When in the depths of first draft hell, sometimes I reach for some favorite quotes to keep me slogging. But not the usual motivational stuff. Later, I will appreciate words like Eleanor Roosevelt’s: “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” But when I’m at this stage, I want gritty realism and black humor.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not drive on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand. – Winston Churchill

A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people. – Thomas Mann

There’s only one person who needs a glass of water oftener than a small child tucked in for the night, and that’s a writer sitting down to write. – Mignon McLaughlin

If I don’t write to empty my mind, I go mad. – Lord Byron

Easy reading is damn hard writing. – Nathaniel Hawthorne

The first draft of anything is sh*t. – Ernest Hemingway

Only a mediocre writer is always at his best. – W. Somerset Maugham

Here’s another one I love, though not specific to writing:

Certainty of death. Small chance of success. What are we waiting for?
– Gimli, in the cinematic version of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Return of the King

So do any of you have favorite quotes, writing-related or otherwise, that help you get through the day?

Elena
LADY DEARING’S MASQUERADE, finalist NJRW Golden Leaf
www.elenagreene.com

Today is the day! Welcome to the MY LADY GAMESTER discussion — complete with some excellent prizes!

To learn about the prizes (which include the book pictured here — an 80-page 11″ by 9″ softbound book full of pictures and info on last year’s movie of Pride and Prejudice, given to Oscar voters), and to see the complete rules, click here.

Remember: there will be at least two winners, and if there are a lot of comments, there will be three winners. So comment early, and comment often!

To refresh your memory — to enter the contest, just leave a comment today (September 26) on this post talking about my Regency, MY LADY GAMESTER. Your comment doesn’t need to be brilliant or funny or clever, and you don’t need to say anything nice about the book either — just as long as the comment basically means something, and has something to do with the book, it will count.

Feel free to say what you like, to introduce a new topic, or comment on one already going!

If you need ideas to get started, here are a couple that occurred to me recently…

I was recently reading some comments made on an early version of the manuscript a long time ago by various people… One of them complained that the whole idea of my plot was flawed — that during the Regency, a woman in Atalanta’s position would just have gone out and caught herself a rich husband to help her family, and the idea of gaming for money would never have crossed her mind. My first thought was “what a silly comment!” My second thought was “Hmm…come to think of it, I am quite certain that such an idea never crossed Atalanta’s mind. But why not?” Setting aside the revenge factor, what was it about Atalanta that made her do what she did? Or, conversely, did I fail to show sufficient motivation for her actions? Did she do what she did merely because the author wanted her to? 🙂

When my brother read the book, he gave me detailed comments on it. (Which I love to get! This, of course, is why I’m doing this remarkably self-absorbed contest.) I was intrigued to learn that he didn’t care for Atalanta’s brother, Tom. What interested me was that I’d found that most readers liked Tom, or at least thought he was a good character…and, in fact, if they disliked a younger brother in the book, it was Edmund, who some found to be a rather two-dimensional character. So. Brothers. Is Tom funny, annoying, lovable, unbelievable, or what? How about Edmund? Is Edmund just a cipher there, a tool in the plot, and a device to reveal Stoke’s character? Will Tom and Edmund end up friends once they’re living together, or will they be like oil and water? 🙂

Poor Sir Geoffrey, living in a dead-end alley with his treasures. So — what’s his problem? How many mental illnesses does he suffer from? Could Malkham really have got him to play cards, like he does at the end? Have you ever heard of an alley in Regency London that had a dead end? 🙂 (I haven’t. That bit was fudged.)

By the way, I fudged something else — the upholstery in the Covent Garden Theatre was not royal blue — it was pale blue. Shocker!

So — please comment! Hopefully this will be fun!

Cara
Cara King — egomaniac, and author of MY LADY GAMESTER, winner of the Booksellers’ Best Award for Best Regency of 2005

In one week, on Tuesday September 26, is the Gamester Contest!!! Just leave a comment on that day’s Risky Regencies post talking about MY LADY GAMESTER, and be entered to win!

To learn about the great prizes (including an eighty-page, lavishly illustrated Pride & Prejudice “FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION” Book, a biography of the Prince Regent, and a souvenir guidebook from the Bath Assembly Rooms & Museum of Costume) or to read the complete rules, click here.

Remember — your comments don’t have to be flattering. They don’t have to be clever, or witty, or insightful. They just have to reflect what you really thought about the book.

Now for today’s question: what book was so wonderful that you couldn’t put it down? What book do you reread frequently, or tell your friends “you have to read this!” What book makes you ask “How does she do that?” or “Why can’t every book be like this?”

Or is there a whole series, or an author, that excites you that way? Or more than one author? Please share!

All opinions welcome!

Cara
Cara King — author of MY LADY GAMESTER
Booksellers’ Best Award for Best Regency of 2005

This weekend we went to the Vintage Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. Besides racecars droning by on the curvy track, there was a cool vintage car show with all sorts of models from different countries. We even brought our own cool British car and did 3 parade laps of the track. Nothing fell off, so it was a great day!

“Mini Mouse” joined our family a few years (and too many repair bills) ago. My husband wanted a Mini ever since our 3 year assignment in England, and finally found this one. She’s a vintage, c.1982 or so, Mini, not a Cooper, but a model called the Mayfair. What could be more perfect? She’s great fun, so noisy and rattly that when you’re going 30mph it feels like 60.

The Watkins Glen event marks the end of car show season. I’m more of a horse person, but I’ve come to really enjoy these events. Seeing all those gorgeous cars from different time periods is fun. The “horseless carriage” pictured here dates from 1904. Doesn’t it look just like a phaeton (not the high-perch kind, of course) sans ponies?

My own fantasy car, should I ever start pulling in those 6-digit advances, would be a vintage Jaguar in British Racing Green, of course. Couldn’t you just see me arriving for a booksigning in one of these, hair in a chic scarf? Ok, maybe not but I can imagine.

I still like horses best and would love to own one someday. Here’s me on my friend Davina’s horse, Jack, now sadly deceased though I immortalized him as my hero’s horse in LORD LANGDON’S KISS. At over 17 hands high, he was half Thoroughbred, half Irish Draft, all good nature. The epitome of the equine gentleman, he could jump higher obstacles than I would dare put him at and never shied at pheasants darting from the hedgerows. His only quirk was that he detested pigs. It was quite difficult to get him to go past them!

So how would you satisfy your Need for Speed, Regency style? Would you ride a well-bred steed, wearing a flowing habit and plumed hat in the latest mode? Would you ride alongside your beaux in a dashing curricle, or would you take the ribbons yourself?

Back to modern times, do you own or dream about a fantasy vehicle? What is it that excites you about it?

Elena
LADY DEARING’S MASQUERADE, RT Reviewers’ Choice Award, Best Regency Romance of 2005
http://www.elenagreene.com/

In two weeks, on Tuesday September 26, I’ll be holding a contest here, at the Risky Regencies blog. To learn about the great prizes, including a biography of the Prince Regent, and an eighty-page, lavishly illustrated Pride & Prejudice “FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION” Book, and for the rules, see last Tuesday’s post.

To enter, simply read my book — MY LADY GAMESTER, by Cara King — and then enter a comment about it on my September 26 post here. Your comment will need to show you’ve read the book, and have at least a little bit of content. (It doesn’t have to be clever or flattering or anything else, it just has to make a little bit of sense.) You can respond to something someone else has said, or start a debate, or just say what you think. (The book is available through Amazon and similar outlets.)

And remember — if this contest goes well, we may have more such in the future. So win now, win later — it’s all good!

In other news — I just returned from a quick trip to England — six plays in four days. I saw Shakespeare’s King John on Thursday, Troilus & Cressida on Friday, and his three Henry VI plays all on Saturday. It was amazing, it was exhausting, it was invigorating. It made me want to be a better writer. It made me wonder why people don’t do King John more often — and why Shakespeare ever thought it was a good idea to write Troilus and Cressida.

And now I have seen performed every one of Shakespeare’s plays — if you go by the list in my college Shakespeare book. (It didn’t include things like Edward III, which some more recent editions of Shakespeare are including.) This was one of my life goals. I have actually achieved one of my life goals! (Come to think of it, I’ve also achieved the goal of never reading Clarissa. So there’s two!)

By the way, here’s a picture of Dorothy Jordan dressed as a “boy” (a very curvy boy!) in As You Like It.

The question of the day: which is your favorite Shakespeare play? Your least favorite? Or was there one production you saw that you thought was really exceptional, or one you thought was really lacking?

All opinions welcome!

Cara
Cara King — author of MY LADY GAMESTER
Booksellers’ Best Award for Best Regency of 2005