Here quick are two links to articles I’ve written about contests for the unpublished author. I forgot to include them yesterday but some of you might find them of interest.

Navigating the Contest Waters: Sail Your Career into Authorized Territory (Romantic Times, Nov 2004)

The Contest Empress Speaks (Washington Romance Writers Update, Dec, 2003)

Cheers, Diane

I started entering Romance Writers of America contests with my very first manuscript. Several of RWA’s chapters sponsor romance writing contests. I came in second in the very first contest I entered, Virginia Romance Writers Fool for Love contest, so I was hooked early. By the time 2002 came along, I was finaling in contests left and right, so often that my friend Kathy Caskie (How to Seduce a Duke, Sept 2006) dubbed me “The Contest Empress” and she gave me the sceptre to prove it.

That year my historicals came in 1st and 3rd in the Marlene Contest (my own Washington Romance Writers chapter) – the first place entry became my eHarlequin Daily Read (Jan 2006) The Diamond, and the 3rd place entry became The Improper Wife.

Above you see me with my Marlene Medallion, the prize for coming in first.

In 2003, I won RWA’s Golden Heart contest with the manuscript that became The Mysterious Miss M. There I am accepting the Golden Heart at the RWA conference in New York.

And as Amanda mentioned, this summer my A Reputable Rake won the 2006 RITA, RWA’s most prestigious award, for Best Regency Romance. Here I am accepting the RITA statue in Atlanta.

I made the decision to enter A Reputable Rake in the Regency category of the contest, first, because it fit the category. It was heavily grounded in the Regency time period, and had the right word count. I had always thought of this category as being meant for the TRADITIONAL Regency lines, but knowing those lines were ending, I thought I’d enter A Reputable Rake in that category, rather than short historical.

My decision turned out to be a very good one!

This year there will still be a Regency category for the RITA contest and I think any author whose book fits the guidelines ought to enter the book in the Regency category instead of Short Historical. I don’t have a Regency this year, so I can’t enter.

These are the guidelines for Best Regency Romance: Romantic historical novels with primary settings during the Regency period, typically 1795-1840. The word count for these novels is 40,000-85,000 words.
Judging guidelines: The category includes comedy of manners as well as darker stories, and the books may contain a variety of story elements, such as sexual content, paranormal elements, mystery, suspense, adventure, and non-traditional settings.

Consider this.
1.The Regency category usually has fewer numbers. Fewer numbers equals less
competition. ( but we have to get at least 25 entries!)
2. The competition for all our non-Regency historicals is decreased, because the Short Historical category is not filled with Regencies.
3. Regencies will be judged against other Regencies, which honors the special quality of our time period.
4. RWA will learn that the Regency set historical is still going strong with wonderful, talented authors writing great books.
5. Who knows whether there will be this category again after the contest is revamped. This may be the best chance to reach the finals!
6. I’ll get to stand up there and present some lucky author a RITA!! I already have a dress to wear.(I bought two for this year’s Award ceremony, just in case.)

So, what do you think? Do you think the Regency period deserves a contest category all its own?

Cheers!
The Contest Empress

Last week I was researching my current WIP (work-in-progress), part of which will take place in Scotland and I was looking up information about the Clearances in Scotland, when the land was taken from the crofters and consolidated for bigger profits. Not that my story has anything to do with the Clearances, certainly not the Highland Clearances or anything Highland, but I needed to know just for a throwaway line.

I came upon this in a History of Scotland page:

In 1810 Scott publishes The Lady of the Lake, a stirring historical poem of love and adventure. Loch Katrine, in a rugged gorge of the Trossachs, is the home of the heroine, Ellen Douglas. The beatiful Ellen’s Isle commemorates her, nestling in the loch against a background of high hills.

The poem is an immediate success. A new hotel is built to accomodate the rush of tourists, who wander through the landscape with their copies of the book, finding the exact spots in which to declaim the relevant passages. The Highlands acquire an aura for tourists which they have never lost.

The more things change the more they stay the same! I immediately thought of today’s tourists scampering about Europe and the UK on Da Vinci Code tours! It is rather comforting to me that people are the same in so many ways, even if they lived a long time ago.

Here for a taste of what our Regency ladies and gentlemen read in that poem is the beginning of Sir Walter Scott’s The Lady of the Lake:

Harp of the North! that mouldering long hast hung
On the witch-elm that shades Saint Fillan’s spring
And down the fitful breeze thy numbers flung,
Till envious ivy did around thee cling,
Muffling with verdant ringlet every string,–
O Minstrel Harp, still must thine accents sleep?
Mid rustling leaves and fountains murmuring,
Still must thy sweeter sounds their silence keep,
Nor bid a warrior smile, nor teach a maid to weep?

Cheers!
Diane

Congratulations to our winners, Maureen and Abookworm! See here for the contest winners announcement.

Sigh! As much as we love this happy ending, it is so difficult to say good-bye to Lizzie and Darcy (even if they might have a wish to be private for a little while. You know, to work on an heir)

Here are a few ways to linger in this lovely world Jane Austen and the BBC filmmakers created for us.

Pride & Prejudice Paradise This is a fun site with lots of things to explore, like “Missing Scenes” and (my favorite) “Did You Notice” which is something akin to P&P bloopers.

Here’s another P&P website – A Pride & Prejudice Photo Album This includes music that will be familiar to all who have seen P&P and photos from the companion book that was part of our prize.

And you just might want to peruse this Colin Firth biography It begins with this little suggestion:

“Try it as an experiment; walk into any pub or restaurant and shout out “Cab for Mr Darcy!” The result will always be the same. No man will express the slightest interest, but every woman’s eyes will brighten, a coy smile of delight will appear on her lips and her head will revolve as close to 360 degrees as is possible. Just in case it’s him – THE Mr Darcy.”

Don’t we all know this is true.

I am certain we Riskies will return to Colin Firth and Pride & Prejudice again, never fear.

Here’s a total but wonderful change of subject!

This past weekend I was at the New Jersey Romance Writers Conference with my fellow Riskies, Elena Greene and Janet Mullany. Both of these ladies were finalists for the Golden Leaf Award for Best Regency. Elena for Lady Dearing’s Masquerade and Janet for Dedication.
It was a tough battle, but Janet Mullaney won for Dedication. She has a very pretty lucite award to show for it, too. Contests have been good for the Riskies this year.

And now on to new obsessions…..

This week the Trailer for the movie “300” was shown on TV and in movie theaters. A version of it can be seen online. “300” is based on Frank Miller’s graphic novel of the same name, about the Spartans and the Battle of Thermopylae. Gerard Butler plays King Leonidas, so I’ve been, let’s say, interested in this movie. From how the trailer appears, “300” is going to be an amazing visual experience, and I am not just talking about the–um–costumes. The movie will be released in March 2007.

Hey. I just realized that March 2007 will be the month my next Mills & Boon/Harlequin Historical will be released. Remember Rose, the singer, from A Reputable Rake? Innocence & Impropriety tells her story.

I also have a Christmas novella, “A Twelfth Night Tale” in Mistletoe Kisses, Harlequin’s Regency Christmas anthology coming in Nov 2006. You’ll hear more of that soon.

Have any of you read Frank Miller’s graphic novel “300“?
Have any of you read a graphic novel?
I’m tempted to buy “300” to see what it is like.

Here is my little preview for you.

Cheers!
Diane

This is such an exciting contest! I’m thrilled we can offer it. I hope you will enter now and come back every day this week to enter again, and, at the same time, share a love of the Regency with us.

To enter, all you have to do is put a comment on our blogs. Say something more than “nice blog.” Tell us what you think about what we say, or tell us what you liked about the A&E version of Pride & Prejudice. The only other thing is, you have to live in the US or Canada to win, because the DVD is formatted for Region 1. On Sunday Oct 8 we’ll select the winners at random. Two of you lucky people!

You really should look at the A&E Store, because there are extras included in this 10th Anniversary Limited Edition Pride & Prejudice, as well as a lot of other wonderful things to buy!

It is always a joy to watch this mini-series. In 2003, when Amanda and I returned from our Regency Tour of England (a tour created by my friend Patty Suchy of Novel Explorations, Inc.), Amanda spent a day at my house. You know what we did? We watched the whole 310 minutes of Pride & Prejudice, drooling over Mr. Darcy and screaming “We were there!” whenever we found a place we’d visited. Later, my critique partners, Darlene Gardner, Karen Ander, Lisa Dyson and our friend, Marjanna, wanted to learn more about the Regency time period, because all they knew about it was what they read in my books. So we gathered for a night of Pride & Prejudice! And, of course, they loved it.

One of the things my friends did not understand about the P&P mini series was why Jane was considered the beautiful Bennet daughter and not Lizzie. “I think she is prettier than Jane,” one of them said.

This is where I think the filmmakers were so masterful in their casting! Because I think Jane (played by actress Susannah Harker) is the ideal Regency beauty.
Take a look and compare to this detail of one of my 1815 La Belle Assemblee fashion prints:
Jane has the same oval face, pointed chin, big wide eyes as the 1815 image. She could have modeled for the ladies magazine!

Now look at Lizzie (Jennifer Ehle) compared to another 1815 fashion print detail:
Lizzie’s face is round and her complexion is rosier, not pale like Jane’s. Her mouth is full. Her “fine eyes” are not as large and round as Jane’s and the La Belle Assemblee ladies.

Luckily, however, Mr. Darcy learns to appreciate that pair of “fine eyes.”

I am certain we can all agree, however, that Mr. Darcy is the perfect Regency gentleman!

What do you think of the casting of Pride & Prejudice? Did they get Jane Austen’s characters right? Who would you have cast differently? Mr. Collins, maybe? Lydia?
Do you have a favorite character in the cast?

Let us know and you will be entered in our contest!

Cheers,
Diane