I’m in England! London, at the moment, but we are bound for Dover tomorrow morning.

Here are some of the highlights!

Buckingham Palace

Victoria and Albert Museum

The Tower

Apsley House, The Duke of Wellington’s London house

Another neat thing. One of the people on the tour learned of it from Risky Regencies!
More next Monday when I’ll be back home.

You know how they say, “It’s a jungle out there?” Well, there’s one here, too –in my yard, and in my life. Even my office looks like a jungle right now –it always seems to reflect whatever state my life is in. Do you think people in the Regency had any expression for a similar idea? Was life really so much simpler then?

I’m the kind of person who tends to jump into things with both feet. I enjoy new projects and challenges (up to a point). I like helping and being part of what’s going on. And if I say I’ll be involved, I’m there. Keeping promises and being reliable are important to me. But you know where this tendency leads, don’t you? To overload. The jungle grows overnight.

I was –note the past tense—working on two new writing projects: a novella (my first), and a new full-length novel to kick off a series (also a first for me). It has taken some time for me to get my writing muscles back in shape and rub off some rust after 12 years of not writing (how’s that for a mixed metaphor with no apologies), but I was making progress on both projects. But my to-do list has mushroomed into a humongous, paralyzing nightmare of a thing –a scary jungle creature, I tell you. Does that happen to you?

I know it’s my own fault. No one made me agree to chair my high school class reunion this coming October. Or go to the NJRW conference the weekend before that event, or to work on my church yard sale this month, or to get the cover of The Lady from Spain redesigned, or try to get print editions of that and another of my backlist books ready in time for NJRW. (LFS is almost ready!!)

I’m also excited and honored be part of the upcoming Regency Masquerades boxed set that Elena already mentioned here last week, but it also means time to be spent on that and all the promo we are planning for it.  Isn’t the cover pretty? (Shameless plug!!)

No one made me offer to help a friend promote her first book and design a campaign for it (and it’s not even a romance!) It’s a women’s fiction/literary/mainstream historical, set in the Adirondacks in 1912 –say the words “learning curve” with me? And if you know of any review sites (web or FB) that might be a good fit for such a book, we’re looking…. (another shameless plug!)

I joined yet another writers group, and there’s a cookout coming up this month and a big Author Expo event in November…. Okay, I’ll stop. There’s more, not to mention my two regular jobs, plus home and family. The details don’t matter. You totally know where I’m coming from, don’t you? If we want to write, we also need to be engaged with life, with living. With people. How do we learn to say NO?

Author Marie Lavender, who promotes often on LinkedIn, just wrote a blogpost about this. (Writing in the Modern Age: “Know When to Say No” –Aug 27) After a fairly thorough discussion of ways to promote a book, her point is that we –can’t –do it all. That applies to more than promotion. I know I need to be more selective about the ways I engage with living and the things I choose to spend time on. I know I need to make my writing a higher priority, the way it used to be. But now that I’m already surrounded by the jungle, how do I fight my way back out?

If only I practiced in my regular life the caution I show at the beach. There I go slowly, testing the water temperature and making sure I know the currents and the depth before taking any plunge. Plunge? No, I’m the one you’ll find easing my way in, torturous inch by inch. At the beach, I won’t go out deeper than where I can touch bottom –I know the power and unpredictability of the waves.

Here in the jungle, I’ll have to carve my way out inch by inch, I guess. Where’s my machete? The wisteria in my yard is quite literally trying to take over –I’m thinking of naming it “Audrey 3” (ref. Little Shop of Horrors)!! I –will- get back to my wips. Some of these other projects are almost done, and the related sub-lists from the main to-do list will be tossed. (Yes, the scary creature had babies.)

What do you do when you get overwhelmed? Or, if it doesn’t happen to you, how do you keep your jungle at bay? Can you imagine Regency folks in the same sort of state? Even though the upper class had servants (what I wouldn’t give for a yard worker!), I’m sure they could have too many invitations, too many events to host, too many guests… and not enough sense or will-power to say no!

Today I am a bit overwhelmed. I need to finish my revisions for Book One in The Scandalous Summerfields series, Bound By Duty, and need to get ready for my trip to England on The Duke of Wellington tour.

I’ll be in England next Monday!!

So I’m going to leave you a picture of me working diligently.

And a view of London from the Thames, taken from Ackermann’s Microcosm of London

Wish me luck that I will get everything done!

One of the stops on the Duke of Wellington tour (only 3 more weeks and I’ll be in London!) will be the Tower of London. I’m very excited about this because I’ve never visited the Tower of London.

What, you ask, does the Tower have to do with the Duke of Wellington? The duke was Constable of the Tower from 1826 to 1852.

The Constable of the Tower has always been a prestigious one. Although now the role is largely ceremonial, in Wellington’s time the Constable was the man in charge of the Tower, and, typical of Wellington, he set about to make improvements.

1. He closed the Royal Menagerie.
The Royal Menagerie had been at the Tower since the early 1200s and had housed all sorts of exotic animals, like ostriches, elephants, lions, tigers, kangaroos, etc. The waste from the animals drained into the moat, creating disease and noxious odors, plus there were some vicious animal attacks, including a fight between a Bengal tiger, tigress and a lion, ending in the lion’s death. The animals were moved to the London Zoo at Regent’s Park.

2. He drained the moat.
The Surgeon General at the time described the moat as ‘impregnated with putrid animal and excrementitious matter… and emitting a most obnoxious smell.’ The moat was blamed for several soldier’s deaths and for cholera outbreaks. The Duke drained the moat and created a dry ditch or fosse that visitors see to this day.

3. He build the Waterloo Barracks.
To adapt the Tower for modern warfare and a professional army, he closed the Tower pubs, instead creating an army canteen and an officer’s mess. He built the Waterloo Barracks to house 1,000 soldiers. The Waterloo Barracks is also where the Crown Jewels are kept.

4. He made the awarding of Yeoman Warder to be based on distinguished military service.
Before Wellington’s time as Constable, the post of Yeoman Warder could be purchased for 850 guineas or even inherited within families. The Duke brought these practices to an end.

5. He oversaw the rebuilding of the Tower after the fire of 1841.
After the fire, Wellington strengthened the Tower, making it secure from potential civil unrest.

6. He increased the number of visitors to the Tower.
Under the Duke, tourism at the Tower increased–much to his displeasure. Wellington did not approve of public visiting the Tower. He felt them a nuisance and a threat to security.

The Tower will have a special exhibit of the Duke of Wellington’s influence during his time as Constable of the Tower on the newly opened North Walk. I can’t wait to see it!

In just four weeks I’ll be in England! I’m going on the Duke of Wellington tour with my pals Kristine Hughes and Victoria Hinshaw of Number One London Blog. I’ve also talked my sister into going with me, since the dh will still be recovering from back surgery (he’s doing great, by the way!!!)

We’re flying into London a few days before the tour begins so that I can visit the Mills and Boon offices in Richmond and meet with my editors in person. And so we can tour around London a little and go shopping.

I think we can do some shopping at Regency shops!

We’ll go to Floris on Jermyn Street in Mayfair.

Floris was founded in 1730 by Juan Famenias Floris, who came to England to seek his fortune and found it by creating the scents of his island home of Menorca. His scent shop is in the original location and its beautiful mahogany counters were purchased from the Great Exhibition. Some Regency customers included Beau Brummell, Mary Shelley, and the Prince Regent who, as George IV, appointed J. Floris Ltd. as Smooth Pointed Comb-Makers to the King in 1820.

I also want to go to Fortnum & Mason on Piccadilly.

Fortnum & Mason was founded in 1707 by William Fortnum and Hugh Mason. Fortnum was an enterprising footman in the royal household of Queen Anne who sold the half-used candles discarded by the Queen and made a tidy profit. He partnered with Mason and opened a small grocery shop on Market Street. Fortnum & Mason specialized in selling luxury food items like fresh poultry or game served in aspic jelly, but it also supplied dried fruit, spices, and other preserves to British officers during the Napoleonic war.

My husband wants an English cap, so I’d love to purchase one at Lock and Co. Hatters on St. James’s Street.

Lock and Co. Hatters had its origins in an original hat shop begun in 1676 by Robert Davis. In 1747 James Lock became apprenticed to Charles Davis, Robert’s son, and Lock inherited the business in 1759 when Charles died. He moved the Hatters shop to No. 6 St. James’s Street where it continues today. Lock and Co. made hats for both the Duke of Wellington and Admiral Lord Nelson. Both are on display in the shop.

Then there is Hatchards Bookshop on Piccadilly. I must stop there and see what delights they have to offer. My characters are always purchasing books there as have Londoners since 1797.

Too bad we cannot have an ice at Gunter’s Tea Shop in Berkeley Square. It moved to Curzon Street and then closed in 1956.

Do you have any shopping suggestions for me? We’re also going to Deal, Brighton, and Windsor!