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Author Archives: diane

About diane

Diane Gaston is the RITA award-winning author of Historical Romance for Harlequin Historical and Mills and Boon, with books that feature the darker side of the Regency. Formerly a mental health social worker, she is happiest now when deep in the psyches of soldiers, rakes and women who don’t always act like ladies.

Happy 4th of July and Conference Recap

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A part of me wishes I were still in NYC. I heard the Fourth of July fireworks there are going to be the best ever! But I was really tired after a week of RWA, where I had the very best time.

I hope you are all finding some fun place to celebrate our Nation’s birthday. It seems a little odd that I’m going to be spending my blog today talking about the Regency world instead of our founding fathers who declared Independence from the country in which all my books are set.
On Tuesday last week, I attended the Beau Monde Conference, a one-day event that took place before the actual Romance Writers conference. Mary Jo Putney opened the conference with a talk about her Regency writing career and her fondness for the time period.
Risky Janet gave a fascinating workshop on the Abolitionist movement in England.

And my friend Victoria Hinshaw discussed the Battle of Waterloo through the reenactment she attended last year on the battle’s anniversary.

I had to miss the afternoon sessions, but I didn’t miss the Soiree

The Mills and Boon editors, Linda Fildew and Joanne Grant stopped in at the Soiree. From L to R, Julia Justiss, Linda Fildew, me, Joanne Grant.

There were so many wonderful Regency costumes. I told everyone that I was dressed “Regencyesque.” My dress was long, but not exactly Regency.

I ran into Janet here and there during the conference, and I saw Megan enough to say hi to, but I only glimpsed Carolyn. She did look lovely presenting a RITA, though. I missed Amanda and thought of her often. We sent a photo of me and Andrea/Cara Elliot, I think. Things about the conference are already trying to blur.

Thursday at Diane’s Blog I‘ll talk about the rest of the conference and show some more photos. I have a new excerpt of Valiant Soldier, Beautiful Enemy at my website and some exciting new news and a new contest.

Tell us what you are doing this Fourth of July!!!
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On My Way to RWA and The Big Apple

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Today I’m on my way to the Romance Writers of America conference in New York City. As if that were not exciting enough, I’m getting there by car!

Lest you think a road trip from Virginia to NYC via the New Jersey Turnpike is nothing to get excited about, I’m riding with Lavinia Kent, and Julie Halperson, my long-time writing friend. Julie and I hardly ever get to see Lavinia so 4 or more hours to talk will be a super treat.

I’ve spoken to Amanda, who is rapidly recuperating, but must miss the conference, a real bummer, because this year, as Laurel McKee, she is a RITA finalist, for Countess of Scandal. I’m betting you’ll hear from her in her normal Risky time tomorrow.
Because Amanda will have to miss RWA, I thought I’d celebrate several years of us attending the conference, at least the Regency part. The Regency writers chapter of RWA, The Beau Monde, tacks on its own festivities the day before the conference. Each year the Beau Monde holds a Soiree, where many of us dress up in Regency garb. Amanda has stretched this a bit to include other eras, but she is always the best dressed.
Here’s a pic from 2002. Amanda’s dress is inspired by Kate Winslet’s in Titanic
My dress was made by my “modiste” and friend, Helen. It is from an authentic period pattern
Here we are again in 2003. Amanda is dressed as a milk maid, a la Marie Antoinette.

My modiste Helen made this dress for me, too.

This costume of Amanda’s was her best ever! This is the 2008 Beau Monde Soiree.

I didn’t even recognize Amanda at first in this costume. And I was with her when she purchased the hat in Williamsburg.

This is also the only photo I have of all the Riskies (at the time). From L to R, Elena, Cara (who bowed out of the Riskies and Carolyn took her place), me, Amanda, Janet, and Megan.
Someday we must get our current Riskies all in one place for a new photo. Unfortunately, both Elena and Amanda will not be at the conference this year.
And here is Amanda’s dress from last year. It is also the dress on the cover of her RITA finalist, Countess of Scandal.
(L to R in photo: Louisa Cornell, Amanda, Megan, Keira Soleore, Cara Elliott, also a RITA finalist)
I’ll try to get photos from this year’s Soiree, but it won’t be the same. I suspect we’ll have to wait a whole year to see what wonderful confection Amanda has for us next.
On Friday night, between 8 and 10, be thinking about Amanda/Laurel and sending good wishes. That’s the time of the RITA and Golden Heart Awards ceremony. Maybe our good wishes can make Countess of Scandal a winner!
And while you are sending good wishes, consider participating in the auction for LA Banks. Her friends in the Romance community are raising money to help with her medical expenses.
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Loss of Communication!!!

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At last! I have internet again. I’ve not had access to internet since Sunday morning. I think I would have simply perished had I not been able to check email and such on my iphone. This has been hard.

I’ve also had a very busy few days so I hadn’t had the foresight to write a blog ahead of time.
But this trauma of not having access to the internet got me to thinking of communication during the Regency.
This past Saturday was the 196th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. I wondered how long it took for the folks back in London to learn of the battle and its outcome.
Wellington sent an official dispatch on June 19 and it arrive in London on June 21. The news was published as a London Gazette Extraordinary on June 22. Three days. And I can communicate with a blog in an instant (if the internet is working).
The news of Wellington’s victory at Waterloo did travel across the English Channel a bit faster than the official dispatch. The Rothschild family had several agents working on both sides of the line at Waterloo. By the afternoon of June 18, the Rothschild couriers boarded a chartered boat and brought the news of the victory to Nathan Rothschild two days before the official dispatch. The difference, you might say, between email and a text message. Or maybe between a blog and twitter.
By the way, the story that Rothschild used this prior knowledge to make a killing on the bond market, is not exactly truthful. Actually, Rothschild felt that the war would last a long time. The battle ending the war so quickly almost ruined the Rothschilds.
Has the internet (or any other kind of communication) failed you at an important time?
Thursday on Diane’s Blog, I’ll tell you what made my weekend so busy.
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Favorites

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Yay! I am done with the book and with the revisions on my new Undone short estory and am momentarily free of all deadlines.

Which means I am in the throes of worrying what to write next. The field is a way open. I can write anything I want to–as long as it is set in Regency England.
So I’ve been thinking of what books I’ve enjoyed, and one keeps popping up in my mind: The Last Frost Fair by Joy Freemen, a Signet Regency from 1985.
I loved the set-up for this book. The heroine is the beauty of an impoverished family. Her sisters and mother toil endlessly while she must sit and watch, to save her hands. The survival of her family depends upon her making a good marriage. Then she meets and falls in love with the hero, a soldier, but they both know that they cannot marry. They reunite later in the story and attend the last frost fair. A happy ending seems almost impossible.
I love the drama of needing to marry for money but falling in love with someone else. And the excitement and danger of the last frost fair. I wrote a blog about the last frost fair, and it figures prominently in a book I started a long time ago, one that has paranormal elements so isn’t a fit for Harlequin Historicals.
Do you have a book that just continues to stick in your mind?
Do you have a favorite plot that you never tire of? Reunion stories. Cinderella stories. Marriage of convenience. (I’d love to know….I have to write a new book, you know…)
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A Naked Winner!

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Winner of Sally MacKenzie’s The Naked King is…..

Jessica (commenter number one)

Congratulations!

Jessica, you had an email address on your Blogger account so look for an email from Sally MacKenzie, who will need your snail mail address.

Thanks, everyone, for making Sally feel so welcome.

The Riskies

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