Penultimate guest blog! I did a Q&A with Gerri Russell over at the Chatelaines blog today. I talk about my writing process, the embarrassing yet hilarious things I wrote in high school, and what I do in my free time. And I'm giving away another book in the comments. Here's a sample:
GR: What influenced you to write about Regency England?
RL: I've always been a fan of romance in the comedy of manners tradition. Which mostly translates to "I love banter," and Regency romance usually has plenty of that. I imprinted on the era early: my mother read me the complete works of Jane Austen in fifth grade, and a friend loaned me my first Georgette Heyer when I was thirteen. We made dozens of trips to the bookstore to buy Regency romances together over the next four years and even exchanged in-character letters between Regency debutante friends like the ones in Sorcery and Cecelia. (I'm sure they were mostly awful, but we thought they were brilliant and hilarious. I remember in one of our favorite scenes, her character's hero opened his snuffbox with a delicate flick of his wrist--very common in old-skool Regencies--and accidentally spilled snuff all over her dress.) So it's probably not surprising that it's what I started writing. Plus, I think the clothes are sexy.
Check it out!
That "delicate flick of his wrist" thing was a running joke with us, actually. We had a whole series of them, but right now the only other one I can remember was we would say "Her bosom swelled" (another common sentence in old-skool Regency romances) and then make gestures like our breasts were exploding. And then laugh really hard. We were a sophisticated lot.
Tell me about an in-joke you and your friends had when you were a kid. Do you still think it's funny?
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Good Romance
We're entering the home stretch! Today, in my pen-penultimate [Edit: I have been informed the word is "antepenultimate"! How cool is that?] blog tour event, I was interviewed by Vonnie Hughes over at her website. I get to talk about all kinds of things, like why I think having an agent is great (and specifically why my agent, Kevan Lyon, is great!), what eras of history I love besides the Regency, where I get my ideas, and Romantic Protagonists Who Are A Little Too Awesome. Plus I'm giving away another signed book. Check it out! (And look around Vonnie's site while you're over there, it's filled with great stuff. I especially like the picture of a lady's muff-pistol. Also, is it just me, or does "muff-pistol" sound a little dirty?)
In other news, I downloaded Adam Lambert and Lady Gaga's albums from Amazon yesterday. I've been watching their music videos quite a lot recently, especially Bad Romance and For Your Entertainment (I feel a little weird about "Bad Romance" because I think she might be making fun of romance novels...but I love the video so much I'm willing to overlook it). I love music videos a LOT. Tell me your favorites! YouTube links a plus.
In other news, I downloaded Adam Lambert and Lady Gaga's albums from Amazon yesterday. I've been watching their music videos quite a lot recently, especially Bad Romance and For Your Entertainment (I feel a little weird about "Bad Romance" because I think she might be making fun of romance novels...but I love the video so much I'm willing to overlook it). I love music videos a LOT. Tell me your favorites! YouTube links a plus.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Did you know Captain Kirk has a medal for Conspicuous Gallantry?
Two new blog tour things up today:
1. I was part of my first podcast yesterday! I was a guest on Danielle Monsch's Romantically Speaking. Here's her description of our conversation:
So what was discussed? Georgette Heyer vs. Jane Austen, East Coast vs. West Coast, Gerard Butler vs. Christina Hendricks, and Kirk vs. Picard.
I'll give you a hint as to how that last conversation went:
DANIELLE: Kirk.
ME: Kirk.
DANIELLE: Oh, definitely Kirk.
ME: I love Kirk a LOT. Plus he's really cute.
DANIELLE: I don't like William Shatner though.
ME: Oh, of course not! Ugh.
I haven't actually listened to the final recording yet (I'm going to do that after I post this) but I had a lot of fun talking to Danielle. I'll tell you a secret, though: after I got off the phone, I thought to myself, "Did I talk too much? Did I monopolize the conversation?" How sad is that when I was being interviewed? Also, if you enjoy rants, this is the podcast for you, because I was unable to resist sharing my issues with "geek chic" TV, 300, and many other things.
Leave a comment if you listen, okay? I'm guessing podcasts don't get as many comments as blogs simply because a lot of people listen to them away from the computer, and Danielle puts a lot of work into this thing and it's awesome.
Anyway, you can download that here. I'm going to have a guest post going up on her blog soon too!
2. I have a guest post up at MuseTracks. I don't know how to talk about it exactly so I'll just repost the first few paragraphs:
When Marie-Claude asked me to write a post that would help inspire unpublished authors, I knew immediately what I wanted to talk about. And then I put off writing the post for weeks. Because the three years between when I started writing In for a Penny and when I sold it were the three worst years of my writing life, hands down. Possibly the three worst years of my life, period, except I think junior year of high school still has that honor (and yes, I know that’s only one year, but it felt longer).
I started writing In for a Penny in mid-January 2006. By mid-March I’d written a hundred pages. Things were going great, the book was flowing, I felt confident that this would be the one that would sell. My goal was to finish the book by Rosh Hashanah of that year (the holiday falls in early to mid-September), and I thought I could do it.
At the end of March I found out my mom was dying.
It was a tough one to write, which may explain why I've already got an addendum (copied from the comments section):
"I want to qualify my initial statement that those were the three worst years of my writing life–that third year of taking a break from trying to write for publication was actually a great year for me, personally and in terms of writing, and I’m proud of a lot of things I wrote then. It was just an awful year for romance novel writing. This is what I get for going back and figuring out the chronology AFTER I wrote the intro, and also for writing emotional posts late at night!"
It's important to me to clarify that, because I do care a lot about what I wrote that year, and about all the people who read it, and about my friends who are reading this post, and I don't want them to think that I don't value those stories or that I was secretly depressed and miserable that whole year. So.
1. I was part of my first podcast yesterday! I was a guest on Danielle Monsch's Romantically Speaking. Here's her description of our conversation:
So what was discussed? Georgette Heyer vs. Jane Austen, East Coast vs. West Coast, Gerard Butler vs. Christina Hendricks, and Kirk vs. Picard.
I'll give you a hint as to how that last conversation went:
DANIELLE: Kirk.
ME: Kirk.
DANIELLE: Oh, definitely Kirk.
ME: I love Kirk a LOT. Plus he's really cute.
DANIELLE: I don't like William Shatner though.
ME: Oh, of course not! Ugh.
I haven't actually listened to the final recording yet (I'm going to do that after I post this) but I had a lot of fun talking to Danielle. I'll tell you a secret, though: after I got off the phone, I thought to myself, "Did I talk too much? Did I monopolize the conversation?" How sad is that when I was being interviewed? Also, if you enjoy rants, this is the podcast for you, because I was unable to resist sharing my issues with "geek chic" TV, 300, and many other things.
Leave a comment if you listen, okay? I'm guessing podcasts don't get as many comments as blogs simply because a lot of people listen to them away from the computer, and Danielle puts a lot of work into this thing and it's awesome.
Anyway, you can download that here. I'm going to have a guest post going up on her blog soon too!
2. I have a guest post up at MuseTracks. I don't know how to talk about it exactly so I'll just repost the first few paragraphs:
When Marie-Claude asked me to write a post that would help inspire unpublished authors, I knew immediately what I wanted to talk about. And then I put off writing the post for weeks. Because the three years between when I started writing In for a Penny and when I sold it were the three worst years of my writing life, hands down. Possibly the three worst years of my life, period, except I think junior year of high school still has that honor (and yes, I know that’s only one year, but it felt longer).
I started writing In for a Penny in mid-January 2006. By mid-March I’d written a hundred pages. Things were going great, the book was flowing, I felt confident that this would be the one that would sell. My goal was to finish the book by Rosh Hashanah of that year (the holiday falls in early to mid-September), and I thought I could do it.
At the end of March I found out my mom was dying.
It was a tough one to write, which may explain why I've already got an addendum (copied from the comments section):
"I want to qualify my initial statement that those were the three worst years of my writing life–that third year of taking a break from trying to write for publication was actually a great year for me, personally and in terms of writing, and I’m proud of a lot of things I wrote then. It was just an awful year for romance novel writing. This is what I get for going back and figuring out the chronology AFTER I wrote the intro, and also for writing emotional posts late at night!"
It's important to me to clarify that, because I do care a lot about what I wrote that year, and about all the people who read it, and about my friends who are reading this post, and I don't want them to think that I don't value those stories or that I was secretly depressed and miserable that whole year. So.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
The Severed Hand of Franklin
1. I'm guest-blogging over at The Season today! I talk about costume drama monster movies I'd like to see (like vampire Crusaders or Lieutenant Hornblower and the Kraken). The person to suggest my favorite costume drama monster movie concept in the comments gets a signed book!
2. I wrote a feature for the Dorchester website. My heroine Penelope from In for a Penny has a habit of making lists (um, you can probably tell from this post that I based that on myself), and three of her lists are up here: one from when she was eleven, entitled "Reasons Why Lucy Hopper is the worst girl in the world," one set after the end of the book called "Possible Christmas gifts for Nev," and a list of baby names with annotations from Nev!
I had a lot of fun making them--the font for Penelope is designed to look like Jane Austen's handwriting, it's really cool and you can get it here, and the font for Nev is supposed to look like Byron's handwriting and you can get it here. I sort of love that, because man would Jane Austen and Byron have a TERRIBLE marriage.
3. Yesterday was my official release date! Yay! BUT I have yet to see the books on shelves anywhere. I've been checking the B&N websites "find in stores" feature obsessively and it isn't in stock anywhere yet! I'm assuming this is why it's listed as a March release, but I want to see my book on the shelf! If anyone sees it, let me know okay? And if you send me a picture, I'll send you a signed book! (Open to first three people only. I mean not that I expect more than that but you know, it's important to set boundaries.)
2. I wrote a feature for the Dorchester website. My heroine Penelope from In for a Penny has a habit of making lists (um, you can probably tell from this post that I based that on myself), and three of her lists are up here: one from when she was eleven, entitled "Reasons Why Lucy Hopper is the worst girl in the world," one set after the end of the book called "Possible Christmas gifts for Nev," and a list of baby names with annotations from Nev!
I had a lot of fun making them--the font for Penelope is designed to look like Jane Austen's handwriting, it's really cool and you can get it here, and the font for Nev is supposed to look like Byron's handwriting and you can get it here. I sort of love that, because man would Jane Austen and Byron have a TERRIBLE marriage.
3. Yesterday was my official release date! Yay! BUT I have yet to see the books on shelves anywhere. I've been checking the B&N websites "find in stores" feature obsessively and it isn't in stock anywhere yet! I'm assuming this is why it's listed as a March release, but I want to see my book on the shelf! If anyone sees it, let me know okay? And if you send me a picture, I'll send you a signed book! (Open to first three people only. I mean not that I expect more than that but you know, it's important to set boundaries.)
Friday, February 19, 2010
Madame, I never eat Muscatel grapes
My blog tour continues today! I'm talking about my deep-seated ambivalence about Georgette Heyer, Jane Austen, and trying to be taken seriously over at the Book Smugglers. (Note: I DO mean "ambivalence." I love Georgette Heyer and Jane Austen a LOT.) There are also hilarious pictures of My Family's Poor Fashion Choices Through Time. Go over and read it! (And check out the Smugglers' awesome blog!) I'm giving away a signed book in the comments.
Smuggler Ana also posted my very first review! And she was very kind to me. Is it tacky to link to reviews? It just seems weird not to when I'm linking to my guest post.
In other news, my friend Alice just linked me to this article about a new Alexandre Dumas biopic. They've cast Gerard Depardieu to play Dumas and are darkening his skin and putting him in a curly wig for the role. Because if you didn't know, Alexandre Dumas was part black. Here's a picture of him:
And here is a racist caricature from his own lifetime, entitled "The Quadroon Chef: Dumas concocting his bouillabaisse of romance":
I still remember how shocked and angry I was the first time I saw this image, when my mom and I went on a tour of the Château de Monte-Cristo, Dumas's amazing estate near Paris. I remember how sad I was when I read his novel Georges about a mixed-race hero who tries to start a slave revolt and fails, and I saw all the racism he'd written into it, the internalized beliefs about black inferiority, and how awful that must have been for him to live with every day. (The book does have a lot of great stuff in it, by the way. It just also has a lot of messed-up stuff in it.)
Just. I am a HUGE Dumas fan. HUGE. The Three Musketeers in particular was one of the defining books of my youth and it still means a lot to me. The man was a brilliant writer and a really nice guy and I love him. And apart from anything else, apart from what it says about the racism and marginalizing in European and American film industries, apart from how that affects all of us and perpetuates racism in our cultures, apart from how angry I would be if I were a French mixed-race actor who could have tried for this role if it hadn't already been handed to a white guy, apart from ALL OF THAT, this is a huge insult to HIM. Didn't Dumas face enough racism when he was alive? Haven't we come far enough that we can show him some respect? Is it so hard to cast a mixed-race actor in your movie? Is it really?
Smuggler Ana also posted my very first review! And she was very kind to me. Is it tacky to link to reviews? It just seems weird not to when I'm linking to my guest post.
In other news, my friend Alice just linked me to this article about a new Alexandre Dumas biopic. They've cast Gerard Depardieu to play Dumas and are darkening his skin and putting him in a curly wig for the role. Because if you didn't know, Alexandre Dumas was part black. Here's a picture of him:
And here is a racist caricature from his own lifetime, entitled "The Quadroon Chef: Dumas concocting his bouillabaisse of romance":
I still remember how shocked and angry I was the first time I saw this image, when my mom and I went on a tour of the Château de Monte-Cristo, Dumas's amazing estate near Paris. I remember how sad I was when I read his novel Georges about a mixed-race hero who tries to start a slave revolt and fails, and I saw all the racism he'd written into it, the internalized beliefs about black inferiority, and how awful that must have been for him to live with every day. (The book does have a lot of great stuff in it, by the way. It just also has a lot of messed-up stuff in it.)
Just. I am a HUGE Dumas fan. HUGE. The Three Musketeers in particular was one of the defining books of my youth and it still means a lot to me. The man was a brilliant writer and a really nice guy and I love him. And apart from anything else, apart from what it says about the racism and marginalizing in European and American film industries, apart from how that affects all of us and perpetuates racism in our cultures, apart from how angry I would be if I were a French mixed-race actor who could have tried for this role if it hadn't already been handed to a white guy, apart from ALL OF THAT, this is a huge insult to HIM. Didn't Dumas face enough racism when he was alive? Haven't we come far enough that we can show him some respect? Is it so hard to cast a mixed-race actor in your movie? Is it really?
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Happy Valentine's Day!
Hurrah for love! Here are two poems by Emily Dickinson about love. I know from experience that Valentine's Day can be a bummer if you're not with someone, so the first one is about break-ups:
341.
After great pain, a formal feeling comes--
The Nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs--
The stiff Heart questions was it He, that bore,
And Yesterday, or Centuries before?
The Feet, mechanical, go round--
Of Ground, or Air, or Ought--
A Wooden way
Regardless grown,
A Quartz contentment, like a stone--
This is the Hour of Lead--
Remembered, if outlived,
As Freezing persons, recollect the Snow--
First--Chill--then Stupor--then the letting go--
And here's a more cheerful one, small and simple and surprisingly sexy.
55.
By Chivalries as tiny,
A Blossom, or a Book,
The seeds of smiles are planted--
Which blossom in the dark.
And now for something completely different: apparently In for a Penny is shipping from Amazon already! Several people e-mailed or called me yesterday to tell me their copies had arrived!
EEEE!
And now a comic: Kate Beaton's Susan B. Anthony for kids.
What's a poem that you think really captures something (happy or painful or anything else) about the experience of being in love?
341.
After great pain, a formal feeling comes--
The Nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs--
The stiff Heart questions was it He, that bore,
And Yesterday, or Centuries before?
The Feet, mechanical, go round--
Of Ground, or Air, or Ought--
A Wooden way
Regardless grown,
A Quartz contentment, like a stone--
This is the Hour of Lead--
Remembered, if outlived,
As Freezing persons, recollect the Snow--
First--Chill--then Stupor--then the letting go--
And here's a more cheerful one, small and simple and surprisingly sexy.
55.
By Chivalries as tiny,
A Blossom, or a Book,
The seeds of smiles are planted--
Which blossom in the dark.
And now for something completely different: apparently In for a Penny is shipping from Amazon already! Several people e-mailed or called me yesterday to tell me their copies had arrived!
EEEE!
And now a comic: Kate Beaton's Susan B. Anthony for kids.
What's a poem that you think really captures something (happy or painful or anything else) about the experience of being in love?
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Breaking news!
I know two posts in one day is a bit much (my eventual goal is one a week) but something important has happened! My wonderful editor Leah Hultenschmidt sent me a copy of my book so I could see it while waiting for my author copies!!!!!
Yes, I really did have to use that many exclamation points. And now, pictures! In my excitement I am vaguely reminiscent of a lemur, but hey, I like lemurs.
Book! (Note my awesome lobster sheets.)
The copyright page!
About the Author! That's me!
Life is good.
Yes, I really did have to use that many exclamation points. And now, pictures! In my excitement I am vaguely reminiscent of a lemur, but hey, I like lemurs.
Book! (Note my awesome lobster sheets.)
The copyright page!
About the Author! That's me!
Life is good.
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