Happy Tuesday, Riskies! I’ve only just now finished unpacking, doing laundry, and getting back into the writing schedule after RomCon, and now I have to put everything back in the suitcase for RWA. Luckily I have new dresses, new bookmarks to give away, and I’m all warmed up for the conference rounds.

I had so much fun at RomCon! Carolyn’s recap last week was excellent and I totally agree with her–it was the first year for this conference, and they have some kinks to work out and organize for next year, but I thought it was highly enjoyable and lots of fun. It was much smaller than RWA or RT, and focused on reading and the love of romance novels and all the things that go along with them (covers, characters, whatever). The small size (and the hotel lobby full of comfy sofas and chairs!) made it much easier to sit down and really talk to people–I sometimes feel overwhelmed at RWA and it can be hard to do that sort of thing. It was fun to remember what brought me to writing romance in the first place, the fact that I was addicted to the books. It was also fun to talk to writers of so many different genres, and it planted lots of new ideas in my head…

I have to admit I wasn’t as organized as I could have been! I missed many workshops (including the “controversial” ones! I always seem to miss it when there is controversy going on!), didn’t get to see a few people I meant to look for, and spent what seemed like hours trekking around the massively long hallways of the conference center. I also gave into the lure of the shiny covers of the many giveaways, which now reside in a pile by my desk trying to tempt me away from my writing. (Seriously, if you love to read, I have never seen so many book giveaways at a conference!) There was good food, secret rites of the Cucumber Club, and lots of wine. A fun conference. (And there are lots of posts floating around the Internet if you want to know more…)

I didn’t take many pics, but here are a few:

At the workshop I participated in, “Stripping the Heroine,” in my Regency day dress and new spencer and bonnet, with Terri Brisbin and Pam Nowak! (Sorry it somehow go turned around)

At the Saturday signing with my neighbors, Melissa Mayhue and Monica McCarty!

Carolyn at the signing with her neighbor Brenda Jackson!

Hopefully I can make it there next year, I had lots of fun and Denver was blessedly cool compared to the heat and humidity here!

Now on to RWA. Are you going to be in Orlando???

(Also, yesterday, July 19, marks the day the Rosetta Stone was discovered in 1799! Since this post was already long enough, I’m talking a bit about it at my own blog later today)

I’m still out of town, but will be back next week with photos and a recap of RomCon and looking ahead to RWA! In the meantime, I’m up in the mountains of New Mexico where Internet is iffy, so I’m leaving some of my favorite fashion history links, which I used in the workshop last weekend. Enjoy–and let us know some of your own favorite sites!

18th Century Blog
Costumers Guide to Movie Costumes (not history exactly, but tons of fun!)
FIDM Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Costume Institute has a wonderful searchable database)
Worn Through
The Costumer’s Manifesto
Jessamyn’s Regency Costume Companion
Elizabethan Costuming Page
Sense & Sensibility Patterns (great links)
Cathy Decker’s Regency Fashion Page
Demode Couture
Fashion-Era
The Costume Gallery
The Costume Site (tons of great links!)
Tudor Links

And of course these are just the tip of the fashion iceberg…

The winner of an arc of “Duchess of Sin” is…Virginia! Please send us your snail mail info at Riskies AT yahoo.com

Happy Tuesday, everyone! I was very excited last week to receive the first ARC of my next Laurel McKee book, Duchess of Sin (Anna’s story, out in December!). As you can see, Jane Austen was happy to see it as well. It’s always such a nice moment to see the book as–well, as a book. Even working on a story for months and months, living with the characters every day, doesn’t quite make it all seem real the way a shiny, pretty copy can. And what the heck–I’ll give away this ARC to one commenter today!

And like Janet I’m busy packing. I’m heading off to Denver for RomCon on Thursday, and then I’m going to the mountains in New Mexico for a few days to relax and finish this WIP. I think I have my clothes figured out, but not the books I’ll want to read. I’m still deciding on that. If you’re at RomCon come and say hi to me! I’ll be at the “Stripping the Heroine” panel on Friday at 2, and flitting around at various places the rest of the weekend. (I’ll post my schedule on my own blog tomorrow before I leave). I’m putting together a hand-out of favorite fashion history sites for the workshop, and if you have any suggestions send them on!

And tomorrow, July 7, marks the anniversary of the founding of the British Museum by an Act of Parliament in 1753! (Maybe–I actually found a couple different dates in my search, but since I feel like talking about it today this is when we’re marking the anniversary…). The origins of the British Museum were in the will of the physician and collector Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753), who gathered more than 71,000 objects over his lifetime and he wanted to preserve them together after his death. (And I think I’m a pack-rat!). He left the collection to King George II for the nation in return to a payment of 20,000 pounds to his heirs.

This gift was accepted, and in 1753 an Act of Parliament established the British Museum, with Sloane’s collection as its nucleus. This starter collection was mostly books, manuscripts, natural specimens, antiquities, coins and medals, prints and drawings. (Today the museum numbers around 7 million objects). The Foundation Act added 2 other libraries to the collection, the Cottonian Library (assembled by Sir Robert Cotton and dating back to Elizabethan times) and the Harleian Library of the Earls of Oxford. The king donated the “Old Royal Library,” and with it the privilege of copyright receipt, in 1757, and these form the nucleus of the British Library (these early donations included such treasures as the only copy of the original Beowulf).

It was the first of its kind of museum, a “universal museum,” belonging neither to church or crown, freely open to the public and collecting everything. Today that includes the Viking Sutton Hoo treasure, the Rosetta Stone, the Parthenon marbles, and many, many other treasures. It opened to the public in January 1759, housed first in the 17th century Montagu House in Bloomsbury (on the site of the current building). I think it would take a lifetime to fully explore everything the museum has to offer!

(The photo is Diane and our friend Julie on our Regency tour of England)

What is your favorite museum? What do you love most about it? What museum would you most like to visit you haven’t seen yet? (I would love to see the Prado in Madrid). And have you read any good books lately you would recommend I take on my trip???

The winner from our Cara Elliott post is…Penney! Congrats! Please send us your snail mail info at Riskies AT yahoo.com to claim your prize