As you just might have heard, this week RWA announced its finalists in the RITA and the Golden Heart awards! (The RWA website says “The purpose of the RITA contest is to promote excellence in the romance genre by recognizing outstanding published romance novels and novellas.” The Golden Heart does the same for unpublished manuscripts). You may also have heard the Riskies and their friends did pretty well (because we’ve been shouting it out to anyone who will stand still and listen!). We thought these books deserved another look.

Deb Marlowe, whose Annalise and the Scandalous Rake from The Diamonds of Welbourne Manor, is up for Best Novella was not even at home when The Call came. “Actually, I spent the day playing hookey!” she says. “I took the day off from writing and went shopping. My friend and critique partner Sabrina Jeffries needed something snazzy for a photo shoot. Since neither of us makes a move fashion-wise without the incredible savvy advice of Claudia Dain, the three of us spent the day shopping and having lunch. We had a productive and fun day, and as we were leaving we decided this was how we needed to spend every RITA day–instead of sitting and waiting for the phone to ring.

“Then I got home to a firestorm! There was a message from the lovely Trish Milburn–and I started to shake, because I knew what that meant. I called her back and blabbered like a fool. Then I got online to slew of messages. I didn’t get to break the news to anybody–everybody already knew! Diane and Amanda were wondering where the heck I was. My mailbox was full of so many lovely congratulatory emails. It was wonderful and truly–I feel like I already won! I was especially happy to see Amanda’s name along with mine, and that my other c.p. Liz Carlyle was nominated as well. A truly great day all around.”

Annalise and the Scandalous Rake–House party guest Ned Milford can see the inner passion and beauty that Annalise Fitzmanning hides. But how close should they become when his reason for being at Welbourne Manor would prompt a society scandal, not a society wedding!

Amanda’s Call (for Charlotte and the Wicked Lord from, you guessed it, The Diamonds of Welbourne Manor!) went somewhat differently. I had just stumbled out of bed and was trying to make my morning tea (because I can’t really talk until after at least one cup of tea, preferably 2) when the phone rang. I looked at the caller ID and thought “I don’t know anyone in Nashville.” Then I remembered–RITA day! I snatched up the phone and babbled something at the poor lady on the other line (Trish Milburn, who I’m sure heard many incoherent people that day!). Then I got off the phone, jumped around while my pets stared at me like I was insane, and plopped down in front of the computer to see who else was a finalist and share the news. The day was pretty much a waste from then on as far as any useful work went, because I was constantly on Twitter and email! This is my 3rd nomination–maybe third is the charm? LOL. Like Deb, it feels like I already won. And now I have to go out and shop for a new dress.

Charlotte and the Wicked Lord–Charlotte may be the youngest Fitzmanning girl, but she knows her own mind–and she wants Lord Andrew Bassington! Drew requires an eminently proper bride, something free-spirited Charlotte has never been. So how can she make him see the beautiful woman she has become…?

(On another note, there are also more Welbourne stories in the future! Amanda has a Christmas novella, Mistletoe and Folly, about Mary Bassington and her old flame Lord Amesby, coming out in October, plus just turned in Nicholas’s book! Deb’s turned in her book about Stephen, too, so there will be lots more about this family soon…)

Risky Carolyn Jewel has not one but two nominations to her name! Look for Scandal in the Regency Historical category and My Forbidden Desire in Paranormal.

Scandal–The Earl of Banallt is no stranger to scandal. But when he meets Sophie Evans, the young wife of a fellow libertine, even he is shocked by his reaction. This unconventional and intelligent woman proves to be far more than an amusing distraction–she threatens to drive him to distraction. Unlike the women who usually fall at Banallt’s feet, and into his bed, Sophie refuses to be seduced. And soon Banallt desires her more than ever–and for more than an illicit affair. Years later, the widowed Sophie is free, and Banallt is determined to win the woman he still loves. Unfortunately, she doesn’t believe his declaration of love and chivalrous offer of marriage–her heart has already been broken by her scoundrel of a husband. And yet, Sophie is temped to indulge in the torrid affair she’s always fantasized about. Caught between her logical mind and her long denied desire, Sophie must thwart Banallt’s seduction–or risk being consumed by the one man she should avoid at all costs…

Carolyn will have to pop in on comments and let us know her call story! 🙂

My Forbidden Desire–Alexandrine Marit is a witch in mortal danger. An evil mage craves the powerful, mysterious talisman that supplies her magic, and the only person who can keep her safe is a dark and dangerous fiend called Xia. With his fierce animosity toward witches, he’s hardly the ideal bodyguard. Yet as days turn into nights, she can’t deny the white-hot passion between them. Xia hates witches. They enslave and mercilessly kill his kind. But he’s been ordered to protect Alexandrine who to his surprise has a spirit he admires and a body he longs to possess. With the mage and his henchmen closing in, Alexandrine and her protector must trust the passion that unite them–or risk losing everything to the enemies who can destroy them both…

Frequent Riskies visitor and resident Medieval/Victorian expert Michelle Willingham is also a finalist, in the Historical Romance category with Taming Her Irish Warrior! Like Deb, she was not at home at the time the calls were going out. “I knew the phone calls were going out for the RITA finalists, but I couldn’t stand the pressure,” she says. “Instead I chose to leave the house and go get my car fixed at the dealership. I knew if I were home, I’d start obsessing over it and get no writing done, and well…I’ve never been a finalist in a romance contest in my life.

“Even so, I used the free wireless at the dealership and worked on my new ‘Undone’ novella, thinking well, it’s not going to happen, so just get over it and get some work done. The names of the finalists started rolling in, and as I saw more and more historical authors listed, I thought–great! I’ll have to try those books. But it’ll never be me. Then a close friend of mine, Larissa Ione, emailed me with a huge congratulations. She didn’t even tell me why, just wrote in all caps, CONGRATULATIONS I KNEW IT! My hands started shaking, and it was a miracle I even managed to type the web address of RWA to see who the latest finalists were. When I saw my name up there, I wanted to start bawling in the dealership. Do you know how hard it was to keep those emotions bottled up??? I wanted to scream at everyone there, “Oh my gosh, I’m a RITA finalist!! Can you believe it?!” Then they would have thrown Styrofoam coffee cups at me, I know it.

“So I emailed my editor and agent in all caps, and I’m not even sure what I typed. Maybe something like Gilbwerious aweroui OMG werepiogh RITA finalist werararar. I don’t know. But there were 4 messages on my phone when I got home–2 from the RWA Board and 2 from the person trying to contact me, confirming that yes my wildest dream had indeed come true.”

Taming Her Irish Warrior–When did Ewan MacEgan grow to be so overwhelmingly strong and disarmingly sexy? He intends to wed Honora St. Leger’s demure sister–but why should that matter to her? Honora would rather wield a sword than a mending needle, and as a widow she knows there is little pleasure in the marriage bed… Ewan MacEgan has set his sights on a wealthy bride, but tantalizingly he finds himself drawn to the forbidden Honora! One touch and he is longing to awaken her sensuality, for he suspects she will be as passionate in bed as she is on the battlefield!

You can see a full list of the finalists (and there are so many great ones!) here at the RWA National site

(I also have to mention a friend of mine, Donnell Epperson, who is a Golden Heart finalist in the Paranormal category with Glorious Misfortune. Donnell sadly passed away last month after a valiant battle with breast cancer, but she never lost her great love for the art and craft of writing romance. I am so proud of her!)

I’ve recently jumped in at the deep end of book 3 of my “Daughters of Ireland” series (Lady of Seduction, Caroline’s story, out in June 2011!), and I’m finding my way to really knowing the characters. Some authors have great success with character outlines and things like that, but the only way I can do this is to actually sit down and start writing the book. After about 50 or so pages (about where I’m at now) I have a clearer vision of them and what they’re all about, what motivates them and what they really want, and their flaws too. I live with them and they start to be my friends (or my enemies, depending on how stubborn they’re being!). Of course, they also sometimes surprise me by insisting on taking the plot in a new direction or doing something out of left field…

How does my vision of them start to take shape? Well, it starts with names. They have to be just right, which can sometimes be a challenge. Especially in historical stories, where there is often a limited range of plausible names. (I’m also plotting out an Elizabethan-set story right now, and for women in this period it’s an endless parade of Katherines, Marys, and Janes and Williams, Edwards, and Roberts!). I like to find a “period” name that sounds right and isn’t jarring to readers. Sometimes there were unusual names, to be sure–also in the Elizabethan era, the Devereaux family had a tradition of naming daughters “Essex”, and Jane Grey’s husband Guildford Dudley was named after his mother’s family.

I’m not sure there were as many men in the Georgian/Regency period whose names could be shortened easily to Sin, Devil, or Hawk as we romance writers seem to think! 🙂 But the important thing is 1) it fits the character, and 2) if it is unusual, explain it and have a good reason for it. I start by flipping through baby name books, old primary resources of the period, Internet sites, etc, until I find the right one. Once they’re names, it’s on to…

How do they look??? Now this is the fun part! I scan websites and magazines for photos of hunky actors (tough, but a diligent author must make sacrifices for the art…) and actresses in beautiful gowns to get an idea of my characters’ appearance. Then I work on…

Putting them into their setting. Setting is huge part of Lady of Seduction. Our hero was a villain in book 2, Duchess of Sin. After a terrible fire at the end of Duchess, he retreats to a crumbling medieval castle on an isolated Irish island, very stormy and Gothic and spooky. There are ruins, secret passages, and locked tower rooms, all sorts of great stuff like that. The setting has to become its own character in a way, so I researched islands like Inishturk and Caher to devise the ruined monastery and envision the harbor and coast as well as the castle.

I put inspirational pictures on the cork board by my desk so I can keep all this in mind as I work! It helps me fall into their world and I can really embark on the adventure of a new book.

What is your process for finding characters? And were you a big fan of Gothics like I was? (I gobbled up Victoria Holt stories when I was a kid!)

The winner of a copy of Rogue in My Arms is…Alison! Congrats! Please send your snail mail info to us at riskies AT yahoo.com

Our Risky Regencies Read Along of Venetia, spearheaded by Carolyn, is turning out to be a great fun. It was a new idea and I’ve been enjoying it immensely.

There are a couple more new ideas that have also captured my interest in the last week.

The first is a new blog started by friends of mine, Kristine Hughes and Victoria Hinshaw. For those of you who write in the Regency and Victorian time periods, you probably have Kristine’s book, Writers Guide to Everyday Life in Regency and Victorian England. (If not, she’s selling that and more on CD-just follow that link). Victoria Hinshaw is the author of several traditional regencies.

What Kristine and Vicky have in common is a love of research, especially researching Georgian/Regency/Victorian England. They also have a great sense of fun, so when they told me they were starting a blog, I knew I’d love it.

The blog is called Number One London. It launched on March 20 and here’s what they had the very first day:
Curiosity Corner – a recurring feature, this time a portrait and the task is to guess who it is.
Announcement of a Writer in Residence program – you could be awarded a stipend to spend two month to a year in Stratford on Avon! (have I got your attention now?)
Sharpe in India
All you ever wanted to know about franking a letter
Waterloo Bridge
Archive CD books online (you know I was excited about that one!!)

So check it out! I’m betting it will be almost as fun and educational as Risky Regencies.

Next new thing is from YouTube via ABC Nightly News.
Remember the remake of We Are The World debuted during the Superbowl? I was watching ABC news and Diane Sawyer did a story of another version of We Are The World done by ordinary people from all over the world. It was the idea of Lisa Lavie, a singer, who chose 57 other singers from YouTube and asked each of them to tape themselves singing We Are the World. Then she spliced them all together.

Here is the result:

These everyday people, from all over the world, were simply fantastic.

(for an interview with Lisa Lavie with Diane Sawyer, look Here.

Next Monday I’ll have something new to announce! A new book (well, an anthology) and a book giveaway. And more!

What’s new with you? Any new experiences? Tell us!

The Riskies are happy to welcome to the blog for the first time Celeste Bradley! Leave a comment for the chance to win a copy of Rogue in My Arms…

“There’s passion, adventure, non-stop action, and secrets that make the pages fly by” –RT Book Reviews

Celeste: Hi Risky Regencies! So nice to be here!

Riskies: Welcome! Tell us about Rogue in My Arms and the whole “Runaway Brides” series…

Celeste: This has been so much fun to write! All daddies, all the time. The Runaway Brides trilogy had the working title of “Three Lords and a Baby.” One day a tiny girl, Melody, is dropped off on the steps of Brown’s Club for Distinguished Gentlemen with nothing but a note claiming that her father is a member of the club. Since most of the club’s members are long past the sowing of their oats, the finger seems to point to the youngest three members, Lord Aidan de Quincy, Sir Colin Lambert, and Lord Jack Redgrave.

In the first novel, Devil in My Bed, Aidan forces himself to face his past and find the woman who broke his heart more than three years past. Madeleine Chandler is running from her own past so fast that she runs right back into Aidan’s arms, at least long enough to get his help in leaving the country. One small lie about having Aidan’s baby doesn’t seem too high a price to pay for temporary sanctuary, until the love she thought was lost returns tenfold. Now with so much more to lose, how can Madeleine confess the truth?

In the second book, Rogue in My Arms, Sir Colin Lambert is searching for the stunning actress Chantal, who rejected him so soundly that he has never looked at another woman since. If he can offer her his new title and wealth, and make their child legitimate, surely she will wed him now? But Chantal has disappeared and Colin must hire saucy theater seamstress Prudence Filby to help him in his search. However, plain and common Pru is really a lady in hiding, protecting her young brother from greedy relations who would steal the inheritance he will receive when he comes of age. Now out of work and broke because Chantal fled town without paying her, Pru and her brother join the search for the flighty actress.

The journey takes them from London to Brighton to Bath, a mad race to catch up with Chantal before she weds another. On the way they encounter scoundrels, players and bandits, along with a string of other lovelorn men hell-bent to find Chantal! When Pru realizes that Colin is a man she could truly love, she can’t bear that he still adores the selfish Chantal. When Colin realizes that Pru is so much more than he first believed, he realizes that he must make a choice. Wed the woman he loves and doom his child to permanent illegitimacy, or try to make a family with the mother of his child?

Rogue in My Arms will be released March 30th! And the third novel, Scoundrel in My Dreams is in progress at the moment. It will tell the poignant story of Lord John “Jack” Redgrave and his journey back from the trauma of war and the discovery of a love he never knew waited for him at home. It will be released in Fall 2010…

Riskies: And what was the inspiration behind this series?

Celeste: I was pondering fatherhood, actually! What makes a man a father? Is it blood? Is it simply a protective instinct? Motherhood is simple and biological–we must love our children. What if any man could learn to be a father, whether the child was his or not? These three men each suspect that Melody is theirs. Yet when they eventually learn the truth, should that change the love that has grown in them? Can letting one little girl into a man’s heart expand it enough to heal old wounds and allow him to love again?

Riskies: Did you come across any interesting or surprising research for these stories?

Celeste: Always! I loved learning about Bath, England. So much fascinating history, dating from Roman times. The story didn’t lend itself to including all the great facts I discovered. I had to be careful it didn’t become “Colin and Pru Go To Bath” because it really could have! I’m going to have to set an entire novel there someday.

In Devil in My Bed I think I enjoyed learning about dumbwaiters the most. I found a lot of 1800 news articles about tragic accidents involving people climbing into dumbwaiters. They would try to use them to get into locked rooms, or to spy on their neighbors, or to escape a bill-collector at the apartment door. Doesn’t that inspire a string of stories in your head??

Riskies: What’s “risky” about this book?

Celeste: Well, I always take risks. I’m notorious for being far-fetched and “history-lite.” I love the Regency era but I can’t resist playing with the facts. I once wrote a book about the Prince Regent clambering through the storm drains with my hero and heroines, but since he would have been close to 80 at the time, I blithely snipped 20 years off his age and went for it. In Rogue, I think the riskiest thing I did was to dispense with a lot of overwrought conflict about class distinctions. As accurate as that might have been to the time, it would have made my characters seems shallow to a modern reader. Besides, money and rank cancels a lot of social errors, even now!

And my love scenes are pretty risky! Of course I have included, as always, my most beloved moment–a bathing scene!–and my favorite device–kidnapping! A Regency novel without a kidnapping is like Star Trek without the Enterprise.

Riskies: LOL! And what’s coming up next for you?

Celeste: I’m very excited about the release of Rogue in a couple of weeks, of course! I’m currently finishing up the third novel, Scoundrel in My Dreams, for publication this fall. I’ll be at the Romantic Times Convention in Columbus in April, and at RomCon in Denver in July. Details are here at my website.

And as I write this I’m on a plane to New York to meet with my agent and publisher about something really new and exciting! Something I can’t tell anyone about yet! It’s killing me to keep quiet, but updates will be on my website very soon.

I’d also like to add a note about my favorite cause, which is Literacy. I believe that most of the evils of the world could be cured with education and the empowerment and tolerance that comes with being well-read. This is a women’s issue as well, since two-thirds of the world’s under-educated are women. A clearinghouse of literacy projects exists at ProLiteracy.org. If you’d like more information, visit this website and join the effort to prevent ignorance and intolerance worldwide!