Win a Prize from RWA Conference

Just post and say you missed us and you might win a great bag of goodies from Orlando and the conference!

We'll announce the winner Monday.

Personal Bubble???

As I write this I am sitting on an airlane as they replace a broken hand rail. The care that Air Trans is taking to correct this problem is very reassuring to me. If they are this careful with a hand rail I would like to think that they are even more care with the 2 million other parts that actually make the airplane fly.

The delay could be much worse since I am sitting here with eight other members of the fabulous Heart of Dixie Capter of RWA. We are heading to our national conference in Orlando, Florida. Oh, the fun we will have!!

I had already planned to write this blog about personal space and let me tell you that airplane seats give an entirely new meaning to "personal bubble." This past weekend Dr. Good Sense and I had a long conversation about personal space. She has a pretty large personal bubble-I think this has to to with the fact that she is an only child. Dr. Good Sense was recently in a situation where someone was invading her personal space. When she told me about it she said, "He just kept rubbing on me and touching my back." She was quite out of sorts because her bubble had been violated. This got me to thinking about about the "bubbles" of all the people that I know. My friend at Writing Playground, Smarty Pants, has a LARGE bubble and I felt sooooo honored when she gave me a hug one day because it meant she was really comfortable with me. I on the other hand am a much more hands on sort of gal. I am a toucher, a patter and a hugger. Most people fall somewhere between these two extremes.

How large is your personal bubble?

Head Over Heels for Historicals

Head-over -heels for Historicals


I’ve been an avid historical romance reader since my teens, starting off with the fabulous Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, Johanna Lindsay, Julie Garwood, and LaVyrle Spencer. Though the genre has changed a bit since those days, the HEA (happily ever after) is always clear. Readers know when they pick up an historical novel they will be stepping into a time machine which will transport them back through time and space. And with romance, readers also know when the final page is turned, happily ever after is what they will get. Guaranteed!

Attending the RWA (Romance Writers of America) National Conference has been one of the greatest things I’ve ever done for myself and my career as a romance writer. I’ve made amazing acquaintances and even more spectacular friends in the process. Workshops, agent/editor/author chats, pitch appointments, publisher spotlights and booksignings will fill my days this week. But there is one thing I look forward to most of all (besides hanging out with my roomies). This event happens only once every two years, the Beau Monde’s Historical Conference.

What is the Beau Monde? The Beau Monde is an online romance chapter specializing in the Regency Period. An excerpt from the chapter appears below:

“The Regency Period, strictly defined as Britain during the years 1811–1820, was a fascinating time. The plethora of events, fashion, the larger-than-life aristocrats who peopled the ton (Society), as well as their moral (and immoral) behavior is an ideal time for the historical romance writer to place characters. The Beau Monde, a specialty chapter of the Romance Writers of America®, is a community of Regency writers, both published and unpublished, who specialize in the Regency genre.”

With a membership numbering 260, and with over 100 published authors in their midst, the Beau Monde is the place to turn to when writing Regencies. As a Regency writer, I’ve found a safe haven and a wellspring of knowledge about the genre within this group. If you’re a Regency writer or would like to write a Regency romance, check out their website.

But I digress… Y’all, today I’m in heaven! I’ll break fast with fellow Regency authors, attending workshops like: Teaching the Regency Romance, Doddering Butlers, Pert Housemaids, and Faithful Retainers: Busting the Servant Myth, Life After Sexy, The Everyday Life of a Disreputable Lady, Inside the Lady’s Wardrobe, Adapting Modern Situation to the Past. There will be an annual membership meeting, luncheon with keynote speaker Gaelen Foley, an afternoon Tea and a Soiree, where attendees can learn how to dance to Period music at the call of a Dance Master or chance a game of cards. (If you can appear at the Soiree in Regency costume, all the better.)

As I immerse myself into bygone days, I leave you to ponder this: What historical era do you like reading about most? What is your favorite historical romance author? And if you could go back in time to witness one event, which one would it be?

Katherine

Ghosts

In this day of so many books about vampires, werewolves, and ghosts, I often wonder how many of us truly believe in the supernatural – especially ghosts. For some reason, the idea of a ghost fascinates me.

I love Ghosthunters on the SyFy channel. Every Wednesday night you will find me sitting in front of the television (something I seldom do) watching “my guys.” I have been a fan since their first program. To me, their scientific approach to ghosts seems to lend credence to their findings. Ok, I hear all you out there groaning; surely an educated person wouldn’t fall for such nonsense from plumbers. But, I have – some of the things they have captured on tape over the years have left me flummoxed. No explanation for that soldier coming out of a locker in the basement of a hospital (they did capture it on infra-red). Just sends chills down my spine. I want to be a member of TAPS!



I have had personal experiences, too numerous to put down in a blog. Oh, yeah, I really have! I am a firm believer in ghosts, or whatever John Edward calls them (he is wonderful!). Some people just don’t want to move on – they stick around where they felt the most comfortable in life. Doesn’t make me comfortable but at least they are.

A few years ago, my son, husband and I decided to go on a ghost hunt in New Orleans. The city is creepy enough after dark but I love it ( I would live there if I could convince my husband). It was the first season of Ghosthunters and I was pumped. The tour we signed up for was not one of those where you follow a guide around and he points out haunted houses. This was an honest-to-God investigation of a building in the Warehouse District. At ten o’clock at night we, along with some Yankees and a doctor from California, boarded a bus at the Brewery and were carted across town to a ramshackled old building. We were handed flashlights, divining rods and notebooks to jot down our experiences. My son, the consummate skeptic (especially about his mother’s sanity), chose to hold the divining rods; after all, he didn’t believe and he wanted to make sure that those rods didn’t have some “human” help.

Our guide put us in the building and left us. After standing around looking at each other for a few minutes, we finally decided to start. In the downstairs area at the back of the house near the fireplace, I kept getting chills. We were asking questions, requesting a response from the ghost by him/her crossing the diving rods but were getting no responses. Since this was a Creole period building, I, drawing on the only French I knew (from Bugs Bunny – God bless him), asked “Parle Vous Francais?” (Excuse the spelling – Bugs wasn’t much for writing it out). Immediately, the divining rods crossed. A positive response! My son stared at the rods in his hands, shocked and very quiet. Everyone in the group looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to ask another question in French. I shrugged, none of the other Looney Toons characters had every said anything else in French.

Excited, we moved to the stairs, asking questions as we went. At the foot of the stairs, I smelled turpentine. Another woman in the group also smelled it (no I didn’t have a brain tumor). I kept asking if there was any painting going on in the building but we saw no evidence of it. Since nothing was happening, we went upstairs to a bedroom at the front of the building. I immediately hated this room and did not want to stay there. The farther I went into the room, the more distressed I became. Eventually I started choking, for no reason, and felt very nauseated. The California doctor kept asking me what was wrong. He annoyed me, telling me that I was imagining it and to stop. Finally, I told my husband that I was leaving; I couldn’t stand it. I ran, not walked, down the stairs and out the front door. I sat down on the curb, trying to breathe. The guide and a security guard came over and asked if I was all right. Almost purple, I shook my head and gave them the “look.” Idiots! No I wasn’t all right! Eventually I calmed down but I refused to go back into the building.

A couple of hours later, the group emerged, having experienced some more responses on the divining rods. The guide collected our notebooks and began relaying the history of the building. Originally a house, a little Creole girl had died downstairs and she had been seen numerous times near the fireplace. Later, the building became an apartment house. A portrait painter, who lived upstairs, had fallen down the stairway, breaking his neck. Turpentine is a tool used by painters to clean their brushes (And no, there was no painting being done in the building at the present). The real kicker came from the front upstairs bedroom. The building had later become a brothel – a bar downstairs and the upstairs was used to accommodate patrons. One of the “ladies” had died in that room from tuberculosis, choking to death. Ok, I really didn’t like hearing that! Everyone in the group looked at me as if I had grown two heads. The California doctor explained to us lesser individuals that a person with tuberculosis would have difficulty breathing, erupting blood from the lungs and possibly swallowing it. That, he eyed me, could explain being nauseated.

On the bus trip back to the Vieux Carre (French Quarter), the guide told me that it seemed I was sensitive, No kidding? He asked if I would be willing to explore that. After what I had just gone through, I said no; forget it! Over the years since, I have experienced similar smells and feelings in houses and buildings. I don’t react or tell people; being committed is not on my bucket list.

Have you ever seen a ghost? Had a paranormal experience? Do you, as Mulder said, BELIEVE

DON'T TAKE A RATTLESNAKE TO YOUR PTICH APPOINTMENT

The more that time marches on, the more I find that I want to do odd things like put glitter on my face and go to a calf roping. I think it's because writers draw on their experiences and it's essential to make new and interesting memories. Lately, I find myself with a yen to go to a church with a snake handling service. Rattlesnake handling and strychnine drinking are against the law but it goes on and I'm curious. Unfortunately, I can't get anybody on board with me and I do not hanker for this experience so bad that I am willing to go alone. I guess I'm going to have to be satisfied to read Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia by Dennis Covington. I'll let you know how that goes.

I know you can't tell from that lead-in, but I am going to talk about pitching to editors or agents.
Thanks to the fabulous training of the Queen of Pitches, Harlequin Blaze author, Kira Sinclair, and our own Katherine Bone, who can write a pitch like nobody's business and helped shine ours up, Stephanie and I are ready for our appointments. I'm not going to tell you how to pitch. I can't do it better than Kira. Go over to the Writing Playground and read her article. It says it all.

Kira's Pitch Article

I'm also not going to give you a pep talk and talk about confidence and state of mind. I am going to tell you a few things that ought to be common sense but refute actual tips I once read that are supposed to make the pitch go better.

Pitch appointments are not the place to wear a costume, even if we are at Disney.

Inasmuch as I believe it is important to get out of the comfort zone (i.e. the snake handling), do not do it at a pitch appointment. If you write westerns do not wear a cowboy hat to your appointment. If you write erotica, do not priss yourself up in there wearing a bustier and carrying a whip. They will think you are nuts.

Do not take the industry professional a gift.

That's just creepy and they will think so too. So no mouse ears. No Hershey's kiss. NOTHING, except your business card—and don't write a personal message of any kind on it

Don't take a good luck charm—especially if it is distracting.

Okay, if you've got some lucky earrings that are not flashing skulls, go ahead. But don’t go in and lay a rabbit's foot or a lock of your dog's fur on the table. Last year while we were readying ourselves to go pitch, I put on my charm bracelet. Like most southern women, my charm bracelet was started for me as a child. The bracelet itself has been replaced but I still have my first charm and every single subsequent one that has been added over the years to mark special occasions or just because I thought it was precious. As you can imagine, it jingles a little from time to time. Stephanie said, "You are not wearing that bracelet. Take it off." I whined a little. I pointed out that it was my lucky bracelet and that I have had a more enduring relationship with it than I have had with most people in my life. It didn't do me any good. "It rattles," she said. "It sounds just like a rattlesnake. Take it off." And she was right.

Don't take a rattlesnake to your pitch appointment, even if you are certain the agent or editor likes snakes.

This is the only point that is not in response to advice I read. I just couldn't help myself.

Tell us about your pitch experiences. Anybody pitching for the first time?

Note: Stephanie, Katherine, and I will all be at conference the rest of the week. Cheryl will be a little out of pocket too. The blogs will be business as usual and we will check in. Your responses to our blogs are very important to us and we will answer you. We may even tell you a little about what's going on with us. But forgive us if we don't get back to you as promptly as usual.

WHAT ARE YOU READING?

Stephanie is reading the Romance Writers' of America's Bylaws.

Jean is reading THE LUXE by Anna Godbersen.

Cheryl is reading the third Sons of Chance novel, CLAIMED by Vicki Lewis Thompson and starting to re-read (for the twentieth time) THE STAND by Stephen King.

Kathy is reading UNTAMED ROGUE, SCANDALOUS MISTRESS by Bronwyn Scott.

What are you reading?

To Nap or Not to Nap? That is the Question.

Naps are funny things. Sometimes they make you feel better and sometimes they don’t. It seems to me that there should be a rule about naps. Something like if you nap for forty minutes you will wake feeling refreshed and revitalized but if you nap for longer than three hours you will wake feeling grumpy and sluggish.

Naps are also very personal things. Some people love to nap while others feel that naps are simply a way that lazy people waste their days away. When I was a child I HATED a nap. Now this was quite the problem for me since my mother is a great believer in nap time. I can remember trying to get her off the nap couch and she would pretend to be the couch and tell me to be very quiet or that I would wake up my momma. Unfortunately for my mother, I was a very logical child and knew that there was no such thing as talking furniture. That was against the rules so I just kept talking until she got up.

As an adult, I now have a very different opinion of naps. I love them. I wish that life would allow me to take a nap every single day. Since I am not yet independently wealthy, I must continue to work for a living so a daily nap isn’t really a viable part of my life. Perhaps this is why I so enjoy a nap when I do get the chance for one. It is a guilty pleasure.

Are you a napper? What is your best napping story?

Stephanie