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?

Like 99.9% of American woman, I’m Not Happy With My Body. My legs are short, and my stomach flabby (despite all the Dancing With the Stars). And don’t get me started about my backside!

How does all this angst (both mine, and all the women in the fashion magazines I subscribe to) translate to our romance novel heroines? Or does it at all? (A story about a heroine bemoaning her cellulite for 300 pages would be REALLY dull, IMO! I do enough of it myself). I know that among some readers there is a preference for Very Perfect Heroines. You know the kind–beautiful (but doesn’t know it), smart (she runs her family’s household AND solves mathematical equations AND designs her own gowns!), kind to animals and small children and her wastrel brother, endlessly patient. I always picture Snow White when I read about these girls, sweeping out the dwarves’ hovel while birds chirp merrily around her. Is she really what we want to be, the only sort of heroine worthy of handsome, rich duke heroes?

I hope not, since Duchess Perfect makes me break out in a rash! Here are a few my Favorite Romance Heroines:

–Melanthe, from Laura Kinsale’s For My Lady’s Heart (also my favorite hero, in my favorite romance novel EVER). The most complex heroine I think I’ve ever come across. She starts off seeming cold and distant, yet she also begins the story by saving the hero’s life. And her own backstory is heartbreaking (especially the scene where she tells about her baby daughter).

–Two from Judith Ivory!

Marie from Dance (written under the Judy Cuevas name): my second favorite romance ever! She’s a filmmaker in turn-of-the-twentieth century France, independent and avant-garde. Look for this HTF gem and read it now, it’s fab!

Coco from Sleeping Beauty, another Frenchwoman, a former courtesan, mother of (gasp!) a grown son. Terrific book.

–Madeleine from Adele Ashworth’s Winter Garden–another Frenchwoman! What do they put in the Parisian water?? A spy who is actually competent at her job, yet also kind-hearted.

–And another Madeleine, from our own Diane’s The Mysterious Miss M–a heroine who has to overcome more misfortunes than any I’ve ever seen!

In my own WIP (228 pages so far! But now I’m in the wrapping-up stage, which is always hardest for me), I’m trying something I’ve never done before, a heroine who is Very Beautiful. My heroines have always been attractive, but more in a cute or quirky way. Marguerite Duras (another Frenchwoman) is gorgeous. Something like Gwyneth Paltrow in Shakespeare in Love, tall, slim, with long, silvery blonde hair and aristocratic features. But she’s not vain about her looks; if she was here now she wouldn’t be running off to get Botox! She’s a spy and assassin for the French king, and to her that beauty is just another useful tool. But I had to imagine how people, men and women both, would treat her because of those dazzling looks. It’s the perfect mask, and only the hero (Nicolai Ostrovsky,who you’ll meet in A Notorious Woman, and who is plenty gorgeous himself) sees into her true heart. She has definitely been a challenge!

Who are some of your favorite heroines? What, to you, makes a “good” heroine?

(*Quick note–the pic really has nothing to do with today’s post. I just felt like celebrating Saturday, and how better than with an Orlando pirate photo!)

A short post today! My RWA chapter is having a bookseller/librarian reception at a swanky restaurant this afternoon, and I have to decide what to wear. Then I have to pack up books and promo materials and haul them to my car. So, here’s what I’ve been doing this week:

1) Watching The Tudors. I don’t get Showtime, so a friend had to record it for me, and I just caught the first two episodes. I was really looking forward to this. My WIP is set in almost this exact period (late 1520s, when Anne Boleyn was on the rise), and I find Jonathan Rhys Meyers to be way sexy (though not at all Henry VIII-like). But it was–well, it was dull. And tacky-looking (and not in a good way, like a bobbling hula dancer figurine). A bit disappointed.

2) Doing the Dancing With the Stars Cardio Dance Workout DVD. Warning–whine ahead! This darn thing is hard. And it does not help to have perky, flat-abs Kym yapping at me to “Use your arms! Make it fun! Can’t you feel the burn on your backside?” But when they have Dancing With the Romance Writers I’m going to be ready to dance with Maks. Not to mention ready for sundress season. And I’m pretty sure no one ever died from attempting the jive, though it sometimes feels like it.

3) Playing with some new makeup. I bought some stuff at Sephora from Smashbox’s new Tokidoki line, which has the cutest packaging ever (okay, yeah, so I sort of bought the book for the cover here, but Smashbox usually has very nice products. I swear by their primer). The coral pink lipgloss is fabulous. You can find it here.

4) And reaching page 160 on that Tudor-set WIP! More than halfway through!

What have you been up to this week???