What i’ve done on my vacation (so far!):

1) Helped Megan unpack and move books (she may think I’m being helpful, but really I’m scheming ways to steal her research collection. Bwa-ha-ha!!!)

2) Pestering Megan to start her new book

3) Having lunch with editor and agent. Pretending for two hours to be a reasonably professional and socially presentable person (I did not even squeal when given some free books! Yay!)

4) Visiting the Frick Collection, looking at Parmigianino’s painting “Antea” and standing in the Fragonard room, pretending it’s mine. All mine!

5) Going to the Yale British Art Center with Andrea Pickens and looking through boxes full of Regency-era satirical prints and Gainsborough drawings

6) Gawking at people on the train

More next week, complete with pictures!

It is my distinct honor and pleasure to be a guest blogger here! The Risky Regencies are the blog of my heart, the blog that along with Squawk Radio introduced me to the romance community and fired up my desire to write.

I started reading RR in June of 2006. In those early days I couldn’t muster up the courage to comment on any of the posts. However, when Gerard Butler as Beowulf graced the pages of RR, I couldn’t stop myself!

That first comment emboldened me to visit daily, leave more comments, then comment on the comments by others. (Note from Risky Regencies: You see how commenting is a slippery slope!!) Here’s how the first week went:

On July 3, Diane wrote The Gerard Butler Post
On Tuesday, Cara blogged about Period Views of America, hilarious quotes by Americans of “our” period in honor of Independence Day.
Then Elena talked about Roughing It describing a flooding disaster that struck her home and actually made me weep.
Janet’s discussion about How Literate We Are according to the top 30 books of British librarians was a surefire “Uh=oh!” for me.
Megan’s recounting of the events of her son’s birthday had me wishing she would organize my daughter’s party.
Amanda finished up the week with A Brief History of Soccer in honor of the World Cup.

You can see why I was hooked. How could I not be?!

The Riskies vary widely in their hobbies and interests, but are united by their love of history, books, and writing. I have learned so much from them. Diane and Amanda introduced me to craft of writing, the ups and downs of the writing life, and the modern joys of Project Runway and Dancing With the Stars. Cara added to my 3-year long Netflix list with all the versions of Jane Austen movies, made me into a cardsharp 200 years removed, and delighted me with her brilliant Austen Trek.

Elena showed me how to write from the heart, how to balance writing with motherhood, and how to serve colored meals for holidays (red food for Valentine’s Day, orange for Halloween, etc). If blog posts were to have emotions, Janet’s posts would always be smiling, for instance this and this. If there’s anything about the servant life in the 1800s that Janet doesn’t know, then it’s not worth knowing. From Megan I discovered that Clive Owen has hundreds of publicity headshots, everyday life can be fashionable, and it’s alright to be sad or silly, but for heaven’s sake don’t be boring!

A year and a half later, I’m still here, chatting just as much as before! In the course of dedicated blogging by the Riskies and their guests (with a special shout-out to Todd and our dear beau Bertie), I have made fast friends who’ll see me into the next decade and beyond.

If I’ve made a small contribution to the Risky community, then I’m indeed blessed. Ladies, thank you from my soul and the soles of my feet for having me here!

Keira Soleore can be found in many (many!) spots in the online writing world! She’s the board moderator for Candice Hern’s message board, she’s at her own website, and at her blog Cogitations and Meditations (see the links on Risky Regencies!). If you wish to nosh about Top Chef, email her straightaway.

Happy Saturday, everyone! We have so many exciting things coming up on Risky Regencies–a contest (stay tuned this week for the announcement!); a Guest Blogger visit tomorrow from Keira Soleore; and next week I will be in New York, staying with Risky Megan (so I can report on her new house firsthand!). Also, if you’d like to win a signed copy of A Sinful Alliance, I will be at Unusual Historicals for one more day. Be sure and visit! Oh, and I finally wrote “The End” on my Caribbean/Balthazar book this week!!! Chocolate all around. 🙂

And, since I had absolutely no idea what to talk about today (trying to do laundry so I can pack my suitcase!), I decided to pull out some of the research I did for ASA. Can’t let it go to waste, after all! Here is a story of the 2 palaces that appear in the book, Greenwich and Fontainebleau.

Greenwich was originally built in 1433 by Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, a brother of Henry V. It was a convenient spot for a castle, 5 miles from London and Thames-side, and was popular with subsequent rulers, especially Henry VIII. His father, Henry VII, remodeled the place extensively between 1498-1504 (after dispatching the previous occupant, Dowager Queen Elizabeth, to a convent). The new design was after the trendy “Burgundian” model, with the facade refaced in red Burgundian brick. Though the royal apartments were still in the “donjon” style (i.e. stacked rooms atop rooms), there were no moats or fortifications. It was built around 3 courtyards, with the royal apartments overlooking the river and many fabulous gardens and mazes, fountains and lawns.

At the east side of the palace lay the chapel; to the west the privy kitchen. Next door was the church of he Observant Friars of St. Francis, built in 1482 and connected to the palace by a gallery. This was the favorite church of Katherine of Aragon, who wanted one day to be buried there (of course, that didn’t turn out quite as she planned…)

Though there are paintings and drawings of the exterior, not much is known of the interior decorations. The Great Hall was said to have roof timbers painted with yellow ochre, and the floors were wood, usually oak (some painted to look like marble). The ceilings were flat, with moulded fretwork and lavish gilding, embellished with badges and heraldic devices (often Katherine’s pomegranates and Henry’s roses). The furniture was probably typical of the era, carved dark wood chairs (often an X-frame design) and tables, benches and trunks. Wool or velvet rugs were on the floors of the royal apartments only, but they could also be found on tables, cupboards, and walls. Elaborate tiered buffets showed off gold and silver plate, and treasures like an gold salt cellar engraved with the initials “K and H” and enameled with red roses.

For the events in my book, the visit of the French delegation, two new structures were built at either end of the tiltyard, a grand banquet house, and a theater where there were masques and concerts.

Many important events of the era took place at Greenwich. Henry VIII was born there on June 28, 1491, and he married Katherine of Aragon there in May 1511. On February 8, 1516 Princess Mary was born there, followed on May 13 by the marriage of the king’s sister Mary, Dowager Queen of France, to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk (a huge source of much gossip!). In 1527 came the French delegation which forms the center of my book. They were received with much pomp “and entertained after a more sumptuous manner than has ever been seen before” (according to one courtier). On September 7, 1533, Princess Elizabeth was also born there, followed nearly 3 years later by the arrest of her mother Anne Boleyn after a tournament. One of the last great events Greenwich saw in Henry’s reign was the wedding to Anne of Cleves in 1540.

It was a royal residence through the reign of Charles I (1625-49), but under the Commonwealth the state apartments were made into stables, and the palace decayed. In 1662, Charles II demolished most of the remains and built a new palace on the site (this later became the Royal Naval College), and landscaped Greenwich Park. The Tudor Great Hall survived until 1866, and the chapel (used for storage) until the late 19th century. Apart from the undercroft (built by James I in 1606) and one of Henry VIII’s reservoir buildings of 1515, nothing of the original survives.

Fontainebleau, on the other hand, can be seen in much the state Francois I left it in. On February 24, 1525 there was the battle of Pavia, the worst French defeat since Agincourt. Many nobles were dead, and king was the prisoner of the Holy Roman Emperor in Madrid. He was released in May, but only at the price of exchanging his sons (Dauphin Francois and Henri, duc d’Orleans) for his own freedom. In May 1526, Francois created the League of Cognac with Venice, Florence, the Papacy, the Sforzas of Milan, and Henry VIII to “ensure the security of Christendom and the establishment of a true and lasting peace.” (Ha!!) This led to the visit of the delegation in 1527, seeking a treaty of alliance with England and the betrothal of Princess Mary and the duc d’Orleans.

After his return from Madrid, Francois was not idle. Aside from plotting alliances, he started decorating. Having finished Chambord, he turned to Fontainebleau, which he loved for its 17,000 hectares of fine hunting land. All that remained of the original 12th century castle was a single tower. Francois built new ballrooms, galleries, and a chapel, and called in Italian artists like Fiorentino, Primaticcio, and Vignola to decorate them in lavish style (some of their work can still be seen in the frescoes of the Gallery of Francois I and the bedchamber of the king’s mistress the duchesse d’Etampes). The marble halls were filled with artworks, gold and silver ornaments, and fine tapestries. Unlike Greenwich, this palace was high and light, filled with sunlight that sparkled on the giltwork.

A few sources I used a lot with this book are:
—Tournaments: Jousts, Chivalry, and Pageants in the Middle Ages, Richard Barber
—Excavations of Greenwich Palace, 1970-1971, PW Dixon
—Tudor Food and Pastimes, FG Emmison
–The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Antonia Fraser (there are LOTS of books on this subject, of course, but Fraser’s is great!)
—Prince of the Renaissance: The Life of Francis I, Desmond Seward
—Food and Feast in Tudor England, Alison Sim (yes, I do like researching food!)
—The Royal Palaces of Tudor England: Architecture and Court Life, 1460-1547, Simon Thurley
—Henry VIII: The King and His Court, Alison Weir (full of wonderful info!)
—Henry VIII and His Court, Neville Williams

I know it’s hard to comment on a research-type post, but I’m curious–after reading about both palaces, which would you prefer to live in? (I’m torn, but I lean toward Greenwich). Where would you like to see a book set?

See you next week from New York!

I recently read a book called A Broom of One’s Own: Words on Writing, Housecleaning, and Life by Nancy Peacock. Though I’ve never read one of her novels, on the strength and entertainment value of these essays I’m going to buy one immediately!

Peacock talks about both the life of the writer, the artist, and her old ‘day job’ of housecleaning, what she learned from the work and the people whose houses she cleaned. (I must say, the chapter on the Hamiltons made me feel much better about my own lackluster housekeeping! At least I always put my candy wrappers and used Kleenex in the trashcan). She says several things I could identify with in my own weird odyssey of writing books.

From page 20, on writing full-time for a year: “…I did miss having something in my life besides writing. Writing itself had not become a strong enough foundation yet, and without the foundations of regular work I felt like an emotional mudslide. I was caving in on myself. Living alone, probing a fictional world for six hours a day, was making me feel a little weird…I was discovering, in fact, that writing full-time was inefficient. I found that I could write effectively for two or three hours each day. After that, time spent at the desk was time spent mucking up my characters’ story. I’d lost the ability to listen to them.”

From Amanda–I’ve never cleaned houses for a living (see above, those lackluster cleaning skills–no one would pay me to do that!), but I do work a “day job”, working in a library/archives and doing an occasional newspaper story. I relish holidays, when I have long stretches of time where I can stay home and really get ahead on a book, but I’m never too sorry to go back to work, either. I dream about being a full-time author, but the truth is I need the structure of the day job. It makes my writing time more precious, more efficient. I have to get right to the point of the story every day when I sit down with my pen. And it keeps me from watching soap operas and sitting around in Hello Kitty pajamas all day!

From page 53, on publishing one’s work: “I think that in the beginning of my writing life I believed that writing, publication in particular, could, besides making me rich, also make me invulnerable. It might have been the stupidest thought I ever had, because there is nothing, with the exception of love, that has ever made me feel more vulnerable than writing and publishing.”

From Amanda–amen to that! I think that writing (the world of romance publishing especially, perhaps) sets up a sort of “magic door” way of thinking. Once we sell our work, all will be wonderful! I may have thought that once. But publishing just opens up a whole new world of concerns and, yes, vulnerabilities. I’m not magically more self-confident because my book now has a cover and sits on a bookstore shelf; in fact, I am less. Ack! It’s making me nervous just thinking about it all!!!

From page 72–73: “Writing is so crazy. There must be a million things to do that are saner than writing…It feels a little like living a double life. It feels secretive. If one of my characters suddenly dies, and I am moved to grief, or even tears, I can’t share that with anyone.

“I think this is why I thrive on routine. I like for the real life, the one that involves going to work and cooking dinner and being in the physical world, to be somewhat predictable, because there are enough surprises in the alternate life.”

From Amanda–okay, so this is why I have a much harder time writing when my routine is messed up! (When it’s Christmas, for instance, or there’s an illness in my family, or I’m helping my brother’s fiancee get ready for their wedding in May). My alternate world keeps getting interrupted. And it is an alternate world. I may appear to be grocery shopping or cooking a pot of pasta, but in reality I’m trying to figure out how to unravel my latest plotting problem, or trying out bits of dialogue aloud…

And on page 23: “I think there are two things writers love more than anything else. One is solitude and the other is gossip. In the housecleaning trade I got both, but in all the jobs I worked before housecleaning there was too much gossip and not enough solitude. These jobs exhausted me.”

From Amanda–LOL! My last job involved a great deal of inter-personal conflict (not with me–between other co-workers, but they always wanted to tell me all about it). This current job suits me very well. Most of the work is on my own, but sometimes people in the offices next door come by and chat, and I eat lunch with them. This gives me time to think, to let my stories percolate in my mind, but keeps me from going bat-crazy. And there is always something interesting going on here! I like to take breaks a couple times a day to check in with the Riskies and other blogs.

What about all of you? Do you have a “day job”? How does it help/hinder your writing? What is your perfect balance of solitude and gossip?

And don’t forget! On April 6, I will be blogging at Unusual Historicals, with a chance to win a copy of A Sinful Alliance! It’s on shelves now, and my mother says it is very good. 🙂

The Riskies are proud to welcome author Marissa Doyle! Her debut YA historical novel, Bewitching Season, is available now from Henry Holt. You can visit her at her website, or at her own blog Nineteenteen. Or here! Comment for the chance to win a copy…

Riskies: Welcome to Risky Regencies, Marissa! Tell us about Bewitching Season.

Marissa: Well, it’s a Young Adult book…but I hope it will have appeal for older readers as well, since there’s a little of everything in it! History (the plot is based on historical events and people), fantasy, mystery, and of course romance. It’s the story of a pair of twin sisters entering Society in 1837, and how they become embroiled in and eventually foil a plot against the soon-to-be Queen Victoria…with magic.

Riskies: Ooooh, Queen Victoria and magic! What gave you the idea for this story?

Marissa: Bewitching Season came from a happy and fortuitous confluence of two events–a group writing prompt in my local RWA chapter happening at the same time I was reading a biography of Queen Victoria. They just wrapped around each other and clicked! The opening line of the book, in fact, is straight from that writing prompt.

Riskies: What was the research like for this story? Was there any new or surprising historical information you discovered?

Marissa: Research is always the fun part because it gives me an excuse to get onto used book sites and buy fascinating but out-of-print sources–yum! I didn’t run across anything very surprising, but that was all right; my goal was to deliver a strong flavor of what it was like to be a teen in the 1830s. Not just the clothes and parties and the details of everyday life (which are so seductive in themselves, and which I wanted to depict as well as I could), but the whole mindset. That you didn’t just go off to do what you wanted as you entered adulthood, that parents/family and society expectations generally trumped individual hopes and longings. I wanted teens to understand this book wasn’t just people in funny dresses, but a completely different world from what they know here and now.

Riskies: How was the young Queen Victoria different from the dour old lady so many people imagine? (Speaking of young people in the time, LOL)

Marissa: Very!! I blogged about this recently…she was such a typical teen in so many ways. She was very much a product of her genes. Remember all her disreputable uncles (and aunts) and her 56 illegitimate cousins? She loved to party and dance all night, and go to the theater, and generally have fun. But once she marred Albert, much of that changed. He liked to go to bed at 9, and parties and balls made him feel ill. And she got pregnant on their honeymoon, so she went from party girl to woman with aching back and morning sickness rather abruptly. She practically worshiped him and accepted his word as unvarnished law, so once he condemned her partying as frivolous she gave it up. I sometimes can’t help wondering what would have happened if she’d married someone a little less rigid and humorless!

But even in old age she could be charming. Many of her grandchildren were devoted to her, and loved just hanging out with her and telling her jokes so they could hear her laugh, which was supposedly delightfully girlish and giggly even in her 80s.

Riskies: What are some of the challenges in writing for the YA market?

Marissa: What has struck me about writing YA isn’t the challenge, but the freedom. There really are no rules in YA beyond those of good, compelling, honest storytelling and writing. I happen to like HEAs with the adorable and adoring hero, but if my story and heroine had chosen another path that would have been perfectly acceptable in YA. And I love being able to focus on my heroine’s growth as a person as much as on other elements.

Riskies: What else is “risky” about this book?

Marissa: Hmmm…probably the mix of history and fantasy! I’ve done my best to make the historical figures as accurate and true to the historical record as possible, and the underlying premise of the story–Victoria’s long struggle with her mother’s comptroller Sir John Conroy–is all true. I just took it a step further by asking “what would happen if Sir John tried to gain control from Victoria by use of magic?” It seems to have worked, as reviews from places like Kirkus and Booklist have all mentioned that despite the magical elements, the books manages to remain firmly in the historical world. That makes me very happy!!!

Riskies: What do you think of the Young Victoria movie coming out later this year??

Marissa: I soooo can’t wait for it to be released! Victoria’s youth was so dramatic in many ways, and she herself is such a strong character. I’m only surprised no one has done this already! And from what I’ve seen, the costumes look spot-on, which for some reason is reassuring about the rest of the historical correctness of this film. As I said, she had such an interesting young womanhood that too much Hollywood embellishment will (I hope!) be unneccesary.

Riskies: I know you and Regina Scott have a blog, too! How is it going so far?

Marissa: It’s wonderful! I’ve been contemplating blogging for a while, but didn’t want to do another navel-gazing, day-in-the-life-of-the-writer blog. Then Regina and I did a workshop together on writing historical YAs at the Beau Monde Conference in Dallas, and it hit me–we both were writing these historical YAs, so how about a blog on teens in the 19th century? And how about the 2 of us doing it together? And so, Nineteenteen was born!

I love having Regina to discuss blog post ideas with, among other things. We’re also part of the Class of 2k8, a promotional group of 27 debut YA and middle-grade (10-13) authors, so our work often ties into the blog.

Riskies: And what’s next for you?

Marissa: More YA! The sequel to Bewitching Season, which is still unnamed and which tells the story of the other Leland twin when she goes to study magic in Ireland, is out next spring from Holt! And after that? I hope to have more news soon…