Amy, you have won a copy of Sabrina’s new book, BEWARE A SCOT’S REVENGE! Please email riskies@yahoo.com to claim your prize.
And thanks to all who commented! We’ll have more great interviews (and giveaways) soon — and don’t forget the Regency fun we have here every day! Thanks for joining us — and do come back often!
The Riskies
Since Amanda already disclosed our obsession with Dancing with the Stars (final competition tonight!) and Project Runway, Top Chef, Top Design, Shear Genius, etc etc, I thought I might update you on Bullrun.
Remember our interview with romance cover model Richard Cerqueira? He announced that he and his brother were competing in the reality TV show, Bullrun, a cross country road competition on Spike TV.
I watched every episode of the competition and it had much of the drama and excitement of those other reality TV shows mentioned above. There were petty rivalries, close calls, major obstacles to overcome. The personalities of the competitors were, of course, a major component of the show’s drama.
I’m pleased to announce that Richard and his brother came in second in the competition! They didn’t win the prize money, but they put forth a great effort, coming from behind, barely making the cut in the first weeks of the show. I was disappointed that they did not get more air time and mystified why the show’s producers thought that the mostly bleeped out dialogue of the other teams were more screen worthy. Team Cerqueira did not swear nearly as much as the others and they pretty much reached their position by using their own resources. Other teams made alliances in the early weeks, seeking to better their chances of winnng over other teams, but the Cerqueiras made it on their own. They came in second even with a major setback of having to use 2 hours to get their brakes repaired. I was really glad they made it to the top two teams.
Spike TV is not my cable channel of choice. I do watch a lot of the shows on the Style Network, like How Do I Look?, Fashion Police, The Look for Less. These shows all involve style makeovers of one sort or another. My very favorite makeover show is What Not to Wear, both the British version and the American one.
I’m also fond of reality shows such as Clean House and Clean Sweep (which I can’t find anymore!). These two shows basically go into a cluttered person’s home, clear out their cluttered room, sell the junk at a yard sale and redecorate the space into a neat, organized, pretty room. It is the stuff dreams are made of…come clean MY house and make it beautiful!! It is the turmoil the characters go through to give up their beloved but junky items in order to have a functional room that intrigues me.
I also love the drama of selling houses and so watch the HGTV channel and its House Hunters, Sell this House, and Designed to Sell.
Lately I’ve also been watching reruns of The Biggest Loser.
How this all fits in to writing risky regencies, I’m not so sure. I am certain some of my other Riskies are slack jawed with shock at my level of entertainment…..
But I know Amanda shares this folly. Keira, our Risky frequent poster is also with us….although maybe even they have not slid this deep into the mire….
(What reality tv shows are YOUR secret pleasure…mmmmm? And did anyone else watch Bullrun?)
Capricorn: I wish I could get a newly discovered species of beetle or an underground lake of ice on Mars named after you. I wish I could buy you a temple in Bali, and arrange for you to have your fortune told by the blind prophetess of Rio de Janeiro. I wish I could dress you in 200-year-old velvet robes and silk scarves once worn by Turkish royalty. You richly deserve honors and blessings like these, Capricorn. It’s that time in your astrological cycle when life is supposed to overflow with rewards for the good work you’ve been doing. I urge you to be vividly confident that you do indeed deserve those rewards, and radiate that faith in all directions.
This was my most recent horoscope in a local newspaper. It sounds really good–I do love velvet robes and silk scarves! I’m not entirely sure I understand it, but I can use every bit of encouragement I find. You see, I’m almost done with my WIP–about 30 pages left, by my rough calculations–and I’m at that spot I always reach in a story. That Black Hole where I’m tired of my characters and their lovelorn angst, and where I wonder how I ever thought this story was a good idea in the first place. Yet it’s too late to chuck it and start over with something new. I have to push through to those blessed words–The End.
Needless to say, this is the point in the story where I also become completely addled and annoying. Not Lindsey Lohan-style addled, thankfully. Just–forgetful. I’m lucky I even remembered this is Saturday, and thus my Risky Regencies day. (Not to mention lucky I haven’t been fired from my day job…) I was going to pull together a post about heroes, to go with last week’s on heroines, but that can wait until next Saturday, when I will have (hopefully!) finished this rough draft and started thinking clearly again.
In the meantime–as most of you Risky visitors (and Keira and Diane!) know, I am just a wee bit obsessed with Dancing With the Stars. The finale is coming up this week, and while I’m excited about it, I’m also sad. What am I going to watch on Mondays now??? Where else can I see such sparkly costumes, hear such cheesy music? Where will I find such suspense as “Will Len get off Apolo’s case already? And will Laila finally beat up her divaesque but very hot partner Maks?” Where can I find such flashes of brillance as “Dance Center,” with Kenny Mayne and Jerry Rice (in sequined shirts!) grilling Len Goodman about Billy Ray’s “crappy scores,” and pondering whether Joey’s big butt or Apolo’s facial hair will keep them out of the top spot? That’s just darn good TV, people, better than any I’ve seen since Laura accused Jefrey of not finishing his own collection on Project Runway. Ahhh-good times.
But something productive has come of my DWTS preoccupation, despite what my family might say. Not only have I started ballroom dance classes, but I have been inspired with not one but two story ideas! Not sure when I’ll get to them, since there are at least 3 others lined up ahead of them, but I’m pretty excited. One day, they will each be at the same addled point the WIP is now! To see how I manage to put a young skating/dancing hero in Elizabethan England, stay tuned…
Thanks for listening to this week’s ramble! Do you read your horoscope? If so, does your sign reflect you or not? (As you can tell, my Capricorn driven/worrywart side is out in full force). And do you watch DWTS, or any other shows that inspire you?
Yesterday I finished the 6th Harry Potter and confirmed watering-pot that I am, I got all choked up reading about Dumbledore’s death. Anyone writing popular fiction aspires to creating this powerful a reaction to her characters and their problems. Yet I think romance novelists have a special challenge. It comes from one of the defining characteristics of the genre: the HEA.
Don’t get me wrong. I love (and I know readers do, too) the HEA. But when we know it’s going to be all right in the end, why do we keep turning the pages?
I’ve mulled this before but as summer is coming (including a vacation near Cedar Point, Ohio) this time roller coasters came to mind. We get on them knowing we’ll (probably!) return safe and sound to the starting point. Yet they’re still a thrill.
Maybe it’s because of unexpected and new twists and turns. That’s definitely true of romance novels. Sometimes authors give characters seemingly unsolvable problems and part of the fun is finding out how they work them out.
Yet the good old “there-and-back” coasters, like the Blue Streak at CP which I rode as a child, are still fun. It’s still a real experience. Each time I ride a coaster I still feel the wind, the bouncing of my stomach with every up and down.
It’s the same when I read romances by mistresses of deep characterization like Laura Kinsale. I get so sucked into the characters’ point of view that my own awareness of the HEA fades. It’s the difference between watching a bunch of people screaming downhill versus riding the coaster myself.
So what makes the romance ride work for you? Are there any roller coasters (literary or the amusement park type) you plan to ride this summer? 🙂
Elena
www.elenagreene.com
Coming this Sunday, May 20, the Riskies will interview NYT-bestselling author Sabrina Jeffries.
Be sure to stop by and comment for the chance to win a copy of her newest release, BEWARE A SCOT’S REVENGE!
