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Back from The Garden State

Updated on October 8, 2007 by Diane Gaston

This weekend I attended the New Jersey Romance Writers conference. Also attending were Janet and Megan. Janet, my bff Julie, and I drove up 95 and the Jersey Turnpike in my Prius, which was a pleasure, not only because I have an EZPass and can zip through the tollgates, but also because Janet is a very entertaining companion and Julie is a prime navigator, my own personal JPS (instead of a GPS–get it?).

It is a bit difficult to relate New Jersey to the Regency. I do love New Jersey, though. I love the atmosphere and the people there. Unlike many southerners who say what is polite, Jersey folks are very direct and I like that! I lived there for two years in my younger days, so it always feels a little like going home.

There were Regency authors there. Lots of them! Julia Quinn was the special presenter, giving a talk on “Dialogue: It’s More Than What You Say.” Julia’s was the best and clearest presentation about dialogue that I’ve ever heard. Eloisa James also gave a good workshop about beta heroes. But, as always, it is the informal meetings with fellow authors that I enjoy the most. I managed to spend time with Regency authors Sally MacKenzie (one of our former guests and pictured with me at the booksigning), my pal Sophia Nash, Kristina Cook, and Caroline Linden. And, of course, Janet and Megan, although I did not get to see Megan for nearly as long as I would have liked. Janet and Megan should have more photos for you.

The bookseller’s luncheon was on Sunday, and there I met an impressive young, new Regency author, Maya Rodale, whose first book, a Regency set historical, The Heir and the Spare, just came out this past August. At the luncheon, of course, Janet and I schmoozed with lovely booksellers whose enthusiasm for historical romance is heartening. So never believe it if you hear people say, “Historical is Dead.” It isn’t, and the booksellers are the ones who know!

I’m home now and back to real life. On my agenda this week are revisions of the still unnamed “Pomroy’s Story.”

What’s on your agenda this week?
Were you at the NJ conference (I saw Santa there!) and, if so, did I see you?
Were you with writer friends, at least?

Don’t forget to visit the Wet Noodle Posse blog this month if you are planning on entering the Golden Heart contest. The 2003GH finalists are sharing their tips all month–and giving away critiques!

And Happy Columbus Day

Yoga Girl Weekend

Updated on October 6, 2007 by Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

I’m away for the weekend, renewing my creativity (hopefully!) at a yoga retreat. While I’m trying warrior pose and meditative breathing, here is brief history of yoga:

–The beginnings of yoga were in Northern India over 5000 years ago, with the word “yoga” first mentioned in the Rig Veda (a collection of texts containing songs and rituals used by Vedic priests). These taught the sacrifice of the ego through self-knowledge action (karma yoga) and wisdom (inana yoga).

–In the 2nd century, the Yoga Sutras described the path of Raja Yoga, sometimes called “classical yoga,” which organized the practice into an “eight limbed path”.

–A few centuries later, yoga masters created a system of practices designed to rejuvenate the body and prolong life. The exploration of thse physical/spiritual connections led to the creation of Hatha Yoga.

–In 1785, the Bhagavad-Gita was the first Sanskrit work to be translated into English.

–In the late 19th century/early 20th, yoga masters began to travel to the West, attracting attention and new followers. In 1947, Indra Devi opened a famous studio in Hollywood, starting the long trend of stars and yoga! (Madonna, Sting, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Aniston, Christy Turlington, are some of the well-known yoga advocates today)

I tried to find some Georgian/Regency celebrities who might have tried yoga, but had no luck! I bet the Romantic poets would have liked it, though…

Have you tried yoga, or any other exercise regimes you’d recommend? (I’m always trying to find something that will help me get into shape without making me feel like I’m “exercising”!)

Plotting Hell

Updated on October 4, 2007 by Elena Greene

Greetings from Hades. Last week I figured out that the villain in mess-in-progress isn’t working right. This week it’s been back to the drawing board: reexamining motivations, themes, figuring out what changes need to be made to the external plot (fortunately I think the romance is working).

I’ve been brainstorming but though I’ve come up with a bunch of ideas none of them is clearly a winner. It’s a natural phase in brainstorming but right now I’m more confused than I was when I started. Ugh.

I will not whine any more because I’m not half witty enough about it! I’ll just leave you with a few questions and some comic relief.

How important do you think villains are in a romance? Does a weak villain make or break a story for you? (Not that I’m going to let myself off the hook here!)

Fellow authors, do you ever find yourself in plotting hell? How do you escape (or do we ever)?

And now for the comic relief. My friend Therese Walsh from Writer Unboxed sent me this link to a Mitchell and Webb sketch on the trials of authorhood. Luckily, I’ve never had a real editor like this one. Except for the one in my own head, that is!

Elena
www.elenagreene.com

Posted in Risky Regencies | Tagged Uncategorized | 13 Replies

Unusual Muses

Updated on September 29, 2007 by Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

BTW, I’m starting this post with something totally unrelated to my topic, but I wanted to share this pic! I found it on a film costuming blog I sometimes visit, and it’s the first glimpse of the Keira Knightley film The Duchess! Even though I wish they had cast someone else as Georgiana, I’m always excited about a chance to look at 18th century costumes.

And now for my regularly scheduled post! A few weeks ago I read a fun book by Maureen B. Adams, Shaggy Muses: The Dogs Who Inspired Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Emily Bronte, Emily Dickinson, Edith Wharton, and Virginia Woolfe. While not exactly deep. ground-breaking scholarship, I loved the way it illuminated this aspect of the writers’ lives, their very different relationships to their pets, and how their dogs provided not just companionship and distraction, but grounding during times of intense creativity and psychological upheaval.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s spaniel Flush seemed to be a sort of conduit for her own emotions when she was confined to home as an “invalid”; in letters she often ascribed her own feelings to Flush, and thus made them safe to express. But he also made her feel more empowered when he was kidnapped by a band of evil dognappers and she went out herself and got him back! (I HATED those dognappers). Luckily for Flush, he got to end his life in Italy, running around the piazza with all the wild Italian dogs.

Emily Bronte’s mastiff, Keeper, was weird dog for a fascinatingly weird person. He was enormous and often bad-tempered, fighting with the village dogs and such. But he wandered the moors with Emily at all hours, and was sweet as a kitten when she subdued him by beating him up when he got on the parsonage furniture. (Her sister Anne had a small spaniel, Flossy, who it seems was allowed to get on the furniture with impunity…) Keeper stayed close to Emily as she was dying, followed her funeral cortege to the church, and then spent the rest of his life lying outside her empty bedroom door.

Emily Dickinson also possessed a very large dog (“as big as myself,” she wrote in a letter), a Newfoundland named Carlo that her father bought her for protection. He was too gentle for that, but he proved an excellent, laid-back, affectionate companion for the Very Intense poet. In my Google searches, I found that the Emily Dickinson House in Amherst even has Carlo Look-Alike Contests once a year!

Edith Wharton, on the other hand, had a pack of very tiny dogs, Papillons and Chihuhuas and Pekinese. Link was the last one, and he often sent invitations and letters in his own name to Edith’s friends and guests. They traveled everywhere with her, a little, dancing, yapping pack.

Virginia Woolfe’s attitude toward dogs seems to have been more prosaic than Wharton’s! They weren’t like her “babies,” they often ran off or got into trouble, but they were still an important part of her life. Most of them seem to have been large hounds or mutts, but there was one expensive spaniel, a gift of her lover Vita Sackville-West. Woolfe even wrote Flush: A Biography about Barrett Browning’s dog!

So, if you love pets and poetry as I do, this is a fun book! I showed some of the illustrations to my own dogs (Victoria the Pug, and Abigail the poodle) and they enjoyed it immensely. Though they now want to travel all over Europe with me, as Wharton’s dogs did. 🙂 I suppose I can’t say my dogs are my “muses”–I’ve never written a story about a bluestocking poodle falling in love with a French poodle comte, for instance. But they ARE a huge comfort when I’m blocked in a story and feel like I Will Never Write Again, or when I’ve gotten a bad review and am feeling down. They sit on my lap and give me kisses, assuring me that they love me and think I am a great writer and fabulous mommy no matter what that nasty reviewer says. I couldn’t do without them.

Do you have your own pets? Or know any good Pets In History stories (I always love those!)?

Happy Saturday! Take your dogs for a nice long walk (maybe not your cats, though–my cats would never let me put a leash on them, but they are excellent companions and comforts, too)

Posted in Risky Regencies | Tagged Uncategorized | 18 Replies

Friday Nonsense

Updated on September 28, 2007 by Diane Gaston

Megan is swamped and unable to blog today, so here is a little nonsense for a Risky Regencies Friday.

A Google Alert came in to my email. I google alert many things– my book titles, my author names, Gerard Butler. Today an alert came in for Diane Perkins. It led to a blog by Elisa Rolle who led to a website that promoted Italian books. (I can’t make that link work anymore, though. You can give it a try) This month the releases were by these authors: Jeanne Savery, Sophia Nash (my pal), Diane Perkins, Sara Blayne, Lois Greiman & Sandra Heath

Diane Perkins! My alter ego!

I had to go back through my records to see that, yes indeed, The Marriage Bargain by Diane Perkins had sold to an Italian publisher. So here, Risky Regencies Readers, is the Italian bookcover and what the website said about the book:

785. Diane Perkins – Contratto di nozze (The Marriage Bargain)
Un matrimonio per interesse può diventare un amore per sempre?
Emma Chambers accetta di sposare Spencer Keenan. All’apparenza sembra un ottimo affare per entrambi: Emma otterrà completa libertà, Spencer avrà chi si occuperà della sua tenuta. Ma quando il giovane viene gravemente ferito in un duello, Emma è al suo fianco per assisterlo: la timida fanciulla che ha preso in moglie per convenienza è diventata la donna che ha sempre sognato. Riuscirà ora a convincerla del proprio amore e a farsi concedere una seconda possibilità?
Nota di MarchRose: Un tenero e commovente romanzo regency sul tema degli amanti separati dalle vicende della vita che si ritrovano ad anni di distanza, più maturi, diffidenti ed amareggiati ma anche più forti ed appassionati. La Perkins, che scrive anche sotto il nome di Diane Gaston, è un’autrice molto abile e sensibile, capace di creare personaggi sfaccettati e davvero credibili dal punto di vista umano, le cui vicende riescono a coinvolgere emotivamente in profondità il lettore.
Livello di sensualità “caldo” (warm)