the characters. Part of that is having to write sporadically–which I can’t help–but I also think part of it is being so driven that I don’t refill the well often enough. After each spurt of creativity, I struggle for a while.

I did The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron a while ago. I’m still good about doing the Morning Pages (daily journaling) but like many, I’m not so good at the Artist’s Dates (weekly activities intended to be fun for the muse). For me, this would be things like taking time to play the piano, do crafty stuff, get out into nature, watch more movies and read for pleasure.

So this year my plan is to put an Artist’s Date on my To Do List each week. It may seem counter-intuitive to getting more writing done, but I’m going to try it and see what happens.

How about you? Any resolutions or plans for the New Year? I’ll be giving away 5 free download codes from Audible for Lady Dearing’s Masquerade. Comment on this post between now and next Thursday, Jan 9th. I’ll announce the winners on Friday, Jan 10th.

Elena
www.elenagreene.com

Posted in Giveaways, Writing | Tagged new years resolutions, The Artist's Way | 11 Replies

Jane Austen Movie Marathon

Updated on December 27, 2013 by Elena Greene

I hope everyone enjoyed Christmas. Having had to drive 350 miles through the snow to visit family and dreading the same for the return trip today (I didn’t order this weather!) I’m looking forward to celebrating New Year’s at home.

It’s been a long standing tradition for us to make a special dinner, trying at least one new recipe. This year the new recipes are Chicken Kiev (accompanied by potato puffs and green beans almondine) and chocolate peanut butter pie for dessert. Then we’ll settle in to watch movies. This year it’ll be the Sherlock Holmes movies with Robert Downey Jr.

My daughters have delighted me by agreeing to a Jane Austen movie marathon on New Year’s Day. So far we’ve agreed on the Colin Firth/Jennifer Ehle Pride & Prejudice. We’re still discussing which other films we can fit in. I’m thinking the recent Northanger Abbey with Felicity Jones and JJ Feild (whose name is so much fun to write, breaking that “i before e” rule). Maybe Sense & Sensibility, but which one? Maybe the girls would enjoy seeing Professor Snape as a romantic hero.

We’re still thinking about food. Should we go period or would that make things too complicated? The point of this day is to relax. I’m away from my period recipe books so will have to check later today if there’s something easy I can make.

Any suggestions about films and food for our Jane Austen movie marathon? How are you all planning to celebrate the New Year?

Elena
www.elenagreene.com

Posted in Frivolity, Jane Austen | Tagged Jane Austen movie marathon | 16 Replies

Regency Gift List

Updated on December 12, 2013 by Elena Greene

I’m just about done with my real Christmas shopping ; I’m still awaiting one item ordered online and need to pick up some candy for stocking stuffers. But in case anyone’s looking for gifts for a Regency-phile—or herself, I found some fun items online.

The Jane Austen Centre Giftshop always has some interesting items. I’m partial to sweet-smelling things and these “Scents of Austen’s World” candles sound lovely, especially the honeysuckle.

Since I’ve been playing piano again, with pleasure though not particularly well, this collection of piano music, “A Carriage Ride in Queen’s Square: Easy to Play Piano Pieces for Jane Austen’s Bath” also intrigued me. It’s described as a collection of “original compositions by Gwen Bevan, great-great-grandaughter of Jane Austen’s niece, Fanny Knight.”

I regularly direct my husband to the Republic of Pemberley Store for stocking stuffers and such. Pemberley Puddings looks like fun, along with the original Republic of Pemberley Cookbook

I love the “Amiable Rancor” section. Here’s a magnet from the collection. The text is from a letter from Jane to her sister Cassandra: “There was a scarcity of men in general, & a still greater scarcity of any that were good for much”.

If you’re feeling extravagant—or just like to window shop as I do and call it research—there’s one of my favorite antique jewelry sites: www.georgianjewelry.com.

Here are some Halley’s Comet earrings, from 1835, one of the years the comet made an appearance. Just a bit after the Regency but festive and a little geeky at the same time.

I also love the vivid blue enamel on this pearl and diamond cluster ring, c. 1790.

How’s your holiday shopping going? Do you ever treat yourself?

Elena
www.elenagreene.com

Posted in Frivolity, Jane Austen | Tagged gifts, jewelry | 5 Replies

Jama Day!

Updated on November 29, 2013 by Elena Greene

Janet is having technical difficulties, so there was no post yesterday. But the Riskies hope you’ve all had a lovely Thanksgiving and we are grateful for having such nice visitors!

As for today, since I’ve been working very hard lately, and so have my daughters (challenging academic loads and college applications for the oldest!) we’ve decided to do the opposite of the typical Black Friday.

The idea of a “Jama Day” came from this Peter Mayer song about spending a day in your pajamas as if “you don’t have a job, not even a resume.”

Our “Jama Day” is going to be a little more structured than in the song, partly because we’re doing it as a group and also because it’s not in my nature to be completely unstructured. Ironically, that would stress me out and being stressed out is not the point!

So we decided to do a Lord of the Rings marathon. We laid in a supply of easy munchies, some healthy (quacamole and chips, hummus and veggies) some not so much (M&Ms, donuts for breakfast and of course, cake). For dinner, we’ll have mushroom pizza in honor of the hobbits.

Soon I will be off to have some donuts and watch the first movie.

So what are you all doing today? I hope you’re enjoying the day in the way you like best.

Elena
www.elenagreene.com

Posted in Anything but writing, Frivolity | Tagged Jama Day, Lord of the Rings, Peter Mayer | 1 Reply

Avengers, Archetypes and Poll

Updated on November 22, 2013 by Elena Greene

I often get behind on pop culture, but try to catch up during our weekly Take-out & Video Night. Lately we’ve been watching the Avengers films. While action alone is OK for my husband, but my daughters and I need more. Joss Whedon’s attention to characterization is what makes these movies for us. Every superhero is distinctly different from the others; there’s always internal as well as external conflict. That the franchise is a feast of attractive men also doesn’t hurt (though I’d like to see more female superheroes, too).

I find it amusing that I can discuss the relative hotness of all these superheroes with my daughters. Being writing geeks, we also like to analyze the characterization and plotting and since we are writing geeks, this doesn’t detract from the fun.

Tami Cowden, author of The Complete Writer’s Guide to Heroes and Heroines, has developed a list of romance hero archetypes (read more here). Here’s my attempt to map these superheroes to archetypes. Sometimes more than one category seemed to apply, but OK, characters are like that.

Thor (played by Chris Hemsworth). Bold, nice to look at (such pretty muscles!), not always the brightest (so it’s good he’s paired with a scientist) but honorable. I say he’s a Swashbuckler though Chief and Warrior could also apply.

Captain America (played by Chris Evans). Kind and decent, he could be a Best Friend but also rises to be a Chief and Warrior when necessary. Also a bit of a Lost Soul since he’s out of his original time period. I told my daughters he’s the only Avenger I would allow them to date.

The Hulk (played by Mark Ruffalo). Definitely a Lost Soul but also the Professor. I love that combination!

Hawkeye (played by Jeremy Renner). I say Warrior but would like to see more of him to be sure.

Iron Man (played by Robert Downey Jr.) It’s hard to categorize a “genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist”. I say Bad Boy but he also has elements of Chief, Professor, Charmer, Swashbuckler and Lost Soul.

Even though he’s technically a villain, I have to give Loki his hotness dues. My daughters are huge fans but I told them under no circumstances would I allow them to date Loki.

In the original mythology, he is often called a Trickster (a character who shakes things up but isn’t obviously evil). Marvel has made him into a villain. Using the archetypes from Joseph Campbell’s Hero with a Thousand Faces, the Marvel version of Loki has elements of Trickster, Shadow and Shape Shifter. Back to Tami Cowden’s archetypes, on the hero side he could be a Lost Soul but according to her villain archetypes he’d be the Bastard and/or the Traitor. Whatever you call him, he’s fascinating.

So to the poll. Explain/discuss in the comments!