Like Megan, I’m just not sure what to post about today! In the month of December it’s like my brain takes off for a vacation (skiing in Taos, or something) while my body is forced to stay home and work and get ready for the holidays. I’ve also started working on book #2 for this new Harlequin contract (up to page 75!) and it’s preoccupying me quite a bit. So, I’ll just talk about it. Or rather, one small historical aspect of it.

The new story is Regency-set, and hopefully kicks off a new series called The Muses of Mayfair. You see, there’s this scholar and antiquarian who has a bunch of daughters, all named after the Muses. Book One (or WIP), The Alabaster Goddess, is the story of the eldest Muse, Calliope, a half-Greek earl, and the shenanigans surrounding a stolen ancient statue of the goddess Artemis. I just finished writing a scene where the characters go to view the Elgin Marbles (where the villain is introduced, the hero and heroine argue, and…But that’s for later!)

On the Splendors of the Regency tour Diane and I went on, we were lucky enough to have a free afternoon to tour the British Museum and see the Marbles for ourselves (that’s Diane and our friend Julie Halperson in one of the pics. I don’t know who the other people are–they just wouldn’t get out of the way for me to take the photo!).

My main source for the scene in my own story was a volume I picked up in the Museum shop, The Elgin Marbles by B.F. Cook (British Museum Press, 1997). It’s slim, less than 100 pages, but full of great illustrations and lots of info about the Parthenon, the sculptures, and how they came to be acquired by the British Museum. Long story made very short–around 1799 the Earl of Elgin (Thomas Bruce) was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of His Britannic Majesty to the Sublime Porte of Selem III Sultan of Turkey. A group of artists and architects sort of tagged along to Athens (then a small, seedy town, where the grand Acropolis was being used a Turkish fortress) to work on documenting and, if possible, restoring the Parthenon. The condition of these treasures was not good; much had been damaged or destroyed in an explosion, or carried off to be used as building materials elsewhere. By 1802, the first of the sculptures, from the metope section or excavated from the ground, were on their way to England. On April 22, 1811, after many (mis)adventures, the last of them left Athens on the ship Hydra, accompanied by Lord Byron.

After residing in various locations, including Elgin’s home on Park Lane (in a shed!), the Duchess of Portland’s, the Duke of Richmond’s, and the Duke of Devonshire’s Burlington House, the sculptures were finally bought by the Nation and vested in the Trustees of the British Museum in 1816, for 35,000 pounds. (The earl, who was in dire financial straits by then, having lost his rich wife, was hoping for at least 70,000). The ‘Temporary Elgin Room’ (where my characters view them!) was opened in 1817 and remained in use for 14 years.

So that’s my “history lesson for the day”! 🙂 What are some things you’ve seen on travels, or read about in books, that inspired you? Any favorite travels spots (I need to live vicariously since my brain is off skiing and I’m slaving away over the Hello Kitty notebooks!)?

p.s. Another good read is Susan Nagel’s Mistress of the Elgin Marbles: A Biography of Mary Nisbet, Countess of Elgin. It has been a while since I read it (it came out in 2005), but as I recall it dealt more with her scandalous divorce than the events surrounding the Marbles, but was a fascinating story.

Today is my day to post. It’s always Friday, I know that, and yet–and yet, I HAVE NOTHING PLANNED.

Gah. It has turned ridiculously cold here in Brooklyn, NY, so all I want to do is curl up in bed with a big cup of tea and a book. What I will be doing is preparing for the arrival of the Christmas tree: clearing out the space, getting the stand down, moving the clutter from in front of the door where the tree will come in, getting enough cash to pay the exorbitant prices they charge for trees here (this is the first year we haven’t gotten a tree in South Jersey, where we go out in a field and pick which one to cut down. Cruel, but fresh and cheap).

Meanwhile, I am still revising my Regency-set historical, Lessons In Love, making it make more sense. I am itching to move on to something else because a) this one is driving me crazy, b) my agent gave me feedback on my mom-lit and I want to work on that now and c) I want to stop talking about the same darn book all the time.

Meanwhile, my seven year-old son yelled at me this morning because Christmas is 17 days away. As if it was my fault, and as if I could possibly do anything about it. I guess that speaks to how omnipotent he thinks I am? Just wait a few years, then he won’t think I can do anything at all, at least not anything right.

Okay. Your turn. What’s keeping you from your primary tasks, whether it’s enjoying the season, or focusing at your job, or making sure your kids aren’t eating hot dogs five nights straight in a row? And how do you refocus? What do you let go of? And what books do you turn to in times of holiday (and other) stress?

Megan
www.meganframpton.com
PS: And no, I don’t think I’m nearly as funny as Dorothy Parker, pictured above; I just like her general mien.

How do you celebrate a special achievement?

Do you treat yourself to flowers?

Or do you like to frolic online and shop, which is what I’ve been doing quite a lot of recently, with the excuse of buying Christmas presents.

My first stop was at Alibris where I spent a lot of time and more money than I should have, grabbing cheap second-hand copies of various books I’ve been meaning to read for some time.

I’ve also been at Ebay quite a lot, too, where you can look at all sorts of stuff you can’t possibly afford to buy–antiques and so on–but one of my major sources for presents. And I just, uh, happened to win the bid on these little darlings today. No, they’re not diamonds. They’re not old. But I think they’re cool.

And the reason for this hedonism? I finished my first book writing as Jane Lockwood, an erotic historical now called Forbidden Shores (NAL Heat, September 2007). When I say finished, I mean some victims are doing a cold read for me, I’ll make major, panicky changes, and get it to the editor in a couple of weeks, doubtless with major trauma via Fedex and holiday shipping schedules, and…

Well, you get the idea. So I’m splurging a bit, using the excuse that I save on shipping.

Now tell us what you do as a special treat when you have something to celebrate!

Visit my tarted-up website, www. janetmullany.com and, when you have recovered your senses from the beauty of it all, sign up for my newsletter!

…or Confessions of a Writing Book Junkie

It seems that whenever I struggle with the writing…no, rewind and correct…when I struggle more than usual with the writing, one of my solutions is to buy and read another book for writers, whether it be something motivational or more craft-oriented. The funny thing is they do usually help. They either reassure me that my struggles are normal and I am not clueless and the best give me ideas of new things to try. Sometimes just the act of changing something helps to clear a logjam.

So now I’m going to tell you about some of my personal favorites.
Debra Dixon, GOAL, MOTIVATION, AND CONFLICT: The Building Blocks of Good Fiction, Gryphon Books for Writers, 1996, ISBN: 0965437108. I usually do GMC charts a la Debra Dixon for at least the hero and heroine when I’m starting a book, and revisit them when troubleshooting weak spots. Sometimes I find the GMC model a bit static–I like combining it with principles from THE WRITER’S JOURNEY.

Christopher Vogler, THE WRITER’S JOURNEY: Mythic Structure for Writers, Wiese, Michael Productions, 1998, ISBN: 0941188701. Vogler takes inspiration from THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES, by Joseph Campbell (which I have not read but plan to) and shows how principles of the mythic hero’s journey can be applied to screenplays, novels, etc… When I read this, I had already completed 6 books and could see that I’d already included many of these elements in my writing. However, the questions posed in each chapter have been useful in helping to brainstorm my current work-in-progress. I think it would also help in pinpointing weaknesses in a draft. I like the way it parallels the writer’s journey with the story hero’s.

Donald Maass, WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL Workbook, Writer’s Digest Books, 2004, ISBN: 158297263X. WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL contains this top agent’s advice for writing the breakout novel, defined as one that brings its author a “dramatic leap in sales over her peers or even ahead of her own previous work.” While the book is useful, I find the accompanying workbook more so. There are exercises for character development, plotting and other aspects of storytelling that are geared to helping one think out of the box. One caveat: one does NOT have to slavishly include results from all the exercises in the final work. I have sometimes seen that result in characters who go beyond edgy to distorted and/or unsympathetic. Maass’s style is very authoritative, but as in all things, artistic judgment is crucial.

Julia Cameron, THE ARTIST’S WAY: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, Penguin Group, 2002 (10th anniversary edition), ISBN: 1585421464. Cameron combines spirituality with creativity in a way that bothers some religious persons. Personally I find it odd that they doubt the connection. Anyway, it’s a 12 week program with chapters on various aspects of unblocking, each with exercises designed to identify blocks to creativity and encourage the participant to explore his/her creativity. There are also two aspects of the program which are ongoing and I find helpful.

One is the Morning Pages. Basically, you fill 3 pages with free writing about whatever is on your mind. I find that venting emotions harmlessly onto the page helps me deal with life. I also discovered through this process that brainstorming on paper works better for me than just mulling things in my head. I’m a writer. Go figure. 🙂

The other concept is the Artist Date. Where the Morning Pages are intended to clear blockages, Artist Dates are for refilling the well. An Artist Date is an activity that pleases the muse: going to a movie or concert, baking, dancing, painting. Experiencing or practicing some form of art different from one’s current project or career. Last April I blogged about an artist date at the Corning Museum of Glass.

Steven Pressfield, THE WAR OF ART: Break through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles, Warner Books, 2003, ISBN: 0446691437.
Tough love for writers and a nice complement to THE ARTIST’S WAY. Where Cameron has you try to pinpoint and heal creative wounds, Pressfield reminds you that the work itself will heal you. Here’s a quote from the end: “Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It’s a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.”

For those who are interested, I have some short descriptions of these and my other writing books on my website (click on Writing). As with everything else, your mileage may vary.

I’ll leave you with a question and a warning. What are your favorite writing and/or motivational books? And the warning: Reading books on writing can be a very clever way to avoid the real butt-in-chair work of writing. Don’t ask me how I know that. 🙂

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

I’m so lucky to live near Washington, DC. A couple of months ago I heard that The Smithsonian Institution was offering an all day lecture on The Regency World of Jane Austen by Bonita Billman, an Art Historican from Georgetown University. The lecture was scheduled for two days after my Mills & Boon book #5 was due, so the timing was perfect. I decided to indulge myself (the museums in DC are free, but the lecture was a little pricey) and sign up.

The lecture was held in the Ripley Center, the entrance of which is between the Freer Gallery and the Museum of African Art (We’re full of museums in DC). The Center is underground, and the lecture hall is a very comfortable room with theatre seats.

Ms. Billman showed the Regency World of Jane Austen through visual images, slides of the art of the time period, but also photography of the architecture, decorative arts, and fashions. She used the “social Regency” definition (1790-1830) rather than “political Regency” (1811-1821), when the Prince was Regent. I think she slipped a little into the Georgian period, but that was okay. The day was divided into four lectures: The Personalities in Jane Austen’s World; Regency Portraiture; Late Georgian Architecture; and Daily Life, Social Customs, Interior Design, and Fashion.

Billman showed the people of the Regency through their portraits, which was great fun. The Prince Regent, Mrs. Fitzpatrick, Beau Brummell, Jane (of course), Byron, Princess Caroline, and Princess Charlotte–and my hero, The Duke of Wellington.

Next Billman talked about the portrait artists of the time: Thomas Lawrence, Thomas Gainsborough, Joshua Reynolds, George Romney, and some lesser known ones: Hoppner, Beechey, Raeburn–even Stubbs, who is best known for his horses. My favorite was when she showed slide after slide of miniatures, small portraits to keep in one’s pocket.

Cosway was a name I had not known before the lecture. I love miniatures and hope some day to find one I can afford.

The next lecture was about the architecture. She basically just showed classical and gothic architecture–and, of course, the Pavilion.

She talked about William Gilpin, who toured the areas of natural beauty in the British Isles and whose home tour was satirized in Rowlandson’s Tours of Dr. Syntax.

Then last of all slide after slide of furniture, porcelain (not enough of that), interior design, and clothing.

I did not expect to learn new things, but I did. I did not know about Cosway, the miniaturist. I did not know about Gilpin or the Picturesque movement, but my interest was held throughout the whole day.

Another thing about it, I usually go places like this with a friend, but I wound up going alone and, actually, that was good for me. In a way it became more of a respite for me and I could more easily immerse myself in the time period and in the art. It was a day very well spent!

Cheers!
Diane