This weekend I’m off at a writing retreat. Well, I hope there will be writing, or at least a little anyway. I have a new idea I’m dying to tackle (maybe I need to do Janet’s BIAW? Sans fruit, of course!). But a friend who makes her own wine is coming, with several new bottles. Plus there are hiking trails, a swimming pool, horses, and lots of people to get caught up with–you see the problem. 🙂

The place where the retreat is being held is a beautiful, “rustic” lodge on a lake, totally different from the noisy town where I live. Internet and cell phone access is complicated, and there are no shops or restaurants to distract. I’m really looking forward to the getaway–and I really have to start packing! So, I’m going to turn to Miss Austen for help on this post. Here are some of her thoughts on town vs. country:

“One day in the country is exactly like another” —Northanger Abbey

“…the influence of London is very much at war with all respectable attachments” —Mansfield Park

“They come from Birmingham, which is not a place to promise much, you know, Mr. Weston. One has not great hopes from Birmingham” —Emma

“…I have heard that there is a great deal of wine in Oxford” —Northanger Abbey

“I am quite convinced that, with very few exceptions, the sea-air always does good” —Persuasion

“She sighed for the air, the liberty, the quiet of the country” —Sense and Sensibility

“…to sit in the shade on a fine day, and look upon verdure, is the most perfect refreshment” —Mansfield Park

“What are men to rocks and mountains?” —Pride and Prejudice

And now I’m off! I’ll be back next week with a report on the proceedings. Where would YOUR ideal retreat be?

I hate Fridays. Absolutely despise them. Which makes no sense, since I am a stay-at-home mom. I have no days off, no weekend to look forward to, no downtime. By Friday, though, I am tired of packing lunches (for both son and husband), tired of errands (later today–laundry! In the rain! At the laundromat!), tired of trying to get enough sleep so I can pop out of bed at 7:10 and get everyone ready for their respective days.

So on the way home from the gym, I decided to treat myself. And not with food, because apparently I did that all summer, and my jeans are really, really tight. Hence the gym. I love shopping at Amazon, absolutely love not paying tax or shipping, but there is really nothing like going to a bookstore, choosing your book (or books, plural–I hate Fridays, remember?), and getting to take it home right away. Bliss.

I bought two books, but eyed at least a dozen more. My friend, and fellow writer, Myretta Robens recommended Jo Beverley‘s latest book, To Rescue A Rogue. So I bought it. Take that, Friday! I also bought Jenna Petersen‘s From London With Love. Jenna will be gracing us Riskies with an interview later on this fall. I’ve already pre-ordered Jenna’s next book, Desire Never Dies, from Amazon, but I didn’t want to wait until my order was complete to get this one from Amazon (you know, the free shipping conundrum–I want it NOW, but I also want to save money).

I bet most of the folks who visit here get that same new book thrill–so what’s the latest book you bought that lifted your spirits? How long do you take before actually reading it? And have you read either of those two books? What did you think of them?

And do you hate a particular day of the week?

Megan
www.meganframpton.com

I’m posting late and at home where, because of Blogger’s antipathy toward Macs, if I try to upload pics the browser crashes.

So today, it’s deathless prose only.

This week I’m engaged in a Book-in-a-Week(BIAW). Writing one, that is. It’s a ploy writers often use to jumpstart a project, the idea being that you get together with a bunch of people, publicly set goals, and post daily what your word count is. It can be very effective. Since I’m having to write a lot anyway because I’m on deadline, I proposed a BIAW to my local chapter, seeking misery in company. There was a terrific response–some of us are revising, some writing new material. We’re all raring to go.

Here is the true, unadulterated account so far of my efforts. My goal is 50 new pages by Sunday.

Day One: Monday. I arrived home from work, and find an imploded melon. This was a small, seedless watermelon–called, in the store, for some reason, a “personal watermelon.” A cute little green-striped thing, nothing like those large, impersonal corporate melons that give the fruit a bad name. Adorable. In fact, we liked it so much we couldn’t bear to cut into it and Mother Nature took over. Cleared up melon. Made dinner. Wrote five pages.

Day Two: Tuesday. Watched the only TV show I will go out of my way to watch, “House.” Four pages. A discussion started on our BIAW list about unpleasant vegetable matter in our respective refrigerators, following the story of the imploded melon. I’m planning a refrigerator clean out and I can guarantee I am the winner, Slattern Queen of the BIAW.

Day Three: Wednesday. Now this was a great evening. Ten pages. Went to bed very late, wired, and couldn’t sleep, and then when I did drop off, was awoken by my musical husband having a sneezing fit and humming in between nasal explosions.

Day Four: Thursday. The evening is relatively young but so far two pages are written. I decided to make stuffed squash for dinner. After putting on some rice to cook, I noticed that the house was full of smoke and the fire alarm went off. Burned rice. Started again. Meanwhile, the sausage I was going to use, even frozen, had a very peculiar odor. So I put it back in the freezer until I can safely get it into the trash (we’ve also run out of trash bags). I decided to use turkey bacon instead, which, while it is a nice idea, is not bacon. I won’t give the rest of the ingredients, because, believe me, it was disgusting and I should have just eaten the squash alone. I also spent quite a bit of time frolicking on eBay–yes, this is writing-related, buying promotional items.

So would I recommend BIAW? Yes, definitely. It’s a way of instilling good writing habits, you do get a lot done (generally) and it’s nice to be in touch with a bunch of other people in the same situation. I would, however, recommend that you get all melons out of the house first.

Janet

This weekend we went to the Vintage Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. Besides racecars droning by on the curvy track, there was a cool vintage car show with all sorts of models from different countries. We even brought our own cool British car and did 3 parade laps of the track. Nothing fell off, so it was a great day!

“Mini Mouse” joined our family a few years (and too many repair bills) ago. My husband wanted a Mini ever since our 3 year assignment in England, and finally found this one. She’s a vintage, c.1982 or so, Mini, not a Cooper, but a model called the Mayfair. What could be more perfect? She’s great fun, so noisy and rattly that when you’re going 30mph it feels like 60.

The Watkins Glen event marks the end of car show season. I’m more of a horse person, but I’ve come to really enjoy these events. Seeing all those gorgeous cars from different time periods is fun. The “horseless carriage” pictured here dates from 1904. Doesn’t it look just like a phaeton (not the high-perch kind, of course) sans ponies?

My own fantasy car, should I ever start pulling in those 6-digit advances, would be a vintage Jaguar in British Racing Green, of course. Couldn’t you just see me arriving for a booksigning in one of these, hair in a chic scarf? Ok, maybe not but I can imagine.

I still like horses best and would love to own one someday. Here’s me on my friend Davina’s horse, Jack, now sadly deceased though I immortalized him as my hero’s horse in LORD LANGDON’S KISS. At over 17 hands high, he was half Thoroughbred, half Irish Draft, all good nature. The epitome of the equine gentleman, he could jump higher obstacles than I would dare put him at and never shied at pheasants darting from the hedgerows. His only quirk was that he detested pigs. It was quite difficult to get him to go past them!

So how would you satisfy your Need for Speed, Regency style? Would you ride a well-bred steed, wearing a flowing habit and plumed hat in the latest mode? Would you ride alongside your beaux in a dashing curricle, or would you take the ribbons yourself?

Back to modern times, do you own or dream about a fantasy vehicle? What is it that excites you about it?

Elena
LADY DEARING’S MASQUERADE, RT Reviewers’ Choice Award, Best Regency Romance of 2005
http://www.elenagreene.com/

In two weeks, on Tuesday September 26, I’ll be holding a contest here, at the Risky Regencies blog. To learn about the great prizes, including a biography of the Prince Regent, and an eighty-page, lavishly illustrated Pride & Prejudice “FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION” Book, and for the rules, see last Tuesday’s post.

To enter, simply read my book — MY LADY GAMESTER, by Cara King — and then enter a comment about it on my September 26 post here. Your comment will need to show you’ve read the book, and have at least a little bit of content. (It doesn’t have to be clever or flattering or anything else, it just has to make a little bit of sense.) You can respond to something someone else has said, or start a debate, or just say what you think. (The book is available through Amazon and similar outlets.)

And remember — if this contest goes well, we may have more such in the future. So win now, win later — it’s all good!

In other news — I just returned from a quick trip to England — six plays in four days. I saw Shakespeare’s King John on Thursday, Troilus & Cressida on Friday, and his three Henry VI plays all on Saturday. It was amazing, it was exhausting, it was invigorating. It made me want to be a better writer. It made me wonder why people don’t do King John more often — and why Shakespeare ever thought it was a good idea to write Troilus and Cressida.

And now I have seen performed every one of Shakespeare’s plays — if you go by the list in my college Shakespeare book. (It didn’t include things like Edward III, which some more recent editions of Shakespeare are including.) This was one of my life goals. I have actually achieved one of my life goals! (Come to think of it, I’ve also achieved the goal of never reading Clarissa. So there’s two!)

By the way, here’s a picture of Dorothy Jordan dressed as a “boy” (a very curvy boy!) in As You Like It.

The question of the day: which is your favorite Shakespeare play? Your least favorite? Or was there one production you saw that you thought was really exceptional, or one you thought was really lacking?

All opinions welcome!

Cara
Cara King — author of MY LADY GAMESTER
Booksellers’ Best Award for Best Regency of 2005